#something very funny happens he meets this super pretty awesome girl and they hit it off so well all night | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

gaemkyuu · 3 years

Text

Loved.

Warnings: Mentions of an abusive boyfriend (Not Charlie) A/N: This is a personal piece of something I went through. Not all the details disclosed on this piece happened to me, but they have happened to people I love. Something we connected on was that one person came into our lives and became the light that we needed to get out of our situation. Charlie isn’t meant to portray the image of a false hero, but rather a light and a starting point. A second chapter will be made.

If you or someone you love is suffering from abuse, you are not alone. We hear you, we love you and we can help you. Reach out of the dark. Step into your greatness. Stand Tall.

Disclaimer: This is a FICITONAL writing piece! In no way do I claim characters in this piece act this way in real life.

Masterlist *now taking requests ;)

Loved.

Kaia paused to take a sip of water. Carrying around boxes and furniture was proving to be difficult with the hot LA sun. She was used to super sunny days with a cool breeze or rainy cloudy days up in Vancouver. Moving countries hadn’t been easy, what with the paperwork and everything, but here she was. Starting a life in LA, the city where people come to make their dreams happen.

“How you doin’?” the girl jump at the sound of a male voice and turned to see a very good looking guy leaning on her fence. His beautiful eyes and contagious smile caused her to smile back at him. He seemed genuine and something deep inside told her he was good.

“I’m hoping you’re the person that lives beside me, otherwise I may have to call the cops” the male chuckled at her response and shook his head.

“Welcome to the neighbourhood. Me and my roommates live right beside you. Are you new to LA?” Kaia knew she shouldn’t get caught chatting away with the male, but she didn’t want him to get the wrong impression. She knew that bad neighbours could make your life a living hell, plus being new to the country meant that she had no friends. Might as well start somewhere right?

“New to the country actually, I’m from Vancouver” Judging by the way his eyes grew to the size of saucers, she assumed that he might be a fellow Canadian too. It would be nice to have someone who understands the culture shock as a friend. “Parles-tu francais?” she sheepishly asked.

“Oui! J’suis de Dieppe!” Kaia let out a big laugh. She very rarely heard that dialect of french and it felt funny to her ears. She blushed when she realized how hard she was laughing.

“Sorry! I wasn’t laughing at you or anything. I’ve rarely heard an Acadien speak french and it sounds a little funny to me” she scratched her neck in slight embarrassment. The male seemed to bite his lip and she couldn’t help but notice the twinkle in his eyes, confirming that he wasn’t offended. “So what brought you here?”

“I’m an actor. What about you?”

“I moved down here with my boyfriend, he’s actually a local” she saw a small look of disappointment cross his unusually bright features, but as quickly as it came, it was gone. She could hear her boyfriend’s voice growing louder as he approached the entrance of the house. “Do you live by yourself? Or?”

“I live with my roommates, all of whom are girls with boyfriends” she giggled at his predicament but found it interesting.

“Too much estrogen I take it?” he rolled his eyes in confirmation and she laughed again at his reaction.

“Like you wouldn’t believe. But they’re pretty awesome, so I can’t complain” he opened his mouth to say something else, but was interrupted at a booming voice. She continued to chat with the man about the neighbourhood and life in LA in general. It felt nice to Kaia that someone was also weirded out by all the fake grass lawns and garbage on the streets. The conversation was flowing naturally and she was very engaged that she didn’t notice another person in the house growing impatient.

“Kaia!” She quickly turned around to her boyfriend, who was motioning her over. He looked irritated and upset, something she wasn’t looking forward to dealing with. She opened her mouth to explain herself as her new neighbour waved, but he interrupted her. “Let’s go!”

“Sorry, the heat’s making him a little grumpy. Thank you for welcoming us to the neighbourhood. It was really nice chatting with you” she smiled as her boyfriend marched back into the house. “I’m Kaia by the way, but you can call me Kai”

“Charlie. Charlie Gillespie. It was nice to meet you Kai, pass the welcome on to your boyfriend from us. See you around?” she smiled softly and waved goodbye as he made his way over to the front door. When he was out of sight, she took a deep breath preparing herself for the inevitable conversation with her boyfriend.

Who’s that? You’ve been flirting for half an hour. I wasn’t flirting. He’s our neighbour. Don’t lie to me, Kaia. I’m not. Listen, I moved you down here to be with me. Last time I checked, I moved down to start my career. Don’t. Sass. Me. Kaia. I’m sorry. Remember. You’re here because I let you. Don’t forget that.

The next time Kaia saw Charlie was a few weeks later. Her boyfriend and her had a big argument, so she was de-stressing the only way she knew how, making music. She was sure that at some point, someone in the neighbourhood would make a noise complaint, but right now, she could care less. She filled track after tracking, replaying what she had already made and what she had added. Kaia often poured her soul into her music, something she felt was therapeutic.

It had always been Kaia’s dream to move down to LA and pursue a music career. So when she finished her music program in Vancouver, she began working full time around the city doing odd jobs and mixing jobs wherever she could. She had saved up enough money to make the move, when she had met her boyfriend. He was playing a live set at a bar she was bartending for and the two hit it off right away. Soon, the two began to collaborate with music and Kaia found herself producing and mixing his demos.

Sure, their relationship was a little bit of a rollercoaster, but in Kaia’s mind, that wasn’t strange. She had seen her parents experience similar things with one another. He struggled to pay rent along with his tuition fees for his music program, but Kaia didn’t mind paying for it. Being an American citizen in Canada made it difficult at times to find employment and at the beginning he was super grateful. That’s how they fell into a rhythm on Kaia working to support the both of them while doing what she loved.

When her boyfriend’s Visa expired, she knew this was her chance to move down to LA. Her parents weren’t thrilled with the two of them moving in together, but they had already been a couple for 2 years. In Kaia’s mind, it was the next step in their relationship. She also assured her parents that if anything happened, that she had enough money saved up to support herself on her own for a few months.

“Sick beats!” she jumped at the voice, turning around to see Charlie fist bumping into her garage. Immediately, she turned down the music and smiled. “I didn’t know you were into music too! This is really good!”

“Think so? I haven’t made anything from scratch in a long time” Kaia blushed when Charlie’s jaw dropped at her confession. “I’m actually struggling with this track if I’m being honest”

“May I?” she moved over letting Charlie take control and play around with things. The two then began a very in depth conversation about music and finding the sound of the track she was working on. However, Kaia came to learn that as passionate Charlie was about music, he was also very goofy. The two playfully argued as to whether Charlie was correct about incorporating a xylophone or bongos into the track. He was a self proclaimed EDM expert and enthusiast, which caused Kaia to question his instrument choices. They sat there for who knows how long, eventually trading rhythms on different instruments, Kaia on the piano and Charlie on the guitar. “You’re really good at this Kai”

“I normally produce music that my boyfriend writes” she scratch her neck in embarrassment. “The move had us so busy that I’m a little rusty”

“What? If this is what you’re “rusty” is, then I’m excited to see your polished work!” Kaia smiled and stood there awkwardly, not fully knowing how to accept his compliment. “Kai, you should really give your music a chance”

“I’ll think about it” she smiled. “Say, was there a reason why you bursted into my garage?” It was now Charlie’s turn to blush and Kaia giggled in return.

“Oh yeah, I was going to invite you and your boyfriend for a barbeque tomorrow evening. Think you’d like to come?” he wiggled his eyebrows making Kaia laugh.

“We’ve got plans. Thanks” both were startled at the introduction of a new voice. Kaia’s boyfriend stood at the garage door entrance, arms crossed and unimpressed.

“Ty, this is Charlie, our neighbour. Charlie, this is Tyler, my boyfriend” Kaia quickly made her way to her boyfriend, explaining the situation.

“Nice to meet you man” Charlie smiled and extended his hand, but Tyler just looked at it until Charlie took it back. He muttered a soft ‘okay then’ and shoved his hands into his pockets. “I just wanted to invite you and Kai over for dinner tomorrow night. My roommates would love to meet you guys”

“It’s Kaia, and thanks but no thanks. Like I said, we have plans” Kaia stood silently beside her boyfriend, fidgeting with her sleeve. She held one arm across her body and was squeezing her other arm, but cleared her throat to break the tension.

“Thanks for the visit. I’ll see you around Charlie” this time Kaia’s smile was a genuine one, but by the look on Charlie’s face, she knew he was growing suspicious. She was grateful that he didn’t push the topic, but she knew that his hesitation wouldn’t go unnoticed by her boyfriend.

What is it with you and this guy? We were just collaborating on mixing. You mix for me Kaia. Don’t let someone take advantage of you. He wasn’t taking advantage of me. He was helping me. Helping? It sounds like shit. You better get your head in the game for my next EP. ... Babe, you know I only want you to be the best right? I know. I love you. ... I love you too.

If another person screamed at her today, Kaia was sure that she would lose it. She felt exhausted and overworked. Living in LA was proving to be pricey and she was the only one who was able to find work between the two of them. Between working two jobs and producing late into the evenings, Kaia felt like she was reaching her limit.

“Good evening! Can I start you guys with something to drink?” Kaia fished for her notepad and pen in her apron, fiddling around for a moment.

“Kai?” she recognized the voice immediately and finally found her things. Charlie sat at the table she was waiting along with two other people.

“I’m beginning to think you’re stalking me Charlie” she joked, smoothing out her hair and uniform. She suddenly felt more aware and conscious of her appearance.

“Sounds like Charlie” the female interrupted, earning a shove from the male. The blonde across from Charlie stifled a chuckle at the interaction. “I’m Hannah, I live with Charlie”

“And this is Owen” he introduced and Kaia gave a kind smile back. “I didn’t know you worked here! I thought you worked at the Starbucks?” she noticed Owen and Hannah give each other a look about Charlie’s observation.

“Yeah, I work at Starbucks in the morning and here in the evenings” she blew a strand of hair out of her face. “Not all of us make a living off of Netflix contracts” she winked. “What can I get you guys?”

The playful banter continued on through the night and Kaia continued to wait their table, along with the many other tables she had. Kaia got to know Owen and Hannah pretty well that night and genuinely enjoyed their company. Since moving to LA, she had been working so much that she hadn’t even made friends in the three months she had been there. So naturally, after her shift, she sat down with their table and got them free dessert just to hang out. They were having such a good time that she lost track time.

“Hey Kaia! Your boyfriend’s calling” Kaia paled at the closing manager’s announcement and she politely excused herself from the table, telling the manager she’d take the call in the office. As Kaia sat in the office, quiet tears streamed down her face as her boyfriend chastised her over the phone. Her closing manager comforted her quietly, knowing the intricacies of her situation. Once Kaia was sure she was composed, she returned to her table of friends, surprised that they still waited around for her.

“Thanks for the company tonight! I’ll see you guys around?” The looks they gave each other didn’t go unnoticed by Kaia. However, they didn’t say anything and bid her farewell.

“Hey Kaia?” she paused and turned around, a soft smile on her face, and Charlie standing at the edge of his table. “You know you can talk to me right?” Kaia bit her lip, hesitant for her next move. She took a deep breath, trying to suppress the tears that were surfacing.

“I’m just tired is all” but a tear slipped down her face, which she quickly wiped away. Charlie pulled her in for a hug and Kaia melted into it. She couldn’t remember feeling this warmth for a long time and quite frankly, she felt at peace. The flickering of the car lights in the parking lot pulled her attention from the comfort of Charlie’s arms. “I have to go” she whispered and left, not bearing to look at Charlie and the rest.

I don’t like him. Don’t hang around him anymore. He’s my only friend here. Then make a new one. How? Between working two jobs and mixing your music, I have no time. Don’t pin this on me. Stop whining and figure it out. ... I’m just protecting you. He’ll take advantage of you. ... Now who’s my girl? I am. And who’s everything that you’ll ever need. ... Kaia. You are. Don’t forget that.

“That’ll be $4.95”

“I’ll pay. Could you add on a donut too? Thanks”

The next time Kaia saw Charlie was a few weeks after the diner incident. Kaia didn’t actually see Charlie, but rather Charlie saw Kaia and couldn’t pass up the chance to talk to her. Judging by his outfit, she assumed that he was on his usual morning run. She felt nervous about him appearing from nowhere and offering to buy her coffee, especially since the last time they talked it was awkward.

“You didn’t have to do that Charlie.” she smiled and thanked him with her eyes. She fiddled with her zip up collar and hair.

“It’s nothing. Wanna grab a table? Maybe in a more secluded and private area?” she nodded thinking that his specificity in seating had to do with the recent release of a Netflix show he starred on that was gaining popularity. So she settled for a table tucked away in the corner of the shop. Charlie followed along soon after with her coffee and his donut.

“Thanks again. How was your run?” Charlie shrugged as he took a bite of his donut.

“Same as always, except this time I get to see you” Kaia blushed at his beautiful smile. He was good looking and from their exchanges, she had gotten to know he was genuinely a good guy. “You like to hike?”

She couldn’t understand what it was, but Charlie had a way of making her feel comfortable and safe. As they chatted about the many hiking places and how often Charlie went, Kaia could see the excitement in his eyes. Their conversation naturally divulged into hobbies and things they had been up to. The two laughed and chatted, both of them wishing that they could stay in each other’s company. It was exactly what she needed.

“I haven’t been hearing you mix lately. The neighbourhood sounds quiet”

“Nothing I’ve come up with sounds good” she stated sheepishly, flushed at the fact that Charlie had noticed.

“Oh come on, I’m sure you’re being hard on yourself. You’re extremely talented, and I’m not saying that just to be nice or anything!” Charlie leaned in as he said this, and Kaia could tell that he truly meant what he was saying.

“No, it’s always garbage when I try to mix on my own” Charlie frowned at this much to Kaia’s dismay, and he sat back in his seat, looking slightly annoyed. Kaia felt her pulse quicken, feeling like she had disappointed him in some way.

“Is that what he tells you?” Kaia was about to drink her coffee, but that comment caught her off guard. She tensed, knowing where this conversation could go and where she didn’t want it to go. “I’m sorry, I just...”

“It’s okay. You don’t need to say anything” she assured him, setting her cup down and a small awkward silence filling the empty space. “I get that you care Charlie, but everything’s fine”.

“You don’t have to lie to me Kai” she avoided his gaze knowing that he would see right through her when she melted under his stare. “Look, I know it’s none of my business, but if what I think is happening, is happening, then you need to leave” she bit her lip again, stopping herself from confessing the truth to Charlie.

“Nothing’s happening Charlie. We’ve just been going through a rough patch. I’m fine, really” she hoped to god that she sounded convincing enough for Charlie to drop the topic. Nervous for his response, she glanced down at her phone and noticed the 15 missed calls. To add, they had been sitting in that coffee shop chatting for 2 hours. Kaia always came to Tyler’s defence, as Charlie wasn’t the first one to voice his concerns. Tyler was sweet and loving, but he often got jealous or irritated. However, it was always emphasized that Kaia crossed the lines that triggered Tyler and that he never acted irrationally.

“Thanks for the chat Charlie.” She smiled at him, taking the last sip of the liquid in her cup. “It was nice getting to know you more”. She could see Charlie hesitate, knowing he didn’t want the conversation to end. She secretly wanted the same thing as his, but she felt guilty for feeling this way.

In their various exchanges and in their conversation today, Kaia felt more and more attracted to Charlie. He was so kind and always interested in the person he was talking to. He empathized and expressed compassion in a way that Kaia had never experienced before. If she wasn’t with Tyler, she could see herself with Charlie and that made her feel horrible. She tried over and over again to convince herself that Charlie was nothing but a friend, when really she wanted more. Tyler loved her and only wanted the best for her, yet here she was wishing Charlie was in Tyler’s place instead.

“You don’t have to be with someone that makes you feel the way you do” Charlie held Kaia’s hand across the table. “I know you might feel like you’re trapped, but you don’t have to be. You have a way out” Kaia quickly wiped away the tear that escaped her eyes, but Charlie wiped away the second one. The two sat in silence as Kaia quietly let a few more tears escape, but it was only a matter of time that Kaia would find herself in Charlie’s arms crying steadily, but still silently, until there was nothing left. When Kaia was sure she was done, Charlie pulled away to give her an encouraging smile and squeezed her arm.

That’s when Kaia kissed him.

In her mind, it all happened so fast. One moment, she was trying to protect Tyler, the next moment she was wishing Tyler was Charlie. That’s what led her to kiss him and Charlie to kiss her back. The two pulled apart, speechless and slightly out of breath, but Kaia didn’t stay long enough to get a response. She quickly grabbed her things and left Charlie to rush out after her. She kept walking despite his calls after her.

That kiss confirmed what Kaia had been trying to deny for a long time now. It confirmed that she didn’t want to be with Tyler anymore. It confirmed that she hadn’t wanted to be with him for a long time. She hasn’t loved him for a long time and it took someone else to help her realize there was love outside of Tyler. However, leaving Tyler wouldn’t be so easy. She tried many times, but there was always a reason as to why she never left. Unfortunately, that reason as of late had been fear.

“Kai! Kaia! Would you just stop for a second?!” Charlie chased after her, ignoring the various stares that were casted their way. A car pulled up beside her on the street and she paused to get in. Kaia looked back at him regretfully, tears falling from her eyes again, before opening the door and being pulled in. Charlie was left on the side of the street, left wondering what the hell he had gotten himself into.

You’re so stupid, why can’t you think? I’m sorry. Yeah, well sorry isn’t good enough! What did I tell you about him?! I’m sorry. Is that all you can say?! Tyler, stop, you’re hurting me. I’m hurting you?! What about what you’re doing to me?! You’re so selfish Kaia. ... This is what I get for everything that I’ve given you?! ...I’m sorry. Just shut up.

Kaia quit her jobs the next day at Tyler’s request. His reasoning was that Kaia couldn’t be trusted outside of the house, so it would be better for her to pick up some work from home jobs. It didn’t help that he had found a printed bank statement with information about how much Kaia had in her savings, something he didn’t hesitate to use against her.

If she was being honest, she felt absolutely awful and was quietly thankful that she was able to quit her jobs. It meant that she didn’t have to leave home, something that she was hoping for more and more. Kaia was riddled with guilt that deep down, she saw Charlie as more than a friend and that she kissed him, despite being in a relationship with Tyler. She reasoned that she was being unfaithful to Tyler, especially after everything he did for her back in Vancouver. Sure, she handled the financials, but Tyler showed her a whole new world that she never dreamed of getting access to. He introduced her to Canadian producers and artists, got her more involved in the music scene and he loved her. Tyler was her first everything! First kiss, first boyfriend, first time... He loved her. She was sure of it.

Or was she?

“She’ll have a water and a margherita pizza and I’ll have the tuscan with a coke” Kaia felt him squeeze her arm and she did her best not to flinch. He had insisted that he sat beside her whenever they dined out so that he could be closer to her, but his rough advances were uncomfortable, especially with the bruises. She sat there in silence staring off to space as they sat on the outdoor patio.

He had been lashing out more lately and sometimes Kaia got in the way. He didn’t target her for his aggression, it was rather that she was just in the wrong place at the wrong time. She didn’t dare tell a single soul. Not her friends back home, not her family, no one. That would prompt them to check on her more and more, something that she really didn’t want. She wanted to be left alone. Tyler had grown obsessive of knowing what she was doing at every moment. He held her phone from her and everywhere he went, she came along too. She was rarely left home alone. Had Tyler become toxic? Yes.

Had he been toxic for a while? Well...

In truth, Kaia wanted to break things off a few months into their dating, but he’d always find a way to convince her otherwise. At some point, Kaia stopped questioning his off behaviour or quips and accepted it as that was who he was. She convinced herself that at his core the Tyler she fell for was still there and that right now he had all the reasons to be the way he was. Life as a musician was stressful, especially when you hadn’t made it into the industry.

Kaia was pulled out of her thoughts as the waitress placed their orders down in front of them. Immediately, Tyler began portioning out her serving on her plate as she quietly sipped on her water.

“Can you look any more miserable Kaia? Jesus” he scoffed, shoving her serving in front of her. “If you’re going to be this miserable out and about, I might as well leave you at home” she ate her slice in silence, not entertaining his comments, knowing that whatever she said would be used against her anyways. His phone began vibrating and he sighed, seemingly conflicted. “I gotta take this inside because it’s too loud out here. Don’t leave until I come back” Kaia nodded softly continuing to chew on her slice, as he stepped away from the table, out of sight. Her heart began to race when she noticed he left her phone behind.

This is it. This is your chance out Kaia. Don’t think. Just do it.

She snatched the phone and quickly pin dropped her location with the word ‘HELP’, to the one person she knew she could count on. Quickly, she deleted the text and put her phone back, not wanting to be caught near it. She prayed that he would see her text and she prayed that he would be able to help her. As she watched her boyfriend return to the table, she felt her stomach knot and the pizza she consumed rise in her throat.

“Eat your food or people are going to think I’m making you starve or some shit” he scoffed sitting down beside her and continuing to eat. He didn’t notice anything.

“I’m not hungry anymore” she smiled at him, slightly pushing her plate away. He pushed it back to her.

“I don’t care. I don’t want people thinking I’m treating you poorly” she stiffly grabbed her half eaten slice and when she was nearly done, he put another one on her plate. In the distance, she saw the familiar orange subaru parallel park. Her heart rate increased.

“Thank you. Was that phone call good news?” Kaia knew that the number one thing Tyler liked was talking about himself and his accomplishment. She turned to face him more and tried her best to look really engaged in the conversation, despite her sweaty palms and pounding heart. She was grateful that his back was facing the inside of the restaurant and he turned to face her too, telling her about the exec who was interested in meeting him and listening to his work. She nodded and replied appropriately, but she couldn’t tell you what more he said. Kaia was too focused on the scene in the restaurant unfolding. She watched as Charlie walked in and explained the situation to the hostess who then called over what looked like the manager. The three of them stood in discussion as a police officer entered the restaurant as well, pointing to their table. Her stomach sank as she watched the officer and Charlie leave, but she did her best to keep her eyes focused, only looking at the background when he went for a bite or a drink.

The waitress made her way over and asked how their meal was or if there was anything that she could get for them. Kaia shook her head no and Tyler did as well, but she dropped off napkins, tapping them lightly and looking at Kaia directly. She took it as a sign that the napkins had something important, so she intentionally took a messy bite of pizza, to wipe her face. Too bad Tyler got to the napkin first. Wiping his mouth, he noticed a smudge mark of ink on the napkin and Kaia immediately knew she was done for. His face changed in an instant and he glared at her, throwing cash onto the table.

“Get up.”

“But I’m not done-”

“I said, Get. Up.” Kaia did as she was told and Tyler grabbed her arm, not caring at who was staring. She started to walk, but it wasn’t good enough for Tyler as he forced her to his side. “You think you’re so smart? Tipping off the waitress like you’re some prisoner”

“I didn’t-”

“Shut up. You little liar. I’m not hurting you. I’m not forcing you to be here. You can leave, but you don’t because you know that you’re nothing without me” he hissed into her ear as they made their way to the entrance, but the officer stopped them midway. “Can I help you, officer?”

“I just need to ask you some questions outside. Ma’am I’m going to have to ask you to wait inside with the manager” the officer was stern and surely Tyler would comply, but he proved different.

“I don’t feel comfortable leaving my girlfriend by herself,” he added, pulling her close.

“Tyler, just do as he says” she winced at the grip he had on her arm, glaring at her.

“Sir, you need to come with me. Ma’am, I’m going to need you to step away from him” Kaia complied but Tyler didn’t, and soon she began to fight him off, struggling for her freedom all the while the police officer was trying to deescalate the situation. She finally slapped him across the face and he splashed a glass of water that was sitting on a table in her face, then throwing the glass at her. The police officer restrained him immediately and dragged him outside, while Kaia was left in the restaurant wet and a bruise starting to form on her cheek bone.

Was this it? Was it over?

She felt a soft warm cloth envelop her shoulders and she was handed a dish rag to try to dry off, but she was still in shock. She was moved to a less populated area of the restaurant, away from any clients and was sat down at a table. That’s when Charlie came running back in. As he rushed over to where she was sitting, she felt her own legs start to move quickly towards him, falling into his embrace. Charlie held her close, comforting her by whispering soothing words into her ears. He moved them to the table she was originally at and sat beside her, holding her while her tears fell and even after. He held her while another police officer approached them to update them on Tyler. He held her as they took down her statement and gave her directions as to what she would do next.

“Here is the address to the temporary apartment we will have you stay in. Do you have a vehicle or need transportation” Kaia read the address on the paper, but before she could speak up, Charlie did.

“Kai, I can drive you if you want. I can even help you get things that you need from your place” he smiled gently at her and cautiously, knowing that she was still in shock and overwhelmed.

“You’ll have a police escort on the premise if you would like to return home to grab a few things” Kaia looked at Charlie searching his eyes for some sort of sign that he was as hurtful as Tyler.

“I’ll let him drive me back and forth, thank you.” her voice sounded slightly croaky, probably from her crying. The officer notified them that she could give them 10 minutes before they had to leave. They would follow Charlie’s car to her house and escort her around to grab what she needed. From there, she would be followed to her temporary residence, until the courts could come to a conclusion about her situation. As the officer stepped away, Kaia took a deep breath and let out a big sigh.

“Thank you Charlie”

“I should be thanking you. What you did was hard, but it was the right thing to do. I’m always here for you, however you need me” He kissed her hand that he held and pulled her in for another hug. For the first time, in a long time, Kaia felt something she didn’t know she was missing.

Loved.

A/N: Look out for part 2!

#charlie gillespie #charlie gillespie imagines #charlie gillespie x reader #charlie gillespie fanfiction #fanfiction #imagine #imagines

77 notes · View notes

keanureevesisbae · 3 years

Text

The alluring charm of Henry Cavill - Epilogue

Summary: A few months have passed. How are Adelaide and Henry holding up?

Henry Cavill x Adelaide Park (ofc)

Wordcount: 2k

Warnings: None

Masterlist // Previous chapter //

‘Hello everybody,’ Henry says into the camera.

His beautiful girlfriend sits next to him on a chair, but since she is so short, her legs are dangling off the chair, while he has planted both of his feet on the floor. He looks to the side, simply to take in her beauty, even if it’s just for a short time. ‘My name is Adelaide Park.’

‘And I am Henry Cavill and we are doing the Wired Autocomplete Interview.’

Henry watches these types of interviews religiously and he always wanted to do this. And now he gets to do it with his gorgeous Adelaide.

