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uramilf · 6 months

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A/N: I've been so excited to start posting these christmas prompts by the amazing @abiiors ! These are all gonna be Matty x reader but will follow a storyline the whole way through rather than be separate oneshots. Enjoy!

Day One - Secret Santa

“Fuck George. Fuck.” Matty swore repeatedly while he paced round the small recording studio. George looked up in annoyance. “Mate, I’m trying to produce an album here? I feel like it’s really not as big a deal as you’re making it out to be.” “I fucking got her for Secret Santa. Y/N, George! What am I supposed to get her?” “Like, nice perfume or something. I’ll ask Charli which one’s good.” “No! Not bloody perfume, that’s so boring. No, I want her to be surprised. I want to get her something she’ll actually enjoy.” “Why don’t you just take her out somewhere nice then?” “Like…on a date? This is Secret Santa, mate. Not tinder.” George rolled his eyes. “I know what it is, arsehole. But look, what’s the worst that could happen? You pay for everything, so she’s got her present, and you get to spend a bit of time with her, date or not.” “Right. Good idea, I suppose.” “Maybe you could finally fucking tell her you fancy her, cause I can’t handle the tension in the studio anymore.” Matty tried to act shocked, but George was right. There was only so many times he could compliment her in one day without someone noticing his obvious feelings for her. “Tension? You’re a bullshitter, G.” “She’s literally our personal assistant, and you won’t let her get you a coffee because you don’t want to ‘take advantage’ of her. It’s her job, mate.” Matty just sighed and turned away.

——————

The day of the office Secret Santa rolled around. Matty’s heart was in his throat, the entire time. He watched his friends and colleagues exchanging gifts; Y/N gifting Adam a new guitar pedal as a Secret Santa present. It was almost his turn, and he felt sick. Why didn’t he just buy some perfume like George said? She was gonna hate his present. She wasn’t going to want a night out with him at all. Maybe he should’ve just given her a voucher for a nice restaurant. That way she could’ve gone out with whoever she wanted, instead of feeling obliged to spend hours on end with him.

His thoughts were interrupted by a squeal of delight. “Tickets to winter wonderland! Awww, who bought me these?” Matty raised his hand bashfully. “I did. I didn’t know what to get you, so George suggested I take you somewhere nice instead. But you don’t have to go with me, obviously. In fact, you should definitely just take one of your friends-” Y/N flung her arms around Matty’s waist. “Of course I want to go with you. Thank you Matty, that’s such a thoughtful gift.”

Secret Santa ended with Matty being gifted a Newcastle United top from Polly, and him deciding it had been a successful day. But his biggest success came with the look of joy on Y/N’s face on opening her present. Matty didn’t feel as though he’d ever been as excited for something as he had been to take her out.

The only problem with having a day out with Y/N was that Matty wasn’t sure he would be able to contain himself at all. How could he spend a whole day alone with her, and not tell her exactly how he felt? How could he look into her shining eyes, and see that pretty smile, and not say something stupid?

“Matty?” He broke away from his train of thought to see Y/N standing in the doorway of the Dirty Hit office. They were the last to leave; everyone else gone to be with their families. “Sorry, you need to lock up. I’ll be going now.” “No, don’t worry!” Y/N laughed. That laugh. It was like pure warmth. It could’ve melted away the coldest, bitterest winter snow. “I was just wondering if you were up to anything tonight.” Matty’s heart caught in his throat. “No. No plans. Why?” “Well, I’ve got nothing on either. And I’m off for Christmas now, so I might as well have a bit of fun. Do you wanna grab a drink?” Matty had never smiled so wide in his life. “Yes. Yes, absolutely. D’you mind if I go home and get changed first?” “No worries. Meet me at the pub in an hour?”

Matty agreed and hugged her goodbye, wishing he could cling to her for the rest of the night. He arrived home, threw on a pair of jeans, and then waited for half an hour, tapping his foot in anticipation. The sound made Mayhem cock his head anxiously. Matty gave the dog a loving pat on the head before checking the time and rushing out the door once again.

She was already at the bar when he arrived, in a pair of jeans and a grey sweatshirt, much like himself. As much as Matty lived for the days like their office Christmas party where he could see her all dressed up, he thought she was undeniably the prettiest girl in the world when she wasn’t trying to impress anyone. When she looked like herself.

She spotted him straight away and waved. “You been here long?” Matty asked as he greeted her with a hug. He could feel her aura surround him entirely, relaxing him. “About five minutes, not long.” “You’ve started without me, I see,” Matty grinned as he gestured to the pint beside her. He gestured to the bartender for another and they waited almost in silence. No small talk, definitely nothing about work. But it wasn’t uncomfortable. They just enjoyed each others presence until his drink came, then went to sit down.

“Did you like your present from Polly then?” Y/N asked, referring to the Newcastle shirt. “Yeah, it’s great. Been wanting the new one for a while now.” “I know,” Y/N smiled. “I helped her pick it.” “You picked well, darling.” “I really love your present to me as well. I can’t wait for us to go together.” Matty couldn’t help but ask: “you’re sure you really want me to come? You don’t wanna take one of your friends with you?” Y/N rolled her eyes and grabbed one of his hands in hers. “Matty, you are one of my friends.”

——————

“She called me one of her friends, George,” Matty pouted. "And what’s wrong with that? You’re friends.” “But I don’t want to be friends,” Matty sighed dramatically, throwing himself down on the sofa. “It isn’t fair.” “Alright, now you’re just acting like a baby.” George was smirking, watching his friend behaving like a five year old. “Just calm down. Take her on this date, or whatever it is, and if it goes well, then tell her how you feel.” “It’s not a date,” Matty grumbled. George just sighed. Matty was a bit of a disaster when it came to asking people out, he always had been. But from where George was looking at it, he had a pretty good chance of this one going well.

#the 1975 #matty healy #matty healy x reader #george daniel #ross macdonald #adam hann #christmas75

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dorothytv10 · 10 months

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A love letter to Bughead shippers!

*Warning: this is very very long, so only continue reading if you have time to spare 😜

I haven’t been part of the Bughead fandom since the beginning of 2019. I watched the show in chronological order until the end of season 3, then binged season 4 during covid lockdowns, but refused to continue with season 5 onwards. But over the past few years, I have kept up with spoilers and watched s5-7 episodes sporadically. I just couldn’t take the show seriously when they had Betty cheat on Jughead, then do a random time jump and turn the show supernatural. It was jarring!

I still remember the first time I started shipping Bughead. Let’s start from the beginning:

I had seen ads for Riverdale about a week before it aired, and decided to give it a watch purely because I am such a sucker for murder mystery style shows. That was the catalyst. I also have a tendency to invest in CW shows because of how heavily they push shipping, and romance is another genre that I cannot get enough of. I remember watching the pilot episode and thinking this whole Betty & Archie storyline is just NOT compelling nor did I feel the actors and their characters had any romantic chemistry. It just felt forced and awkward, especially watching Betty get rejected. I thought she was way too good for him, and if he couldn’t see that in all the years they were friends, then he ain’t the right guy for her. But some part of me just expected them to be the main love story of the show because that’s such a predictable trope in teen dramas. So even though I didn’t feel any part of my shipping senses tingling, I decided to continue with the show for the mystery part, and accepted that the romance would just not play a factor in my interest. But boy was I wrong! The following week, I watched episode 2, and the show just felt different. Jughead was featured more heavily and finally shared the screen with Betty, even though no dialogue was exchanged. But I remember thinking to myself, “Jughead and Betty would be so cute together”. During the week after episode 2 aired, I remember their season 1 kiss from episode 8 leaked online: the one outside FP’s trailer. I saw that one scene on Twitter and was instantly a Bughead shipper. I couldn’t believe that I got my wish and Betty and Jughead were going to have a romance. Riverdale went from “a show I’ll watch when I can be bothered to a must watch show that I will not dare miss an episode of”. Episode 3 started getting promoted online a lot, and Betty and Jughead were shown to interact in the trailer; I was hooked. I couldn’t wait for the next episode! It became an obsession. I even joined tumblr and met so many amazing fellow Bughead shippers. It was such an exciting time, waiting every week for a new episode to drop to finally see them get to that ep8 kiss, which I foolishly believed was going to be their first kiss. But episode 6 threw us all a curveball and had Jughead kiss Betty and call her Juliet in the same scene. I literally had butterflies. I hadn't felt that strongly about a ship in so long!

I was a big part of the early Bughead tumblr days. We were a force to be reckoned with. Each episode, our fanbase grew bigger to the point where we were the most popular ship out of every show airing at the time.

But as much as I wanted Bughead to be endgame, there was always this part of me that worried she’d inevitably get with Archie because that was so clearly what RAS shipped in the comics. I do believe Bughead lasted as long as they did because of how big and strong their fanbase was. Also, the real life romance between Cole and Lili always played a huge role in their onscreen coupling, too. That doesn’t diminish how beautiful their love story was in the show. But unfortunately, I think it is the truth. I have seen it so many times in teen drama shows. The head writers always seem to ship the pilot episode ship: Dawson and Joey, Stefan and Elena, Lucas and Peyton etc. I’m using examples of previous teen love triangles.

As much as RAS loved Bughead, and wrote them such beautiful content, he always had one foot pedalling on B*rchie. It was inevitable that at some point they’d want to explore them, especially because they had placed little clues all throughout the first few seasons. But as long as Cole and Lili were together, the show was never going to be daring enough to go full steam ahead with B*archie. Bughead was too popular and so was the real life romance. It would have caused riots. But alas, like every CW actors who date, they broke up. And what happened? They were kept apart for the remainder of the show. It was Delena all over again :(

Whether the rumours are true about the two not being able to work together, only they truly know. But I think it’s a mix of a lot of things, including new writers who were clearly all for the other ship, or in this case, the other shit. I don’t want to insult anyone, but the Riverdale writers are some of the most incompetent writers in the industry. Their inability to maintain continuity, and all the contradictions and character assassinations they created, we had no hope in s5-7. It became a whole new show. It simply lost its spark, which was already quite dim after how they handled the cheating arc in season 4. There was a huge tonal shift, and our favourite characters acted OOC.

So here’s what I really want to say:

I officially stopped watching Riverdale when they decided to jump the gun and have Betty cheat on Jughead with Archie. If you’re a Bughead shipper, it’s completely justifiable to be disappointed and sad about the way Riverdale ended. It’s like when people talk about that one person who got away, that’s how Bughead is to us: it’s the ship that got away, and never came back. To be fair, the show was no longer what it started out as. When you start off as a teen drama show promoting thriller/mystery as your main genre, only to shift gears in later seasons and become supernatural and sci-fi, there’s really only one way to explain the show in a cohesive and logical manner: it’s either all inside one of the character’s imaginations or it’s a multiverse with totally new characters who are the doppelgänger/counterparts of the original characters we knew in the beginning. So it no longer really counts. I don’t think we will ever get any definitive answers and closure from RAS nor the cast about why Bughead was completely abandoned after they broke up on the show, but I’m going to give you my take on how I think the last episode played out. Take it as you want, but I am a budding writer myself, and from a writer’s point of view, this is my theory on what really happened to Bughead in the end…

Consider the show a multiverse at this point. Remember that line Jughead said to Betty in 4x17? “in what future are we not together?”

It’s the same episode she cheats on Jughead. My theory is that the show shifted into another universe/timeline (whatever you want to call it) to show us the versions of Betty and Jughead that don’t have a future together. By her kissing Archie, she irrevocably changes the course of her relationship with Jughead. So that’s what we are shown, a new world where Betty kisses Archie and she and Jughead split and don’t end up back together again. And what is this new world? It’s really dark!

Bughead had been referred to as Romeo & Juliet, soul mates and endgame in the earlier seasons. That’s exactly what they are. But what are Romeo and Juliet referred to? Star-crossed lovers. No matter what, they could never be together. But I’ll get back to that later on.

In my opinion, there are 3 universes shown to us in the show’s run:

1 is the prime universe and original timeline in which Bughead are together and endgame. No cheating takes place. They are still in high school and will continue to date after it and make it work. But we’ll never get to see it unfold because from the end of s4 onwards we are in the other universes.

The second universe is the one where she ends up with Archie — Rivervale or Riverdale 2, but they all die in the end when the comet wipes them out of existence 👀

And the third universe is Riverdale 3.

Seasons 1-4 are set in the prime Riverdale universe.

Then season 5-6 are set in the second universe— Rivervale/Riverdale 2. My opinion is that even after 6x05, they never really left rivervale. Bunker Jughead just wrote it differently and called it Riverdale.

Then season 7 is set in the Riverdale 3 universe.

The Rivervale universe has all the magic and supernatural elements to it, which technically began in s5 with Cheryl performing magic. Rivervale is the darkest universe and timeline of the 3. Riverdale 3 universe is the most tame and fun of all the 3 universes. It’s the one where the characters behave like actual teens and don’t have serial killer fathers, cults, gargoyle kings and evil warlocks tormenting them. Riverdale 1 universe is the most realistic and grounded of the lot, albeit some weird storylines did occur during seasons 3 and 4, but it’s the universe that has both light and dark inside it like real life. Tabitha confirmed there is a multiverse in 7x19 when she said she couldn’t untangle “all” the timelines and instead made them into a single one. But even though she gave them back their memories, these versions existing in the 50s/Riverdale 3 universe are really not the original characters. This theory is proven by how a lot of dead characters are alive in this universe and how Tabitha has another version of herself living in this one.

The one single timeline she is talking about is that she gave them all the memories from every universe so they can live their lives with the knowledge of their other selves. Especially when having to navigate the 50s. They are variants (Loki reference) of the originals who now have the same memories (not all the memories) but haven’t actually lived the same lives. That’s why none of them aged and are still teens in high school; it’s also why they no longer have super powers and magical abilities. Same memories, but different bodies and souls.

So going back to endgame talk: in Riverdale 3, the universe which all of season 7 takes place in, including the final, Betty and Jughead weren’t technically endgame, but they were treated as star-crossed, just like Romeo & Juliet. They couldn’t be together because all of their memories from every other universe/timeline they existed in were now a part of them and it was too convoluted of a situation to actually make sense of in their heads, so they just all dated one another. In this new Riverdale 3 universe, Betty has feelings for both Archie and Jughead because she has the memories of both universe 1 and universe 2 Betty inside her, so she can never really choose between them. Instead, she chooses herself.

Jughead never marries because the girl he has always loved in every universe didn’t want to get married, so he didn’t want to settle for just anyone. Archie moved on because Betty was never the love of his life in all 3 universes.

Ask yourself this, why did Betty tell Reggie that she remembered what being with Jughead felt like, and that’s why she chose to be a part of the quad? Why didn’t she feel this way about Jughead in s6 (Rivervale/Riverdale 2 universe)? Wasn’t it strange that she just seemed to forget she was ever with him? It’s because it was a different timeline/universe, one in which Betty only loves Archie. That is why Jughead has that moment in season 6 episode 14 with that flashback montage of him and Betty, it’s him remembering their relationship from universe 1, something he isn’t really aware of in the Rivervale/Riverdale 2 timeline. The reason for them not remembering is because Bunker Jughead from Rivervale has written them to forget their past together. My theory for why he did that, is after the bomb went off in 6x05, part of the deal was that bunker Jughead make Betty forget being with him completely just like she had to forget that he sacrificed himself to save the universes. He retconned their story so she could move on and he could continue writing away from her with no distractions. Rivervale’s Bunker Jughead loves Betty, as confirmed by Ethel. Which brings me to the final part of this theory…

I think bunker Jughead is the same Jughead that appears to Betty in the final episode as her guardian Angel. He’s OG Jughead and has been writing an anthology all along. There is a reason the show is so heavily focused on Betty. She is the main character in Jughead’s story! In S1-4 he is chronicling his love story with Betty, kind of like an autobiography or diary of them and how they’re an investigative duo. In S5-6 he ventures into writing sci-fi and supernatural stories. Finishing up in s7 with historical fiction.

The angel Jughead in the series finale is the writer, the narrator and the version of Jughead that Betty loved most as evidenced by what he wore. He exists in all 3 universes, like a time-traveller of sorts. He’s the writer and narrator in Universe 1, the bunker writer in universe 2 and the guardian Angel in universe 3. But he took his version out of the story these last few seasons to show the audience a future with no Bughead, and instead wrote a version of Jughead that doesn’t pine after Betty and one that had a different girlfriend. That’s why when universe 3 Betty asks him on the park bench if he regrets never getting married, he says sometimes. Because he sometimes regrets never writing the two of them getting married in this universe. But he couldn’t because his version of Jughead wasn’t the main Jughead he was writing about in this story.

In the end, his universe 3 story wasn’t about Bughead, it was about Betty and wanting to give her everything she dreamed of, even if that didn’t include him. He wrote her a world where she didn’t have a serial killer father, where her sister was still alive, where she and Veronica were best friends, where Betty could enjoy her youth and explore her sexuality without having to choose between the two boys she was always torn between. He wrote her as a writer and a successful career woman rather than an FBI agent chasing down murderers and putting herself in danger. He wrote her as adopting a daughter that wasn’t at risk of inheriting the serial killer gene. He wrote a world where she got to be a normal teen and not have to investigate homicidal maniacs all the time. She got to go to school dances, drink milk shakes at Pops and hang out with her friends. She was able to repair her damaged relationship with her mum and find peace. She was a liberated woman with a strong voice who made a difference in the world.

So why did the show end with this version of her? Because it’s a way to show Betty finding peace and strength, and also not having to choose between Jughead and Archie. It makes her more than just a girlfriend who goes back and forth between two best friends.

