instead of you [part thirty-six] || l.mh
pairing: [best friend’s brother] lee minho x college!reader ft. han jisung
summary: you didn’t expect to spend your summer pretending to be your best friend’s girlfriend- then again, you didn’t expect to fall for your best friend’s brother, either.
warnings: swearing, alcohol
word count: 3k
a/n: revamped my tom holland series from my main blog ( @wazzupmrstark ) to try and motivate myself to finish it!!
“Nice hat.”
You gave Minho a sideways look. “Really?”
“Yeah, it’s cute.”
You tipped the brim at him, grinning. “Thank you. Jisung picked it out.”
“He has good taste.”
You weren’t sure how to respond to the double entendre so you didn’t, choosing instead to direct your attention forward, where your fake boyfriend was teeing up.
Back at school, Jisung had gone off to play golf with a few of your mutual friends once or twice, but it was an expensive hobby, and as broke college students, they couldn’t exactly make a habit out of it. For a little while, Jisung worked as an assistant chef at a nearby country club for a couple of months which allowed him free access to their course in his off time, but juggling the job and his studies quickly became too much to handle and he couldn’t even keep up with his responsibilities, let alone have any free time to take advantage of the course.
Considering how long it had been since he last played, you weren’t expecting much from Jisung’s first swing, but when he stuck the golf ball with his club, it actually went relatively far. Of course, you didn’t have much knowledge of the sport to go off of when it came to gauging how well he was actually doing, but from the looks on his brothers’ faces, you assumed he’d done pretty well.
“Good job!” you cheered, running up to your best friend and kissing him on the cheek. “That was good right?”
He caught you with an arm around your waist and pulled you close. “Thanks, baby. It wasn’t bad, but it could have been better.”
“Whatever, you’re just being humble.”
“He’s not,” Felix piped up from behind the two of you. “Let me show you how a real golfer plays.”
You rolled your eyes in unison with Jisung but stepped back to let Felix tee up anyway, both watching as he took a couple of practice swings.
“How much do you want to bet he comes in last?” Jisung muttered in your ear.
“I’m not willing to go bankrupt over this, sorry.”
Jisung snorted and tried to muffle his laugh in your shoulder but it was still loud enough for his twin to hear.
“Oi! I don’t want to hear it when you’re up thirty points over me.”
“Yeah, we’ll see, Lix,” Jisung scoffed. “Just swing already! We don’t have all day, mate.”
Felix shot his brother a look but did as he was told. He rolled his shoulders and focused in on the ball, huffing out a breath and drawing the club back over his shoulder. He put more power into his swing than Jisung had but hit the ball with the edge of the clubhead instead of the center which sent it flying a little off to the left. From what you could see, the ball still landed on the pitch. It hadn’t gone into the trees or the lake, it was just in a trickier spot to clear.
“What was that you were saying about points?” Jisung asked smugly.
Felix groaned and turned back around to argue with him as Minho came up and took his place at the starting point.
“It’s going to be a long day, isn’t it?” you muttered to Minho.
He gave you a tight half-smile and shrugged. “You have no idea.”
-
It had only been an hour since the boys started and you didn’t think you’d ever heard so many insults and curse words thrown around in such a short amount of time, which was saying something.
Jisung, Felix, and Minho were all neck and neck with each other, with Dom far ahead of all three of them.
The course itself was beautiful. It was just across the street from the resort you were staying at, right on the edge of the water. You were able to see the ocean from the tops of the faux hills on the green, sparkling with the reflection of the sun. The waves were dotted with little boats and surfers all enjoying the good weather and making the most out of the afternoon.
You would have been content to spend all day there if it wasn’t so hot and you weren’t forced to stand around listening to your best friend argue with his brothers.
“How many more holes are there?” you asked Nikki, leaning over and whispering quietly so that the others wouldn’t hear you.
“Too many.”
“Kill me now.”
“Why don’t we get ourselves a drink when the cart girl comes around? It’ll make the time go faster.”
You grinned. “I like the way you think.”
-
You weren’t a stranger to day drinking, not by a long shot, but you didn’t want to get too sloppy while the sun was still up. You had long since given up on the little pact you’d made with yourself not to drink for the remainder of the trip— not that you’d ever really followed it in the first place. Nikki got herself a High Noon when the aforementioned cart girl came by, so you did the same, insisting on covering the tab for both of you.
“Please?” you practically begged. “It’s literally the least I can do after everything you’ve done for me.”
She seemed to think about it for a minute. “Fine. I’ll let you do it this one time. But don’t get used to it.”
You did a little dance in celebration and handed over some cash to the cart girl after she popped the tabs on both of your cans.
“Want anything?” you called to the boys. “It’s on me!”
Felix was the only one to take you up on the offer, both Minho and Jisung making a fuss about not spending your money on them. Where was this attitude back at school? you asked yourself, scoffing at Jisung’s refusal.
“I’m in the lead, I can’t afford to lower my inhibitions now!” Dom said. “But when I win, I’ll treat you to a pint, even though you’re canoodling with one of my opponents.”
“I’m starting to think you guys have something against me,” you accused the two non-participants as you handed Felix his beer. “What, do you think I’m broke?”
“We’re just gentlemen,” Minho said pointedly, shooting Felix a look.
“You are broke,” Jisung muttered.
“Watch it,” you shot, waving your drink at him. “You’re not getting a sip now.”
“Babe, I didn’t want a sip to begin with.”
“Okay, well even if you change your mind you can’t have one.”
He laughed and shook his head at the ground, walking back over to the teeing-off point with his hands on his hips.
Nikki was right, the afternoon did indeed pass a lot quicker with drinks in your hands. They kept you cool in the heat of the sun and the alcohol made the hours blend into each other.
In the latter half of the game, you started to pay more attention. You had finally begun to pick up what was good and what was bad from everyone else’s reactions to the shots and could actually tell for yourself.
“Baby, can you switch this out for the driver?” Jisung asked, holding his current club out to you.
“Which one is that?”
“The big one.”
You selected the club he described and passed it to him, taking the one he’d just used to put back in the golf bag. He kissed you when you met him in the middle to swap the two, smiling against you when he noticed Minho looking on.
“Sorry, couldn’t help it,” he whispered in your ear. “It’s too fun to fuck with him.”
Confused, you turned around to see what he was talking about only to see Minho standing a few feet away with his tongue in his cheek.
“Thanks, baby,” Jisung said, putting his hand on the small of your back to remind you of what you were doing. “You make a cute caddy.”
Minho mumbled something under his breath that you didn’t catch but you figured that was probably for the best.
-
After golf, you hung out with Jisung’s family at the pool for a few hours before heading back up to the rooms to get ready for dinner.
“Do we need to dress nice?” you asked.
Jisung peeked out from the bathroom to answer you, shaking his wet hair dry with a towel.
“Uh, not like nice, nice but nicer than just jeans.”
“Okay, I can do that.”
You turned back to your open suitcase and rifled through it in search of something that fit the dress code.
“By the way, where did you go last night?”
“With Minho?”
“Yeah, you were gone for like hours. I fell asleep and then woke up randomly and you still weren’t back.”
“Minho took me to some beach.”
“Did you have sex with him?”
You looked up. “Yeah. Why?”
Jisung shrugged. “Just wondering.”
You could tell he wanted to say more but you didn’t push. If you did, you’d only be hurting your own feelings. He had told you that himself. Jisung had been very clear that he wasn’t ready to talk about the Minho thing with you so all you could do was be honest and answer the questions that he asked, even if it was awkward and uncomfortable.
You were so used to guilt by now that you almost didn’t notice the fresh wave that washed over you. You knew it was wrong to still sleep with Minho after everything— hell, you knew it was wrong before everything, but neither of those facts stopped you from doing it.
You realized Jisung was still looking at you so you shook it off and picked up a random sundress from your luggage.
“How’s this for tonight?”
“Looks good to me.”
An hour later, you and the rest of the Hans were seated around a table in a dimly lit restaurant. The sundress had been the right choice. The place was right on the water and open to the outdoor air so all of the other patrons were dressed pretty similarly.
Jisung ordered for you after you looked over the menu together like always. Your hands rested on the table, fingers entwined for his family to see. You had been doing this for so long now that it was almost second nature to you. You had fallen into the routine a long time ago but you didn’t even have to think about it anymore. You probably wouldn’t even be giving the action a second thought had it not been for Minho staring at your hands from across the table.
It looked like he was zoning out, like he wasn’t actually glaring at you holding hands with his brother but you couldn’t be sure. You kicked him gently in the shin to get his attention. He jolted and locked eyes with you immediately, erasing any trace of subtly.
“You okay there, son?” Dom asked, patting Minho on the back.
“Yeah, yeah, ‘m fine. Just got a chill.”
Thankfully, everyone seemed to move past it and the conversation resumed. Dinner was otherwise uneventful. The boys recounted the golf game and Dom’s landslide win, while you just listened and nodded along when it felt right. It was a relief not to have to add anything to the discussion. You didn’t have the energy to.
Dom stayed true to his word from earlier and bought everyone a round from the bar at the restaurant. You weren’t a big beer drinker but you didn’t want to be rude so you suffered through the whole pint, ignoring Jisung’s worried glances from the side.
“You know I could have finished that for you,” he muttered.