They recently starred in a new romantic comedy: I’m sorry I hit you with my car. It’s about a woman named Jazz Mitchells, who accidentally hits one of the top attorneys in the country Declan Stanford with her car. Because of the impact, Declan permanently loses his vision. Jazz feels so guilty, she decides she should become his assistent, since she has a law degree, but due to personal matter hasn’t used it. Obviously—it’s a romantic comedy—they fall in love with one another, though Declan has never seen Jazz. It’s hard on him, since he—surprise surprise—is extremely superficial and only cares about looks.

When Henry read the script, he was slightly intrigued, however when Adelaide was sent the script as well, because the director wanted her as Jazz Mitchels, he was more than intrigued. Starring alongside his crazily talented girlfriend made the experience worth while. People already speculated they are dating again, however they have yet to go public. They made up nine months ago, but keep their relationship pretty under the radar. They started out in the public eye and that went south. Despite the two of them not being involved in reality tv, they wanted to take it slow, without the hot and demanding breaths of the fans and paparazzi in their necks.

Henry holds the board for Adelaide, as she peels off the sticker to reveal the first question. ‘Is Adelaide Park Korean?’ She nods as she looks into the camera. ‘One hundred percent.’

Henry can’t help but stare at her and when her eyes meet his, she flashes him a lovely smile. He’ll never get tired of seeing that smile.

‘Is Adelaide Park related to Park Jimin from BTS?’ She starts to chuckle. ‘No, but I wish. Wouldn’t that be super awesome? If that were the case though, I’d rub that fact into people’s faces everywhere I go. Okay, next one: is Adelaide Park tall?’

Henry can’t help but snort. ‘She is everything but tall,’ he says, before she gets the chance to answer it.

She pouts as she looks his way and his heart swells at the sight. ‘No?’

‘Sorry, Addy.’ He bumps his knee against hers.

‘Is Adelaide Park Lara Croft?’ Adelaide’s smile becomes brighter and brighter. ‘Well, I’m going to portray her very very soon. I’m so excited, because this will be my first action packed movie.’

Henry looks to the side again, as he watches her beam with pride. When she got the dreading phone call she had been waiting for and the director told her she got the part, she kept it very professional over the phone. However, the second she hung up, tears filled her eyes and she stood in the middle of the kitchen, as she cried with happiness. For the first time she was going to broaden her movie horizon, something she wanted to do so for such a long time. Adelaide is already training pretty hard, so she’s got a more athletic appearance.

He loves the way she is, but the determination she has for this movie, is something he recognizes instantly. Besides, he loves spending even more time with her, as he goes to the same gym as her and together they work out. He even came to the point where he threw everything remotely unhealthy out, so he can eat healthy with her. It’s hard enough already to eat healthy, let alone when he is going to eat his usual snacks right under her nose.

Adelaide has reached the end of the board already and Henry hands it to the woman who gives him the next board. His girlfriend pries the board out of his hands, so she can hold it for him, just like he did for her.

‘Okay, let’s see,’ he says, as he peels off the top sticker. ‘Is Henry Cavill Superman?’ He looks to Adelaide. ‘Am I? I’ve heard I look like the actor, but I don’t really see it.’

She studies his face. ‘Hmm… No, Superman is way hotter than you.’

He spots the mischievous smile on her face that he has come to love. She sticks out her tongue and he can’t help but smile at her.

‘Is Henry Cavill a nerd? I think I qualify as a nerd.’

Adelaide’s eyes widen. ‘You think? You are the biggest nerd I have ever encountered, you dork.’

Henry bumps his shoulder against hers. ‘Is Henry Cavill dating Adelaide Park?’

After they talked about it over coffee and took a swim, they have been on multiple dates and it didn’t take long before they simply fell into their trusted routines. He moved into her apartment when filming and promoting became a daily routine for awhile and the second he stepped in, he realized he was home.

Not long after that, he met her parents. Adelaide is a copy of her dad, look wise and personality wise.They have the same smile and share the same adorable traits; when they eat, they pout, when they watch a movie, they frown. Her mother on the other hand, is a lot more serious and continued to threaten him. She told him multiple times in an ice cold way how she’ll run him over multiple times with her electrical wheelchair if he ever hurts her again.

He is not doubting her at all, but he can guarantee he’ll never do something that idiotic again. He loves Adelaide more than anything in the world and he would be an absolute moron if he ever let her go.

When they were casted for this romantic comedy together, it was such a magical moment. Despite him playing a blind man for seventy five percent of the movie (minus the beginning and the multiple flashbacks), during certain scenes he couldn’t stop staring at Adelaide. Taking in her beauty was becoming so normal for him, that not doing that felt wrong.

During their sex scene, the director wanted to put the focus on him taking in her beauty with his touch, instead with his sight. Touching her wasn’t a problem for him, because he loved touching her, but not getting turned on by her was the hardest part of it all and let’s just say he had to drag her to his trailer afterwards.

‘I am dating Adelaide Park,’ Henry finally says with a disgusting grin on his face. ‘I know a lot of people have been suspecting it for awhile now, but I can confirm that as a matter of fact, we are indeed dating.’ He holds her hand and she starts to blush, because he looks at her, probably with heart eyes, since that always makes her blush. ‘And I’m so incredibly lucky.’

◎ ◎ ◎

When they are home, Adelaide kicks off her shoes and rushes to the couch. With her eyes closed, she is sprawled out on the cushions. ‘Henry,’ she calls out for him, causing him to walk over to her. He sits on the edge of the couch and she holds out her hands for him. ‘Can I have a hug?’ she asks with a slight pout. ‘I don’t feel too good.’

‘Why, love? What’s wrong?’ Henry asks, placing her hand on her cheek.

‘I think I’ve got that nasty flu,’ she says. ‘I felt a little funny during the interview, but now I can finally relax and I feel even worse than before.’ Adelaide sighs and closes her eyes again. ‘Please? That hug?’

He gets on the couch with her, lifting her on his chest and wraps his arms tightly around her. When Henry gently kisses her forehead, he notices she is already heating up a bit. ‘Ah, my love, I think you might be right. Good thing I love taking care of you. You’ll be better in no time.’

‘We need to cancel my parents,’ she mentions. They were supposed to meet them tomorrow, but knowing Adelaide she doesn’t want her mother coming down with this, something that he completely understands, though he is a bit disappointed they are not going to her parents. Spending time with the Parks, is always nice and he loves her parents as if they were his own. Hearing their stories from pre-actress Adelaide are both heartbreaking and encouraging. They love one another in a way they’ll know they can rely on each other. ‘How about we’ll prepare the couch, so it’s a bit more comfortable for us and I’ll make you some chicken broth? You want to watch some tv or a movie?’

She looks up at him with glassy eyes, a clear sign she is indeed coming down with something. ‘I know you wanted to hang out with David tonight and you can still do that. I’m a big girl, I can manage.’

He was jealous of what Adelaide and David had. They were very close friends and a simply look was enough for them to tell each other a lot. Now David Castañeda is one of his best friends and he loves it when they can hang out together. ‘Not when you’re sick. David will understand.’ He lets his hand run over her cheek. ‘I’m sorry you feel like this.’

She shrugs. ‘There have been plenty of moments where I was all alone when I was sick. Now you are here with me, that makes it more doable. Besides, I took care of you and your upset stomach a few weeks ago. It’s only fair that you take care of me right now.’

He chuckles. ‘It’s my absolute pleasure, love.’

After he prepared the couch for her, even helped her changing into something more comfortable and removed her make-up, he heats up some soup for her, as she is watching television. He has already called off David, who actually has come down with a bit of a sore throat himself and rather hangs on his mother’s couch, so they’ll simply reschedule.

Henry plops on the couch again and Adelaide maneuvers herself between his legs, her back against his chest, as she eats her soup.

Henry prizes himself lucky every single day that he is dating this wonderful woman, who has shown him so much. He fucked it up once, but that is not going to happen again. They are in this together and they are going to stay in this together. The movie industry can be a tough one and at first he dreaded the times that he would be in LA, missing his family dearly. However, now he is with Adelaide and no matter where they are, as long as they are together, they are home.

His phone vibrates and he sees he has a message from his brother. He quickly opens it, discretely so Adelaide won’t see it.

Piers: I can finally officially tell you: the arrangements are made. Good thing you told me this far ahead, because that place is booked when it comes to proposals.

Piers: You sure you can wait nine months before you propose to her?

Henry smiles at his phone, before he presses a kiss in Adelaide’s nape. ‘I love you, Addy,’ he whispers to her. ‘You do know that right?’

‘Of course I know that,’ she says as she looks to the side. ‘I love you too.’ When she focuses back on the movie again, he quickly types back a message.

Henry: I can wait, no matter how hard it may seem. I love her a lot, Piers and I’m not letting her go.

Piers: I know you do. Now when are we going ring shopping?

◎ ◎ ◎

A/N: I can’t believe this is the end of this fic 😭😭 Adelaide and Henry are amazing, but I think this is a good place to end the story. I wanna say thank you to everyone who read this. You are fantastic and thank you for the kind words 😘

#henry cavill #henry cavill x ofc #henry cavill x oc #henry cavill x asian ofc #henry cavill x adelaide park #henry cavill fandom #henry cavill fanfic #asian ofc #adelaide park #the alluring charm of henry cavill

95 notes · View notes

jess-the-vampire · 3 years

Text

The Demon Next Door, Chapter 9

Previous / Next

A week had passed since marco had heard the "Conversation", between Tom and Star.

And while janna's theories were in the back of his mind, that wasn't his main focus.

No, his main focus was to keep being a good friend and not act like he had just heard something personal and private that he wasn't supposed to know about. He needed to get back into spirits, hang out with his friends, and be as supportive as possible for the two of them until they were comfortable talking to him about whatever it was they weren't sure about mentioning to him.

They were his friends after all, he didn't want to lost them due to being a terrible friend.

But while he was ignoring janna's ideas, as anything janna claimed was really never true, and as much as he tried to keep happy, he still somehow felt irked and he didn't fully understand why. He was trying to come up with reasons, maybe he felt his friend liked each other more then him? Well he knew that wasn't true, tom almost always seemed to hang out with marco when he had the chance, so did star.

Maybe he felt this way because tom was really succeeding with his crush and marco wasn't? After all marco already had gotten upset about tom being so good at karate when it took years for him to even break a single board.

But somehow it didn't feel that way, marco had already squashed that bug, especially when he realized how much it hurt tom.

So what was it?

What was it really that was bothering him so much?

"Marco? Hey dude, did you hear me? I got the tickets!", tom waved his hand in front of marco's face, waking him up from his thoughts, Tom was smiling and laughing at him, playful as ever. "Dude, you alright? You're so spaced out", marco shook his head, he really needed to start paying attention to his best friends, especially if he wanted to not come off like he was suspicious or anything.

Thankfully tom didn't seem too bothered, probably chalking it up to marco thinking about school or jackie.

"Uh sorry, yeah, that's really awesome tom, i can't wait to go with you!", marco was actually genuine about that, he was pretty excited to go with tom. He'd never been to a concert in person and he was sure if he did he'd go with star, having a guy friend who liked the same band was not something he expected to happen so quickly. And they were going to hang out and sing together? God it was the best thing marco had ever gotten in awhile.

Well, hopefully it would at least.

"Me too, i've never been to a concert before...", he said, voice wandering, "I never really got to y'know "Hang out" with people much back home. So...I'm actually really kinda excited to just do stuff like this with a friend.". He smirked a little, "Besides, maybe after we can go get some tacos and smoothies and just hang out for a bit...maybe i can sleep over at your house if you want?".

That sounded...amazing.

"Yeah! I'll ask my parents, but i know they'll say yes anyway...we could even try and get justin tower's autography while we're there...maybe...hopefully".

"Yeah of course, i think i can do that".

"You can?", marco asked, puzzled and ecstatic.

"I've never been to a concert before, but i did meet him in person once, when i was back at my old home...so he might remember me and meet us or something", wait a second, tom had MET the lead singer of their favorite band?! And never told marco about that!? Was tom some celebrity or something secretly?! How in the heck was tom so lucky-

Tom must've seen gears turn in marco's head as he quickly stepped in.

"Sorry, i wanted it to be a surprise before but i guess i might as well spill the beans on that one".

He seemed actually a little sheepish about that one, but marco patted his back, "Tom, you don't have to go so overboard for me but...it all sounds like a lot of fun, i really appreciate it. I'm probably gonna have to owe you for this one, like majorly, though i'm not sure what can beat meeting one of my idols in person, a sleepover, and a concert...".

"Dude, you don't have to-".

"I know, but i want to.".

Tom seemed to blush a little at that, touched at marco's words.

"So yeah, i'm excited...big ole hangout, just you and me. Consider it a big thank you for y'know...not making me feel alone or weird out here. Then tom let out an oo as marco hugged him tightly, almost knocking the wind out of him. "No one has ever done something that nice for me before, god, i'm gonna have to work to one up you after this whole thing".

Tom laughed, "You don't have to...".

"But i want to", marco replied, repeating tom's words teasingly.

"Very funny...but yeah...oh and maybe we can make cookies during the sleepover, something fun...could top it off with movies or games if you're still awake by that point", he winked, "Make it the best night ever". He bumped marco's shoulder as they disbanded, noticing people were staring, Mostly a lot of his classmates. Marco nearly forgot they were still in school, simply waiting for the bus to take them home.

That reminded him.

"So uh...where's star?".

She usually was here by now, unless she got held back to be scolded or something, or maybe star forgot something at her locker perhaps, she never ran late to get out of school with her friends. Mostly because these days star was pretty happy to avoid having to do schoolwork and deal with people like Brittney, though her not being here seemed to leave marco and tom both super worried.

"Should...we look for her?".

She was going to miss the bus if she didn't make it here soon and marco didn't want to leave her here. He gripped his backpack strap a little tighter in nervousness, tom trying to reassure him before star made her way around the corner in a hurry. Clearly knowing how late she was to meet up with her friends and tugging them onto the bus before they could even ask what happened.

Both letting out a small noise as she did so.

Marco felt the wind knocked out of him being thrown onto his seat and tom on the opposite one, star breathing faster then usual.

"S-star?".

"H-hey guys...sorry i'm late and everything I uh...got caught up in stuff", the boys looked between each other and she quickly ushered them to the bus so they could get home, "C'mon, we need to get home...". Marco felt her squeeze his arm rather forcibly, and he wondered just what star got herself into. He had the impression whatever it was, it might've been...well, bad.

And Star confirmed this for him the moment they sat down in their seats, the girl trying to fix her hair and huffing.

"Star...what happened?".

"I-...i was talking to jackie and ugh...brittney passed by".

Oh, oh no.

"Apparently her stupid birthday is coming up and of course none of us are invited because of course and jackie told her off for acting so mean and said if none of us were coming, she wasn't interested in coming either", star sounded so irrtated by that but that seemd very in character for jackie to do. Marco had to admit, the fact jackie stood up for them like that was actually...it was rather sweet, especially since jackie was considered decently popular among the school.

"Well that's cool of her...it's ok, it would've been a boring party anyway".

"Marco, you don't understand...brittney told us to come!".

"WHAT!?".

"Apparently she'd rather we show up then have jackie not show up, because the scene she made when defending us got a LOT of people's attention, that's why i was late, we got sent to the principle's office and in the end...she said we're coming", she seemed to be resisting the urge to stab someone at the moment, her anger searing through her teeth.

Even Tom looked baffled and grossed out, "Then why bother showing up, let's bail, ruin her party...like i care".

"Except she called our parents already to make sure we couldn't back out-".

"She didn't".

"The principle technically made the call...but..."

He couldn't believe this, they got themselves roped into a party with the girl who was spreading lies about them and being awful to them? Why? Why even bother, they had better things hey could do then hang out with someone as awful as Brittney, but somehow by a stroke of luck they seemed to get themselves roped into going to her party anyway.

There was an inkling that brittney almost planned this, like she had malicious intention with them coming, she would really rather have them there then not jackie? C'mon, there had to be something up.

"Pfft, we'll just pretend to be sick that day then...".

"Our parents aren't that stupid tom...we just all conveniently get sick? On the same day of a party of a girl we don't like? Ha, right", tom hated to admit it, but marco was right about that, there was no way they'd buy into that no matter how convincing they might make their sickness. Tom felt a wave of anger and frustration hit him, his good mood with marco suddenly ruined.

"Fine, but if we're going, i'm not speaking to her".

"Don't worry, we won't either".

This seemed to make tom a little better, a smile, faint as it was, appearing on the corner of his mouth for a split second.

"I'm glad to have you guys around as my friends, ugh...i hope jackie knows what she got us into-", it wasn't jackie's fault of course, she was trying to help, but seems it only led to more problems in the end. Star sighing, "She told me she was really sorry about that, she'll probably text you guys soon about it...i think she's hoping to make things up to us later if she can", that sounded like jackie alright.

At least she was taking responsibility for it.

But being sent to a party of the biggest bully in school? That sounded like there was no way it could end well.

Especially with all the rumors being spread around, and marco felt his chest stop when he really thought about it. A lot of the rumors around came from him hanging out with tom, what if they got worse? There was a real chance of it after all. Tom could get teased about their relationship and tell everyone off for it and...well, he could tell everyone that he didn't feel that way for marco.

And that seemed to sting to marco for some reason.

What if this ruined their friendship?

He didn't want brittney to tease tom, it could ruin tom's social life entirely and their friendship and-

"Marco? Everything ok?".

Star and Tom were staring at him, both highly concerned for their friend.

And no wonder, marco looked like he might burst from all the anxiety building up inside of him right now, all this stuff that was getting to him even though nothing had actually happened yet. He needed to pull himself together, calm himself down, do what tom did when he had moments like this, take a breather and remind himself nothing bad had happened yet.

"I'm ok, i'm sorry, i'm just worried what's going to happen if we show up...i don't trust brittney, she might take advantage of us being there or something.".

"You're not wrong about that marco, she always looks like she's up to something bad".

Star then grew a grin on her face that marco didn't like, the boy quickly snapping into her face to get her out of it, "Hey uh...don't, we could do without being banned from school or sued...instead of causing trouble let's maybe just be super careful around her instead".

Star looked sad, but she didn't seem surprised either.

Next time.

As they were dropped off, they were quickly surrounded as both marco and tom's parents left their respective houses tp give the kids large hug, as if somehow this situation was something to actually celebrate. "Oh KIDS! I heard you got invited to a big PARTY with your friends! That's so wonderful! It's been so long since i saw you go to a friend's birthday party like that marco!", marco was embarrassed as he was squeezed tighter by his father.

Gee, tell the whole world why don't ya?

"Tom's never been invited to a party before, that's wonderful!".

"DAD!", Tom blushed, him and marco both uncomfortable and humiliated now.

At least tom understood his pain, even if they both wanted to be out of this as soon as possible. Their parents eventually let them go though, noticing their kids didn't look nearly as thrilled as they did about this whole thing. They had to know what brittney was like at this point from how much their sons complained about her, there was no way they didn't.

And yet this thought this was a good idea?

They had to be desperate to get their kids out of the house at that point.

"Sorry sorry sorry, i'm just happy to hear about you being invited to an outing with a lot of kids, your mom is already considering what you should wear so you look good for it". His mother nodded and tom felt even more embarrassed, he wasn't dressing up for the meanest girl in school, he would for star, marco or even jackie but not for the girl who glared at him during lunch.

"Ooo! We'll help!", and marco grumbled as his father approached tom's parents.

He desperately hoped they didn't give the three of them matching outfits.

Because if given the chance, they would.

Star motioned to the boys, and pointed down the road and marco was quick to put the pieces together.

"C'mon, she's inviting us to her house tonight to uh...,avoid...this", he motioned to their parents talking and tom shrugged, maybe star's house was a better place to hide right now, at least star's mom might actually see the problem with all of this. The three heading down ways to get to star's house, a place marco had been a few times but tom had not been inside yet.

In fact, he'd yet to even see what it looked like.

It was a nice blue house, white door and windows, with a well maintained garden in the front and well kept lawn. You'd never think it was the kinda place someone like star really would live in if only because star would never have a house this nice looking if she actually owned it. Her parents must've really put in the effort to keep it this good looking.

And upon further inspection there was a lovely butterfly print on the door.

Tom was taking it all in but none of this was new to marco, he'd been here before enough times, and star's messy room contrasted this nice looking house to the extreme. He also remembered it because jackie lived on the next street, he remembered when star moved in and he felt slightly jealous how lucky she was to be so close to jackie, though really it was a blessing to have an excuse to wave at the girl when visiting star and she was riding past them.

"Up to my room, c'mon...before mom notices", star motioned for them to enter, not wanting to deal with her mother and her strictness, Marco couldn't really blame her, her mom always seemed a little too uptight, even if she was cool with her having friends over, he tended to make a lot of rules himself but Moon was on another level of strictness to make sure stuff didn't get out of hand.

It was like she thought star was a bomb or something that could explode any second.

But it seemed neither of her parents were back yet from...wherever they actually worked.

Their house was...mostly tidy, and it seemed rather elegant from the inside, thought that probably came from moon more then anything. The rest of her family were way too rowdy to have a place looking as nice as this. If river and star had in their way the place would probably look like a giant mess with several animals running around and only moon kept this place together.

But overall, it was nice.

Nearly the opposite of tom's much more gothic type home.

Star dragging the boys to her room, wanting to avoid her mom as much as possible and to hang out with her friends, the two finding themselves in the messiest room in the house. Star's clothes were everywhere, so were her books, and trash and so much more. Another thing she and tom had in common, they both weren't the peak of tidiness, though tom seemed marginally better in comparison.

Usually when marco slept over, he tended to sleep downstairs, both because River tended not to trust marco to sleep in star's room and both because it was too messy for him to sleep up there anyway.

Marco wasn't mad about that though, Star's room was a safety hazard.

Even now he and tom had to carefully step over the girl's trinkets and clothing to take a seat on her fancy canopy bed. Star dropping her backpack and items just on the floor without much of a care in the world, before falling on her floor, tuckered out. "Y'know, i've never been invited to a party since i've moved in here...well, aside from marco's at least, i just wish it wasn't brittney's of all people", she pouted, looking at the ceiling.

"You really think we're gonna be forced to go?", marco asked, star nodding.

"Yeah, we're stuck now...you know your parents aren't going to let you back out...".

Tom laid back on the bed, annoyed, " I can't believe that, it was so embarrassing, announce my partylessness to the whole world why don't ya dad...", tom covered his face, blushing under it as marco tried to calm him down. "It's ok tom, lots of teens don't go to those kinda parties, you aren't alone...it's not that embarrassing, and it's totally cool".

"You don't get it marco...i already feel anxious enough from barely talking to people...it's like rubbing it in my face".

Oh.

"I'm sure your dad had no ill intent...if it makes you feel any better though, i usually don't get invited to parties either, i usually throw some but never go to much myself", tom was quiet, leaving marco wondering if tom was comforted or not by his words. But he kept talking, just in case he may of stepped out of line, "I know it's lonely and everything...not having fun with the others...i'm sorry this had to be your first party here...".

"That's ok marco...i guess at least, i get to go with you".

Marco felt his face grow warm rather quickly, turning away to hide it, though unfortunately turning away from tom...meant looking at star.

Star smirked, seeing marco's face as he turned away.

If star and tom were dating in secret he didn't want either of them getting the wrong idea.

"Uh yeah, that at least sounds like a lot of fun...i'd rather go with you both then...alone".

"We'll just stick together so that leech doesn't mess with any of us...", tom hissed, "I might have to wear my good suit and everything, just in case...get a little tired of everyone acting like i'm some criminal or something because of how i dress.", it was really a shame the rumors were starting to spread like this, tom was still fairly new, well...not THAT new anymore but he'd hadn't lived here long and everyone was judging him.

it really made marco mad.

How was tom supposed to fit in if everyone was treating him like a danger to society for no reason?

Ok sure, maybe tom had well...scared jeremy half to death, several times, but he hadn't actually done anything criminal! He hadn't robbed anyone or attacked anyone or even harmed anyone for the sake of it. Jeremy was also being a bully during those times as well and tom hadn't even really laid a finger on him either, he came out unhurt...well...his social standing might've been hurt...

No, tom protected him and stood up to a bully, that wasn't the same thing.

These accusations were done to slander the boy.

Really it might've been possible with how tom had stood up to jeremy he might've been getting some attention Brittney didn't like, she hated attention being driven from herself after all, which was why Star bothered her so much. Now there was another strange new student getting the attention of others for her to scoff at, and with him even spending time with star and her best friend she might've felt more threatened.

Of course the new kids who got people's attention were friends, of course they were.

At the very least, that sounded like the reason Brittney was like this.

She could never just handle people taking attention away from herself.

Which then gave marco an idea, something he seemed to share with both his friends in the room.

"Y'know what, i think going might be a good idea, don't you think so?".

"Yeah marco", tom said with a grin that janna would envy, "Y'know something, maybe we HAVE been too hard on her, we should do to her party and give her the BEST birthday she could ever get from someone like us!". Even Star actually seemed delighted, rubbing her hands together, "Ooooo, yessss, i'm already gonna get started working on my gift".

Their smiling faces were quickly wiped however, at the sound of an opening door downstairs.

It seemed star's parents were finally home.

Which naturally starting sending star into a mood, quickly getting up and placing her ear at the door to hear how close they were and if they were talking about her or anything important. Though marco noticed she was glancing back to him more then anything as she listened in, like she was worried he'd hear something he shouldn't for some odd reason.

"Star?".

"Shhhh, my parents are home, keep quiet!".

The boys exchanged looks between them, waiting for star to stop...whatever she was doing, a few minutes passing before she headed outside her room to greet her parents downstairs. Hearing her mother ask if she got detention again and her father erupt in laughter, but overall they both seemed happy. Tom and Marco waiting just in case star didn't want them to come down yet.

But sure enough they heard star coming back up.

"Star? Is everything-?"

"Mom knows you're here...she's asking for you two to come down".

The two boys looked at each other before getting up and heading down the stairs carefully, hoping they weren't in trouble.

Tom actually looked really nervous all of a sudden and marco felt a bit concerned, was tom just nervous to meet his crush (Possibly girlfriend) 's parents? He seemed to look that way, guess he was so eager to get away from his parents he hadn't really taken the time to think about the fact he might of been going to run into star's own parents by being here.

Marco felt a sudden urge to comfort him.

Star's parents weren't THAT bad...but granted, Tom's look might give them the wrong idea.

Especially to someone like Moon who Marco and star both agreed seemed to be a bit more uptight.

But as the boys finally made down moon and river looked upon them pretty normally, the woman wearing a suit and river wearing the most dad outfit you could imagine someone who liked hunting and the outdoors would wear. Though before the boys could relax they were fixated on Tom, and that seemed to make marco really worry, were they judging him?

But they didn't seem mad...they seemed...surprised? Worried? Like they wanted to say something but couldn't?

