#madam boss lady i love her | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

scaredpigeons · 4 months

Text

Aqua Regia II: putting down the roses, picking up the sword.

Previous chapter // Next chapter

Neuvillette x Fem!reader

Word count: 2.5k

You get settled into your new position, but are you really.. settled? You realize something a bit embarrassing about your new boss too, best keep that one to yourself.

Authors note: this is where we get the slightest bit suggestive. I just cant help myself. HES A DRAGON COME ONNNN

The first thing Neuvillette notices is that his office is startlingly tidy.

Now, he is not a slob by any means, and he prides himself in that fact— but since taking over Lady Furinas responsibilities, he’s found that keeping things as organized as he used to had become increasingly more difficult as the days went on.

He rounded his desk, sitting down with wide eyes as he looked around at the new organizational structure of his desk.

There is an incoming and outgoing bin on either side of his desk, filing folders clearly indicating which documents each folder holds, there's even a fresh pot of ink, and brand new pens placed neatly in an elegant holder. Across the room, against the wall in his direct line of sight is a very large calendar, Large print outlining each day's primary tasks.

As he’s gawking at the lack of clutter, you waltz in, just as lovely as before, and he finds himself staring at you a bit more openly, though your gaze is trained upon the tray holding his favorite tea set, and a few bottles of clear liquid that he knows is fresh water, straight from the cooler.

“Bonjour, Monsieur Neuvillette, I hope you had a pleasant evening.”

He nods as you set the tray down on his desk, carefully placing his teacup and saucer down in front of him.

“Honey lemon, for your tea this morning.” You set the bottles down to the left of him, removing the tray to a vacant table as you continue speaking. “You have two meetings this morning, firstly with Madame Petra Voleange, who wishes to discuss the accommodations you spoke of for her son who was sentenced to the fortress last week— the young man in the wheelchair who was picking pockets.”

You handed him a folder, which was clearly labeled and neatly sorted. “I spoke with the Duke, and this is all the information on what can be provided. Your second meeting is with Kemia, a researcher from Sumeru who wishes to gain your permission to gather information on local flora to aid in her botanical medicine research. The information she provided when booking should be in the top left hand drawer of your desk.”

He slid open the drawer, nodding at the folder placed on the top of the pile.

You handed him another folder, much thicker and darker in color.

“This is for today’s trial, which starts at 2:30pm. I’ve given you a mandatory two hour block starting at noon to take your lunch, and go over the information we have.”

You put a delicate hand on the backs of the two large bottles of water you placed on his desk, and he found himself staring at the way the condensation clung to your skin.

“These are from Mondstadt’s finest spring production. I puttered around last night and was able to sweet talk a distributor into sourcing bottles from all seven nations, and he’s willing to send a bi-weekly shipment for us. Sedene told me that you are fond of the different flavors from all over Teyvat, and I saw that you only get shipments from the different nations individually, so I thought that finding a sole distributor who could outsource them for us would be much more efficient.”

He blinked at you, processing your words carefully.

You stared right back, and as the silence grew, so did the pink on your cheeks. In the back of his mind, he thought it rather endearing that you seemed so flustered, so eager to please him.

“Please say something, If you don’t I'm going to continue to ramble to try and convince myself that I’m doing everything correctly.”

A soft breath escaped him, and then it fluttered into a chuckle, as much as he tried to stop it. Your gaze went wide, and you stood shock still, waiting.

“This is wonderful, much more than I ever would have asked for.” He said, softening his gaze. He saw you relax, and smile back at him— and something inside him twitched.

Since retaining his full dragonhood, he’s been struggling with new and confusing emotions, instincts, and for some reason every time he was in your presence he felt things he’d never experienced before.

But—He felt so incredibly grateful for your assistance, so he tampered these strange emotions down, not wanting to speak of them and scare you off when you had just begun to better his work life.

You let out a dramatic sigh. “Thank you. I was so worried I had overdone it and you would be upset.”

“You seem to have a lot of anxieties when it comes to your work performance. Your heart rate spiked the moment you walked in, and only now has calmed to an adequate level.”

You gaped at him, and of course your heart rate returned to its accelerated speed.

“I mean no offense by this,” he floundered— albeit gracefully, softening his tone. “I just mean to say that I wish you would feel more at ease here. You’re doing exceptionally well.”

A strange smell permeated the air around you, sickly sweet and very enticing. He’d smelt something similar before, though much fainter, but he couldn’t remember when, and he knew for sure that he had never smelled anything so mouthwateringly divine as this.

Was it a new perfume? Why hadn’t he noticed it before?

You seemed to turn an even deeper shade of red, before you nodded, bowing slightly before scuttling out the door, stammering about paperwork and your other tasks— carrying that sweet aroma with you.

Strange, he thought. I’ll have to do more research into what this could be.

He’d been experiencing many new senses since regaining his full power, perhaps a heightened sense of smell? He was not sure. All he really knew for certain was that he was thoroughly enjoying your presence here at the Palais.

———————————————

The rain poured heavily this evening, casting everything in a deep gray filter, the dark clouds rolling over the city sky in thick droves.

The trial was terrible. A child murderer had been left unchecked for too long, killing two boys and a girl, leaving one victim alive yet traumatized beyond repair.

The young girl's mother had attended the trial, interrupting during the defense's deposition to scream at the accused, demanding retribution and revenge for her poor daughter, and the lives of the children that were lost before her.

In the end, the woman had to be escorted away, and the trial continued. Justice was indeed served. But the look of broken rage on that mothers face stuck with Neuvillette the entire time, though he pushed it to the back of his mind to remain impassive to anything but the facts.

The rain fell in thick sheets, soaking the streets and making everyone either run for an umbrella or to find shelter. He sat at his desk, back to the window as he listened to the sound of the water beating against the glass.

With his attention drawn toward his thoughts, he almost didn’t hear you enter. He glanced at you as you walked past his desk, placing one of your hands on the window as you looked outside at the mess.

“Wow,” you said. “It’s really coming down out there, isn’t it?”

Neuvillette felt guilty.

“Ah, my apologies, the rain must put a damper on your mood.” He said before he could even think to filter himself.

He wasn’t exactly trying to hide what he was, but he didn’t think you’d quite figured it out yet.

“Why are you apologizing, silly?” You smiled. “I love the rain. It’s so peaceful and calming.”

His interest was piqued, and he turned towards you in his chair. “Oh?”

You nodded. “I’ve always loved the rain. Something about water being the lifeblood of the earth, you know? The cycle continuing, nourishing us— Washing away the old, bringing in the new.” You flushed a little then, looking down at your feet. “Ah, forgive me, I must sound a bit odd.”

“No,” Neuvillette said, seeing some clouds part ever so slightly outside, a ray of the sun peaking through to shine upon the Palais, upon you. “I quite enjoy the rain too, on more pleasant occasions.”

You grinned at him. “Perhaps we could take a walk then? It looks like it’s slowing down, so we shouldn’t get too many odd stares if we keep to the grounds of the Palais.”

“You wish to walk in the rain? I do not have an umbrella with me, unfortunately.”

You shook your head, walking quickly just outside the door, where you procured a navy blue raincoat with a large hood from some void outside his office where you kept your belongings.

“I never use umbrellas, I love the feeling of the rain directly, don’t you?”

Something in his chest pulled, and he cleared his throat.

“Ah, I do. I didn’t think many others felt the same.”

“It’s quite warm today, so I don’t think you’d run the risk of catching a cold— as long as you don’t mind getting your nice clothes wet, I think we should do it!”

You beamed at him, not knowing that he had never had to worry about catching the common cold before, yet you worried all the same.

You seemed to be unaware of just how you affected him, how brightly you shined to Neuvillette.

He’d not known you for long, but he genuinely hoped that you continued to stay here, working with him, because he was actually starting to look forward to coming to his office, coming to work.

The rain clouds cleared just a bit more.

—————————————

You’re going to lose your job.

If you cannot get a hold of yourself, of these childish, ridiculous, fantastical ideas you’ve managed to curate in your head— your boss is going to realize you’re insane and fire you.

At least, this is what goes through your head when you look in the mirror at the crack of dawn, preparing yourself for work.

Just over a month at this wonderful, enjoyable and well paying job, and your wonderful brain decides to throw you into a myriad of dreams in which your boss, the chief justice and newly reigning figurehead of the nation of Fontaine, was the main focus.

It started off innocent. Dreams about normal and mundane things that happen at work. This was perfectly normal and fine, it happened with nearly every job you had.

You reminisce on days where your dreams consisted of you bagging produce at a local fruit stand as a teenager— oh, such simple times.

But as the weeks carried on, your dreams tended to metastasise into something less than appropriate.

It started with his eyes.

One day at work you caught him observing you. Now— this was not unusual, Neuvillette was a very observant person, and when in a comfortable environment, such as his office, he was not very subtle. It did not bother you, especially when you were doing such mundane things as filling out reports. But this time, when you looked up to check on him, your eyes met— and for a moment you held his stare.

His eyes held such a depth of colour, so striking and vibrant, yet so pale and mystical. And the way he looked at you stirred some aching, foreign thing inside you. It was like he was looking into your very soul, at the blood running through your veins. You flushed, naturally, and hurried off to procure the fresh water for his lunch break.

You tried to pray away the heat that was quickly rushing south, antagonizing yourself thinking that somehow, someway, he was going to find out that just a singular look had you nearly swooning like a hormonal teenager.

This look then proceeded to haunt nearly every dream, and the most recent one was something straight out of one of those light novels from inazuma.

In the dream, you’d been arguing about something, which hadn’t happened in the waking world yet, so your brain just conjured some petty and random cause. You’d gotten frustrated, turning to stomp off. He’d caught your wrist as you were walking away from him, and had pulled you close, staring into your eyes like he was going to devour you.

You had awoken covered in sweat, desperately needing a cold shower.

It wasn’t even all that scandalous. You dreamed of his eyes, of light touches, familiarity, closeness. And like a fool, this still sent your heart into overdrive, barely being able to look at him throughout the day. Ever since he’d mentioned being able to hear your heart beating out of control, you tried to get a handle on your nerves around him, but this new issue only seemed to make things worse.

One day, around the two month mark, you thought you’d been caught.

It was just another day, you didn’t even remember what you’d said to make him laugh, but it was a short, slight wheeze that pulled almost involuntarily from his chest. It made you grin, it made you feel light.

“Oh,” he shook his head, chuckling out your name and smiling down at you from where he stood by the window. “Your sense of humor never fails to impress, you really are a joy to work with.”

Your heart jumped into your throat at his words, at his light and familiar tone, at his genuine smile. You felt your face heat up, and your thighs twitched with the urge to squirm, feeling some rather inappropriate things for your current setting.

You wanted to smack yourself. You were a professional person, someone who took their job extremely seriously. You were not some degenerate whose knees buckled whenever they received praise from a handsome man, a handsome man who just happened to be your boss.

Neuvillettes nose raised a bit, and he breathed deep, as if he was smelling the air. “See, there it is again.” He said, stepping closer to where you sat at his desk, working on the weekly reports. “That scent, I only ever smell it when you’re here. Are you wearing some kind of perfume?”

Your eyes widened. What smell? You thought back to your morning routine, deodorant, a light moisturizer on your skin, you wore your bulle fruit perfume this morning, loving the bright and citrusy scent it gave you, lasting throughout the day. You told him this, and he shook his head, brows furrowing in contemplation.

“No, it's not that,” he said. “It’s difficult to explain, it's sweet yet earthy, rich…and incredibly enticing.” He sort of mumbled that last part, though he seemed to be speaking more to himself than you anyways.

“Rather puzzling, and it tends to happen in conjunction with your fluster, though I haven’t quite pieced together why you’re still so anxious around the workplace, I've been quite diligent with reminding you how wonderful of a job you’re doing.”

You did squirm this time, feeling a visceral throb between your legs, and a sudden weight drop in your chest one after the other as a thought warmed its way into your head.

Could he…. Could Neuvillette really be smelling your arousal? And on top of that, not understanding that was what it was?

For lack of a better phrase, you would say that you’re incredibly screwed.

#neuvillette fluff #neuvillette x female reader #genshin impact neuvillette #neuvillette x reader #neuvillette #genshin impact

143 notes · View notes

crazyk-imagine · 8 months

Note

If your requests are still open, can I request a Sanji live action x fem!reader with the same plot as Luffy having to make up the price of the order but Sanji overlooks the reader doing the jobs alone in the kitchen (make it more romantic and/or sexual, he’s heavily into her but she’s into the fun)

Pairing: Vinsmoke Sanji x Fem!reader

Characters: Vinsmoke Sanji, Fem!reader, Roronora Zoro, Monkey D. Luffy, Nami, Usopp, Zeff, Buggy, Arlong, Arlong's Pirates

Warnings: Angst, fluff, implied smut at the end, unnecessary drama, I rewatched the last few episodes and this is what happened, I love making the reader so sassy to Usopp, and making Nami bestie material, reader and Sanji have a past, this is an interesting one folks

Word Count: 5,102

*I did not realize this was so long, holy crap

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

You close your eyes and rest your head against the booth, letting the delicious and flavorful meal settle in your belly. You make a mental note to thank the chef before leaving because this was just what you all needed.

“Here is the bill.”

“I got it,” Luffy tells him.

You shake your head, having a feeling that this won’t end well. “Luffy.”

He turns to you, raising his brows.

“You barely have one berry to your name. How could you afford to pay for this meal?”

He gives you a mischievous smirk and taps his head. “I have an idea.”

“We’re going to be kicked out,” you say.

“Yep,” Nami adds. “If we can make it out of here alive that is.”

You shrug, “we can handle ourselves. They can’t.”

“Well, that’s rude and I’m actually very offended,” Usopp chimes in. “Who’s to say it’s us that can’t handle ourselves and it’s actually you.”

You raise a brow, “how many beers did you have?”

“Don’t deflect the question.”

“Don’t be an idiot and I’ll answer.”

The man grumbles under his breath.

The kitchen door slams open and an angry man with a peg leg walks out. “Who is Monkey D. Luffy?”

He swirls around the pillar, raising his glass of milk to gesture to himself.

“You signed your name?” You ask. “Are you dumb?”

“I wanted him to know who it was since I’m going to be king of the pirates. I didn’t want to be rude.”

“You’re an idiot,” Nami tells him.

“Thank you,” you tell her. “Oh, and the angry chef is coming this way, great job Luffy.”

After his explanation, you decide to take charge and know what you need to do. “I will do the dishes.”

“No, it is his responsibility.”

“I want to.”

“No,” Zeff shakes his head.

You cross your arms, “are you afraid of having a woman in the kitchen?”

Sanji, the blond (and still extremely flirtatious) chef chuckles, using his hand to pretend he’s coughing so his boss doesn’t catch on.

The man scoffs, “not at all.”

“Then let me do it… unless you want broken dishes.” You swear his mustache twitched when you said that.

“Go,” he points towards the door. “Show her the way, little Eggplant.”

Sanji’s eyebrows twitch, he takes a deep breath.

The only reason you knew he was taking a moment to collect himself was because of the way his chest puffed out while his hands stayed in his pockets. “If you’d follow me, madam.”

