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hunxi-guilai · 4 years

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can you please tell us more about du fu being a loser? I would love to hear more about this :)

(blink and you’ll miss it from this post)

Seemed like a good time go finally get around to these asks (especially @anon – I’m so sorry, I’ve been sitting on this for like, a month) since I finally wrote that long-ass post about poetry in CQL.

Okay, confession time, here’s what I got: I’ve been slandering Du Fu’s good name. He’s not really a loser. But when you read his poetry and only his poetry for a solid semester, track his life through the vast historical upheaval in the Tang Dynasty, you start to feel like you’re too familiar with him as a person and can no longer respect him for the Towering Literary Figure that he is.

Okay but who is Du Fu?

I keep making references in various posts to 李杜白 LiDuBai, the poetic triumvirate of 李白 Li Bai, 杜甫 Du Fu, and 白居易 Bai Juyi, who are certainly the three most famous poets of the Tang Dynasty if not also the best. Li Bai and Du Fu usually trade the position of ‘best poet in Chinese history,’ depending on the personal tastes of whoever you ask.

Of the trio, 杜甫 Du Fu, courtesy name 杜子美 Du Zimei is the one known alternately as the 诗圣 shisheng / the poet-sage for the strong moral valences in his poems, and the 诗史 shishi / the poet-historian for his exhaustive (and I do mean, exhaustive – we have close to 1,500 of his poems extant, which is wild considering that he lived during the 8th century CE. How many texts from Europe can you think of from 700?? Had history even been invented then???). Like 99% of the literati in imperial China, he sought employment in the imperial bureaucracy, and had even landed himself a decent starting place for his career when the An Lushan Rebellion burst onto the scene and ruined everyone’s lives (and also the Tang Dynasty, which was never the same afterwards). The civil and social unrest for the following years disrupted everything – his future aspirations, his income – and his poetry (which he was already pretty dedicated to before) became his sole outlet for expressing his frustrations and worries.

The thing to know about Du Fu is that the man writes like it’s a reflex, like it’s the exhale to every inhale he takes (insert obligatory Hamilton shout-out here); he writes poems about his journeys, his escapes, his exiles; about his family, his longing for them, his homecoming to them; about hawks, paintings, paintings of hawks; about trees, withered cypresses, towering nanmus, and their metaphors for the stability of the state; about boats, his garden, the broken thatched roof of his cottage; about scenery, natural landscapes, terraces; about a bowl of cold noodles, his adorable, senpai-notice-me admiration for Li Bai (the two were contemporaries and had met, but Li Bai wrote Du Fu maybe one poem whereas Du Fu wrote him like, a dozen), about distant friends… the man wrote so much that our biographies of him are based primarily on his poetry (and, unlike Qu Yuan, we actually think said biographies are decently reliable). He wrote poetry like diary entries, as if he had been told that his life’s work would be the only surviving historical record of the entire Tang Dynasty (it’s not, but you can write a pretty decent account of what was going on at the time just by close-reading his poetry).

Du Fu is an undisputed master of the regulated-verse form, in which each line must contain the same number of characters (along with all sorts of other rules about the tonality of characters in certain positions and parallelism – it honestly gives me a headache, and I survived the Chuci). Li Bai may get a fun little chengyu about his diligence (铁杵磨针 tiechumozhen, lit. “grinding a metal bar into a needle” –story goes that young Li Bai was rambunctious and playful and didn’t want to study hard, but he ran into an old lady sitting in her yard who was dutifully grinding a metal bar with the purpose of eventually grinding it down to a fine needle, and was so impressed by that dedication that he immediately ran back home to study), but Du Fu was the one who really knuckled down and put hours into the grind. Regulated verse is hard to do well – you get poets contorting their language in all sorts of awkward ways to adhere to the rigidity of the form, but Du Fu writes it like – well, like breathing, like thought, because he lives and breathes his thoughts in poetry.

Okay, so, why is he a loser?

Because he loses – one of his infant sons, his dreams, his future; his opportunities, his naivety, his dreams. He’s harried on all sides by corruption, famine, and war; he struggles to reconcile the ordered world promised to him in the classics he grew up memorizing with the chaos and struggle that surrounds him now. His life is a long, unending string of failures, but his beliefs and his personality compel him to keep on trying.

He never stops writing poems.

I call Du Fu a loser with great fondness because he feels so uncomfortably real: here is a man of not inconsiderable talent (though how can you know this, in your own life? Du Fu’s celebrity today is 100% posthumous), who tries and tries and tries to succeed in the ways that society has told him to, but it just never works out; he tries to leverage the privilege of his literacy to give voice to the downtrodden common folk, but is shouted down and ignored; he hopes so bitterly and painfully, first for grand things like the trust of the emperor and widespread fame, and then for smaller and smaller things as the world breaks him down: a worthwhile job, to make it home, a roof that doesn’t leak, enough money to get him through the next month, for others to listen to him, to recognize him, to know him – and so very few do. He tries to rationalize this to himself, to embrace the aspects of Daoism that would let him cut loose from the world a bit more and not to hold these failures too closely to his heart, but in the end, can’t quite let go of that Confucian/Ruist compulsion to do something, to be of service.

I call Du Fu a loser because he is a loser – seriously, who writes so much poetry? Get a life my dude – but also because I’m even more of a loser. I’m not even a minor civil servant in vast and sprawling imperial bureaucracy – I’m less than a year out of college without a real job to my name – so for me to read Du Fu, this poet-historian, this colossus of the Chinese literary tradition, this absolute loser of a man who writes odes to his noodles and gets emotional about trees…

…yeah, it gets me on a level that I’m not quite ready to unpack, so for now, I’ll just fondly call him a loser on the internet.

#also sue me I'm a Li Bai kinda person #ask and ye shall receive #Du Fu is a loser #Du Fu is also very busy

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bonjourmoncher · 5 years

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ineedarealitycheck · 7 years

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Life doesn’t discriminate Between the sinners and the saints It takes and it takes and it takes and it takes ... X

#kubo and the two strings #hamilton #and here we have every fandom's obligatory reference to Wait For It #ineedarealitycheck #kubo edit

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ghostmartyr · 5 years

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SnK 121 Thoughts

Where’s the clip... someone had to have clipped it. Or I could just not interfere with my tentatively obligatory aesthetic and do this the less fun way. Less fun does indeed sound like me, so

There’s this DragonBall Z Abridged line.