Marco couldn't read their minds but something felt off when the couple looked at tom.

Like they'd seen him before.

But marco didn't even have much time to really ponder any of that, before River pulled him into a hug that crushed his bones. "MARCO MY BOY! GOOD TO SEE YOU!", this was how the guy usually greeted marco whenever he saw him but marco would prefer to just shake his hand...actually, maybe less then that. River was so strong marco wouldn't be surprised if he could punch a hole in the wall at this point.

Jesus, where were all these super strong people even coming from?

At this point maybe they all came from the same place and everyone was secretly superheros.

"Yeah...good to see you too...", marco managed to get out despite being crushed in the man's arms.

He fixed his clothes as he was let go and noticed moon had pulled tom aside to talk, though marco couldn't even tell what the two were saying to each other, peaking his curiosity even more as star stood nervously by.

Something was going on here and it was super weird, that was for sure,

Though star quickly dragged him into the kitchen to offer him some cereal, away from tom and her parents, only making marco more suspicious of what exactly was going on around here. It was like everyone was in on something he wasn't allowed to know about, and it gave him an uneasy type of feeling as he looked at star skeptically, not buying her attempt to change the subject and distract him.

Before he could even call her out on what was happening she was already making him cereal and answering his question, "Don't worry marco, it's all good...they uh...they just know about the rumors about tom and stuff...so they're nervous...that's all".

Was it though? Would star's parents really care about those rumors that bad? Especially since they were started by a bunch of teenagers?

Star could tell marco wasn't buying it, and she nervously poured him some juice, clearly regretting the choice to take the boys here. She quickly tried to change the subject again despite marco's clear uninterest, "Anyways we could do homework and stuff...come up to my room later so we have some quiet time away from my parents and everything.".

Yeah something was wrong alright, considering star NEVER wanted to do homework.

What the heck was going on?

But whatever it was, it was clear he'd have to push star on it later when she wasn't being...well...however she was being right now, There was no way she was going to tell him what was actually going on when she was like this, he was just going to have to wait. Though he could hear tom talking to star's parents outside, left wondering what they were talking about.

He felt so...left out.

And he really didn't like this feeling.

He never really felt this way before when it was just him and star, but something about tom since he arrived seemed to have marco more on edge, thinking about things he never really had to before.

Was he really overthinking all of this?

He doubted it.

His feelings right now just were...confusing, he didn't know what to think right now and suddenly the comfort he had just a few minutes ago in star's room seemed to have left his mind. Star went back outside to where the others were as marco sat alone, before tom came in to see him, smiling a little awkwardly and trying to brighten marco up, as unsuccessful as it was.

Tom wasn't dumb, he could tell this was all really strange to marco.

"So uh...i'm guessing you might want some answers to-".

"Yeah", marco said, not even needing tom to finish his sentence.

"I'm...gonna have to wait and tell you sometime later...maybe, if i'm allowed".

If he was allowed? What did that mean? Tom wasn't allowed to talk about what was going on? By Who? Star? Her parents? His parents?

Tom could only send him a reassuring glance to help him relax, though marco was having a hard time doing so...his mind swirling with questions, only making tom more worried.

"Marco...please don't-".

"It's fine...it's fine...", marco said, huffing, he needed to pull himself together, if tom was going to tell him what was happening he was just going to have to wait and hear about it, he couldn't lash out at his best friends without knowing what was going on. He felt tom trying to comfort him and reassure him nothing was worth worrying so much about, and marco finally cooled off.

He didn't meant to get so upset but something about this...bothered him.

These were his best friends, the people he should be trusting the most of anyone.

And yet they were keeping secrets from him and leaving him out, he just couldn't help but feel a sense of betrayal.

"Marco...i can tell you're not fine...and i'm really sorry, but please...can you trust me on this...when there's a good time...i want to talk about it with you.", marco turned to look at tom directly, into his green eyes before turning away, feeling his face get warm. He really couldn't stay mad at tom for long could he? Tom was being way too nice to him as per usual.

"I...hope you have a good reason for all this", marco mumbled.

"I do...i promise".

Marco munched on the cereal star laid out for him as he felt tom comforting him, "Hey...for the record...we didn't talk about anything you need to worry about ok? Star's parents just had some things they needed to say to me in particular". He was trying to ease marco and marco took a few long breaths to weed out the last of his pent up anger, he'd never been so moodly before.

Was he sure he wasn't the one with the anger issues? Not Tom?

Tom seemed usually very cool and Marco felt he was the one with so much...frustration.

Tom was here, trying to get him to cool down, not the other way around.

Why did om give him a reaction like this so often? First karate now this?

Marco slumped his shoulders, he felt bad now.

"Hey, i'm sorry, i don't know why i'm so moody lately...i didn't mean to take it out on you and star...", his voice change turned tom more towards him, worried, "Hey it's ok, i get what you mean...i get moody too...my parents always say it's hormones and everything but i know it's inherited...my parents have their own anger issues and everything...they're just better at dealing with them then i used to".

"Hormones?", marco now felt REALLY embarrassed if that had been the case, shaking his head and changing the topic.

"I just want to know i can trust you and star...ok? You're my only friends and it feels like you're not telling me something because of...", he didn't finish his sentence and now it was tom's turn to feel bad, "I know...and i really want to tell you...but not right here...it's not a good time...but i will tell you marco...don't think this means i don't trust you or anything".

"I'll take your word for it...ok?".

That was enough for tom, looking rather relived.

"Ok, thank you marco, i promise...i'll explain when i can".

Star suddenly headed back in, relieved, "Ok, think everything is back on track...sorry about that, i really should've thought a but more about bringing you over to my house when my parents might of stepped through the door. ". She actually did seem rather anxious, like this whole thing stressed her out more then usual, it seemed to soften marco just a little more.

"It's ok star, don't worry so much, you got everything under control".

Those words seemed to send a wave of relief to her, "Yeah, yeah i did".

"You think we outta leave before things get more awkward?", star's eyes wandered to marco and back to tom, "Uh...well, maybe for now let's stick around, don't wanna risk getting into another situation or something".

"Actually, good point".

Last thing they needed was to add to the already tense situation they were currently under.

And marco didn't need any more stress placed upon him then he had already placed on himself. Star headed back out of the room and marco finished eating, waiting in silence for star's return, glancing at tom every once in awhile. Sometimes he caught himself looking a little too long, carefully looking anywhere else he could, not wanting to look like a weirdo.

He swore tom had glanced at him a few times though, even if he was trying his best not to think about it too hard, tom was probably just feeling as awkward as marco was. Marco wasn't even sure he knew how to make light conversation right now, he had pretty much all but got into a serious fight with tom and tom was probably being careful not to freak marco out more.

Earlier that day they were talking about how excited they were to hang out at a concert and now marco was freaking out about tom keeping more secrets from him, it was such a long range of emotions that he couldn't fully figure out. He felt sick to an extent, though he knew he was probably exaggerating the situation worse then it already probably was.

"Hey tom i-".

"Tom, marco, your parents are looking for you", moon wandered in, fixing herself up, "I know your visit was brief but you should head back and see them, i think they're worried about you since neither of you told them where you were going and it'll be dinner soon". Tom nodded and stood up, marco doing the same, actually happy to be leaving and getting out of this awkward situation.

Star sending them an awkward wave and promising to text them later so they could figure things out when it came to Brittney's party.

Leaving Tom and Marco to walk together.

"Marco, your friendship means a lot to me...", the tall boy mumbled, "I don't want you to ever doubt that...".

Marco nodded as they walked side by side, "I know, i didn't meant to freak you out, i guess...tom i know something is off, and i know you're not being completely honest with me...star's parents looked at you REALLY funny, like they wanted to say something. I don't...want to pry and stuff, i just...i don't want to feel like i'm being lied to either...like i want you guys to trust me".

"Yeah, i know...", he brushed at his hair, sighing, "I figured something like that would happen eventually...it was nothing against you marco, i promise...".

"So you'll really explain this to me?".

"I will, when i can, i promise...", tom stopped their walk, they stool on the sidewalk between their homes, knowing they needed to part ways and move on for the night, "I really care about you marco, this stuff is just...private...and i need to think about it...before i can consider it.". As much as marco wanted to know what tom wasn't telling him, he had to admit, tom didn't HAVE to tell him anything, this was personal to him and he had a right to talk when he wanted.

Marco gripping his backpack and letting out some air, "Alright, i'll respect that, i'll text you later tonight ok?".

Tom smiled, "Yeah, and we can plan our gift for brittney and our love sentence stuff!".

Marco smiled back, "Yeah, sounds good".

They stood there, as if wanting to hug or something before they parted, but instead, they awkwardly shrugged and avoided eye contact, both a little flushed before marco headed to his house. Tom stood there a second longer before heading to his, marco turning to see the boy wave at him as he closed the door, waving back meekly. The relief of home hitting him.

After dinner, and a long conversation about marco running off to star's without telling his parents, followed by discussing what he should wear to a teen party. Marco was happy to be in his room, getting ready for bed and ending this long day. His cell phone sitting nearby as tom started texting him, the phone constantly buzzing with energy over and over again.

Marco grabbing it and sitting on his bed.

Tom sending him a few pics of him and his rabbit, next to some clothes he wanted to wear for the upcoming events.

He looked so happy.

and marco quickly felt himself blush a little at seeing him before realizing the warmth and shutting it down, thinking about what tom said earlier.

"Hormones...yeah...", he mumbled, texting tom back for a long night of chat.

He'd have to check in with a doctor later...get that sorted out.

Something was up with him and the sooner he fixed it, the better.

#star vs the forces of evil #svtfoe #svstfoe #tomco #tom the demon #tom lucitor #marco diaz #marco #my art #fanfiction #star butterfly

19 notes · View notes

residentlesbrarian · 3 years

Text

The Second Book I Read In the Dark: Another YA superhero novel for me to squeal over forever...YES, Please! Gimme Gimme!

Dreadnought by April Daniels

So Day 1 in the dark continues onward and I have already finished 1 of my 3 library books with still so much day left so what else to do but soldier forward and continue without pause. Well there was a short pause for delicious chicken soup cooked on a blessedly gas powered range (never gonna live in a house with an electric range; I swear this thing has saved our butts in so many power outages), but I digress; I was ready! This time I was taking a break from the whimsical and witchy and diving head first into all things super with an extra heroic twist.

I had heard so many good things about this book for so long but again it had fallen to the wayside of other distractions (a rainbow montage of movie and TV show gays runs back and forth through my head like the migrating fandom flamingoes). What finally made me make the decision to buckle down and do the thing was a video review done by one of my favorite YouTubers, Dominic Noble (Video Linked below). I love his series Lost in Adaptation, because as an avid reader I too find myself appalled by what Hollywood often does to my favorite books. Hearing him talk about Dreadnought was just the push my flighty brain needed to say, “Fine! Alright! We haven’t utterly obsessed over a teenage superhero book in like 6 months since we near bludgeoned our girlfriend with Not Your Sidekick! Fine! Let’s do it!” So...yeah if this intro is anything to go by this should be a fun one! Let’s dive right in shall we!

Unicorn Rating:

Blurb: She just wanted to paint her toenails in peace but then a superhero had to go and die and give Danny the one thing she never thought she’d have...her proper body. Now if only everyone else felt that way too. Life just got awesome and really really complicated all at once! Oh yeah and she can fly now. Bonus!

Disclaimer: I will try my best to not spoil anything from the book, but my book loving rambles may give more away than a traditional review. Here we go! Ramble time!

Review:

Holy crap! After the last book this was exactly what I needed! This book was just...so good! The plot...the characters...the world...everything about it just pulls you in and doesn’t let you go. Now I may have felt that way because I didn’t have anything trying to pull me away from this book but I don’t think I would have been easily pulled away if there had been distractions. And so many facets of this story were things I didn’t expect because I had never seen them portrayed before. Like the fact Danny having to deal with the rampant day to day sexism of being a woman now that her appearance matches who she really is. I’ve never seen that in a book before and I absolutely loved it! I was so dedicated to Danny’s story from page 1 it’s ridiculous, and look at that, a perfect segue into the phenomenal characters of this book...look what I did there switching it up going out of order on ya...gotta keep ya on your toes.

Our protagonist Danny is such a phenomenal example of a genuine kind caring person who is also deeply scarred and angry. It was so amazing to read a character that was flawed and struggling and doesn’t see how much a hero she really is and the small moments when others take that double take and go, “You’re the real deal, huh?” But those moments just confuse the living hell outta Danny cause she’s just Danny, she got super powers as a fluke. She is also hilarious and courageous and smart but knows she isn’t perfect and has weaknesses. She may be the strongest person on earth physically now but she acknowledges that that isn’t everything someone needs. Danny is such a good bean, but she has issues and that isn’t glossed over which is so rare. Now the next thing I want to touch on is a very tough subject but is very prevalent in the book so I wouldn’t be a very prudent reviewer if I didn’t bring it up. Danny is, without question, an abused child. This isn’t even really a spoiler, it alludes pretty heavily to it in the blurb, but what I’m gonna touch on next does dip into that territory so I’m gonna break it into a new LONG paragraph so just scroll on by if you don’t want to read this bit.

So at one point in the book Danny mentions a health screening at school that revealed she had hearing damage in her right ear that has now been healed by the mantle of Dreadnought. At the time of the screening she didn’t realize why until her dad had another Mount Vesuvius day and she assumed her usual position of curling in on herself and turning her head to the left so he would yell into only her right ear. Now how loud and how often do you have to yell into someone’s ear to cause permanent hearing damage? I don’t know and honestly I don’t want to know. Why am I highlighting an overall tiny moment...because for me this moment jumped out and gut punched me. Brought literal tears to my eyes. Tears of pain. Tears of rage. Tears of hate. I’m a weepy bitch when I get emotional. I’ve read a lot of books that try and portray abuse and how Daniels wrote Danny’s abuse from her father took my breath away because it felt so real. There weren’t really any good days, there were bad days, there were really bad days, but most days were just anxiously waiting for the next bad day, because Danny knew there would always be a next bad day. Something that did surprise me was my feelings about Danny’s mother. I knew going in I would hate her father, before even meeting him I hated him, but her mother, that was a hate that lay dormant until it exploded onto the scene and froze me to my core. I’m not gonna get into my own demons here but there is one thing I cannot abide by and that is people turning a blind eye while someone abuses another. Danny’s mother is the textbook definition of someone who “goes along to get along”, she will do just about anything to keep the peace, but at what cost? Instead of protecting her child from someone who literally screamed so long and so loud at her child that it damaged her hearing she just sat back and let them. That’s not the worst though, no, after Danny’s transition her mom seems to be understanding of the fact she is happy being a girl and is buying her things she needs like bras and undeniably feminine shoes, only to reveal it was all to keep Danny docile so she wouldn’t cause more fights with her dad. That to me is unforgivable. Not worse than the abuse of the father, but still undeniably selfish. She never cared about Danny or listened to her and what she was really saying. She just didn’t want there to be anymore fighting. Well I’m sorry, but sometimes, as a mother, you should fight to protect your goddamn child when someone is hurting them. The last thing I’ll say before going back to the more spoiler free and fun part of the review is that the fact Danny can never make herself say she is being abused hits so close to home for me. As a reader looking in from outside, there was a scene with a member of the Legion that I felt like, as an abuse survivor myself, I was standing there begging Danny to accept her invitation. To get out of that house. To get away from her father. To see what he was doing for what it was. But I knew she wouldn’t, she wasn’t ready, and it broke my heart to watch her fly away.

Anyway moving on from all that heavy stuff lets talk about other things like some freaking superheroes and one particular vigilante. We have the Legion members: Doc Impossible, Valkyrja, Magma, Graywytch, Chlorophyll, and Carapice. Now How do I want to talk about these characters...in what order...hmmm...how about from best to worst. Okay? Okay. Great!

I freaking love Doc Impossible! She is a character that from the moment I met her she gave me ‘kookie grandma’ character vibes and I get DOWN with kookie grandma characters. Now I know she isn’t a grandma character nor is she particularly crazy in the way she acts; it's just a vibe I get from her that I love. Now one thing I do want to say without spoiling anything is how Doc is one of the few characters that never tries to take away Danny’s agency in everything that happens around her in all this superhero craziness. Danny can always be her own person and most importantly a kid around Doc, and I feel Danny really needed that. I will stop myself now because I could go on for hours about Doc and how much I LOVE HER!

Next up we get a two for one, Valkyrja and Magma. We don’t see much of them but what we do get is pretty good. They are adult superheroes who have their own priorities surrounding what is going on with Danny, but aren’t mean or cruel and seem to genuinely care about Danny. Valkyrja is funny and surprisingly down to earth even though she is basically a scandinavian goddess of sorts. Also the hilarity of her being Danny’s long time celebrity crush never gets old. Oh Danny, you useless little lesbian. Magma is a precious big hot boy that seems like he’d give good hugs. Yeah, that's about all I got to say about him that won’t spoil anything.

Now we have another two for one with Chlorophyll and Carapice. These two I'm between dislike and indifferent on. They weren’t outright mean to Danny but they treated her more like a means to an end or down right refused to acknowledge she was the new Dreadnought whether they liked it or not, but we didn’t really get to see them enough to really learn more about their motivations.

Finally to round out the Legion we have Graywytch. Excuse me while I get this out. *Exaggerated throat clear.* First of all, Imma slap that stupid robe of ya stupid head. Then Imma stab you with your stupid fancy atheme you like to wave around all the time. And don’t even start on your “Typical male, always resorting to violence” shtick, cause guess what, I’m a ciswoman and I still wanna stomp a mudhole in your ass. And for that...Imma slap your dumb bird too. *Deep breath in. Looooooong exhale.* Sorry about that. Mama had to express some rage. I have never had a hate-sink character that made me feel the fiery flames of rage quite like Graywytch...obviously. Her treatment of Danny had me gripping the book tightly and growling about slapping birds and “shanking bitches” more than I should probably admit. She is one of those characters that I love how much I hate her. She served the exact purpose she was meant to and it was never cast in a light that she may be right in her treatment of Danny, we are always aware that her mindset is ridiculous. Like the fact outside of her parents Graywytch is the only character to blatantly deadname and misgender Danny. To go off on a small tangent here I may relate too much here because I have a younger brother who is trans (don’t worry he is fine with me discussing it in reviews and such) and I went to a graduation party when my best friend graduated medical school and he was out to the family but not extended friends yet. After only referring to him by the proper pronouns for so long at home hearing the wrong ones caused legitimate eye blinking record scratch cognitive dissonance for me. I had the same feeling anytime Graywytch opened her stupid mouth and blatantly misgendered Danny. Because the way this is written Danny is Danny, she is exactly who she is meant to be. Suck it Graywytch!

Okay, I know you probably want to hear about the plot I know, but we have one more character we have to talk about and that is Calamity, the rootin’-ist tootin’-ist vigilante that ever did come through these here parts. Sorry, I have to talk like this now, it’s part of the persona, you have to commit to the persona. But real talk, I absolutely love Calamity as a look into “graycapes” and the real dive into the world of superheroes beyond the big heroes. We get to see how someone who doesn’t have the backing of the Legion goes about helping people, the little people, those that maybe the Legion way up in their tower can’t see from so high up in the clouds. And y’all know me, I love a morally gray vigilante with a heart of gold. She had me at “You wanna go capin’?”

Now obviously I couldn’t get enough of the characters but the plot was pretty darn good too. It was so intricately woven in with Danny and her inheriting the mantle from the previous Dreadnought that she had no choice but to be an integral part of it. Now I obviously don’t have as much to say about the plot as I did the characters but know if you come for the plot you won’t be disappointed. It kept me guessing and threw me for an absolute curve ball at the end that I did not see coming! You won’t be disappointed.

So final thoughts...there isn’t much more I can say without going on an hours long squeal fest about how much I freaking loved this book and the characters and the intricacies of how Danny’s powers work and how she was written and how she interacts with different characters and just everything that would mean massive untakebackable spoilers! So I will end on this note; Danny is a character that it would have been easy to lean into the superhero aspect and let the reader forget that she was trans, but April Daniels didn’t want that. Danny was gifted the easiest transition in the history of the world. What takes most people years of HRT and surgeries and therapy Danny did in the passing of a mantle, but it never took away the fact she is and always will be trans. It was a unique reading experience that I have only been blessed with once before but that’s a story for a different review on a different day.

Queer Wrap-up: I would give my left kidney (that’s my good one btw) to give this book five unicorns, but alas I cannot, a one off conversation in an elevator hinting that a certain improbable doctor may have a one sided thing for a particular sadly straight scandinanvian god being is just not enough to count as additional rep. As much as I love this book, and I love it A LOT! We only have Danny as our queer rep and she is fantastic rep and our protagonist so a 4 unicorn rating was a no brainer on this one. Danny is the kind of trans rep I want to see more of in the world of books, YA and otherwise. Being a trans lesbian is a huge part of her character but she gets to do so much more than that in the breath of the story and that’s what I look for in great representation, so Danny easily earned these 4 unicorns on her own merit just being her amazing self.

Links:

Goodreads

Dominc Noble’s Review

Alright so...this one got long. Ah hell, I ain't gonna apologize for it! This is a damn good book and I wanted to get my fangirl squeal on y’all.

Oh no, I think I’ve been thinking about Calamity too much I slipped into the persona without meaning to! This book was just far too much fun to read to the point I started reading it out loud with a full cast of voices (hint: the Calamity parts were my favorite) because it flowed so well and was genuinely so funny at parts and heart wrenchingly sad in others and so action packed the next moment. I finished this book in less than a day and if I had been more present and not under a pile of blankets and wearing a headlamp I might have thought to keep a timer to tell you the exact number of hours it took me, but alas know it didn’t take me many.

So the adventures reading in the dark continue on to the next review after this one but as always if you want to read this but don’t want to spend the money without knowing for sure you are going to like it, go to your local library. You’d be surprised what they have on their shelves just waiting to be discovered. Trust me, I’m a lesbrarian.

#Dreadnought #april daniels #nemesis book 1 #resident lesbrarian #4 unicorns #mtf transgender lesbian #ya novel #ya science fiction #go to you local library #but wear a mask #and wash your hands #and stay 6 feet apart #be safe guys gals and nonbinary pals

37 notes · View notes

writing-frenzy · 3 years

Text

Airplane Crossing Over Plots~

Like it says on the tin, these were ideas I had for crossovers involving our fav writer~ (EDIT: Thank you @guiltycorp for inspiring this a bit XD)

Now, I’ve mentioned before, with Airplane choosing the go home option, he ends up still with a golden core in all this mess but he needs to cultivate his body really carefully because of it. (come on, he put in all the time and effort to be an immortal master, he should be able to still have his bad ass skills; not to mention with it being a soul thing, because a golden core is just as spiritual as it is physical, so he will definitely still have it.)

So, sealing his core and having his Nascent Soul outside his body to relieve some of the pressure on it, (having it look like a little chibi SQH that usually hangs out in hoodie pockets or hiding in Airplane’s hair with an aura of disguise around it), Airplane has to go and actually work out, which isn’t too much of a hardship for him at least, seeing as he’s had years to get into a routine and survival instincts kicking in to help him out there.

And, he may have actually started taking school seriously again, actually applying himself, maybe even getting an online accounting job to help supply his income. When he’s steady with that, he finishes PIDW the way he had been leading up to, the ending that makes the most sense and satisfices the writer the most (and if it gives him some closure, he isn’t saying anything about that.) Now that he is finally free from PIDW, and has college and work to worry about, he writes whenever he damn well pleases, and whatever he wants to fuck what anyone says.

(He might or might not write some absolutely filthy porn whenever the mood hits him, and cackles how his fans both greedily read it and cry because his newer works are so tragic, even if they have happy endings at times. Yes, Airplane Shooting Towards the Sky is a porn writer, but first and foremost is he an angst writer more~ His fan’s tears and cries just make him stronger kind of writer~)

(I just honestly want Airplane to write what he wants to now, that is one of the biggest motives behind all this honestly)

So, we have the set up :D let’s get to what we can cross over here~

First Up: ~Cutivation Group Chat~

Come on, how can one resist this? Plopping good old Airplane into this wild ride is one of the few things that makes me so happy in life. The thought of it makes me grin, especially since it can go two ways in my opinion~

First way: Airplane replaces Song Shuhang; like, just seeing Airplane, who was an Immortal Master and Teacher in those situations would be so funny, yet intriguing as well to see how he handles it, because you know he’ll be able to, just in ways no one ever expects. (Besides, that werid luck of Shuhang’s would be perfect for him, tho he won’t seek death like the other would~ :D Airplane still has a lovely sense of self-preservation~)

Second way: Airplane is one of Song Shuhang’s roommates. (for this, I’m going to say their Dorm was big enough for five peeps, because I want Airplane to have more friends damn-it.) Just... the imagery of the two neutral disasters getting into so much mayhem and hijinxs together, giving Song Shuhang not only a friend/brother in arms he can always depend and rely on, but also a steady source for learning and cultivation as well :D

(Also, Airplane and Gou Moumou being writer friends, the two of them able to bounce ideas on to each other (oh god, now you have inspired me, how dare you make me write this./hahahaha, you know you want too/ bitch turnabout is fair play/ ah fuck.) also: just the image of Airplane meeting Senior White and being completely unaffected because not only is his survival instincts going in overdrive, but also:

Airplane: ? He’s not my type.

Everyone: *jaws dropped*

:D Anyways~

Second Idea: Card Room (Rebirth)

Now First, for those who don’t know Card Room (Rebirth), this is an action/survival/mystery thriller BL Unlimited Flow type of novel; it follows one Xiao Lou, a medical professor who specializes with examining the dead, and his journeys through multiple rooms after having died in reality, the difficulty of each of these rooms measured with Playing Cards from 2 to K and with different types of rooms being sorted by their suits of Hearts (Mystery), Diamonds (Puzzle), Spade (Survival), Club (Luck/Money). The Goal of the story is to beat all the rooms and return back to the world of the living once more. To aid in this, people can get special cards to help them fight/ take care of their health/ or even just daily life essentials to be able to actually get through places.

So... this means after getting all used to living once more and getting into his grove in the modern world... Airplane unfortunately kicks the bucket, yet again! Thing is, this time it happened after he played a card game with some of his roommates, I’m going to say poker, and they were betting who would do what chores. Aiplane managed to make out pretty well, and was pleased with it, so was very much bummed when he ended up dying yet again. He goes through the room, some by the skin of his teeth, but with his cultivation abilities still usable (can’t stop something on a soul level here) he gets by okay. Though, all his cards either deal with writing, supplies, and the rare cultivation one at times.

He gets by at least.