“I will if you don’t call me madam.”

“As you wish, my lady.”

“I’m starting to regret doing this instead of Luffy.”

He chuckles. “You won’t be saying that in the next few minutes. I think I’ll be able to get you to like it.”

You shake your head with a quiet scoff, “I don’t think so.”

“Want to bet?”

“Nope,” you tell him popping the “P”. “I don’t to take your money so easily.”

“Oh, is that what you think?”

“I know it.” His eyes follow you as you walk away, entering the kitchen. “You’ll do the dishes.”

You glance at the tower of unwashed dishes, knowing it’s only going to grow as the day goes on. You raise a brow, “couldn’t I do something else? I think you need a properly trained dish washing person to get through that.”

“It’s either this or something worse happens to your friends,” the braided mustache man chimes in.

You purse your lips, knowing he’s not joking. “I’ll do the dishes, but not happily.”

“Good. Now get to work. The lunch rush is about to begin.”

“You mean there’s gonna be more?!”

A few of the other kitchen staff laugh.

“You’ve never had to do this before, have you?” Sanji asks.

You avoid eye contact. “Not for a long time.”

“Well-” His name is called; a fellow cook needs his assistance. “If you’ll excuse me, my lady.”

You grumble under your breath, not letting the nickname get to you. “You can do this. The faster we get these dishes done, the less there will be.” You know it’s not true but it’s the only thing getting you through the next few hours.

You wipe your brow, not wanting your sweat to drip into your eye (you can only let it happen a few times today). You sigh, resting your hands against the edge of the sink trying not to think about the knots in your shoulders.

A hand rests on your low back, sending a comforting feeling down your spine (something you’re not used to and can’t find yourself to push him away). “Are you alright?” The chef asks, putting another dish into the sink, feeling bad because you’ve been working so hard this entire time.

“Yeah, yeah-”

“Oi, who said you could take a break? I need those dishes done before morning.”

You turn to face the boss, only to knock your hand into the pile of bowls which sends the one closest to the edge to fall and break into a million pieces on the ground.

“That’s worth at least another year.”

You want to scream. “You’ve got to be kidding me, right?”

“’Fraid not. Hurry up, I don’t have all night.”

“Don’t tempt me, old man. I’ll break all your dishes if you don’t shut up.”

“Could you repeat that. I don’t think this “old man” heard you.”

“I said-”

Sanji wraps his arms around your waist and pulls you back, forcing you to sit in a chair as he walks back over to Zeff, whispering to him.

You don’t care enough to even try and listen to their conversation, you wish Luffy would bust in here and get you out of here but that punk, you shake your head.

‘He’s probably asleep after all the food he ate.’

You wish you could sleep but, knowing you took a burden off your captain and found a way to help people, even by doing the simplest task, meant more to you than sleep.

You sigh and push yourself out of the chair, walking back towards the sink. “I’ll have these done before the sun rises, chef,” you shout loud enough for them to stop bickering.

“Alright, I’m keeping you to your word, you hear.”

“I understand and if I’m not… I am willing to have myself stay behind while my crew continues our mission.”

Sanji’s eyes widen at your confession, that is not something he would have heard a few years ago. He turns back to his boss with a nervous chuckle. “She doesn’t mean that.” He walks closer to you and leans down, “you don’t mean that, right?”

You glance at him from the corner of your eye. “Shut up and finish what you were doing. I know how to handle myself,” you snap.

He takes a step back, looking at his fellow chef, who nods before taking his leave. “I’ll be over here if you need anything.”

You couldn’t respond even if you wanted to by the time the stranded pirate burst through the door.

Sanji ran over to help him, placing one arm around his shoulders (you do the same after watching him struggle).

You get him a cup of water while the blond makes some food.

The man is grateful and offers to pay for the food, reaching into his pocket but the man beside you shake his head. “Helping someone who’s hungry is more than enough payment. I’m just happy to have helped.”

That’s when you knew he’d most definitely be perfect to join the crew (if he wanted to, of course).

The man left and once again your cleaning dishes while Sanji does… whatever it is he needed to.

Honestly after that, you haven’t been paying too much attention to him to know what he’s doing.

You clear your throat, finding the silence to be a bit awkward now. “Who made our meal?”

“Who wants to know?” He raises his brow.

You roll your eyes, “don’t give me attitude. You haven’t known me long enough to be sassy with me.”

He nods. “Fine. And to answer your question, I did.”

“You did?”

“Why do you sound so surprised?” He asks, feeling offended by your question.

“No, it’s not like that. I’m just- I’m very impressed. I mean, everything was just- I can’t even put it into words at how delicious the food was.”

His shoulders sag, no longer feeling the need to be defensive. “Oh.”

“Yeah, oh.” You giggle, turning off the faucet. “Thank you by the way.”

“What for?”

“The delicious meal, for one.” You stare at the bowl, thinking back to when you barely had meals like this growing up.

It was always tough, using the few ingredients you had to try and make food, most of the time things went bad and you couldn’t use them. You were lucky to be able to eat when you could.

“It’s one I’ll never forget.” You glance at him from the corner of your eye. “Same with the chef.”

“Was that a compliment?” The corners of his lips curve upwards.

“Wouldn’t you like to know?”

“That’s why I’m asking.”

“Fine,” you huff. “It is.” You wipe the last bowl dry. “Now, that I’m done… I can go join my crew.”

“You miss it.”

“Miss what?”

You turn around.

“Us.”

“There never was an us.”

“There could have been.”

Your tongue rubs against the front of your teeth. “Guess we’ll never know.” You toss the towel down on the countertop beside the sink. “I have to go now.”

He sighs. “Hey, don’t go. I’ll- I’ll stop talking about-”

“Our past. Something tells me you won’t.”

“I can.” He scoffs, “you know, you always did this.”

“Did what?”

“Tried to run away from reality.”

“I- maybe I left because it wasn’t the right time.”

“When will it be?”

You shrug, “who knows. Maybe-” Your eyes widen, feeling his lips on yours. You close your eyes, losing yourself in it… in him. You push him back, “Sanji.”

“Yes?” Hie slowly pries his eyes open.

“Why’d you do that?” You whisper.

“I couldn’t let you go without doing it.”

“Well, you did it. Are you happy now?”

“Maybe,” he smirks. “Does it change anything?”

You take a deep breath. “I- I honestly don’t know. I mean, not much has changed right? You’re still here and I’ll still be…”

“Not here.”

“Exactly.”

“I love you.” You nod, placing a hand on his cheek. “I know and that’s why I left the first time. You have so much potential, and the old man sees that, but your life is here. You- cooking here has been your life and I won’t be the reason you’re unhappy-”

“I wouldn’t.” He shakes his head, his hair covering his eyes so you can’t see his pain.

You close your eyes and peck his cheek. “I hope I’ll see you soon.” You sneak back onto the ship and lay in your bed, watching the sun rise.

“What happened last night?” Zeff asks, watching as the usually spunky chef does not fight back.

Sanji shrugs, making the meal on today’s menu.

The ex-pirate nods and turns at the sound of the captain entering his kitchen. “What are you doing here?”

“What I should have done yesterday. You need dishes clean, and I am here to help.”

“Get to work.”

You walk back into the restaurant to get a new bucket of fresh water to wipe Zoro’s wounds and look for some food when you stumble upon a fight going down between your crew and pirates.

You curve your index finger and thumb, whistling loudly to get them to stop throwing your captain around. “Hey! Why not fight someone who’s more worthy of a fight?”

Arlong smirks. “I’d like to see you try.”

You smirk and throw the bucket in his direction, giving you enough time to run over to him and kick him. You throw across the way and land on your back, pushing yourself up before he can grab you. “You’ve got fire. Why don’t you join my crew, so I don’t have to hurt that pretty face?”

You give him a tight-lipped smile. “Hard pass.” You stare up at the ceiling, faintly hearing Luffy and the pirate going outside.

His fishman make their way towards you until they decide they’re better off following their captain.

Usopp runs over to you and helps you sit up.

You groan, trying to get air back into your lungs. “Thanks.”

“Are you sure you should be trying to get up right now?” He asks, hand hovering around you in case something happens.

Sanji watches from the stairs, slowly getting himself up.

“Probably not but we can’t leave Luffy to fight that maniac on his own. He needs his crew even if,” you huff, knowing a bruise is forming.

“Even if he doesn’t think so.” You wobble for a second and then get yourself together, grabbing the two. “Let’s go.”

“For someone who just got thrown into a table, you’re moving exceptionally well.”

“Now’s not the time, flirty.”

He smiles, until you let him go and charge for the head pirate, stopping when your captain falls into the water.

Usopp runs towards you. “Oh my god. Oh my god. What do we do. What do we do?”

You grab the storyteller by his shoulders, shaking him to prevent yourself from slapping him. “Shut up, we just need to-”

The chef throws his shirt and jacket onto the dock before diving in for him.

You haul the man closer to the edge. “Move closer. We gotta pull them up when he comes up.”

You help Usopp pull Luffy up, making sure the captain is alright before helping Sanji (who doesn’t need as much help). You keep a hand on his shoulder, needing to know he’s safe while watching over the captain.

The chef leans into you, not wanting to lose you or your warmth.

“We need to leave now if we want to help Nami.”

The three agree with you and the storyteller assists the captain back onto the ship.

“Here’s your shirt and jacket.”

He slowly reaches for the items, not ready for you to leave. “Thank you.”

“For what?”

“For more than you know.”

“Don’t leave,” he grabs your wrist.

“What?”

“Let me come and cook for you and your crew. Just- just one meal.”

“Sanji-”

“I know you think I’ll regret it, but I won’t. This- it can be like our last adventure… together.”

“I don’t want you getting your hopes up.”

“I won’t,” he says all too quickly.

“I don’t entirely believe you but okay.” You gesture for him to follow you. “Fine. Let’s go.”

He makes another effortlessly amazing meal.

“Someone needs to shut that red nosed piece of shit up before I use this carrot,” you say, using the vegetable to point at Buggy’s head.

“Oh, come on. I’m not that bad.”

“New guy deals with the head,” Usopp tells Sanji, raising his hands as he walks by him.

The blond clicks his tongue, unsure of what else to do. “Do I have to?”

“House rules, new guy deals with the head,” Zoro backs up the storyteller’s not legit rule.

He's still as sassy as ever, even after coming back from the dead (even if he wasn't officially declared dead), it still amazes you.

“I hate you both.”

Usopp smiles and wraps an arm around your shoulders. “You kid in a mean way, but you really love us.”

“Right now, I want to use the carrot on you.”

He slowly removes his arm from your shoulders. “…okay maybe not.”

“This is about to get interesting.”

“Even more than it already has?” Sanji asks.

“Because being with you always-”

Zoro stops him with a head shake.

“What? What’d I do?”

You stay back in case anyone of them needs a little help; until someone grabs you from behind while a fishman jumps in front of Luffy and Nami, blocking their path.

Zoro takes care of him, giving the two an opportunity to continue.

Sanji manages to finish with the one fishman he was fighting, turning to check on you only to find that you need a little help.

He jumps across as you manage to get the fishman’s hand out of your hair, shoving him away so the chef can kick him in the face.

Your chest heaves as you try to catch your breath, knowing this is only the beginning.

He nods, hands still in his pockets. “You’re welcome.”

At some point you spot the storyteller on the run, unsure of where he plans on going as you’re stuck in your own fight.

You and Zoro make your way closer to the large fishman keeping Sanji on the ground.

After watching the swordsman get pushed back, you decide to take an alternative route and grab a rock to throw it in his direction.

He grabs it as if it weighs nothing and crushes it which gives the chef enough leeway to escape out from under him. “Fight someone your own size.”

He chuckles and makes his way towards you.

You groan but hold your ground, doing all that you can to… not die. You push various branches and leaves out of your way, listening to Zoro rag on Sanji about calling out his finishing move.

“Who the hell let him throw me into the bushes?” You pull out another leaf from your hair.

“It wasn’t my fault you couldn’t keep up.”

“Listen here, you muscular green bean-”

“Why not focus on the fact that you’re alive?”

You purse your lips knowing the blond’s right. “Yeah, well,” you grumble under your breath. “Do I at least look fine?”

The chef takes a step closer, holding his hand out for you to take, helping you out of the bushes. He wraps an arm around your waist when you trip, making sure nothing happens to you.

You straighten your posture and quietly thank him.

He smiles, picking a leaf out of your hair before brushing the strands back behind your ear so he can see you (and make sure you’re okay, he knows how you like to use your hair as a shield to hide what you’re feeling).

He leans closer to your ear, whispering, “you look perfect, a tiny leaf couldn’t take to your beauty.”

You freeze, unsure of how to respond.

“If you stop flirting, we can try to find Nami and Luffy,” Zoro grumbles.

“Oh, man. You guys are together?” Usopp whines.

Your nose twitches, “what? No.”

“Not yet.”

Your head snaps in his direction, glaring at his smugness before an idea comes to mind. “Oh, is that what you think?” You skip over to Zoro, placing an arm around his waist. “I’d think I’d much rather deal with a muscular green bean.”

“I’m not a part of this.”

You turn to him. “Too late.”

The blond grabs you and pulls you away from the green haired man.

“I still owe Nami,” Usopp mumbles.

You shake your head, realizing how idiotic these guys can be. You all turn and stare at the building, the faint sounds of fighting and the building slowly crumbling sends a chill down your spine.

You spot Nami running through the gate. “Na-” You groan at her throwing herself at you. “Good to see you too.”

You glance to the side and notice the blond’s shoulders sagging. Once she lets go of you, you turn towards him.

He opens his arms, making himself look sad.

You narrow your eyes, raising a brow. "Really?"

He nods.

You roll your eyes and pull him closer, stretching your neck so your chin can rest on his shoulder slash clavicle area (honestly wherever you could reach, you didn't care because you were hugging him).

You can feel his heart beating against your cheek, faster and faster the longer you hold him; you hope he can’t feel yours beating in your chest.

“Where’s Luffy?”

“He’s in there.”

“Should we start planning his funeral now or-” You frown, sticking your bottom lip out. “What? Would it be wrong of me to ask if I could keep his hat?”

“What is wrong with you?” The orange haired girl asks you.

“Humor is my only defense and I’m terrified to know if he’s still alive or not.”

A stretchy hand punches through the ruble.

“I guess that answers that question,” you say, covering your mouth to hide your relief sob.

Sanji pulls you closer, coddling you.

Everyone cheers when your captain shouts, “Nami, we are your crew!”

“Now, that’s someone fit to be a captain.”

You raise your plate, “can I have some more?”

The chef chuckles, “how can I say no to that face?”

“Could you two stop flirting for two seconds so we can eat our food in peace?” Nami complains, although she’s actually happy for the two of you (even if she just wishes you two would admit your feelings for one another).

“It’s getting annoying,” the green haired man adds.

“At least they have someone,” Usopp mutters.

“We can turn this ship around and drop you off back at Kaya’s,” the orange haired girl tells him.

He chuckles, shaking his head. “Shutting up now.”