This whole theory is further evidenced by beanie Jughead appearing outside Pops in the final scene and then hearing his typewriter as the show fades out. This was Jughead’s story all along, and the main character was Betty. It’s always been about Betty. The reason Jughead and Betty didn’t have any romantic scene in the series finale is because this wasn’t beanie Jughead’s Betty. This was the version of Betty that ends up with no one. It’s the last version of her that Jughead wrote in his book. The version of her that’s truly happy and at peace with herself and her life. He wrote her saying goodbye to Archie because that was not her endgame. Archie was just a childhood crush that existed in a fantasy world filled with magic and unrealistic scenarios like sewing on decapitated heads and bringing people back from the dead. Rivervale universe was never real and never made sense, just like Betty and Archie never made sense. And guess what happened to Betty in universe 2? She died, just like B*rchie did in the finale 😉

The only version of her that is still alive is the original one from Universe 1 that ends up with Jughead. We didn’t need to see their endgame on screen to know it happened. Their endgame is in the subtext. Jughead always loved Betty, and his story was about her. In universe 1 they are endgame, in universe 2 they are soul mates as bunker Jughead is able to do the impossible and contact her in Riverdale from Rivervale. And in universe 3 they are Romeo and Juliet. She spent her last day on earth with him, and died the day after finding out he died. They were star-crossed and couldn’t be together. The writing is on the wall.

As much as I would have loved an I love you, a kiss or even just a conversation discussing their history in the last episode, I take comfort in knowing that the characters I fell in love with in season 1 were completely different people in season 7. And from where I stand, the only explanation is it’s one big multiverse of madness concocted by a sardonic writer who was always in love with the girl next door, and spent most of his youth writing about her only to end the story with them both forever being 17. That is the same age they were when they were together and in love. It’s the same age their iconic duet is about. They just wanted to be 17, and that’s exactly how the show ends for them. Screams endgame to me :)

Just remember, nothing lasts forever. The greatest moments in life are the ones that don’t last long but leave a lasting impression. It’s the reason why we are so enthralled when we see a shooting star. It’s something so beautiful, yet so rare, so fleeting and near impossible to see with the naked eye that we stare in sheer wonderment at a dark sky full of dead stars waiting and hoping that such a spectacle will reveal itself to us again. So don’t cry because it’s over, smile because it happened. And never lose hope; it’s the only voice inside of you strong enough to silence fear.

Thanks for the memories, Bughead family! Even though I haven’t been around the last few years, it’s an experience I’ll never forget, and I’ve made met people on here that I will be friends with for life ❤️❤️❤️

#bughead #betty x jughead

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kenneth-omega · 2 years

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The Fear of Falling in Love

// Part 1 // Part 2 //

A Kenny Omega Short Fic

**EDITED 27/08/22**

Pairing: Kenny Omega x Female Reader

Summary: You’re a family friend of The Young Bucks who, like Matt and Nick, also became obsessed with wrestling from a young age. During Kenny’s absence from screen you were sourced into AEW by the Bucks and brought into the Undisputed Elite faction. Following the recent fall out between Adam Cole/reDragon and the Bucks over the upcoming Trios tournament you finally get to meet the great Kenny Omega. You eventually become locked into a storyline that starts out fun and harmless but soon turns sour at the prospect of real feelings being hurt and relationships tarnished.

IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO BE ADDED TO A TAGLIST IN FUTURE PARTS WHEN THEY’RE POSTED PLEASE LMK

Warnings: swearing (there will be more warnings to come in future parts), pure panting over kenny fuckin’ omega tbh

Word count: 1.9K

A/N: In honour of our wrestling lord and saviour ✨Kenneth Omega✨ returning to our screens this week on Dynamite I’ve decided to pull my dusty forgotten ass out of the shadows and write for him.

This short fic will have 5 parts in total!! (In this fic I am pre-empting what I think is gonna happen during the Trios Tournament and some things ((such as certain wrestlers currently off injured)) aren’t accurate to the current events, so please be gentle with me! 😊 Just think of this as an AU if it helps.) Also, reader’s wrestling name is Cori but is called Y/N when not being referred to as Cori. There will be some personal names used but I’ll add these for each chapter where relevant like I have done below!

For Reference:

“All Ego” Ethan Page is Julian

Cori “The Alpha” Dacre is Y/N

You were excited to meet him. Understandably.

Despite your constant friendship with Matt and Nick which had remained alive for the many years since you’d moved to Canada as a teenager, you had never had the time nor the need to meet their current ring buddy and long-time pal Kenny Omega.

When you got the call back in December of last year from Matt asking if you’d want to sign with their own company All Elite Wrestling you had no idea just how ingrained into the company and their little faction you would become. Following your leave from the indie promotion you’d been wrestling for in Ontario, you hopped onto the first available flight down to Texas where their Wednesday night show Dynamite was being taped.

Matt had organised you a hotel for the night, with Nick arranging for you to meet the CEO Tony Khan.

“We’re not gonna throw you into a match, honestly, this is just a taster for you to come down, check out what we’re about and speak to Tony. Who’s a really great guy when you eventually get to meet him.” Matt reassured you down the phone the evening before.

Even though AEW was co-created by your friends, you were still extremely nervous. This would be the biggest company you had worked for, should everything go smoothly.

You hadn’t had much time to dwell on the details and the complications of coming back to the US to wrestle, having made most your career in the promotions back in Canada you were truly an indie darling.

“Which is why the fans are gonna love you even more.” Nick had patted you on the back encouragingly as you walked backstage at the show, heading towards a skinny, curly-haired man with a large headset on and a tablet in his hand.

From there on you’d shook hands, made small talk and watched the show beside Tony Khan and the Bucks. At the end of the show Tony had extended to you an offer of employment with AEW after seeing your interest.

From then on you’d started out with a couple of test matches on AEW Dark which had gained you decent praise and reactions from fans. With Tony satisfied in your capabilities and your talent, he gave the green light to get you straight onto Dynamite. Your debut came on the first Dynamite of the new year, where you cut yourself a sweet and short promo calling out Jade Cargill following her win over Ruby Soho.

There you introduced yourself under your new persona, having decided to shed the indie nickname from back home.

“And just who the hell do you think you are to come at that bitch on my show?” Jade sneered down the mic, her retained title belt proudly slung over her shoulder.

With a roll of your eyes and a determined grin, you spoke clearly into your own mic. “I’m Cori Dacre. The Alpha of the women’s division and soon to be the new TBS Champion.”

---------

“Cori! Hello?!” A hand waves in your face impatiently. Snapping from your stupor you gaze up to see who had rudely pulled you out from your daydreams. It was Ethan, holding his plate of breakfast from the hotel’s self-catering buffet.

“Hello Julian.” You chide as he takes a seat beside you. Your own plate didn’t look as appetising as his, with a bland portion of porridge and some pieces of jam covered toast.

“Wow, who pissed in your coffee this morning? You hardly ever call me that unless your upset, angry or just trying to wind me up.” Ethan counts on his fingers as he reels off the list, looking at you with an eyebrow raised in silent question.

“No one, I’m just...nervous.” You grumble, poking the wobbly gruel with your spoon and scrunching your nose up in disgust. It had practically solidified at this point and was past salvageable, you sigh and pick up one of the slices of toast instead.

“Remind me to note nervous down on the list for future reference,” Ethan jokes, catching a deathly glare from you. “...So who’s making you nervous? Want me to go beat ‘em up?” He offers, although he seems far too absorbed in his breakfast to be of any use for beating up people.

You shake your head, partially in response to him and partially due to the fact that the cold piece of toast was scratchy and tough going down your throat.

“Who said it was someone making me nervous?” You scoff, getting up from the table with your plate and heading back to the buffet, ditching the half-attempted breakfast for favour of a clean plate.

Scanning the different trays and pots of hot food you settle on some scrambled eggs, beans and another coffee.

“Are you seriously gonna try and lie to me Y/N?” Ethan’s voice echoes right beside you, causing you to fumble with your plate that you have balanced on one hand as you try to pour your coffee with the other.

“Fuck!” You hiss, keeping the plate steady and giving Ethan a look that could kill. “How about next time you wait for me to come back to the table instead of scaring the soul out of my body whilst I’m handling hot things!” You shove the plate in front of his face in a furious gesture.

Ethan grins and takes the plate from you, taking it back to the table as you grip onto your newly poured coffee like Gollum.

“I could have, but you would have just tried to move on from the subject and try distract me with new toys or something else equally as interesting. Besides, you know I’m always here for you, whether it’s back in good ol’ Canada or here in AEW. If someone’s bugging you then you can tell me.” He offers a gentle hand on your arm as he sets your plate down, before taking his seat and continuing with his own plate.

You slump into your chair and cast a steady eye around the room, mindful of the other talent that were here. Many were just minding their own business and no one seemed the least bit interested in you right now.

“I'm...meeting Kenny Omega today.” You mutter, waiting for Ethan’s response.

He raises his eyebrows as he chews on a mouthful and ponders your statement for a few seconds.

“You’ve not met Kenny before? I would’ve thought that being from Canada and what with you and the Bucks it’d have happened already.”

You shake your head, just as surprised yourself that it hadn't happened either.

“You know how much I’ve enjoyed this year right? The whole storyline with the Undisputed Elite has been great fun and me being recruited into the faction by Matt and Nick has given me such an amazing boost. But...what if Kenny hates me? What if I don’t fit into the Elite with him coming back and he wants me out?”

Ethan nods slowly as you begin to spiral into a tirade of self-doubting questions that you had yet to ask aloud to anyone. You couldn’t even bring yourself to speak to the Bucks about this.

“Are you sure you’re not just nervous about being around him? I know you’ve never met the guy but you’ve always spoke very admirably about him...as a wrestler, obviously.” Ethan adds the last part when he notices the narrow-eyed stare being cast his way.

“Obviously.” You repeat, not wanting to entertain the thought of your nerves being related to anything else other than professional. “Of course I’m nervous about that but-”

Ethan slaps your shoulder with the back of his hand repeatedly, his attention firmly focused on something to your right and no longer on the conversation. You follow his gaze and feel your heart soar with adrenaline and fear when you spot who is walking towards you.

A mess of brown and highlighted curls frame a rugged, unshaven face, with steely, blue eyes boring a hole into yours. You would never admit it to a single soul, but Kenny Omega was an extremely attractive man. An extremely attractive man who was also walking straight towards you.

Before he reached the two of you, you felt Ethan nudge your leg with his knee beneath the table and his muttering comment of “Be calm, he’s just a human, he’s gonna love you.”

Not wanting to seem like a deer caught in the headlights you match Kenny’s smile with a welcoming one of your own. When he reaches your table, you actually notice that Matt and Nick had entered the room with him, but the two of them had decided to bypass you completely and head straight for the food. You catch Nick’s watchful eye as they pass, him trying to subtly observe the two of you interact for the first time.

Bastards.

“Sorry to interrupt your morning, I just wanted to stop and say hi.” Kenny admits to you and Ethan, his eyes flicking back and forth between the two of you. His voice is inviting and warm, a lot deeper than you’d expected, despite having watched countless numbers of his promos. You look over to Ethan who appears extremely interested in his food at the moment, leaving you the only person to talk.

Bastards, the lot of them.

“Oh! Um, hi. I’m Cori.” You extend a hand out to him politely, praying that it doesn’t feel clammy or too warm when he goes to take it. Maybe it’s because the hotel’s carpeted and it’s just a static shock, but when Kenny grips your hand in his you could’ve sworn that you felt a crackle of electricity pass between you both.

His hand feels large in yours and the rough skin on the pads of his fingers matches your own, a tell-tale sign that he’s recently been getting back in the ring. You knew this of course, having been told a few weeks back by Nick and Matt that Kenny would be returning onscreen this week.

Today, in fact.

You notice that both your hands stopped shaking a while ago and now you’re both just holding onto each other. You decide to break the contact, unsure how to feel under his captivating gaze as his hand engulfs yours in a comforting way.

“I’ll not bother you two any more than I have, but I really thought it was time I get to know the wrestler who Matt and Nick have been raving about endlessly to me. I’m looking forward to working with you Cori. See you later this evening?” Kenny shoots you the question, although really it could’ve been more of a statement.

You would of course be taking up the Elite’s corner tonight in the main event, acting as an insignificantly small part of Kenny’s immense return to the ring.

A short nod from you is all you can muster, still feeling slightly star-struck by the man in front of you. Kenny’s eyes have an almost mischievous twinkle to them as a grin passes across his face before he leaves. Were it not for the fact you were completely spaced out following the interaction, you wouldn’t have caught him looking back over his shoulder at you and giving you a tiny wave. A small gesture, but one that sends your veins thrumming as you realise he must’ve caught you staring.

A few seconds pass before Ethan lets out a low whistle.

“Talk about floundering, you couldn’t barely string a sentence together in front of him! This is bad!” He laughs, looking at your slightly dazed expression, cheeks a raging shade of pink.

“Fuck off Julian.”

---------

A/N: Short first chapter, sorry!! (I wanted to test the waters with me getting back into writing) I hope that this fic is interesting and people want to read more as I’ve got this story pretty much mapped out already! It’ll be a short fic but I can’t say for certain how many parts to this there’d be (estimate would be around 6/7? IDK I’m so bad at working this stuff out 🙃), although the future parts will be longer than this one.

Also, I am planning for there to be SMUT in future parts so just a lil’ wink wink 😉 for y’all and also a warning to under 18′s (I will be mentioning in the warnings where there is anything NSFW).

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fieldofgoldenrushes · 3 years

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I’ve always been a fan of Telltale’s Walking Dead games but I never really got into the fandom. Recently, I’ve played all seasons again and the love I had for the games grew tenfold. It inspired make a fan comic of an alternative universe of the games. It’ll still take place in the apocalypse world. Think of it as a “What if” version of things. Like “What if this person was still alive?” or “What if this person returned?” or “What if these choices were made?”.

Pretty much to dive into a deeper depth of the characters we never got to really learn more of. We never really got to know what causes the kids of the boarding school to be sent there. Like Omar or Brody and Marlon. What did they do? What caused Ruby’s anger issues? What did Aasim do to be sent there if he seemed so level-headed? What were Louis’ parents really like? Violet’s life before everything went to shit? Willy’s chronic masturbation? Why Mitch made bombs and blew up his dad’s garage? Hell, how and what did Tennessee do to be sent there as well?

There’s a bunch of other stuff that we never got to see either. How did Tennessee get the burn on his face? What did Minerva and Sophie go through at the Delta? How did Delta start? How did Lilly find Delta and what was her life in there? What happened to her after she was left behind/abandoned the group? What happened to the other kids that went to that school? Or how Clementine gets through her trauma? What happened to AJ to make him bite or hit people when they sneak up behind him?

And a whole bunch of other stuff I asked myself when I played the games again. The list goes on and on. And it keeps growing the more I think about it.

I’m gonna be honest, I’m not looking forward to the Clementine comic. After seeing the short comic, seeing Clementine be so out of character and leaving behind AJ (after she promised she would never leave him), the ones she loves, the friends she cares about, and the home she fought so hard to protect, it left a bad taste in my mouth. Maybe I’ll be curious and watch YouTubers read the first comic or something just to see how the story plays out but I will never, for the life of me, buy the comic.

I can’t. No offense to Tillie Walden because her artwork is nice and it is a huge honor to be continuing such an unforgettable character’s story but the comic just felt disrespectful to Clementine’s character, to her story, and to the team who put together this amazing storyline. Again, it left a bad taste in my mouth.

So after some debating, I’ve decided to finish an alternate storyline I came up with after I played season 4 the first time. It’s called “From the Roots” which would follow Clementine’s story but more…I wanna say more realistically mature if that makes sense.

It will have gore, blood, graphic violence, nudity (no, not with minors), language, alcohol, etc. Anything that is expected to happen in an apocalyptic world. I’ll make sure to put a trigger warning for specific pages.

This is by no means a way to replace Tillie or her comic. It’s purely a fan comic (Please Skybound and Tillie, don’t sue me). It’s mostly to, I wanna say “scratch an itch” that’s been bugging me for a long time. I wanted to answer some questions that I’m sure a lot of us have asked ourselves at one point and I wanted to bring it to life in some way.

Plus it’s for enjoyment of the fandom as well.

After I finish writing the details of the story, I will turn it into a fan comic. Where I’ll post it, I’m not sure. I’ll cross that bridge when I get there. I just hope that the day I post it, you’ll all enjoy it just as much as I am excited for it to create it.

See ya soon.

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peaceisadirtyword · 3 years

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Heathen (Ivar/Edlynn)

A/N: Hello♥️ as I promised, here’s the first chapter of the new series I’m writing. The idea came to me when I was rewatching Vikings and then I planned it while rewatching The Last Kingdom. So I started writing it, doing a bit of worldbuilding to introduce some original characters and here I am. It’s set on season 6B (I'm changing things, so it will not follow the show’s storyline). And I was really excited to write the mature version of Ivar, so I’m sorry if he seems a bit out of character. This chapter might be a bit boring, but it serves as an introduction. I hope you enjoy it, thank you for reading🥰 I will post a new chapter every Thursday at 21:00 (CET).

Warnings: mentions of violence and war, talk of arranged marriage, alcohol... Well, it’s Vikings😅

Words: 4197

Summary

gif belongs to @therealcalicali

"I've heard the pagans are back"

Edlynn raised her head. She sat next to the window, and had spent most of the time looking at the rain falling outside as she leant her head against the wall. It had been raining a lot those days. The beautiful cloth she was trying to practice her embroidery on was already forgotten and abandoned on her lap, a bit dirty with blood from all those times she had poked her finger with the needle.