Now, because this series gives me some emotions, here is one thing I will say: Airplane and Liu Ying end up partnering up and break through together, because damn it, Liu Qiao and her sis deserve some damn happiness ;-; Maybe Airplane and Liu Ying meet by chance, Airplane impressed by the young woman’s intelligence and Liu Ying can in turn be grateful for Airplane’s resourcefulness. Maybe even include the original girl that Liu Ying teamed up with, So we have three people already in your team to survive! (because surviving the rooms 2-4 is already damn amazing considering how hellish they get :D )

This is a fun crossover for me to imagine honestly, because it would be perfect to showcase Airplane’s skills in logic, reasoning, and pure survival our boy is known for; let that resourceful and logistic riddled mind out to play as he fights to get the fuck out of this world, even if The City of the Moon is beautiful and all.

:D So, those were the ideas I would like to really see, but here is some more for anyone curious:

Honorable Mentions: These are ones I would love to see Airplane accidently going into, and just going yikes, or nope! or even ‘Really?’

Lord of End of World:

... This story, it concerns me greatly; I like the worldbuilding, even has a few really cool girls in it, and I find the protagonist rather curious (to an extent, blackened Gary Stu that he is...) but does it make me cringe at times with the underage theme to it; it’s part of their cultivation and all, but god damn does the way this story push some of it really sqink me out, I had to drop it because it made me so uncomfortable, so just a heads up there. this is one of those stories that makes me want to write spite fiction, but also make me cringe at the thought of remembering it at times.

Anyways, so, how it boils down to it is that this poor guy, known as the Young Master of the Unground Palace, was abused in all the ways one can practically be abused, just so their Master can get stronger themselves by forming the perfect cauldron to absorb, but who manages to kill their master only to die as well. He ends up transmigrating into Gong Lixin, a 16 year old wealthy young master about a year (I believe) before the apocalypse happens... (Like I said, I have so many damn issues with this damn story, I cry.)

Just, on one hand, imagining Airplane in this world also makes me laugh (and maybe hope), because maybe here Gong Lixin could actually learn a cultivation style thats not only suited to him, but also doesn’t need him to dual cultivate all the time and rely on cauldrons (maybe get some needed therapy as well, Airplane knows some peeps; I can dream~), he can have a stable, reliable teacher here who will have no lust or attraction to him, Airplane helping the kid out at first because they look like they’re recovered from a really bad Qi-Devitation and the teacher in him can’t leave that alone. Airplane can also relate with the youth about transmigrating, maybe even telling him about his own time with that. (And Airplane can use his own cultivation to smack around any bitch looking sideways at his student, because fuck that shit, he is only seventeen and traumatized.) Just, turning this story into a cute mentor and discipleship and emotional healing would make me so happy.

Monster Inn Rectification Report

So, this is another Transmigration story~ MC transmigrates as a poor canon fodder son, who would have ended up in a vegetable state after being neglected in favor of the super amazing awesome adopted son. He then goes on to accidently inheriting a supernatural end for Monsters~

Like, this idea makes me grin evilly; though things will change up a bit, since both of Airplane’s parents have already split up and have their own families? Just, the Former An Ding Peak Lord running an Inn? :D Building it from ground up from bascially nothing? :D Oh, man, this man has run worse things, and even a Demon Kingdom, he got you~

Supernatural Movie Actor App

Its a BL about a guy with a split personality who does realistic (as in for real) horror movies through an app, to get his wish to come true.

This actually goes really good with my idea of Airplane wanting to be an actor and all, only to have his dreams crushed :D He doesn’t at first realize what he is getting into when he gets the app, thinking it might be a chance for him to still be able to do his dream, only, surprise, surprise, he ends up entering a real life Horror movie environment~ I’m really curious about what he would dream about~

I Have Medicine

:D Airplane and Gu Zuo interactions make me smile~ these two would be so fun, seeing them bounce off each other would be a treat.

So What if You’re Reborn

.... hahahahahaha, oh, the chaos that could be unleashed in this timeline would be glorious~

Running Away From the Hero

#SVSSS #Scum Villain Self Saving System #Scum Villain Self-Saving System #Airplane Shooting Toward the Sky #Shang Qinghua #Cultivation Group Chat #Card Room (Rebirth)

39 notes · View notes

bouwrites · 4 years

Text

Even Heroes Have the Right to Dream: Chapter 4

You took for granted all the times I never let you down.

First, Previous, Next. Ao3.

Story under read-more.

“Jon? Can I bother you for a second?”

Jon looks up from his assignment to Marinette. Honestly, it’s a bit of a relief to take a break from it. “Sure.” He says. “What do you need?”

“I’m planning to call Alya, soon. You know who she is, right?”

“Your best friend, right? Through a lot of grade school, I think you said. Is she the one that wants to be a reporter?”

“Yeah. She’s been bugging me to meet you, recently, so I was just wondering if you’d pop in to say hi for a bit.”

Jon smiles. “I get to meet your Paris friends? Cool. I’m down. You calling her now?”

“If you’re not busy.”

He shrugs. “I’ve got some homework, but I need to take a break anyway. I’m good.”

“Awesome!” Marinette chirps, taking out her phone. “Uh, fair warning, though, your parents are sort of her journalism idols, so she might be a little weird.”

Jon laughs. It’s not everyday someone outside Metropolis knows his parents well enough to bother connecting him to them, but the ones that do are all journalists, so Alya knowing makes sense. “And she hasn’t wanted to meet me before now?”

Marinette ducks her head nervously. “I… may have not told her your last name.”

“Pfft. Really, Marinette? Is she pissed with you for keeping that secret from her?”

“Oh, absolutely. In my defense, I didn’t know until almost the end of the semester! You told me your parents are journalists, but I don’t know names like Alya does. And she does talk about Lois Lane a lot, but I didn’t know your mom’s name. I just assumed it’d be Kent. I would have told her sooner if I realized.”

Jon shrugs. “That’s fair. Journalists aren’t really big names unless they’re, like, T.V. anchors. Can’t blame you for not knowing.”

Marinette snorts. “Tell that to Alya. Anyway, I’ll call her. Get ready, and don’t say I didn’t warn you.”

She hits the call button, and nearly immediately another girl’s voice is coming from the speakers. “Marinette! Is he there?!”

Marinette rolls her eyes. “Yes, Alya, he’s here.” She pushes Jon towards the couch and sits down next to him where they can sit comfortably close enough together for the camera to pick up the both of them. “See? Meet Jon, my roommate.”

“You’re Jonathan Kent!!!” Alya shrieks. She lets out a long string of something in French before taking a deep breath. “Marinette, I cannot believe you! You’ve been living with Jonathan Kent for months and you didn’t tell me?!”

“I didn’t know his parents were the people you’re always going on about! I told you as soon as I did!”

“Mari.” Alya draws out the last vowel in a long whine. “Lois Lane is my hero! How did you forget?!”

“Uh, because her name is Lane? I’ve never met Jon’s parents. I didn’t know his mom’s name. I just knew his is Kent.”

“And how many times have I talked about Clark Kent?!”

Marinette covers her face. “That I just forgot. To be fair, what are the odds that my roommate’s parents are your heroes? It just never occurred to me.”

Alya laughs boisterously. “Good point, girl. I guess I can’t be too mad at you, since you are finally introducing me.”

“Aha. Speaking of.” Jon says. “Nice to meet you. Marinette’s told me a lot about you.”

“Hi! Oh my god. Have you seen my blog?” Alya flinches. “Wait,” she says to herself. “Can I just ask if he’s read my blog?” She shakes her head. “Will you read my blog? If I can get feedback from the Jonathan Kent, I’ll be that much closer to being the best reporter I can be.”

“Alya!” Marinette chastises. “Jon is very busy with University. He doesn’t have time to review your blog for you.”

“It doesn’t have to be right away!” Alya protests. “He can do it when he gets to it!”

Jon clears his throat. “I, uh, also don’t speak French, so…” Alya curses. Jon thinks. It’s in French, but it sounds like a curse. He laughs. “I’m flattered, but I’m not sure I can help you much. I’m not a journalist yet myself, anyway.”

“But you are studying it, aren’t you?” Alya asks.

Jon rubs his neck. “Well… no. I’m still undeclared. To be honest, I’m not really sure what I want to do, yet.” He sighs. “And am quickly running out of time to figure it out.”

He feels Marinette’s comforting touch on his shoulder. “You’ll figure it out.” She says.

“Yeah, maybe.” He shakes his head, looking back to Alya. “Anyway, you have a blog? It’s about the superheroes there, right? Ladybug and Black Cat?”

“Chat Noir.” Marinette corrects him. “Ladybug’s name is in English, Chat Noir’s sounds so weird translated.”

Jon laughs. “What’s weird about Black Cat? I’m pretty sure there’s like, four different cat burglars going by variations of that exact name. At least.”

“Exactly. French, Chat Noir, is a hero. Black Cat is a villain name.”

Jon rolls his eyes. “Fine, fine. Chat Noir. I haven’t heard much on them lately. Not since the big news when they beat their bad guy.”

“They’re still around.” Alya says. “They’re doing more conventional heroism now. Or, at least, Chat Noir is. Ladybug hasn’t been seen for some time.”

Jon frowns. That’s news to him, but then since he’s off-duty he’s fallen out of touch with the most recent hero news. His dad has been respectfully keeping that stuff out of their talks, thankfully. It’s none of his business, anyway. “Huh. Hope she’s okay.”

“We think she is.” Alya says. “Chat won’t give us much, but apparently it was her decision.”

That’s relatable. “Ah. Cool. Good for her.”

Both Marinette and Alya give him strange looks. He shifts awkwardly under their stares. “I hear Superboy is off-duty, though.” Alya says. “Your parents are the number one source for super news. Would you happen to know what happened to him?”

Jon shrugs. “Can’t say. Mom and Dad usually don’t share details of articles with me, so I don’t know any more than they’ve made public.”

“You’re not worried about one of your superheroes just vanishing all of a sudden? The Justice League says he’s just taking leave, but don’t you think it’s a bit odd?” Alya asks. “It’s been months since anyone’s seen him.”

Good. Jon thinks. He laughs, but the sound rings bitter to him. “Why should I be worried? He’s Superboy. I’m sure he’s fine. The same could be said for your Ladybug, and you don’t seem worried.”

“Oh, I’m worried.” Alya says pointedly. Jon isn’t quite sure what the emphasis is for, but… talk about superheroes is normal, superhero business is none of his. Whatever Alya’s hinting at isn’t his concern. Ladybug is probably fine, if Chat Noir says so. “But I know the situation with Ladybug better than I do Superboy.”

“Funny, I’m the other way around. I guess there’s nothing to worry about, after all.”

Alya hums. “Maybe. I hope not.”

Marinette shifts the conversation to a lighter topic, to Jon’s relief, but something inside him stays unsettled. He doesn’t like worrying everyone, but he’s not in charge of the PR. The League is surely just trying to maintain some control over the situation, implying that he’s on some temporary break and not gone indefinitely, or maybe they just… don’t believe that he’s serious about this.

He can… he can buy that. The son of the boy scout in blue giving up heroics? Laughable. A Kryptonian living on Earth like he’s just a guy and not some god among men? Why would he lower himself that way? Because I am just a guy. Jon thinks bitterly.

The League does a lot of good in the world, and Jon respects them for that, but they just don’t understand having power and not wanting to use it. To refrain from using it makes sense to them. To hold back from using all his power is exactly what they want him to do. But they just can’t even imagine not wanting to use power that they have.

To be fair, there was a time that Jon thought the same way. His powers are a part of him, so why shouldn’t he use them? Now, when he finally has some semblance of peace, when he’s living his own life with ordinary people in an ordinary way… going back terrifies him. He’d rather lose his powers entirely than go back to using them to fight all the time.

He still feels guilty that his powers can be used to fight for good. He can, so he has to. That’s what his dad says. But… he doesn’t want to fight again. It doesn’t matter if he’s fighting for good if he’s still fighting. He’s tired, and he wants to live this ordinary life he’s found.

Super-hearing sucks. Jon decides this at God-knows-O’clock in the morning when he wakes up to the distinct and unfortunately familiar sound of glass being cut. By one of Damian’s Goddamned toys.

Damian, you motherf-

His thoughts are interrupted when he tunes in to the sound more and hears ragged, uneven breathing and the pitter-patter of liquid hitting hardwood.

Hell.

Jon throws himself out of bed and floats over the ground to make no noise – the last thing he wants to do is wake up Marinette – to go see what the damage is.

He enters the living room and there, naturally, is Damian. In his hero costume. Bleeding on Jon’s furniture. And there’s a hole in the window. There go our deposits. Sorry, Marinette. “I hate you so much.” Jon hisses.

“I’ll fix the window.” Damian snaps. “Just help me with this.” He’s holding his thigh tightly, trying to keep pressure on two different areas.

“Did you get… shot and stabbed? In the same leg?”

“I do not need your judgement, Kent. I need your supplies.”

Jon sighs and flies over to the bathroom to retrieve the first-aid kit. Luckily, Damian is more than capable of stitching himself back together, because right now Jon is doing his absolute darndest to not crush his friend instead of simply keeping pressure on him. As Damian focuses on the blade wound, Jon keeps pressure on the bullet wound, gritting his teeth all the while.

And while Damian focuses on his bullet wound, Jon gets the lovely job of cleaning up all the blood before Marinette sees it. Goddamnit, Damian.

Damian huffs. “There. Now suit up, I’ll need your assistance to finish this mission with my leg the way it is.”

Jon wrings out the towel he’s absolutely going to have to throw away now into the sink. “No.” He says. “I’m retired. Find someone else.”

Damian scoffs. “You’re clearly not busy. With you there it won’t take long, we simply need to-”

“I said no, Damian!” Jon throws the towel at him. At least Damian has the decency to start cleaning up the rest of his mess himself now that he’s not busy staying alive. “I’m not Superboy anymore. There are plenty of heroes who can help you. Call one of them.”

“Jon. Seriously.” He deadpans. “Stop trying to make this difficult. It will be simple. You’ll be back before sunrise; it won’t be any bother at all. Now come on.”

“What part of ‘no’ don’t you understand? I’m. Not. A. Hero. Anymore. It’s bad enough you’re breaking into my home. I’m not getting dragged onto another stupid mission with you because you can’t understand what off-duty means.”

“What is wrong with you? I came here because I was bleeding out!”

“And now you’re patched up.” Jon bites. “So, bye!”

“You’ve taken a long enough break. While you act like a child, people’s lives could be in danger.” Damian growls. “Stop whining and suit up. I need your help.”

Jon’s gut screams at him. It sinks sharpened fangs into his flesh and tears and rips and revels, because Jon knows Damian is right. People are out there right now who need help. Help he can provide. It is beyond selfish of him to refuse for such childish reasons like he’s tired or stressed or shaking with barely suppressed terror at the very idea of putting the cape back on.

Before Damian shows up in his apartment, Jon doubts he’s a good person. Maybe he was once, maybe he was just acting in some facsimile of one in his dad’s shadow, but now? Now Jon is certain. He’s a failure. A disappointment. A blot, marring that almighty “S” everyone cherishes so dearly. Because even now, even as Damian, who has dragged him out on so many missions before, comes to him crippled and bleeding, asking for his help to save innocents, Jon can’t bring himself to go with his old friend. He begs to, he yearns to, but he can’t. Something cold and pale and stony holds him back and solidifies his… resolve seems too positive a word for it. It isn’t strength at the core of his refusal. It’s fear, pure and simple. “Find someone else.” Jon says. “You’re the one overstaying your welcome. If lives are in danger, you’d save them faster if you called in backup from heroes who are actually working.”

“How can you sit idly-”

Because I’m not the person you think I am. “Because I’m not a hero!” Because I’m not strong enough. “You’re the one ignoring procedure! It’s been made crystal clear that I’m not an active hero, anymore!” Jon fears Damian can see how his tightly clenched fists shake at his side. Damian is certainly too observant to miss such an obvious tell. Pathetic. “Superboy is retired! Don’t assume I’ll drop everything I’ve been doing to run out the moment you decide I should!”

“Jon! Superboy is needed! Will you just ignore the call of duty?”

Don’t ask me that. Please. “I will! That’s not my job anymore!”

“Then why did you help me?”

Jon sputters. Because you’re my friend. Because you could die. Because… I’m selfish and I can’t distance myself enough from you to stop. “Because you were bleeding on my floors. I don’t know what you’re doing, and I don’t care.” This much, at least, is honest. Jon doesn’t necessarily not care at all, but he cares far less than he should. And he does desperately wish to not know. “I’m done with that life. I’m finally starting to feel-”

“I don’t care what kind of tantrum your leave has been about.” Damian says. “You’re needed now, so come on!”

Stop pushing. There’s a tightness in Jon’s chest, restricting his breath, stronger than any chains. If you don’t, I don’t know what… “Are you just incapable of listening?!”

“…Jon? Wha-”

Thunk.

Everything falls into deathly silence as all three people in the room absorb what just happened. Marinette, in her nightgown, sleepy and disoriented from being woken up by the yelling, is standing there in the entranceway, wide alert now, looking between Jon, Damian, the window, Damian’s bandaged leg, the bloody towel on the coffee table, and the batarang firmly rooted in the wall an inch from her head.

Damian just threw a batarang at Marinette. At Marinette.

“Never mind.” Marinette says coldly. Jon’s heart turns to ice at the frigid tone. It doesn’t belong in her voice. “I don’t want to know.” She turns away, like Jon is up at such a dumb hour eating ice cream instead of fighting with a hero standing in front of a man-sized hole in their window.

When Jon hears the click of her door closing, he rounds on Damian. Self-pity, self-loathing, doubt, all of it leave his heart in an instant. All he feels now is anger. Something fiery consumes him and he sees red. “Get the hell out of my home.”

“I-”

“How fucking dare you! You break into my house, demand my help when I’ve already made it clear you shouldn’t call me for that, and you attack my roommate?! Do you realize what you’ve just done?!”

“She has remarkable reflexes.” Damian says.

“Get the hell out of my house!”

Damian clears his throat awkwardly. In a calmer state of mind, Jon will later remember this is a sign of Damian’s embarrassment, but at the moment he doesn’t care to think twice about the gesture. “Yes… of course. You clearly have damage control to do here, with your identity possibly compromised to a civilian. I’ll find someone unoccupied to assist with my mission.”

Jon just gapes at him. “What the hell is wrong with you?!”

Damian picks up the circle of glass and hangs outside the window for a moment to fix it back in place and seal it before he takes off.

The window looks good as new, but there’s a bloody rag on Jon’s coffee table and… the damage is done. Oh, God. He sighs, picking up the towel again and throwing it in the sink. Now what?

He has no idea how much Marinette heard, if anything, but even just seeing Damian here in his hero costume is dangerous. She’ll wonder how he knows Damian, why Damian came here.

All this, coming to New York, all this work in college, his entire life right now, is to get away from heroism. In one night, Damian breaks in and uproots all of it. Months of building up his life here, and now he’s in the deep end of the hero nonsense again. Great. Just great.

Maybe… maybe it’s salvageable. Maybe it’s okay. Maybe… there’s only one way to find out. He has to start damage control as soon as he can. God, I’m tired.

He spends another few minutes wringing the blood out of the towel. It’s as good as it’s going to get, but he thinks he’ll still probably buy a new one tomorrow. Then, with a heavy sigh, Jon trods over to Marinette’s door.

He raps gently on the wood. “Marinette?”

“I don’t want to know, Jon!” Marinette’s icy voice cuts into him. This… isn’t the reaction he expects. Especially with Alya as her best friend, he expects her to be asking him for all the details. He expects it’ll change everything, and he hates that it will, but he certainly doesn’t expect that all the kindness and warmth, all the friendliness and cheer, will vanish just like that.

He knows the batarang must have scared her. He deserves her anger, her confusion, her fear. That, he understands. But this? Cold fury, something deep, something hurt, like betrayal. A wall of ice built between them in an instant. He doesn’t understand, he can’t understand, but it hurts him regardless, to hear her voice that way. To hear the pain in her voice. “Marinette? At least let me explain.”

“I said I don’t want to know!” The door swings open, giving Jon a clear view of Marinette’s clenched jaw and white knuckles and her deadly glare. “I don’t care why he was here. I don’t care how you know him. I don’t want to know. Whatever your business is with heroes, I don’t want anything to do with it. Understand? Leave me out of it.”

She slams the door in his face.

Jon has never heard her sound that way before. It’s frightening, but mostly it makes him feel like his world is falling apart. Months of his life, all the normal he’s managed to find, gone. Just like that. With the slam of a door.

Now what?

Marinette won’t talk to him. Jon fixes the hole in the wall and snaps the batarang that caused it in half with his bare hands. He hides the pieces away in his closet where he doesn’t have to look at them. There’s a new towel in their kitchen. At any glance, the apartment is back to normal.

But Marinette won’t talk to him. She treats him like the plague. She comes home late, going straight to her room when she does. If she sticks around in the morning long enough to make coffee or tea, she makes her own cup and leaves. The few times she’s home for dinner, she cooks just for herself and eats in her room.

Life is… normal. He’s still going to class, he’s still living here in New York, his apartment is back to normal. But it doesn’t feel like normal. It feels like hell. It feels like everything he tried to run away from when he left the hero life behind him is kicking him square in the butt over and over again. Every time Marinette’s gaze sweeps over him and continues like he’s not even there, every quiet, quiet evening in when she’s not in the apartment and he doesn’t know if she’s out getting dinner or working late in the library, or… or anything.

It’s almost like she isn’t even there anymore.

Jon leaves a post-it note in the entranceway, right inside the door, before the hallway turns. It says to take off his shoes. He’s not sure if he’s trying to get her attention somehow or if he just misses her getting on his case about it. It works, though. He replaces his shoes with the indoor ones Marinette got for him early on. She doesn’t comment on it.

He can’t focus anymore. When he sits down to study, he just feels this dread hang over him. When he’s in class he just feels out of place. Like he doesn’t belong. It’s frustrating, and it pisses him off, and that only makes it harder to focus on his work.

He tries. He tries so hard. He’s doing everything he can, but he can’t sit still and let that overhanging pain consume him. He can’t stop to look at his notes, because if he does it’ll catch up with him and he can’t handle that. He feels like he’s always on the move, searching for something to do, something to distract him, but at the same time he can feel himself stagnating and it makes him feel dirty and gross and he hates it and he scrubs himself so thoroughly every day but the filth he feels never goes away.

Even being a hero was better than this. But then he listens for that tell-tale shriek he’s been shutting out for so many months and he’s not sure it’s not coming from him because the thought of flying to the rescue, of punching some thief and getting involved in something that’s none of his business makes him nauseous. It makes his heart race and he can’t breathe, and he aches all over, wondering what’s wrong with him.

A small, sensible part of him says, “You were ten. Of course, you’re messed up, now.”

A more cynical part says, “Damian was younger. He’s not having a panic attack because some lady is getting her purse stolen.”

Surprisingly, it’s that same cynical part of him that helpfully counters itself. “Sure, he’s still a hero, but do you really want to call Damian okay?”

Yeah, that’s fair.

This is all his fault, anyway.

Diligently, like clockwork, he works on the schedule that he built over his first semester. He goes to class, and when he gets home, he writes down all his assignments on the whiteboard over his desk. Marinette’s idea. It’s the only reason he made it through the transition to college from high school.

Now, though, he just stares at the assignments there in black ink and stares and stares and wills himself to do them but doesn’t ever actually move. He hates it so much. He’s never been just unable to do things before, but now the farthest he ever gets is pulling the paper out, then all he can do is stare at it until his mind wanders and he ends up clicking through websites like a tiger pacing it’s cage at the zoo. Always moving, always going back and forth, but never doing anything.

When he gets his midterm scores back, Jon decides he can’t do this anymore. If he keeps going at this rate, he’ll lose what grip he does still have on his grades and he won’t have a choice but to go home and back to… back to Superboy.

He can’t go back to Superboy. Whatever else this reprieve of duty has done to him, he just can’t handle that anymore. He knows what he needs. He had a taste of it. Just a tiny, tiny, prototype of it, but he had it. That normalcy. That feeling like he knows what he’s doing, that he’s okay, and that things will work out. He had it and he lost it. And he doesn’t know how to get it back.

“Mom?”

He hears his mom’s gentle sigh over the phone. That familiar, knowing sigh she does when she knows she’s gearing up for something big. “What’s wrong, sweetie?”

Jon explains the situation to her. No details spared. He tells her about Damian showing up, about Marinette seeing him, about her avoiding him and his slipping grades, and about how much going back to being Superboy terrifies him. He tells her how frustrated he is because he had, for just a moment, exactly what he wanted right in his hands and Damian came and knocked it to the floor and shattered it. He tells her how angry he is with Damian. With himself. With how he’s afraid what his dad will think of him if he’s so weak he can’t even save himself, much less be a hero worthy of being the son of Superman. He tells her how alone and stagnant he feels, how evil he feels for turning down Damian in the first place, and he begs her for help.

It’s a long, long, mostly one-sided conversation, punctuated by long periods of nothing but crying, but he tells her everything because he doesn’t have any other route to take.

“Sweetie, if you can’t be Superboy, then you can’t be Superboy.” His mom says. “Your dad and I do feel differently about it, but you remember what he said when you first talked to him about this? Good people help because they can. Honey, you can’t. And that’s okay. Not doing something you can’t do doesn’t make you a bad person. It makes you normal.” And now he’s crying again. “He won’t be upset with you if you don’t go back to being a hero. He just wants you to be happy, same as I do. And it takes a lot more strength to admit when we can’t do something than to kill ourselves trying anyway. I’m proud of you. And he is, too.

“And I’m sorry, I don’t know what to tell you about Marinette. If she doesn’t want to be around you, then… there’s not much you can do but keep trying to be happy without her. I know she’s your friend, but… there’s only so much you can do. If she’s really against it, you might have to say goodbye.”

“I don’t want to.” Jon chokes out. “Mom, she’s my normal.”

“You found normal once. You can do it again.”

Jon frantically scrubs at his eyes, trying to stop the tears. “I… S’pose.” The thought doesn’t make him feel better, but it does make sense.

“And I think you should talk to Damian.”

“I don’t want to see him.” Jon growls.

“Jon, he’s your friend, too. You both woke up Marinette. It was wrong of him to ask you to help with his mission, but don’t blame him for what isn’t entirely his fault.”

There’s a spike in Jon’s heart, and it’s twisted because he knows she’s right.

“Don’t lose two friends over this, Jon.”

God, she’s right. Jon has to go talk to him. He doesn’t want to, but… he has to. Knowing Damian, he probably doesn’t fully understand why Jon’s even mad at him, so he has to. To at least give Damian a chance to understand.