“Wow, who knew Nami could get so mean?” Luffy says, baffled by the scene before him. “I mean it's nothing compared to them but wow. Are you feeling, okay?” He tries to reach across to feel her forehead when she slaps it away from her.

“Yes, would you please stop acting like I’m dying or something and finish your food. It’s impolite to talk with your mouth full.”

The captain nods, giving her a thumbs up.

“Why are you guys talking about us like that?” You can’t help but ask them, not noticing how close you two are.

“How can we not?” Nami raises a brow.

“I mean, have you seen you two. It’s like, you guys are so in sync and clearly have a history but you're walking around as if there’s nothing and I don’t know if you’re doing it for us, but I say you two just stop and do something about it.”

You stare at her, your jaw drops, as does Sanji’s.

‘Were we really as bad as they thought?’

You shake your head, giving them a not so genuine smile. “I’m gonna go now. You have fun thinking… whatever it is you think you know while I do something more interesting.” You quickly walk out of the kitchen, unsure of how to act now.

The chef sighs, tossing the dish towel onto the counter, resting his hands against the edge as he leans forward. “Why?”

“Why, what?” Zoro asks before Nami could.

“Look, I get that you guys want to us to stop and get our acts together, but this isn’t the way to do it. Did you think that maybe there was a reason we never did anything?”

“Maybe you should talk to her and find out why,” the orange haired girl adds, clearly knowing something he doesn’t.

He nods, debating on leaving the kitchen so the two can talk. “Don’t let the sauce burn, keep turning it every five seconds.” He runs out of the kitchen in search of you.

“Where would I find you?” He asks himself, searching throughout the rooms down the hallway.

He’s about to pass his room when something catches his eye, and he turns back around to find your sprawled out in his bed. He smiles and takes careful steps, not wanting to startle you. “Who knew I’d find you in here?”

“Really?”

“Humor me.”

“Why are you here?”

“I believe I should be asking you that question since you’re the one in my bed.”

“I guess you’re right.” You push yourself to the edge of his bed, making a beeline for the door.

He reaches across the way, stopping you. “Don’t go.”

“I- I really need to get back to the others. They might be wondering where I am.”

“That’s unnecessary. They’re the ones who sent me to find you and also send their apologies because they know that you left because of what they said.”

You talk a small step back, giving yourself a few inches of space from him. “It- I didn’t leave because of them,” you mumble.

He nods, “and they know that, but I think this was just a tactic to get us to talk.”

“Why would they do that?”

“They can sense it.”

You furrow your brows, “sense what?”

He scoffs, “don’t act like that.”

“I- act like what, I don’t understand. I’m not acting like anything.”

“You know exactly what it is I’m talking about. Please don’t act like you don’t,” he begs and you feel bad but you can’t help it.

This is not what you planned on doing today. You move his arm out of the way only for him to flip his hand and latched onto your wrist. “Don’t.”

“Sanji-”

“No, I know exactly what you’re going to say.”

You turn around, staring at him with a faux fury in your eyes, the façade you’ve put on in front of him for so long and he knows that.

“Why do you keep doing this?”

“It’s safer.”

“For whom? Me or you?”

“This has always been about us having fun and you know it.”

“It became more than that the moment we started talking.”

“Maybe I was just tricking you,” you shrug, avoiding eye contact as you stare at your shoes.

“I don’t believe that for a second and you know why?”

“Why?”

The heels of his shoes clack against the floor as he steps closer to you. He raises your chin, giving you the soft smile, you’ve only ever seen him give to you and the crew, but it always felt like there was more to it when he did it to you. “Because I know you love me as much as I love you.”

It feels like the air is getting thinner. You don’t realize your crying as hard as you are until you hear his voice trying to sooth you. “No,” you mumble. “No, no,” you push him away and run your hands through your hair. “Stop it!”

“Why should I? You haven’t rejected me and I know it’s because you love me to.”

“Sanji, we wouldn’t be good together.”

“What makes you say that?”

“Because you’re you. You- you crave the attention or maybe it's the chase but either way you like where you are, and you wouldn’t want to change that for someone like me no matter how much you love me.”

“So what, you think I’m like those other low lives that came into the Baratie with spouses and explicitly talked about their endeavors with other people. You truly think that I would do that to you?”

You shake your head and cover your mouth to quiet yourself. “I don’t- I know,” you take a deep breath. “I know you wouldn’t but that doesn’t stop the little part of me for thinking it could happen. I mean, you always talked about,” you sniffle. “Girls with Patty whether I was in the room or not-”

He shakes his head. “Not true.”

“Which part? You did talk about other girls with him.”

“I may have talked about girls but that was only for me to see if you were listening or not because if you weren’t, Patty would always tell me to stop acting like a child and tell you how I feel if I ever saw you again.”

“Why didn’t you just try to be honest instead of toying with my head?”

He raises a brow with his head tilted. “Fair enough… but now you understand why I’m so scared to start something with you.” He’s in front of you before you know it.

“That just means I need to try even harder to show you how much you mean to me.” He brushes the few strands of hair out of your face, letting him see you (and wipe away your tears). “I only have eyes for you.”

“And Nami.”

“She doesn’t make my heartbeat as fast as you do.”

You lean away. “But she does?”

He’s speechless and doesn’t know what to say until he sees you smiling.

“Just kidding.”

A breathless chuckle filled with obvious relief escapes him. “You are going to be the death of me.”

“Me?” You shake your head. “No. I will be the one who revives you if you even think about getting close to death’s door. I can’t handle that.”

“Neither can I. Of course, I’m always going to come back to you. Who could,” he stares into your eyes switching from one to the other. “Resist someone as beautiful and adorable like you.”

“Lots of people.”

“They’re the ones who lost because I have the best prize of all.”

You close your eyes and lay your head against his chest. “Shut up,” you mumble but he knows what you said.

“I have a lot of making up to do and other than worshipping you later tonight, we need to run back to the kitchen and get started in dinner. I plan on spoiling you.”

You shake your head against him, unable to contain your excitement or hide your smile; he always brings out the happiness in you even when he was just a young chef, still trying to get Zeff to stop using as much oregano (because it’s for savages) or so he told you when you two met one night in secret.

You rest your head in your hand and watch him be a master at his work.

“You’re staring.”

“Sorry.”

“Don’t be. I always liked when you did, even if the old man did try to kick you out because you weren’t his employee.”

“He was just pissy because I was “distracting” his star pupil.”

“I think he’d disagree.”

“You and I both know he was hard on you because he wanted you to thrive in areas he couldn’t.”

He shrugs, not sure if what you’re saying could be true or not, but he doesn’t argue.

“I’m sorry I left.”

“You wanted to get out of there. Who was I to deny you the opportunity to see the world?”

“And find the all blue?”

“Sweetheart, that’s my dream.”

You chuckle. “I know.”

“I’m just happy we’re here now.”

“That’s something we can agree on.” You reach over and steal a freshly chopped veggie, smiling sweetly when he catches you.

He bends down, staring at you; you kiss him before sitting back down.

#one piece #one piece live action #one piece imagine #one piece imagines #one piece fanfic #one piece fanfiction #one piece x reader #vinsmoke sanji #vinsmoke sanji x reader #vinsmoke sanji imagine #vinsmoke sanji imagines #vinsmoke sanji fanfiction #vinsmoke sanji fanfic #vinsmoke sanji x you #one piece x you #crazyk-imagine

202 notes · View notes

cheerleaderman · 2 months

Text

The fits are still ugly but I was in the mood

Groovy Lines

Yuya: * looking at a picture of Tiana wishing on a star * *sigh* Fulfilling wishes and leading ones who went astray being a star must be hard work. Still you gotta put in the work yourself also

Astrid:*looking at Belle and Adam(Beast)*They say true love breaks the curse…that’s something I can only dream of happening.

Flori: *looking wearying at a photo of mother Gothel*Truly a capable lady to bad her obsession became her downfall, I should keep this in mind

Rolene:*looking at the golden flower* A gift from the sun that can heal many. Shame people’s greed will get in the way

Celine: *looking at madame Tremaine* Lucky that your daughter had the other shoe, Your accident could have hindered her dreams from coming true

Lottie:*looking at the Queen of Hearts* So many ridiculous rules! How do you come up with so many your majesty ? But since your people adored you it must have worked out I guess

Iris: * looking at young Hercules thinking * You were lucky that day for not even your parents would be able to save you from that fate

Elara: * looking at the fates sisters * Cutting off the life of someone must have not been an easy task in the beginning but someone must take the burden.

Nora: * looking at Megara* Opening your heart after being hurt like that must have been hard. It’s lucky fate was on her side with this one

Dion: *looking at pian and panic* It’s quite interesting they’re a hardworking duo despite their screwup but hey if the big boss wants to keep them around who am I to judge

#art #twisted wonderland #twst #artists on tumblr #cheer!art #twisted oc #twisted wonderland oc #oc art #twst oc #cheer!ocs #oc artist #oc artwork #ocs #my ocs #digital art #artwork #artist

20 notes · View notes

istadris · 6 months

Note

Was reading the long ask relating to the LM3 ghost seducer AU. Normally, I keep a very large distance between myself and Super Mario Franchise R18/R20/whatever-you-call-it, but the written content for the AU is intriguing and I would like to hear more on it. Like, if you want to, flesh it out some more or give more ideas about the events? Pretty please?

[Referring to this AU about Luigi being, for unknown reasons, very attractive to ghosts and thus making Luigi's Mansion very...interesting]

Ooooh, thank you for asking about this AU, I missed it haha !

I'll admit I gave most of my 'main ideas" for how each encounter with the Floor Ghosts bosses would go...

But now I wonder how Luigi's mindset would evolve in that story, because he certainly would be in deep, deep denial about both his attraction to ghosts AND his ability to attract them.

Until LM3, everytime he's had sex with a ghost, he would rationalize it. It was for survival, it wasn't really sex, ghosts don't have the same concept of sexuality as humans. I don't think he would actually have sex with the Portrait Ghost in the first game (given that half of them are kids and all that), but even then, are they "real" ghosts?

(He totally gave more than Mario's belongings to Madame Clairvoya. He was being thankful, you see.)

Then in LM2 the ghosts are pretty mischievous, he can claim they're just messing with him...

But by LM3, not only does King Boo call him out on his attraction to ghosts at the beginning of the story (before tossing him into the laundry chute), but the ghosts are more than explicit in their intentions with him, and the main ones are really human ghosts...

So even if their "methods" can differ from human sex, they still are perfectly aware of what they're after, and what they're doing. And again, no one is subtle on the matter.

Also, the whole time, King Boo has been monitoring the situation and is growing more and more jealous, so when Luigi arrives, reeking of everyone's aura? Oh, he's insane with jealousy and desire. Grabbing and holding Luigi with his tongue and summoning doubles of himself as he stakes once and for all his claim on Luigi (whose biggest challenge is to not lose himself in that possessive grip and power).

"All of these ghosts, yet at the end, you belong to ME!"

Also, I usually see Luigi's Mansion and the Paper Mario games in different continuities, but just because I'm playing Paper Mario 64 and I just reached the Lady Bow chapter : at some point Lady Bow asks Mario to bring his brother to her mansion, "I've heard so much about him...and my Boos would love to meet him~"

Mario as soon as he gets home : "Luigi, don't ever go in the Forever Forest"

"What ? Why!"

"...Scary monsters."

I would be curious about your own thoughts on the matter, any suggestions ? I would have more ideas if I have something to bounce off

#super mario bros #luigi's mansion #booigi #and many others #ghost seducer Luigi AU #miscellaneous mario madness #answers

29 notes · View notes

archaeologyfjones · 1 year

Note

Please tell me all your cats have ridiculous/nerdy names

"Greetings Archaeologang! I've got three very precious artifacts to share. Miss Orangesicle Supreme is Scout; I've had her since 'bout 1900 if you can believe it! Scout's a descendant of Cosey, the winner of the first American cat show in 1895, and one of the first official Maine Coons. She's the most like me...well, except for the part where she likes to bite un-socked toes. Little bit in the middle there is Dixie, my mutt - Lady Madame Fussy-Britches - who I discovered in a storm drain alone while on a jog back in 2008. She's the smallest member of the house, but she's the boss. Smarter than all of Congress, just like Mr. Lincoln said of his own Dixie. And our distinguished gentleman here is Tom! And no, he's not named after the cartoon character, though he does get up to shenanigans. If you'll forgive me...I got Tom as a little Maine Coon tigerlet around the same time that Top Gun came out - 1986 or '87...and I do love the F-14 dearly. So Tom got named for a fighter jet. Oh, also! He has devious little extra toes for pressing more keys on my keyboard."

#ask archaeology boy #archaeologyfjones #alfred's field notes #hetalia #hetalia ask blog #aph america #hws america #alfred f jones

100 notes · View notes

zedecksiew · 5 months

Text

Whirling Mummy One-shot

(Art by Sam Mameli)

Have been deathly ill for most of this month, with barely the focus to do anything. So I've been in the dumps.

Last Wednesday I ran a one-shot for my regular TTRPG group, just to feel like I could do something---anything. I didn't have much of a voice. Just a low rasp. So all my characters that night were kinda husky, sultry folks, the kind you might find in a bar.

Apopros to the game, I suppose. I ran the Whirling Mummy, a dance-hall adventure I created for Prismatic Wastelands' ENNIE-winning bar-crawl campaign setting, Barkeep On The Borderlands:

THE WHIRLING MUMMY Madam Smiling is the never-seen proprietress of The Whirling Mummy, an undead-themed dance hall, named after Madam Smiling's ancient, still-animate consort. + Before the Keep, before goblins lived in caves – a goddess cursed a king to dance. He danced all night, he danced all season. He danced and he died. They buried him dancing. He danced in his tomb of jade mosaic. A quake split the Iron Fens, and cracked his tomb, and spat him out dancing. Tonight, in the mummy's honour: a dance-off! Various crews compete to win their hearts' desire. There has never been a wish Madam Smiling could not grant.

+++

Got my players to make characters using Barkeep's evocative background packages. The party:

Frederick the Foppish Dandy, with a big hat, dueling pistol, and a wealthy fiance called Giorgio ("Georgie!");

Alejandra the Ebullient Dancer, with a tambourine, vial of poison, and her patron the noble chanteuse Lady Gaga;

Melan the Troubled Musician, with a flute, a cymbal-playing pet monkey, and a broken heart.

Serendipitously appropriate, for an adventure featuring a dance contest!

Melan decides they have history with Kril Mouser, leader of the club's musicians.

Ironically, Alejandra spends her whole night off the podium, gassing up the crowd to win over their support.

Frederick ("Freddie!") plays out a rivalry with one of competing dance crews: a trio of voguing toffs.

Freddie ends up being the night's star dancer. "This is the kind of music Frederick plays in his room," his player says:

youtube

+++

I rolled a new event for every turn / round of the dance-off, for maximum shenanigans:

A skeleton flapper loses her head on the dance floor. The Dancer turns that skull into a ball the cheering crowd can bounce around. Poor skelly!