“I don’t want to look like a pussy in front of your dad,” you hissed back. “He bought it for us. And I didn’t want to be left out.”
Your best friend scoffed and shoved his hands in his pockets. “You’ll do anything to prove a point, won’t you?”
“You know me.”
-
Minho pulled you aside after dinner, once you were back at the resort.
“Think you can ditch your ‘boyfriend’?” he whispered as you both fell back a couple of steps.
You stopped. “What, why?”
“I just want a moment alone with you.”
“A moment or several moments?” you challenged.
He smirked. “I’ll take whatever I can get.”
“I can’t keep blowing Jisung off,” you sighed, “and neither can you.’
“You know he doesn’t want anything to do with me right now.”
“That doesn’t mean you should stop trying!”
“Look, can we not do this right now? When they’re literally right there?”
“You’re the one who pulled me aside right in front of them.”
You watched his jaw clench in frustration but he didn’t say anything else because he knew you were right.
“Can you ditch him or not?”
You sighed again and looked back to Jisung. He was in what looked to be a heated debate with Felix. You didn’t need to hear it to know it was over something stupid.
“I’ll see what I can do.”
-
Jisung barely bat an eye when you told him where you were going.
“Okay, be safe,” he said as he kicked off his shoes.
That’s it? That’s all he had to say to you? You wanted to ask him just that, but you were afraid of creating another rift between the two of you. Jisung had said he wasn’t ready to talk about it so you shouldn’t push, right? But was it wrong to keep leaving like this?
Going back and forth with yourself was only wasting time and Minho was still waiting for you downstairs. Fuck it.
You grabbed a spare room key from the dresser, shoved it in the pocket of your dress, and left without another word before you could change your mind.
Minho was right where you left him, leaning against the wall by the elevator hub. He grinned when he saw you.
“Thought you’d never escape.”
You rolled your eyes at him as you let him lead you through the lobby by the hand. You were still wary of people seeing you together but the lobby was seemingly empty.
“Jisung didn’t care. It was me who took forever.”
Minho paused, letting go of your hand as he gave you a concerned once over. “Is everything okay?”
“Yeah, I’m fine.”
“Are you sure?”
You nodded. “Yeah, I don’t really want to talk about it. So, where are we going?”
He frowned, but only momentarily, quickly covering it up with a smile. “I- okay, um... remember how you said we don’t do ‘couple stuff’?”
“Yeah?”
“I thought maybe I could take you somewhere where we can do that.”
“What do you mean?”
“I’m taking you on a date, silly.”
“Really? Where?” When he didn’t answer, you groaned. “You and your stupid surprises.”
“It’s more fun this way and you know it,” he insisted, tugging you along by the hand.
“I like being prepared,” you argued.
He grinned. “So be prepared for a good time.”
The drive wasn’t far at all this time but you were confused when he pulled into a crowded lot. You were even more confused when he didn’t turn off the car or more to get out of it.
You turned to him in confusion. “Minho?”
“Y/n?” he parroted.
“Where are we?”
“We’re on our date.”
“Yes, but where?”
“Did you not see the sign when we turned in?” You shook your head. He grinned. “It’s a drive-in.”
“Really?”
“Why do you think no one’s getting out of their car?”
“I didn’t really notice, to be honest.”
“Too distracted by your hot date?”
You didn’t spare him a reaction. “How’d you find this place?”
“I did some research the other night,” he explained, “when you, you know, we talked about it. I figured this is about as close as we could get to a real date. At least right now.”
“That’s… really thoughtful.”
He shrugged. “Nah, it’s nothing, really.”
“Well I was going to kiss you, but if it’s nothing—”
“No, no. I want the kiss. Give me my kiss.”
You chuckled, relenting as you leaned in. He met you halfway over the center console and kissed you sweetly. It was short but eager, just enough to leave you wanting more.
You had to remind yourself not to get your hopes up. Sure, Minho was showing interest in you now, but what about when this was all over? Would he want to do long-distance? Did he want to date you at all? You had been telling yourself that it was just sex all this time but now you were on a date... but what did it mean? You could just ask but you were scared to ruin the moment, ruin whatever it was that was actually going on.
You’d been asking yourself the same questions for weeks now and the scary thing was, it seemed like Minho was serious about you. He had all but said it outright to you. And here he was taking you on a fucking date. It was you who kept pushing back. You told yourself it was because of Jisung, but if you were being honest with yourself that was only half of it. You were afraid of getting hurt. You had never been in a real relationship before for that very reason. Well, that and you liked being single. It seemed favorable considering the dating pool of your university.
“I want another one,” Minho murmured, leaning in again.
“Nope, that’s all you get for now,” you teased, even though you did very much want to kiss him again.
His lips parted in surprise. “Wha- why?”
“Because I only promised you one! I can’t just go giving my kisses away, can I?”
“Sure you can,” he argued.
“That would lessen their value. I can’t wager them to get what I want if they’re not worth anything.”
“Your kisses are very valuable to me,” Minho insisted.
“Because I’m sparing with them.”
Minho inched even closer to your face, eyes trained on your mouth. “So I can earn them,” you started to nod, “if I’m a good boy?”
You almost choked on nothing, swallowing a moan. Minho watched your reaction with a self-satisfied smile and then settled back in his seat, turning his attention to the giant projector screen at the front of the parking lot.
“We’ll see,” you muttered hoarsely.
He hummed, still looking forward. “I’ll be good then.”
lmk what you think i always appreciate feedback!!
241 notes
·
View notes
The “Will Has Powers” Basics Post
I’ve realized recently that whenever I talk about Will having powers, I kind of just expect everyone to be on the same page as me, without really explaining much of what lead me to believe he has powers in the first place. I don't really have a good foundation to point to.
So that's what I want this post to be, not really too detailed but more of an introductory post. I'll explain the basics of my Will has powers theories, why I believe he has powers, and what kinds of powers I think he has. I'll be using evidence I've used in a lot of other posts while also keeping it simplistic and not trying to add anything too speculative or theoretical.
Evidence & Powers #1) Nancy's Dialogue and Time and Light Powers
I think one of the easiest pieces of evidence and my usual go-to is Nancy's dialogue in 4x07 when the teens are in the Upside Down. Nancy remarks that the Upside Down is stuck on the day that Will went missing, and then brings Will up again in regards to the lights. Both of her pieces of dialogue here implicates Will as the one who froze time and got the lights to work the way they do.
"The last entry is November 6, 1983. The day Will went missing. The day the gate opened."
"Will found a way. Will. He found a way to speak to Joyce through the lights."
(So I used to think it was "The day the gate opened. The day Will went missing." and not "The day Will went missing. The day the gate opened." but after rewatching the scene it is actually the former. My bad.)
Now obviously Nancy wouldn't know that Will is responsible nor do I think she has some kind of psychic intuition, but the writers would know and are writing her dialogue in a specific way that points toward Will in both instances. Bringing him up by name not one, not two but three times places emphasis on him specifically. I think that
El opening the gate had a part in this, but if it was her solely then I think Nancy's dialogue would read as "The last entry is November 6, 1983. The day El opened the gate." rather than trying to tie Will into it in the first place. Moreover, the gates that Vecna is opening with El's powers don't seem to be updating the Upside Down to modern times, Will is an important piece of the puzzle.
The light thing is something that I do think is solely Will, given that gate opening isn't brought up and Nancy brings Will up by name twice in the same line of dialogue.
The word "found" here is also interesting because it could have two meanings.
A) Will stumbled upon the lights ability
B) Will created the ability to communicate with lights
Had Nancy said "Will stumbled upon a way to talk to Joyce through the lights" it would suggest that the lights is a rule from the UD that has always been there. Nancy saying that Will created the ability to talk through lights wouldn't make sense for her to say because Nancy wouldn't have access to that information. "Found" is the perfect balance between the two— it makes sense given Nancy's access to information while allowing enough room to imply that Will had something to do with it.
Evidence & Powers #2) Will as an Artist and Creation Powers
If you created a tv character who had magic powers, but you couldn't reveal it until the final season, how do you pull it off without it feeling out of nowhere? How do you build up the reveal without completely giving it away.
Well, I would do it by attributing his powers with aspects of the character that has already been built up and that the audience has become familiar with.
It's established that Will is an artist from season one, and his art continues to be important to the plot it nearly every season.
In season one, Joyce is able to correctly identify that El is not because Will's drawings are much more advanced than El's stick figures.
In season two, Will uses drawings in order to help visualize his now memories and creates a map of the tunnels.
Not much in season three, but Will does use charcoal in one scene to demonstrate visually how the shadow particles work.
In season four, Will creates a painting for Mike that becomes an important moment in the season and sets in motion important events for the future (aka byler endgame)
I will admit that this piece of evidence by itself is not enough to convince an audience that Will has a supernatural link. Will is an artist -> Will has powers is a pretty far stretch. But I think that this combined with some of my other evidence could support what kind of powers I think he has, which I think is some from of creation ability. Will has powers because of xyz -> Will is also an artist -> Will has powers of creation is a better argument and what I'm trying to get at.
Without getting into all of the chunky theoretics here, I believe it's possible that Will may have the ability to create whole lifeforms and vast worlds, such as the Upside Down itself and the creatures inside.