From one of the Bardock specials.

You know. Bardock.

He can see the future.

He has a line about all the conveniences this ability causes his life.

-ahem-

USELESS ASS PSYCHIC POWERS.

Do I even need to write this? Can it just be a chorus of what the fuck over and over? Because sincerely, what the fuck? What the fuck? What the fuck what the fuck what the fuuuuuuuuck.

That doesn’t even have a tune. I sort of imagined one in my head, but I’m sort of caught up on how this makes everything worse, better, and changes absolutely nothing because it’s still Eren and Zeke being on the most disastrous family trip this world has ever seen.

Let’s review.

In the way that Angelica reviews Alexander Hamilton’s quality choices in the musical.

So we’ve got Eren, who is basically dying after his epic war games decision (good grief I haven’t even read War Games, but is he Stephanie Brown in this analogy? is that what we’re dealing with? is he somehow both Stephanie Brown and Batman?) that was intending to lead into him holding his brother’s hand.

His head is shot off.

Lest we forget.

Zeke caught it.

Because he’s a Good Big Brother.

That quality pro-genocide big brothering.

Brought to you by Dad.

Yeah so. Zeke and Eren, down memory lane. In an Inception of their own making, only like. Actually Inception. I am going to make this post take nine times longer than it has to because I’m going to keep making pop references instead of dealing with the content.

Inception is a movie where the plot is for a heist team to go in and plant an idea inside someone’s head so that it grows into a genuine change for the world, breaking up a giant monopoly of power and slowing human civilization’s speedy erosion. #Spoilers, I guess.

...The things I bring up in these posts are always keenly relevant, good fuck.

So that we continue to all be caught up, Eren is playing out the part of the first time this is done, where the main character plants an idea in his wife’s head that leads to the destruction of his life and her death.

With his dad playing the part of wife.

Anyway, Zeke and Eren are having an Inception.

In the real world, Zeke is holding his little brother’s decapitated head while Paradis is attacked by Marley (soon to be the entire world) due entirely to Eren and Zeke’s choices. The objective of which, for each of them, was holding hands.

Eren’s aim for that is unknown, while Zeke is shooting for a passive genocide that the narrative is making look like the more reasonable decision based on the fuckery that has become of the unscrewed nuts and bolts inside Eren’s head.

To be clear, neither one is being reasonable.

This is a trash fire of bad decisions.

Where the person rooting for genocide mostly just has the edge of probably being the same person throughout the entire chapter, as well as his life history, while the person with the unknown aims is looking like a really good case of Inside Eren Yeager, Titan Attack You.

That was funnier in my head.

The joke is that the Attack Titan ate Eren.

Is in the process of eating Eren?

Is periodically nomming on Eren.

Results may vary.

V original theory do not steal.

Ahem.

Going back to our plot summary!

Eren and Zeke, being the quality brothers they are, want to hold hands, and being the quality human beings they are, start a massive war of death and trauma on their way to holding hands, then they fail to hold hands because the natural result of the quality of their quality is that Eren’s head got blown off, so they’re settling for Zeke holding Eren’s head.

Eren is presently cast as the clear antagonist, Zeke’s idea is still awful, and they’re locked in an extradimensional space where no one else has the power to point out that their main achievement so far is being useless dumbasses.

On top of a field of bodies.

Boys.

What in the fuck.

Forget what they want to do.

By all evidence, even in the midst of other horrifying details coming to light, all that needed to happen was them making contact. That’s it. Whatever massive plan is ongoing, they just needed to hold hands.

Cue a bunch of people dying. Including probably Eren.

This is a bad plan.

I’m okay with that.

It is still one of the most insanely complicated monuments to a zero sum game that I have ever read, and it becomes very obvious that the reason these characters have Titan powers is because if they didn’t, they would be dead the first chapter they showed up, lacking the good sense to not be dead.

First volume, sorry.

This is not a complaint. I would happily eat mountains of popcorn to the tune of canon agreeing that yes, letting Zeke and Eren come up with their own original ideas is maybe bad. It is hilarious. They are not good at this.

I realize Zeke didn’t have hands back then, but at this point both of you have to be considering that maybe you should have just bumped shoulders on the plane.

I’m sort of on the fence for how to react outside of heavy amusement, though. The downside of Zeke and Eren being so bad at this is that literally nothing is going well. Paradis is on fire again, Marley exists yet remains to let the members of its cast who sort of have morals die shocking deaths, and the fate of the world is being decided in the split second before Eren’s death between two people who should be in charge of absolutely nothing.

The rest of the cast, barring the inevitable reveal of what the fuck Eren’s got up his sleeve, has no power over any of this.

It’s. I guess it’s what you would call appalling.

Yelena’s point of view is really the closest anyone in canon has come to understanding the situation, and boy is that telling. She sees these two men as gods. She believes in their ability to remake the world. All that falls to her is facilitating their union.

She might have her battle lines a bit crossed, but yeah. Once Eren and Zeke make contact, all the rest of the world can do to discover its fate is wait.

That is a key Epic style plot, only it’s drawn out by Eren and Zeke both clearly not being gods. Zeke is a broken child who has made all of his decisions from a belief that the world is too cruel to be worth living in.

Eren is.

...

Eren, I’m coming back to you.

For now, let’s just dub him a disaster.

So you have the storyline of gods clashing while the mortals sit back with bated breath, but the scale of it is stomped all over because mortals who should not be making these decisions are still making them, and neither one seems entirely sane.

Locking Eren and Zeke in a bubble has been a source of grand entertainment, but as a story feature, the idea of these circumstances determining anything is something of a letdown.

Eren’s known for years what he’s wanted to do, and he still ends up with his head shot off while he runs too slow to stop his brother from initiating the death of their people.

Something has to give for this to feel like it matters, because right now the prevailing feeling is that these people should be as far away from power as humanly possible.

The darkness of this story is often, I feel, exaggerated. Sometimes by the author. It is a story where horrific things happen, and are attempted, but the hearts of all the characters we’re invited to sympathize with have always been crystal clear. There has never been a question that Zeke’s plan is wrong. There has never been a question of genocide in all its forms being inexcusable.

Reiner breaks down a wall. Bertolt breaks down a wall. Annie calls monsters to the broken wall.

Thousands of people die because children were handed power and thrown into a situation they had no hopes of understanding.

All three of the traitor kids end up traumatized. Reiner’s mind splits, Bertolt retreats so far into himself he barely engages with the world, and Annie literally crystallizes herself through the desperate desire to make it home.