A gang of electric-lute-wielding bards storm Kril Mouser's band stage in an attempt to take it over. Melan spends the round fighting them off, earning the musicians' favour. (Alejandra throws her skeleton skull, knocking a bard out.)

A paladin raid on the club for illegal necromancy. This coincides with the last round of the dance-off; Freddie is too drunk to continue, so Melan takes the stage, and duels Master Mocking Of A Million Eyes, the peacock demon and final boss.

Melan's player describes their dance as "Lizzo with a flute, but while performing a Celine-Dion-like ballad".

This means they beat an eldritch horror with a combination of this:

and this:

youtube

Nice.

+++

So the party won the dance-off. They are entitled to wishes from Madam Smiling.

Frederick asks to be the richest person in the world;

Alejandra wants to retroactively swap places with her patron Lady Gaga;

Melan selflessly asks for land back for the indigenous lizardfolk. (The industrial district in which the Whirling Mummy sits used to belong to the lizard-people; there were lizard nuns handing out pins outside the club.)

I was very pleased with this game. I think it was my first successful, self-contained one-shot? We played for about three hours, and I felt buoyed by endorphins after.

I love my players. Thank you Am, Ai and Vesha for playing with me; you have kept my love for this game stuff alive.

I lost my voice again, the next day.

+++

Final scene, one year later:

Melan is the opening act for a concert by Lady Alejandra, in a city ruled by Prince Frederick the First.

All of this happens a continent away; the city in which Barkeep is set has been totally erased. A trade agreement has been signed with the lizardfolk queendoms, however---and ambassadors report an incongruous-looking dance hall, in the middle of the marsh.

Inside, it is said, a mummy in jade shoes endlessly dances. Inside, it is said, a dance contest is held, and its prize is whatever your heart desires.

#fantasies #ttrpgs #barkeep on the borderlands #the whirling mummy #dancing #play reports

18 notes · View notes

hopepaigeturner · 1 year

Text

An Offer from an Avid Reader: Benedict, Women and the Mistress Question...

Post dedicated to @polarmarie's ask! I hope you find it interesting!

*~*~*~*~*

Something I’ve noticed while engaging within the Bridgerton fandom is the question about whether Benedict should ask the mistress question. Or how the show is going to reconcile ShowBenedict and BookBenedict’s character arcs due to their differences.

So, let’s have a look shall we?

This post is primarily about Benedict’s relationships with woman in the show and how this might mean a couple tweaks to how the plot of AOFAG is adapted. (Other aspects of his arc/journey will be addressed in another post).

The necessity for these tweaks? It is because the show has portrayed Benedict as a man who respect women regardless of their gender or station, and delights when they rebel against societal expectations rather than being intimidated or offended. Most significantly—Benedict handles rejection well.

Let’s start with women Benedict does not engage romantically with:

Eloise:

We consistently see Benedict supporting Eloise and her pursuits.

In S1 at the swings he states that she will have his “nothing but my full support and adoration” if she was Lady Whistledown. Throughout their ‘swing talks’ he does not ridicule her aspirations but listens and empathises—even in S2E8.

Then is S2 E6 when Eloise says she is attending a lecture on flower arranging and we have this lovely exchange.

Benedict 100% knows she is lying through her teeth. But does he rat her out? No, because Benedict understands that Eloise needs the space to explore herself.

Kate.

I think this is highly underappreciated within the fandom--Benedict adores Kate’s fiery nature.

Exhibit 1: Pall Mall.

Exhibit 2: Hunting scene.

Look at that glee!

This does not include his impressed expression when told that Kate shoots.

And maybe one could argue that he is delighted because Kate is dragging Anthony, but then later in the hunting scene Kate drags all the men and he is still delighted.

I want—no need—to see these two interact in S3.

Anyway. As seen with Kate and Eloise, Benedict is shown to appreciate and stan women who speak their mind and wish to be more than the societal expectations of the time.

And that does not even cover Benedict’s treatment of his previous love interests…

Madame Delacroix

Already in S1 we see how Benedict sees Madame Delacroix as more than her societal status and showing her respect and worth. When Eloise raises her suspicions about Madame Delacroix, Benedict is very quick to defend her.

“Do you think just because she [MD] has a paid occupation… that she is different, or somehow less worthy of my attention because she is not what society deems appropriate”

His obvious disappointment that Eloise would view Madame Delacroix as lesser due to her status, reflects how he values her beyond that status as well. His affection would be unwavering whether she be a Lady or a working-class woman, he sees her as more than the restrictive denominations that society has put upon her.

S1 also introduces us to a little detail—Benedict likes being bossed around. At Granville’s party he is more than happy to be led like a puppy with Madame Delacroix to Lucy Granville.

Tessa:

(a couple points overlaps with my Benedict Bridgerton emotional support animal post)

Initially, Benedict seems to be attracted to Tessa’s beauty, but upon their first meeting his first comment is about her talent not her appearance; “I must say that [her sketch] is rather good”. And when Tessa highlights his tone—“I am skilled at more than just posing naked”—he quickly restates his sincerity, (“I do not doubt it”) then continues to find out more about her not her body. (“So you work as a model to listen in on the lectures…ingenious”). As I have said before, this highlights how Benedict is empathising with Tessa, taking the time to understand her viewpoint. Thus, he views Tessa’s view as being worthy of consideration rather than dismissal. He views Tessa not as a woman, or a common worker, but as an artist just like him.

Even more so, we see Benedict respecting Tessa’s boundaries. As @ladyjenevia pointed out in her “Benedict Bridgerton is the BEST Bridgerton” video, Benedict takes his shirt off then pauses before undoing his breeches. It is not until Tessa nods, (showing her assent), that he starts unbuttoning his breeches. Benedict respects Tessa as an individual and respects her boundaries.

And as with Madame Delacroix, Benedict does not mind being controlled by Tessa. In their sex scene, Tessa pushes Benedict onto the bed and he seems utterly eager as she climbs on top of him.

So, overall, Benedict respects women, supports and even enjoys when they break societal expectation. Further, he treats/views women from a different class with equal respect and empathy, regardless of their status. And to top it off he respects a woman's consent.

FURTHERMORE, HE ACCEPTS REJECTION.

In S2 we see the little dalliance between Madame Delacroix and Benedict cease. Benedict offers, lounging against a doorframe with a devilish smirk, to continue their dalliance. But as soon as Madame Delacroix politely rejects him, he straightens up into a more respectable position, as if they were not lovers but merely passers-by. He nods and leaves her be.

Yes, he is a little stung so snaps at Anthony, (speaking the truth all viewers are thinking), but overall, we do not see ugly words, a temper tantrum or vocal denial that is seen so often in media. And why would we? The writers have written Benedict as respecting working-class women, therefore if he respects women, he must respect their decisions.

So, is it any wonder why we have all fallen in love with him? And is this not great character building for when Benedict meets a certain woman from the working class, who goes toe to toe with him and challenges him?

BOOK 3 SPOILERS AHEAD!!!

The Mistress Question:

And this is where a slight conundrum is happening. Because if Benedict is a man who respects women’s boundaries and can swallow rejection—what happens to the character development shown in the book? How does one reconcile showBenedict with BookBenedict who literally grabs Sophie’s ankle when she wishes to exit the conversation; who is spiteful when she rejects his mistress offer; who continually approaches and harasses Sophie even though she asks him to respect her space?

Personally, I detest a man who does not respect a woman’s boundaries. And due to #MeToo, I am sure a lot of others might share the sentiment.

Perhaps then, we should get rid of the mistress plot completely?

I’m not so sure…

One could argue that unlike Tessa and Madame Delacroix, his relationship with Sophie is deeper, richer and therefore he would not let it go so easily when rejected.

And perhaps we can see a theme throughout his interactions with women--Benedict is very passive. Unlike Eloise who seeks out new experiences or knowledge, stuff happens to Benedict. Madame Delacroix approaches him. While obviously interested, it is Tessa who suggests he get naked, thus taking the next step in their dalliance. He enjoys Kate fiery temper but does not actively encourage it, and yes, he supports Eloise, but he does not necessarily encourage her.

And this is what Benedict needs to learn. He needs to understand that what he has with Sophie is greater than that between previous women. He must fight for their relationship rather than coasting along as he always has done. (More on that in my next post)

So what now?

I do not think the whole ‘mistress’ plot should be scrapped but it should be changed to fit in with the portrayal of Benedict on the show.

A couple things need to go, like Benedict pulling Sophie;s ankle, the blackmail, how condescending Benedict. But also…

Benedict asks Sophie to be his mistress once. This would be at the lake scene (one I shall detail more about in another post).

Sophie rejects him and he does fight for her but focuses on the emotional connection between them. The writers need to establish that this is not just a physical attraction—this will be helped with the fact that the period at My Cottage has gone on for weeks rather than days. (More details in another post). While not ideal, I think this would make the viewer feel a little more charitable because it is not all about sex.

(What could help this is if, according to viewers, we do not know Sophie’s past yet, so we do not know why she is so vehemently opposed to the offer).

Then after that initial rejection scene by the lake—Benedict stops asking her to be his mistress.

More importantly every decision eh makes about Sophie is because he wants to keep her safe—not because he is plotting to make her his mistress. Therefore he is repsecting her decision.

AKA: Ok, so you don’t want to be my mistress but I care about you, and I want you to be safe so why not work for my mother? So, you do not wish to work in London why not work in the country at Aubrey Hall?

Then to fix the whole harrassing thing that goes on, in London, Benedict seeks Sophie out at No.5 not to convince her to become his mistress, but because he wants to support her. For example, Queen Bee Helene being a nightmare? Benedict slips a little note that makes Sophie smile. These little or big moments that show that Benedict cares more fr Sophie’s wellbeing than his comfort by having her as a mistress.

So to suit the views of 2020s, and honour the character work already built—Benedict should only ask Sophie to be his mistress once. Then he respects her decision, shifting his focus to ensuring Sophie’s wellbeing even if that thwarts his plans for her to become his mistress.

Because we modern viewers deserve a man who repsects women, their boundaries AND speaks beautiful poetry off the cuff. Why not? This is Bridgerton after all.

*~*~*~*~*

What do you guys think? I’d love to hear your opinions/suggestions.

In my next post about Benedict’s character growth/arc I build on the idea that Benedict needs to shift from passivity to engagement, the catalyst for this being his love for Sophie.

*~*~*~*~*

There are other posts I’ve posted/have ideas for S4 check them out:

To see a list of them--click here.

To see a summary of the main plot points of my prospective S4 --click here.

#an offer from an avid reader #an offer from a gentleman #bridgerton #benedict bridgerton #respecting women #that some leading man material #s4 speculation #book 3 spoilers in 2nd half of post #ngl spent an hour trying to find the GIFS

73 notes · View notes

starishome · 7 months

Text

~Future~

Larry walked steadily through his home. Some servants were stunned by his presence; he was supposed to be away for another two months.

The man put his ear to the door, there was silence. He gently turned the doorknob and entered the room.

“My love… I thought you wouldn't be here today,” the woman spoke as she dipped the quill in the inkwell.

“Do you think I would miss seeing my baby? Of course not"

Larry walked over to the small crib next to the bed. There was his son, Caleb, fully asleep.

The man smiled and gently ran his finger over the little boy's cheek. No, his little one.

Larry looked back at his wife, she was writing something in a journal.

“What is that dear?” The brunette asked.

“Oh! This?" Mary gestured towards the diary. “I'm just planning for his future,” she revealed with a smile.

“Planning his future?” Larry questioned as he approached Mary.

"Yeah!" The woman exclaimed, “Now that I am a mother, I have to take care of him and give him the best of the best.”

The blonde turned the diary towards her husband, Larry could notice some notes in it, about universities and activities.

The brunette took one of his wife's hands and planted a soft kiss on her. "My love, this is our first baby," he spoke while looking at her sweetly. "You just have to be... eh... how do you say relaxed in Spanish?"

“Relajada?” Mary responded.

"That! Rejajada… you have to be rejajada”

The blonde looked at her son, Caleb, her baby.

"Maybe you're right…"

•──•─•──•✦•──•─•──•✦•──•─•──•

Mary looked at her little Philip, ran her hand over the baby's curly hair and smiled lovingly. She grabbed the pen and started writing.

A maid entered the room with a tray in her hands, she placed it on the nightstand next to the woman.

“Asha, open the windows please,” the blonde ordered.

“Yes, ma'am,” the woman responded and opened the window, she could hear Mary writing.

“Madam…” the maid spoke cautiously “I don't think you should be writing right now, you just had a difficult birth and-“ The woman stopped when she saw her boss looking at her “At least that's my opinion…”

Mary smiled and closed the book.

“Now that I am a mother I have to take care of my children, I have to make sure that they live a full and uncomplicated life” she commented with confidence “Mom knows what is best, she will always know…”

The woman paused to look at the newborn.

“The best food and educational games for them so that their intelligence is above average, then, I will choose the most beneficial friends, which universities they will go to, what jobs they will dedicate themselves to, and obviously their wives.”

Asha was paralyzed, was the lady really serious?

“Excuse my impertinence, madam, but… don't you think that children should be more… free?”

Suddenly, little Philip began to cry, the maid gently took him in her arms and brought him closer to her mother.

“Nonsense,” the woman responded.

“My children don't need to make mistakes or get hurt because I am there for them.” Mary rocked the baby in her arms.

“I will be there to resolve anything that endangers the integrity of my children, and my entire family. “My legacy will last forever, my family will last forever.”

Her voice was a mix between sweetness and seriousness. Asha knew her lady. She was intelligent, very calculating, she was never afraid and she was always eloquent, she knew how to win the appreciation and favors of everyone.

“After all… that's what a good mother does… isn't it?”

The maid just smiled and nodded, “yes, ma'am, do you want anything else?”

Mary looked at her little baby and shook her head.

The maid gave a small bow and left Elva's room, closing the door behind her.

“My little Philip… you are destined to do big things… I know it… Mommy is never wrong…”

#philip wittebane #kid belos #belos #toh oc #toh fic #fanfic #writing #toh #toh au

12 notes · View notes

prodlaw · 2 years

Text

MONSTER TRIO + LAW & ACE AS GENSHIN PLAYERS

luffy is an ar 43 childe main

childe main luffy !!! mayhem !!! maniac !!! cannot use bow mode for shit!

basically explores his overworld like crazy ... has 100% exploration on dragonspine because he said fuck sheer cold we die like real men :D aka a 100 times until he realises .... fire .... fire good

does not use healers. what are they. whats this wack 1000+ hp increase. is it free? do the game gods suddenly like him?

can't build characters asks law for help who fucking busts a blood vessel seeing all the 5 stars hes sacrificed on shitty artifacts (DEF% circlet on diluc, cries real tears)

has bad luck on pulls though its crazy

he doesnt even save primos,,,,

ust pulls and didnt know about losing the 50/50 he'd just be happy either ways

"haha look a character!"