Evidence & Powers #3) Will the Wise, Fire Powers & Prophetic Abilities
This goes along similarly with what I said about using Will's artistry to foreshadow his powers, or using another facet of Will's character to hint at powers without giving it away altogether. Although, I would say that this piece of evidence is probably a lot more obvious than the previous bullet.
"Will the Wise" is Will's Dungeon's & Dragons name, which comes up pretty frequently in the show. Will the Wise is confusingly labeled as both a wizard and a cleric, although both classes are magic-users within DnD.
Each member of the party has a DnD class and character, although Will's is the one that get's brought up the most. The name Will the Wise is referenced—
Episode one when Will is playing DnD
In a flashback later in season one
The episode title "Will the Wise" from season two
And in season three when we have our most obvious piece of powers foreshadowing, when Will dresses up in a Wizard costume
During this same scene, Will says that he has "seen into the future" which is why I suggest that he may have prophetic abilities. Vecna displays a similar ability when he shows Nancy the future in her vision.
It's also possible that Will may have some kind of fire abilities, based on one of Will the Wise's attacks being "fireball." (@reikunrei made a really great post recently proposing that Will's fire powers might extend to some of his other abilities rather than being purely a fire attack, but alas I cannot find it ((I am so sorry Wilbur)))
Evidence #4) Continued Connection With Vecna
Another reason why I suspect that Will may have powers comes from a series of questions:
Why is Will the first one taken to the Upside Down?
Why choose Will as the host of the Mind Flayer?
Why continue to have a connection with Will?
I think I could write-off the first two as incidental if the show didn't make it a point to continue this connection through seasons three and four, that along with Nancy's dialogue in season 4 discussed earlier. Could Will's disappearance have been a coincidence? Sure. Could Vecna have just needed Will to be a spy, and is completely disposable to him? It's possible. But if so, what is the narrative reasoning for maintaining this connection? Is it to just for the convenience of having Will as a beast sensor?
Something else that tips me off about Will's disappearance is the why it happens as well, which we aren't really told. We are told with Barb that the demogorgon is attracted to blood. Nancy and Jonathan later use this tactic to lure it to the house.
And yet with Will, we don't see any blood. In fact, they make a point to emphasize this when Hopper tells Joyce that there was no blood on his bike.
Evidence #5) Will's focus in season 5
Despite Will always being my favorite character and loving him so dearly, I didn't start seriously theorizing until I saw this tweet by Discussing Film, which came out shortly after vol. 2 was released.
I know that outside cast and crew comment shouldn’t be taken as gospel, as they have lied before for the sake of spoilers. Which is why I put this at the end, and why it’s not my only piece of evidence.
But still, it’s not like every comment is a lie, and even then, wouldn’t this be a wierd thing to lie about? And kinda cruel? Imagine saying “Oh, this gay character who hasn’t gotten a lot of screentime is going to be a focus.” only to say “Haha just kidding, he’s actually unimportant!” So I’m inclined to believe that they’re telling the truth.
So if this statement is true, then how could Will not have powers? How would you make a character the center of a show about the supernatural, if he has no tie to the supernatural at all?
338 notes
·
View notes
more of these guys :] (part 1) (part 2)
classpect thoughts under cut! yippee
these absolute fools gave me SO much trouble. i changed each of their classes and/or aspects like twice while drawing this lmao.
pearle was going to be a rage player initially! i had her down as one for the chaos — yknow, ‘red’s my favorite color’ and all that. but the catch ended up being that in this au, as rage represents in-game chaos and bloodlust, it only exists while the game is in effect, and so rage players don’t have much dominion over stuff that happens after that period ends (which has all sorts of delightful implications for grienn’s character, but anyways). meanwhile pearle definitely continues playing and also grows as a character even in times of peace. i was thinking in terms of comparing her arc in double life to secret life in particular — ‘she left the tower’ and all that, yknow? she went from being terribly isolated and functioning on a completely independent scale, winning only for herself, to being a key member of a team and finding a purpose in helping them. which is pretty incredibly space-coded, in my mind! my personal qualification for space players is that they’re destined to be lonely, often physically separated in some way from others, for a while but not forever — because space is about creation, after all. and if you look at being a witch from the perspective of reinvention — what pearle manipulated or reinvented here was herself. she found her place in the story and the person she wanted to be. witches are also some of the most powerful characters in terms of specifically manipulating their aspect, i think, which is great because i’ve heard she's pretty great at pvp lol
ignore that martyn’s color palette is not particularly great it’s hard to unify the design of a character who is super rustblood-coded but also inextricably linked to the colors green and yellow of all things. i’ll redesign him later. anyways! at first i had thought there might not be any light players in this session — since light is about sort of seeing through the laws of the game and often deliberately defying them, as well as having a certain degree of control over narrative agency due to this. and because, yknow, the life series is a minecraft youtube roleplay series, realistically the ccs aren’t going to be playing any characters that go out of their way to completely ruin the game or refuse to play it by the rules altogether. but then i started thinking — and i don’t know an awful lot about martyn’s character so forgive me if i’m going a little bit off the rails here — does martyn want to understand? because if he as a character tries to understand and affect his destiny even though he’s ultimately limited by the nature of the story itself, then he could totally be a light player. so that’s where i was coming from here. think about how he won limited life in the end, for instance — not by playing into what the game itself had been leading up to, but by acting on and finishing his own story. he’s a knight because i do think knights are a certified Narrative’s Little Guy class — they persevere through so much pressure and often also have that sort of dual persona thing, both of which are particularly endearing to an audience. it’s hard work, keeping up with the narrative and fulfilling his own quest for understanding while he’s at it!! but he does it!!
renn is Such a blood player guys he is such a blood player ohhh my goodness. playing the game in terms of your relationships with others, right? basing how you go about it on allies and interactions, and being a leader above all else? i’d say that’s pretty ren the dog coded tbh. i don’t have too much to say here because i think seer of blood renn is pretty self-explanatory — he sees the entire game as a game of relationships and ties. he has a lot of knowledge about this field specifically, and shares it with his allies in the way he helps direct them and keep them alive. the reason he’s blood instead of light is because he puts his allies over knowledge, i think — he’s far too busy dealing with all that stuff to speculate for too long what the purpose of it all might be, and that would detract from his goal (of winning alongside others or dying nobly), anyway.
again questions abt them are open forever always :3
85 notes
·
View notes
corrupt ━━━ harry potter blurb.
pairings: harry potter x fem!slytherin!reader.
summary: hate sex with harry.
warnings: nsfw, hints of sub!harry and dom!reader, cursing, unprotected sex, vaginal sex, uses of pet names, slight use of degrading terms and praising.
author’s notes: if you can’t tell this was RUSHED because i’ve been ia for so long here but at least i wrote something. do not copy, post on another site, translate or claim any of my works as your own or you will be reported! nav.
Harry ought to have known better than to be fooled by a pretty face. It was obvious to everyone that you hated him, and Harry hoped that everyone else felt the same way about him; that he hated you. He was supposed to despise people like you, but he got distracted by your angelic feature, which seemed to turn stunningly dark whenever you looked at him or your seductive body, which hardens when he's around.
He hated you.
But he can’t seem to fucking stay away from you.
Harry was still oblivious of this, but you somehow managed to have some sort of control over him. The aura you provide are dominance, sex, and beauty; a dangerous mix to lust and power. To Harry's dismay, both men and women appeared to agree that you were something exquisitely beautiful with power you knew you owned.
You corrupt people and Harry should despise you because of that as you draw people to you, let them excite you, and then discard them; instead, he feels a tingle of pleasure in his bones.
Because of this, Harry didn't think twice when he saw you walking toward the Room of Requirement with your short skirt flowing behind you, robes weren’t present. When Harry walked into the room and took a look around, he felt chills run down his spine. The room was quite dark aside from the candles that were lit around it, so Harry couldn't see where you went.
“Following me now, are you, Potter?”
Before Harry could even move, you were already behind him, twisting him around and pushing him up against the wall with both hands while your sneer engulfed your pretty face. Harry's heart was thumping furiously against his chest as you crushed your body against his, your gentle lips stroking against his ear.
“Wasn’t expecting you of all people to do so.”
Harry attempted to disregard you and your seductive teasing by shaking his head. “It’s not like that.”
“Yeah,” you cocked your head. “Then your dick getting hard inside your trousers against my thighs wasn’t like that?”
In an effort to avoid looking embarrassed, Harry tried to push you away, but your hands curled around his collar wouldn't let go.
“What’s wrong?” you whispered, a teasing smirk on your face. “Scared you’re turned on?”
“Fuck off, L/N,” Harry finally spoke after his humliating silence.
“Ever fucked a girl? Not a Slytherin of course, perhaps the little Weasley?—“
Harry didn't know what hit him, but wrath and intensifying lust swept through him, and in an instant, his fingers gripped around your neck, drew you to him, and kissed you savagely. Harry felt you smirk against his lips as you began to squeeze against him. As you continued to grind against him, Harry's dick hardened, and he realized how easily just a touch from you could cause someone to crumble.
“Come on, pretty boy,” you lowered your skirt to your knees and quietly moaned. “Let’s see if you can fuck a girl.”
Harry spits out, “I don't fuck girls like you,” but he had already started to take his trousers down after seeing your glistening, bare, gorgeous pussy in front of him.
