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#this is just a ramble
edgarallennope · 10 months
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I absolutely cannot stop thinking about the version of Crowley we get to see from before the Fall. He smiles differently, he speaks differently. There's so much oppenness in his expression. He loves what he does! Is genuinly mournful when he learns it will be destroyed.
Compared to the Crowley we see after years of solitude, abuse and treading on eggshells around his bosses. Closed off, furious, suspicious. I do truly believe that after he was called back to Hell in the graveyard that the next time Aziraphale saw him was in 1862, when he asked, in that feeble, broken down voice, for Holy Water. He has spent so much of his existence in survival mode, is desperate to cling to the peace he's found.
Nina describes him as the "hard bitten one" who can't trust anyone ever again, and it sort of gobsmacked me that she could see that!!! that Neil Gaiman would have someone say that!!!!! But, of course, she is in many ways the same.
Whatever happened to Crowley after the Laudanum incident certainly wasn't a one-off. He was certainly punished again and again for deeds seen as too good. Enough so that when he is called kind, when he is called good, when he is thanked, his response is violent panic.
It's easy for us to believe that maybe he's always been like that. But no. Gaiman gave us incontestable proof that there was a time where Crowley smiled freely, where he looked with wide and joyful eyes at the parts of the world he created. The difference from that, to the numb and deeply lonely Crowley that we see with Job, the anxious, repressed and angry Crowley that we see in the present day, is one of the biggest tragedies of all.
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steveshairychest · 1 year
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Can't stop thinking about Eddie with messy bangs and flushed cheeks after Steve has been running his hands through it while kissing him against the wall. He's got Steve's cherry flavoured chapstick smeared on his lips and the taste of it on his tongue. Their chests rise and fall in unison as they breathe in each other's space, lips brushing against each other as they both gasp for air, unwilling to cease any contact. It's in moments like these that they feel most alive, grounded, close to home. Steve rests his hand above Eddie's heart and finds comfort in the steady beat, it's almost music to his ears. Eddie mirrors him, his own hand resting on Steve's chest while his other ghosts over the scars on his lover's back. He needs to remind himself that they are healed, that his constant nightmares aren't true. It's in moments like these that they reassure each other that their worst fears aren't true, that the man they love is by their side.
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just-two-blokes · 9 days
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I wish I were a boy.
Well.. I think I am a boy, I’m just not always so sure about it.
Course, I have short hair, I wear baggy clothes, I go shopping in the mens section, I feel uncomfortable in my body..
But does this make me a boy? 
Or am I just a person who doesn’t fit into the so called ‘gender stereotype’?
Am I just a girl, influenced by the media into something I will regret later?
But if I am, why do I feel so good being called a boys name, why do I feel so comfortable in mens clothes, why do I giggle happily everytime someone calls me ‘him’?
Am I just making it all up? Since a year?
 
People often say ‘what if you regret it later?’
 
But what if I don’t? What if being me, without a filter and unapologetically, will make me happier than everything else?
 
What if I just try?
Maybe something beautiful will bloom out of it. Like a flower, blooming to the new spring.
Because we all need to let the parts in us grow that make us feel the most comfortable.
Be yourself. It is the greatest gift you can give yourself.
<3
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tartarusknight · 1 year
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Let's say for fun that Eddie Munson isn't just gay or just straight. If he's not one of them, I believe he'd be pansexual. Yes, bi exists, but I feel like it isn't Eddie. I can just imagine young Eddie not knowing that people don't just fall in love with everyone who's kind to them. He tells his dad how much he wants to marry the neighbor's son, and that's when he has a wake-up call.
He learns that everyone, in fact, does not, not care about what is in someone's pants. And when he moves in with Wayne, he tries to ignore that part of himself that likes boys.
But throughout school, Eddie learns he has a type. Pretty jocks who have hearts of gold. Chrissy Cunningham, who was head cheerleader and played volleyball. But she was soft and sweet. She was kind to Eddie, and Eddie fell for her.
The man he fell for, though, he was a harder read. At first, he couldn't stand him. The boy was always looking a million miles away, like he was better than everyone else. But then... then Eddie had seen him at the store, talking with Joyce Byers. He had been kind to her, and when he noticed the young Will Byers, he hadn't been prickly. No, Steve Harrington had oohed and ahhed over one of his drawings.
And well, Eddie knew that in school, Steve and his friends didn't deal with Jonathan. Jonathan was a year younger, and Steve hadn't given him a second glance. But he had been kind to these two like it was God-given right.
When Joyce had asked Steve about his parents, well, Steve hadn't gotten bitch, just awkward. He explained they had a big trip so Steve just took the bus. 15 years old and already being independent. After that, the distant looks, bored stares... well they didn't look so bored, so high and mighty. They just looked lonely.