There is no question that they could have been something besides murderers. They probably all would have preferred that.

This is not a grimdark series where everyone has forgotten what good things look like. Hange can design trains with prisoners of war. Niccolo can learn to care for people he’s been taught to hate. Children can be protected regardless of side.

Where the darkness comes from is not from the absence of light, but the deterioration of faith in that light.

Annie wants to go home. Bertolt and Zeke want it to end. Reiner doesn’t know right and wrong, but he’ll fulfill his duty and extend sympathy to a fellow victim of chaos he’s not equipped to understand.

They stop seeing their fight as something that has true meaning. The most proactive hearts come from Bertolt and Zeke, who share the same mind of simply ending things, not forging a new beginning.

That’s where things get sticky with Eren and Zeke.

This chapter paints Eren in such a dark light it’s hard to hope he succeeds in whatever he’s doing, but Zeke’s wish is still something that can’t be allowed to happen.

The scenario presented is one where the light has gone out, and the person who was counted on the be its champion has lost something essential in his humanity.

Obviously that doesn’t mean this is over, but every time the immediate entertainment of Zeke and Eren being the worst strategists to ever live passes, the question of what’s being fought for here comes up, and there’s no clear answer. Not with this version of Eren.

Cultivated distrust in the protagonist is nothing new, but the extent of this is impressive.

Trying to put this the simplest way I can, for the chapter, I like how this is going.

For the story, the only two people who seem to have power over changing the state of the world are people who should have that power taken away as soon as possible.

If this weren’t all happening while Eren’s head was still falling to the ground, it would bother me less. But as things stand, nothing anyone else is doing has any impact on the story, and Eren and Zeke are impossible to root for.

That it’s probably by design doesn’t do much to make it more palatable.

Leading us into the only part of this post anyone is actually here for.

Eren.

The fuck.

I feel like it’s a fair thing to say that this might not be good.

Outside the usual realm of not good.

Also, now obligatory monthly mention that Eren looks a hell of a lot like Frieda and I want more to be done with that besides the current holder of Frieda’s memories murdering actual Frieda.

He fucking looks like Frieda.

This is why people thought Geographia was a female Eren. Even before his hair choices. Fight me.

As referenced earlier, I think a good chunk of Eren’s problem is that we’re finally dealing with the Attack Titan. Features include an immunity to the First King and the ability to see into the future.

With mixed conclusions about mindless raging.

Funny story about that! Your sons think differently. Have corpses receipts, can verify

...Hell, sorry about your life, Grisha.

(Side note, I’m pretty sure this panel is Frieda. Why? Because Isayama went to the trouble of making one of the long-haired Founders have their ears showing. That is literally the only way I can tell, and even then I’m only sure because Eren comes with a lot more extra shadow this chapter and the very next page.)

Okay, so. Uh.

Here’s where I wonder if I have the right caps for this comparison. I’m pretty sure I don’t yet. This noted time gap brought to you by me typing while I think even though no one reading this would ever know the difference.

The first thing that occurs to me is Mikasa, and cue the rabbit hole about her inheriting the Attack Titan and saying goodbye to Eren in their memories. Add in some bonus flavor about how in Trost, Mikasa’s vocalized motivation for living was being able to remember Eren. The Attack Titan is looking like a very good fit for her.

As for why Mikasa occurs, well!

Note that the key difference in these scenes is that Mikasa is encouraging Eren to transform so fewer of them will die. Eren is encouraging Grisha to transform so the Reiss family absolutely will die.

Sorry, ‘encouraging.’

I feel like I’m more at peace with some of Grisha’s interactions with Eren the last night of his life. As well as the display involved in killing the Reiss family. That’s always been one of the bloodier massacres we’ve played witness to. I passed it off as Grisha being unhinged by how badly everything was going and how it was all his fault, but...

T-tatakae?

-scrolls through images-

Hey so anyone else have fond memories of chapter 63? You know, back when Historia’s allegiance was in question because she was siding with her father and being a very generous-minded child about why Eren was strung up in chains and gagged?

Remember how she got all her memories of Frieda back and glared at Eren even though his father was the one who killed off her beloved older sister, and it was an amusing moment of irrationality in a sea of Historia having a low wisdom score?

Look at her glaring at the last person who deserves to be glared at over the massacre of the only family who treated her kindly!

...

Yikes?

Like, I don’t think she knows, because as tolerant as Historia is of people committing atrocities, Frieda is a sore point, but I think at this point, Isayama probably knew what actually went down with the bloodbath.

Easter eggs. Fun for the whole fandom.

In other fun news, I’ve made the comment several times that one of the sad points of Historia’s situation is Eren is her best friend, given how the story has limited her contact so thoroughly with the other people she cares about.

My brotp has seen better days.

The effect of Historia’s hand coming out of the darkness, Historia herself completely shrouded in the shadows as Eren takes it and discovers the worst moments of his life he hasn’t lived through yet...

Hell, the layout of this chapter is beautiful. All of it, including the very obvious descent into Eren being not quite right.

He’s unlocked the Attack Titan’s powers, and with it, I think a will that is more indomitable than anything Eren the person would have been okay with. Really, I don’t know how much of this is Attack Titan brain sickness, and how much is that Eren already saw himself doing all of this crap, so how bad was doing it one more time?

He’s lived through betraying his friends. He’s killed children. He’s killed the entire family of a friend who saved his life.

What’s doing it twice?

In the grand scheme of all Eren has seen, how bad is anything he’s done recently? Civilians are dead, but bad people are too. People who would hold power the wrong way.

I want to say that Eren’s choices are a result of the Attack Titan having a mind of its own, and between that and the other memories in Eren’s head, his intentions have been corrupted, but that’s mostly me trying to find a way for Eren, as he has been, to survive.

Eren looks at the Reiss family, sees his father hesitating, and takes the lead himself.

The Attack Titan can travel the Paths through time, and Eren, the character most angry about cages, decides that the way things were is the way things should be, even if what happened was wrong.

I realize it’s partly my priorities with the series which keeps the thread of fate so active a plot point in my mind. I’m always going to see Ymir demanding to know why Kristoria’s strength hasn’t turned into trying to change her own fate as a key theme of the series.

Eren had choices.

Maybe something catastrophic would have happened, but nothing forced him to make his father murder the Reisses. Going by his expressions, he’s not entirely okay with it, and the second they step into that cavern he knows that he’s at the hard part...