The queen looked nervous when one of the girls in the room mentioned the northmen. Edlynn had also heard her father and even the king himself talking about it, whispering and with a frown, like men do when they talk about a very serious matter. They had already evacuated some of the towns near the coast, but no one really told her what was happening.

"We must trust on our men and on God" she smiled at her "They will protect England, they always have"

"I heard the king is thinking about evacuating the city too" other of the girls whined "What if they find us?"

"They won't, my dear" the queen looked uncomfortable "I don't know about the plans my husband has, he won't discuss them with me, but I'm sure he'll do what is best for our people"

Edlynn bit her lip. Queen Elsewith was nervous, she had seen her ordering the servants to start packing slowly, in case everyone had to leave the town. And there were whispers and an uneasiness that everyone had noticed.

Next to her, her friend Mildrith leant in to speak softly.

"I hope we can see the heathens from up close this time" she giggled.

Edlynn had to hold back a smile. For some reason, Mildrith had a fascination for the northmen that called themselves vikings, even if everyone else was scared of them. She had been infatuated with a viking boy that worked on the lands King Alfred had given to the northmen some time ago. Even if neither Mildrith nor Edlynn had been allowed to visit those lands, King Alfred invited some of the settlers to dine in his own home sometimes, to secure the good relations with them. The boy and Mildrith had had a short but intense romance that Edlynn helped to hide from her family and the king, and since then she had been obsessed with learning about their culture.

Edlynn could understand why, their ways and their traditions were different from the ones she had grown up with, and anyone with a bit of curiosity in them would want to know more. But no one let her learn about their Gods or they beliefs, for it was a sin.

"I don't think we will" she shook her head and spoke softly "The King won't let them"

"Maybe they will be invited for a feast" Mildrith bit her lip, excited "And we can see them. They say they're are the same ones that took York"

"We should go and pray" one of the women in the room stood up, interrupting Edlynn as she was about to answer her friend "For the safety of our country and our king, ask God to protect us"

Some of the women muttered in agreement, and soon the room filled with the noise of everyone standing and walking to the door. But before she could even stand, the queen approached. Quickly, Mildrith and her bowed their heads at Queen Elsewith respectfully.

"Edlynn, I'd like to talk to you for a moment, if you will"

She nodded slowly, and Mildrith excused herself after widening her eyes.

"Yes, queen Elsewith?"

"I just wanted to see if you were alright, Edlynn, these days I've barely seen you"

She bit her lip again. The queen was always nice and kind to her, but it was still the queen and she couldn't act like close friends with her. And she definitely couldn't speak her mind freely.

"Yes, I'm fine" she smiled softly "These days I wasn't feeling too well, I... Spent some time in my chambers just resting"

"I was worried about you, you disappeared just after your engagement to Lord Edmund, and as I've also been there, I thought maybe I could help"

The engagement. She had tried her best not to think about it the past few days. Even if Edlynn knew since she was born that she'd have to marry a stranger, it was still awkward to meet a man during a small feast that was announced as her future husband just half an hour later.

In any case, she was still lucky, Lord Edmund was handsome, young and, as far as everyone knew, nice. Edlynn wasn't that upset about it, but it was still overwhelming, and the fact that she'd have to abandon the court, her friends -oh, what would she do without Mildrith?- and her family to go and live in a stranger's home saddened her.

"Lord Edmund is a very good man that I can't wait to get to know better, and I feel honored and lucky that he chose me to be his wife" Edlynn repeated the words that Hilda, the nun that raised her after her mother's death, had made her learn in preparation for this moment.

Elsewith smiled sadly at the young girl. It was a woman's duty, but she saw a lot of herself on Edlynn and she knew she must have been scared and nervous, even if she understood it. But Edlynn had always been a proper and obedient lady and, like many other women in her position, learnt to hide her true feelings. She'd never do anything that went against her father and the King's wishes.

"The king would never have let him ask for your hand in marriage if he didn't know he's a good man, a good warrior and a good Christian" the queen reassured her "He loves your family a lot and just wishes a good life for you"

"I know, my queen, and I will always be thankful to him and to you for how much kindness you've shown me and my family"

Her smile widened.

"I also wanted to talk to you about Mildrith" Elsewith sighed and started walking to the door "She really shouldn't go around talking about how she'd like to meet a northman, it's... Not proper"

"I know" muttered Edlynn, following her "I'll talk to her"

She nodded, and just before exiting the room, Elsewith took her hand and squeezed it softly. In some way, she had always considered Edlynn her friend.

"Remember you can come and talk to me any time you need" the queen smiled again "Women understand each other much better than men"

"I will" she nodded "Thank you, my queen" Edlynn bowed her head again before Queen Elsewith turned around, walking to the nearest chapel escorted by two of the guards.

__________________________________________

King Alfred threw a feast to celebrate the engagement. Usually, this kind of things weren't celebrated that much, but Edlynn's father, Lord Eldred, had been close to King Aethelwulf and was close to King Alfred, becoming one of his most trusted men after his mother's death. Besides, Alfred and Edlynn grew up together and even if with time the both of them had learnt to keep their relationship purely formal, he still had a soft spot for her.

Edlynn's sister had been married to a lord from Mercia and her brother was a proud member of King Alfred's personal guard. Now it was her turn to make the family proud by doing her duty and what she had been born to: Stand next to her soon-to-be-husband and smile politely at strangers that couldn't care less about her and her happiness but that queued to wish the both of them a happy marriage.

Even if she knew that was what she was supposed to do, it was still boring.

"The king has told me you enjoy reading" Lord Edmund, sitting next to her, was the one that started the conversation after talking with the king and her father about war.

Edlynn was surprised when he spoke to her. It was the first time the two of them talked. She wasn't very talkative, at least not at the beginning, and didn't really expect more from him than the usual formalities. She had seen marriages like this many times, and didn't really expected him to acknowledge her much in public.

"I do" she smiled politely.

"It's nice, what kind of things you like to read?"

"Mostly, about history" she bit her lip nervously "I find the Romans particularly interesting"

Lord Edmund nodded.

"I will make sure that you have enough to read back in my castle" he said softly "And don't be afraid of asking for anything that you need or want to feel comfortable"

That surprised Edlynn even more. He smiled at her confused face and his grey eyes fixed on hers. 'At least he has pretty eyes' she thought. Maybe their children would inherit his grey eyes and not her brown ones. For some reason, she didn't feel that overwhelmed by the thought of a young child with his grey eyes and her auburn hair.

"I knew you were special since I saw you, when I first arrived here to take an oath to King Alfred after my father's death, that's why I asked your father for your hand in marriage, and I'm pleased to know there's much more about you behind your beauty"

His words were so sweet, and one lock of his bright black hair fell next to his face, giving him an attractive look that made Edlynn understand why many women had been glaring at her since the engagement was announced.

"You flatter me, my lord" she tried your best to sound confident "I appreciate your kindness, thank you"

From the corner of her eye, she could see her father and Hilda, the nun, watching her. Edlynn straightened her back and kept talking to Lord Edmund, feeling a strange emptiness inside her.

____________________________________

Ivar knew taking England wouldn't be easy, but it would definitely be easier if he was leading the entire army.

King Harald had the last word, and even if he trusted him enough to let him think about the strategies, it wasn't the same. Ivar made a flawless plan, he thought about every single detail, and he knew exactly what the english would do. It wasn't too hard.

"So, King Alfred is evacuating the city" Harald emptied his drink, taking another piece of meat before his deep blue eyes fixed on Ivar, who ate in silence next to his brother. Hvitserk ignored them, focusing on the food on his plate "Should we take it?"

Ivar raised an eyebrow and swallowed the food before taking his cup to drink some more ale.

"We need to defeat Alfred first, we can't do much with just the city"

Harald shrugged.

"Defeating him in battle won't change much either, we need to gain some more ground"

Ivar hummed, nodding.

"I agree, and we should try and find something that gives us some kind of advantage over them, because we are outnumbered and we can't defeat them just by winning battles, they can assemble another army faster than us"

"And? You're the strategist here, Ivar" Harald chuckled. In some way, he was happy to have the youngest Ragnarsson back on his side.

"We need to find something that makes them surrender to our terms and buys us some time" Ivar raised an eyebrow.

"Like a hostage?" Hvitserk raised his head for the first time since the food arrived. He let Ivar do the talk, and stuck to fighting.

Ivar smirked at his brother.

"Exactly. A hostage, dear brother"

"I don't think that a couple of soldiers captured in battle will make them surrender to our terms" Harald shrugged again "We'd need someone else, someone like..."

"The queen"

The king raised an eyebrow at him, while Ivar smiled softly.

"Christian women don't go to battle, and we can't try and break into their camp, there will be too many guards"

"Exactly, so we need to find a moment in which the men are occupied with something else, something like..."

"A battle" Hvitserk chuckled.

Ivar nodded winking at his brother.

"So you mean to kidnap the queen during the battle" Harald nodded slowly "It could work"

"The queen won't be far from the battlefield, and there won't be so many guards" Ivar shrugged, taking another bite from his plate.

"We could go and meet them on a battlefield, I already explored some of the lands around here and I think it would be easier to attract them to the woods" Ivar nibbled one of the ribs "Then, we ambush them, and keep them distracted enough time to sneak into their camp and take the queen"

"And then?" Harald looked interested. Sometimes, he found Ivar's mind fascinating.

"Then we negotiate" he shrugged "We just want some land, right? The queen in exchange for that land, I think it's a fair exchange, then, when we have the land, some resources and a place to settle down, we can continue fighting, because we will be stronger"

"But he could betray us after he gets his queen back" Hvitserk raised an eyebrow.

"I know Alfred, he won't" Ivar shook his head "Not as long as he thinks we're willing to stop the raids and the invasion if we get the land"

"So we lie to him" Harald pointed, and Ivar nodded slowly.

"But first" he raised an eyebrow "We need the queen"

_________________________________

The beds on the camp were uncomfortable. Edlynn didn't complain, though, knowing everyone had bigger problems than worrying about her not getting any sleep.

Just two days after the engagement feast, king Alfred ordered to evacuate the city. The northmen were too close, and it was too dangerous, it was the only explanation she got when her father bursted into the chambers and ordered to pack only the necessary. Edlynn barely saw him since then, as he and Edward, her brother, would ride with the king when everyone was moving and didn't leave the king's tent when they camped, too busy with battle plans and strategies. Queen Elsewith was also with them, and Edlynn's betrothed, Lord Edmund, too. Betrothed... It still sounded too irreal. At least, he rode next to the carriage she traveled in.

Mildrith was the only one that found the entire thing exciting. Edlynn often found her wandering outside the camp, and didn't mind how many times she begged her to stay in the tent, Mildrith wouldn't listen.

Edlynn could sneak a couple of books inside of her trunk, hidden between some dresses, and it was the only entertainment she had.

"They say tomorrow there will be a battle" Mildrith muttered as she watched some of the soldiers training. It was raining and the both of them stayed inside of the tent, just at the entrance so Edlynn could read and Mildrith could watch the people around.

"The King and our men will be victorious" Edlynn repeated what Hilda said every time she mentioned the war "We have God on our side"

Mildrith frowned, as she always did when she heard that phrase, which was the only thing everyone seemed to say these days.

"I'm not so sure about that, Lynn" she muttered "They are smart and their Gods are fierce, they say that they're lead by the same one that took York" she lowered her tone "Ivar the Boneless"

Her friend raised an eyebrow, the name was familiar.

"Why do they call him boneless?"

"Because he can't walk" Mildrith shrugged like it was obvious "They say he crawls around like a snake, and that he's fierce and vicious... Some even say he's the Devil incarnated"

Edlynn rolled her eyes.

"Those are tales, Mildrith, he's just a man" she chuckled "A cruel one, a heathen, but just a man, he's just like you and me"

"Some women say he's handsome too" she giggled.

"Have they seen him?"

"Yes, in York, they said he's cruel but beautiful, just looking at him felt like a sin"

Edlynn closed her book.

"You shouldn't go around saying these things, Mildrith, anyone would think you're in love with that heathen"

She laughed out loud, making some of the soldiers near them turn to look at her.

"I'm not in love with him, I don't know him" she shrugged "But I'd like to see him, at least once"

Edlynn rolled her eyes again, shaking her head before going back to the book.

__________________________________

Edlynn didn't know how to feel when she saw the men leaving. King Alfred said goodbye to his queen and Edlynn hugged her father and brother. Even Lord Edmund kissed the back of her hand and bowed his head with a gentle smile on his lips. She didn't know how to react, as she never had to say goodbye to the men when they left to battle. Should I cry? Smile? She tried her best to imitate queen Elsewith.

"Pray for us" her father kissed Edlynn's forehead softly for the last time before getting on his horse "And may God be with us"

She nodded slowly and kept silent as they left the camp.

After a couple of minutes in silence, the queen walked towards her, making Edlynn nervous. Will she scold me for not doing this well?

"Edlynn, I'd like you to join me in my tent to pray for the safe return of the king and his men"

She looked around. Some of the women looked at her, probably jealous of seeing she had the queen's favor and thinking that was the reason why she had been betrothed to Lord Edmund.

"Of course" Edlynn nodded her head respectfully, ignoring them.

The queen smiled brightly at her, relieved to hear her agreeing. She had a bad feeling about this new war, and worried about her husband, but also hoped to find some kind of peace on the tent.

"You can go, there's food and wine, I'll go talk to the priest first, and then I'll join you"

Edlynn nodded with a small smile. Her eyes found Hilda's, who smiled proudly at the young girl she loved so much. Mildrith waited until the queen had walked away and then approached her friend.

"What's with you and the queen?"

Edlynn shrugged.

"I suppose she's just trying to be nice, after all she understands what's like to be betrothed to someone you don't know"

"Oh" Mildrith bit her lip, almost like she had forgotten Edlynn was about to marry a stranger "Yes, it makes sense... Anyway, be careful, people will start thinking you're trying to win the queen's favor"

Edlynn glanced to a group of women from the court, who looked at the both of them and whispered.

"I'll go to the queen's tent now" she decided to ignore it "Join me later? We could go to the river and maybe bathe"

Anything to avoid thinking about the battle that was probably going to take place soon.

Mildrith nodded with a smile and waved at her as she approached the tent. The guards bowed their heads respectfully and moved to let her enter. It was much bigger than the tent Edlynn shared with Hilda, and the bed looked much comfortable than the one they had given to her. The bedding was soft and warm, and made her sigh in jealousy as her eyes wandered around the tent.

There was a table with some food and wine on it, and Edlynn's mouth watered as she realized she still hadn't eaten. In front of the bed, there was a table with a cross and a few candles, which was where she supposed both the king and the queen said their prayers.

Edlynn glanced at the entrance to make sure no one entered and quickly grabbed a grape from one of the bronze plates and turned around to savor it. She loved grapes, and the best ones could only be found at the king's table.

But as she glanced down to hide her face in case the queen entered, Edlynn noticed something on the rug that covered the floor of the tent. Frowning, and wondering why there was a dark spot just before her, she bended down to examine it, widening her eyes when she realized it was blood. There wasn't just one spot, but a trail that disappeared behind a curtain, and suddenly she realized something else.

The guards didn't ask who I was before letting me in.

Before Edlynn could even react, someone grabbed her from behind, putting their hands on her mouth to stifle the scream that left her throat. She writhed and fought, but there was two of them, too strong for her. Suddenly, she heard a whisper on a foreign language and then an intense pain on the back of her head as one of the two men hit the back of her head with the handle of his sword before there was only darkness.

________________________________

Ivar was proud. Once again, he ensured a clear victory over the saxons with a flawless plan, and he demonstrated he still was the brilliant strategist everyone admired. Even Harald looked impressed to see that the risky plan to defeat King Alfred's army had been successful. Ivar seemed to read the young king's mind perfectly, and if everything had gone well with the other part of the plan, they'd have a queen waiting for them in the camp that would make things even easier for them. Hvitserk also looked satisfied, having missed the adrenaline of the battlefield and the satisfaction of killing too much. Harald admitted he was wary of those two, with Ivar's sharp mind and Hvitserk's skills in battle, they were nearly unbeatable.

Thanks Odin any of them had given any signs of wanting the crown of Norway Harald had fought so hard to get. But he still didn't trust Ivar completely.

But now they had a common cause, and he hoped that controlling some lands in England would satisfy Ivar's hunger for power.

"So..." Ivar didn't speak until he had finished two horns of ale. The intensity of the battle, standing for so long and walking with the crutches left him exhausted "Do we have a queen or not?"

The men that had just entered the tent, still wearing the saxon's armor, bowed their heads before speaking.

"We do" one of them smiled victoriously "She's unconscious, but guarded, we had to hit her to bring her here"

Hvitserk raised an eyebrow. Ivar had made very clear that he didn't want the queen harmed. Not yet at least, he had said with a chuckle the night before, Alfred won't surrender to our terms if we harm her.

"She's fine, though" the other man glared at his companion "It was just a small blow on the head"

Harald nodded, ignoring the stern glare Ivar sent their way.

"Try and wake her up" the king ordered "We'll talk to her before feasting and resting"

The men bowed again and left. Harald then turned to look at the brothers. In some way, it hurt to see them so close again, reminding him of his own brother, who had also been his most loyal friend. The Ragnarssons didn't have the best relationship, but he noticed they looked much closer since they went back to Kattegat after being with the Rus. He didn't know what had happened there between them, but now he was sure no one could get between them. He envied them for that.