Even if a part of him says good riddance, and that he’s better off without Damian always there to drag him back into the world of heroes.

Alfred answers the door of the manor and barely looks him up and down before telling Jon that Damian is in the batcave. Jon trudges past the old butler, following old paths through the manor he’d memorized a lifetime ago.

Damian catches sight of him the moment he enters and nods his acknowledgement. Jon notes that Tim is here, but he can’t bring himself to care.

It feels weird, walking into the batcave in an old flannel and worn-out jeans. It’s weird to not even have his suit underneath. This place feels so deeply entrenched with Jon’s memory of heroism that he feels out of place as he is. Underdressed, in a way.

“You should be talking to your father about returning to duty.” Damian says. “Hiding here won’t help.”

“I’m not returning to duty.” Jon says tiredly. “I’m here to talk to you.”

Damian pauses. He’s not expressive, per se, but Jon knows him too well. He knows Damian is embarrassed about the incident. Perhaps even… guilty? Jon’s too tired to think too much about it. “Ah. Right. Speak, then.”

Jon takes a deep breath to stamp down on the rage that bubbles up at Damian’s dismissive tone. Like he didn’t do anything wrong. Like he didn’t come by uninvited and… “You ruined my life.” Jon says quietly. “Do you understand that?”

Damian frowns at him. “There’s no need to get dramatic. This Marinette girl may have heard a bit too much, but she’s only one person. This can be solved easily.”

Jon groans. “That’s not what I’m talking about!” He pauses to breathe some more. He refuses to cry in the batcave. Especially not in front of Damian. “I’m not Superboy anymore. I’m not a hero anymore. I quit for a reason, Damian. I quit because I wanted… I just wanted one thing. I wanted something that could make me feel… okay. I can’t be Superboy, because I- because I…” More deep breaths. Stay calm. “Because I’m not okay. And I went to New York, to college, because I thought I could find something normal. I thought I could- I could be me and not have to fight all the time. And I did! I was happy! I felt safe, and I felt like I could- like I could- I felt like things would be okay.

“And then you came in. Now Marinette won’t talk to me. I’m all alone and I’m only getting worse, but every time I think about going back to being Superboy I panic because I can’t- I can’t fight like that again. I just… physically… I…” He sighs and focuses on his breathing again. “I thought I could be happy. But now that’s ruined.”

Jon notes that Damian stops looking at him somewhere along the line, but all he hears is Damian’s flippant retort. “You’ll get over her. Just because you love this girl doesn’t mean her not liking you is the end of the world.”

That’s where Jon sees red. He stalks up and grabs Damian by the collar, half-surprised that Damian lets him, but not hesitating to lift Damian into the air. “Don’t talk about her like that! You don’t understand anything! Don’t trivialize this like that! It’s not about love, Damian! I’m not in love with her! She was my normal! She was- She was…” Jon chokes on his own words and drops Damian so he can turn away and focus on keeping his tears from slipping free. “You don’t get it. I don’t know why I came here. I’m just going to- I’m going to go.”

“Wait, Jon.” Jon stops, turning back to look at Damian. Damian sighs, though it comes out as more of a huff. “I’m sorry.” He says. “I… I didn’t know why you quit, and I assumed… I shouldn’t have, and I apologize.”

It’s not much, but it’s an apology. It doesn’t fix anything, but it does make Jon feel just a little less broken. “Thanks.” Jon says quietly. “I’m sorry, too. I was yelling, too. It’s not entirely your fault she woke up.”

Damian just nods stiffly in acknowledgement, still refusing to meet Jon’s eye. “Would you… like help reconciling with Marinette? Perhaps if I-”

“God, no. For Christ’s sake, please don’t even step foot in New York.” Jon says it more biting than he means, but that doesn’t seem to bother Damian much. “Marinette doesn’t want anything to do with heroes. Quite frankly, I don’t disagree. If you come in trying to fix everything, it’ll only get worse.”

“…I understand. If you do need my assistance, I will be available for you.”

Jon stares at him for a while, wondering how he feels about that. He’s still resentful, a bit, but Damian is trying. He’s a far cry from that bratty thirteen-year-old that dragged little ten-year-old Jon around on wacky, life-threatening adventures. Jon supposes he’s pretty different now himself, too.

“Thanks, Damian. I appreciate that.”

-------=-------

Tag List: @moonystars14 @pawsitivelymiraculous @magic-miraculous @vixen-uchiha @buticaaba @bigpicklebananatree @lozzybowe @moonlightstar64 @amayakans <3

#miraculous ladybug fanfiction #ml x dc #ml fanfiction #maribat #marijon #ehhtrtd

64 notes · View notes

connorspiracy · 3 years

Text

Here Comes Santa Claws || Connor & Sasha

TIMING: Just before Christmas PARTIES: @connorspiracy and @sasha-r-blog CONTENT: N/A SUMMARY: Connor has a run-in with The Claw

Connor hadn’t been out of the hospital for long before he was right back out in the fray. Bug bite. Temporarily paralytic. Typical White Crest shit. It wore off within an hour or two and they’d kept him one night for observation, but he’d been back home the next day, and back out filming the next night. All in all, it’d been a fairly uneventful night. Not too common in White Crest, but it happened sometimes. He’d been heading back to his car when he passed the two drunk college bros in santa hats, probably on the way home from a Christmas party or something.

“Heyyy,” one of them slurred. “Are you a film student? Can I be in your movie?”

Apparently, it must have been the best joke ever, because they both started laughing. Connor took a drag of his cigarette, shaking his head.

“Nah, mate. Battery’s dead anyway,” he lied.

“Oh, come on,” the other one said, winking. “Is it, y’know, a dirty movie? We won’t tell anyone.”

Connor was a pretty jovial dude, but some people were really fucking annoying. He sighed. “No, documentary, but I gotta get home anyway. Have a good night, lads.”

He kept walking, but felt a hand grab his shoulder.

“Come on. Don’t be a dick.” One of them grabbed at the camera, snatching it from his hands and starting to record themselves. “Hey, battery isn’t dead, you’re full of shit.”

Sasha’s night hadn’t gone very successfully, which sucked, but wasn’t that surprising. People were out and about, but nothing criminal or suspicious or even vaguely interesting had happened within the last few hours. Sasha has been keeping a lookout of the streets from the roof of a building, but as her eyes grew bleary she thought it would probably be best to just pack it in for the night. She had a project for class she had to work on anyways. Though if she was being honest with herself she was probably just going to make some hot chocolate and go to sleep once she was back.

Climbing down the sides of the building, she ducked into an alley to get changed. She brought a pair of jeans and a sweater, enough to cover the spandex while she tucked the rest of her costume back into her backpack. But before she could even start taking off her mask, she heard some sort of commotion. Well, maybe less of a commotion and more of a disturbance. Shouldering her bag again she listened. Three voices. Two sounded like assholes, to be blunt. Also maybe drunk. And what they were saying didn’t sound like it was going in a good direction for whoever the third person was.

Okay, so maybe tonight wouldn’t be so uneventful after all.

Sasha crept through the other end of the alley, towards the noise. And as she peaked out onto the street she could see the three of them about ten feet away. How hard could it be to take down two drunk frat bros? Maybe they’d even be scared off before they got themselves hurt by the justice of The Claw.

Stepping out onto the sidewalk, Sasha tried to be menacing, amber eyes flashing as she tried to do a half hunched, crouch thing, something that looked like a tiger about to lunge. It looked cool in her head at least.

“I don’t think that camera belongs to you. How about you hand that back before you regret it.”

“Guess it has a little juice left,” Connor answered, grabbing for the camera. The other men were larger than him. He’d always been on the smaller side, a matter that didn’t especially bother him except when it came to people not believing his I.D. was real when he was trying to get a drink. Now, though, it was annoying to be unable to reach. “Give it back, dude. It’s expensive.”

“Expensive?” One of them mocked. “Aw, the widdle baby needs his expensive camera back? Did mommy and daddy get it for you, Prince William?” The words prompted more laughter from both frat bros and Connor rolled his eyes.

“Very funny. You should be on the improv team. Now if I could just--”

Before the conversation could go any further, he caught sight of the fourth person, a young woman in a domino mask with glowing yellow eyes who stepped out from the alley. One of the men almost dropped the camera in response, causing Connor’s heart to jump into his throat.

“Please, please don’t let ‘em drop it…” he begged of the stranger, and one of them shoved the camera into Connor’s chest so hard it sent him stumbling backwards.

“Whoa, nice costume,” one of the bros said. “Girl, you know it’s not Halloween any more.”

“I’m aware.” Sasha wanted that to sound cool, threatening, unaffected. Too bad she couldn’t keep the offense from her voice. “This isn’t some costume party, so why don’t you get out of here and leave that guy alone.”

She tried her best to stare down the guy who had spoken to her, but curiosity kept making her glance back at the other guy, shorter than the two meatheads and clearly in need of help. From the sounds of it that camera was expensive, good thing she had heard the trouble before these jerks broke it or ran off with it. It was almost more annoying that they seemed to just be random drunk college students. She was expecting to find some hardened criminal with a gun or knife looking to threaten a man for his money, not some dude bro assholes just starting trouble for the sake of it.

So could anyone really blame her if she wanted to show off just a little? Just like, a little warning shot. Just so they knew she meant business and didn’t get any ideas about harassing more people tonight, or commenting on their costume.

With surprising speed Sasha rushed up to the closest dude and reached for his collar. Didn’t matter that he was a good several inches taller than her and bulky, she knew she could lift him if she got a good grip.

Honestly, Connor was just glad someone was helping him out and stopping his camera from being shattered on the frosty pavement. The guy had left it rolling, and Connor saw no need to correct that as he gazed on. He was intrigued to see what might happen. Size wasn’t necessarily an indication of strength or prowess. Rio was pretty much the scrawniest guy in the world, and he had hunter strength, but surely the guys wouldn’t try and fight her, right?

“Oh, piss off,” one of them scoffed, gathering up a snowball to throw at her, only before he could let loose, the stranger cleared the distance between them almost as if by magic, hoisting the man off his feet. The snow crumpled in his hand and fell to the ground, and his friend let out a yelp.

“Yo, what the hell, lady? We were just goofing around. Put him down!”

It wasn’t visible under her toothy face mask, but Sasha grinned from ear to ear as she watched the dude she lifted up stare down at her. Shock, confusion, a bit of fear. Yeah, maybe you shouldn’t have insulted my costume.

“What the fuck!” The dude was squirming, so probably a good idea actually let go. Soon he’d start punching or kicking to get free and Sasha wasn’t planning on a full on fight unless she needed to. Still holding the one man by his collar she turned towards the other who was sporting a similar look of confusion. Why shouldn’t he be a little more freaked out too?

So Sasha threw the one dude at the other. Okay, well, tried to. Even with super strength, it turns out full on throwing a full grown man isn’t easy. The guy got more roughly pushed backwards than anything, slipping on the slightly icy sidewalk and falling shoulder first into his friend, losing his hat in the process. Maybe not as dramatic as it could have been, but she threw in another flash on amber eyes to make up for that.

The two nearly toppled to the ground together, but managed to right themselves. Pretty impressive, considering they were drunk. After a moment of getting his bearings the dude huffed out; “This lady’s either crazy or on something, let’s go.” Despite this being a really great plan on the dude’s part, the friend that hadn’t gotten picked up stared Sasha down. His eyes were still confused, but the shock was wearing off and Sasha could see his jaw clench. But the other dude tugged his arm to get him moving.

“You’re a fucking weirdo. You’re lucky I don’t punch chicks.” The lingering guy said, before finally following his friend, shouldering past the guy with the camera.

Sasha watched them leave, heart pounding in her chest still from the adrenaline, before turning toward the camera guy. Crap, okay, she needed some cool line now. Like “Have no fear citizen!” but less dorky.

“Are you okay?�� was the only thing that came out of her mouth on the spot.

"You're lucky she didn't punch you," Connor scoffed at the departing dudebro, feeling a little braver now that he'd just had his honour defended by White Crest's own Black Panther. He caught his breath, letting the waves of adrenaline calm a little. The fight or flight was gone. Connor wasn't freaked out. Not in the least. The altercation with the frat boys had been less than ideal, but the sheer exhilaration of meeting this young woman had replaced any fear or concern that might have been hanging around.

"Dude, that was... awesome!" Connor was practically vibrating out of his skin. Of all the bizarre things in White Crest he was morbidly excited about, it was rare to actually find one who wasn't out to kill or maim him. "Like, actually awesome. You... uh, you saved my arse." He gave a slight chuckle. He wasn't too proud to admit it. In fact, the idea of being saved by a super cool badass chick was kind of incredible. "What's, um, what's your name? I'm Connor."

Sasha stood up a bit taller at the praise. That had actually gone well! It hadn’t really hit her until the guy with the camera spoke. Sure, it was just two drunk dudes vs. superpowers but still, she had managed to scare them off and save someone. Without thinking she let out a surprised little chuckle and hoped it was muffled under her mask.

“I’m The Claw,” She said, her grin seeping into her voice. “Protector of White Crest. No need to thank me, it is my job to make sure the citizens of town are safe from criminals and people who want to harm others.”

Connor...why did that name sound familiar? As Sasha finished her introduction she remembered the guy she had spoken to online, the one who was into ghosts. Behind her mask her grin faltered. She guessed the town wasn’t big enough to completely avoid it, but she hadn’t expected to save someone she kinda knew.

“Were those people that you know? Do you feel safe heading to wherever you are heading?” She asked, trying to get back into the mindset of The Claw.

“The Claw,” he repeated, unable to break his gaze on her. A glimmer of recognition stirred in his chest, but not for the woman. It was recognition of a different nature. A spirit. Connor kept his eyes on her, trying to see her expression through the mask, as if that would give him any clue whether she was possessed or not. “That’s, um, very noble of you.” She definitely wasn’t acting anything like the spirit inside Nadia, or almost any other possession cases he’d come across, but not all possessions had to be malicious. Their effects harmed the host regardless.

“No, I never saw them before. I think they were heading back from a holiday party or something. I’m just…” He held up his camera. Not that she hadn’t seen it when she’d zoomed in like a Knight In Batman Armour to save his arse. “I was doing some filming, but, um… actually, do you wanna walk back to the car with me? I think it’d be best if we stick together.” He wasn’t scared, not really, but he wanted to keep her close for as long as possible, see if he could garner any more clues. “How long have you been, uh, protecting White Crest?”

Sasha paused for a beat longer than intended before responding.

“Of course. I wouldn’t want those people to come back and try to hurt you again. Even if they were just being troublemakers in the moment, it is my duty to make sure you get back safe.”

She had intended to walk him back if he wanted her too and still did. But there was something uncanny about talking to Connor now the adrenaline was gone and she had recognized him. But she let him lead the way, eyes and ears peeled for if danger did show up.

She hadn’t expected the question either. Sure, superheroes get asked “who are you?” from the people they rescue all the time, but Sasha didn’t know what to do with Connor asking for details. She thought about lying for a second, saying something like “The Claw has always guarded this town,” but considering White Crest’s apparent track record with death and danger that lie would probably make her look bad.

“I only started protecting this town recently. I came when I thought it needed me most. And while those men were just drunken jerks, I’m glad I was able to help stop trouble tonight, however small.”

Was she laying it on too thick? She hadn’t exactly prepared a script for this sort of thing. She tried to keep looking straight ahead, as if somehow her nervousness would show through two layers of masks if she looked Connor in the eye.

Connor smiled to himself as he walked. She sounded like she was right out of the pages of one of the cornier Superman comics, but there was also something endearing about it. “If any town needs a bloody superhero, it’s this one,” he snickered. He could feel something spiritual about her, but it didn’t feel malicious. He felt drawn to her, a need to investigate beyond just the mere fact he’d seen her use super-strength.

“So do you have any other powers? Laser vision, telekinesis?” She almost definitely wasn’t going to answer, but hey, it was worth a shot. Connor rarely saw the need to keep his questions to himself. “Oh! Do you have, like, a Batsignal? A way people can call on you when they need you? Maybe a burner phone, although that would be less exciting.”

He was sure he’d caught some of her antics on camera, even though the footage probably wasn’t great thanks to being passed from one person to the other rather than held steadily. He couldn’t wait to look through it when he got back.

Sasha grinned. Superpowers, now that was something she could talk about easily.

“No laser vision, but I’m fully capable of defeating evil.” She brought up her hand, but paused for a moment. No, it was fine, she was still in costume and on duty after all, even if she was now just walking with Connor back to his car. And he didn’t seem to have any inkling of who she was.

In an instant sharp, pale colored claws sprouted from Sasha’s fingers. And sure, maybe being seen as cool by someone was going to her head a bit. But who could blame her? She let the quick flicker of amber that helped her see in the dark glow steady from her eyes, causing light to shine from behind her domino mask. The Claw probably looked awesome. Or at least Sasha hoped. When she had done it in the mirror it looked cool to her.

“No signal, just my eyes and ears to keep a lookout.” But maybe that wasn’t too bad of an idea. At least the burner phone idea seemed pretty reasonable, but it might ruin the mystique a bit. “I’ll have to look into ways to let people get in contact with me.”

“Well, love, you’ll probably find a lot of evil here,” Connor said simply, giving a laid back little chuckle. He’d heard horrific tales about some of the horrors White Crest held, and he’d seen many of them too. “Just be careful, yeah? Not all of ‘em can be defeated by super strength.” As impressive as it might have been.

He turned his gaze towards her, watching her hand as she brought forth a set of sharp claws. “Whoa!” Christ, he wished he still had his camera rolling. He should’ve worn that GoPro attachment Jasmine had got him, but foolishly, he’d put it in his backpack, thinking his filming was done for the night. Her eyes glowed like jewels in the darkness. “That’s amazing,” he said, in awe. He made a mental note to look through some of Rio’s books later to see if he could find anything about animal-like spirits giving people powers.

“Uh, this is me,” he said as they approached his black Jeep Renegade. “Thanks for the save. Hope you can use those powers of yours to find me again.”

“Thank you for the concern, I will keep that in mind.” Sasha retracted her claws and let the glow fade from her eye. Part of her wanted to argue, say confidently that nothing could really go up against her strength, agility, and claws. But she wasn’t that cocky, and there was something about the way everyone kept talking about White Crest that was starting to put her on edge. Yeah, the town felt weird, and the death rates didn’t lie, but it felt like everyone talked like they were dancing around something, as if telling a joke she wasn’t privy to, that she could never hope to get. She didn’t know how to feel about the chuckle as Connor spoke. What wasn’t she getting?

Maybe that is just what it was like, being in a new town. She’d have to make an effort to look around more, maybe even talk to people, despite how hard that felt without her mask on. It was so much easier to jump from building to building under the cover of night or talk to Connor when she was hidden behind cool powers and a costume. It made her feel powerful, cool, “amazing” as Connor just said. People didn’t say that about Sasha, but they did about The Claw.

“Hopefully you won’t need any more protection, but if you ever run into trouble know that The Claw will be here to help.” She nodded once, more to herself than Connor. She would keep an eye out for him while doing future patrols, but maybe he was right, a way for people to contact her would be helpful.

“Keep safe.” She said, and with that she darted toward a nearby alley, out of view. But she would climb up another fire escape and spend another hour with her eyes peeled, even as Connor’s Jeep disappeared into the distance. She had helped someone after all, and the pride did a good job pushing away her weariness.

#paras #with: sasha

6 notes · View notes

yggdrasil-mith0s · 3 years

Text

Another reason people probably didnt like Symphonia their first time but later loved it is because of the themes and undertones. Here is another essay that's going to be a very quick Symphonia walkthrough as a young child playing.

Here's a warning: I mention some stuff that happens in Symphonia. It will be mostly vague but there will be mention of death. There also might be some spoilers in here but nothing too serious, just some of the beginning story more than likely.

Let me begin by saying the box art looks pretty cool for the Gamecube but the front and back does look like a very, very young child's RPG. It seems like an RPG that was creates for super young children that havent hit there teens or are in the very first years of being a teen.

I'm about to give a quick walkthrough as if I am a very young kid playing Symphonia for the first time. This is to show why a lot of people had this as their first game in the series but didnt like it. Why a lot of people weren't the biggest fans until their second playthrough or when they gave it another chance and realized it is absolutely stunning. A top 10 game of all time across every platform created.

First off, there was a lot of adult themes and tones in Symphonia. Obviously, I dont mean nudity or sexually explicit material. I'm talking about the Desian Camps. The idea that millions of people are being captured, put to work, then put to death or letting them die. These type of adult themes.

The first time we played, we were young. We didnt get choked up or super sentimental about what was going on in video games. We didn't care so much about the parallels between real life and our video games. Usually, we just wanted something fun to play. I mentioned it earlier but the start of Symphonia looks super childish and like it's going to be a lighthearted adventure. You have a cast of kids (2 very young adults that added comedy and badassness). A majority of the beginning fights are snakes, birds, bunnies, and bears. The battle system is fun but also easy enough to get the hang of. You can honestly button mash with the occasional arte and not worry about combos . You didnt have to worry about combos at all, really, and just use artes when you wanted. Some of the artes were pretty cool looking and strong too which added more of a "wow, the combat system is cool. There's attacks and a bunch of power attacks you can use. You can also move around and dont have to wait like a turn base game." It's also possible to just button mash or use all your MP on Artes and really kick their ass.

Combining all of those elements together makes it seem more kid friendly than it really is. Playing through the start makes you feel like a 10 year old playing his first RPG with an age appropriate game since you control a bunch of kids. The fights are easy and usually bees or some weak animal. Nothing serious, really. The artes are cool and the more artes you learn, the cooler and more fun Lloyd gets. It's cool to play as Lloyd when you learn a new arte or two.

So far everything has been pretty lighthearted. This RPG is fun, the characters are pretty cool and can be funny. The dungeons aren't super confusing. It's just a fun game overall but nothing spectacular or crazy. Really the worst thing that has happened is "Desians bad. They destroy hometown over something stupid."

Marble's scene is the only real adult sad part in the game so far. They kill Marble in a way that you kind of don't get crushed by emotions. They let you down pretty easy and you get Marble's ring for Genis so now she is always with you. Her death isn't too bad because she was old and it was just one old woman in the game. It's sad but not devastating. Also the Ranch. They use them as slaves. But tbh it doesn't really hit you that they resemble real world stuff and you dont see the parallels like you should. You just kind of write it off as shitty and Desians are evil and the bad guys. Surely you save everyone from the ranches and that's the point of the game. Kill Desians and save everyone.

You get to the dessert oasis where Colette crashed through the wall. Cute and funny. Oh, Lloyd and Genis get captured by bad Desians but the wanted posters were bad so it made it funny. Eventually, You escaped the bad, bad Desians and are back with your friends, yay!!! You go to the fire shrine, finally see more menacing enemies but they still arent that bad, and start your first puzzle dungeon! It's short but a lot of fun with a boss fight. It was a little tough but fun!! You beat the shrine, yay!!!

The serious Angel (Remiel) comes down again and talks to Colette and the gang. He gives her wings! She is becoming an angel. At this point you are thinking, "How cool. Colette is becoming an angel!!! She has wings now and can probably fly wherever she wanted to go! This game is really fun. It's not bad at all. The weapons and equipment aren't difficult and it's fun buying or finding stuff better than what you have and equipping the new stuff. The skits can be funny too and I get to know the characters better with the skits. This game is really cool, actually." It's time to speed this post up, though. I'll be going faster and doing more short versions/storytelling.

We sail across seas and bow we are at Palmacosta!!! Here's where things get a little weird and stuff too. So Palmacosta is cool. We look through town, only to find imposters. That's right. These fools are pretending to be me and my gang. Im the one with a cool group and shit. People wanna be me so bad!!! Lol.

By the way. General Dorr is also the Mayor of Palmacosta.

Imposters are rude and we meet mayor who seems cool till he tells us he thought the imposters were us and gave them a book we need. So....little me is like

"YOU DID WHAT!?" .... so we leave. Lol

We go to mountain gate, cant pass yet, learn Palmacosta is under attack by ... you guessed it... Desians. ,

*little me has eyes stretch wide open* But I was just there!!!! Sucks, I know.

So we head back and make it to Palmacosta. Remember the girl we saved from extreme questioning and customers that were badgering the girl since she was the store clerk/owner. Of course not. I never mentioned it. I saved her back then at the start of Palmacosta. Naturally they chose Chocolate, in some weird, sick revenge way for me making them look weak when they verbally attacked her. So Chocolate is about to hang and be killed. Some stuff happens and Lloyd ends up using his sword to save Chocolate. Boom. He is a hero. He saved someone from hanging....

Wait.... hanging? In kids game? Damn that's a little intense for a kids game but I guess you do save her. Carry on.....

So let's speak to the Mayor. He was conveniently gone while that was happening but meh. Coincidence right? Yeah. Yeah.

Talking to the General/Mayor we decide to go rescue everyone who has been kidnapped from Palmacosta. By the way there's a ranch for most cities that Desian's manage. So there is a Palmacosta Ranch and a bunch of people from Palmacosta are now held prisoners in the Ranch. Boo! But I digress.

Off to Palmacosta ranch!!! We finally reach it and... oh look... General Dorr"s personal Aide/Assistant. What's this? He is a traitor!? You've got to be kidding me! I trusted that dude!!! Maybe that will teach little me to be careful about who I hang out with. A pretty good life lesson for little me and nothing too serious. I'll handle that later though, and rescue the prisoners in the Palmacosta Ranch.

We save Chocolate but she would almost rather die than be saved by you. So you save her but not without a fight and learning some shocking stuff that little me is like "WHAAAA!!!???!??? NO WAY NO WAY NO WAY!!!!!!!! she still lives cause of you and you fight the leader of the Ranch and win that battle!!!

So yay!!! You won the battle and beat Palmacosta Ranch! Good job little you! You did awesome!!! The game has been really great, with a pretty light tone for the most part. Everything is bright, the enemies arent that bad at all, nothing truly fucked up has ha---"we're going to blow up the Ranch with people still in it" -Raine.

That's right.... "YOU'RE GONNA WHAT!?!?"

So yeah, we blow up Palmacosta Ranch. Desians were probably still inside along with a janitor named Chet that everyone forgot about lol. So bye bye Ranch!!!

"That got dark really fast and Raine is pretty ruthless but most people escaped. I guess I can kind of forgive that. This game is definitely darker than I thought but it could be worse. Most people escaped anyways I am sure. So it's not that bad." -me.