As Harry whimpered softly and breathed, you pushed him more further to the wall and began kissing his jaw, nipping and sucking it while leaving hot trails of fire in your wake. His fingers were also softly trailing down your stomach to your cunt.
You lightly brushed his lips while saying, “What a shame,” but you never gave him a full kiss. “That you don't love fucking girls who can satisfy you completely.”
“You don’t satisfy me,”
“Stop running your mouth and just put your dick inside me then maybe you’d shut up,” you sneered.
Harry sensed that you were challenging him, and a pit of hatred and desire swelled inside of him as he grabbed hold of you, turned you around, and pressed you up against the wall. Harry then entered your cunt without warning. His forehead rested against your shoulder as he began thrusting because it was so tight and the way your pussy swallowed his whole dick and clamped around him made him tremble with ecstasy.
“That’s a good boy,” you moaned, running your arms up and down on the sides of his arms.
“Shit,” Harry groaned.
You gasped breathlessly and pushed him against you with all of your might so that his dick would go much deeper inside of you. “Can you feel that, Potter? Never had a girl take your dick so well, hm?”
Harry could feel his self-control eroding in the presence of you, and even though he could hardly admit it, he knew that if he could just taste you to quench his abhorrently obsessive craving for you, he would die a contented man.
“I still hate you,” he moaned as his thrusts became unsteady yet he hadn't removed himself from you.
“If this is how you fuck with someone you hate,” you smiled, moving closer to his face as you once more bit his earlobe with a wicked chuckle as he whimpered, “Then I don’t mind at all.”
1K notes
·
View notes
what are some plot holes in jttw? would be fun to try to make sense of it as a fan
Hmmm, surprisingly not a terrible amount at least when I did my first and second run-through! It helps that in the story, each arc is nearly a self-contained story within itself so really they don't like contradict each other. But that doesn't mean that this story is perfect as this was made with a combination of multiple of stories that Wu Cheng'en collected and gracefully mashed together to create this novel.
I would say the biggest plot hole you would see people bring up is why Wukong is so much weaker on the journey compared to his Havoc in Heaven. He went against 100,000 soldiers and even defeated the Jade Emporer, about to smash his head in if not for Buddha coming in last minute. And the out-of-story reason is that... there NEEDS to be a story at all and we can't have Wukong bulldozing through every arc, that isn't isn't actually a compelling narrative. In-story-reason we are never given but I have two! One is that Wukong lost power under the mountain, not just from being weakened and he has to slowly regain his strength but that he lost his mental fortitude. Wukong was defeated in battle for the first time (not including his draw with Erlang Shen) and everything he knows about might is right is gone. He has not only lost the battle but also lost the foundations of his philosophy. His actions do have consequences and while he was able to use his power with near reckless abandon he knows how this self-awareness to himself he didn't have before that is almost mentally blocking him from using his full strength, something that even he refuses to acknowledge within himself because that would be confronting that part of himself. Another theory is that the demons that he fights along the road ARE just stronger than demons he has fought in the past. That a new generation of demon, inspired by the legend of the Demon Monkey that took on heaven, gained power rapidly within the 500 years he was down and Wukong found himself unprepared for a new world of demons that were aiming to be just as powerful as him.
The second plot hole you see many times in the arcs is maybe asking 'why is it that Wukong could use sleeping bugs in his arc and he doesn't in every arc' or like 'why doesn't he just turn invisible every and just snap demons neck' or something like why doesn't Wukong or the gang use like their magic powers in more complex plans to take down their enemies and that is similar to the first out-of-story reason that there needs to be a narrative and there is a lot of magic powers that cannot all be counted. In-story-reason is that Wukong is an impulsive man and usually does pick his first plan before thinking out others, as I will say he does show that he is a fan of espionage and can transform into anything to sneak into his enemies' lairs. He COULD just make the whole room pass out when he is just a fly on the wall sure but that wouldn't be nearly as fun.
There was a time Wukong claimed he ate humans but this cannot be true as later Sanzang has Wukong perform a life-giving magic that neither Bajie nor Wujing were able to do because they have eaten humans before. This mostly likely being that Wukong only said so to make a point to Sanzang but in reality, he has never eaten a human because his soul is still pure.
Azure lion appears twice in the novel, once as the Lion-Lyxn Demon and returning as the Azure Lion in the Camel Ridge Arc. This appearance is not commented on but it isn't impossible considering the first time he was asked to be a trial, and the second time he was running away from his Master.
Erlang Shen burning the mountain is most likely him following the nine familial exterminations where all families of a criminal must pay for their relatives' crimes. We see that Wukong actually THANKS Erlang Shen the next time they meet, even calling him his sworn brother, after seeing his Flower Fruit Mountain. While never outright stated this is to be believed that Wukong was grateful that Erlang Shen didn't not follow those orders to the letter and kill all his monkeys, rather he spared enough to still live on the mountain. This would still show Erlang Shen as a rebel in his own right which does follow his own lore.
Bailong doesn't get involved in most of the journey but this could be that he lost his scales and horns in his punishment. While not stated this could have greatly devalued his powers or perhaps even taken away his abilities to turn back into a dragon altogether until they reach the West. We see that he can still transform into a human form but he reverts back to his horse form when injured.
Wukong claims that he got his sleeping bugs from a bet from one of the Heavenly Kings, but we also see that he can MAKE the sleeping bugs with his fur as well... meaning that him having the real bugs is a moot point. He keeps enough to make sure they can reproduce.
Never try to power scale. Wukong is able to defeat Nezha, but wasn't able to defeat Bull Demon King (despite him running away every time before the fight could finish), but the Bull Demon King was taken down by Nezha just shows that all these guys are powerful yeah but like every battle is circumstantial and like while some people are strong, some are stronger just for this fight.
Wukong's demon-revealing eyes unable to tell if Azure Lion or Sanzang were the true form, could suggest that Wukong's eyes are always infallible. This was brought up to me recently by Ryin but Wukong's eyes work more like to see aura rather than x-ray vision, as he can tell when someone is a demon but he can't tell what kind or who really underneath. He does this again in the Jade Rabbit Arc where he knows that the princes is a demon but their aura isn't strong enough that he can tell who they are under their human disguise.
Not really a plothole but they can't just fly all the way to the West cause Sanzang can't stay on the cloud being a mortal. We see this at the end where they recount that he hasn't done all 81 trails and he loses his cloud mid-flight causing the scirptures to get wet.
It is never stated that Wujing ate all of Sanzang's past lives but it could be suggested since Wujing's necklace is made from nine scripture pilgrims, suggesting that perhaps Sanzang never lived past 30 in all his past lives. This is more of a theory than anything else.
Wukong's staff being stolen in the Twany Lion Arc despite being so heavy no one could lift it. This could be that Wukong is able to command the weight of the staff and thus he made it light for the servants to pick it up as they made replicas for the king but that it has to be within his range to make it heavy again.
Sanzang has healing spit and we never get to see that in action again after he cruses his grandmother's blindness.
These are some theories/plot holes that I have found, but honestly there isn’t a lot. Xiyouji has the advantage of having several self-contained arcs within the story that that does help keep up with consistency. I would say that the only big problem is that if a character uses a power in the past, it can be questioned why it’s never brought up up again, but that’s hardly “plothole” and just a miss opportunity. But understanding from a writing perspective, it does require the plot to go on!
Overall, if I missed anything or anyone has any suggestions, please feel free to add!
31 notes
·
View notes
What the magic circles say in Lego Monkie Kid
(U can skip to the end for the tl;dr)
My fiance (skittle) is very good at languages. so last night, they stayed up while i was asleep and decided to rewatch monkie kid (as one does). well, they got to the clone episode and they wanted to know what the magic circle says. this one specifically
they arent an expert, nor are they fluent, but let me walk you through their process.
Skittle has an apple pencil and an ipad, which means they can write things and the ipad will turn it into text. so at first they tried drawing it onto google search, but it wasnt working. they assumed the area wasnt big enough for the ipad to properly read the Hanzi (the symbol), so they opened their translate app and tried there. each time it kept putting a diferent Hanzi instead.
Skittle wrote it over and over multiple times but never got the same one (for over an hour. they got very upset lmao). so they looked at the spell again and noticed something a bit off about it. if you look back up to the circle, you can see the L shapes in the top left, which isnt something you normally see in handwritten chinese. it looked more 'computer friendly' like a font. so they decided to do everything the same, but change those two marks to diagonal lines (going in the same direction). and they got this!
So the spell MK uses in episode 2 translates to "Disappear"
Then skittle remembered the spell Wukong used to seal some of MK's powers. this one
this one was not as easy to figure out
So they followed the steps again, and got this
they were obviously confused. because that IS the right Hanzi, but that translation makes no sense, right? so they went to google translate and put in 'confer a title upon' and got this
not the same thing at all. It made more sense, seeing as it was multiple words, but then what was the app talking about? so they decided to try putting what would make the most sense for the Hanzi to mean, which was 'seal up'
it was still longer, but the first hanzi was correct. so they pasted it back into google translate and got this!
then out of pure curiosity (and because they were half asleep) they pasted it twice into the translator app to see if anything changed
Which it did!
So the spell that Wukong used on MK in episode one roughly translates to 'Seal up.'