But he still does it.

He chooses to let the story play out as he knows it instead of allowing his father’s kindness to change the world.

I don’t know what Eren plans to do with the Founder’s power. Evidence points to him still wanting a better world for the people born into it. He disdains Zeke’s plan.

Nothing about this screams that this is what he wants. There’s a person in Eren still, recognizable as the young boy who wrapped a scarf around a cold girl’s neck.

Eren’s eyes are firmly on Mikasa and Armin when he walks his memories of them. He’s ignoring Zeke completely to stare at the warmth of his childhood. That isn’t someone who’s completely lost.

Yet he still pulls the trigger on this.

This isn’t what the Eren we’re familiar with would call freedom; adhering to what happened in the past just because it already happened.

Fight. If you don’t fight, you can’t win.

Zeke isn’t fighting, for all he’s holding back Eren.

Eren’s fighting something, but holding to the path already plotted instead of changing it.

I can’t imagine what Eren saw to push him this far. He’s not happy. He’s not winning. Not even over Zeke. He’s lost the love and confidence of everyone who has ever cared for him

Frieda only transforms after Grisha does. She waits for him. She waits to see if peace wins out.

The Attack Titan, as ever, has other ideas.

Not good ones. Just. You know. Different ones.

In conclusion Eren is a Billie Eilish fan.

#Shingeki no Kyojin #SnK 121 #Eren Yeager #shingeki no spoilers #SnK spoilers #spoilers #tl;dr #chapter post

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ao3feed-danganronpa · 2 years

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plants rot eventually

read it on the AO3 at https://ift.tt/Pb7rgYw

by stonedsmokes

He traps fifteen students in a large theatre and pushes the guilty thoughts out of his head. Now is not the time for that. Instead of the Ultimate Despair, he takes on the role of Ultimate Botanist. Plants were one of the few things he allowed himself to indulge in. It was one of the things he cared about.

Evan used to care about a multitude of things, but once he picked up Despair, it felt like he lost a whole half of himself.

He wishes he could take that half back.

(in which evan hansen is the mastermind of a mutual killing game)

Words: 8673, Chapters: 1/1, Language: English

Series: Part 1 of danganronpa: musical mayhem

Fandoms: Dear Evan Hansen - Pasek & Paul/Levenson, Dangan Ronpa - All Media Types, Be More Chill - Iconis/Tracz, Hamilton - Miranda, Heathers: The Musical - Murphy & O'Keefe

Rating: Mature

Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death

Categories: M/M, Multi

Characters: Evan Hansen, Monokuma (Dangan Ronpa), Zoe Murphy, Jared Kleinman, Alana Beck, Alexander Hamilton, John Laurens, Gilbert du Motier Marquis de Lafayette, Hercules Mulligan, Elizabeth "Eliza" Schuyler, Jeremy Heere, Michael Mell, Rich Goranski, Christine Canigula, Veronica Sawyer, Jason "J. D." Dean, Heather Chandler (Heathers), Connor Murphy (Dear Evan Hansen)

Relationships: Evan Hansen/Connor Murphy, Jeremy Heere/Michael Mell, Alana Beck & Evan Hansen & Jared Kleinman & Zoe Murphy, Alexander Hamilton & John Laurens & Gilbert du Motier Marquis de Lafayette & Hercules Mulligan

Additional Tags: Mastermind Evan Hansen, Hope vs. Despair, Angst, Death, A tiny bit of fluff, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Killing Game (Dangan Ronpa), Suicide, Blood, Murder, evan goes through a lot, so do the rest of the students, no beta we die like half the cast, Despair, obligatory among us reference, Mild Hurt/Comfort, more so hurt not much comfort, its danganronpa what do you expect, Self-Indulgent

read it on the AO3 at https://ift.tt/Pb7rgYw

#IFTTT #ao3feed #fanfic #dangan ronpa #danganronpa #dr

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remainingso · 6 years

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Top six favorite fanfics?

tHIS IS AN EXCELLENT ONE THANK YOU

In no particular order!

This Is How I Disappear—A Death Note AU exploring what would’ve happened if Light lost before he killed L & got the death sentence. This fic makes me want to cry every time I read it, and really strips away all of Light’s layers to paint a realistic picture of the boy underneath all that megalomania.

we built this city—Raven Cycle, a coda-fic about Henry figuring out where he stands in the group. I adore this fic with all my heart, it gives me that curled-up-on-a-couch-watching-it-rain-nursing-tea feeling

Notes Concerning Certain Performances of Hamilton—Hamilton, obviously. When they die, they all go to the play-stage, full of obligatory meta-theatrical references, smart, clever, goddamn heartwrenching.

Ghost in the Closet—really long Danny Phantom continuation fic about the problems that might happen after the series finale. This was one of my first favourite fics, and still feels so real in how it renders all the characters.

Trajectories—Harry Potter AU where Hogwarts commissions portraits of the fallen dead. Gorgeous and fragile. Also the best Drarry fic I’ve ever read.

Bargaining—Thor movies, when Thor dies, Loki makes a bargain with a witch to go back in time and prevent it. An excellent Loki character study, will make you want to cry over the stupid trickster god, I guarantee it.

#fanfic recs #MY FAAAAVES #I'm aware the fandoms are all over the place but w/e #nerdytrash--trashynerd

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sam-eulde · 6 years

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The Greatest Showman

I usually don’t make movie reviews but I feel like this movie deserves so much more than the critics let on. Yes, there are flaws and let me say those first in every sections but there are good things too. I am not a movie expert but as an aspiring movie critic, here are my thoughts.

(SPOILERS AHEAD)

Plot and Characters:

To be honest, it is cliche and cheesy for the most part. Rags to riches, the classic forbidden love (2 of them, actually) and the feelsy good ‘I finally found a family’ trope. BUT I love my feelsy good 'I finally found a family’ trope. I just wish that they gave the circus folks more focus so that I could see how tight their bond is, but I did feel it in the 'This is Me’ and 'from Now On’ Song Numbers.

I am going to compare this to some stuff that I have seen so far.

Kuroshitsuji: Book of Circus have a different genre overall but the thing is they focused on the Circus Folks, making us invested in them. We saw their background, their history and why they joined the circus. In my opinion, the 'This is Me’ song number would be more powerful if they did the same. I considered the running time of the movie too. Maybe they did not get the chance to put the background of these characters because the movie was getting too long. That’s why I agree with Beyond the Trailer in her review here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nriwcs4UZHc , that this should have been a Broadway musical first. Maybe they would have the time to do the character focus thing.