Eddie had been instantly hooked on watching him. And when you watched, you saw the heart of gold leak through. So throughout school, Eddie nursed his two crushes, and when Chrissy asked him for drugs, he couldn't say no. Not even when he didn't want to see her mess up her life. He brought her back to the trailer and experienced one of the worst nights of his life. Just when he thought that maybe there was a chance he'd at least become friends with her.
He didn't think that watching her die would bring him Steve, though. And with his shitty week, he couldn't even tell himself to hold back. He flirted, got in his face, and called him pet names. Whatever he could think of, he did. He didn't think of any backlash when it felt like he'd be thrown in jail or killed by freaky supernatural shit.
Eddie fell even further, getting to watch Steve rip a bat apart. It was so fucking Ozzy. And then, as Eddie had laid in Dustin's arms, never expecting to get up again, Steve was there. Like a goddamm angel. He told the man as much.
Sure, he wouldn't remember when he woke up. But that was later Eddie's problem. Not that it was a problem. No, because when Eddie wakes up, Steve will be there, and he'll tell Eddie that it's okay to pick the hard choice. To love the option that would make it so much harder when the person you love is right next to you.
Yes, Eddie Munson might not have been gay or straight. He might have loved Chrissy or not. But he did fall for Steve and well... Steve, I imagine that Steve will find himself learning to love someone new in Eddie. That Nancy didn't have to be he only option. That he could be happy with Eddie.
That when Eddie was better and Vecna was dead, they could start a life together. One where the kids were still a big part of it, and Robin was their roommate. One where love wasn't easy, but it was worth it.
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kemahz · 4 months
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You know how kids we're easily able to make friends. And you know make long-lasting friendships or whatever...
How the fuck do you do it as an adult? Seriously, it's so hard. How do you do it without looking like some weirdo??? How do you walk up to somebody talk to them, then ask to be their friend? How do you do it and why is it so fucking hard as an adult?
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sp00pster · 2 months
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I really want glitch to make a plot twist in md or tadc that no one expected
Like in murder drones what if Uzi wakes up and episode 1-6 was just a dream?
Or in tadc what if there is a bigger AI that actually controls the circus and Caine is trying to get the circus members out with his adventures?
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cinematicnomad · 10 months
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now that it's been a few months, can i say that i didn't like the ted lasso finale and i think the series as a whole got weaker and less focused the more bill lawrence stepped away?
more thoughts below the cut
s1 is peak television (that seriously benefited from its release date in the middle of a global pandemic) in part bc it was so tightly plotted and each episode stayed as close to that 30 minute mark as possible. bill lawrence, tv superstar alum from back in the days of scrubs, helmed s1 and it's obvious that his expertise really helped to keep the show zeroed in on the story it was trying to tell.
s2 was clunkier—in part bc apple added 2 additional episodes last minute after the season was already written, but also bc bill lawrence began to step away and act more in a supervisory role. the episodes became longer, the story became less focused, the cast more sprawling, but there was still a cohesive idea keeping it all together. there are some real high points in s2 (i'm looking at you man city) that really shined and helped make clear why this show was still so popular.
but s3 felt v jarring in comparison to the rest. bill lawrence was clearly v focused on his new show shrinking and seemed to have fully passed on the reigns to jason and the others. in the moment s3 was enjoyable to watch bc you could keep hoping that they'd get to other things later. but it never really came to pass. and this is partially bc the show and the team behind it seemed to be stuck in a terribly awkward place of having promised this would be the end, then deciding they didn't really want to end it...only for it to be clear that their lead and star was ready for it to be over. everything about s3 feels? messy. unbalanced. ted takes the backseat in stories where he should be center focus bc they're clearly trying to prime the audience for a future version of ted lasso without ted. episodes were bloated with 50, 60, 70 (!!!) minute runtimes and even with the additional time characters and plotlines were introduced and quickly abandoned with little fanfare (hello shandy) or left unresolved entirely (keeley, roy, jamie). ted, who had been the emotional center for so much of the show, felt untethered from the rest of the cast and the ending felt less like a grand finale and more like a broken down car sputtering to a pause.
i won't be surprised if they come back with a new spinoff under a new name but at this point i'm happy to hop off the ride. if i get the urge to do a rewatch in the future i'll probably stop after the s1 finale. i enjoyed it while it lasted but i'm happy to move on now.
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book-tease · 1 year
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i don’t think misty enjoys murder per se (maybe a little) but i think the reason that she does it is to be useful, needed. it’s her special skill just like her first aid knowledge that initially made her such an asset to the team, unlike how she felt before. i think it’s what she’s good at, so it’s her go to solution. but i think we might see her less sure of this in season 3, because her go to solution killed her best friend. she rationalizes killing right now as a practical thing, something she refuses to feel guilt about. well now she feels guilt about it.
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softandsweetsuccubus · 8 months
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i make jokes about wanting to be a pretty little pet and not work, but i’m kind of serious. i would love to be at home all day, take care of my man, i can handle the chores and the cooking and i’ll be such a good boy for you. the bets househusband ever. i’m an amazing cook already, i just need someone to cook for
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deadcaptainn · 1 year
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tw death
i never quite understood grief. Maybe it’s because I never felt it. I’ve experienced loss, but grief was never quite there.