Now they seemed to be having a conversation in silence, with just some stares and grimaces.

"Your plan worked" he said out loud, looking at Ivar. The youngest son of Ragnar shot him a cocky smile.

"Of course it worked, saxons are predictable" he shrugged "And Alfred won't dare to attack us when we have his queen" his eyes shone with pride.

"I wonder if she's pretty" Hvitserk muttered with a dreamy smile as he chewed on a piece of bread. Harald smirked at that, he understood the feeling of coming back from battle and feeling the need to have a woman after filling his belly with warm food and cold drinks. It helped to relax.

Ivar rolled his eyes. He was never as interested in women as his brothers were, and the few times he actually was with women had ended in disaster. So he couldn't understand the obsession.

"She's a christian, so probably not" he shrugged "Anyway, that's the last thing we should worry about"

"There are beautiful christian women out there, little brother" Hvitserk chuckled, amused by his brother's annoyance.

"They're weak" he narrowed his eyes "They are always scared, they don't fight and they don't have the spirit and the courage of viking women"

"How many christian women have you met, Ivar?" Harald laughed.

Ivar frowned. He had had too much contact with christians for his liking.

"Anyway" he scowled, annoyed, as he stood up leaning on his crutch "Let's go, we have a queen to meet".

__________________________________

Tags: @mblaqgi @alicedopey @lol-haha-joke @hallowed-heathen @naaladareia @tephi101 @captstefanbrandt @love-hate-love @titty-teetee @readsalot73 @moondustmemories @therealcalicali @blushingskywalker @awkwardfangirl02 @gruffle1 @justacripple @love-dria @heartbeats-wildly @letsrunawaytotomorrow @inforapound @sallydelys @hellogabysblog @winchesterwife27 @hecohansen31 @youbloodymadgenius @xinyourdreamsx @funmadnessandbadassvikings @tgrrose @lovessce @tootie-fruity @didiintheblog @alexhandersenx @belovedcherry @fantasydevil2002 @xceafh @astrape-the-weatherwitch @destynelseclipsa @momowhoo @mcrmarvelloki @nanahachikyuu @valopz @mrsalwayswrite @poisonous00 @whenimaunicorn @heavenly1927

#ivar imagine #ivar the boneless #ivar x oc #vikings #vikings imagine #heathen

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fanfictiondreamscape · 3 years

Text

Alternate Endings (Pt. 2)

Title: Alternate Endings (Pt. 2)

Genre: more angst, possibly more than the last part. this is your warning.

Pairing: Victor Nikiforov x GN!Reader

Notes: This is a part 2 to the previous part, and I still used the angst prompt list from the aforementioned previous parts to form this piece.

With that said, I think that this will be the only part following the first unless I can find some way to continue the storyline. I intend to keep the ending somewhat depressing and sad, so I guess proceed with caution due to such.

If you want something similar to this for any other character, please let me know, though! I may also mention that this went from a drabble, to a scenario, and now borders on an imagine - I can’t help that I got caught up!

Part 1

Below the cut!

You practically fell off the face of the Earth as soon as you left.

Harboring all of the money you saved and deciding upon negotiations to make with your employer, you left Russia. You left Japan. You just...left.

Travelling became a huge part of your life afterwards, and though many people had tried to regain contact with you, you ignored most of them - save for a few. Only Yuri Plisetsky and Yuuko Nishigori were available to your whims, but they were still advised to stay as quiet as possible regarding your whereabouts.

You changed your whole appearance, changed your mindset, and even changed something as generally miniscule as your wardrobe. Still, as much as you did change and throw away, you couldn’t rid yourself of the many frivolous gifts that Victor had given you over the years.

Some things you just can’t give up, but you knew that it would be fine. At the very least, you had something that would never let you forget about him.

Victor, on the other hand, fell off the deep end.

He had come across the note you’d slipped under his hotel room door and for the first time in a long time, he cried. A true mess was what Yuuri had come across, and as many times that he was able to help him through unconventional methods, this was nearly impossible.

Victor didn’t leave Japan, but he did become so reclusive that even Yakov was extremely worried upon finding out about the occurrence from an offhand comment that Yurio made when talking to Yuuko over the phone before practice.

Everyone around him saw the typically extravagant man become so dulled by misery that it became painful to watch.

He didn’t even know where to start since he’d already tried to find you - looking everywhere that he knew you loved, everywhere that he knew you were often obligated to be at - but had failed to do so.

It wasn’t until, when Yurio was free, that he overheard him and Yuuko talking at the front desk of the rink as Yuuri was warming up and he was getting his skates on.

“Yeah, they’re in America right now. They just got a raise, actually - they were even thinking of dropping in when they get enough saved up,” Yuuko recollected, excitement dripping from her tone.

“Well, they’d have to come by when Victor isn’t here. That would also mean that I’d be gone, but at least you could update me,” Yurio responded. He seemed more nonchalant about the whole thing, but Victor became hysterical.

Granted, he did suppress what he could to eavesdrop further.

“Of course! I am still a little worried about them, though - you remember how Victor had gone crazy trying to find them?” Yurio grunted in response. “Well, what if he decides to do something impulsive again and leave mid-competition?”

The light-blonde teenager in front of Yuuko flinched at the thought. “That’s a good point...but we’ll never know unless it happens when it does.”

A solemn chill fell upon the two, but the conversation split onto Yurio’s next routine and Victor left it to them. He stared wide-eyed, in pure disbelief, at the wall of lockers in front of him.

“So they’re...(Y/n)’s in America....”

Ideas began to run through his head as the room became eerily quiet. Even Yuuri, who was sat in the corner and preferred a calm and quiet atmosphere, was perturbed by the sudden shift.

“I know what I’ll do! Yuuri, skate if you want - I’m going to be out for a while,” Victor announced, generally resembling the flamboyant figure skating icon that everyone knew.

He took his skates off and capped the blades, putting them into his bag and reaching for his cell phone and scrolling through listings. Katsuki was left dumbstruck, but he went on about what he was doing and decided to run through his routine a few times.

Yurio had left by this point, and Yuuko was too far in the back to catch the tall man’s outburst.

It wasn’t until the next day that he was extremely prepared and anyone who understood his issue was suspicious. Victor had hunted for every listing to America from Japan, and memorized the closest ones. Yuuko was the one person who was going to be there that he had to ask.

“Yuuko, I must ask you something! Would you mind?” was Victor’s burning introduction, shocking the normally upbeat mother. She was a little taken aback at the bold attention grabber.

“Mmm, yeah?” She tried to be as ‘typical’ as possible, considering that her suspicions were up now. She knew what was going on, she knew what Victor was burning for.

“You said that you’ve been in contact with (Y/n), yes?”

Yuuko deadpanned, eyes blank and dropping the facade that she was going to attempt to maintain. “I knew it. Listen, I know that you’ve been troubled since they left, and that they have been as well, but please - give them some more time.”

Victor visibly deflated. He didn’t think it would work, really, but it was worth a shot. Maybe, just maybe, though.... “How about a hint? Is it hot? Cold? What is a landmark?”

“No, Victor. Sorry.”

And he was back to his dejected being by the next hour.

Victor was willing to annoy both her and Yurio, but gave up once they stood their ground with firm hold. “No. (Y/n) is fine, and they will come when they want.” It was always the answer, no matter who he asked.

Daily, Yuuri would keep him company and skate to the best of his ability. It seemed to quench his troubles just a little bit before the up and coming competition season.

Eventually, the Grand Prix rolled around again. Yurio was competing, as well as Yuuri, and Victor was there to maintain support for his ever-promising prodigy.

Amongst the drama that had ensued, the two of them decided to take a break romantically and focus on the practice rather than devote too much issue to their worryingly stagnant relationship.

It wasn’t until Yurio had pulled Yuuri aside when Victor was getting changed that he was let in on soem information that, had Victor heard, would send him into a frenzy.

“(Y/n) wanted to me wish you good luck and let you know that they are here to watch. If you wanna talk, they’ll be waiting in the lobby.”

Yuuri almost faltered and told Victor, but decided against it. Your wishes were still high up, even if you two weren’t amazingly close.

Sadly, Victor was still shaken and hurried. It was a large competition, and as much as he wanted to focus on the task at hand, you never left his mind.

Over the year that you had fallen out of reach, he began to realize where he screwed up. Maybe he did like you at one time, but he let his own fears get the best of him and he fell to putting more of an interest to Yuuri.

He truly loves Yuuri, but he truly loved you (romantically) at one point, and you slipped from his reach before he could manage to comprehend anything.

So, upon making eye contact with a familiar pair of (e/c) eyes and an eerie copy of a blazer that he had given you as a birthday gift years ago, he was left idle.

“(Y/n)?”

You sucked in a breath and shrugged, sighing afterwards and shaking your head. “Yep, it’s me. Hello, again, Victor.”

Tears flooded his eyes as he ran to you, arms open and tight as his hug enveloped your frame. You didn’t reciprocate, not immediately at least. With obvious hesitance, you returned the hug, but pushed him away only a couple seconds later.

“You’ve got a skater to support. We can talk later, okay?”

“But, you’ve come back and-”

“Victor. Go support Yuuri.”

He bit his lip, but nodded nonetheless and embarked to the rink.

After the free skate, the next day’s events were prepared and everyone was sent out for the day. Yurio had caught up with you before heading to his hotel room, and Yuuri had popped in before he changed out of his costume, but Victor was most eager to meet you.

Upon seeing each other, yet again, in the lobby, the two of you parted ways but decided to meet at a restaurant in town. Yuuri would be dining with Phichit and some other competitors, and Yurio was with Otabek going sightseeing, so this was a prime opportunity.

Silence loomed over the two of you, slow walking and sounds of nature overwhelming your senses.

“So, you’re probably curious as to where I’ve been,” you began, breaking the tension as calmly as possible. You could have sworn that your heart was going to burst out of your chest if you let the quiet settle any longer.

“Yes, (Y/n). I really have been.” Victor, for once in the time that you have known him, was quiet. He was never really afraid to speak to you about anything, but the way he was acting now let some of the more obvious pain show.

“I’ve also been extremely worried. I never realized that you felt like that.”

You stopped upon the sentence, eyeing a nearby bench. Victor followed suit and looked down at you, eye contact being maintained. His gorgeous blue eyes were glassy and he appeared on the verge of tears.

“(Y/n), darling, I never realized how much you actually meant to me. I was stupid. I- I really, truly did love you. I always thought that you were too good for me, though, so I tried to make the ideas disappear. It worked, but only for a while. I love you, (Y/n). Honestly, I really do, and...

“I don’t know how much longer I can endure this.”

Your brows furrowed at his proclamation. The thought had never really crossed your mind, but you had always been drawn to his personality and how driven he was. You knew that he would do this, though, as he could also be notably daft regarding certain things.

“Victor, I-.... Listen, I loved you at one point, but you found Yuuri. You found your match. You made your decision. Out of respect for you and him, I left. But I also did it to respect myself.

“I know my habits. I know that I can fixate, so I needed to get out of your hair if I wanted to feel better. So I did. I’m engaged now, Victor, and the person that I met is amazing. I thought that could have been you. But it wasn’t, and I’m okay with that now.”

“You- you’re engaged?”

“Yes, yes I am. We haven’t planned our wedding date quite yet, but it is being discussed. The fact of the matter is simple: I knew what would happen if I were to stay, and as much as I love you, - platonically - staying here wouldn’t do me any good. Life comes, things change, and sometimes we just gotta give up.”

Silence fell on you two yet again, but it was interrupted by the slight sniffling coming from the tall Russian.

“Victor, I came back not because I wanted to fight for your affection, but because I’ve been worried about you. I just want you to know that...I still do care for you, and I have still supported you and Yuuri. But what you want, what I wanted...that’s not possible anymore.”

Pausing, you thought over your next words. Nothing was ever going to completely repair what was broken, but at the very least, you could try.

“How about this? Here’s my new number,” you handed him a small slip of paper with the nine digits printed on it in your handwriting. “Let’s start talking again, and you can meet my fiancee sometime. Sound good?”

His mood nearly took a 180, but his demeanor was still sullen and sad. A weak smile crossed his face, and he responded in kind, “Of course. How about we go back to the group and enjoy dinner, though? You’re here again, and it’s more than I could ask for - but we have a lot of catching up to do.”

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spookyfbi · 3 years

Note

what did cody said about klave?

Omg Anon okay so, twitter user umbrellaacademy invited Cody to do a twitter space with them which they did yesterday (8PM Friday EST) and Cody stayed for OVER TWO AND A HALF HOURS answering fan questions and saying SO MANY things about Dave and Klave and I am still so overwhelmed. I have recorded it and I’ve sent the video to the host and they’ve said they’ll release it soon (although the file is massive so I suspect they’ll have a bit of trouble wrangling it like I did so it might take longer). In the meantime, some highlights under the cut:

- Dave’s favourite thing about Klaus is his openness. He’s charismatic because he’s unafraid to be himself. Cody also finds it endearing that Klaus marches to the beat of his own drum.

- He likes the idea that the briefcase brought Klaus to Dave because of fate/destiny. Dave is the missing piece of Klaus, he fills a void in Klaus. He’s as interested as we are to find out if the timeline loops back in season 3

- Dave is soft spoken. There are qualities of Dave that have grounded and soothed Klaus but also Klaus has pulled Dave out of his shell. Klaus’ openness was like an invitation to Dave to open up and be goofy and strange, and this was a vibe Cody got from Robert as well in the bar scene, but then the dynamic shifted later and he felt that Dave was the one who was opening up first.

- Dave would go with Klaus to be with his family. He would want Klaus to take the reigns and would trust Klaus re- what kind of life they could have together post Vietnam. Although there would be no hesitation from Dave about his love for Klaus, there might be hesitation about planning a life together because of the time period they were in. There’s a sense of peace and wanting to settle from Klaus. Cody just basically being solidly on the Klaus bringing Dave back to 2019 to meet his family train.

- There is a sensitivity and self awareness to Dave, Cody thinks he accepted his sexuality but just was careful about advertising it because of the time period. He also says that his Dave in season 1 didn’t have the experience we saw in season 2 with his uncle and that might have made him more open (I am staring directly at my reverse George McFly theory).

- Dave’s love for Klaus is unconditional, he loves him for exactly who he is. Dave’s unconditional love is a foil for the conditional love Klaus gets from his family. Klaus doesn’t really know what love is and then he gets fired this laser beam of love from Dave.

- Cody that been in a play where his character was in a relationship with a guy but he thinks Rob hadn’t done that before. The director set the tone that the kiss scene was an intimate and tender scene. He feels like there was a reassurance from Dave to Klaus in that moment.

- Dave was holding 4 shot glasses in the scene where he’s holding them with both hands.

- Cody describing Dave in 4 words - kind, sensitive, empathetic, soft. Dave would describe Klaus as free spirited, open, unfiltered, unexpected (he also put forward chaotic but didn’t stick with it and replaced it with unexpected).

- Dave’s first thought when he woke up and saw Klaus was “Is this a dream... We’re not sleeping much so this could be a dream, I wouldn’t put it past my brain” Also “The dream coming to reality but maybe not necessarily looking like what he thought.”

- He thinks Klaus probably took the dogtags off Dave after he died as a way to remember him rather than them exchanging them

- He wants Klaus and Dave’s storyline to end with love prevailing. He also floats the idea of Dave taking a dark turn and Klaus has to be the redemptive person to bring Dave back.

In preparation for playing Dave he watched the Ken Burns Vietnam War documentary series on Netflix and also looked up online about the Vietnam war. He also listened to music he thought Dave would be into from 1965-1968: He mentions Motown and Stones (Cody said he himself likes Motown)

- Cody’s favourite thing about Dave is the quality of how he loves Klaus. He describes it as pure and unconditional and simple and he talks about he thinks people need to love each other fearlessly - not just romantically but in friendships as well, especially with what’s happening now (and this sort of clarifies to me why he was talking about love over fear so passionately in the clever klaus q&a and what he meant by that)

- Cody is a fantasy nerd

- He would love to see Dave giving Klaus some agency

- He thinks that Klaus has some guilt about Dave’s death

- He would like to play a Commission agent (Commission Dave rights!!)

- Robert is very open and unassuming and funny and it was easy to have an immediate rapport with him. Cody also talked with Tom Hopper (about their mutual friend Bradley James). He also briefly met Colm and Robin and he also remembered he met Aidan (who here had a theory about a deleted scene with Aidan in the attic?)

- He doesn’t know how time works in the afterlife or how Klaus’ power works but Dave would have waited 50 years for Klaus

- Calem joined the space and they said that they hadn't interacted before but they had a bit of a chat. Calem said that his filming in season 2 was 4 days but about 1 month apart. Calem’s internet kept cutting out and then he disappeared.

- If Dave was one of the 43 children his power could be the care bear love blast and he could fire hot beams of love out of the hole in his chest. He would give Dave a more passive power to round out the more active powers the other Hargreeves have, like a healer

- The scene in the tent was filmed at the studio. The scene on the bus was shot outside. The scene in the trench was partly shot outside but some of it was shot in the studio as well (I wonder if he’s confusing that trench scene with the hallucination at the Rave though?)

- He said the scenes were beautifully lit (I beg to differ, Cody!)

- Klaus helped unlock that part of him (I think he means Dave’s sexuality) and he also says that Klaus was a very specific target to Dave’s love. Klaus seems like one in a million. When you love someone there’s something specific about them that pulls that out of you.