I also considered that the movie is called 'The Greatest Showman’ not 'The Greatest Circus’ or something. Which is fair. Speaking of which, P.T Barnum reminds me a lot of A. Hamilton. (I am referring to the character in the movie, not the real P.T. Barnum.) Besides their aspirations and visions, they are basically the same person. A once, poor young orphan who married a rich woman (who is basically the best of wives, best of women *wink*), learned to stand up and strive for what they wanted and got overwhelmed with success that they lost sight of their true vision because of this one woman. The difference is Barnum snapped out of it. (out of topic, kinda: the fact that there is a Philip in both made me chuckle. Good thing TGS Philip survived lol.)

I get that the critics are whining about how P.T. Barnum is not realistic. He is not a good person in real life. We get that but it said 'Inspired by true Story’, not 'Based on True Story’. Think of the movie like an AU where Barnum is a better person. If you are looking for a realistic portrayal or anything about the real P.T. Barnum, watch documentaries or read any articles about him. This movie is completely fictional. Never expect anything realistic in a musical, people. I personally just enjoyed the shit out of the P.T. Barnum that was presented to me. Hugh Jackman was AMAZING in this role. You can’t say that he did not enjoy playing The greatest Showman. We don’t deserve him, honestly. I am praising him because if he wasn’t as enthusiastic as he is, the movie won’t be as amazing. Even though J. Franco won that award, you are the winner of our hearts, sir. Zac and Zendaya have great chemistry on screen. I wish we focused a biiit more on these two and their relationship as well. Their love story is nothing new but, again, if you feel the love of those characters, it is presented well.

I think they had enough focus on the Barnum family. Again, reminds me so much of the Hamilton family. I have nothing to say here, honestly. Miss Rebecca Ferguson was great at being Jenny Lind. Shame that she did not really sing Never Enough. I don’t know the whole story but my guess is, she can;t hit that high note or her voice is just not as powerful? Why not Miss Loren Allred as Jenny? Maybe she looks too young for Mister Jackman? Who knows? Like I said before, I wish that they focused more on the Circus folks but Miss Keala Settle was sassy and fantastic. Her voice was fantastic. Mister Sam Humphrey was cute and amazing too. i love that he’s the first one that Barnum discovered. I just wish that they did not lower his voice that much. I saw this one video of him and I think he’s fine having that voice in the movie.

Visuals and Choreography: I have nothing bad to say in this section because EVERYTHING WAS GORGEOUS. Sure, the steps might not be nothing new but the way they are presented makes up for that. The part/song where the choreography shined, in my opinion, is 'Rewrite the Stars’. Considering that Zendaya did most of her stunts, it was a big bonus too. She and Zac made that big stage small with just the two of them on it. They got creative with the ropes and the other things that they had.

The choreography of Mister bartender in 'The Other Side’ was brilliant. If you made a movie where almost everyone is praising an extra with no name, you are doing something right. 'This is Me’ has this aggression to it and it made me feelings aggressive too, which is good. The other songs have nice dance numbers as well but I have favorites and those are those three.

The costumes are creative and beautiful. Zendaya with pink hair and violet costume is fabulous. I like Miss Keala’s dress too but I feel awkward whenever she does this one dance step. Maybe that’s just me though, I don’t know. Oh, Miss Rebecca’s wardrobe was just elegant and pretty. Like, I want those dresses, stat. It’s funny how she always appears so angelic since she wears white so much lol.

The settings are nice too. My favorites are the bar, that stage where zac and zendaya trapezed (?) in and the rooftops because they showed how they can get creative in those spaces.

Music: This soundtrack was gorgeous. Some may shrug it off as forgettable and some may say that some songs are unnecessary but to me, it’s the lyrics that always catches my eyes. Lemme try to break down the songs and what happened during these numbers.

The Greatest Show An obligatory opening number and a good one at that. It’s not my favorite (am not a fan of opening numbers in ANY musicals though so that’s just me) but I do find myself humming and bobbing my head when it comes on. They pulled out their nice and flashy visuals for this one, which makes sense. It is introducing you to their circus.

A Million Dreams This introduces you to the character and the aspirations that young Barnum has. As the song progresses, it became what young Barnum held onto even when going through shit in his life. this song is also the transition of young Barnum to being Adult Barnum. it also shows that Adult Barnum still have bigger dreams and he’s not there yet.

A Million Dreams (reprise) Now, I don’t really consider reprises an actual number since it has the same tune and lyrics (mostly) but what I like about them is how the characters progressed over time. Are they still feeling these feelings? What this number did was it reminded Barnum what his true dreams were by his own daughters. Simple as that.

Come Alive I think this is already obvious. It’s about opening their Circus to the public and how fun it is for the people who are seeing it. The visual and choreography are beautiful as always. It kinda sounds like a Michael jackson song, not gonna lie.

The Other Side One of my favorites because of the creativity with the glasses and shots. The glass hitting and siliding on the table adds to it and I am glad that some as in the soundtrack. It is a negotiation music number. This is a big deal because Carlyle is risking a lot in the deal. it is hard to break out of the routine that you are used to. In a way, it is an intro to Carlyle’s character. My only problem with this is it sounds so Pop? Hearing Hugh jackman sing it is like watching my dad sing an HSM song, which it weird. But the bridge part makes up for it. I love that bridge.

Never Enough Jenny is a singer so of course she gets a song. But during this one, seeing Hugh’s expression just made it more powerful than it is. Miss Rebecca was alone in that stage but Miss Loren’s voice filled the room and filled every empty space. It’s just so beautiful. They could have made this song number just be Miss Rebecca singing but it also showed 2 things. Barnum’s expression. He was moved along with the crowd and his song describes him. Even after all his success, he still wants more. Charity saw this and judging by her expression, she was saddened/scared of what Barnum might be thinking but she trusts him and his promises and clapped for Jenny. The second thing is Philip and Anne’s relationship. the song also describes it. Just being beside each other, seeing each other was never enough. They wanted to progress but it showed that Philip is still afraid of what other people will think of them. (I heard from a reviewer that it is like a taylor swift song and I was like dude, just because she repeated 'Never’ doesn’t mean it’s already like a Taylor Swift song lol)

This is Me This song won the award. yay~ Good props for them. The message of this was simple yet inspiring. The beats and the tune made it more powerful. Kudos to Miss Keala again for giving her best performance in this. I just wish that there are more focus on the circus folks like, maybe, Barnum not really paying attention to them, a family moment or one of them being attacked by a protester or smth. Little moments like those building up to this song would make it more powerful. That aside, this is beautiful as it is. fighting for being free, being who you are. It just hits me all the time.