Back to Palmacosta to confront the traitor General Dorr!! Here we are! General Dorr and his daughter are standing suspiciously in the basement of the government building in Palmacosta. I'm sure he knows that he has been found out. I know he tried to sabotage the Chosen's journey. He has no exc--- OH NO! They got his wife with the Demon Seed, too!! Now she is a monster! No wonder he is a traitor. He is trying to get a potion which is the cure to save his wife. I kind of get it but that's pretty messed up. He is basically being held hostage. This game just got a little darker.... but it could be worse, I suppo----WHAT!? HIS DAUGHTER IS A DEMON! DID SHE JUST SAY SHE KILLED HIS DAUGHTER A LONG TIM AGO AND HE WAS TOO STUPID TO NOTICE!?"

She really just called him stupid and is acting like he is the biggest idiot for not knowing she killed his daughter!!! This whole time she has pretended to be his daughter. That means she probably went to her school, played with her friends, talked to her dad and played with him. She probably told him she loved him which is so messed up. She also knew there was no potion but continued to watch him and be ready to kill him if he tried to snitch about his wife. This got dark really fucking fast wtf!!! She is a complete demon stranger in a girls body pretending she loves her daddy, plays with friends, and does child things but is a demon the whole time. "I love you daddy says the demon pretending to be your daughter. That's really sick and twisted. Sad thing is little me is like "well that's weird. How did no one notice at all she was acting odd?

Maybe she didn't have any friends and her dad is to distracted about the medicine for his wife, he doesn't notice.

That's absolutely crazy and completely dark. Woah. This game is way way darker than it lead me to believe when I was young. That was pretty much my first reaction/playthrough when I was little. Symphonia is dark as fuck.

I played a little bit further to the next ranch my first playthrough but quit when I found out they were killing people like it was nothing. I was really little then, too, btw. I quit because it got really dark and kind of weird and complicated to fully grasp everything going on and the parallels to the real world. I always played RPGs relating it to real life and such. I have done that since my first RPG so with Symphonia I had to quit. It was too dark and weird when I first played it.

Once I came back and beat Symphonia I thought it was Brilliant. It was absolutely amazing and worth so much more praise. I loved it and still do. Even the dark side of things.

Turns out I am not the only one who did this. Play through, reach a dark part or part where you realize how dark it is, and then quit. I'm glad I picked it back up, though. It's almost a perfect game!!!

So yeah... here's a playthrough of little me and Symphonia. I was too little to be playing games with dark themes even if they were short or small. I say this because I was stupid small and really let my imagination run wild when I played games and read. I often make things 20 times worse so I really shouldn't have played Symphonia till later.

Anyways it's amazing. Nearly perfect.

Enjoy your games, everyone. If you arent currently doing so, find a Tales game to pick up and start playing!!! Tales of Arise or some other Tales game will be here before you know it so practice up!!! Play a Tales game!!!

6 notes · View notes

doof-doofblog · 3 years

Text

"Get Over Yourself!"

Monday 22nd February 2021

Hello again everyone! Hope you all had a brilliant weekend! How are we feeling after Max's departure? It's going to be super weird now without him in the soap, what do you guys think? Have we gotten over the sadness of his exit or are we excited to see what the soap will be like without him? Let me know how you're feelings are about it!

Anyway, focusing on Monday's episode I'm going to begin first with Peter! After his stunt on the Square and almost knocking himself out, he appears to still be resting, waiting to hear from Ash. However, Kathy seems to think that instead of trying to get with a girl who's completely out of his league, he should focus on making a connection more with his brother. She mentions how much Bobby looks up to him and wants to be close to him. Peter at first seems really reluctant, but maybe Kathy's words soon ring true. As they're left alone, Peter suggestions to his younger brother that they should have a bro's night out! Bless Bobby, he of course completely agrees and you can see the look on his face how excited he is to be spending some time with his brother. Later on in the evening as the brothers are getting ready for their night out, Peter has a surprise visit from Ash, informing him that her career could basically be in the toilet as they don't seem to believe that Peter took the medication himself, so Ash is seeking to get drunk and forget about her worries, however I personally feel that that is no way to deal with the situation. She pretty much begs Peter to join her in her drinking plans, for a small, very brief moment, I thought that Peter would've done the nicest and decent thing and decline her invitation and spend the night with his brother, but of course he goes with her instead, leaving Bobby to spend the night with their Gran. I really feel for Bobby during this moment, as all he really wants is to gain some kind of close bond with his brother, but every time he gets his hopes up that things are getting better, Peter really hits him where it hurts and brushes everything under the carpet as if he doesn't matter. I hope that eventually Peter will come to realise how much he needs his younger brother.

The second thing I need to mention is Ruby, she appears to be moving on from her ordeal with Stacey and Kush pretty steady-mindedly. Being the professional workaholic as she is, she's at her club keeping an eye on her staff and their customers. It's then that Dotty approaches her boss with an idea for the business. She knows that Ruby has a strong mind for making money, but her idea, I believe isn't the best one she's had. She recalls on the previous evening when Tiffany was being eyed up by a group of men, it claims that it has given her a good idea - in simple words, hire Tiffany as a show girl which would attract more customers and that way they'd make more money. However, Ruby makes the valid point that it could be classed as prostitution, but Dotty is convinced that Tiffany would be willing to do it as both she and Keegan are desperate for money. At first, Ruby says that she'll give the idea a think. But after a brief visit from Stacey, she changes her mind completely. Even though Stacey is convinced that Ruby has lied about other things, she decides to be the bigger person and apologise to her ex-best friend. Even though she claims that she wants to move on from their feud for Martin's sake. Maybe Ruby has come to realise that she needs to change her ways for her husband and her unborn baby's, maybe what Stacey said is true. Maybe she wants to better herself and do the right thing? As Stacey leaves she approaches Dotty and refuses to go ahead with the idea. Could this be the turning point in Ruby's life? Is she really going to start and try and do the right thing? What do you guys think?

Next we need mention Kim and Isaac! At the beginning of the episode, Kim is sat in the Cafe as Isaac walks in and joins her. Kim happens the mention that she didn't hear him come home from a night out the previous evening, to which Isaac confirms that he stayed out all night and never did return home. Of course, being as fabulous and funny as Kim in, she begins to tease him that he might've stayed at a woman's house and questions when they'll be meeting his new mystery woman. However, Isaac is insistent that he's not interested in meeting anyone new, but this is where things seem to get interesting. Kim places a £20 bet that she'll be able to find him a date, with the money being a Scottish note. The first person she approaches is Whitney, but we all know that she and Kush are holding some kind of light or spark for each other, did you guys notice the little subtle flirtatious look between the two of them when Kim left?! The next person Kim finds on her travels is Lola, after finding out that Isaac the person Kim is trying to set her up with, she agrees to go on the date.

Later on at Ruby's club, Lola is sat waiting as Isaac arrives to see who his blind date will be, and I guess it's fair to say that he was overly happily to see Lola sat waiting for him. Things start off well, Lola and Isaac are laughing and enjoying each other's company, Isaac is telling her stories about his students. At first things to be looking really well for the young hot new couple, but as soon as Lola offers to buy a round of drinks, she places the same £20 note that Kim had earlier on the table, it looks as if Isaac puts two and two together and clocks on to the fact that Kim had paid Lola to go out on a date with him. Visibly hurt by this act, poor Lola has no idea what she's supposed to have done wrong, Isaac leaves the club and heads back home, confronting Kim about her actions. This is where he gets told the truth, the fact that he has made a huge mistake, Lola was actually happy and willing to go on a date with him, she only got the money from Kim because she was paid for doing her nails! Understandably, poor Isaac feels humiliated and possibly a bit guilty for running out on Lola, he hurries and sees her walking through the streets. Did anyone else notice that Sheree wasn't too keen on Isaac going out and dating? Even watching him by the front door as he caught up with Lola. Isaac admits that he actually does have feelings for Lola and eventually they agree to go on another date. I think I might've mentioned this before, but it's been revealed that Isaac is meant to be hiding something? Possibly a health secret? What could be wrong with him? Could it be why Sheree is so wary about him dating?!

The final thing I have mention is also Phil and Kat! I still have no idea what to make of this new pairing, it's interesting as a simple fling, but I can't picture Kat being the next Mrs Mitchell! Can you?! Anyway, even though Kat and Phil seem to be enjoying their brief hook ups, it looks that maybe Phil is feeling a little bit guilty? Knowing full well that Sharon still holds a spark for her ex-husband. Sharon is still hoping that eventually she and Phil might get their romance back on track, especially considering the fact that he seems to be really looking out for her, regarding leaving the Vic.

Even though Phil, Sharon and Kat are one thing ... Who the hell is the new character that's appeared on the Square?! I couldn't catch his name, one minute I thought it was "Stan"? or "Stas?" As far as I could make out, Kheerat was proposing a job offer for him and offering more than what the Mitchell's were paying him. Eventually it came to light that this new character had been working for the Mitchells for a good few years. But now this is where things get interesting, whilst this new character was visiting Kheerat, Mo witnessed how dodgy everything between their meeting seemed and happened to mention it to Kat. Kat just happens to witness the new fella walking into the Arches after Mo points him out, now whether she's trying to do Phil a favour or trying to do the right thing, she sends a message to Phil, pointing out to him that the fella he's doing business with is also doing business with the Panesar's! It's then that Phil confronts his employee and mentions that he can offer more than what the Panesar's are offering him.

Later on in the evening, it looks as if both Kheerat and Suki are waiting to hear news from their new partner, but Kheerat is stunned when he learns that in fact instead of going with him, he's decided to remain with the Mitchells and begin the prospect of a new business deal. It's then that Phil walks into the Vic wanting to celebrate their new business prospect, and the barmaid Tracey offers him a drink on the house from Sharon. Kat witnesses all this interaction and overhears Sharon's offer. As she watches Phil from across the bar, she leaves the Vic. Is everything getting a bit too much for her? Phil notices her leave and follows to catch up with her, as he does so he thanks her for the tip off of his new employee/business partner. In an attempt to show his thanks he offers her a big handful of cash, explaining that it's her share. But Kat completely shrugs him and walks away, taking a deep breath. Is she actually falling for Phil? Is this more that just a fling for her?

Quite an interesting episode I have to say, full of suspicion and drama! I'm really looking forward to seeing which direction each story takes, especially the on-going fling between Kat and Phil! I apologise for this post being a bit late, this weekend has been a bit of an emotional one for me so I'm still pretty slow. But I will be back tomorrow following tonight's episode! Thank you all for reading, please feel free to leave me a comment or message me about the current storylines! I'd love to hear your thoughts! Thank you again everyone! You're all awesome! Love you all xXx

1 note · View note

kuningannasansa · 4 years

Text

A musketeers rewatch (that nobody asked for) 1x07

Here we go, my least favorite episode of the whole show excluding season three which I didn’t watch! If you have even a passing fondness for Ninon, I suggest you look away :)

We start with a royal procession through the crowd and there are quite a lot of waving people there. If they can fill the streets with extras for scenes like that, why can those same extras not be used for the court scenes?

Priest whose name I have forgotten is being robbed. The musketeers rush in to help.

Meanwhile, a crazy girl tries to get close to the queen and ends up being ran over by her carriage. If this is meant to be some Emily Davison analogy, it sucks!

The dead lunatic’s name is Therese and she wanted to give the Queen a note. Constance takes it and says “Fleur, what does this mean?” Am I supposed to take from that that she cannot read for herself? Cause a merchant’s wife definitely, definitely would know how to do that.

Fleur is nowhere to be seen, however.

“This is an age of glorious discovery!” says Ninon. “Galileo observes the moons of Jupiter... But what is the role of women in this age of wonder?” - well, gee, i don’t know Ninon. Maybe you could have mentioned some female scientists of the era in addition to Galileo? Catherine de Parthenay, anyone? Or Marie Fouquet? Hell, Ninon de l'Enclos, my atheist queen, for whom this Ninon is doubtless named, was a notable woman in her own right! But no, we have to make women look more oppressed than they actually were to make this waste of space look more awesome.

“My women of Paris, seek your own enlightenment!” - wrong era!

Therese, an orphan from a humble background, wanted to hand a petition to the queen about women’s education.

“If she was an illiterate orphan she could not have written this. It is misguided but not unintelligent.” - says Richelieu. And indeed he turns out to be right. She didn’t write it. Which is fucking bizarre.

Anne asks him if he doesn’t favor women’s education and he replies: “I admire learning wherever it is to be found, but this amounts to an attack on the authority of church and state.” Any French history buff know what the actual Richelieu’s thought of women’s education? @tatzelwyrm? I’m gonna start a biography on him soon, but not until I’m done with this rewatch.

Ninon barges in past the guards and yells “stay out of my way, I will address the King!”. I’m sure this is meant to make her look badass, but she just comes across like a complete idiot who doesn’t understand that she would do better to follow court protocol, no matter how much she might dislike it, if she wants to achieve her goals.

Luckily for her she’s pretty, so the king doesn’t mind.

“I want to know why this tragedy happened. If your guards are to blame I want them punished.” And then she gives Treville a dirty look! How dare you, you waste of skin and oxygen! Don’t you dare blame Treville for this mess!

“You knew this lunatic?” - lmao, Richelieu!

Therese was the daughter of Ninon’s servant whom Ninon decided to educate. So she was educated, she COULD have written the petition herself. But she did not. Because when Richelieu says “she wrote this and was killed trying to give it to the Queen” Ninon screeches: “Don’t be ridiculous! She didn’t write it, I did!” And I mean, who exactly is looking down on servant girls here and saying it’s ridiculous to expect them to write something intelligent. It’s not Richelieu.

But more importantly, WHY?? If Ninon wrote it, why couldn’t she hand it to the Queen? Why did this poor girl have to die? This is so, so stupid! I mean, okay, maybe Therese heard Ninon speak well of the queen and got the idea to hand her the petition on her own, without being told by Ninon to do so. But why did she have it in the first place, if it’s Ninon’s petition?

“Apparently the Comtesse de Laroque believes herself above the normal laws and conventions of society.” ´- well that’s an understatement.

“The treasury is bankrupt and the country needs a new navy. Ninon has the wealth to provide it.” And that is why Richelieu sends Milady into the salon to find something to use against her. These two are so good in this, I love their scenes together! Pity about the rest of the episode.

Richelieu is now freaking out about lesbians and Milady is just like “really, dude? really?”. I love her!

“Ninon must pay up or face destruction, I want every last penny from her!” - so it was not his intention to kill her, just to get the money. Interesting.

Fleur’s father is Bonacieux’s cousin. I love that, the commoners having family connections and support circles of their own.

The robbed priest is called Luca! Richelieu is “delighted to see him”, apparently, cause they’re old friends. And Louis isn’t, because he wrote a pamphlet arguing that Kings should bow down to the Pope’s authority.

“We can’t have a comtesse abducting young women and spiriting them away to her boudoir!” - Oh, Richelieu! Do calm down.

It’s odd watching Richelieu try to use homosexuality to take Ninon down while shipping Trevilieu thou.

Athos barges into Ninon’s salon, demanding to know where Fleur is and Milady very discreetly hides behind a pillar. Lol!

And Ninon starts hitting on Athos immediately. She tells him that she’s often thought he’s handsome but the “melancholy aspect” to his looks is “probably only mental vacancy”. Who taught you how to flirt? Why must you be so abrasive and confrontational all the time? Like really, I get she’s meant to be a Strong Woman Who Don’t Take No Shit TM, but she just comes across like a loudmouth.

Athos likes it thou!

“Forgive our intrusion-” “I will not forgive it!” - Jesus Ninon, it’s just a figure of speech, a polite gesture. People use these in conversation sometimes. She’s so unnecessarily rude smh.

Aramis says he “gladly acknowledges the superiority of the female sex” and I throw up in my mouth a little. That’s not feminism, that’s slimy!

D’artagnan: “If that wasn’t flirting, I don’t know what is.” Porthos: “Rubbish! She can’t stand him.” Aramis: “One day I’ll sit down and explain women to you.” - cause we’re all the same and no means yes, right writers?

Luca: “His holiness is concerned about the direction of French foreign policy.” Richelieu: “Well the pope is Spain’s performing monkey.” - he really is so funny! I know I keep saying that, but he is!

Also, YAY politics! Intelligent dialogue! I love this scene so much!

“In matters of religion I defer to Rome, in all else I am my country’s servant” - lol, Richelieu inventing the separation of church and state

Luca: “Is this your final word on the subject?” Richelieu: “It is.” - and that right there is where Luca decides to kill him. The actor plays it really well, knowing it’s coming I can see the briefest moment of regret in his eyes, but without hindsight I wouldn’t notice anything. And he gives Richelieu the poisoned gift.

Also, isn't it the same guy who plays Margaret’s new man in Harlots?

Athos says that Therese and Fleur were so far below Ninon in status that they were not in a position to make choices of their own free will. Which is fuckign stupid. But Ninon saying that she views all women as equal regardless of their birth is equally moronic. I mean, sure, they should be, but in reality they’re not and ignoring that doesn’t help anyone. And Athos does point out that Ninon’s money and position gives her certain privileges, but it sits wrong coming from him and not from Porthos or Milady or Constance, who are from poor/less wealthy backgrounds. That said, this is still one of the few semi intelligent scenes in this whole episode, so whatever. At least someone said it.

Now she kisses him and invites him to dine! And he just looks sad.

Luca tells Richelieu to “deal with” Ninon “firmly”, cause the Pope is dying and Richelieu could be the next Pope if he shows himself a strong defender of the church against “heresy”. What heresy thou? Women learning to read? Lol, that’s so cartoonishly evil and ahistorical, but whatever. This at least explains where Richelieu’s desire to have her burned came from.

Richelieu: “I wouldn’t go so far as to call her a heretic.” Luca: “A woman who openly defies God's laws, what other word is there?” - what laws thou? what has she done, other than hold some salon meetings, as every other noblewoman was doing at the time?

Richelieu promises to consider his options and Luca tells him to pray to the poisoned bone for guidance, lol.

This right here is Richelieu letting personal feelings cloud his judgement, thou! Which he said he has learned no to do. But he allows himself to be carried away with visions of becoming Pope and honestly I don’t see how he can possibly believe that could happen with his foreign policy and how hated he is by the Vatican, as stated in this very scene.

Milady and Ninon! I love that scene! Ninon clearly thinks she’s super special because she “takes the initiative” by kissing men instead of waiting to be kissed. She’s so damn smug about it! And Milady is just like “oh I could never be so bold” and I swear I can hear her laughing internally!

And she very cleverly charms Fleur’s location out of Ninon!

Athos’s idea of a first date is the morgue. Charming.

Athos saying that Ninon is responsible for what happened to Therese because she gave a lowborn girl an education doesn’t sit well with me. Classist ass! But she is responsible for not thinking of Therese beyond how daring and adventurous and fun and positively scandalous it would be to educate a servant girl and then not bothering to care for her when she got bored. Cause if she had done, Therese could have come to her with her plan and she could have prevented her death. Because yes, regardless of her education, her background predisposed Therese to be naive about the King and Queen and how petitions work. Where was Ninon in all this, when a girl under her charge decided to do this foolish thing that cost her her life? Because if you want to be someone’s teacher you do have a duty of care. In short, Ninon is a classist ass as well! They’re perfect for each other!

So Luca’s stolen bag is in the morgue with the body of the thief who stole it. And Athos promises to send for it in the morning. I know it’s CSI: Musketeers and all, but why was it not delivered to Luca the moment it was found, lol? He’s a pretty important guest at the palace and it’s his property.

Athos agrees with Ninon that marriage is a curse. LOL!

Ninon’s reason for not marrying is that she does not want a husband to own her wealth and body. Makes sense and that’s why many independently wealthy women chose to stay unmarried. Just pointing out the few things that make sense.

“You are a rebellious woman” - oh good, we managed to squeeze the title of the episode into the dialogue!

Aramis just tossed a red guard out of Ninon’s house. Can’t tell if he’s dead or not, but certainly unconscious.

There’s fighting. The red guards have swords, the musketeers have books. Athos screams “where is your authority for this!?!” - well, the Cardinal, I’d assume, since they are his guards. Oh bear of very little brain!

Fleur and some other runaway girls are found sleeping in a secret chamber and Ninon is arrested for abducting them.

Athos is all like “you said she wasn’t here” and Ninon tries to explain that Fleur did not want to be found and begs “make them stop” to which Athos replies “sorry, I can’t”, his voice and face making it very clear that he doesn’t want to. Because a woman lied to him! This is the worst crime! Really Ninon is lucky she’s being arrested right now, otherwise she’d end up swinging from a tree.

“Four young women! In their nightwear! I can only speculate as to the horrors they have endured!” - Richelieu really has a bee in his bonnet about lesbians. The days before p*rnhub must have been hard for a catholic cardinal.

Luca is even worse thou! “Your majesty is joking but Satan is real! And his female familiars are everywhere amongst us.” Jesus christ guys, calm down! Have a wank or something!

“She had the girls, she lied, she brought her fate on herself.” - Oh shut up Athos! Not everything is about you and your relationship issues! As Aramis points out. Thank you, Aramis! And I never believed I’d ever say that.

Ninon/Aramis > > > > > > > > > > Ninon/Athos

Aramis gives Ninon the cross Anne gave him. This is quite sweet!

“It’s not so easy when you don’t have money” Constance says and she is right. But it’s like the show is saying that the only way women can be independant is if they are independently wealthy like Ninon. But that’s not really true, Fleur could get a job such as a seamstress or pharmacist or grain merchant or actress or even as a secretary now that she knows latin and greek thanks to Ninon. Women did have jobs in 17th century France and even belonged to guilds etc. Not saying that Fleur would not be more financially secure still with a husband, but if she really doesn’t want that she has options and I don’t like how this supposed “feminist” episode constantly erases women’s actual history.

Fleur’s father rages “what does she need an education for? She’ll be a seamstress until she’s married and then she’ll be a dutiful wife and mother.” But if he is Bonacieux’s cousin then they are in the same social class, that is to say, the merchant class. And merchant women had to keep their husbands’ shops when their husbands were away. They needed to know how to read and write and do sums. They needed this to be an attractive marriage prospect to a husband of their own social class!

And the father wants to hit Fleur and D’artagnan all heroically threatens him. How boring!

Richelieu: “Many of our young women are educated. It’s not something we’re ashamed of.” Fleur: “Not just embroidery and sewing.” Me: “WELL OF COURSE NOT!!!”

Then Fleur says Ninon taught them the “secrets of our bodies” and Richelieu is a hound on the scent!

“Be quiet or you’ll be gagged!” - Again Armand, this is neither the time nor the place to indulge your kinks.

ENTER MILADY!

She does such a brilliant job of her testimony! This is again her lying about rape and I talked about before why that is bad, but in this case I don’t mind cause it’s for state reasons and doesn’t in any way invalidate her own story the way the thing with D’artagnan does.

Athos completely LOSES HIS SHIT!! Not doing the defence any good there, buddy!

The look she gives him as she walks out is priceless!

Queen Anne to the rescue, bringing clemency from Louis! Clever girl, must have manipulated it out of him! Season 1 Anne was intelligent.

And Ninon ruins it by saying: “I have never consorted with the devil until this moment. I am looking at him.” To which Richelieu replies: “Condemned from her own mouth.” As any person with half a brain would. Jesus christ Ninon, you should have been gagged! For your own safety!

And then Richelieu stops breathing! And we get Treville’s reaction to it, thank you camera people! Thou Treville mostly just looks confused, like “what is that drama queen doing now?”

Now he’s twitching! And I’m sorry but it looks hilarious.

Aramis carries him to bed on his back and puts a hand over his mouth. I’m not sure that helps with the breathing issues...

Louis pushes Aramis out of the way and cries “please don’t die! please don’t die!” aawwwwwwwwwww!

Aramis really saves his life here, huh.

Anne is briefly jealous about the cross and asks Aramis if Ninon is his lover. Lol! She never expected him to stalk her for the rest of her life, she fully expected him to keep lovers.

Luca: “Satan turned his blood to acid at her command!” Porthos: “We’ll add Satan to the list of suspects.”

Fleur: “You think I poisoned him?” Constance: “That’s the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard even by musketeer standards.” - THANK YOU CONSTANCE!

Fleur is to be married to a 40 year old butcher. Poor girl!

“Was it you?” - LOL!

“Half the doctors say you’re doomed, the other half claim you’ll make a full recovery. There’s a lot of professional pride at stake.” - Milady is very funny too! But I’ve always known that!

“Whatever happens to me, I want you to extract this confession from Ninon.” - translation: it doesn’t matter if I die, the main thing is that France gets that navy. For France, always. I’m amazed by how much he trusts Milady here thou.

Milady thinks the kneebone of St. Anthony is gross and “as much use as the doctors”. Bless her!

Constance very sweetly talks Fleur’s father out of forcing her to marry. Go Constance!

Ninon: “There is nothing worse than a woman who betrays her own sex” Milady: “I can think of a few things, but let’s not argue.” - THIS!! This is my favorite part of this whole miserable episode, because yes, with her background she can think of things Ninon couldn’t possibly imagine. It’s also a fuck you to that “don’t encourage girl on girl hate” line terfs and white feminists always hide behind when they get called out on their bullshit, though this wasn’t the point here. I love how she doesn’t even explain, too. Let’s not argue, cause what’s the point. You’ll never get it.

I do want to stress that Ninon is not wrong for educating other women and she has been unjustly condemned (althou I would argue that she might not have drawn Richelieu’s ire if she went about it in a more subtle, less smug way, for the safety of the girls she teaches if not for her own). But Milady is employed by the First Minister of France and is doing her job here, a job which she depends upon for her own independence and safety. As she says, Ninon didn’t do anything to her, she’s just a victim of circumstance.

“If you don’t confess, the women of your salon will burn in your place. Surely you wish to save the lives of your accomplices in Satan?” - Milady does a good job of selling it, but if you think about it, that makes no sense. These women have already been publicly proclaimed Ninon’s victims. And if they have legal trouble with burning her alone, how would they manage a whole bunch of them, most of whom are also high ranking noblewomen?

Ninon falls for it thou. Fail!

Richelieu orders Ninon burned and Milady says that the Queen and King won’t like it. Richelieu replies that: “she’s irrelevant and a new navy will soothe his dismay.” He’s really underestimating season 1 Anne here. But season 2 will prove him right, sadly.

“The kingdom of heaven is a dream. Our only life is here.” - Go Milady!

Richelieu says he won’t burn her for heresy but to be careful cause “one day someone else might” and idk, but it comes across like pretty friendly advice, considering what he’s currently doing with Ninon.

Now he worries he might go to hell! And Milady says he’s already there, lmaoo! I LOVE THIS SCENE!!

They go to the morgue to retrieve Luca’s bag and discover that the thief was poisoned in the same manner as the Cardinal. Thus the plot is uncovered.

“Open his mouth!” “You open his mouth!”