THIS IS YOUR 5TH QIQI BRO

also randomly joins worlds and steals stuff . he has no etiquette Smh

does not do abyss or if he does its just a headache he has no idea he doesnt read the opponents info he has no team synergy he is just random bullshitting go in this sanji is an ar60 yae main

has raised all thee waifus but he has a thing for being humiliated by women so ... yeah .. yae

yae defender since day #1 !! he has fought whole wars for her on twitter when people were saying her kit is shit ... he started not one but 3 fan accounts

his team is basically yae, raiden, jean and lisa (whos going to tell this man theyre all girlfriends)

is now getting ready to ascend to the title of no.1 yelan main in the whole wide world .. is sacrificing his sanity to give her 300% crit damage

like luffy he does not give a fuck about the storyline, just plays for the characters (ahem.... ladies .... is also subtly growing on ayato)

hes also a big whale. does that surprise anyone? no?

r5 donut c6 kokomi and is trying to get her to deal big damage #RoadTo100K

skips dialogue

tries to cook some ingame dishes, his almond tofu and sweet madame are actually kind of good! robin and nami have benefitted from this one

zoro is an ar56 ayaka main

got into the game because luffy and sanji were heavily into it and he's fallen into a deep whirpool of genshin ayaka impact

does not give a fuck about the story + dialogue

initially played it for funsies but as soon as he saw ayaka Goddamn

compares sword styles with her secretly its so Cute

has raised her shes insane crazy 500k when he coops people clap they scream they shout

too bad shes the only built character he does not give a fuck about anyone else

ayato came and hes building him also but everyone else is irrelevant. THIS IS AYAKAS WORLD!

does not like traveller since hes not interested in ayaka

wants to punch the shit out of him

generally annoys him

keeps on whining about how traveller uses a shitty ass blade, how ayakas much better than him etc etc.

takes boss fights very Seriously is very Good at them also

does not know how hes gotten to ar 56 but will #grind until shes c6 (hes f2p and benefitted GREATLY during the ayaka banner)

ace is an ar60 eula main

whale whale whale whale

needs to touch grass hes spent his LIFE INSURANCE MONEY on this game

loves everything about it

follows the story, loves the characters, worldbuilding everything

surprisingly dedicated a lot of braincells to it! built his characters fr

he streams it also does stupid challenges n shit, ie. i die i roll

it's him and his eula against the world! he loves a woman that can kick serious ass

very fun to coop with. will go to heart island with you. will carry you.

36 stars spiral abyss like bro is full mental illnessing it he wants the primos even though he can go to the shop and basically go batshit

his luck is very bad though like he has NEVER gotten a character before 60 pity

his c6 mona speaks for herself! and so does c6 keqing!

would have mained childe but heart of depth domain sucks 4 years out of his lifespan per run (1 like = 1 decent crit piece for ace)

has hit 1mil with eula . but at what cost?

law is an ar57 xiao main

im sorry he instantly connected with him

the emo fatherlessness is universal

basically built the entire team around xiao, eg. xiao/jean/albedo/zhongli

also admires zhongli and would have mained him but he saw emo boy first

has primordial and him at c1 but he has never paid, he's not that deep in yet

just has decent luck and saves pragmatically

like luffy he has his evil moments and steals stuff from players (has gotten threats of doxxing/being cussed out)

but other than that his genshin routine is doing dailies, event and then hes out!

follows lore actively though, finds the various cross cultural references very fun

would probably pull for baizhu if he becomes playable

#genshin impact #one piece #law x reader #zoro x reader #one piece headcanons #sanji x reader #luffy x reader #ace x reader #one piece fluff #one piece x reader #monkey d luffy #straw hat pirates #portgas d ace #if this flops im going to kms ... also genshin girls add me 😍😍 !!#[ tracklisted ]

174 notes · View notes

quillyfied · 9 days

Text

Hellaverse Theories: Helluva Boss S2E4

Welcome to Quilly’s Hellaverse Theories, where I overthink the entire Hellaverse! Now, folks, I’m a gentle soul. I prefer comedies and romances to drama and angst. But. Every so often. Every now and then. I get a dark hunger for some whump (followed by comfort but lol this episode does not provide that service). And this episode? DELIVERS. HURT THE BELOVED BIRD MAN. HUMBLE HIM. WHEEEEE!

Anyway. S2E4 WESTERN ENERGY HERE WE COME.

“Where the poor pour for you” good GRIEF okay. Also I didn’t know imps came that tiny. Someone help them. And build a Zootopia-esque tiny town for them, if they don’t already have that.

I see divorce settlement negotiations are going well :P It’s so funny to see Stolas being openly petty and bitchy to Stella when Via isn’t caught in the immediate crossfire, because we see through flashbacks (so far) that he really, really didn’t talk back or question her much during their marriage (not never, just not much). This is “don’t you want to just go apeshit” at its most refined. And lol at Andrealphus trying to wrangle Stella; she’s many things but tame has never been one of them and if she wasn’t such an egregious abusive violent bastard it would be more impressive (and I have some Thoughts about her and places this personality trait of hers could go/mean if given proper development, but later in the episode).

Alright, Stolas’ notification that he has a meeting with Ozzie in three days. That puts a timeline on this thing that may become amended by Oops, because after what Stolas is about to go through, I’m not sure he’s able to keep that meeting; and Striker does say “had a royal on the ropes just last week,” and Fizzarolli schedules Stolas for a nooner, so maybe it did need to get rescheduled while Stolas recovered. Not for long, though; a week at most. I don’t know how long people are in the hospital for normally when they get the kind of treatment Stolas gets, but he spends three days to a week in recovery, then still has bandages by the time Full Moon rolls around (whenever it may be)—demonic resilience, even in the face of holy weapons. Also. Where the HECK does blessed rope come from?? (And on the subject of timing, Blitzo spends a week tracking his sister while Moxxie and Millie are working the camper job—does it take Stolas a full week to recover? The chronology is so tiresome to track sometimes.)

But anyway, back to Andrealphus and his stupid face and his transparent attempts at manipulation. He’s kinda bad at this when he doesn’t have any ammunition, but he IS related to Stella, so I wonder if they both compensate the lack of skillful manipulation with pure arrogance. And I do very much question if Stella is as stupid as Andrealphus clearly thinks and says she is, or if she just has different goals and motivations and isn’t inclined to share them. Reducing Stella to an empty-headed spoiled brat just feels wrong in a show (and, frankly, a universe) where nearly every character has SOME sort of hidden depths, even if they’re just hints.

Also: I notice that at this fancy tea place, it’s not just Goetians demons. I see other Hellborn there as well (the lady at the table Striker lands on looks like she’s a succubus shark with very lovely tail fins, good work on the genetic lottery, madam). Interestingly wide social strata. Also, just gonna go ahead and speculate about it here: it’s weird that every ring has localized demon strains, but Wrath’s imps and (I am assuming heavily here, since Bee is hound-shaped and also appears to be the beast tamer in Lucifer’s merry Hellish circus) Gluttony’s hellhounds are at the bottom of that heap. Succubi/incubi, sharks, baphomets, whatever Envy has (possessors, I’ve heard it said? Not in-show yet so idk but I’ll go with it for now), even sinners from Pride—why are they higher on the social ladder than imps and hellhounds? How did that come about?

Very interesting to me too that Striker is clearly not full-blooded imp (very sharky), but he identifies as an imp and also has some strong opinions on his own superiority to the rest of imp-kind. There is a parallel there to be drawn to the real world that I am unqualified to speak on and am going to back away slowly from, but it has been noticed. And it’s also noticed that Striker isn’t immune from the affliction of having deeper waters within, too. Dude has a backstory and I’d love to know it.

Striker is a damn good gunslinger, though, and that’s fun to watch.

Holy balls I finally found the frame with the higher-class demon (maybe lower-ranking Goetia? Given that she has pupils?) who has a purse imp. That is. Deeply uncomfortable, actually.

HA also found Striker’s wanted posters. “Preferably dead please” NICE

Such a change for how Blitzo answers the phone when Stolas calls this time, though. He might just be trying to keep calm and easy because Loona is so distressed, but I also like to think, given his reaction in a minute when he realizes how deep Stolas might actually be in it, that Blitzo might have cooled off slightly since Ozzie’s. They haven’t talked about their issues one jot, but time does tend to take the edge off certain wounds. Time, and having an adventure in the human world together involving their daughters, and maybe skipping a few full moons, it’s really unclear.

“What does he look like, your Highness?” “Hmm…sexy?” “That’s Striker, sir!” Never fails to make me laugh. Of COURSE that’s how they identify who’s got Stolas trussed up on the back of a horse XD Also, this episode is an important one not just for breaking everyone’s illusion about Stolas’ untouchable nature and power, but for breaking the last scrap of fantasy that Stolas is clinging to about the nature of his and Blitzo’s relationship. He isn’t taking this seriously yet, despite the blessed rope, and the fact that Stolas isn’t more worried makes me think he doesn’t know about the previous assassination attempt, because I think he’d be way more concerned if he remembered that this same guy tried to kill him with an angelic rifle. He might know. Because it would be just as in-character for Stolas to know but just shrug and move on because it’s not like anything happened, he’s fine, Striker didn’t get him and he hasn’t ever been seriously physically threatened before. This is another step in Stolas’ painful, painful growing up process. It hurts, but it’s shaping him into a demon who can maybe not just become better for Blitzo and for Octavia, but better for Hell in general. And by better, I mean more willing to look the social structure of it in the face and go “no, this sucks, actually.” Again, I don’t know that Helluva Boss proper is ever going to actually address and try to change these bigger social systems, because that’s a heavy and complicated topic, but providing fanon fodder to create those kinds of stories and fantasies for itself is not a worthless service either, actually.

And for folks who want to blame Blitzo for not coming himself, two things: one, Loona is and should be his priority and he isn’t wrong for that, especially given the suspicious difficulty in getting this necessary appointment (listen it COULD be Slothful negligence, but I think we all know there’s something a little more systemically classist, if not racist, about how it takes FIVE YEARS to get an appointment for a YEARLY SHOT that Loona NEEDS or she is vulnerable to a HORRIFIC DISEASE. If there are hellhound shelters, why aren’t there hellhound clinics with better supplies and this very important shot more readily available?). Two, Blitzo DOES start trying to get to Stolas. Look at the way he breaks the gear shift. Until Millie and Moxxie reassure Blitzo that they can handle this rescue mission, Blitzo is either gonna break the appointment to go handle it himself, or he’s gonna try to ram through this appointment as fast as possible to get to Stolas ASAP. He is trying. There’s so much going on. But Blitzo picks his priority, and he's absolutely right to do so. If Stolas and Blitzo ever discuss that, I doubt Stolas would ever blame him for it, even if he is still disappointed by Blitzo never showing up (necessary as it is to continue breaking these rosy glasses of his so he can more clearly see his reality).

It took me looking it up to finally realize that Striker has a different voice actor for this season. Dude does a good job; it’s close enough to Norman Reedus’ performance that I didn’t notice, but the deeper register does make him sound more dangerous. And sexy. Mustn’t forget sexy. I am fully in the camp that Stolas’ initial “Oh, shit” is because Striker giving off a sinister one-liner and crushing the phone is, in fact, hot. Not entirely negated by the fact that Stolas is finally being clued into the severity of his situation, either.

I genuinely have to wonder if cell phones in Hell are so cheaply replaced that you could probably get them from a vending machine, or if they have healing/regenerating capabilities somehow. That would be more interesting to get information on, actually, but it’s just a recurring gag, there will never be anything deeper there.

Blitzo checks in with MnM, but the fact that he both trusts them and can give them some quick instructions on where to start looking—he’s good at his job and he’s intelligent, okay, he’s SMART and I hope he KNOWS IT. His self-esteem might be in the toilet but I hope he at least knows how intelligent he is. And can we talk again about how Blitzo can spell out loud just fine? I thought maybe he just didn’t care to correct his texts (turned autocorrect off like a legend), but it’s his handwriting, too, that suffers from his horrendous spelling. Why is it that his writing spelling is bad but his spoken spelling is good? Continuity error? Funny bit? Actual medical reason?

Also. Why is titty-haver a recurring insult in this show? I can glean that it’s a flavor of sexism, but. Like. Never heard that one before. Why is it a go-to choice?? Just gonna file it along with “daddyfucker” and try to move on with my day, I guess.

Also, this scene is part of the reason why I spell it “Blitzo” and not “Blitz;” if Blitzo is constantly telling people the O is silent and Nurse Muffy here can’t find his name without that O at the end, then he clearly spells it with the O still (or he had to give his legal name when he made the appointment, but either way: the O is present even if it’s silent, and I’m still not going to hunt down that special character and train my devices to recognize it when we all know the O is silent, and this is the laziness molehill I’m dying on I guess). (I mean, besides, that slashed-O character is an actual character with an actual pronunciation, this is trying to use Cyrillic to spell out your edgy blog title with no regard for what the characters actually are or mean or sound like all over again XD)

I love that the “prick” comment is what causes Karen Fishbitch here to finally vocalize her displeasure instead of just throwing looks. That is so…White Middle Class Mom of her. To point out the most innocuous thing to get offended over. Ugh.

JOEL PEREZ DOES EXCELLENT IN THIS EPISODE OKAY. I didn’t realize he was the poncho-wearing singing imp AND the sleepy doctor but HE’S AMAZING OKAY.

Striker having a theme song that he has to beat off with a stick makes me giggle so hard. I feel like all this comedy is setting us up for something! Almost like it’s about to get really bad!

Cutting back to Blitzo, I love the little shows of optimism he still has now and then. He clearly offended this lady earlier, but he still tries to make conversation while they’re waiting. Just a decent thing to do. I do wanna talk briefly about the kid calling Blitzo a “fire-toad,” though, because that’s a new one. And given the very detailed shading on Blitzo’s frown, we know right away even before Karen says “it’s not polite to call them that to their face, honey” that what the kid just said was pretty offensive.

…and it DOES make me side-eye Ozzie calling Fizzarolli “Froggie,” just a little bit. It’s an adorable nickname. But if a slur for imps is fire-toad…it does give me some Questions. Might be a continuity error or just a terrible coincidence that I don’t think we’re gonna get any answers for (has this been brought up in a panel or anything?), and they’re different enough that I don’t think for a second Ozzie calls him that maliciously or even in a reclamation way. Fizz and Ozzie seem to have been together for long enough that if Fizz really didn’t like it, he wouldn’t tolerate it, so that’s what I’m gonna choose to trust for now.

“I am not from Wrath, bitch” THEN WHERE ARE YOU FROM. Pride is my guess, since that’s mostly where we see the circus, but watching this fish woman throw out racist comment after racist comment (and classist, too, get it all in there), it does make me wonder how many imps from other rings have to deal with the same exact thing. My guess is a lot. (And again begs the question that if imps are Wrath-native demons, how did they end up on the bottom of the totem pole? Especially when we now know Satan is a lava-bleeding brick shithouse with a hot voice??)

And gosh, look, homophobia from a bunch of biker cowboys now. This episode truly has it all!