Rewrite the stars this one had a build up to it so it did make it more special. they had a scene prior to this song and it made it better. The song is catchy and the visual is not colorful but it is creative with their props and I loved it very much. Zac singing made it feel like I’m watching 'Breaking free’ or something. I just love it. Zendaya’s stunts were amazing. It has a simple thing that it wants to convey. Forbidden love. Boy wants girl, girl reminds him that it can’t be. That’s it. Without it, I don’t think you’ll be invested with their reationship.

Tightrope now, everyone may have mixed feelings about this but Miss Michelle’s voice was just so pretty in this one. The downside is that onscreen, you will see montages, which may take away your attention to the lyrics of the song or, maybe, the song itself. Think of this as a milder version of Hamilton’s 'Burn’. Feeling of being betrayed, broken promises and such. the difference is Charity is not really angry in this one. She still hopes that Burnam will remember how they were before like she is doing at the beginning of this song. I just think this song is underappreciated, which is a shame. I love this one too.

Never Enough (Reprise) Well, another reprise. In the original one, Jenny is singing about what some people in the room are feeling. In this one it feels like she realized that she has been singing about Barnum all along. She realized that he never loved her the way she loved him. in a way, she’s now singing about herself too. She may be the character we have close to a villain but i feel her in this one.

From Now On This is like a Gospel song but I love gospel songs so.. That’s a plus. At first I was skeptical about this song but it got catchier and catchier the more I hear it. We are also back at the bar, which is great. They have more people in it and it was amazing. It’s a party and I just wanna dance with them. this is simply about Barnum realizing his mistakes and what he would do to make it right. So basically, it is promise again.

So in conclusion, are some of the songs unnecessary? Not exactly. They all conveyed strong feelings at certain plot points. Also, they only have 11 music numbers. For a musical movie, I think that is a decent amount. La la Land had the same amount plus 4. Broadway musical to film had a lot more so I think It is just right. Are they out of place? With the setting, of course they are. Is that bad? Not in my opinion. If you are talking about out of place soundtrack and setting, just look at Hamilton. But it does not automatically make it bad. You can’t just hate on the soundtrack to be honest. It is one of its charms. The film is trying to tackle every character that they could but it failed that we only got a glimpse of what they might be trying to do. Its heart is in the right place and you could see what it wants to do. It wanna make you feel good after watching it and it worked for me, and a lot others too. It’s just there were things that they could have done if they had more running time. (i guess you could say that it is 'Never Enough’ *wink*)You could see that the actors are enjoying what they are doing and for a first movie of a new director, this was pretty darn impressive. The passion is there, the talent and skills are there. Besides the lack of character exploration aside from Barnum’s, it was a great movie. Visually, this was a treat. I just wish that it has more recognition. If I hadn’t seen gifs or fanarts of it, I would not have heard of so, the fans are doing a great job too. A great way to end 2017 OR start 2018, depending when you saw it. To be honest, it looks like a nice Christmas film. I could see that I would watch it with kids during Christmas. I love it.

#the greatest showman #musical #movie #review #hugh jackman #zendaya #zac efron #keala settle #circus #the greatest show

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noahwells1990 · 3 years

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ao3feed-detectivedanvers · 7 years

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it's good to see your face

read it on the AO3 at http://ift.tt/2rNfyKJ

by cold_century

the post-finale return of one director lucy lane and someone has been keeping secrets (obviously major spoilers for That Sanvers Scene at the end of 2x22)

Words: 2952, Chapters: 1/1, Language: English

Fandoms: Supergirl (TV 2015)

Rating: General Audiences

Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply

Categories: F/F

Characters: Alex Danvers, Maggie Sawyer, Lucy Lane (DCU)

Relationships: Alex Danvers/Maggie Sawyer, Alex Danvers & Lucy Lane

Additional Tags: Post-Finale, the start of the brot3 we deserve, brief mention of supercorp, Obligatory Hamilton reference

read it on the AO3 at http://ift.tt/2rNfyKJ

#alex danvers #maggie sawyer #sanvers #detective danvers #IFTTT #ao3feed #fanfic

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itstimeforspring · 7 years

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you outshine the morning sun, my son

obligatory bit of captain cobra while cleaning out cs wips folder. obligatory hamilton reference. obligatory baby jones. i couldn’t stop myself.

Henry Mills, to be honest, was tired of the crying.

Yes, he was a fifteen-year-old who was just now experiencing the pain of a baby sibling—Roland didn’t count; the child was walking and talking completely normally by the time they met—but he was still terribly annoyed.

Liam was adorable. According to his moms, he looked like Henry himself as a baby. Henry didn’t really see it; Liam looked exactly like Killian except with hair of a lighter brown, more like his. According to Regina, Liam was a much better baby than Henry—she said it with a reminiscent smile just tinged with pain and remembrance.

But good heavens, Liam cried so much.

He spent as much time over at Regina’s as he could, but really he needed to see Emma too. So every now and then he suffered through a night or two of a screaming six pounds of young infant.

He read to the kid as much as he could, since Killian claimed that the boy sometimes actually slept a few hours at night after said story. Therefore, Henry tried to be decent and take Liam off Emma and Killian’s hands for a while so they could get a modicum of sleep. He held the kid in one arm—after Killian showing him how to not drop the wiggling child—and flipped the pages in the book.

He could have sworn that Liam preferred the tale of Charles and Leia without being told that the two were his parents.

But seriously, the kid was starting to bug him.

One morning when Liam had kept all of them up pretty much all night and had finally cried himself to sleep at the wonderful hour of 5:30 am, he walked into the kitchen and poured himself a bowl of cereal. Emma followed him soon after, leaving Killian still asleep. He had heard Killian whispering and singing along with the crying at 5:30, so his stepdad had probably gotten absolutely no sleep before then.

“Sorry about the baby,” she said, padding over to the microwave to attempt hot chocolate.

“It’s fine,” Henry replied, trying to be a good, polite teenager. It was slowly getting harder. “How long ‘til he sleeps through the night?”