Chinese is a very hard language to translate, so im very proud of my fiance <3
(tl;dr the magic circle Wukong uses in episode one roughly translates to "Seal up", and the one MK uses in episode two translates to "Dissappear.")
375 notes
·
View notes
This convo idea came to me. Not seen or stated in convo but, they are in Radio Guard Al's radio tower while he fiddles with his equipment for a broadcast. (Warning from maybe semi graphic description of murder?)
HS!Alastor: So uh asking a totally hypothetical question, one TOOOTALLY not based on any forms of personal experience or what hahahah BUT! Like, if you did, which you know, who knows, maybe you did, maybe you didn't but..uh..umm, again hypothetical, did you ever kill a parent? Preferably, your dad? Again all hypothetical because pfff, who would-
Radio Guard!Al: Oh yeah I did. Not as a child though. It happened after my mother lost her battle against tuberculosis. Nasty thing, attacked the poor things lungs until all that came out of her was a wheeze.
HS!Alastor: Did you not live with him as a child? If you uh, don't mind me asking of course. You can just ignore if this gets too personal hahaha.
Radio Guard!Al:....I did. He walked out on me and my ma when I was...15 or 16? Surprise he didn't do it sooner, the fuc- //clears thorat
Radio Guard!Al: He was...a horrible man. A power hunger monster who seemed the thrive when people were scare of him. A glutton and a hag. He would yell to get his point across and if not that he resorted to threats. You name it, he probably threaten it. All to keep us under his thumb. He find any reason to punish. Any. //deep breath
Radio Guard!Al: But like I said, he walked out when I was old enough I guess. Heard years later he became a born against Christian, HAH. Just more ways to make people fear him I guess, instead of threats with his fist, it was threats of God. Not like his precious Lord did much for him, not after I found him. Fucker didn't even recognize me! I think every higher power I got all of my mother's looks and only the bastard's hair color when I was alive. He didn't even recognize me, not at first, but when he did it was already too late as he was already grasping for air in the baptism water. Didn't kill him at first or maybe it did, but I was so blinded by pent of rage from the years of tyranny I experienced all I could see was red. Took the nearest object...think it was..the chalice you drink wine from and just whaled on him. Didn't stop until the smell of copper hit my nose and I look down and his head was completely caved in. //coughs
Radio Guard!Al: Apologizes, apologizes. I didn't mean to get into too much detail on myself and my fatherly kill. You asked a simple, if not, curious, question and I went a bit too detail. Will add to wrap this up by saying I was lucky enough to be allowed to kill him more than once as you can guess he was sent to hell. So I am one of the few who can brag and say I killed him twice ahah! I do hope that answer you question.
HS!Al: Y-yeah it does, but I have one more, if that is alright...
Radio Guard!Al: Of course! Fire away my little me.
HS!Al: Do...do you regret it? Killing him?
Radio Guard!Al: Regret implies I felt anything towards that monster. The only thing I regret is drawing out his death more, so it may be as torturous and as slow as he deserved.
HS!Al: O-oh,,,
Radio Guard!Al: I believe I hear your Vox calling for you. I do very much apologize if I spook you, but if I may, can I leave you with a bit of advice?
HS!Al: Uh,,,sure! As you said, fire away
Radio Guard!Al: Do not feel like you need to shed tears for that monster nor feel pity towards the what ifs on what he could have been. Men like him, even if given the right tools to change, never will, not unless they know it will benefit them. They are selfish to their cores, and the world is better off without them. You can pity them, you can be anger at them, it's only human. But remember the pain they infected onto you so your heart never tricks you into believing you regret it, because that will only hurt you more in the long run.
Radio Guard!Al: And remember, you have a better head on your shoulders than the most of us. You are nothing like him nor like us, you will go far, child. You will burn brighter than the stars themself. Now run along, don't need your Voxxy worrying into an early hellish grave over ya!
HS!Al: Y-yeah,, yeah! Um thank-you, bye-bye //runs off
Radio Guard!Al, watching him run off: Maybe I have grown soft, or maybe I have just grown fond of the local youth as my time as a stand-in father, but I'm rooting for you. And please...do not end up like any of us,,,
well, this ended angsty oop
-⚔️ anon
That was extremely painful but also probably something HS!Alastor needed to hear, harsh but comforting at the same time in its own way
27 notes
·
View notes
your conan stuff is super awesome! two related questions: 1) did you ever draw masumi? (she's my personal fav, we even have a cat named after her). 2) have you watched the culprit hanzawa yet? it's sooo funny! thank you for your art!
Thank you! :D
1.) I have! Just for that one batch of sketches, but I definitely want to draw her more. (Not-terribly fun fact: while I was working on the first drawing below, my power went out twice and my program auto-saved everything BUT Sera's face, both times. Ultimately I like how it turned out but the initial version? Lost to the power outage(s)? Was better, IMO. XD)
2.) OOooh yes. Love Hanzawa, it is indeed hilarious. I keep up with the manga via the French editions, so I was very excited for the Netflix release of the anime!
171 notes
·
View notes
soooo- do you have more like- dark! Thalia headcannons or just Thalia headcannons in gen?
Not that I can think off the top of my head, so here's some of my general Thalia headcannons.
While on the run, Thalia would take Annabeth to the library. She'd sit on guard beside her and sometimes read her stories.
Thalia forgot what Jason looked like but when she saw him again, she just knew.
Her hair was blonde as a baby but got darker as she older.
Thalia has always fought like her life depended on it.
She watched her mum bury a small empty coffin for Jason.
Thalia has been to her mum grave twice. One when she found out she was gone, the second after Jason died.
She started using her last name after Jason died because she felt it was her last tie to him.
Thalia likes to draw, she has a notebook full of doodles and lyrics she'd make up.
She wanted to be a singer.
Thalia as a young kid thought being Zeus's daughter was the coolest thing ever.
That changed quickly.
Thalia cares about Luke but his betrayal hurt her so much, she can't even think of the past without a sense of bitterness and rage.
She first began to channel through her powers through rage alone.
And though she doesn't do that anymore, its harder to keep a grip on her powers when she's mad because of how natural it feels to let go.
Thalia gave herself purple streaks with Annabeth and Lukes help for her 14th birthday. It didn't come out right at all but she didn't care.
She never compared Jason to Annabeth but she'd often wonder if he'd have turned out like her.
The first time Thalia used her powers was when a monster took Luke by suprise.
Thalia was in a diner once and went up to some older punks and shyly told them she thought they looked cool.
They were kind, shared some food with her because while Thalia said she was just waiting for her mum they didn't completely believe her.
They taught her about their style. Why they dress the way they do and about being punk.
One gave her a patch that she has sewed onto her leather jacket years later.
29 notes
·
View notes
Midnight is not the tallest out there and, flanked by her first officer, she looks even shorter. The fact of her height doesn't matter at all when the way that she holds herself, shoulders back and chin up, makes her seem larger than life. Her presence extends from her body like a tangible thing, pressing into the walls and crowding around the empty spaces between officers. Claire’s breath goes a little thin as Midnight makes her way deeper into the shuttle bay.
Jason, on the other hand, is half there, like an extension of Captain Midnight. He’s smiling and relaxed (if an AI could actually be relaxed) as he hovers just behind Midnight. He’s vibrant in a way that Claire knows is intentional, programmed into him by some higher up engineer that doesn’t want any AI to go unrecognized.
“My interns!” Captain Midnight exclaims, arms wide open. Her smile is almost blinding in its intensity, and a few of the Ensigns around Claire grin in return.
“They’re called ensigns, Captain.”
“Enough micromanaging Jason, let me greet our interns.”
Jason, instead of sighing or looking annoyed, just smiles at the Captain. It’s indulgent, fond, overall very sweet, and unlike anything Claire’s encountered during her training. There’s always respect between a Captain and their First Officer, and Claire’s seen it in many different shapes and forms, but this goes beyond simple respect. They’re more than just coworkers, that's for sure.
She wonders what exactly she’s gotten herself into as the Captain, tailed by Jason, goes down the short line and gets everyone's names.
Part of my current Space Rocks! wip because I'm losing my mind over here.
some more excerpts (and doodles) below:
Sitting innocuously in her inbox, is [If you’re free, come to the brig.]
Claire frowns and rereads the message once, twice, and then gives up on trying to figure out if the Captain is being serious. She sends back a simple, [Brig?] and waits.
[The Captain means to say bridge!] Jason messages soon after.
Considering that it’s a direct message with Captain Midnight herself, Claire figures that Jason spends at least a small percentage of his power on reading everyone’s messages. Or maybe just the Captain’s messages. Either way, Claire wonders what exactly privacy means when the Harmony’s computer is this tapped into the messaging system.
She doesn’t know how long she’s there zoned out and doing nothing, but eventually a chime brings her out of her foggy mind.
“Duncan to Claire.”
“Claire here.”
“Canelli went back into the holodeck.”
Claire sighs, even as she feels a smile tugging at her lips. “On my way, sir.”
Featuring my first shot at an Engineer design -who I've been calling Duncan, based on this spreadsheet- that is very self-indulgent (I have so many headcanons about this guy and I will post about it in time, trust 🤞).
The fic is Claire-centric and it explores what life might've been like on the Harmony before Groovatron V. I wanted to see the crew dynamics and put the experience of Space Rocks! into the Star Trek universe. It's far from finished and it'll be a while 'til I actually end up posting it, but I wanted to put some thoughts out there because my mind is just full of Space Rocks! and I needed to do something before I exploded.