(And, again, how hardy are imps?? Moxxie is stabbing that guy SO MANY TIMES in the background, good GRIEF—)

Nice to know that it isn’t just Blitzo who causes destruction everywhere he goes; all of IMP has that affliction :P

Stolas giving Striker so much sass is fun to watch, despite the classist undertones. “Your wife must really hate you.” “You have no idea” YEAH STOLAS GIVEN THAT THIS IS HIS SECOND MURDER ATTEMPT ON YOU SPECIFICALLY I THINK HE DOES KNOW. I would also really like to know where the giant statue with the unrealistically huge boner came from, actually. That’s a specific choice. I mean, all of his décor is, but Striker, why THAT??

The voice actor for Striker makes what I assume is a conscious decision with his voice when Striker snaps about how every ring can’t be some fancy city, when he talks about how some folks have everything they love taken away by royal demons. He’s angry, but there’s a note of…something…in his voice that I can’t find a word for. “Pleading” certainly isn’t it, “sad” maybe, “desperate” isn’t it but it’s in the neighborhood…I don’t know. It seems like he’s trying to get Stolas to understand Striker’s position, imps’ position in general. Which is odd given that he’s about to torture and kill him, and clearly doesn’t have any illusions about changing Stolas’ worldview in that time (or that it would even matter), but the slightly softer tone of voice is striking. Pun only a little bit intended. I don’t think that softness is for Stolas, but for his own loss. Which I want to know in all details now please yes. And even more than that, I want to know about the specific royal that fucked Striker over, and if they’re still out there. (Taking bets now that if it’s a royal we already know, it’s either Paimon, Andrealphus, or Vassago, simply because Vassago having a dark past element like that would be DELICIOUS.)

LET THE HURTING OF THE BIRD MAN BEGIN. I love that angelic steel has a sizzle to it when touching Stolas; really adds to the torture.

“All you royals ever do is try to talk over us!” Also specific and I don’t think to this particular situation. Striker doesn’t care that Stolas isn’t the one who fucked him over (presumably); Stolas being part of the class of demons that caused him so much hurt is enough. And this show is violent, but there’s something visceral about watching torture as opposed to Millie tearing through an entire crowd of sharks, something that hits different when watching Stolas’ blood spatter as Striker stomps on his stab wound. Stolas keeping up his fighting spirit and not begging or weeping is…complex, actually. Begging and weeping is a normal reaction, but one that audiences generally tend to read as weak (which is lame given that that’s how most of us would react tbh but we are talking about fiction I suppose), and since Stolas is meant to be a sympathetic character to us, it makes sense to skip that reaction for him. However. HOWEVER. There’s also context for why Stolas doesn’t react to physical pain in the way that Striker clearly wants him to.

The fact that he BARELY FLINCHES when he gets his FUCKING LEG SNAPPED? Hot, but also, “Blitzo handles me rougher than that in bed” I genuinely cannot tell if that’s taunting, or if he’s serious. It would not surprise me if he was serious, especially if higher-ranking demons have a healing factor (and I genuinely don’t remember if that’s fanon or canon, but the fact that Stolas and Blitzo both are surprised that Stolas can get hurt like this indicates to me that even if we don’t see a Goetia or a Sin instantly healing from a cut or anything that isn’t delivered by angelic steel, it’s a pretty solid theory to stand on). Then the stabbing into the broken leg, and “Blitzy’s knife is bigger, and hits so much deeper.” Again…making Striker angry on so many fronts and I respect the hell out of it: sexual overtones that will shortly be more explicitly shown to freak Striker out, lack of reaction to pain that Striker wants but isn’t getting, dismissing Striker entirely (and especially in favor of Blitzo, whom Striker has a little bit of a muddled past with)—this is a strong fucking reaction to torture that I fully believe only comes from prior conditioning. Now. Whether that means Stolas and Blitzo are into some very hardcore kink, Stolas is used to pain from other sources (Stella being the prime candidate), or some mixture of both…the implications of seeing a pampered prince not break under this kind of physical pressure are damn impressive for his character makeup and future arc. Physical pain is nothing to Stolas. Emotional pain, though…phew. He is not built for it. Which Striker attempts to hammer at too, starting with demeaning him, but Stolas is able to irritate him enough to buy himself some time. There’s the tear, which I believe is concession to the physical pain as well as the high emotions he’s operating under, but first round complete. Stolas is somehow holding his own despite being in a very bad place.

I also gotta question “you won’t be worth more than the tombstone you’ll be buried under” being met with “Blitzy says far dirtier things to me with much sharper objects at my throat.” Which. We don’t know if anything Stolas is saying is true (it might be), but Blitzo engaging in degradation/humiliation of that caliber and higher in bed begs some questions about Stolas’ social awareness. Questions that I’m content to let rest for now and see what the rest of season 2 brings, actually. I’ve already talked at length about how Stolas has his own internalized classism and racism that he needs to address, both for himself and for his relationship with Blitzo, so I’ll let it lie for now.

Still amazed that the same guy who voices Valentino of all bitches also voices this adorable sleepy little goat man doctor. THE RANGE. IT IS IMPRESSIVE.

Finally pausing to get a good look at Andrealphus’ Elsa Palace and…it really looks like it’s in a remote location of Pride, looking at the harsh landscape. I suppose Andrealphus just had to…Let It Go when he had this place built? :P (Let’s be real it was probably gifted to him.) Andrealphus’ existence as Stella’s brother raises SO MANY MORE questions for me, too. For a start, they’re two different birds, which I guess is okay since Paimon isn’t a bird at all and still produced Stolas (and Via is an owl rather than a swan, despite having some similar features). For another, Andrealphus has no pupils, like Stolas, and I wonder if the presence of pupils in a Goetia means something. Paimon had them, but he also has a malleable form. Stella has them, as does Octavia, but in the s2.5 trailer when we get shots of other non-bird Goetia members as well as Vassago, none of them have pupils, just solid red eyes like Stolas. In the book the Ars Goetia, Andrealphus is a marquis, ranked lower than Stolas (who is a prince); we can also assume Andrealphus is lower-ranked than Stolas because of Andrealphus listing off all of Stolas’ assets that they (he) would lose access to if Stolas were to be killed (rather than, say, stripped of and given somewhere else, since Via clearly isn’t ready to take her father’s place yet). Andrealphus having a very obvious and physical ability, though—that feels important, especially since Stella shows no such capacity.

Out of lack of ability…or lack of training? The Goetia being patriarchal is a huge possibility, though it hasn’t been outright stated yet (and it could just be coincidence based on the fact that there are way more male characters in the Hellaverse for some reason).

I love that they were just at a fancy tea place, and here Stella and Andrealphus are, drinking MORE TEA at his palace.

I’m gonna say this about Andrealphus’ treatment of Stella: while he does have absolutely flaming (icing??) homosexual energy…the things he says and the way he says them to Stella does come off as very uncomfortably close to incestuous. The more I think on it, the more I wonder if it’s Andrealphus mimicking an older family member or friend who treated Stella in a similar way to assuage her ego and keep her in line, since her temper has clearly been a problem since she was a child. “Silly minx,” “fiery vixen,” tipping her chin with a finger MULTIPLE times—absolutely YIKES behavior, especially from a clearly slimy and manipulative older brother. I suppose they could be adopted, or half-siblings, or even just with a significant age gap; we don’t know how old Andrealphus is compared to Stella. But even if his mannerisms towards her aren’t meant to imply something THAT gross, they’re still horrifically infantilizing and belittling. I don’t want to live in a world where Andrealphus is bringing a sexual element into interactions with his sister, so I will henceforth try to ignore it, but I won’t lie to you folks and say I don’t feel the discomfort or feel the vibe. (Also seems problematic to me to have a big brother character with gay-coded flamboyance also have incestuous tendencies, but the incest might be completely unintentional and just how it unfortunately came out looking. Maybe they’ll fix that in the future. Or maybe they won’t.)

Now, about Stella: she doesn’t seem afraid of Andrealphus, in fact bringing him up to Stolas as someone whose words she takes seriously. She listens to him, is guided by him, but there are some tiny hints and clues that suggest to me that Andrealphus is pretty good at corralling her, if he can’t contain her entirely. He’s fawning over her, gentle and indirect with his wording as he tries to guide Stella into a less rash course of action, until she seems to miss his point completely and then he snaps at her. Now. Does Stella actually miss his point? Or does she just not care? It seems even Andrealphus is taken aback by his own realization that Stolas’ stuff will all pass to Via. And it does not escape my notice that he calls her Via, not Octavia. Stella is unaffected by this assertion, happily living in her dream land where she doesn’t have to deal with Stolas anymore (and therefore gets to be a sexy widow and not a sexy divorcee, which might have a better social reflecting on her anyway, especially if she’s possibly going to get put back on the marriage market or even just search for a more suitable partner herself). She doesn’t care that Via will get all of his stuff. Does this mean she’s stupid and just didn’t realize it? I don’t think so. I think she’s secure in her knowledge that Via inheriting won’t budge her equilibrium. I don’t think Stella WANTS Stolas’ responsibilities and legions and powers. Andrealphus might, but Stella doesn’t. She likes to swan (lol) around being rich and pretty and throwing parties and not having an unsightly blight on her reputation like a boring husband who cheated on her with an imp and then divorced her.

Now. Andrealphus neglects to do something in this conversation that I find fascinating and may be more deeply indicative of how Stella feels about her daughter. At no point does Andrealphus admit the possibility of either manipulating/controlling Via once she gets Stolas’ position, or killing Via and inheriting that way. I don’t think this is because ANDREALPHUS gives two shits about his niece. I think it’s because STELLA might have one or two shits to give about her daughter—and Stella giving shits about something usually means screeching violence from her when threatened or insulted. I may be proved wrong in the upcoming episodes, but I think that with every horrible wretched action and word out of Stella’s mouth, it is suitably complex of her to still care in some capacity about Octavia. We DO NOT KNOW what their relationship is like, if Stella is neglectful or pushy or kind or cruel. We DO know Octavia cares about her mother, cares that Stolas doesn’t love Stella and is taking more time to fight back against her (though Via probably doesn’t see it as fighting back, just plain fighting, because I don’t think she fully understands how terrible Stella has been to him). Andrealphus not suggesting anything untoward happening to Via hints to me that he knows that would not be a productive route to take when trying to talk to Stella.

And Stella is the product of her upbringing just like Stolas: she’s been told all her life that she’s attractive and that’s her most useful quality, that she’s rich and that makes her better than everyone else, that her prettiness and richness are valuable, and hey maybe she’s stupid but at least she’s hot! Her temper is violent, and the fact that she goes to murder as a solution rather than trying to take him for everything he has in the divorce says something about her, too. If Via gets all of Stolas’ things, Stella is still going to be taken care of; she clearly expects her daughter to continue to care for her and maintain her, and if Via can’t or won’t, Andrealphus will. Wanting Stolas dead is about her pride, because how DARE he also be stuck in this boring as fuck and unhappy marriage and then try to get out of it? There is so much about Stella’s behavior that could hint at the ways she was belittled and molded into a seriously unhealthy shape by outside forces. It was her arranged marriage, too, it was her life decided for her from childhood too, it was her utility to produce an heir too. This doesn’t excuse her abuse, but guess what, abusers are also people and have complex motivations and often dark and hurtful pasts and those are important to examine too. Not because Stella’s actions aren’t her fault, but because when you have a female character in a show with a high ratio of non-female characters and she is the only living mother who gets any kind of regular screen time, you want her to have a little goddamn depth, dammit.

Exploring an abusive marriage where the wife is the abusive one is something that isn’t done enough in fiction, IMO; I don’t want apologetics for her, I want explanations. I want reasons. I want her to either be shown to be incapable of feeling conflict because of how badly she’s been screwed over and in turn has embraced her own awful behavior as a deeply maladaptive coping mechanism, or to go through some damn emotional conflict that won’t erase her mistreatment and abuse but will show that she isn’t a one-note harpy wife. Maybe she’s like this because she was made this way (and is too terrible a person to fix it which is absolutely on her but I think there’s blame to share for how she turned out this way in the first place). MAYBE I WANT STELLA TO STAB ANDREALPHUS THROUGH THE HEART WITH AN ANGELIC SPEAR WHEN HE GOES TO ATTACK STOLAS AND BLITZO LATER IN S2.5. MAYBE I WANT THAT.

ANYWAY.

“This kind of situation is extremely unique. A Goetia has never behaved like this before.” Alright I’m calling bullshit, but as I have said before, I do think the Goetia family is more than capable of covering up their scandals. Stolas being an odd duck (owl?) within his own family and thus his drama blowing up without anyone knowing it was coming because nobody bothers to check in on boring stuffy old Stolas (…still want to point out that he’s very young, especially for an immortal demon) is more likely, though.

And here we go, back to the Torturing Stolas channel, where Striker is getting tired of playing with his food and finally finds the ultimate weak point to press: Via. The fact that it makes Stolas go vengeful instead of tearful is another pillar to the STOLAS LOVES HIS DAUGHTER fact of the show. And the knife going all the way through this time makes me wonder if it’s going to have some long-term problems for him. He does have the arm bandage longer than any other bandage that we see, after all, even the broken and stabbed-up leg. I also really want to know what Stolas’ last words were trying to be. “Blitzo…will…” Blitzo will what? Come for him? Avenge him? And I love that Stolas wants his last words to be about Blitzo, not because he doesn’t love and isn’t thinking of Via, but because at this point, he’s already sworn to defend her (even if he really, really can’t), and keeping her out of the conversation is safer for her. Blitzo can handle himself. Via can’t, not against Striker. And Stolas already showed his hand by reacting so vehemently to Striker just mentioning her, so I have no doubt that if and when Striker comes back for Stolas or Blitzo in the future, Via is going to be playing some sort of role in that endeavor.

And not to drive home the point that Striker is poor AF despite being a highly successful assassin, but. Look at his flip phone. Look at the cute little charm on the flip phone. This dangerous violent man has a PHONE CHARM. What a DORK.

I also love that Stolas is so indignant at the idea of “we still need him alive to get some affairs in order.” He might just be reacting to Stella’s voice in general, now that he’s very clear that this whole thing was her doing, but. The AUDACITY of this bitch.

Who wants to bet Striker never got paid for this?

Now. The attempted eye-gouging. I’ve seen it floating around that “if you’re gonna threaten to blind a character, don’t be a coward and do it,” but. Come on. Let’s be a little practical, y’all: if they took any of Stolas’ eyes, they’d have to update the merch :P

THE FACT THAT THE IMP VAN BLASTS LA CUCARACHA. HELL YES.

Splicing the very real life-or-death battle with Striker with the still dangerous but more comedic battle of getting Loona her shot is such a good storytelling choice, actually. Cutting some of the tension while also making it that much more potent, especially as Moxxie and Millie start losing—cutting away from them right as they’re getting their asses handed to them to watch Blitzo getting HIS ass handed to him but in a less high-stakes way is maddening in the best way. Also: Striker’s face when the radio changes to something pop. Beautiful XD Damn this is a good fight scene though. Really showcases how skilled Striker is, because taking on Moxxie and Millie at the same time when they have very focused intent to kill is impressive.

…aaaaand Striker’s immediate discomfort at Moxxie’s unexpected sexual overtones wins me over again. The only sexual harassment I will allow: flustering the villain so the heroes can wreck his shit :P (Please know I am joking.) Tbh Striker has no room to talk, he is LITERALLY FUCKING DROOLING as he strangles Moxxie. This is clearly already kinda kinky for him. He just doesn’t want Moxxie to be into it (very “evil dentist from Little Shop of Horrors” of him).