Luca kills a red guard and is about to kill Richelieu (who fights him with a fork!) when the musketeers burst in. And Richelieu curses them for being late!

Richelieu had apparently worked out that it was Luca who was trying to kill him at some point during the night. No idea how.

Athos begs for Ninon’s life while the pire is already burning. And Richelieu agrees cause burning her is all very “dark ages”, like he said to begin with. He says he’s not a cruel man, just a practical one. But practicality sometimes requires cruelty. He’s not a sadist thou, that’s what he meant and that’s true.

Athos drags Ninon off the burning pire. So the great feminist character got duped by Milady and then had to be rescued by her love interest. So good, much feminist.

“As far as the world is concerned, Comtesse Ninon de Laroque died on that pire today.” Richelieu takes her lands, her property and her money and sends her into exile. Then he threatens to execute her if she ever tells anyone the truth of what happened.

“My voice will never be silenced, but I promise you will never hear it.” - the stupidest line of the whole episode and that’s saying something. Seriously, what does this mean? Your voice was silenced! Richelieu got your wealth which you could have used to educate more women. You were completely defeated. Like really, who is the idiot who wrote this? And what made them think this is in any way empowering or even just a satisfactory conclusion to Ninon’s acr?? Ughhhh!!

I do love Richelieu and Milady getting a rare victory thou!

“Nothing, no person, no nation, no god will stand in my way.” - HOT!

Aramis gets his cross back lol. Otherwise it would have burned.

Lmao, Richelieu sends Luca’s ashes to rome with a threat to the Pope.

And Capaldi pronounces “Richelieu” in a very strange way.

Milady: “You do realise you’ll never be Pope?” Richelieu: “It’s an Italian club and largely a clerical position. I prefer something with a little more influence.” - L! O! L!

Ninon plans to open a school for poor girls and be a teacher. Well, idk, I hope she does a better job of it than she did with Therese.

Athos asks Ninon if “Madame de la Chapelle” ever told her anything about herself. And Ninon is like “so you did know her after all?” and he says “in another life” and she warns him to be careful because she has the cardinal’s protection so “a blow against her is a blow against him” and idk, does she realize that Milady was Athos’s wife here? Is that how I’m supposed to read it? He did tell her before that he used to be married.

Then she kisses him and tells him she could have loved a man like him. And she’s just way more into him than he is into her.

Lmaooo, Fleur is not forced to marry and can continue with her education and she’s “sure” that the woman who convinced her father was Ninon. And Constance doesn’t correct her and doesn’t even want the credit, but I’m mad lol, as if Ninon even remembers you exist Fleur!

D’artagnan gives Constance the credit, at least! And then comes his declaration of love, which is actually very sweet and I really liked them together in season 1! Constance is so beautiful in this scene too! It’s very well lit and she’s wearing that lovely dress!

Aaaaand we fade to black on some PG13 kissing and groping! Sorry, this was very long, but there was a lot to complain about.

In conclusion, awful! Like, the thing that bothers me the most is that this token girl power episode would not even have been radical in 1970, never mind today. The message is simply that women should have an education, which no sane person today would disagree with. It’s very safe and bland. And erases women’s real history in the process. It’s almost as if these male writers are congratulating themselves “weren’t things ever so bad Back Then, we are so much more progressive now”, instead of doing the truly radical thing and showing women’s real history, showing women in positions of power running their literary salons and not getting burned for it, showing women as independent businesswomen with an education! Why not give Bonacieux a female rival in the cloth business? Why not go deeper than “women are human beings” and give the episode a truly radical message that still resonates today. After all, we might be ever so educated now but it’s not like women have achieved equality. More on that in this old post: https://kuningannasansa.tumblr.com/post/126434697304/the-problem-of-ninon

Anyway, I really hope the next episode will be better!

Red Guards killed: 1 or 2, impossible to really tell

Ladies killed: Therese

Best Dressed: Ninon. She did have some pretty dresses.

#the musketeers #bbc musketeers #cardinal richelieu #milady de winter #anti ninon #musketeers rewatch

18 notes · View notes

dear--charlie · 4 years

Text

Dear Charlie,

Date: Wednesday, August 14, 2019 Time: 11:56 pm

I’m curious. Does anyone look forward to reading my letters? -calls out- “Anyone?” -dead silence emits so deafening, I stop talking-

So.. I was reading letters I have sent you. And, shit. The people who take the time to read these letters must think I am selfish.

All I talk about are men, my attraction to men, my desire to have a girlfriend, or whatever.

Which, if y'all know me, you KNOW, I’m going to get back to it.

But for a short bit, let’s talk about things that aren’t guys or girls.

Here are a number of facts about me you, Charlie, and other people reading this may not know about…

I’m very unsatisfied with my weight. I weigh about 195 pounds, and am working to drop to 120 pounds. I don’t feel attractive in my skin. I can’t see my vag anymore.

I haven’t orgasmed ever. I am 24 fucking years old. Why the fuck haven’t I cum yet? God..

Happier topics, Mare. Okay. There is this app I use called SLOWLY, where you create a username, and bio about yourself. You can start sending letters to people across the world. I’ve had letters coming in from China, India especially, the U.K., Australia, Taiwan, Russia, Portugal, tip of Africa. So many letters. And, you do get standard. ‘Yo baby. Send me nudes.’ This one guy got clever and asked me for nudes in Morse Code. I kindly sent him back to go fuck himself. The only person who gets to see my beautiful breasts is me, and the barren vag, cause I swear to myself, I never ever see Nic. (<– Sorry. No talk of guys for the next few paragraphs). The issue is.. like, there is an option where you can send three letters at a time. With an intro letter. One night, I thought it would he fun (WORST. MISTAKE. EVER.) to send 15 letters. (Keep in mind about 4 of the many letters I have sent, do I keep up a regular correspondence with. So, add 15 potential regular friends, and you have a recipe for disaster). Omgosh, Charlie + readers: I never have time to respond to these letters. Damnit, me. Why the fuck did you do that?

Okay. I started a new job. Yeah. You heard right. The ever so fucking afflicted depressed, intoroverted, frustrated, book crazy, bisexual who cant hold down a job, found a new one. Through a temp agency. I work with ______ _____ ____, at _____ _____, which is just 10 minutes from my house. The job is way better than the piece of shit I put up with for 6 mths. I love the different calls we get. But the mother fucking training at this call centre was mother flipping shit. There are so many 'processes’ you have to remember when helping a 'guest’ with a request that I want to cry. (I hope I keep at the job). Please fucking pray for me.

Did you know I didn’t always used to curse the way I do? Throughout high school, I would only curse when I would get hurt (like for example that time an anvil crushed my toe. Lol. This totally didnt happen. Though, this one time. I cut myself on this chunk of thick glass from a broken lamp at 12 urs old, that I was taking to the dumpster. It sliced my thigh, blood was gushing out I imagine. I started screaming. My mom, uncle, and cousin freaked the fuck out. I obviously lived to tell the tale. Y'all should see the scar.) And then I was influenced by boys (since I only hung out with guys through the last two years of high school) to curse. And now, I can’t seem to stop.

I make weird posts on Whisper. My username is ______ For anyone who wants to chat with me about my crazy life, follow me on ____ at @_______. Lol. (I hope y'all know when I include the blanks I’m being funny).

What other facts to share.. I made a friend on Slowly, but work really got me busy, plus I am always freaking tired. I didn’t respond for nine days with a letter, and I noticed she deactivated her account. It really hurt. Her name was Becca. She was trans, but didn’t tell her crazy conservative family. 19, super sweet. Liked video games and Eminem for a bit. I seriously miss her.

Other facts.. Did I mention (no, of course you didn’t mention Mare. All you ever talk about are failed relationships, current relationships, or almost relationships), I’m looking to learn Italian AND Spanish? Of course! Why the hell wouldn’t I try to influence my American self with my Mexican self? (Totally Hispanic in case y'all cohldn’t guess. My mom says I speak Spanish like a white girl. Well, shit… Time to go to Mexico and get ridiculed for being too white and not knowing Spanish or customs) Joking aside, I’m looking forward to teaching myself Spanish and Italian. (Don’t tell the family, but I prefer Italy over Mexico).

Y'all ready to get to the real reason why y'all stick through my letters?

Nic doesn’t want me to explore my bi side. Ken hasn’t been on Skype for a month. I miss him.. (Great, conflicted Mary is back again). Did I mention that today is my 3rd year anniversary with the Nicholas? Totally is. What did we do to celebrate? I woke up at 5 in the morning, waited for him to show up at 6, and ate tacos in my apartment parking lot. Then, I went to work, and he went home to sleep. We are going to Bastrop for the weekend which is just 20 minutes from my grandparents. Maybe I should go visit. (Why the hell don’t I call my family? Am I really that fucking self absorbed? Family trumps dudes any fucking day..) and I hope the trip is nice. I just texted him like 45 min ago of us drifting apart. Because… he will talk about things that seriously, Charlie, I could give two fucks about, then we will talk about ice cream, for example, and he goes off on a tangent about something little do with ice cream. Sometimes, I feel like I guilty stay with him because I do fucking love him, but I could be holding myself back from experiencing new things.

I want to write more. Bare with me for a moment, Charlie. Okay, I’m back. (That was a second break, in real time in case y'all were wondering)

My thoughts aren’t flowing as well. I wish I knew a friend who was bi or a lesbian who would like to explore with me. And not have it change things.

So, I have a shit sleep schedule. I’ll come home at 5 ish in the evening. I’ll sit in traffic for twenty min. Come home. Eat something. Fall asleep by 7. Wake up at 10, and stay awak indefinitely. Then wake up at 6, and start over. (What is wrong with me?)

Oh. More breaks from relationship shit. I saw a therapist. Three visits. It was nice. His name is Tim. (Had to stop because I literally have no fucking time to see a dr anymore psychologist or medical, because my schedule is a fucking bitch). He graduated from Harvard! That is awesome. His attire was well groomed, always. I never told him he intimidated me because of that. But he was a nice guy. Time to go to psychologytoday.com to look for weekend available therapists who take my insurance. I hope if I am to become a psychologist, that I’m a tiny better than Tim. He was lovely, I was just unnerved by someone focusing such time on me. But, that is kind of what he is paid for? So….

Oh. Have I mentioned at all to you, Charlie about how I want to start a YouTube channel? I want to read stories I find on the internet. Annnd, I’m pretty excited. I get my mic maybe with next weeks paycheck.

I feel like there is more to add. For anyone you may have lost touch with over the years, Charlie, does the thought of that person and the memories you shared together ever make you cry? I found a CD an old friend left to me for my birthday. And it broke my heart that we aren’t close anymore. I feel like I .. let my true relationships go in my worst state of mind.. And, I miss her so much. It really really hurts. I’m crying just thinking about it.

Also, I’m not sure if I mentioned, there are rare cases where I will laugh so hard at something I found to be funny, that I make others worried or uncomfortable. But the laughter turns to sobbing (sobbing such as my mom dying, or my brother getting hit by a car, or someone killing me) just as severe. I tried asking like crazy, and no one seems to know. That is, until a month ago, a friend from the meetings I go to (please tell me I’m not so vapid that I forgot to tell you I go to Monday meetings with DBSA for my depression) showed me what I have.. which I forgot the name of. But it is a treatable condition. Something to do with sensitivity.

I can’t hear well out of my right ear. I need to see a doctor.

Thanks to those who stayed with me this far.

I hope to have more news on my relationship status.

I seriously have like two friends on Tumblr. Why do I use this app again?

I love you, Charlie

Always,

Mary

#dear charlie #Mary

8 notes · View notes

thorscock-y · 5 years

Text

Shhh......

Request: I know you’re full of requests but since it’s thanksgiving, just want to drop this here: Chris meeting girlfriend family on thanksgiving and she only has a single bed in her room SO they fixed a mattress for him to sleep on it. But oh boy he has other ideas for the night and they have to be super quiet? Cause it’s a small house?

Author’s Note: I spent a full day working on this and yeah it took a long time so feedback is fucking encouraged.

Warnings: Smut, fingering, unprotected sex,Chris kind of being a dom and some fluffy Chris. NSFW images. 18+ readers only.

Disclaimer: No gifs or images belong to me. Rightful credit to owners.

Masterlist

You tapped your foot on the floor of the airplane while sipping on your wine rather quickly. Wine is supposed to be something you sip but by the way you were drinking it might as well be a glass of milk on Christmas Eve. It was just the nerves running through your body. You were really nervous about Chris meeting your family on Thanksgiving tomorrow.

“Sweetie, that’s your second glass.” Your boyfriend, Chris, said. He reached over and took it from out of your hands setting it on the tray in front of him. “What’s up with you?”

You look over at him, and into his concerned looking eyes. How could you lie to those beautiful blue eyes, when he looked like this it made you so weak? You hated that about him, but loved it at the same time.

“Okay, I guess I’m just a little nervous.” His face contorts with confusion as if he’s asking you to elaborate on why you’re nervous. “It’s just that…….” You position your body in the chair so you’re facing him. “You’re famous you know, and you’re used to being in big houses and nice places. Where I’m from I’ve never had that. I don’t know, I guess I’m just kind of afraid of being judged.” The last words were mumbled as you looked anywhere but his face to ease how uncomfortable you were talking about this.

“That’s what you’re worried about? Seriously, you must forget how humble I was raised and it pains me that you think I would judge you.” When he says “pains” he leans back holding his heart in a dramatic way, making you giggle a little. He’s always been one to make you laugh.

“Chrisssssss, I’m serious.” You say, grabbing at his arm.

“I know. I am too. Honey, I don’t care about the size of your house, all I care about is,” He leans over and as he’s about to kiss you, he’s interrupted by what sounds like two grown men.

“Hey, sorry to interrupt Mr. Evans.” You and Chris look too see, as you assumed, two guys, one even wearing a long sleeve captain America shirt.

“Oh hey guys what’s up? Awesome shirt by the way.” It was the usual; you held the camera and took pictures of them and they said friendly goodbye’s still gushing over the fact that they had really just met Chris Evans. They kept calling him Captain America and before they left they saluted him. You looked down and chuckled. Now that was new. You had never seen a fan do that.

When he sat back down, you were grinning at him and he rolled his eyes. “What?” He questioned, probably already knowing what you’re gonna say.

“Hi, captain.” You say then began to laugh as he just shakes his head and looks down.

“Okay, anyway back to what I was saying,” He puts his hand on your cheek, moving your face to look at him. You’re still laughing a little. “All I care about is you, not your house, not your money, only you.”

You smile at him lovingly and hold his hand that’s lying on your face. How could you have been so lucky to meet a wonderful guy like him?

“Okay?” He asks, soothing your cheekbone with his thumb.

You nod and sigh. “Okay.” He leans over and kisses your lips for a few seconds before pulling away.

“Besides, I think your dad and I will bond over the fact that I am the one and only, Captain America baby.”

“Yes, he’ll definitely love that. He’s been team cap from the jump. The only problem is my brother. He’s team iron man.”

“Oh goodness, hopefully we don’t have to go into battle.” He winks at you and nudges your arm. “Get it, get it, because we went into battle in the movie.”

You once again laugh. “You are literally so cheesy.”

In the next few hours you arrive in your home town. You immediately see your family in the airport waiting for you, with your name on a card. With tears rushing down your face, you rush over to your mom, hugging her tightly. She’s crying as well, holding you tight. It had been so long since you had seen her ever since you went off to college in California. You hadn’t seen any of your family since tickets were so expensive to go back and forth. Chris being the wonderful guy he is paid for your tickets since you told him about your little money problem.

Next you hugged your dad, and he kissed you all over your face. While he was doing that, your mother went over and introduced yourself to Chris. Once you turned around you were happy to see that they were already hitting it off very well. She was laughing hysterically at some joke he said, you were assuming. Honestly, you’re pretty sure Chris could make Steve Bannon laugh and Steve Bannon is a very unhappy person.

“He’s definitely a keeper.” Your mother said, giving him a pat on the back.

“Um, I think I’ll determine that.” Your dad said.

“Dad, be nice.” You scolded. “You promised you would.” You leaned over and whispered in his ear.

“Alright, alright.” Your dad said, giving in.

To your surprise on the ride home, they began to bond very quickly as well. Chris was a very talkative guy and good at making conversation. You already knew this about him but you weren’t sure if it was going to go well considering these are your parents. He was seriously perfect in every way. No guy that you’ve brought home has become friends with your parents that fast.

“Sorry about how small the bed is.” You apologized as you blew up a mini mattress on the floor. “I totally forgot that it wouldn’t have been able to fit the both of us.”

“Baby, seriously it’s fine, you don’t have to keep apologizing.” He reassured. He stood up next to you, watching you. “And you’re house is actually very cozy, not too big, not too small. I don’t know what you were worried about.”

“Well you know…….” You glance up at him. “You’ve been living in mansions; I would think my house would be a little cottage compared to yours.”

“Hey,” He leaned down and got eye level with you so you know he was being serious with you. “None of that matters to me, and your families lovely. Even though your brother and I got into a little playful banter.”

“Oh my gosh, that was so funny.” You backtrack to the dinner you had had before heading to your bedroom. Your brother was discussing the pros of having a contract between the avengers and the government while Steve was opposing it. The whole table was practically dying. “By the way, you know you don’t have to sleep on this mattress. I’m just laying it here so my parents think you will. They were pretty strict about this stuff growing up and well…………they sort of still are.”

“Oh really, so we’re sleeping in the same bed?” He asks and you can hear the hint of seduction in his voice.

“No, mister, you better not. These rooms are practically right next to each other.” You remembered the nights of hearing your older brother and the girls he used to sneak in. Every moan could be heard and it was a nightmare. You cringe at the memory.

“Okay, okay. I won’t.” Of course he’s lying; he already has a little fun planned out for you.

Later on that night, after he gets out of the shower, he lays down next to you. The bed is really small, barely fitting the both of you but you make do for now. You’re sleeping on your side, so he wraps his arm around your waist spooning you. You can smell the man soap he previously just used and you smile a little, loving the scent. Wanting to touch him, you wrap your hand in his that’s on your waist and lean more into his body. This action causes you to feel his dick against your ass and you move forward in surprise.

“No, no, cm’ere.” He whispers pulling you back to him so you once again felt him against your ass. You’re dressed in a thong and a large white night shirt that falls off of your shoulder a bit

“Chris, where are your clothes?” You move your hand behind you to feel his bare chest. He’s not wearing a shirt and by how close you can feel his cock, he seems to not being wearing pants either.

“Baby, it’s okay.” He kissed on the back of your neck, pulling you flush against him.

“Chris, honey, we can’t-“ Your cut off midsentence by the feeling of his fingers inching down your stomach slowly. You breath hitches in your throat and you’re not sure of weather you should stop him or let him continue.

“Shh, let it happen.” Once his fingers dip in the pool of wetness under the fabric of your thong, he groans in your ear, loving the feeling of your soaked folds. “I’ve barely touched you and you’re already soaking, damn baby.”

You can’t help but moan a little at his words. He quickly reaches around and covers your mouth with his other hand.

“You gotta be quiet.” He says lowly in your ear, then trails kisses down the side of your neck while rubbing slow, gentle circles on your clit.

“Mmm,” You whimper into his hand and suddenly become relaxed into his hands. You just pray your parents won’t walk in or worse your brother.

He runs his two thick fingers over your slit, spreading your wetness all over your lips to make it easier for his fingers to move. You grab his arm that is over your waist and grip tightly, needing to hold on to something. You grip the sheet with the other hand clenching your eyes shut, trying not to make too many noises. He pressed his middle and ring finger inside of you and you gasped in surprise.

His fingers curled forward, sliding in and out of you. At this particular action your legs began to tremble just a bit. He put his leg over yours to keep you from moving so much. His fingers sped up, just a bit, a slow but delicious pace. You can hear the wet sounds of his fingers moving in your pussy, and it makes the moment even hotter than it already was. You feel his thumb join the fun; rubbing your clit lazily. His fingers pummeled into you without stopping hoping to find your g-spot soon enough. He knew that when he hit it, you’d be done for in seconds.

“Oh baby, you’re so perfect.” He sucks on the junction between your jaw and neck, pushing you more towards the edge.

“Fuck, right there.” You say but it’s muffled by Chris’s hands. He knows what you’re talking about. As soon as he rubs against your spot, your hips jolt forward a little bit, letting you know you’re almost there. Involuntarily your nails began to dig into his arm, your other hand bound to rip your sheets by how hard you’re clenching them.

He fingers you harder and deeper, applying harder pressure to your clit. By this rate you can feel your climax approaching you fast and hard, the coil in your stomach beginning to unloosen. You moan loud into his hand, not being able to control it anymore. As you feel yourself about to let go, he removes his hand from your mouth and gets down in between your legs.

He doesn’t waste a moment more as he begins to lick and suck on your clit; the pace of his fingers not stopping. Quickly you put a hand over your mouth while the other goes down to his hair, gripping it tightly. The familiar feeling approaches you, your stomach tightens and the muscles of your pussy hold on to Chris’s fingers before letting go. You come all over his face and fingers while moaning into your hand. You grab a pillow and bite onto it so you’re moans are less loud. Chris gives your pussy a few more kisses, with a few more pumps inside of you.

He sits up on his knees, looking down at your panting chest. You look so cute. He smirks and leans down, pressing his lips firmly against yours. You realized you missed the way his soft lips felt against yours so you kissed him harder. His tongue licked your bottom lip giving you a chance to taste what he had previously eaten. You.

In the middle of kissing you, he grips his cock in his hand and rubs it over your slit, pausing to slap it against your clit. You moan into his mouth at the feeling. To get a better angle, Chris pulls away from kissing you and lifts your legs over his arms. Looking down in between your bodies he angles his cock in front of your entrance. One snap of his hips and he was entering you with ease.

Your eyes rolled back to your head momentarily and you let your head fall onto your pillows baring your neck to Chris. He leans down, peppering your neck with wet kisses. He keeps entering inside of you more until he can’t anymore, making you whimper lowly.

“Ah, fuck, you feel perfect around me, babygirl.” He whispers in your ear.

“You can move now, Chris, honey.” He pulled almost all the way out so only the tip remained and then he slid back in all the way. A silent moan slid past your lips as he built a slow sensual pace, making sure not to rush things. He wanted you to feel all of this, to savor this moment.

He dropped his head in between your neck, placing kisses against your hot skin as he kept thrusting inside of you. Wanting to touch him, you reach up and rest your hands against his beautiful defined abs that are sweating.

“I’m gonna speed up a little, okay baby?” He says. Chris is always caring in the bedroom, he always has been. Which is honestly one of the main reasons why you fell in love with him. Most guys will just do things their way without pleasuring you or making sure you’re okay with it first but no that wasn’t your lovely Chris.

You reply by moaning quietly in his ear. At this he begins to pound your tight pussy. A loud moan escapes your lips because you simply couldn’t control it. Quickly, he puts his lips to yours, swallowing your moans. Deep down in the back of your mind you hope no one else in the house heard anything however you’re more focused on Chris fucking you so thoroughly.

You move your hands to his biceps, gripping while every inch of his thick cock was sliding in and out of you. His pelvic bone is now hitting your pussy, his balls as well hitting your ass. He’s penetrating you so deep; you honestly don’t know what to do. You just keep moaning into his mouth, as he kisses your hard and passionately, tongues shoved down each other’s throat.

“You are so perfect, so beautiful,” He whispered against your lips, still pounding the fuck out of you.

“Oh…..” You moaned clenching your eyes shut.

“So gorgeous, you’re all mine.” He says watching your face contort with pleasure. “Never want you to leave me, baby.” He fills you up to the brim so he’s all the way inside of you.

“Mmm,, I w-won’t.” You reply, arching yourself into him. “I’m g-gonnna-“

“Yes come for me, let it go. Let that pretty little pussy come on my cock.” With his words, and with his cock fucking you the way it is, your walls close around him, tightening with each thrust. He can feel it, he can feel your pussy so he leans down making sure to conceal your moans before you scream out in pleasure and with pain of how good it feels. You can’t hold back anymore so you let go, coming hard and sinfully.

Your eyebrows furrow as your face if full of pure bliss of how good that orgasm felt. His cock twitched inside of you and soon enough you felt his warm liquid spurring inside of you. Oh thank goodness for the pill or else you would’ve been SOL right now. He groaned deeply as he slowed down the pace a little but kept fucking you, wanting to ride out your highs.

“Ride me.” He demands while pulling out of you.

“What-“ You don’t get to finish as he grabs you, flipping your body so you’re on top now.

“Ride me, I want to watch you ride my cock, beautiful.” He says. He leans up and kisses your lips for a little before laying down.

Taking your hand, you reached down and collected some of your own juices, spreading them around his cock. Once you’re sure your ready you position his cock at your little hole and then slowly sink down on him, biting your lip to keep you from moaning too loud.

“Oh, babe. You’re so big.” You said in between breathy moans.

“Yeah, good girl. Take all of my cock. That’s right.” You started moving up and down keeping the rhythm simple and kind of slow. You just got the unholy shit fucked out of you so you’re body was pretty sore nevertheless you kept hopping up and down on his cock.

His hands came up to your hips holding them very tightly, surly bruises were to appear the next day but none of that mattered right now. You put your hands on his shoulders to give you some leverage and you glanced behind you; watching your pussy come on and off of Steve’s cock.

He wanted to so badly just rip the shirt off of you that was hiding the rest of your gorgeous body. He just pulled your shirt down so then your boobs spilled out of it and he could see them bouncing up and down. He grabbed them and tweaked your nipples. Knowing what he wanted, you stopped for a minute and pulled off your shirt so you were now naked and exposed. He could see your face in the moonlight that seeped in through the window above the window.

You smirked and winked down at him before going continuing to ride him. His hands moved to your ass cheeks, gripping each in one hand loving the feeling of your skin beneath us.

“Fuck.” You whispered and threw your head back, closing your eyes while you felt another orgasm quick and approaching. His eyes moved to your bouncing tits and your beautiful pleasured face. The way your mouth hung open, trying not to let any noises fall out.

He groaned furrowing his eyebrows, feeling the sweet clench of your pussy walls once again around his cock. You leaned down and kissed him to make sure both of your moans wouldn’t be heard when you came.

His hips began to jerk forward, meeting your thrusts halfway. The obscene sound of skin slapping against each others and the sounds of your lips filled the room. Both of you were a hot sweaty mess, hair sticking to your foreheads.

“I love you.” Chris whispered against your lips. “So fucking much.”

“I love you too, honey.” You reply back in a high pitched moan. Your mouth is in an oh as you keep going, faster and faster, not stopping trying to find your release. A few thrusts later your orgasm is ripping through you and you become a moaning mess.