“Absolutely no idea,” Emma muttered, banging her head against the microwave before opening it and pulling out a steaming hot mug for Henry. “I asked Regina a few days ago, and she said it took almost a year for you.”

Henry sighed and took the mug without a word.

Emma stared at him for a moment, getting out her own swan-emblazoned mug. “You want to get out of the house, kid?”

Henry rolled his eyes at his cereal. “Yeah, just a bit, but there’s only so much ‘Play with me, Henry!’ from Neal that I can handle, either.”

Emma made some combination of a grin and a grimace. “Understood. So it’s crying or incessant pleading. One can communicate and the other can’t, both plusses and minuses.”

Henry nodded gravely. “Violet’s busy, already checked, before you ask.”

Emma smirked, sipping from her hot chocolate. Just then, the baby squeaked shrilly. Emma groaned. “Just a second,” she said before walking up the stairs to Liam’s room.

Henry sighed again. Just then, Killian trudged into the kitchen, probably having passed Emma in on the stairs: one fleeing the baby, the other trying to prevent another meltdown. As he scrubbed at his eyes, he hit the kitchen counter. Instead of backing up, he just collapsed into it for a moment.

“How long were you up?” Henry asked out of curiosity.

Killian didn’t move his head from its resting place on the counter. “The lad didn’t sleep at all until 5:49, so I was awake until 5:50.” Emma walked in with Liam in her arms at that moment. Killian moved his head just enough to see Emma with one eye. “Why is the little pirate awake again? I spent long enough working on the whole sleep thing last night.”

“Probably hungry.”

“Not my area,” Killian yawned, returning his head to the counter. Emma slapped him on the back as she passed by, heading once more to the microwave. If the microwave suddenly died, Henry mused, they’d probably all also perish with it.

“Eat something, Killian,” Emma said as she warmed up Liam’s bottle, the little guy making yummy noises. Henry snorted as Killian rustled around on the countertop without opening his eyes, probably trying to find the banana that Henry had left the day before.

Finally he found the banana and trudged over to sit next to Henry. Henry glanced at him occasionally as he peeled the banana. His eyes were rimmed with smudged eyeliner and dark circles from lack of sleep, but they still had that sparkle that hadn’t faded from the moment Liam was born a month and a half ago. If anything, the sparkle was brighter.

“Henry,” Killian started, and then stopped.

“Yeah?” Henry prompted.

Killian glanced up at Emma and received an encouraging nod. “I was thinking last night while trying to coax the little lad to sleep. Perhaps you and I could take a break from the house, you from this one, your grandparents, and the queen’s, and I could attempt to regain some energy.”

Henry stared at him. They hadn’t done anything like this together since before Liam was born, possibly not since Gideon was threatening Emma. “Sure, that sounds good. No wailing children and no never-ending questions. Sounds like a vacation,” he grinned.

Killian grinned in response, some of the tiredness seemingly lifted off with that grin. Emma smiled at them from behind the counter, holding Liam and his bottle. “Go get ready, then, both of you, before Liam decides we all need to spend the day admiring his feet with him.” Liam pulled away from the bottle and squeaked before grabbing at Emma’s fingers. They all smiled at the baby for a moment. He was pretty stinking cute.

Then Henry jumped up and placed his mug and bowl in the sink, then ran for his room to get dressed. Before he closed the door, he heard Emma and Killian talking and unashamedly stopped to listen.

“Where are you going?” Emma asked.

“Wherever he wants. I’ve no plans for the day,” Killian replied, that grin still in his voice.

“Both of you need it. Some grown-up guy time without an infant. Before you ask, I’ll call if there’s any trouble that Mary Margaret, David, Regina, Dr. Whale, and I all working together can’t fix.” They probably kissed right there, but Henry closed the door in time.

He yanked his shoes on and wrapped his scarf a little more securely. He had had that scarf for longer than he had known who Emma was, he mused as he walked back into the kitchen. How in the world did it still fit? As he passed his mom and Killian’s room, he heard the creaking of the leather of Killian’s brace then the click of the hook snapping into place.

He grinned. That sound was still pretty awesome even after having known Killian for more than three years.

Killian followed him into the kitchen. “So, lad, where would you like to go on this vacation day?” he asked as he walked into the living room to kiss Liam on the forehead and Emma on the lips once more. Henry shrugged and hugged his mom and patted Liam’s hand.

“No idea, let’s just get out of here,” he said. For goodness sake, going to look down the well in the woods with Killian would be better than sitting in the house with crying or sleeping infant with sometimes snappy Emma.

“You guys have fun,” Emma called as they opened the door, a faint trace of a laugh in her voice. Liam started crying when Killian closed the door behind them.

Killian stood just in front of the door for a moment, looking suddenly conflicted. “Come on, Mom’s got him. She can handle a baby without you in the house for a while,” Henry insisted, going just short of pleading and tugging at his hook.

Killian sighed. “Aye, lad, you’re right.”

“I know I am. Come on, Killian, let’s do something before Liam knocks down the door by screaming to get to you.”

Sure enough, there was a sudden reedy shriek and Emma started shushing the baby and Henry did have to pull Killian back by the hook and down the stairs. “I haven’t been without the lad since he was born. Don’t quite know how to move without making sure that the baby’s okay. I’m sorry, Henry.”

“Well, let’s just get out to the rest of Storybrooke, do something for a few hours.”

Killian grinned. “What say we go to Granny’s and get a substantial breakfast, and then take the Jolly out for a bit?”

Henry nodded vigorously. “Can I order all the bacon?”

“You may order as much as you like. Whether Lady Lucas gives you all of the bacon and eggs is her prerogative, not mine.”

Henry ended up ordering fries along with his bacon and eggs, and they played dice for the fries. Henry was getting better, way better—he ended up keeping at least 20 of the French pieces of fried goodness. They chatted about Violet and school for a few minutes until the lady herself entered the restaurant.

“How’s the baby?” Violet asked eagerly when she and her father made their way over. She hadn’t yet been invited over to see him since the kid had been born a bit early and Killian, David, and Snow were deathly afraid of transmittable diseases. Emma’s reminders about building up Liam’s immune system had not been heard or understood, so she put up with it for the sake of their selective and adorable medieval minds.

“He’s doing well,” Killian said, pulling out his phone to show off the latest picture as he was apparently obligated to do. Luckily—or unluckily—for Henry, the top picture was one of him holding Liam and reading a story from the book. Violet aww’ed adorably and Henry figured it was a stroke of good luck that that picture was the first one.