The technology displayed in the drawing are not accurate to the actual date in Space Rocks! but I haven't even touched ST Discovery so I don't have a clue what the technology looks like in that era. I'm just making things up as I go atp
16 notes
·
View notes
SEBtember Day 21 - Logic
The power went out twice while I was trying to draw and post this. Do with that what you will
(Day 17 sketch on my Twitter exclusively - it wasn't very good but it was practice nonetheless!)
330 notes
·
View notes
'the Dostoevsky woman (as distinctive as a Rembrandt woman) with her mysterious face, whose engaging beauty changes abruptly, as though her apparent good nature had been but make-believe, to a terrible insolence.' (Marcel Proust)
+ Terrence Malick, Olga Kurylenko: 'He wanted me to combine their influences—the romantic and innocent side, with the insolent and daring side.'
Nastasya Filippovna - Dostoevsky (The Idiot)
“I know that once when your sister Adelaida saw my portrait she said that such beauty could overthrow the world. But I have renounced the world. You think it strange that I should say so, for you saw me decked with lace and diamonds, in the company of drunkards and wastrels. Take no notice of that; I know that I have almost ceased to exist. God knows what it is dwelling within me now–it is not myself. I can see it every day in two dreadful eyes which are always looking at me, even when not present. These eyes are silent now, they say nothing; but I know their secret. His house is gloomy, and there is a secret in it. I am convinced that in some box he has a razor hidden, tied round with silk, just like the one that Moscow murderer had. This man also lived with his mother, and had a razor hidden away, tied round with white silk, and with this razor he intended to cut a throat.
All the while I was in their house I felt sure that somewhere beneath the floor there was hidden away some dreadful corpse, wrapped in oil-cloth, perhaps buried there by his father, who knows? Just as in the Moscow case. I could have shown you the very spot!
He is always silent, but I know well that he loves me so much that he must hate me. My wedding and yours are to be on the same day; so I have arranged with him. I have no secrets from him. I would kill him from very fright, but he will kill me first. He has just burst out laughing, and says that I am raving. He knows I am writing to you.”
Dostoevsky’s Nastasya Filippovna from “THE IDIOT” (Snegovski _)
“but when he was two rooms distant from the drawing-room, where they all were, he stopped as though recalling something; went to the window, nearer the light, and began to examine the portrait in his hand.
He longed to solve the mystery of something in the face of Nastasia Philipovna, something which had struck him as he looked at the portrait for the first time; the impression had not left him. It was partly the fact of her marvellous beauty that struck him, and partly something else. There was a suggestion of immense pride and disdain in the face almost of hatred, and at the same time something confiding and very full of simplicity. The contrast aroused a deep sympathy in his heart as he looked at the lovely face. The blinding loveliness of it was almost intolerable, this pale thin face with its flaming eyes; it was a strange beauty.
The prince gazed at it for a minute or two, then glanced around him, and hurriedly raised the portrait to his lips. When, a minute after, he reached the drawing-room door, his face was quite composed.
…
Mrs. Epanchin examined the portrait of Nastasia Philipovna for some little while, holding it critically at arm’s length.
“Yes, she is pretty,” she said at last, “even very pretty. I have seen her twice, but only at a distance. So you admire this kind of beauty, do you?” she asked the prince, suddenly.
“Yes, I do—this kind.”
“Do you mean especially this kind?”
“Yes, especially this kind.”
“Why?”
“There is much suffering in this face,” murmured the prince, more as though talking to himself than answering the question.
“I think you are wandering a little, prince,” Mrs. Epanchin decided, after a lengthened survey of his face; and she tossed the portrait on to the table, haughtily.
Alexandra took it, and Adelaida came up, and both the girls examined the photograph. Just then Aglaya entered the room.
“What a power!” cried Adelaida suddenly, as she earnestly examined the portrait over her sister’s shoulder.
“Whom? What power?” asked her mother, crossly.
“Such beauty is real power,” said Adelaida. “With such beauty as that one might overthrow the world.” She returned to her easel thoughtfully.
Aglaya merely glanced at the portrait—frowned, and put out her underlip; then went and sat down on the sofa with folded hands.”
“The prince declares, upon marrying Nastasya Filippovna, that it is better to resurrect a woman than to perform the actions of Alexander of Macedonia.”
“The prince. Essential social conviction: the economic doctrine of the uselessness of individual good actions is absurd. On the contrary, everything is based on individual action.”
Dostoevsky, The Idiot’s Notebooks
Photo via X/Twitter
“All we Karamazovs are such insects, and, angel as you are, that insect lives in you, too, and will stir up a tempest in your blood. Tempests, because sensual lust is a tempest—worse than a tempest! Beauty is a terrible and awful thing! It is terrible because it has not been fathomed and never can be fathomed, for God sets us nothing but riddles. Here the boundaries meet and all contradictions exist side by side. I am not a cultivated man, brother, but I’ve thought a lot about this. It’s terrible what mysteries there are! Too many riddles weigh men down on earth. We must solve them as we can, and try to keep a dry skin in the water. Beauty!
… Yes, man is broad, too broad, indeed. I’d have him narrower. The devil only knows what to make of it! What to the mind is shameful is beauty and nothing else to the heart. Is there beauty in Sodom? Believe me, that for the immense mass of mankind beauty is found in Sodom. Did you know that secret? The awful thing is that beauty is mysterious as well as terrible. God and the devil are fighting there and the battlefield is the heart of man. But a man always talks of his own ache.”
The Brothers Karamazov - Dostoevsky
Marcel Proust: “Well, then, this novel beauty remains identical in all Dostoevsky’s works, the Dostoevsky woman (as distinctive as a Rembrandt woman) with her mysterious face, whose engaging beauty changes abruptly, as though her apparent good nature had been but make-believe, to a terrible insolence (although at heart it seems that she is more good than bad), is she not always the same, whether it be Nastasia Philipovna writing love letters to Aglaé and telling her that she hates her, or in a visit which is wholly identical with this — as also with that in which Nastasia Philipovna insults Vania’s family — Grouchenka, as charming in Katherina Ivanovna’s house as the other had supposed her to be terrible, then suddenly revealing her malevolence by insulting Katherina Ivanovna (although Grouchenka is good at heart); Grouchenka, Nastasia, figures as original, as mysterious not merely as Carpaccio’s courtesans but as Rembrandt’s Bathsheba.”
“This radiant, dual face, with sudden bursts of pride that make the woman appear other than she is (‘You are not such,’ Muichkine says to Nastasia in the visit to Gania’s parents, and Alyosha could say it to Grushenka in the visit to Katherina Ivanovna).”
Photo: Olga Kurylenko: Marina, To the Wonder, Terrence Malick
“Terrence Malick recommended that Olga Kurylenko read The Idiot with a particular eye on two characters: the young and prideful Aglaya Yepanchin, and the fallen, tragic Nastassya Filippovna.”
Olga Kurylenko: “He wanted me to combine their influences — the romantic and innocent side, with the insolent and daring side. ‘For some reason, you only ever see that combination in Russian characters,’ he said to me.”
“Anna Karenina, The Brothers Karamazov, and The Idiot: Those books were, in a way, his script,” Olga Kurylenko says”.
- BEHIND THE SCENES: https://www.vulture.com/2013/04/how-terrence-malick-wrote-filmed-edited-to-the-wonder.html
…
“In To the Wonder (Terrence Malick), Marina (Olga Kurylenko) has a predisposition to melancholy,” Kurylenko says. “She’s a very unstable woman. She’s suffering. So when she meets a man, she sees him as the ending of all her suffering. But it’s just an illusion.”
To prepare, Terrence Malick directed the actress to the bricks of Russian literature – Anna Karenina (Leo Tolstoy), The Brothers Karamazov, and The Idiot (Dostoevsky).
Olga Kurylenko: “I didn’t even need the script after that. Those were my script. I built the character as a combination of the different female characters in those books.”
https://www.rollingstone.com/tv-movies/tv-movie-news/olga-kurylenko-talks-russian-literature-and-terrence-malick-181787/
"Terrence Malick asked me to reread Anna Karenina, The Brothers Karamazov and The Idiot. All the three of them are that thick!"
Olga Kurylenko, 'To The Wonder’, Terrence Malick
“Because life is not a thin book. It is terribly long, and tangled, and dense. Tolstoy didn’t even want to stop War and Peace. Two epilogues, eight new chapters… it was like Time itself in motion. And Dostoevsky, writing these gigantic books precisely because he always wants to start reality anew.”
George Steiner, translated from French
12 notes
·
View notes
"Goodnight, Masters! Rest well!"
As you said goodnight to KUKULKAN, you drifted into unconsciousness.
Darkness. Nothingness.
Quiet... before the sound of footsteps.
Distant, yet near.
Not a dream, but a memory. Faded, but clearer.
Followed by a smell.
...The smell of blood permeated the air.
Corpses, slowly decaying away into data lay strewn across the streets, as bloodstained footsteps wandered forward. The source of the carnage came from one Servant.
An ASSASSIN, his blade drenched red.
He stepped in front of a glowing form.
The LAIR SERVANT.