- Calem returns! He was in his room where the internet crapped out on him but then he went downstairs. Cody asked what it was like for Calem to come in and play an established character. Calem said he purposely didn’t talk with Cody about the character before playing him because he’d done the audition without knowing anything about the character so he didn’t want to risk doing something too different from what he’d done in the audition, but he did watch season 1. He also said he was a bit anxious about what the audience would think of him playing the character, and Cody went into acting mentor mode and said that he doesn’t think the job is about appeasing the fans but about trying to be as true as possible. He also said that Calem did a good job and he shouldn’t be hard on himself but Calem then said that he quickly got over it and he wasn’t thinking about it on set, just afterwards. Calem mentioned that he creeped Cody’s IMDB and he said that his dad was a camera operator on Lizzie Borden Chronicles this Cody guest starred in an episode of.

- Dave loves music like Cody. He mentioned Four Tops as another band and then Motown again. He thinks the bar scene shows Dave’s love of music but he wasn’t thinking about that at the time.

- Dave would be overstimulated at first if he came to the future because we’re bombarded with a lot more stimulus than in the 60s. The internet and iPhones would blow his mind. He let’s a “we’ll see” slip, which he then quickly corrects to “we would see”

- The kiss in the bar was definitely the first kiss and he thinks it happened a couple months into the tour. He thinks the feelings were mutual quite early, but that it would have taken some time to act on them and to be able to gauge if each other were really giving off the signals that they like each other.

- He’s appreciative of the fan love and he tries to make a connection with everyone he can

- Dave is an optimistic force who thinks that love will prevail so he would have wanted to do something to make it work despite the obstacles they faced

- Cody doesn’t know how close to the vest Klaus kept the stuff about his powers and the time travel etc but he did see Klaus appear so he does know there’s something strange about him. Dave trusted Klaus and even if it wasn’t explicitly talked about there was enough trust to go “wherever you go I’ll follow, wherever that leads.” When Klaus conjures Dave, Dave is excited to see him but isn’t really surprised or put off by any of the circumstances that Klaus is in.

- He thinks that Dave is more the listener of the relationship, but he could certainly see Dave telling Klaus about Dune and Klaus indulging him.

- Rob is very genuine, very unassuming, very immediately open, very funny, definitely puts you at ease, incredibly thoughtful, very considerate, good dude (wow it’s the complimenting Rob speed run! 8 in a row!)

- The aspect of Dave that Cody connects to most is his non-judgemental quality

- Dave would connect with Vanya’s softness and Luther’s moral compass (he said Diego’s moral compass in the cleverklaus q&a so not sure if he just mixed them up). He thinks Dave might be a bit too sincere for Five and Ben would appreciate being able to unload Klaus on Dave.

- He thinks Dave is not a tattoo guy but Klaus is impulsive so getting a tattoo really aligns with his personality. He thinks that Dave’s actions speak louder than words written on him

- He connects to the fractured family theme of the show on a personal level

- Dave being jewish was something he only learned about through looking at the dogtags, it wasn’t in the script or anything

- Dave might have studied Philosophy if he’d gone to college instead of joining the military, he feels like there’s a dreamer quality to Dave

- Even though Dave was pressured into joining the military, he thinks that Dave believed he was going the right thing by enlisting

- Colm is a Canadian Hall of Fame actor and Reginald is such an intense character so Cody would love to do a scene with him. He would also love to do a scene with Elliot.

- Cody remembered waiting on set to film the scene in the club and he, Rob and Tom were in an 80s hotel with a heart shaped jacuzzi (??? oh was this the set with the Handler and Agnes maybe?)

#the umbrella academy #dave katz #klave #cody ray thompson

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thran-duils · 3 years

Text

Total Eclipse (P.4)

Title: Total Eclipse (Part Four) Summary: Fem!Reader x Sherlock Holmes (RDJ). Sherlock had an impression on the reader from a formative age but he was always so busy running with cases. Their moments of passions were coveted between the two but they were few and far between. He left with Watson on a case and in that time, her parents found her a suitable man to give her to. Wealthy and accomplished. Sherlock and her have not been able to let go of each other though. Words: 3,068 Warnings (for the whole fic): Angst, infidelity, smut, swearing, substance abuse, non liner storyline, character death, 18+ as always

Part Three || Part Five || Masterpost (mobile) || Fanfic masterpost

Your wedding was fast approaching, a handful of days. Your engagement was rather short, the announcement Arthur, being older than Sherlock at 45, and widowed once already without children, he was eager to get you into his estate. He was able to pay enough to get everything set up on a faster track than other people and despite being less than excited about the prospect, you had to admit you were impressed.

The following day after the heartbreaking meeting with Sherlock, you had sent a note to his place. And did not receive a response.

Your notes sent to Baker Street remained unanswered in the following weeks.

Desperate, you addressed it to John this time.

That got a response.

He showed up at your place for the tea you extended an invitation for. To your servants that prepared the tea and lunch, you told them you were looking for his opinion on which doctor he believed would be best to oversee your care during pregnancy. You told them he was a great surgeon, so you respected him and valued his insider’s opinion on the matter. They accepted it without question; it was a perfectly reasonable reason to invite John here and it was not like you lied about him at all, so there was nothing to uncover.

“Well, the estate is magnificent,” John told you after you had exchanged pleasantries and you excused the maids from the drawing room. The door was left cracked for modesty’s sake.

You nodded, “It is. Expansive. I hardly can keep myself from getting lost. I daresay it’ll take years perhaps for me to explore all the corners. I have become fond of the willow tree in the back though. That is a point of relaxation for me.”

“That sounds lovely,” John commented, giving you a warm smile.

“Yes… would you like a ham and cheese sandwich?”

“Please.”

You served him up two and he smiled, thanking you as he took the plate. Giving yourself one as well as vegetables, you took a bite and said after you had swallowed, “I actually had a question for you. I… well, I’m looking for an opinion. On a doctor.” You noticed the look on his face and you gave a little laugh, “Not a surgeon. I know exactly where I would go for that. I’d trust you with my life. But a delivery doctor – or a midwife – that you would recommend would be greatly appreciated.”

John looked stunned for a moment, but he recovered quickly, swallowing his bite. “You… you need this?”

“Well… not immediately. We are trying though. Arthur is… quite desperate for children,” you admitted, keeping your eyes off of him, slightly embarrassed to be hinting at the fact you were sleeping with someone besides Sherlock. Even if the man being discussed was your husband. “I am just trying to get ahead because I do believe it will happen sooner rather than later. It does not hurt to be prepared.”

“No, it certainly does not,” John agreed. He cleared his throat and said, “Well, I do have some people I could recommend, certainly. I could give you their information and you could contact them?”

“That would be most helpful.”

John took another bite of his sandwich and looked in thought as he chewed. You followed suit, taking another bite.

“I thought perhaps you had called on me… for another reason.”

“Oh, I did,” you answered, smiling sheepishly. John took another bite, waiting for you to go on. He was giving you the floor to plead your case. You exhaled heavily and said in a quieter voice, “I appreciate you answering. He would not respond to me. I do not know how to get through to him.”

You shot a look at the door and John nodded, standing up. He walked towards the window near you, so he would be in plain sight from the crack in the door, removing any suspicion of what was transpiring. You could speak in hushed tones and still not be accused of engaging in unsavory acts.

“He’s… locked himself in his room.” John’s face fell at your upset sigh and he added, “If it makes you feel any better, he’s barely speaking to me either.”

“That doesn’t make me feel better. Worse actually.”

“I found him a case though. I am going to tell him about it when we get back. I hope that will draw him out and get him back on his feet.”

“I didn’t mean to hurt him like I did, you know.”

“I know. You were stuck between a rock and a hard place.” He gave you a sympathetic look. “I am sure he knows that. He is just… absolutely dreadful at showing his emotions and even worse at processing them.”

Fighting back the tears that were starting to form, you took another bite of your sandwich, trying to focus on that to get yourself back under control. John was watching you closely, you saw that when you snuck a glance up at him.

“I didn’t want this. “I don’t want to lose… our relationship,” you said in a voice barely above a whisper, unable to stop the tears brimming. “He has to know that.”

“He will. He does.”

“Take him on the case, please, like you’re planning. That’ll clear his mind, give him something to occupy his time and lift his spirit.”

“I will.” John leaned in and told you sincerely, “And I will speak to him as well. I’ll get through to him.”

<><><>

Pouring a generous amount of spiked lemonade for yourself and the two servants you had brought with you, you sat on a bench in Hyde Park. Your servant girls were delighted to go out with you at these times. It was forbidden – illegal actually – to drink in public and the scandal if it were women.

It tasted well and you took a large drink. Your eyes ran around the park as the servants made small talk among themselves.

Your breath caught in your chest. He was gazing at you across the fountain. Hair windswept, his eyes bright. He looked better than the last time you saw him.

Shooting a glance at your escorts that were sitting beside you, Sherlock’s eyes glanced briefly to them before meeting your eyes again. His hands were in his pockets, looking calm. It had been a couple of weeks since you had spoken with John and two months since you had seen Sherlock.

“I am going to take a stroll,” you told your servants, putting your drink down. They stood with you, and you told them, “I… I would like to take a short walk alone. It’s becoming more common, is it not? Unescorted women? Plus, this is a park. How much trouble can I get into here?” The girls looked uncertain but sat back down. “Have some more of the lemonade.” You gave them a wink and they were all too pleased with that.

You stood, your umbrella over your shoulder still, protecting you from the sun. The gravel crunched underneath your feet as you made your way away from the fountain towards one of the flower gardens. Not quite in bloom yet but there were few people over here. You heard footsteps on the path behind you, and a smile came over your face. You tried to stifle it though; you did not want to seem too eager.

Coming to a stop before a statue, you pretended to be admiring it. The air shifted beside you and you turned your head, finding Sherlock, staring at it as well, a good three or four feet away.

“You look well,” he commented, breaking the silence.

“So do you.”

You hid another smile as best as you could, elated that he had come back to you.

<><><>

Present

Fingers intertwined with Arthur’s, the other on his shoulder, you let him lead you around the ballroom. He was a stiff dancer no matter how hard you tried to get him to loosen up. There was not love in his embrace, merely going through the motions. He was doing his diligence to keep up appearances. All his devotion had left with his first wife and what he had left for you was tradition. You had performed your role for him perfectly by providing him a son and you knew he had affection for you, but it was purely on a superficial level. You were not alone in this though; you had noticed it more with married couples the longer you paid attention to them. Many were in loveless marriages, hogtied by dowries and fortunes that landed them in their marriages in the first place. Business contracts is what the relationships were, not marriages or at least not what marriages should be, you believed.

The song ended and he bowed to you in unison with the other men around the dance floor to their partners. He held out his arm and you looped arms with him to allow him to walk you off the dance floor.

“I am in need of another refreshment. What about you, my dear?” Arthur asked, peering at you through his mask.

He had had matching masks crafted for the pair of you, mirrored after the fall season. It matched the shimmering, gold gown you were wearing. He wore the same fabric on his waist coat.

“That sounds lovely. That wine was delicious.”

“Yes, yes it was,” Arthur agreed.

Holding your wine, you took small sips, listening to Arthur make small talk with a group of men. The other women in the circle were doing the same as you, trying to bury their nose in their wine to make the conversation tolerable.

When you found your glass empty, you placed it on a tray passing by.

“Have the hors d’oeuvres come out yet?” you asked the waiter.

“Yes, ma’am, they’ve been put out on the east side of the room.”

The other woman, Alina, beside you looked excited by the news and the two of you locked eyes. Immediately, turning towards your spouses, you asked to be excused.

“Anything to get away from that boring conversation,” Alina muttered as the two of you made your way through the crowd. She was married to one of Arthur’s closest companions, so you had spent substantial time together.

You snorted and leaned in, “I don’t think the wine is working this time.”

“We just haven’t drunk enough. Thank god you have a wet nurse employed for situations such as this when you will be otherwise indisposed to do it yourself,” Alina told you, smiling.

Alina moved away from you at the table, her eye caught by something down the table that piqued her appetite. You stayed collecting your favorite and surrounding dishes.

“Old habits die hard,” Sherlock sounded from beside you, holding his own plate. He was wearing an elaborate black and gold mask.

“Did you even have to have that made or did you already have it on hand?” you jested.

“Had it for years. Never had a purpose for it until now.”

“Well, you can think me for getting you to dust it off and finally get some use out of it.”

“Is this your party?” he asked sarcastically. You resisted the urge to smack his hand. “Oh, here. These are delicious.”

He added his favorite appetizer to your plate.

“Don’t get too bold now,” you said under your breath.

“No, you’re right. That’s your area of expertise,” he responded just as quietly as the pair of you moved further down the table, opposite way from where Alina was.

“Where’s Watson?”

“Enjoying the gambling tables as per usual.”

“There are gambling tables? Here?” You were shocked. It was polite society.

“There are always gambling tables, darling,” Sherlock responded. You quickly stomped on his foot, and he grunted. “Right, ma’am. The gambling tables are just hidden in a back room.”

The two of you pulled away from the table and Sherlock took one of the appetizers in one bite. Your eyes went back to the table and saw Alina was engaged in a conversation with another wife who had also escaped to the food. Good, that gave you a few minutes. You took a quick couple of bites of different hors d’oeuvres before turning to him, leaning in.

“I am going to introduce you to Arthur.”

Sherlock choked on his bite, and you frowned. He gave a cough to clear his throat, hitting at his chest lightly.

“Are you alright?”

“Peachy,” he rasped. He swallowed and took a deep breath. When he was satisfied he could breath properly again, he leaned back in. “Have you gone mad? Do I need to send you to an asylum?”

“Don’t you see? If you are introduced, then I could invite both you and John to dinner.”

“I… I don’t see. You want me to come to your house and see you doting on him? Is this a sick game? Have I done something to offend you?”

Sighing impatiently, you pulled him even further away from the table, towards the wall. “No, it’s not a game. It’s a plan for us to see each other more often.” Even with the mask, you could see Sherlock’s eyes and he looked unmoved by the notion. “If you come to dinner, then you are a friend of the family. And if we see each other in public – or other’s see us in public, for that matter – it will not be suspicious. It won’t draw attention. We won’t have to always sneak around in the shadows. Now, do you see?”

Sherlock cleared his throat, staring back at you. After a few moments, he said, “Yes. Yes, I see.”

“You’ll have some people know your face but would that be so bad?”

His lip twitched before he answered, “No… it would not be if the end result is what you are describing.”

“So, escort me back to Arthur.”

He looked like he would rather swallow nails than hand you back over to Arthur, but he did it all the same. You told him to act natural – Sherlock quipping that he was a natural at acting natural – and you made small talk as you walked back towards the group of men and wives. Sherlock was being respectful with his distance between the two of you, like a gentlemen should with a woman. Arthur noticed the two of you coming back and his brow pinched.

“Oh, love, I brought you some of your favorites,” you told him, holding up the plate.

Arthur looked briefly down at the plate and he nodded, giving you a quick smile, taking the plate from him. But his eyes were back on Sherlock.

“And I ran into an acquaintance on my wander around the table. A friend through Dr. Watson, actually.” Arthur relaxed at that; he knew who John was and had respect for him. “Mr. Holmes.”

One of the other men in the group said, “Not the Sherlock Holmes we hear so much about in the newspapers?”

“One and the same,” Sherlock said before you could answer, giving the man a tight-lipped smile.

That broke the ice and the men’s conversation turned over to him. The plan was working out perfectly.

<><><>

“Mr. Holmes and Mr. Watson have arrived,” your head servant announced to you and Arthur sitting in the drawing room with a handful of other couples that had been invited to the dinner.

Your heart was hammering, knowing that this would be the first time Sherlock had ever stepped foot in your home. You stood to greet your guests, your hands clasped in front of you. Your servant stepped out of the way and the pair entered. Sherlock’s eyes were running over the large drawing room, and you knew he was taking in every detail that he could. You wondered what was going through his head, but you had an idea.

They approached you and Arthur welcomed them, giving them both light handshakes. You stood beside him, nodding at them politely. Sherlock’s eyes only lingered on you for a moment before he busied himself with commenting on the painting above the mantel. Arthur was all too ready to gloat about how he had come to acquire it and Sherlock was doing his best impersonation that he cared at all. You could see through the façade, but you knew it would be lost on Arthur.

“I told him to behave,” John whispered to you.

“Let’s see how long that lasts,” you whispered back.

Another couple arrived and within fifteen minutes, your servant came back to announce dinner was ready. You and Arthur left the room first, going to seat yourselves at the table, and then the procession of the guests came after you.

For the ten-course meal, you had specifically ordered woodcock for the first main course, knowing that was Sherlock’s favorite. You felt him looking at you when it was announced and presented. You purposely ignored him. And ignored him again when the dessert came out and he found trifle in front of him.

After dinner, the ladies and you retired from the dining room, the men standing at attention to bid you farewell. Sherlock’s eyes were locked on you, and you noticed John elbow him discreetly in the side. You hide your smirk, leading the ladies from the room so the men could indulge in cigars and political talk.

You hated that you could not speak to him more with customs being the sexes were separated after dinner. And only upon his departure were you allowed to speak briefly with him again. He looked like he had controlled himself on the drink – although it was always hard to tell with him since he was able to hide his indulges with it so well.

At his absence, you felt a loss. It seemed the night had gone by so quickly and with so little interaction. But at least you had seen him and he had seen you.