You stop riding him, needing to take a break but he keeps going. His hips buck into your ass making it jiggle with each thrust. You lean your head into the crook of his neck, whimpering softly until he’s finished and filling you with his seed.

The next morning you woke up to the warm heat of your house. You loved that. Stretching a little bit, you turn to notice that you are now alone in your bed. Where is Chris? You sit up abruptly and look around to see he’s not even in your room.

You throw the covers off of your body to get up to walk out of the room but then remember you’re naked.

Shit.

Quickly you grab a pair of shorts, panties, and a comfy sweater then skip out of your room. You smell, eggs, bacon and pancakes. Oh yes, the usual Thanksgiving breakfast. Your favorite. Smiling you walk into the dining room to see your dad, mom, your brother and Chris all sitting at the table, eating breakfast.

“Goodmorning sweetie.” Your dad said. You smiled an leaned down, giving him a kiss on his cheek. You did the same to your mom and you ruffled up your brother’s hair.

“Hey,” He said with a chuckle.

You grinned at him and then took a seat next to Chris.

“Mornin’ babe.” He says, giving you a sexy smirk.

“Morning.” You peck his lips. The four of them go back to the conversation they were discussing before. Something about politics. You just get up and go make yourself a plate in the kitchen.

While you’re making a plate, you feel the presence of someone next to you. You look and see you’re brother. He’s staring at you, a shit eating grin planted on his face.

“What?” You ask.

“If you guys are gonna fuck like wild animals again, can you at least be more quiet? I didn’t get any sleep until like..... twelve.”

You gasped and almost dropped your plate.

He laughed at your reaction. You were in the middle of embarrassed and a little amused. And then a realization hit you.

“Oh my gosh! Do you think mom and dad heard?” You said lowly and glanced back into the direction of the dining room.

“Oh nah, they had their TV on, trust me they would’ve said something, you know Mom and Dad.”

“You’re right.”

“Yeah just uh........yeah be more quiet next time. Good chat.” He patted your back then walked back into the dining room.

Oh well, you’ll just have to be more quiet tonight for you had something else fun to do. Again. You smirked to yourself while putting a smiley face made of whip cream on your pancake.

1K notes · View notes

movienotesbyzawmer · 4 years

Text

Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker

May 4: Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker

(previous notes: Star Wars: The Last Jedi)

Source: UK 3D Blu-ray

I saw this at pretty much the very first available showing, and haven't watched it since. But since I had the other Disney-era ones in 3D, and I still have the capability to watch 3D movies at home, I decided to complete my Blu-ray collection by ordering the British 3D Blu-ray, like I'd done with The Last Jedi. So now I'm going to see it at home for the first time, in 3D for the first time, and take notes like I've been doing.

My reaction when I saw this on opening night was that it was a lot of fun. I didn't think it was as good as The Last Jedi. Overall it feels like a trilogy where the first priority was to avoid the mistakes of the prequels, and the second priority was to have them be fun movies. Mission accomplished, but the actual story of this trilogy is only marginally satisfying. But I left that opening night screening excited about all the neat things I'd witnessed. And now I shall press play and do some re-witnessing…

Emperor Palpatine, the opening crawl tells us. He wasn't someone we were expecting to be part of the plot of this movie, was it?

First scene after the opening shot is a slow-mo land battle, visually different from Star Wars movies in general. Dude kills 100% of everyone then plucks a mysterious relic from a mysterious relic. He's on a Tomb-raider-y treasure hunt.

It takes him to a Tomb Raider-y lair… and there are creatures in green liquid ahhh!

"…some consider to be… UNNATURAL", that line from Episode III. Very love it. Good reference.

The image of all those Star Destroyers is super super super cool.

And now after a calculated bit of lightness in the Millennium Falcon, the good guys arrive at a super neat looking planet thing. Not even ten minutes in and we've seen three inventive new planet environments.

And now a chase, "lightspeed skipping", and each skip is a cool space place, all different, one of them has a big monster! They are tuned into what's good about Star Wars movies, these Rise of Skywalker makers.

Also, Finn and Poe seem to have settled into their roles as funny supporting-character buddies. The first movie really seemed to be beginning a more dramatic arc for Finn, but it doesn't feel like that's happening any more.

0:15:36 - Rose Tico sighting! Her arc blunted as well. Be nice if she joined them on this mission they're about to leave on.

Really kind of surprising how much footage there is of Carrie Fisher, who died years before this came out.

Okay now we're back with Kylo Ren on this planet that's the equivalent of that orc-factory in Lord of the Rings. What's he doing? Collaborating with some ukky beings. Fixing his helmet. Hm.

Bit of humor in the conference room scene, again calculated.

Back to our heroes and they're on another neat new planet with color clouds & celebratory visuals, pleasant.

0:23:40 - Very cinematic Rey-Kylo cross-galaxy conversation, cool.

Lando saves them from stormtroopers, and is therefore given the honor of the "I've got a bad feeling about this" line.

0:28:00 Speeder chase in the desert, and the stormtrooper speeders launch them up and they fly! Cool!

Hah, there's a gag where Rey fires up her light saber and Poe tries to do that too but his is just a flashlight, cute.

Okay, here's this scene I like where there's a serpent monster in their Tomb Raider cave, and Ray figures out that the monster just needs to be force healed so she does it and it helps them. Sounds corny but I like it.

0:36:00 - we see the Ren gang on a plateau and here a new music theme. I'm not much noticing the new music themes in the Star Wars movies of the 2010s, but there's one.

This scene. The Kylo/Rey meeting in the desert. It was heavily teased in the trailer and it would have been more effective if we hadn't seen so much of it in the trailer. Also there's a who-can-magic-harder duel that ends up killing Chewy, except that we don't have to believe that very very long.

"Let's do that!" about wiping C-3POs memory, John Boyega's exceptional comic timing on display again.

0:45:40 - We're on this new planet now, which is so Poe can find the person that can do a memory wipe of 3-3PO, right? It's fast-paced, this movie.

"We sent out a call for help at the battle of Krait, nobody came" says Poe. Am I forgetting that drama from The Last Jedi? I know he's talking about that final battle from that movie, but I didn't remember a despairing "no one is coming", at least not like it was a huge, shocking letdown.

I like the little Babu creature but we don't get much of it, do we

Poe is all "did she do that to us" when he sees her Force-hypnotize the stormtroopers, haha

0:58:10 - Pretty unique shot, dollying backwards facing Poe & Finn shooting stormtroopers we can't see until they fall in front of the camera

"Your parents were no one… they CHOSE to be" here's where it starts to seem like this movie doesn't like where the last movie was going & made it be different. If this were an improv class the teacher would be like, "remember the principle of 'yes AND…'"

Okay, this bit coming up where General Hux saves them & says he's the spy. It's… funny? And dumb? Maybe? Sort of a tawdry end to this character in the trilogy maybe?

"You.. Are a Palpatine." Dun dun dunnnnnnn. Okay sure I guess. This isn't what I'm into Star Wars movies for; I wouldn't have had it be about this.

They get to the new planet and Rey figures out how to use the knife tool to find where to go, it's so like a Tomb Raider game that I feel like I'm reading a cheat guide on GameSpot

Now Finn is bonding with the girl on the planet who is also a stormtrooper deserter, makes that whole Finn subplot make more sense.

Rey swiped a cool watercraft to go to the wreck of the Death Star and I just want to point out once again that I like the vehicle design in Star Wars movies.

1:13:10 - overhead shot of said vehicle is the first notable example of something that looks good in 3D in this movie. I'm inclined to say you really shouldn't feel like you're missing out if you're seeing this in 2D.

She's in a vision cave on the wrecked Death Star. She fights HER OWN SELF for a second, and bad-Rey rawrs at her in a way that reminds me of when Bilbo does that in the first Lord of the Rings movie. I liked it there and I like it here.

1:18:05 - First bit of my beloved "Han Solo and the Princess" theme, so lovely

Now Rey and Kylo are saber dueling all over this wreck with waves everywhere and it reminds me of the big climactic duel in Episode III where it seems like the duelers are going out of their way to duel in a cool looking place.

Everything gets all dramatic in a way that doesn't really get explained - Leia very deliberately says "Ben", then dies, but it affects Kylo allowing Rey to kill him, but then she un-kills him with Force magic because "I did want to take your hand" and then bounces. And it's not over with this kind of thing, because Kylo has a not-really-real conversation with his played-by-OMG-Harrison-Ford father, and he symbolically hurls his awesome saber away. So where are we now? We're in some drama, that's where. I miss cool vehicles and inventive creature design!

1:27:45 - Modded-up Star Destroyer emerges from lightspeed and it's another cool 3D effect.

And then it blows up the planet where Poe's ex-girlfriend was and it looks cool, but we could have used her to be around more. Wait, does she not-be-dead later or something? Probably.

Okay, very corny sequence happening now, it's the pep talk between Rey and ghost-Luke, it ends with a smirking Luke raising up an X-wing like he couldn't do in Empire Strikes Back, so I guess that plot point is tidied up.

Okay, we got past that drama and now there's a very simple Saint-Crispin's-Day speech riling up the troops so they can go to that mystery planet for the final battle, and interest level has picked up.

1:41:28 - Hey a shot of Rey going through a wall gap is a reference to the earlier cool-in-3D shot of the watercraft & the Death Star wreck.

And here's something that internet assholes picked on - they ride horse-things on the Star Destroyers. Lighten up comrades, maybe this just isn't your kind of space adventure movie.

Rey gets in the mystery-edifice and holy hell it's creepy! There's an audience of thousands of cultists in black stone bleacher seats, chanting in perfect unison! It's downright Kubrick-y!

They really had fun with the lighting in the Palpatine room. Also, there are red stormtroopers on the Star Destroyers and aren't they pretty.

Palpatine is trying to convince Rey that she should embrace hatred and hill him and rule the galaxy in ritual hatred with a chanting congregation of hooded dipshits. Will it work? He does have a very compelling speaking voice. But here comes Kylo! He has had a change of heart or something!

"The life force in your bond," he narrates, and then bad-magics them super hard! We never could have anticipated that evil force spells could thwart their plans.

1:54:20 - very satisfying shot of a giant fleet of good guys coming to save the day. They hit us with the idea of no one coming to save them, and just like when Han Solo swooped in in the first movie, it feels good that this time someone else did show up. And yes it includes Poe's girlfriend and that charismatic little varmint!

Super cool to see Star Destroyers get blown up.

Also cool when Palpatine super-zaps lots of good guy spaceships. Sound is neat on that also. This intense visual/aural experience is what I was thinking about for a while after first seeing this movie.

Rey beats Palpatine by having that surprise second light saber. Whatever, this is a super cool looking scene with all the bad guys in that chamber getting wasted.

Other cool battle climax imagery happens up in the sky, even though it's kind of hard to see what exactly physically happened to save Finn and those guys on the crashing Star Destroyer.

Kylo… what??? Didn't die when he just disappeared into a crevasse??? Quel surprise! He's super-reformed now and heals Rey up with his tender love for her. They kiss, their carnal desires overtaking them, they are high on the most ethical lust the galaxy has ever known! And he dies and disappears, but is visibly satisfied. I feel okay mocking this because I suspect no one likes it. And then it moves on to really cool aftermath visuals that are crazy fun to watch. They are experiencing the great victory in other planets from the other movies, and to the tune of John Williams themes from movies past.

Maz presents Chewy with a special medal, am I supposed to know what that's about? They're giving it major gravity.

So the movie, the trilogy, and the Skywalker Saga ends with a scene of Rey returning to Tatooine to bury the two important light sabers, but also whip out another one she had, and then tell a townie that she's named Rey SKYWALKER, and the final moment is of her gazing at the two suns with the Binary Sunset theme playing us out. What I like about that is that it sends the message that that moment from the original Star Wars, elevated to greatness largely by John Williams stirring theme, is the pinnacle of cinematic experiences that were brought to us by this series.

I like this movie less than any of the Disney-era movies for sure, and I think after watching it a second time, it lacks some specialness that could have allowed it to hold up better against the best Star Wars movies. But I wouldn't say it's bad, and I certainly wouldn't advise against seeing it.

#star wars rise of skywalker

1 note · View note

lululawrence · 5 years

Photo

lululawrence’s February 2019 Fic List

Click here for previous months’ fic lists

It has officially been a year of my making monthly fic lists and I’m so happy I decided to start doing this. I have so much fun sharing what I’ve been reading and how much I’ve enjoyed it. I’m so glad to keep going with it and hope you like it too! This month I continued my catch up on the Tomlinshaw exchange but also started reading a lot of fics I’d been holding out on for awhile. So, without further ado, here are the awesome fics that rocked my world this month!

play the game by @candybarrnerd / icarusinflight This one was sexy and filthy and I just...don’t have much more to say hahahahaha It’s Tomlinshaw and reading it had me pretty much dropped right into Nick’s emotions and I loved it.

Leave Your Mark On Me by @fullonlarrie / FullOnLarrie OMG okay so like. Omega Harry who doesn’t even think he’s interested in alphas quick bonds with Alpha Louis because otherwise he can’t get the job he wants. But there’s a massive twist! And then feelings! And realizations! And pining! And flirting! And it just grows so perfectly and I loved it very much a lot. I can’t even find the right words and I think I finished it a week ago as of writing this little thing but yeah. It’s amazing.

Owner of a Lonely Heart by @shiftylinguini / shiftylinguini It’s a kind of Tomlinshaw rash marriage in vegas kind of fic but also not? There’s so many more feelings to it than something as simple as that. But it’s defo strangers to lovers and honestly the non-cameo Liam makes might very well be my favorite part of it as well as the Neil/Niall fiasco just because it plays out SO PERFECTLY with Nick and Louis. hahahahaha Gosh this fic is hysterical and soft and painful and just so many things. It is a perfect little fic. I love love loved it.

oh, i just want you to come with me by @hiatusniall / weddingbells I’ll be honest hahahaha the bit with the sprinklers had me wanting to cry a little because I was just imagining everything being ruined BUT the bookends were beautiful and the pain and the miscommunication cause, let’s be real, Tomlinshaw would never just have easy and straightforward and good communication. They’d have to fight it out and be stupid boys first, and this really captures that. It was a super fun read, I really enjoyed it!

Come and Get Your Love by @rsadelle / rsadelle A five times Tomlinshaw Fic! Featuring awesome dads Nick and Louis! This was so sweet and soft and cute and there was a twist I wasn’t expecting! And little interludes that just added even more to what was already incredible. It was such a fun read, I adored it.

dead set on a getaway by EmmyLouWho EmmyLouWho strikes again! Seriously, their fics are ALWAYS gold. I don’t know how they do it. This time features Tomlinshaw in a BOOK STORE. OOOOOMMMMGGGGGG!!! And the way it all finally comes together is adorable and perfect. And Gemma is hysterical hehehe Gosh such a fun and fluffy fic.

happiness hits like a train on a track by leighbot New dad Louis meets his neighbors Harry and Liam and Lirry are fucking adorable, okay? And they try to play matchmaker and it all goes horribly wrong and is so funny and yet bad BUT THEN! Nick to the rescue! For real, in the same ways the previous set ups had been all wrong, Nick is so right and I LOVED IT. Also, Louis’ relationship with Penny’s mother is so fucking cute too. I just can’t handle it. I loved this one too.

Say It With Flowers by @reminiscingintherain / reminiscingintherain Back to Larry! For a bit, anyway hahaha Roni took the most hilarious prompt and made Louis so awkward and angry and forthright it was incredible. Meanwhile Harry’s just confused and yet it somehow all comes together and I so so so enjoyed reading this! It was the perfect read after a long day. hehe

The Sleepover by @homosociallyyours / homosociallyyours THIS GIRL DIRECTION FICLET IS THE MOST ADORABLE PERFECTION EVER?! It’s so pure! So soft! So sweet! Gosh I loved it very much a lot.

Charity Ficlets and Tumblr Drabbles by @becomeawendybird / QuickedWeen This collection of ficlets has such gems! Merm Louis, a magical curse au, AND a prompt I gave her that essentially takes Rachmaninoff and Stravinsky in Old Hollywood and makes them Harry and Louis. It’s all AMAZING and I LOVE IT.

One Touch Is Never Enough by @fullonlarrie / FullOnLarrie Werewolf Louis goes to get a massage and things do not go as planned. Gosh I was cackling at this so much, it’s so great. A super funny, super ridiculous read haha

London Rain by @writsgrimmyblog / Writcraft Basically canon compliant Tomlinshaw where Louis wants to finally explore possibilities with boys and takes to online dating to try it. Gosh this fic is such a great read. There was a lot of emotion and parts that made me laugh out loud, it was absolutely fab.

Brave Love by @angelichl / angelichl And they were roommates!!! For real, though. They were. And there’s SO MUCH PINING and omgosh it’s so beautiful and soft and sweet and Harry and Louis are just so precious in this, okay? It’s so so so amazing. A great valentine’s day read.

hold on for one more day by @disgruntledkittenface / disgruntledkittenface This fic had me rolling but also so worried and I might have cried just a little bit, but seriously the Tomlinshaw banter was so great and so were the soft feels! The careful watching after each other and there’s a part where Grimmy is just so worried and scared and Louis is so so so soft and sweet and I’ll leave it at that. so good.

time stopped then sped so fast by sarcasticfluentry I went through the Grouis tag on AO3 and found very few fics. I loved them all, and they’re coming now, hahaha This is...basically Greg James/Louis Tomlinson porn lollll most of them are, tbh. It’s got panties though hehehe and if size difference is a kink for you, then this definitely has that for ya. An oldie but a goodie!

Let me be your good night by @conscious--ramblings / Conscious_ramblings I apparently read this ages ago when it first was published and I don’t remember it which seems impossible I don’t know how that happened?!?! This is Harry/Louis, but they go to a swinger party and Greg and Nick get added into the mix. It’s such a great read, though, because Harry and Louis are exclusive and never really considered adding more into their relationship, but this night changes some things and the way Sheena goes through the emotions of it all is so beautiful. And hot. Like damn hot. So. If that’s your jam, I would defo recommend this one.

sugar, butter, flour by EmmyLouWho After two incredibly smutty fics, have an entirely pure and smut free goodie from emmylouwho! hehe It’s a Nailed It AU and is SO GOOD. It’s so funny the way Harry, Zayn, and Niall are all depicted and the way it all plays out had me giggling the entire way through. A super cute, super fun read.

Like An Anthem In My Heart by @goodmorningtoyouuniverse / GMTYUniverse This fic, y’all. I love footie fics, but I’m also super picky about them because I love footie myself. This one was written so so so well in all aspects, but the football aspects had me screaming in excitement in a football chat. It was sooooo good and it involves a forced outing and how it was all handled and it was so believable and beautiful and the emotions and the relationships and the cameos of real players and people had me flipping out in a good way and I just. It was so great. One of my favs of the month, easily.

Taste Too Good by sarcasticfluentry Okay this one is more PWP basically, but it’s kinda...well, it’s Grouis, but it’s also...Tomlinshames. Is that the ship name for Nick/Greg/Louis? It is now. lol Anyway, this fic was a lovely little read and the switching in POV gave you a little insight on everyone’s feelings and thoughts throughout so yeah. haha

'cause i like it dark and low by sarcasticfluentry What can I say? More filthy, filthy Grouis PWP. lollll But it was good! haha

The Post-War BP by @jaerie / jaerie As per usual, Jenna comes in and just takes A/B/O and makes it an entirely different beast. I have no idea how her brain works, but I’d love to see inside it hahaha This is a fic where it kind of holds to the more traditional omegas stay home, have children, etc but in this world an alpha is required to be a part of the relationship in order for an alpha to have a chance at being produced. Add in a war where alphas were shipped off to fight and not many returned, and suddenly a Breeding Plan is introduced. This fic is somewhat dark, quite twisted in parts, and does involve some unsavory content, so please beware of tags. I ADORED it though.

Tell Me Your Secrets by @dimpled-halo / dimpled_halo This was for the Popularry fest, which I’m doing horribly at keeping up with. It was based on the film For a Good Time Call and I’d never heard of that until I read this, but now I wanna watch it! haha Harry and Louis are pseudo enemies to friends to lovers as they move into an apartment together and start a sex line and It’s...amazing. hahaha Such a great fic!

And that’s it for this month! Happy reading, and don’t forget to leave the authors kudos and nice comments!!

#mine #february 2019 fic list #fic list #my fic rec #fic rec #28th appreciation #fic writer appreciation

189 notes · View notes

theboywhocriedbooks · 5 years

Text

The 2019 Lambda Literary Writers Retreat for Emerging LGBTQ Voices: My Time in Queer Literary Heaven!

A month ago I went to a week-long queer writers retreat and here I will detail my experience! You can learn more about the retreat itself here, but if you want to read my semi-long account of it then keep going!

I recently made a post about this because I was raising money to cover the trip! The gist of it is that I work for Lambda Literary, one of the leading queer literary orgs in the nation, and so I quickly became familiar with the Lambda Retreat. I thought I perfectly fit the requirements, I’m queer, I’m a writer, I’m emerging. etc. I wanted to wait ‘til I saw who was teaching the workshops before deciding to apply. When that info was released, it turned out to be an author (Benjamin Alire Saenz) whose book (Ari and Dante) I really loved and related to! I knew I had to apply.

The application process wasn’t too wild. Had to answer a few short answer questions, put some info, and submit a writing sample. I luckily was taking a creative writing class at that time and a piece I just workshopped was perfect for this application, mostly because I felt strongly about it and it was very “me” etc. My professor at the time, who loved the piece, had actually been a student AND teacher at the Lambda Retreat and I knew three other people who had attended it because of my job. I had also heard of some awesome people who had taught at it previously, like Malinda Lo, Alex Sanchez, Michael Nava, and more! Receiving that acceptance was one of the more validating!

I had prepared, that week before the retreat, a 10 page piece to workshop there! It was so nerve wracking because I didn’t have any sort of idea what I wanted to write about but I actually needed something to apply to a different writing opportunity with and so this all worked out in terms of timing as well. This idea, that feels almost like my first real novel idea, is now something very important to me.

The retreat took place in LA, which is where I’m from and live so that was easy. So many of my friends had to fly from all over, one even from across the pond. My dorm was cute and interestingly structured. Here’s a picture of my bed, with my Scooby Doo plush and Buffy blanket, comfort items. This suite was two rooms, and my roommates were AMAZING. I love them so much, I hope we can all reunite sometime soon! One, Jaz, lives in LA too so that’s lovely. Here’s a picture of these angels.

Jamiece, Sabrina, Joseph, and Jaz. Queer babies. We shared lots of vulnerable moments and soooo much laugher. Jamiece is so cute and soft, Sabrina is so cute and bright, and Jaz is so cute and powerful.

Made lots of friends. I love them. Shoutout to my other angels Khaliah, Tahirah, and my goddess Jennifer!

We were being taught by some amazing writers of color, most of who I was in love with. We got to hear them speak and read their work, it was amazing. Alire read from Ari and Dante part 2, so that was exciting. Part of the deal with the retreat was that all of the students, 60 of us, were to give a reading during that week. That was so scary! At least it was scary in terms of my own reading but hearing all the other queer writer’s/my peers’s work? That was pretty much life changing. I cried, laughed, said “oooo” and “mmm!” so much. I screamed for them and I was just so struck with the magic of it all. Especially the magic that is the queer writers of color, my personal haven. I’ll like the videos of them here when they come out.

Workshop! It was an honor to be in the YA Fiction workshop, especially with Ben! He was total gay latino writer grandpa vibes. His writing is beautiful and he often times went on random tangents that were appreciated regardless. There, were, however, some iffy things he mentioned or did that I wasn’t a big fan of that. He also, unfortunately, detailed a family emergency to us midweek and had to leave for the duration of the retreat. I don’t want to focus on the negative too much but I also don’t want to sugar coat anything because that is not my way. In regards to him as an instructor, I was a bit disappointed despite him being super lovely and funny. In a way, him leaving felt like it was meant to be because of what happened after.

After Ben left, William Johnson, Lambda’s Deputy Director, stepped in to facilitate our last few meetings. William in general was amazing, everyone at the retreat was in love with him and I personally knew he was great because I worked with him here and there through Lambda previously. He’s beautiful, sweet, has some great dance moves, and a big heart. My workshop day was one of the days he was our facilitator and I honestly think it was meant to happen this way because of how he responded to my piece. He really loved it, said he felt it on a personal level and just some other general words that really hit me. Even his face when he was sharing his thoughts on my piece, it showed everything that I was shooting for when I wrote the piece. There was connection and recognition there that was so priceless to me. Everyone else’s words were helpful and I took notes, but his response hit me in the heart. Such a small moment but so good.

My reading was that same day and everyone cheered me on, and I feel good about it in retrospect. Lots of people said lovely things, but again, one of the most notable responses was William. He gasped during it at one point and he said it was because he went to a club I was referencing in my piece and that it meant a lot to him. He also said “I didn’t get the chance to meet your boyfriend but he was so cute. Y’all are beautiful, it filled my heart to see beautiful queer brown love.” and that he loved me. Total queer elder vibes in the best and most necessary way. Felt so seen. Almost cried multiple times about it.

Our cohort in general was such a lovely, VALID, time. Again, because I can’t not be upfront, there were some rocky points. Most notably, there was stress and rockiness because a white writer was writing a story that was heavily involved with another culture and it felt disrespectful. That was a hard day, even just emotionally, for me and some of my PoC peers. It was a learning experience! I don’t think it was at all malicious but it definitely needed to be critiqued and it was! So, hopefully growth and change happened!

Most everything else, unrelated to our instructor debacle, was beautiful and queer. I was in love! You can see me hugging my girl Jenny in the photo above, and you can just see the beautiful queer babies. So excited to see all of these people’s works and where they go, especially Charlie Miller and Khaliah Reed! So excited about all the rec’s and tips I got from them! I’m so thankful for all these humans, and all the humans from the other cohorts that I befriended as well! All my love to them.

There were so many amazing moments! Beach trip! Gay bar with karaoke, that bar which actually randomly played the As Told By Ginger theme song at one point! Ralph trips, mall trip, food trips! Laughter late at night, struggling over writing together! A lil bit of shit talking! A lot of love! Selfies! The interesting food we we served and people being shook at my cucumber intake. Hugs! The looks everyone turned! ‘Housekeeping!’ The early mornings! The day my boyfriend visited and we all went to get tacos! The goodbyes! All of it was just so much lol And I’m really grateful for the experience and to those who donated and helped me get there. I wanted to write this to share it all and also so I can remember it all. I miss my friends!!!!!

So yeah. Such a valid time. One of the best weeks of my life.

#lambda retreat #queer writers #lambda literary #lambda fellow #queer #joseph jess rey #my writing

5 notes · View notes