Violet’s father smiled, placing his hand on his daughter’s shoulder. “Vi was wondering when we could visit the little lad, if that would be fine with you and the Saviour.” He hadn’t gotten used to calling Emma any of her normal names aside from her destiny-provided calling. It was still a bit jarring.

“Any time,” Henry blurted out. He heard Killian stifle a laugh and reiterate the invitation. He didn’t really care that he wasn’t quite being treated as a fifteen-year-old, but the stars in Violet’s eyes were enough to endure it.

Violet and her father wandered away after a few minutes to devour their own food, and Killian paid with a few doubloons. As they left Granny’s, Henry asked, “How in the world do you still have doubloons? You haven’t been to the Enchanted Forest in like two years.”

“I’m a pirate, son. You’d be amazed at how much wealth I can store in the Jolly Roger.”

“So college is paid for?”

Killian threw his arm around Henry’s shoulders and leaned in to whisper, “As far as I can tell from Emma’s griping, yes, college for you and Liam is paid for.” He pulled away with a grin.

Henry groaned. He was still having to pack his lunch here, and Killian had enough stashed away for two—possibly more—college educations? Not fair.

They got to the Jolly without incident, which was an accomplishment. Normally, Henry could count at least five things that could go wrong on the way to the good old ship. Killian also managed to not look at his phone to check on Emma and Liam. That was also an accomplishment.

Killian immediately moved to the helm of the ship to check on the overall state of the ship, since he’d only managed to make it out to the docks twice since Liam was born. “Henry, would you tighten the ropes all around? I need to examine the alignment of the steering if we’re to go anywhere. That is, I suppose—” He glanced up at Henry, who was standing in the center of the deck, feet shoulder-width apart, hand resting on an imaginary sword at his side, feeling powerful and heroic. “—if you wish to leave the town?”

“Sure,” Henry said, moving over to check the sails. “I’m up for anything.” Killian grinned abashedly and ran down below deck.

Several hours later, they were drifting on the gently rolling waves, looking up at the stars. Killian had texted Emma an hour previously to inform her they’d be out late, and Emma had responded with a picture of a sleeping Liam sprawled across her lap, a glass of wine in her hand, and the Netflix home screen on the TV in front of her. Killian had laughed and told Henry they could be out all night; Emma would probably be grateful.

“What’s that one?”

“That’s Cassiopeia,” Killian said. Henry met Killian’s gaze, and Killian had an eyebrow raised in polite scolding. “You taught me these, Henry. I would never forget.”

Henry smiled. That’s what he liked—loved—most about his stepdad. If something was important to him and he told Killian, Killian would never, ever forget. “What about that one?”

Killian craned his head to see where Henry was pointing. “I believe that’s Perseus.” Killian polished his hook with his jacket for a moment. “What say we acquire some glow in the dark stars, as I believe they’re called, and put them on Liam’s ceiling over the weekend?”

“That would be cool. I always wanted stars when I was a kid, but Regina didn’t like the glow.”

“We can get stars for your ceiling too, bring back the years of childhood?”

Henry shrugged, peering up at the Andromeda galaxy. “I think I’m too old for it now, but thanks. Liam will love it though. We can do them really, really detailed, too, if we get stars that are small enough.”

Killian leaned back on the main mast, glancing at Henry even as Henry looked at him. “You’ve grown so much,” Killian said, shaking his head.

“Since when?” Henry couldn’t help asking.

Killian used his patented seriously face. “Since I met you, lad. Since before your mother decided to let me reform myself.”

Henry laughed, embarrassed. Who knew where this conversation was going, honestly. Normally, the two of them didn’t do much deep talking. “You did pretty well, I think.”

Killian scoffed quietly. “It’s all you and Emma that have managed what I am now, Henry.” He turned to face him straight. He was wearing that smile he had sometimes when Liam managed a new skill in the baby book or when Emma used her magic or that time David made scrambled eggs one-handed. “It’s not really my place to say, but I’m so proud of you, Henry. You’ve become the man I’ve always wished I could be. Emma and Regina are more proud of you than they can express, and I know Baelfire is bragging to all of the other souls about how fantastic his son is.”

Henry smiled. Sometimes, he did feel like the stereotypical fifteen-year-old and think that no one understood him, but then he remembered that Killian had been like him. David as well, to an extent, but David had never had to doubt that someone loved him like Henry did before he found Emma. Killian hadn’t had anyone for years, when his brother was working and he was alone for days. Sometimes, Killian knew exactly what to say.

Killian returned the smile and nodded before looking back at the sky. Then they were silent for another hour except for comments about the sea, its smell and chill and glow. The silence was rejuvenating.

It approached midnight and Killian yawned. “What say we begin the journey back? I imagine Emma’s ready for a break from the lad at this point.”

Henry nodded, taking one more look at the stars before heading up to the helm. He didn’t remember the last time he was so calm.

“Henry?” Killian asked, still standing against the main mast.

“Oh, right. Can I steer on the way back?”

“Of course. You don’t need to ask, Henry.” Killian stepped up to stand next to Henry. He took a deep breath. “Liam is the luckiest child in the world, you know that? He’s got Emma for his mother, and he’s got you for a big brother.” Killian’s face turned serious. “I couldn’t wish for a better life for my son, and I never imagined I could be as blessed as you’ve blessed me.” Henry hugged Killian suddenly, letting himself bury his head in Killian’s shoulder. Killian wrapped his arms around Henry tightly.

They stood there for a few moments before pulling away. Henry grabbed ahold of the wheel again, grinning as Killian fake-scowled and trudged down to the ropes. The entire journey back to Storybrooke, Henry barely held back a grin.

When they got back to the house, Emma was holding a sleeping Liam. She passed the baby to Killian to hug Henry before sending him up to bed. He hugged Killian again briefly and kissed Liam on the cheek, then he took the stairs up to his room.

He stopped halfway up the stairs to listen. He heard Liam squeak in his sleep, probably as Killian and Emma hugged. “How was the trip?” Emma asked.

“It was wonderful,” Killian said. “He’s as good a sailor as myself, probably better.”

Emma laughed softly, trying to avoid waking the baby. “Jealous?”

Killian mirrored Emma’s laugh. “I’ve never been prouder of anyone in my life.”

#captain swan #ouat #cs ff #ouat ff #captain cobra #my ff

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