When you entered your bed chamber later in the evening, you found a folded note on your vanity. Sneaking a glance over your shoulder to make sure Arthur had not entered the rooms yet, you picked it up.

Scribbled inside was an address and a date. Sherlock’s handwriting.

You smiled to yourself before you noticed your perfume was missing. Sighing to yourself, you said under your breath, “If he would have just asked…”

~~~

Fic tags: @undecidedsworld @mcnegan

#sherlock holmes x reader #sherlock holmes rdj #rdj sherlock holmes #sherlock holmes #sherlock holmes movie #my shit

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alisarb · 4 years

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the nature of frenchie and kimiko’s relationship

in every frenchie-kimiko video about their relationship there’s always someone commenting how much they ship it and there’s always someone else pointing out that their relationship in the comics is like father and daughter

so, being the obsessive shipper that I am and weirdly overthinking everything about a tv show because i can’t enjoy things like normal people, i decided to write this post to defend why I think their relationship in the show (and even a bit in the comics) is anything BUT paternal, and why their relationship in tv vs. comics is so different

(please bear in mind this is my opinion and in no way i wanna force ships onto anyone, you’re free to interpret stories and ship characters however you want!!)

Okay, the first thing we learn about frenchie in the show is that he is a man of many skills: in his own words, a gunrunner by trade, but with a very particular niche. we also learn he used to be a hitman, probably, and then he talks about his victims like scars he has to carry forever. he’s the first character apart from hughie that expresses some kind of remorse in the show about killing someone up until that point in the show (and i know it’s only the second episode, but by then we’d already seen quite enough violence)

he’s a layered character from the beginning, going from what looks like a man who likes his pills way too much and who seems dangerous to someone who actually has more to offer. still, he has other personality traits that differentiate him from the rest: frenchie describes himself as a womanizer in a conversation with m.m, who he mocks for being in a loving relationship with his wife. he “goes to sleep every night next to someone different.” we’ve met cherie by then but we can assume they are not really in a relationship by this statement, more like a casual lovers situation

and then, like a joke from fate, he meets kimiko. and from the very beginning they form a connection like no other. one can argue that their earlier interactions are kinda sweet and tender and not romantic at all, but from what i see, they share the kind of intimacy that most tv couples wish they could convey without even touching. their chemistry is undeniable

on top of that, as their relationship progresses, kimiko begins to return the affection. she goes from this killing machine that can’t stand to be touched to initiate contact with (and only) frenchie, because he’s her source of comfort and reassuring. at mesmer’s, kimiko looks at him because he’s the only person that she can trust and the first one to show her kindness in who knows how long

the rest of the group is understandably wary of kimiko, as she has proved to brutal and ruthless. frenchie is the only one who understands her, and that’s why he frees her that first time: to give her a choice

in exchange, when they are at mesmer’s,he asks her to show them what he sees, and she complies. because she doesn’t trust the rest yet, but she trusts frenchie. and even with that first vision he doesn’t doubt for a second that she can’t be just a terrorist. so kimiko shares with them and relives her trauma: the murder of her parents, being removed from her home and sent to a camp with her brother, being forced to become a soldier, being injected with compound v and becoming a supe with a talent for mass murder just to be locked in a cage like an animal...

the look they share after that revelation is anything but platonic and/or paternal:

LOOK AT MM AND BUTCHER. BUTCHER IS LIKE WTF AND M.M SHRUGGED LIKE “NOTHING TO BE DONE HE’S IN LOVE YOUR HONOR”

sorry about the excitement this scene makes me wanna squeal with delight

shortly after, kimiko is watching shark week again and frenchie comes up to her to talk about vought and how they’re hurting people like they hurt her, how she could help them stop it. at first kimiko keeps staring at the TV and looks defensive, but the moment he says: “it’s your choice, if you wanna go back and look for your brother i’ll take you to the airport” she looks at him, surprised.

because he keeps giving her a choice, which is the core of their relatiionship

and, as another user pointed out in a post a while ago, if you watched the show with the captions on (as i did bc english is not my native language) as she holds his hand, you can hear and read that shark week talks about mating and how if a female shark returns the male’s feelings will make some sort of move. one could think that this was accidental but c’mon, this show doesn’t leave anything a coincidence

it’s clear from the beginning that frenchie is completely smitten with her. in fact, we see small glimpses of him literally OBSESSING over her from the beginning: he meets with cherie to get the gas to sedate kimiko and we learn he hasn’t been with her in a while. i’m sure he was plenty busy with the whole vought + kimiko situation, but at that point they were all living separately and they returned to their places even if it was less frequently than usual (and cherie seemed to spend a lot of time in his place, if not even living there)

he cooks for her when she’s chained and then later on he teaches her HOW TO BAKE my heart

I could keep listing every moment when Frenchie looks at Kimiko (because his eyes inevitably follow her at any scene) or how the rest of The Boys is so aware of what they are (”you’re dating a terrorist”/”your crazy ass girlfriend”), and (SPOILERS SEASON 2 STOP READING FOR A SECOND) in the s2 we see how Frenchie is dog tired, probably angry and frustrated, and his face automatically changes when Kimiko goes to show him the origami piece. He smiles sweetly because she makes him happy, and amidst all the chaos they are going through one of his main worries is still Kimiko and how to understand and communicate with her.

END OF SPOILRS SEASON 2

One of the last moments is in the finale, when Kimiko is finally pulling herself back together after years of abuse and mistreatment by brushing her hair, wearing pretty clothes or painting her nails. Simple acts that make her feel like she’s a person. When she comes out of the bathroom, he looks at her with pure AWE. He even says “look at you, mon coeur”, because it’s like she’s the prettiest thing he’s seen. When the gas comes into the room he pushes her into the bathroom first thing.

M.M’s face at the end when they’re surrounded and he sees Frenchie hitting his head against the wall because even though he’s been shot he only wants to go get Kimiko, I think it says everything. His face when he talks about Kimiko and how she made him a better person. The way he pulled the hair out of her face.

I really love how everything is coming together this new season, so now I’d like to address the main issue of this post: the nature of their relationship and how it’s nothing like the comics.

There’s a very basic reason to why I believe their relationship is romantic, and not only by the actors’ interactions in Instagram, or the way Amazon promotes their relationship, but because the comics are so different from the tv show.

Every character’s background story is changed, and so are their motivations, personalities and, as far as we’ve seen, their storylines. In the show they’ve made it pretty clear that Kimiko and Frenchie share a connection that resembles that of a soulmate.

And even in the comics, (spoiler) when they’re about to die, Frenchie turns around and tells her that he’s loved her since the beginning. I don’t think that’s very father-like.

In conclusion, it’s likely that they’ll make us wait for a long time before we get more romantic interaction (especially since Kimiko is growing as a character and that might mean she might need to grow on her own, which I think is great), but it’s been clear since the beginning that they are meant to be. I WILL DIE ON THIS HILL

#kimiko #frenchie x kimiko #frenchie #kimiko x frenchie #the boys #prime video #the boys prime video #they are so precious and i love them so much #they deserve everything #never thought i'd be so in deep with a straight couple again #but oh boy here we are

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fanfoolishness · 3 years

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Mandalorian live-blogging, chapter 12, the Siege!

What did the Client really want to do with Grogu? He didn’t exactly seem to be on good terms with Gideon.

Din: “I finally know where I’m taking you — away from my life but not from my heart *cryyyyyy*” — oh wait, was that not the one?

The very practiced way Din is asking Grogu to do complicated shipboard maintenance suggests this has absolutely happened how many times before?

Din is so expressive here! All his gestures! So much nodding! His “no!” Hands! Shit, maybe my storyline about Din teaching Grogu sign is being carried on right here.

This may be the longest amount of time Din Djarin has spent continuously talking in about a year. I love how Grogu brings it out of him. He’s clearly exasperated by the shitty ship, but endlessly patient with Grogu, and I love how his voice absolutely conveys both of those emotions simultaneously

The tender way he says “no no no” to Grogu is so gentle.

I also love his contentedly narrating to Grogu as a part of their daily routine

I could easily watch 20 minutes of that type of content every episode and try to include pure adorableness like that in just about every fic I write

Oh, Cara Dune... why are you such an enjoyable character played by such an obnoxious person? I’m glad Gina Carano is taking her nonsense elsewhere, especially since it was clear she’d had multiple warnings, multiple chances to educate herself, but damn, I am gonna miss Cara on screen lugging Din around like a rag doll, or just smashing people in the face. I really appreciated seeing a woman on screen with the physique and capability to be that effortlessly kickass.

Din Djarin, wearing a jetpack: scrambles off his shitty ramp with all the grace of a flying lobster

I love the dynamic of Greef and Cara and Din. I hope we at least get to see Greef again! Maybe he’ll be like “now that the town’s cleaned up, the Marshal’s moved on.” Also, since when do we have Marshal in Star Wars? I’ve seen how many SW movies how many times, and no such thing as local law enforcement, let alone local law enforcement with a Western flair? Then all of a sudden Mando S2 shows up with Cobb Vanth and Cara Dune and I’m wondering if it’s an actual legal position in the Outer Rim and like, a cultural title of Outer Rim humans on many worlds (because it sure as shit doesn’t sound like a title you’d take in the Core Worlds).

Anyway, Greef’s actual love and adoration of Grogu is the sweetest. Maybe he and Peli can start a Grogu fan club and be the founding auntie and uncle.

Still can’t believe I missed that statue of IG-11 until I saw it pointed out here on tumblr.

Just think of how this is probably the first time Din’s been around this many children since Sorgan. And Sorgan kids had it different, they had a world that loved and protected them, and a place they could freely be above ground, and so that was fine; and Din had thought the children of his covert, the foundlings, they were fine too. But then it turns out it wasn’t true, the foundlings weren’t safe, they were slaughtered. And this is Nevarro, a township that wasn’t Home, but was nonetheless home to his people; and he remembers a little school in their hidden, simple covert for the foundlings in their training helmets; and he’s both heartened and pained that this group of children, at least, are able to be schooled in a safe place.

Din trusts these people as much as he’s trusted any non-Mandalorians, and it’s a lot! He knows he can ask them for help with the ship, he knows they saved his life and Grogu’s. And yet still see how unsure he is to leave Grogu at the school! He knows they don’t mean harm, he sees how beautiful and well-used the school is, he knows it should be safe... but he still stares after Grogu, barely looking at Cara, wanting to follow him. “Wherever I go, he goes,” says Din desperately, barely bearing to trust that anyone else could keep the kid safe like he could.

I keep thinking I need to write a fic of him flying off to go get Grogu at the end, now that I’m rewatching it, perhaps now is the time!

I’d love to have some of these kids’ Star Wars hairstyles

Hey! The Maelstrom! I know that! You know Han Solo did the Kessel Run in under 12 parsecs? And I love correcting people when they think SW didn’t know what they were talking about? Parsecs ARE a unit of distance and that’s what Han meant because of the Maelstrom! He got dang freaking close to it! Anyway I’m just very excited because y’all do realize they built the Sun Crusher in the Maelstrom? Anyone here read those books?

Grogu is such a little shit! and he really did just say “Patu,” huh

I love Greef’s beard. I love it! Are we saying it enough? It’s great!

So is Nevarro basically an asteroid? Are they seriously flying to the other side of the planet for this? Maybe it’s tiny? How can Din fly over half a planet on a jetpack? Nevarro must be a galactic pebble.

I could watch Din just get in and out of vessels all day long

Din is just so excited to use the Phoenix and I love that he’s not that good at it but loves it anyway. “Hold tight”

Lava tide? The hell is this shit planet.

Din is not impressed by stormtroopers one little bit. I love him standing there all nonchalant.

Din is just sooooo shiny in this episode.

Cast it into the fire, Isildur!

Why do these bases never have guard rails for these giant drops

The Mythrol asked the same question 1.3 seconds later

Mythrol? Cracks of doom? Mithril??? A coincidence? Surely not

Greef I love your outfit so much

Yeaaaaaaah get those Snoke-looking bitches outta here

Din with a horrible sinking feeling... “I don’t like this...”

Din is heavily regretting letting this man live rn

Din must have been seeing. FUcking. RED

You know if they stop building their hallways with fucking COVER the stormtroopers won’t keep getting killed in them by enemy assailants with better weapons and aim

Din running to get his son <3

Cara SMASH and I love it

Din, you flew away over the LAVA? That is so badass. And I love his very clumsy superhero landing. And taking a running leap off the top of the lava flat

I love that Cara doesn’t quite get the whole kid thing, but totally supports Din in his love of fatherhood

Cara would be GREAT at driving the Mako

I do love how often environmental hazards take out scouttroopers on their speeder bikes. Like, no shit! You’re a human trying to go 300 miles an hour? Since when is our reaction time capable of that???

Dammit TIE fighters! They’re much more intimidating on a planet, actually. They pack a serious punch when you aren’t shooting ship-sized lasers back at them

Yes!!! The shitty little Razor Crest that could!

And Grogu’s excitement! He trusts Din so much now that it doesn’t even enter his mind they might be in danger. He just knows Din’s here, we’re gonna have fun, I trust him.

And think how much Grogu has grown since S1. He would have been hiding in the back with all of that excitement beforehand, not excited and waving his hands and giggling

Din is just... resigned to Grogu being sick. And he could clean Grogu up and go back to see Greef, but he just wants to make sure the kid’s okay... especially after what he’s just learned about Moff Gideon.

I do miss the slower pacing of S2. I would have liked another episode in between this and The Jedi where Din just sort of processes and deals with all of this new information.

Oh hurr hurr wait I write fanfic

I like that some of these Imps don’t have the Coruscanti accent. They’re just like... y’know, American.

Gideon is so childishly pleased by his Darktroopers, like get over yourself, dingus

If Favreau took this episode I wonder if that means he wanted to make sure all the mythology and shit is going according to plan. Or maybe I’ve just been watching too much X-Files. If Chris Carter wrote an ep, it was mythology ONLY, and that was it.

The end! Maybe I’ll write tomorrow :)

#the mandalorian #the mandalorian liveblog #mandalorian #mando #din djarin #Greef Karga #Cara dune #grogu #Nevarro #my mando meta

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tinumiel · 3 years

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Time for the tea aka I just finished Rule of Wolves

Spoiler alert...I...was kind of really disappointed by it :/

NEEDLESS TO SAY THERE’S SPOILERS OVER SPOILERS FOR KING OF SCARS AND RULE OF WOLVES BELOW THE READ MORE...Also a long ass essay no one asked for, I just needed to vent.

General Impression.

I was kind of disappointed, because the duology was sold as a Nikolai Lantsov duology, and while I definitely felt that was delivered in King of Scars, I feel like in Rule of Wolves he just sort of became a secondary character to the stories of others like Nina and Zoya (which don’t get me wrong, I love that they gain protagonism, but then why sell the whole thing as Nikolai centered?). That said, I loved Nina’s entire storyline and really enjoyed the Shu Han plot (which I think sets up quite nicely for a new, independent storyline).

Things I DID NOT like.

First I’ll speak of things that I didn’t like but more because of personal preferences. That is, things I didn’t like, but I can see why other did enjoy.

Zoyalai. I guess this has a lot to do with the fact that I am a Nikolina shipper first and a human being second and it’s hard for me to let go of a ship once I’ve invested myself in it. I wanted to like Zoyalai, and I did for the majority of King of Scars, but in Rule of Wolves, it suddenly started to feel kind of forced to me. I think they have a lot of things in common, but differ in very fundamental aspects that on the long run simply wouldn’t make them work. But more than that, I felt like their entire lovestory in Rule of Wolves was basically some kind of Nikolina AU in which everything that a very large chunk of the fandom wanted to see with Nikolai x Alina, was given to Zoya x Nikolai. It almsot felt as if Leigh Bardugo said “Oh well, the fans really wanted to see this, but since I gave the character they wanted to see in it a different ending, I’ll just give it to them but with a different character” and Zoya was just the one available for the plot. They did have some cute moments and I definitely do enjoy their relationship, but more as confidents and friends than lover interests.

Zoya’s storyline. I feel like Zoya was done dirty in Rule of Wolves, which is kind of ironic considering she ends the story with pretty much everything she dreamed of and more. But i felt like in King of Scars, Zoya went through a very interesting journey. She was always this character than sticks almost stubbornly into a certain way things should be, she doesn’t like stepping out of her comfort zone because she likes to feel in control. And in King of Scars she went through a journey in which she gradually learned to step outside the box. But I felt like for the most of Rule of Wolves, she simply reverted back, completely ignoring her changes in the previous book, until the very last minute in which she has this sudden epiphany moment about letting go, which seemed unnecessary to me since she had already experienced it in King of Scars. Secondly, on a similar note with the whole Zoyalai being a Nikolina AU with a different character, I felt like in Rule of Wolves Zoya was simply shoved into the alternate role many of us hoped to see Alina in. Not just as Nikolai’s partner, but as a person. Think of it, she gained this power no one else possesses, she becomes pretty much one of a kind, she becomes a queen that represent reunification. It’s basically as if she became a version of what Alina could have been, but with a different personality. A soldier queen? Alina was a soldier. A grisha queen? Alina was grisha. A suli queen? Alina was not half suli, but she is half shu, which are pretty much equally discriminated against. And finally, there’s this part in which I think it’s Nikolai refers to her as “Soldier. Summoner. Saint”. Sounds familiar? Because it’s the exact same words written on every cover of the Shadow and Bone trilogy, referring to Alina. It makes me very upset that they gave Zoya this discarded storyline for Alina instead of building up her own storyline (Not to mention: it did Alina equally dirty because she lost all of those conditions because Mal couldn’t handle being in the shadow of someone extraordinary, but that’s another story).

Not for things I didn’t like, but for much more rational reasons.