The gaze of the LAIR SERVANT was intense. His voice tried to keep calm, but wavered ever so slightly.
LAIR SERVANT: "So, that's why you ended all of those lives? To draw me out?"
The ASSASSIN chuckled, the red glow from his eyes piercing the LAIR SERVANT.
ASSASSIN: "…'Lives'? These are a bunch of ones and zeroes that you're playin' dolls with. Killin' them was nothin' like killin' a person- twice as boring and nowhere near as hard. C'mon, you brought them back before-- do it again. I'll do it as many times as it takes, before you burn out your mana on that punk-ass Noble Phantasm of yours."
You could feel the hatred burn from the LAIR SERVANT as he raised a hand, a divine light shimmering from it.
His anger had reached its peak, and now the wrath of a Divine Spirit was imminent.
LAIR SERVANT: "This paradise… this Solar Cell… you Interlopers have come to selfishly destroy it. Destroy this paradise where nobody has to die! A place where I can forever develop the heights of my medicine, and create a true elixir of immortality!"
The LAIR SERVANT continued to burn, a divine flame sourced from a cursed bloodline beginning to leak out from his body. This was desperation. He had wasted his energy throwing wave after wave of Shadow Servants, and then reluctantly the undead corpses of the villagers that had been killed in a ploy to force the LAIR SERVANT's hand. It was an intense brutal strategy that resulted in plenty of wanton 'death', however- it was effective. And now the LAIR SERVANT, either too weak or too sentimental to conjure up the decaying data around them into more undead, was on his last legs.
However, it would be hard to tell with just a look.
ASSASSIN: "What a shame. I figured you'd have noticed by now. Thanks to my Masters, the more blood you throw at me, the more revitalized I become. Sorry."
The ASSASSIN took a step forward, fully unsheathing his blade. The mana around him distorted, burning with an otherworldly intensity. A faint form shimmer behind him, the intensity of two, burning Spirit Origins intertwining and fighting for the same cause, allowing his shine to match up against the divine light of the LAIR SERVANT.
This whole time, while the LAIR SERVANT had been trying to wear down ASSASSIN, the opposite had happened. ASSASSIN was growing stronger and healthier, staying in peak physical shape after each kill.
…You're recalling something about ASSASSIN's condition…!
[ This is T-SUMMONING ]
[ T-Summoning is a trait inherent to your Master status, due to the protocol you went through to reach the Solar Cell. Fusing two Spirit Origins together to create a more powerful Servant. The resulting Servant possesses the highest statistics of both fused Servants, however this power comes at an intense mana cost. This can either be ended once the Servant triggers their Noble Phantasm, runs out of mana to supply the boost, or can be stopped manually. However, either a contract needs to be made with both Servants, or a Servant's Spirit Core is captured before it's destroyed. Additionally, the maximum HP and MP is raised by 2! ]
[ ASSASSIN is currently equipped with the 'PHANTOM COUNTESS' Spirit Core! ]
This was it.
The LAIR SERVANT was in your way, but once he was killed, that would be one more key- and one more path opened to the Solar Cell Core.
ASSASSIN: "Alright, Masters. Time to end this!"
( '5-option polls' function similarly to 4-option polls, with the fifth option usually involving triggering or cancelling a specific skill. If the 5th option doesn't win out, the voting percentage for that option will be evenly dispersed among the first 4, and then the success results will be calculated like if the poll had only 4 options. )
SERVANT: SLAYING ASSASSIN
T-SUMMONED: [PHANTOM COUNTESS]
Strength: C
Endurance: D
Agility: A (Raised from B)
Mana: C (Raised from E)
Luck: D (Raised from E)
NP: B (Raised from C)
HP: 7/5
MP: 9/7
Maximum Damage (Strength): 7 (Increased due to the amount of blood present!)
Maximum Damage (Mana): 7 (Increased due to the amount of blood present!)
Skills:
Man-Slayer (A) - A sword skill specialized in cutting down humans.
Mind's Eye (Fake) (C) - The skill to avoid danger through pure intuition.
Swordplay as Swift and Powerful as a Falcon (A) - The renowned, unmatched, unique swordsman style of ASSASSIN.
Torture Technique (A) - The deep understanding and precise execution regarding methods of torture, when using torture tools, the efficacy is increased.
Bloodsucking (C) - The act of absorbing another's blood to restore one's own vitality.
Bath of Fresh Blood (A) - This Servant becomes even more effective when drenched in blood.
42 notes
·
View notes
1) Scenario: Due to some time travel shenanigans, Robin!Dick travels forward in time and he runs into Mar’i and Jake while they were on a case together. How do you think it goes from there? 
2) Who are Chris, Jon and Jake’s favorite anime characters?
3) Can you see Chris and Jai challenging each other to a race and like Barry Allen, Jai holding back his true speed extensively?
4) Is Zod Chris’ Archnemesis in Earth 66?
5) the following you may ignore if it makes you uncomfortable;
On a scale of 1 to 10 with 10 being the highest,
How sensitive to tickle attacks are Mar’i, Chris, Jon and Jake?
Good questions! (1 & 4 is gonna be long XD)
Before I answer #1 I want to do some background info: After Time Commander (Super-Sons villain) got humiliated & jailed by Jake, Mar’i & Nightwing (mar’i burned his outfit leaving him naked & Jake gave him a wedgie). He busted out after a week & went back in time to make sure the kids weren’t born by killing Nightwing. (Note: Nightwing & Starfire went on a honeymoon, so it’s just Jake & mar’i by themselves for a few days). Time Commander (John Starr) found a newly trained Robin roaming the streets for a test for Batman. But the kid was tougher than he looks, Starr had a sore jaw & a sore crotch & both fell into a portal going back to the future & he ran away to rethink strategy. Robin (Dick Grayson) tried to find him but instead found two twins fighting a group of thugs.
1: Mar’i & Jake were trying to solve the mysterious case of the Tally Mark Slasher (hint hint 😉) (also Jake was wearing a Robin outfit for the giggles) when they met Robin & realize that he was their dad when he was their age & tried their best not to mess up the timeline. So the three of them decided to help each other’s problems & send Robin back to the past. (Without revealing too much info about themselves) After a few hours kicking butt & interrogation thugs, they managed to find the killer himself, frozen in time: Victor Zsasz, & Time Commander himself stealing money (cause reasons XD) the three of them mange to stop Time Commander & put him in handcuffs for the cops. Before Robin leaves back to his time, he has something to ask:
Robin (Dick Grayson): How important is me being Robin?
Jake: really important! hundreds of sidekicks wouldn’t exist without your influence, & all thanks to you, we are able to live because of you, you gave everybody hope! You’re the heart of sidekicks.
Mar’i: yeah, what he said.
The three hugged before Robin goes back to the past…….Victor Zasasz was freed from time freeze & was in handcuffs, confused on why his pants were around his ankles, underwear pulled up from his butthole, & some childish drawings were on him; especially a Robin symbol on his chest. (*wipes sweats on forehead* darn I need a break XD)
2: Chris: Gohan, future trunks, gogeta, broly (dbz), Tokoyami, deku, shoto, Ochaco ( my hero academia), Obito, naruto, Kakashi, mintato, sasuke (Naruto)
Jon: Goku, (canon) goten, gotenks, gogeta, future trunks, hit. (DB) naruto (canon) sasuke, itachi, rock Lee (naruto) izuku, bakugo, all-might, shoto, (MHA) Luffy, ace, sabo, zoro, & chopper (one piece).
Jake: goku, gohan, vegito, cabba, broly. (Dbz) naruto, itachi, pain, (naruto) izuku, dabi, twice, all-might (MHA) luffy, sanji, chopper (One Piece).
3: yup XD & when Jai decided to use his speed full power he decides to taunt Chris either: pulling down his lower eyelid & sticks tongue out, gives the middle finger(s), show his bare butt & spanks it (maybe kisses his hand first) or saying meep meep! & speeds off leaving Chris in the dust.
4: yes, but as a one off villain, let me explain: I do like the idea of zod escaping from the Phantom Zone years later instead of a few days (great idea bud) but instead of joining zod because of his “background,” Chris was a sleeper agent (in my universe).
When space pirate Amalak (from new earth’s Superman comics) invades earth (when Chris was 12) to hunt down Kryptonians, he accidentally triggers Chris’s “sleeper agent code”: zod. (By telling Chris he looks just like him) days later, at night, Chris sneaks off to the fortress of solitude & frees zod & 30 other kryptonian criminals from the zone, kneeling to them.
The next day, zod & the criminals did an invasion in Metropolis. (As seen in the Last Son book) the superfamily (Clark, Kara, Karen, Kon, Jon 11, & krypto)the justice league, Young Titans, & the special police force with kryptonite weapons defends the city; The only kryptonians left were zod & Chris (Some were taken down non-lethally & the rest killed). After seeing NightStar gets trapped by broken buildings, Chris breaks free from his programming, & unleashed a power nobody ever seen before: Dark Phantom mode.
(In my universe, after a beaten by his dad, Chris was thrown outside the prison where he was born, slowly dying from the pain, when suddenly, a mystical blue dragon called NightWing (who created the zone in my universe; a myth) appeared out of nowhere & went into his body as pure energy to heal him & gave him unique abilities that needed to be unlocked somehow.)