I genuinely want to know how Striker keeps getting out of these situations. By all rights he should have been impaled on his own stone boner. Sigh. (And I cannot WAIT to see him come back after being burned alive; gonna be messy as HELL.)

Now here’s my question: how in the unholy heck are there so many reporters and paparazzi at the hospital already? I’m assuming Moxxie and Millie called ahead to make sure the hospital could get him taken care of ASAP as soon as they arrived, but what gossip mongers were crouched in wait for that? (Also, the doctors being plague doctor aesthetic: good stuff, very good stuff.) (IF STOLAS KEEPS CALLING THEM LITTLER ONES OR LITTLE CREATURES AFTER THIS ISNTEAD OF BY THEIR NAMES I’M RIOTING.)

And. The tail shot. And the surprise and vulnerability in Blitzo’s face and voice when he says “He can get hurt?”

BUCKLE UP BUTTERCUP YOU’RE ABOUT TO FIND OUT ALL THE WAYS HE CAN GET HURT IN THE NEXT HALF OF THE SEASON.

I need a minute I am WEAK.

Nooooo twinkly pretty heartbreaking tune how DARE you make this moment where Stolas’ final hope of his fantasies playing out, even just this one time, dies even more tragic. It’s so SAD, IT’S SO SAD. IT’S SO NECESSARY BUT IT’S SO SAD. Let’s make it worse: there’s a game you can play with picking flower petals off a flower and you say “they love me, they love me not.” Whichever you say at the last petal is the universe’s answer to the question of whether or not your beloved loves you. (Please keep in mind this is horseshit as far as reflecting reality goes but it’s a pretty sort of ritual to play sometimes.) Stolas is in a hospital room surrounded by so many flowers they cover the floor. A petal falls…he loves me. Stolas gets a text from Blitzo, hoping he gets “bivver swoon.” Stolas smiles. Responds with thanks, and invites Blitzo to come see him at the hospital. Blitzo types…and never responds. A petal falls as Stolas’ smile fades. He loves me not. Stolas sets his phone down. He rolls over, and another petal falls on his phone. He loves me. Stolas nestles into his hospital bed in contemplation. A fourth petal falls…he loves me not. (Though we don’t know where that petal winds up, and it’s a “he loves me” petal that lands on his phone, so maybe????)

I’m FINE.

I’m so fine that I am going to now move on to the next episode and I don’t have to wait for my misty eyes to clear AT ALL.

#quilly's hellaverse theories #helluva boss #helluva boss spoilers #quilly writing

2 notes · View notes

sleepingdeath-sapphic · 6 months

Text

last updated on the 15th of may, 2024 <3

listed below is the second part of my sfw headcanons masterlist containing everything that i have written across all of my accounts featuring a fem or otherwise non-male character and a fem or otherwise non-male reader insert. (note: although heavy preference is given towards cis/trans fem characters and inserts, neutral, non binary, and other non-male identifying characters and inserts are welcome to appear on this masterlist as well).

crossed out links are pending posts

* unless stated otherwise, younger characters are always assumed to be l adults for ease of writing for me *

listed below are sfw posts only

-> anime fandoms (incl. ghibli posts)

hc. beast, doll, wendy and the other first stringer’s love languages (black butler)

hc. new vers. being in a relationship with grelle sutcliffe (black butler)

hc. yandere grelle sutcliffe with a yandere s/o (black butler)

hc. being in a relationship with mey rin (black butler)

hc. new vers. being in a relationship with madam red (black butler)

<- fandom split ->

hc. san comforting her s/o during their period (princess monokoke)

-> animated fandoms (incl. disney posts)

hc. platonic lady olivia and general yunan with an adopted child reader (amphibia)

<- fandom split ->

hc. platonic brandy cattle with an adopted child reader who has type 1 usher’s syndrome (bluey)

<- fandom split ->

hc. being a servant that’s in a secret relationship with merida (disney)

<- fandom split ->

hc. romantic fluff with kitty cheshire (ever after high)

<- fandom split ->

hc. being in a relationship with charlie morningstar (hazbin hotel)

hc. charlie morningstar with a verosika mayday!s/o (hazbin hotel)

hc. being in a relationship with emily (hazbin hotel)

hc. being in a relationship with lute (hazbin hotel)

hc. being in a relationship with rosie (hazbin hotel)

hc. being in a relationship with sera (hazbin hotel)

hc. being in a relationship with vaggie (hazbin hotel)

<- fandom split ->

hc. yandere millie and moxxie with a stubborn and overworked s/o (helluva boss)

<- fandom split ->

hc. being in a relationship with yellow diamond (steven universe)

<- fandom split ->

hc. friends to lovers with boscha (the owl house)

hc. boscha, luz noceda, and hunter wittebane (separately) comforting their injured s/o (the owl house)

hc. eda clawthorne with an s/o who isn’t afraid of her curse (the owl house)

hc. eda clawthorne as a yandere (the owl house)

hc. emira blight as a yandere (feat. edric blight and hunter wittebane) (the owl house)

hc. yandere emira blight with luz’ older sibling reader (feat. edric blight and hunter wittebane) (the owl house)

hc. yandere emira blight with eda’s child reader (feat. edric blight and hunter wittebane) (the owl house)

hc. yandere emira blight sharing a victim with yandere edric blight (hinge poly relationship) (the owl house)

hc. kikimora with a wild witch s/o (the owl house)

hc. lilith clawthorne with an s/o like lady dimitrescu (the owl house)

hc. being in a queerplatonic relationship with lilith clawthorne (the owl house)

hc. being in a queerplatonic relationship with lilith clawthorne continued (the owl house)

hc. assorted fluff with luz noceda (the owl house)

hc. marriage and proposal with raine whispers (the owl house)

hc. raine whispers with a non binary s/o (the owl house)

hc. raine whispers as a yandere (the owl house)

hc. vee noceda with a basilisk s/o (the owl house)

hc. willow park with an affectionate fem s/o (the owl house)

hc. willow park with an s/o that makes explosives (the owl house)

hc. willow park with an s/o that’s a high ranking member of the emperor’s coven (the owl house)

hc. cuddling with poly willow park and hunter wittebane (the owl house)

hc. poly willow park and hunter wittebane with an s/o with anger and self esteem issues (the owl house)

hc. poly yandere willow park and hunter wittebane (the owl house)

hc. poly willow park and hunter wittebane with an s/o that is afraid of thunderstorms (the owl house)

hc. being in a poly relationship with luz noceda and hunter wittebane (the owl house)

hc. being in a poly relationship with yandere luz noceda and yandere hunter wittebane (the owl house)

hc. being in a poly relationship with eda clawthorne and raine whispers (the owl house)

hc. being in a poly relationship with eda clawthorne and raine whispers whilst having adhd (the owl house)

hc. being in a poly relationship with amity blight, luz noceda, willow park, and hunter wittebane (the owl house)

-> game fandoms

hc. being in a relationship with abyss monarch cookie (cookie run)

hc. cuddling with abyss monarch cookie (cookie run)

hc. being in a relationship with avocado cookie (cookie run)

hc. being in a relationship with aquamarine cookie (cookie run)

hc. assorted fluff with ananas dragon cookie (cookie run)

hc. being in a relationship with crimson coral cookie (cookie run)

hc. fig cookie befriending a fem faun reader (cookie run)

hc. being in a relationship with frilled jellyfish cookie (cookie run)

hc. assorted fluff with frost queen cookie (cookie run)

hc. golden cheese cookie with a winged s/o (cookie run)

hc. kouign-amann cookie as a yandere (cookie run)

hc. kumiho cookie with a fem s/o (cookie run)

hc. parenting with longan dragon cookie (cookie run)

hc. favouritism with longan dragon cookie (cookie run)

hc. longan dragon cookie as a yandere (cookie run)

hc. being in a relationship with lychee dragon cookie (cookie run)

hc. being in a relationship with mystic opal cookie (cookie run)

hc. being in a relationship with pastry cookie (cookie run)

hc. being in a relationship with pitaya dragon cookie (cookie run)

hc. pitaya dragon cookie with a pregnant s/o (cookie run)

hc. pitaya dragon cookie with a chubby s/o (cookie run)

hc. trans fem prune juice cookie with an affectionate fem s/o (cookie run)

hc. raspberry cookie with a fem s/o (cookie run)

hc. being in a relationship with snake fruit cookie (cookie run)

hc. favouritism with ananas dragon cookie, lotus dragon cookie, lychee dragon cookie, and pitaya dragon cookie (cookie run)

hc. platonic main four dragons (ananas dragon cookie, lotus dragon cookie, lychee dragon cookie, and pitaya dragon cookie) with a child reader that gets turned to stone (cookie run)

hc. being in a poly relationship with hydrangea cookie and snake fruit cookie whilst being a dragon (cookie run)

hc. being in a relationship with white pearl cookie (cookie run)

<- fandom split ->

hc. hornet + skilled marksman wasp s/o (hollow knight)

<- fandom split ->

hc. being in a relationship with cynthia (pokémon)

hc. being in a relationship with jessie (pokémon)

#sleepingdeath sapphic #sleepingdeath #account organisation #writing masterlist #headcanons masterlist #sfw masterlist

4 notes · View notes

lafcadiosadventures · 1 year

Text

Madame Putiphar Readalong. Book One, Chapter Six:

In this short chapter we return to the theatrical scene format. It’s strongly farcical tone since we are focusing on Cockermouth. The other dramatis personae present are his wife and his henchman, Chris.

Printer's ornament by Arthur Rackham, from Tales from Shakespeare

Cockermouth continues to be a sinister caricature. We learn for example, he doesn't really wash his mouth when getting out of bed, but rather ingests a carafe of Rum, lovingly brought to him by his subordinate, Chris.

(a drink perhaps chosen for its connection with the English navy, piracy, and slavery)(in Three Fingered Jack, Borel imbues the drink with symbolism: it is used to preserve a black outlaw’s head and hand, cut for a ransom by slaves, who expect to buy their freedom with the money)

Chris language is nautical metaphors, he calls Cockermouth his commodore. He is his military subordinate working as his henchman at home, enforcing the patriarchal law at home as much as he did abroad.

He comes to report to his superior, and so, we hear the scene between Pat and Debby again. Stripped of all poetry or feelings. The effect is almost like that of reading a novel and then reading a malicious review by a spiteful critic. (like reading this novel and then the Janin review of it) We know the love and affection that motivated the lovers, the events are distorted by Chris’ cynical gaze. So we get a story within a story, highlighting the importance of how the story is told, of point of view in story telling. Give the same basic plot to five writers and you will have 5 widely different stories.

(Chris adores Cockermouth and sounds extremely enthusiastic towards committing violence-especially to Patrick, whom he detests, for reasons undisclosed for now)(one is almost endeared by Chris, ultra violent henchman drooling for his boss’ approval. He seems so eager to please, he reminds me a bit of Balzac’s Paccard, and his unrequited crush on Vautrin. The difference here as we will see, is that there’s nothing really formidable about Lord Cock. His fits of rage almost finish him, Chris could kill him if he wanted, even Lady Cockermouth could. His power is merely the social capital he has inherited, he himself is a pathetic man)

Via Chris’ story we get confirmation that Debby was being followed, and the stealing of the shawl and the shot were deliberately done to frighten and discipline her into obedience. Chris doesn’t fail to tell Lord Cock that he heard Debby say “my mother has warned me we should be careful!”

Once again Lord Cockermouth has a catastrophic outburst, this time he seems at the edge of a heart attack. When he hears Chris has not murdered Pat in cold blood, he has a massive meltdown. He is a force of nature. His fists thrash the wall, his feet crush the bed’s panels. Even Chris is rather shocked at the sight. He is also utterly heartbroken for having failed to murder Pat, out of submissiveness to his lord since he was waiting for his order. His deference has costed him his Lord’s approval.

Cockermouth sends Chris out under the threat of death.

He rings for his wife (i don’t know why the Lady of the house answers the ringing but w/e, it’s not relevant really, we are not in a realist novel)(she is a vassal of sorts to her husband, so it makes sense in a way)

Lord Cockermouth is completely drained, he cannot stand, he barely can breathe or speak. (i regret to inform that Lady Cockermouth does NOT seize the day and whack his head with a frying pan/vase. Because she totally could have rid herself and her daughter of him)(i mean, her submission is so engrained in her brain that she wouldn’t dare, even if she had the chance, and that is not her fault, it’s years of physical and psychological abuse weighing her down) But she lets him catch his breath. Her shock is interpreted as fake innocence. She tries to win him over with caresses, this triggers a reflex of repugnance in Lord Cockermouth, (who calls her in English in the original text: a saint-hearted milk soup) He has not only beat her to submission, but deepens the humiliation by being disgusted when she acts submissive, like she was trained possibly from before the marriage.

Lord C ironically sings her praises, trying to get her to confess that she has been “prostituting their daughter”, but she is in the dark. So Lord C repeats what Chris has told him. Lady C explains as the reader already knows Debby promised she would end her relationship with Pat. She declares she is ready to respond for her daughter with her own head (a bold move, being a woman in a Borel fiction, betting your head is. Very bold)(the insistence of Lord Cockermouth repeating YOUR HEAD!?!??! would have made me think this was foreshadowing, if I hadn’t read the novel before)

Cockermouth mocks lady C for believing in their chastity. This outrages the Lady. Her husband is incapable of understanding disinterested love, affection that does not expect something in return. How could he understand, when he is a satyr and a faun.

Both figures alluding in coloquial speech to men with a high sexual appetite, but also mythological figures connected with rape. He is a voracious, violent man, and we are not surprised at the implication that he has not treated his wife with gentleness or respect in their sexual relationships. We are surprised perhaps, to see her bring it up, confronting him for it, to defend her daughter’s reputation. Not her right, sadly to exert her autonomy and desires in a way her mother never could.

Lady Cockermouth closes the chapter with this also eloquent reproach to his husband, translation by @sainteverge:

“You have been a bad son: you are a bad spouse, and you will be a bad father, my lord” (will be not as in the future, but you are determined by your past to be a bad father)

Fatalism, or intergenerational trauma. Has Lord Cockermouth been a bad son? Or would it be more accurate to say he has been raised in a brutal manner, taught that this is the only manner, thus perpetuating the brutality? Since these are nobles in an imperialistic country, exerting imperial power abroad, family affairs and state affairs are heavily linked. Matters of the family are perhaps never entirely personal and private, but here less of all. Lord Cockermouth had to be moulded and fitted into the role he was supposed to play.

#madame putiphar #text post #rape mention

7 notes · View notes

danoscigarette · 2 years

Text

Chapter II - The Housing of the Rising Sun

Percy Dolarhyde x f!Reader

Summary: Miss Langtree visits her girls at the saloon to prepare them for a visit from the colonel and his annoying sorry excuse of a son.