The Darkling. When I finished reading King of Scars, I thought bringing him back was a pretty good plotwist. But it was also a tricky choice, because it coul fall into the “He was such a appealing villain tor readers in the first trilogy, I’ll bring him back to have the same success” trap. And that’s exactly what happen. I feel like if a villain (or any character really) is going to be brought back, then they have to fill in a different role from the one they originally occupied. The Darkling is basically the same. Even his conditions aren’t fundamentally that different once he gets his powers back. All the Darkling really needs are his powers, his tongue and a group of people desperate enough for someone to follow. And he had all of those things in Rule of Wolves, so it was simply repetitive. It was like the Darkling, but in rags.Plus it didn’t feel so much as a storyline, but more like a constant reminder of “LOOK HOW EVIL HE IS HE NEVER CARED FOR ANYONE. THAT QUOTE YOU PEOPLE LOVE SO MUCH ABOUT CHANGING THE WORLD IS ACTUALLY MEANINGLESS LOOK HOW MUCH HE SUCKS”. Like, I don’t need to be reminded he’s a bad guy, I am fully capable of knowing this and still liking his character. He’s a fictional character, I don’t need to be reminded of it. I’m capable of rational thought. Not to mention his ending felt like a huge nothing. “And he impaled himself to a tree”. It just felt like more of an excuse to set up for a Six of Crows #3 book. It’s just disrespectful to the fascinating character from Shadow and Bone. It basically took away everything that made him such a good character.

David dying.Fine, not much rational reasons here. It’s just doing my baby dirty. Why, oh why is Mal still alive, boring, toxic Mal who spent most of his time putting his love interest down; while David, sweet David who compromised and made an effort to do things that would make his wife happy even though it was hard for him, dies? It’s just cruel.

All in all, I felt like the Ravka storyline pretty much fell apart in Rule of Wolves. I almsot felt tempted to skip it if it wasn’t because I didn’t want to miss any Nikolai quotes. I felt like Leigh Bardugo doesn’t really know what to do with the characters, and it became pretty obvious to me during the titanium heist with the special guest starring of the Crows. In like two chapters, I felt like Kaz, Jesper and Wylan were more smoothly written than any of the Ravkans. Which was really sad for me, considering how Nikolai is my favorite character in the entire verse, and Zoya was such an amazing character in the original series (and in KOS too).

What I DID LIKE.

Nina’s storlyine. Just, all of it. It was exciting, and dynamic, and you could perceive Nina’s character arc while still never straying into ooc territory. The way her griedf was treated, her loyalties, her desire to fight, her desire for revenge but also her desire to honor Matthias’s memory. All of it was so flawlessly written. I thought I’d be bored with her stuck in the Ice Court, but it was the storyline I actually enjoyed the most. The Fjerdan intrigues and political battles, and Nina in the midst of it. trying to do what was best for her country and the people she loved. I love what was done to her character.

On the same note, I love Nina and Hanne. This, unlike my problem with Zoyalai, is a case in which, while I adored an original ship, I actually ended up enjoying the new one. Matthias and Nina were perfect for each other. But I loved how Hanne came to offer a new love. (I’m not sure if I should refer Hanny as she or he, so I’ll just use they until I get a better notion of what pronouns the character identifies with). It genuinely felt like they were not a replacement for Matthias, or an upgrade. They were a love interest on their own, with their own story, not a “what if” version of another love story. Plus, Hanne is just objectively great.

The Shu-Han storyline. I didn’t even know I needed it, but it was so fascinating to read about the Shu. I find there is a lot to unpack and I really hope in the future, Leigh Bardugo will write a new series following those characters. I loved Mayu and Ehri and grandmother Leyti. Plus, Mahki would make a great antagonist. And it would suppose a new colorfun addition to the countries we already know well, like Ravka and Fjerda, plus the city of Ketterdam.

The Crows. I know it was probably pure fan service, but I love just how well written they are, how you can really tell that Leight Bardugo has the complete hang and understanding of the characters. Plus, it’s always nice to see how my babies are doing.

FINAL THOUGHTS

All in all, I felt that the book had some highlights, but some decisions just pretty much ruined it for me. I hope the good parts are picked up and carried on in different sagas, and the rest...well, I guess I’ll keep on pretending the Ravka story finished when Alina and Nikolai were watching the stars fall and from then on, imagine they got marries, became an awesome power couple, and were the godparents of all of Genya and David’s beautiful, clever children. While Zoya looked upon all of them like “These are a pack of idiots but they are my pack of idiots and I am so proud”.

If you read this rant until the end, you’re awesome. If you liked Rule of Wolves, damn you are so lucky and I am glad you enjoyed it like I wish I had. But at least we can all join together under one common thought: Jarl Braum is a little bitch.

#shadow and bone #king of scars #rule of wolves #leigh bardugo #nikolai lantsov #zoya nazyalensky #nina zenik #grishaverse #out the door (ooc)#thaly trash

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the-working-class-guide-to-films · 4 years

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Tenet-No Spoilers

I am a massive Christopher Nolan fan. I’m a fanboy, I’ll admit. Nolan, for me, is the goat. I don’t think there’s a director out there today that can create movies like he does, the way he does it. The mix of pure spectacle, blockbuster action using real effects, combined with interesting characters and personal, real stories is something that is rarely achieved in the film industry today.

John David Washington is The Protagonist, who after a mission goes wrong is recruited by a secret organisation, Tenet, to prevent the end of the world. He learns that there is a technology in the future that allows objects to be reversed through time and that people are buying these and selling them on the black market. Objects such as inverted bullets that cause much more damage than regular ones.

There has been criticism of Tenet that it is too complicated and confusing. And yes, this is definitely the most complex Nolan film to date. The inverted/reverse time business is quite bizarre and takes a while to get your head round but towards the end it certainly becomes a little easier to understand. The plot itself however is more complicated. All Nolan films are complex and there are always clues throughout that you won’t notice on the first watch that you will on the second. But the plots aren’t as difficult to understand than Tenet. With Tenet, I think the second watch will be to understand what you didn’t from the first one, and then on the third viewing it will click. Maybe, maybe some people got it straightaway, maybe some people won’t get it on the third. I think the film, and this isn’t just a criticism of Tenet, but of most films, is that the dialogue at times was difficult to understand. It’s hard to get your head round this in the first place, never mind when you can’t make out what they are saying. During the more exposition scenes it was hard to make out what was going on, and Tenet needed these scenes to be clear in order for the viewers to maybe get a better understanding of the plot. My biggest criticism of Tenet however is that it lacks the human side of his films, especially in comparison to his other films. Not that I went in over-hyped because I never think that is a good idea. And maybe the film was his homage to the spy genre where it wasn’t intending us to care as much about the characters. But in all his films, and however epic the scenes we always care about the character, that I feel is the main part of the film, it is what we are drawn to. Whether that be magicians in the Victorian era, a caped crusader, three layers deep in a dream or floating through space; it is the human element that always keeps the film grounded. I felt that Tenet didn’t strike that balance. And that’s not to say that John David Washington wasn’t good, because he was fantastic, but I didn’t necessarily care about his character because he didn’t have anything personal for us to relate to. In Inception and Interstellar, the two main characters are fighting to see their children again. It’s personal, it shows the human side. Washington’s character didn’t have that, it was him saving the world, and yes that’s brave and courageous, but why, why did he care? What was HE fighting for? And that was what disappointed me the most about Tenet because that side of Nolan is I think the most under appreciated. I LOVE the set pieces, the action, the mind-boggling plot, but the human side is what brings it all home. I was blown away during Interstellar with the visual side of it, the black hole, the waves, all of that. But it is when Matthew McConaughey’s character breaks down seeing his grown up daughter via a TV or reuniting with her at the end of the movie that overshadows everything else. Tenet didn’t have these personal moments and that was a real shame.

No doubt about it, Tenet is the biggest Nolan film to date. It is honestly huge. No matter how confused you may, or may not get, you won’t be bored. It’s a lot of fun. In most action films you’d expect to see maybe 2 or 3 small action sequences followed by the big kick ass action sequence at the end. Tenet has 4 or 5 big kick ass action sequences. The opening of previous Nolan films, The Dark Knight and The Dark Knight Rises really set the standard for opening sequences in action movies, Tenet follows suit and kicks off from there without skipping a beat. A lot of the scenes involve the inverted time structure, where the object is going backwards in time (I think that’s how it works), it’s incredible to watch.

It’s absolute madness. I don’t think I’ve seen something like it before. If I have, not to this extent. It’s barmy, but it is fantastic. Technically it’s a delight. The whole plane scene has been talked about, how Nolan bought a real plane to crash instead of just using visual effects. That’s the standard that action films should be aiming for. Yes, visual effects are a work of art, there is no denying it and I certainly won’t be shitting on it that some people do. I am incredibly envious of the skill. But there is something magical about watching real effects, and it’s become part of Nolan’s signature.

Away from the jaw-dropping action scenes and the incredible technical ability on show the acting is fantastic. John David Washington is superb in this and should hopefully cement his name as an A-list. His character has it all, cool, scary, witty, he captures all of this. And it isn’t just his acting that is top notch but it is a very physically demanding role which as you might expect from a former American Football player, you might expect. I don’t think there are many actors who could have struck the balance quite like JDW did. Sure, an actor like Daniel Day-Lewis could do the acting, but he couldn’t do the physical side. Dwayne Johnson could do the physical side, but he can’t act. Washington achieves both terrifically. There is a huge, and brilliant supporting cast in Tenet, most notably Robert Pattinson, Elizabeth Debicki and Kenneth Branagh who each bring something different and exciting. Nolan comes under criticism for portrayals of women in his films which is something I don’t necessarily agree with but in this Debicki’s character is the one who we probably care about the most and it is her character that brings the humanity to the story.

4/5 Now I’ve had a day to digest it, and now I have written this review, I’m really excited to watch it again. If it wasn’t for COVID I would probably watch it about 4 times. Maybe on subsequent showings I could give it slightly lower (although I’ve tried to be impartial) maybe I’ll think it is better once I understand it more. Yes it is a shame that the human side of the film is lacking slightly, but the technical ability on showing will blow you away. No matter how confused you are, you won’t be bored.

p.s There has been criticisms from some corners of the film industry saying that Nolan, and the studios, are irresponsible for releasing Tenet as the film to bring cinema-goers back, especially when the film is complex. Why would the audience want to watch a film they can’t understand? Now I have an issue with this. Critics slam the Fast and Furious franchise because it is over the top, silly, action fuelled, spectacle garbage. Critics will also jizz over films such as Midsommar, The Shining, The Lighthouse for their complex and interesting storylines. Now I love these films, but what exactly are those films about, and would you know directly coming out of the cinema. Would the link between Greek Mythology, Prometheus and giving knowledge to civilisation be known to you when you came out of The Lighthouse? Probably not. Isn’t there like a whole documentary on The Shining because there are so many fan theories? That film is weird af. I’ve always found an issue of classism within the film industry, especially when reviewing certain films. Action films are seen as dumb, lowest common denominator garbage, and yet odd artsy stuff is seen as the pinnacle of film. Nolan somehow manages to get these both together and yet now they criticism him when this complex stuff is the shit they love. Now critics want a film like Fast and Furious to bring people back, but you know they’d shit on it at any other point. Maybe Nolan can do no right, people have called his films obnoxious because they are too smart. Well maybe these people mistake the intelligence of the general viewer? Who knows, I’m just mad the Nolan hasn’t won a Best Director award, or hasn’t even got a knighthood when people like Ed Sheeran or Phillip Green have?

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ahhsokka · 3 years

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Star Wars: Light of the Jedi — Review

Reading Dates: 08/16 - 08/18/2021 Word Count for Review: 1880

TL;DR: This is a must-read for the High Republic era. It mostly feels like exposition for follow-up projects instead of its own story, but it is still a good book and an enjoyable read. Main criticism is that we get too much information for one book. Important to note that the Jedi are cool.

INTRODUCTION Welcome to the era of the High Republic, a golden age of peace and prosperity throughout the galaxy. Charles Soule authored this first installation for the project: Light of the Jedi. We follow a brand new cast of characters in the galaxy as they navigate the immediate aftermath of the Great Disaster and the rise of the Nihil, the villains of the High Republic project. In this review, I’ll give a vague and brief summary of the book and then dive into my compliments and criticisms of it.

SUMMARY PART ONE Part One focuses purely on the Great Disaster, beginning with the event that caused it and ending with a last-ditch effort by the Jedi to save the entire Hetzal system. Billions of lives are on the line, and the countdown until impact clock at the beginning of each chapter reminds us how close everyone is to death. Soule introduces us to the main cast of characters that feature not only in this book but also in the whole of the High Republic project. Some of these new faces include Avar Kriss, Loden Greatstorm and his Padawan Bell Zettifar, Nib Assek and her Padawan Burryaga Agaburry, and Chancellor Lina Soh. Brilliant technician Keven Tarr, the Hetzal government, and a fleet of Jedi work together to keep peace on the planet, blow up debris, and save lives. By the end, the overwhelming sentiment is “it could’ve been worse.” Although casualties in the Hetzal system were kept to a minimum, the people of Ab Dalis were not as lucky—twenty million people were killed without a shred of hope for salvation.

PART TWO Finally, we meet “the big bad”—the Nihil. A ragtag group of marauders led by three Tempest Runners and their Eye, Marchion Ro. Throughout Part Two, Soule briefly dives into the history and organization of the Nihil, how they become a powerful group after they first received ‘the paths’ from Ro’s father, and where they are headed from here following their own involvement in the Great Disaster. As Marchion Ro attempts to gain more power within the Nihil, the Jedi and the Republic are working on two main problems: solve the mystery behind the Great Disaster and make sure it never happens again. Towards the end, a third task is added to that list: bring down the Nihil.

PART THREE Now that the Republic knows about the Nihil involvement in the Great Disaster, they focus their attention on snuffing the group out and maintaining peace in the Outer Rim before the opening ceremony of Starlight Beacon. While transporting a flight recorder that is instrumental to learning more about the Great Disaster, a fleet of Republic ships encounters the Nihil. Tempest Runner Kassav Milliko was sent by Marchion Ro to intercept the fleet, but he was vastly underprepared for their numbers. Although he was essentially being sent to battle as a sacrifice, Kassav led his warriors in the dirtiest fight the Republic had ever seen, killing many of their troops. Despite their efforts, his entire Tempest perished. The Republic successfully opens Starlight Beacon, but they do so with the knowledge that a great threat could be waiting around the corner.

COMPLIMENTS I would like to make it very clear that I enjoyed reading this novel. Charles Soule was handed a tall task in opening up an entirely new era. He had to make it compelling enough for readers to stay engaged with the story he was trying to tell while also building up the setting of an unexplored time period. Some planets and concepts will be familiar to fans, but for the most part, the structure of the universe is different from what we’ve known. Although I have some criticism for this book, I believe that Charles Soule and the rest of the Project Luminous team successfully created this new era. I want to know more about the characters and what the universe was like for people at this time. We only know of the galaxy at war; what does it look like at peace?

By far, my favorite part of Light of the Jedi was, of course, the Jedi. The way that the Force is perceived by each individual—as a song, a forest, and an endless ocean—is so beautiful. (Whenever Avar Kriss would mention the song that she hears in her head, I would get chills imagining it.) The bond between Padawan and Master was well done and seems to be a common theme not just for this story but many others in the High Republic project (for example, the High Republic comic by Cavan Scott). Loden Greatstorm and Bell Zettifar are by far one of the most fascinating pairings. Burryaga, a Wookiee Jedi, and his sensitivity to the emotions of others saves the lives of many people and will be a fascinating character to follow in the future (mainly because we so rarely see Force sensitive Wookiees). The High Republic is truly when the Jedi are at their peak; they are the light; there is no other interpretation. (Although I fear that will change as we learn more.)

We are all the Republic. Chancellor Lina Soh is a breath of fresh air from the Clone Wars politics that fans are used to. She clearly loves the Republic and makes decisions which she believes will only benefit its future. It seems that many of the people she works with also hold the same ideals, and I genuinely am excited to learn where it all goes wrong. As horrible as that sounds, only a couple of centuries later, we get Chancellor Palpatine and the Galactic Empire, so clearly something went wrong—what will Lina Soh sacrifice for peace, and how does it go awry?

As for the Nihil: Marchion Ro is honestly terrifying. Soule clearly spent a lot of time developing this storyline to turn the Nihil from being a disorganized group of thieves and murderers to essentially becoming a crime syndicate. Ro almost feels like Maul in his planning skills and adaptability and his cruelty and temper. Obviously, Maul is one of the most beloved Star Wars villains, so I wonder if they used him as a template for Ro. Without their Eye, the Nihil are quite rowdy and kind of dumb, which made them less threatening, in my opinion. They make many mistakes, are selfish, and basically have no impulse control (at least the ones we interact with the most). Initially, that was a criticism, but the rise of Marchion Ro most certainly makes it clear why the Nihil needed to be like this. They aren’t threats until they have a cut-throat, meticulous leader at the helm.