Chris (in the present) with Superman, fought Zod (a less brutal version of the invincible vs conquest fight) & snaps zod’s neck (like man of steel) using his darkness powers to save Superman from being killed. Chris screamed in pain & sadness, being comforted by his “dad” Superman. A fe days later, Superman takes Chris in outer space saying you belong here, you belong. Then, they went back down to earth to their home in Hamilton county & did a big group hug with his “family.”
5: since they’re kids, probably between 8-10; on the feet, stomach, rib cage, & on the thighs when grabbed.
Whew! That took a while. Let me know if you got more questions buddy! :D
8 notes
·
View notes
another thing i hate about the tekken fandom is how some ppl call jin a "gary stu/mary sue" (then again since when has any comfort character i love ever NOT been called that ex. superman from dc comics and aizen from bleach). like if he really was a gary stu, he would've kicked kazuya's ass in the start of tekken 8 and then kazuya throws a temper tantrum or something. but no, my boy got his shit rocked and got washed badly. kazuya doesn't cry like a baby when he loses to jin. also he fucking loses to hwoarang and miguel. jin also has character flaws like being a tad anti-social due to trust issues by heihachi betarying him and fear that those he cares about might get hurt in the crossfires of his dangerous life. like wtf...then again like i said, literally every character i adore is called that guess i'll just continue to get used to it while enjoying my pookies.
the thing about gary stu / mary sue is that people had completely forgotten what it meant and now believe it means any powerful / strong character. even though the original definition of gary stu / mary sue wasn't Strong Character, but it meant a character that never had any losses, always wins and is good at everything, even skills they realistically wouldn't have, character that has zero flaws (or if they do have "flaws," they're not really flaws / they're likeable flaws) and a character that is virtually liked by everyone (except the bad guy and usually that's just because the bad guy is either jealous or somebody to be hated.)
most people cite tekken 4 as to why jin's a "mary sue" because he was able to defeat kazuya and heihachi. but like. it's important to note that heihachi has been defeated by kazuya at least twice in canon now - so defeating heihachi isn't the Biggest Feat that his fans like to make it out to be. and also heihachi is a strong human, but in the end, he's just a human. and then like, kazuya couldn't even beat paul (they also fought to a draw) and kazuya has canonically lost to heihachi once as an adult. and then we saw how lars has held up his own to kazuya (also just a human). so... we've seen how kazuya can struggle against mere humans before, why is it so shocking he'd lose against a mishima + hachijo (devil) + kazama descendent? also despite being related to one powerful bloodline, and two bloodlines with supernatural powers, it's not like jin is an Expert at Fighting because the lore Said So, jin worked fucking hard to earn his skill. jin spent 4 years straight doing nothing but strenuous training to fight a god. i'm not gonna belittle kazuya's efforts either, but heihachi probably did train jin harder than kazuya given the circumstances (there was likely a time limit as to when heihachi wanted to lure ogre in with the tournament, and he knew he was gonna set jin up against a god/beast. kazuya never ever had to go up against anything like that in tek1.) then after this, jin went another 2 years straight training to learn karate. jin trained, probably virtually nonstop and pushed himself to over the edge, for 6 years. jin is also an expert in three styles of martial arts, which is more than many of the, if not most, of the fighters. we've seen him earn this. it isn't like he didn't do a damn thing and is just good because the story Wants him to be!
tbh it's probs noncanon that jin lost to miguel as most tek endings are noncanon. but still - jin did lose to hwoarang (err... at least came to a draw with him. devil jin canonically lost to him tho LMAO) i guess he lost to lars, too in tek6 as well? and so on - jin has had many losses. there's a reason i often call him a Failboss. and jin's flaws probably outweigh his pros so like... no way jin's a mary sue and i just find it annoying when people try to insist on it. especially when these fans tend to be the type who think heihachi or kazuya can never lose to anyone else haha
i just wish people would realize that powerful characters, even characters who are very skilled in fields, aren't mary sues / gary stus. a character can be powerful and talented and still be a compelling character who isn't perfect.
7 notes
·
View notes
— WIP WEDNESDAY
tagged by the lovely @inafieldofdaisies
no pressure tags: @marivenah @sstewyhosseini @socially-awkward-skeleton @adelaidedrubman @aceghosts @voidika @shegetsburned @florbelles @detectivelokis @corvosattano @jackiesarch @kyber-infinitygems @simonxriley @jinfromyarikawa @theelderhazelnut @v0idbuggy + anyone else that would like to share a wip!
In a shocking turn of events, I actually started writing a bit for Lorna! No clue where it’s gonna go, but I’ve been inspired by my recent gameplay
Lorna laid her foot into the gas pedal and reveled in the purr of the engine on the open road. On a bright and sunny day like this, the black paint of her car would bake her from the inside out, but with all the windows rolled down and the wild wind in her dark, choppy hair, she wasn't bothered by it. Her favorite classics blasted through the stereo and she could almost pretend it was just a regular old Sunday afternoon. Almost.
Out of the corner of her eye, Lorna noticed movement in the sky. She glanced out of the driver’s side and spotted one of the cult’s dogfighters circling in the distance. They were too far away to cause her any trouble, but she kept moving. She wasn’t in the mood to tempt fate with that thing.
Just as her anxiety began to fade from the looming threat, she turned her attention back to the road. She peaked over the crest of a hill and saw a thin column of black smoke next to a line of white trucks about a couple hundred yards out. Another goddamn barricade.
“God forbid I drive a fuckin’ mile in this county,” Lorna grumbled to herself. She slammed on the brakes, turning the steering wheel with a screech of rubber on asphalt to place her vehicle perpendicular on the road.
Lorna swung the car door open impatiently and walked around to retrieve her sniper rifle from the trunk. Picking the Peggies off from a distance always seemed the best strategy for her. Or maybe she just enjoyed watching them scurry for cover through her scope.
The long barrel of her rifle rested on the roof of her beloved 1970 Kimberlite ZZT as she took aim. It had never been that pristine of a ride to begin with, but every bullet hole, dent, and scratch from the cult left her as furious as seeing her fellow deputies in peril. Add it to the list of things they’ll pay for, she silently vowed. I’ll sure as hell make ‘em feel it.
Lorna’s bullets found the skulls of three Peggies before they even noticed what happened. Another man tripped over himself while he tried to scramble away. She put him down with a shot in the back. It might not have been the classiest kill, but she was too tired to fight honorably anymore.
“Maybe don’t block the damn road, dumbass,” She said under her breath and aimed at the last man standing. Almost done.
This Peggie had a handgun in his grip, but he didn’t aim it at Lorna. She saw his arm shoot upwards and they both pulled their triggers at the same exact time. His body went down. The flare went up.
“Shit.”
Lorna’s head jerked behind her to where she saw the plane a few minutes earlier. The aircraft in the distance immediately changed course in her direction. Its chrome plating flashed so brightly in the sun that it made her squint. She had about fifteen seconds tops before it converged on her position.
With the barricade opened, she might stand a chance to flee. There were enough pines to make it too difficult for the pilots to get a clear shot. But Lorna realized she didn’t want to run. If she wanted Eden’s Gate to take her seriously – to think twice about the power they held over Hope County – well, Lorna would have to continue pulling off extraordinary feats to keep their attention.
“Oh, fuck it,” she groaned.
The deputy marched down the middle of the road. Away from her car. Away from any cover whatsoever. She wanted them to see her as clearly as she saw them. Then she knelt on one knee and hefted her rifle up, staring down the scope and watching the plane draw closer. In order to get the best opportunity, she would have to wait until the last possible second.
They spotted her. Lorna saw the tip of the plane dip into an almost nosedive, their guns aligned and ready to fire. Her finger hovered over the trigger as the sensation of her heartbeat overtook her whole body like a heavy drum being struck inside a silent opera house.
They got within range and Lorna heard the whirl of the plane’s weaponry. A few bullets peppered the road around her, but her coiled muscles kept her locked in place. The closer they got, the more accurate their aim was. She needed to see the shape of the pilot’s head at least.
“Come on, come on,” she mumbled through clenched teeth.
Finally, she made out a silhouette in the cockpit and fired. With a small spark, she saw her bullet ricochet off the metal frame of the aircraft. Miss. It swerved left and circled for another attack. Lorna shifted her weight in frustration and leaned back into the stock of her rifle. She was determined, even if it took the entire magazine to take this damn plane down.
The plane lined up once more and didn’t hesitate to begin firing on the lone deputy. Lorna wouldn’t wait either. Don’t think too hard or you’ll fuck up your aim, a familiar gravel-rough voice echoed in her head along with the memory of the comforting scent of tobacco. She didn’t really need to see the pilot to know where they were. All she had to do was fire into the cockpit and have faith.
Her finger gently squeezed the trigger and the kickback punched into her shoulder. This time, there was no spark. Lorna blinked and the aircraft suddenly dipped downward and spiraled out of control. She tracked the plane’s descent all the way into the field to her left. A broad grin gradually came across her face as it tore up the soil and brush with a loud crash, the accompanying fireball more satisfying than the illegal mortars her father would buy for the Fourth of July.
Lorna let out a sigh of relief and straightened, nodding at her own accomplishment. “That’s fucking right.”
One less buzzard off her back. Not a bad day’s work.
22 notes
·
View notes