Warnings: swearing, prostitution, nothing major

A/N: So apparently the song ‘the House of the Rising Sun’ is theorised to be about a brothel so I thought it was appropriate for todays chapter! Half of it is an introduction to the lovely ladies who work at your saloon! So original character heavy in this one! More Percy entered chapters are yet to come though <3

The sun had only just appeared upon the horizon when you arrived at the Sweetwater Saloon, not only did you have to give the news about the bar's grand opening but you also had to warn your girls about some unexpected visitors. You wanted to get to the girls as early as you could to be able to set everything up and to mentally prepare yourself to see Percy again.

After locking the door behind you, you sighed and dropped to the floor, back against the wooden entrance - no amount of preparation was going to be enough to get you through what is to be a long day.

"Miss Langtree, what are you doing here so darn early, the rooster ain't even squawked yet" you look up to see Amelia sitting at the bar in her pink nightgown and a cigarette in hand. Her ginger hair was dishevelled and her pale face slightly sunken, clearly she hadn't had enough sleep. Amelia is your number 1 gal and has been working under you for the longest out of the group.

"You're up early y'self Lia, I'm here to make an announcement so I'll need everybody up and goin" You manage to lift yourself up and take a seat next to the rosey lady. As there are 7 girls, each girl is not only assigned a room, but also a colour - they of course don't have to wear that same colour at all times, but its a little gimmick for shows. Amelia is the pink girl, her stage name being Madame Rose.

"I gotcha covered...GIRLS! GET YOUR ASSES OUTTA BED THE BOSS IS 'ERE" She yelled on the top her lungs, if ever you were in need of anything, Lia would always have your back and often did a lot of your dirty work (for extra pay of course).

"Ugh whaaaat" you hear one girl croakily call back, by the sounds of it, Esme had been chain smoking again. One by one you hear all of the girls eventually call down from their rooms, an orchestra of whining and moaning about how early it is, all complaining like teenage girls.

"Miss Langtree it should be illegal to get us up at such an hour" Nancy was the next girl to come down, a brunette with bright blue eyes stomps down the steps; Nancy is your girl in sapphire.

"Just wait for everyone else" you place a hand on your hip, you were in no mood for anyone to be giving you attitude, not today of all days.

Next to come down were Esme, Julia and Bella; your ruby, amber and topaz girls. This trio were quite popular in Sparrowdale as they mostly stuck together - including in the bedroom.

"Where's Stella and Marie?" You ask. Lining all the girls up, you take note of who looks particularly dirty, tired, tidy etc, you've got to get your girls looking presentable for the Dolarhydes.

"Coming!" You hear a little song bird call down, Stella stood at the top of the stairs in her purple night dress. "I'm just tryna get Marie to come down"

"I'm comin', I'm comin' for fuck sake. I'm getting my stockings on" Marie calls from one of the rooms.

Although most of your girls can sing, Stella has the voice of an actual angel. If she didn't come from a poor background, she could easily go on to do Oprah or even a church choir; she was your amethyst.

Last but not least Marie, your girl in emerald, finally makes it down - she was the best of the best. Despite being one of the last girls to join your group, she had years of practice beforehand (in both sex work and in entertainment). If ever you weren't sure about something, she knew it all and she could always teach a thing or two to the others.

"Right that's everyone!" You begin, clapping your hands together before walking down the line of women. "I have two things I need to share with ya'll...the first, and you're not gunna like this - the grand opening is going to be a week on Tuesday..."

You are met with a symphony of groans and complaints.

"Bu-bu-bu I won't hear it, we've settled down for long enough, its time to actually get some earnings ladies. Wouldn't it be nice to put on a show for a completely new crowd?"

"Yeah if anyone shows up!" Nancy heckles, you give her a dirty look.

"Well I suppose that leads me to my second announcement... Have ya'll heard of the Dolarhydes?"

The girls whisper amongst themselves, it seems that they all have heard of them at one point or another. You even hear Esme mention seeing Percy getting in a scrap with some random person at the Gold Leaf - sounds about right.

"Well I'll have you know..." you take a gulp and a sigh, you weren't sure how to say it and you really didn't want to say it out loud, it would be almost willing it to existence. "I am engaged to the son of Colonel Dolarhyde"

"You can't be serious!" Amelia lets out a shrill, you are met with a series of "ooo's" and laughter.

"Miss Langtree forgive us, we aren't laughing at you... but marrying that Dolarhyde kid?" Julia asks through tears of hilarity. You purse your lips and look away from the ladies, it was humiliating enough to be engaged to that brute. Their laughter just added insult to injury - but still, you had to keep up with the tough act.

"GIRLS" You shout, almost immediately does the rowdiness quiet down, although they can be quite misbehaved, they respect you as a "mother hen" as Stella would put it. "Yes I am due to be wed to... Him. It's not my decision I can assure you. But it does mean that we'll be getting a steady income from now on. The Dolarhydes are interested in being our sponsors. If we have their name on this place there will be a flow of people wanting to check us out"

"More boys?" Bella squeals in delight followed by more giddy whispering.

"It may also mean we'll need to be doin' more shows, not just the weekend"

"Ah come on!" Esme moans "Shows n' clients? That's gunna be hard work"

"It will indeed, but you'll be paid handsomely. And an actual chance for you girls to get outta this..." you cough in your chest before continuing, "Unless of course you wanna stay in this profession"

The girls mutter amongst themselves once more, many donned unsure faces and others showed concern.

"We can't just leave you Y/N" Amelia grabs onto your hand and bringing it to her chest, her brows furrowed with a sad and desperate expression.

"I mean y'don't have to! But wouldn't it be great to save up and actually live rather than just survivin'?"

The girls give each other a solemn look, each one has been through so much in their lives that have lead them to this position. Marie and Nancy were perhaps the only ones who actually wanted to become a 'lady of the night', the others have no place else to go.

This was the reason why you started up this business in the first place, too many young girls are lost in the traffic of sex work and abuse that you just had to take them in. Of course, you weren't able to just straight up adopt them so you had them work in little shows and waitressing. All being similar ages (and a couple of girls being slightly older than you) you had felt like they were your friends, an extended family of sisters working together.

You had run this group for a couple of years now, back in Sparrowdale you were very successful; one girl in particular you think of often is a lady named Annabelle - she was the first girl to save up enough and move into the city, never having to use her body for money ever again. Anna writes to you quite often and recently she got married to a Lawyer; things like that gave you purpose.

"Girls, you don't have to do anything you don't want to. Heck, you don't even have to stay now. This is the situation I have been given and I believe we should work together here. Save the money up, get a house of your own, or stay here and just buy dresses and good food, you are free to be who you are here. You're my girls and I love ya'll" you get a little teary at your speech, the girls huddle around you and give you a group hug.

"We love you too boss" you hear the them say, they may not always behave or have the best of attitudes, but you are a community and you had each other's backs.

"Well I don't know if y' gunna like me after I tell ya that the Dolarhydes are paying us a little visit later!" You wince with a grin, looking around you see your girls roll their eyes and whine once more. "I won't hear none of it, we've gotta dress to impress!"

Through defeated mutters, they all return to their rooms to get ready.

"Miss Laaaaangtree you're gunna kill us" Amber gives you a little frustrated shake before joining the others.

"There's nothing to worry about, ya'll are gems y'know that right?" You call out encouragingly, there was an air of nervousness in your tone - not that you didn't have faith in your employees, but that Dolarhyde kid could cause problems; your girls were feisty and if he's going to terrorise them like he does with the other citizens of Absolution then there's going to be trouble...and a potential murder.

Slipping in your office you take a good look at yourself in the mirror; not only do you do your business here, this room also acts as a dressing room for you. Back in Sparrowdale, your office was a great place to have a sneaky drink or cigarette during shows, and whenever you are having a wardrobe malfunction; much like today. This morning you rushed getting ready, you needed to be at Sweetwater as soon as to prepare but now you are sort of regretting it. Giving yourself a quick spin you grimace at the sight; unkempt hair, no makeup, the dress isn't the nicest - you looked like you just rocked up after a night out drinking.

"Gosh darn it" you huffed out loud before changing into one of your more formal dresses you kept in your office. After makeup and hair were done, you made your way to the bar where you heard chatter and hurried steps above you; when it came to getting ready your girls sound like an absolute circus.

Once everything was ready, it was all a matter of waiting - your girls all dolled up, the whole building was clean and all was in its place. You had little to no patience, the anxiety returning to you with every passing minute; what if Mr Dolarhyde didn't approve of the place? Not that you needed his support, you would be able to do business without him but a sponsorship? That doesn't come easy.

"Right everyone, they are due anytime now so just... Uhhhh do what you usually would before opening. Rehearse, clean, check stock, whatever. Just be normal and NICE. Treat them like you usually would with a customer" all in unison the girls unbutton their outfits and pull seductive faces. "Not THAT kind of customer for God’s sake, you tryna get us in trouble?" You fluster.

Minutes felt like hours and your patience worn thin, luckily it didn't take too long for Woodrow and Percy to finally arrive at your Saloon. You were alerted by a heavy, firm knock on the door. You cursed every profanity under the sun and bit your fist, desperately wanting this ordeal to be over and done with.

"Welcome Colonel Dolarhyde...Mr Dolarhyde" you smiled at Woodrow as you welcomed him in, your smile drops immediately when staring up into Percy's eyes; he returns the favour by furrowing a brow and twitching his nose in your direction.

"Please, no one calls me the Colonel"

"No one who wants to live" Percy added, his father elbows him with a scowl.

"Ah I see, well is Woodrow still acceptable Sir?" You smile politely, trying your best to disguise your nervousness.

"Yeah, sure... My, what a big place this is" Woodrow stated, he seemed impressed... Maybe, he was an aloof man so who really knows what he actually thinks. Stepping in through the door Percy's eyes stay forward, not wanting to look your way. Whenever his father isn't looking, you give Percy a deathly glare at every given opportunity; he's a lemon of a man, every time you see him its like taking a big, sour bite. At least lemons are good for you.

"Ladies" Mr Dolarhyde tips his hat at your girls, Amelia was behind the bar looking busy, Bella, Esme and Julia practiced their dancing routine and the others were in and out of the room, also "looking" busy.

"Can I get you gents a drink?" You offered whilst walking around the bar.

The Dolarhydes take a seat on a barstool and decide to have a double whiskey each, on the house of course.

"So Y/N how long have these girls worked with you?" Mr Dolarhyde asks, you tense at his voice, and so the interrogation begins. Even though Percy is peering in your direction, he clearly wasn't all there; lights on but no one's home kind of look.

"I would say it's coming up near 3 years now, Amelia here has been with me from the start" You motion towards Lia, she gives a polite pursed smile before continuing varnishing already varnished glasses. Woodrow downs his whiskey in one and slams the glass onto the counter. 'Hmm aren't you supposed to savour whiskey?' You thought to yourself. Percy attempts to do the same but chokes up half of his drink.

You let out a little laugh at this and offer Percy a drink of water - he of course declines. As you giggled to yourself, Percy couldn't help but notice your smile lines and the way you spoke through your chuckle. For a moment Percy considered you as cute; that was until he realised who he was admiring.

"It ain't funny, this shit's dry"

"Quit yer whinin'!" Woodrow hits between Percy's shoulder blades, you could swear Percy’s skin would be black and blue with he amount Mr Dolarhyde had beat his son’s sorry ass.

The conversation turned to more business related questions, like your usual income, how much the place was and what your expected salary will be from the place. Truthfully, you didn't know, the town of Absolution was far smaller than Sparrowdale, so its a fair assumption that your bar won't be as filled every night as your old saloon - no matter how entertaining your girls may be. The whole time you and Woodrow spoke, Percy sat and listened, or maybe he didn't, you could never tell and you certainly didn't really care; the only thing that mattered was keeping his father impressed and interested.

"Anyway Miss Langtree, I am sorry for hittin' the road so soon but I just wanted to get a feel of the place y'know? Plus it'll give you and Percy here some time to get properly acquainted. Just make sure he don't drink too much"

"How bout another drink for the road?" You look at Mr Dolarhyde desperately, he's only just arrived and he's already leaving you with this brute?

"I would but I er gotta deal with some lousy men of mine. Probably pissed on the job and it won't look too good if I was in a state. I'll be back later. Have fun kids" And that was that, Woodrow left the two of you awkwardly at the bar. Silence had never been so loud, even Bella, Esme and Julia stopped performing and went straight to their rooms due to the violent quietness.

Percy's hungry eyes follow their steps, you’ve seen that look many times. Letting out an angry cough, you fiercely pull at Percy's ear.

"OW! Hey now-"

"Will you PLEASE behave yourself? Even for a moment for God's sake" you aggressively whisper, Percy lets out a irritated grunt.

"Well there's nothin else to do in this place so why not?"

"How about a civil conversation perhaps? Or is Mr Dolarhyde too good to be talkin' to the likes o' me?"

Percy doesn't answer, grumbling something to himself, no doubt something insulting about you. His gaze falls over the bottles of alcohol behind the counter, noting the variety of brands and liquors. He was almost impressed, there seems to be way more choice than the Gold Leaf, maybe your bar might be worth a visit after all; especially if he sees those girls again. The lanky man takes a long drawn out sigh before looking back at you; he thinks your a cute little thing with an attitude problem, he would have entertained the idea of marriage if you weren't so mouthy. A quiet, obedient little wife who he wouldn't have to pay much attention to would have best suited him. But here he is, forced to face you head on begrudgingly.

"The name's Percy. If you're gunna keep callin' me that then you ain't gonna get a civil conversation, darlin"

“I’ll call you what I like. Maybe if you got your act together and treated me with some with respect I might actually call you your name”

“Respect is earned little miss” He spat, standing up out of his seat with means to intimidate. You don’t buckle nor flinch, it would have to take a lot for the likes of Percy Dolarhyde to frighten you.

"I don't even know why you're here, you're no good sober than y'are off your face with booze" you argue "Why'd I have to be matched up with the likes of you?"

"I'm not exactly singin' and dancin' myself" Percy folds his arms over like a large child. "Can't believe Pa is making me marry the hag o’ whore's"

"Get the FUCK outta here you bastard!" You threw and empty bottle at him, that was it, you’ve had enough of him. Percy pathetically scrambles away like a frightened deer out of your saloon, you had half the mind to chase after him.

After a few seconds of huffing angrily, you feel a hand rest upon your shoulder.

“Well that was short lived, my they say romance is dead” Amelia lets out an awkward chuckle, your eyes meet hers as you attempt to calm yourself. “He seems…uh…nice”

“He’s quite the catch” you breathily let out a laugh of your own, hand resting on your brow as you fall into a seat. “I probably shouldn’t of attacked him like that… But the prick deserved it”

“Y’ think that’s going to damage the saloons reputation?” Amelia takes a seat next to you and takes your free hand in hers.

“Ah fuck, I ain’t even thought of that” biting your fist, you can only imagine Mr Dolarhyde’s response; either you or your father are going to get punished. “We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it, for now, lets have another drink”

#paul dano #danocel #danonation #cowboys vs aliens #percy dolarhyde #percy dolarhyde x reader #cowboys and aliens x reader #cowboys and aliens

28 notes · View notes