CRITICISMS My biggest criticism is that we know too much as readers. There’s no mystery or puzzle for us to figure out alongside the characters. We understand the story for the most part and have to watch it play out as expected. Although I felt for Captain Hedda Casset and was glad to read her story, I wish that we got it later in the book, or maybe we heard about it through the flight recorder (which didn’t play as big of a role as I expected). The flight recorder acts as a metaphor for most of the book in that way. Something that we’re told is important, but it doesn’t feel that way by the end.

The Great Disaster was horrific, for sure. Billions of people died, and that will be felt for years to come in the galaxy. However, once again, it didn’t feel that way while reading. The Jedi coming in and saving the day and successfully preventing the deaths of an entire planetary system, although an excellent introduction for the Jedi Order, took away from the impact of the event. Even the way it was handled afterward felt clinical and detached. Keven Tarr was the one exception, in my eyes, who conveyed the urgency in solving the situation, but his point of view was unfortunately rare.

This metaphor applies to the Nihil as well. We know so much about them that their intrigue is gone. The most important beats of their recent history with the Eye has already been revealed. The fact that they did start out as a small-time gang who are just now evolving into something greater is exciting, but I personally would’ve liked to see that in a separate story. Peeling away the layers of a villain is much more interesting than getting most of the information immediately. In the grander scheme of the High Republic narrative, the Nihil had the best introduction to explain why they are threats. However, Light of the Jedi as a single story in that narrative suffered as a result. The villain didn’t feel like a villain.

To round it all out, there are a lot of characters. I honestly recommend using some memory trick to remember the names (personally, I grouped or paired them together). One great part of this book is that it doesn’t shy away from death, but at the same time, that made it difficult to get attached to characters. Either I didn’t get to spend enough time with a character and their companions, or I actively didn’t get attached to a character because I didn’t know if they were important enough. As a result, the losses weren’t felt as much. I understood that it was a significant loss, but I didn’t feel it. (Big spoiler) The death of Jora Malli is an example of this, and the only reason I felt anything was because of Master Sskeer’s reaction.

That may be a criticism that only I have, and honestly, it’s pretty minor in the grand scheme of things. Charles Soule did a great job introducing this era. I can still say I enjoyed reading the book, and at the end of the day, that’s all that really matters.

CONCLUSION Ultimately, Light of the Jedi sometimes feels like an exposition-heavy Marvel movie. Not bad at all, just a different story structure. It’s a stepping stone for other stories in the High Republic era. I have already read some other High Republic content and all of it benefited from the information in this book. This is ground zero, an absolute must-read for the High Republic. However, it sometimes is just too much information. I certainly enjoyed learning about this era, and I’m looking forward to reading everything else, some of these stories and characters could’ve been introduced later on, in my opinion.

But hey, I’m not a fiction author, so I definitely don’t know if any of my thoughts or ideas would’ve made a better story. This is honestly a best-case scenario for the first work in this universe. I wasn’t confused while reading, and even though I didn’t get attached to all of the characters, there were indeed some that I immediately latched on to (cough cough looking at you, Bell and Loden). All in all, it’s exciting to have brand new characters in a different period. I love the Skywalker saga—it’s our origin as Star Wars fans—, but this is a massive universe, and it’s good for everyone’s mental health to explore other parts of it.

Rating: [ 7 / 10 ]

Note: Hello! This is my first proper book review. I’m obviously still trying to get the hang of it, so if you have any constructive comments, please drop a note; it’s appreciated. :) I’m trying to fly through all of the current High Republic content so that I’m ready for the new stuff, so expect more reviews, among other things that are in the works. Thanks for reading!

#spoilers light of the jedi #star wars #the high republic #star wars the high republic #light of the jedi #light of the jedi review #book review

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rachaelslibrary · 3 years

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February Wrap-Up

Hello everyone. Wow it really has been a while since I’ve posted anything but I had my best reading month in pretty much ever this month so I feel duty bound to do a wrap-up. I also really do plan on posting more this year (which I say every year) but I really do mean it.

This month I read a total of 7 books, three of which were for my English Lit class but I am totally counting them because they were long and took me a bit to get through. The class is weird because some weeks I only have to read like 15 pages, but others I have to read like 250. Anyways, I’m pretty impressed with myself because on top of work and school, I was also busy moving into my new house this month. But that’s besides the point. Here are the seven books I read for the month of February.

1. The Epic of Gilgamesh by ???

I’m sure you can guess that this was for my English Lit class. It’s a classic, and I know I’ve read part of it before for a class in high school but this was my first time reading it all the way through. It was alright. Really repetitive and Gilgamesh was kind of a little whiny at times. I’m not going to give it a star rating, just because I don’t think it would be fair to grade this purely based on my enjoyment.

2. The Odyssey by Homer

Another one for my English lit class, and also one that I had to read part of for high school, but I did enjoy this one more than Gilgamesh. Maybe it’s because I’m familiar with the storyline due to Percy Jackson, or maybe because it’s Greek mythology and I have a thing for anything in that category. Either way, I didn’t entirely mind having to read 250 very, very thin pages of this book. Again, I’m not going to give it a star rating, but it definitely ranks the highest of the ones I’ve read so far for my class.

3. Resistance Reborn (Journey to Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker) by Rebecca Roanhorse

I was in a Star Wars mood for a solid week this month, so I re-watched a lot of the movies and picked this up. This story takes place before movies 8 and 9 and follows the main characters as they try to rebuild after being decimated by the First Order. I love Poe Dameron, he’s one of my favorite characters in the entire Star Wars universe so I was excited that this would be more Poe-centric, but a lot of the times he felt out of character. It was like reading a watered down version of the character from the movies. The book was enjoyable, but rather surface level, and while Rebecca Roanhorse did a good job of crafting a whole new Star Wars story, it ultimately felt like it could be skipped. I was looking for a nice build up to the 9th movie, and this just felt like a weird fanfiction one shot.

3/5 stars.

4. Oedipus the King

Ever heard of an Oedipus complex? This is the origin. Poor Oedipus receives a prophecy that he will kill his father and marry his mother, so he decides to leave home and never see his parents again to prevent that from happening. The catch? He was secretly adopted, runs into his real father on the road not knowing who he is, kills him, and then goes and marries his mother not knowing who she is. I didn’t expect to enjoy this but I found myself feeling really bad for Oedipus who was just trying to do the right thing. Even though it was for my English Lit class, I’m glad I read it. Will I ever read it again? Probably not, but at least now I know the origin story behind the psychology.

5. Plain Bad Heroines by Emily M. Danforth

If you’re looking for a creepy story with a ton of queer relationships, this is the book for you. In the early 1900s at the Brookhants School for Girls, a string of mysterious deaths occurred. Fast forward to the present, and Merritt Emmons has written a book about the deaths and supposed curse that surrounds the school. The book is now being made into a movie and as the cast arrives to begin filming, weird, creepy things begin to happen to them as well, making them wonder if the place really was haunted. It’s a story within a story within a story, and a lot of it genuinely creeped me out in a good way. I enjoyed both the 1900s timeline and the present day timelines presented in the book, and I enjoyed almost everything about this book. It was a five star read for me up until the last 100 pages because it had a very dissatisfying ending that left a lot of questions and overall just didn’t feel wrapped up at all. It felt like the author realized how many pages she had written and thought that she needed to wrap it up in the next 10 pages. Not a bad book at all, but there’s just too much to be desired with the ending.

4/5 stars.

6. A Court of Silver Flames by Sarah J. Maas

This was one of my most anticipated books of the year and I am so glad to report that I really really liked it. I’ll be honest, not much happened to continue the overarching plot of this series, but that didn’t stop it from being an enjoyable book. This is told entirely from Nesta and Cassian’s point of view as they train and fight and just learn to be around each other every hour of the day. I didn’t like Nesta in the original trilogy and found her to be very bitchy but this book explains it all and does an excellent job of it. It’s a book about hurting, depression, healing, PTSD, and love. And it is DIRTY. Easily the sauciest of any of Sarah J. Maas’ books. As I was reading it I kept thinking to myself “is this what it’s like to read adult romances?” I haven’t been able to answer that question for myself yet, but I didn’t hate it. I also love Cassian so much, so any book that he was a central character I already knew I was going to love. Is it a literary masterpiece? No. Does it become the Rhys and Feyre show occasionally?” Yes. But could I overlook the little problems and just enjoy the story? Absolutely. The more I read it the more I realized that this whole series just has such a special place in my heart.

4/5 stars

7. American Royals by Katharine McGee

This is a contemporary story that answers the question, what if George Washington was made king during the American Revolution? American Royals follows three royal siblings, the heir, Beatrice, and her younger siblings Samantha and Jeff as they navigate what it means to be royal as young adults. Jeff and Sam are straight out of high school and trying to decide what they’re going to do with their lives, and Beatrice is under pressure to start dating and get married before she eventually inherits the throne. The story also follows Nina, Sam’s best childhood friend who has always had a crush on Jeff, and Jeff’s ex-girlfriend Daphne as the two fight over him. Although this book was predictable at times, I still enjoyed it. It was a light, fluffy read that got me through my book hangover after a Court of Silver Flames. If it was an eight book series I probably wouldn’t continue, but there’s only one sequel so I’ll probably pick it up over the next few months.

3/5 stars

#reading #wrap up #gilgamesh #the odyssey #plain bad heroines #emily m danforth #star wars #rebecca roanhorse #oedipus #a court of silver flames #acotar #sarah j maas #american royals #katharine mcgee #books

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snakeboistan · 4 years

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WHUMPTOBER DAY TEN: THEY LOOK SO PRETTY WHEN THEY BLEED

Blood Loss I Internal Bleeding I Trail Of Blood

Ao3

“I just can’t wait,” Nagisa said, eyes alight with childish eagerness and an excited smile radiating off of his face, “I mean I’ve heard rumours that Sonic Ninja was going to get a TV show but when the trailer was released this morning - it was just so good and I’ve watched it like fifty times already. I mean everything about it was so perfect and it teased so many things from the comics that the movies missed out on - like there was this one scene that showed a building that looked like the orphanage where one of the characters’ mother was raised which is so cool because the movies didn’t really go that much into the backstories of the older generation that much. Oh and there was like this one part where the camera pans over the headquarters and it looks all destroyed but there’s this emblem on the floor that is the same one that the third Sonic Ninja wore in the League Of Cats Saga - which was one of my favourite storylines. I’ve already got like a ton of theories.”

“Well, you sound excited,” Sugino teased with amusement, smiling at the way his best friend always got so lost in his adoration of his favourite franchise. It was hard to tell if the rosy hue on the shorter boy’s face was because he was embarrassed at his enthusiasm or because of the biting cold of the Japanese winter but it was adorable regardless.

“Heh, yeah I am,” Nagisa agreed sheepishly, rubbing the back of his neck with an arm. He pierced another chocolate sauce covered mini pancake with his fork and plopped it into his mouth, closing his eyes in contentment at the warmth that covered his tongue, “I do get a bit carried away when it comes to superheroes.”

“There’s nothing wrong with that,” Sugino said as he threw the now empty box of pancakes into a trash can that they just passed, “It’s normal to get excited about the things that interest you. I mean, have you seen how I get about baseball. It’s not a normal week in my house if mum doesn’t offer taking me to a therapist at least once. Besides it’s nice to see you talk about the things you love, you rarely do in class. I bet you’re counting down the days until the premiere, huh?”

“Yeah, I am. Next Saturday is marked on my calendar. Well, next Sunday technically.”

“Oh, why’s that?”

“It’s a Netflix show and since I don��t have Netflix I’ll have to use my regular streaming site, which always uploads on the day after.”

“You could just use mine,” Sugino shrugs simply, casually placing his hands in his pockets, “you’re more than welcome to.”

“Wha-no Sugino,” Nagisa stopped dead in his tracks and Sugino was worried that the sudden movement would’ve made him slip on the snow-turned-sludge that caked the pavement, “I-you really don’t need to do that. I’m fine really. One day isn’t going to make that much of a difference.”

The black-haired boy gave an all-suffering sigh at the other’s words, knowing for a fact what was coming, “listen man, it’s no big deal. You’re practically family anyway. My parents and brother love you, you know that.”

“Doesn’t mean that I can freeload off of you,” Nagisa mumbled.

“You’re not freeloading if I’m offering,” Sugino gave him a light whack on the back of his head, “and if it really means that much to you then you could just come over and we can watch the first episode together.”

Nagisa looked at him and gave a small smile, “okay, but I’ll have to ask my mum first, though.”

“Great.”

“If she lets me, though, you have to let me pay for the snacks.”

“Wha-Nagisa.”

“Hey, you’re paying for the account, I’m paying for the food. It’s the very least I could do.”

“Hm, you’re not going to drop this, are you?”

“No,” Nagisa replied brightly.

“Alright then.”

The two of them continued to walk along the sidewalk, feet crunching against freshly fallen snow and hands interlocked between them.

“The snow’s really pretty,” Nagisa mused, looking up at the metallic silver clouds looming over them, “I’ve always loved walking home in the winter. Everything just looks so magical when it’s covered in snow, especially when people start decorating with the lights.”

“Yeah,” Sugino agreed softly, watching as the snowflakes twirled around in their own ballet dance, gracefully and elegantly descending like falling sakura blossoms, “I remember how I used to catch snowflakes with my tongue when I was younger. Last year, when the roads were closed because of too much snow, my dad took my brother and me out to the park and we had the best snowball fight ever and went sledding and mum made hot chocolate that was so amazing - totally made up for how I couldn’t play baseball for a week.”

“Sounds awesome,” Nagisa smiled, “snowball fights are enjoyable. Remember the one we had yesterday during break? I had a lot of fun.”

“Only because you were like the last one to get hit,” Sugino countered, “I still don’t know how you could hide when the snow showed your footprints. At least you were safe from that full-blown war.”

“It wasn’t that bad.”

“Fuwa started charging at everyone with a sword. I don’t even know where she got a sword from.”

“But it was funny when I got Karma, right?”

“Yeah, it is really cool when you just appear out of nowhere like that. I mean it’s bad for the crazy people that try to hurt us but it’s cool when you use it for fun.”

“Heh, thanks,” Nagisa wore an expression of something Sugino couldn’t identify, “it’s weird though. All my life, I’ve been invisible. I’m used to people ignoring me and not paying attention to me. I never thought that me being invisible could be something useful in assassination. I guess I’m learning all sorts of things about myself this year.”

“I think we all are,” Sugino squeezed his hand, “and I can’t wait to learn more.”

“Me too,” Nagisa squeezed back, “I hope we make more memories with our class.”

Sugino opened his mouth to say something, probably to comment about how deep they were being on a Saturday afternoon fifteen minutes after they had been colouring the black and white picture on the back of WcDonalds’ kids menu, when it happened.

Nagisa’s eyes widened, mouth opening with a surprised gasp, and before he knew it, Sugino felt all the breath leave him as he got shoved to the side, leaving him to stare aimlessly at his best friend who was running towards, towards-

“WATCH OUT!” Nagisa cried, jumping forwards and pushing some elementary school kid away right before-

Sugino wished that the following events would be a blur later. He wished that he would never be able to recall with complete lucidity the way Nagisa’s azure eyes widened just the tiniest fraction when the car had struck him, the way the air was bombarded with the screeching of tires, the blaring of headlights, the blood-curdling snap of what sounded like bones. For a split-second it was like someone had pressed pause and time was stuck in a freeze-frame, just so that the image of Nagisa a second away from death could be forever ingrained into his mind, so that every detail can be observed with perfect clarity. Then it was like a movie that was played both in fast-forward and slow-motion; the events that followed happened so rapidly that Sugino could do nothing but watch but so slowly that he was able to memorise every change that occurred at every second.

Nagisa’s body collided with the hood of the vehicle and he was sent flying, sprawling onto the side of pavement with a heavy skid. His body laid there, still, stationery, unmoving. The movements of his chest - if there were any to begin with - were infinitesimal and it was impossible to tell if his eyes were open or closed because of the red-coated strands of blue that hid them from view.

Sugino ran. Fast. Faster than he does when he hits a home run, faster than he does during training, faster than he’s ever run before because that’s Nagisa, that’s his best friend who’s lying there still still still.

“NAGISA!” he screams, cries, begs, dropping to his knees. The sting of the tarmac grazing his knees has nothing on the corrosive cyanide that wells up in his eyes, blurring his vision but he can’t lose focus, can’t stop trying, “NAGISA GET UP! NAGISA COME ON!”

He shuffles closer to the - the body, ignoring the scarlet wetness that stains his jeans, of the pool of rich crimson that’s a sickening contrast to the pure white snow and light grey gravel beneath them (like it’s yelling ‘look at me, look at me and know the truth’), and takes a limp hand. He fumbles with the wrist, his hands sweaty and loose against the frail, malleable appendage. At last, he places a thumb against the right artery-

Seconds pass.

Minutes pass.

Hours pass.

Nothing.

“Nononononono,” he mutters frantically. He grabs at Nagisa, turning him over-

Nagisa looks at him, eyes open but unseeing, their cerulean gaze foggy and clouded up. Tear tracks of red running down half of his ashen white face, dripping and dripping onto the street, painting his jacket, mingling with the pastel blue strands and dots of snow. Like a marinette, the shorter boy’s actions were under the control of the hands that held him. Sugino shook him and shook him and shook him.

“NAGISA! WAKE UP! COME ON MAN! THIS ISN’T FUNNY! WAKE UP! GET UP! NAGISA PLEASE!”

The blunette remained unmoving, unblinking, un-anything-ing. His head resting on the baseball lover’s lap, as if he was just in a deep sleep.

“Nagisa…”

Sugino doesn’t think he’ll ever find snow fun anymore.

#assassination classroom #My writing

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