I was too young to understand death and what it really meant when I was a kid. The closest thing I can say I’ve had to grief was when I lost Shadow (my cat) and Jaeger (my dog) but again I was far too young to understand it.
I’ve lost many family members. I lost my grandpas. Both my grandmas within 80 days. My uncles. And more. But I never experienced grief. Yes I was sad and I mourned them, but grief wasn’t there.
I didn’t understand grief until June 30th. I didn’t understand it until months later I still find myself just getting sad because he’s gone. I didn’t understand it until listening to that damned song made me burst into tears. I didn’t understand it until I lost someone who I never met.
Isn’t that funny? I lost family, pets, teachers. but none of them made me feel grief or understand it. But a youtuber, some guy I looked up to, some guy who deserved so much better than he got. He made me understand it
So I thank you again Alex. And I’ll thank you again and again. Thank you for everything you did. You really deserved so much better
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misty-wisp · 2 years
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okay so i know ryoji's supposed to be a flirtatious transfer prettyboy and i do find this characterization of him funny at times but that's just how he is with no memories. it feels fake as hell with full context of his character. he doesn't get as much screentime after he regains his memories, but you can tell there's a shift in this, especially in his P3P social link. he becomes much more real and endearing rather than simply flirty, and it feels right, as sad as his situation is.
you see more of this "real" him in his social link even earlier on, though it's a bit more on the hidden side, blended in with his typical flirtiness, and that has me thinking. what if that's just a front he puts up? what if this flirtatious, pervy personality he puts out is just an act he blended into?
he's just a guy who popped into the world after being freed from the protagonist, with no memories at that. he likely doesn't understand a thing about what's going on, or how people are, given his origin. he's probably really messed up on the inside, trying to figure out what's going on with him, because he doesn't remember a thing.
so he acts like nothing's off so any friends he makes don't worry about him or ask about what's going on with him. why his act is specifically that of a flirty pervert? i'm unsure. i think it's spurred on by him being friends with junpei, though(no offense to junpei, we respect junpei in this household).
but when he's with the protagonist, as shown in the movies(specifically the third one lmao) and in his P3P social link, his demeanor changes pretty quickly. he feels a connection towards them, and i'd say that gets him to trust them much more quickly than anyone else. he goes from flirty, and pervy, to just...honest, real, and endearing. he's still lively in nature, but i'd say that's because he's comfortable around them enough to be more of himself. they're really the only person he can be truly real with, even if he doesn't go much into his memory problems, if at all. (i don't really remember if he does, so take that with a grain of salt)
and i think that makes his relationship with the protagonist, platonic or not, so much more important. and so much more tragic in the end.
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canvas-madness-txc · 2 years
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Pond Child Theories
Based off the doodles we just got from them, I'm going to guess Edd about to lose it and Tord beating Matt with a baseball bat (Tom's?) have some significance to the plot.
So I'm going to start with Matt and Tord. They don't get along at all in this comic, arguing about everything. Since the comic takes place in what I assume is 2005, this is the Zombeh Attack apocalypse before Matt gets zombeh-fied. Like any sane person they would panic, but the difference is how they resolve it. Tord can be an a/hole at times and say disturbing stuff, while Matt has issues with control and things getting out of hand. We obviously see this when Tord is suspecting Edd as a m/rderer. As for Matt, it's mostly when Tord first moves in and he says all this stuff against Edd. Also, when Matt snaps in one of the more recent pages saying that he couldn't have planned for anyone of this to happen.
Whatever happens in the apocalypse happens. With what we know about Matt so far, he might try to make a plan and get some control in. Tord probably disagrees with something, so they argue (as per usual). Edd's trying to difuse the situation, but it becomes a lot, even for him. Tord ends up breaking and then takes said bat and smacks him.
If not that, then Matt's making up a plan, and Edd's trying to tell him something, but he's kinda in his own world (hence the "you don't listen" being repeated). Then the whole bat &/ or shovel ordeal happens.
EW Pond Child AU belongs to @pond-child-edd
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find-me-in-hell · 1 year
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still absolutely love how new who masters parallel the doctor,,, idk about classic bcs ive barely started but!!! i love how theres aesthetic parallels??? like eleven and dhawan master,,,, S7B eleven/twelve and missy.... simm master you could say parallels 9 and ten et cetera like its soo cool because it make sense!!! some people say theyre opposites of eachother, a flipped version or whatever but theyre just parallels,,, two sides of the same coin... dhawan and eleven have similar fashion senses, they have overall, a similar style! missy twelve and post manhattan eleven have an overall victorian style... but twelves fashion is more like... vaguely inspired? especially at the start/end because his fashion ends up more casual in the middle-ish.. and missy and twelve are both scots lol tbh theres probably more i could say abt master doctor parallels but this is just aesthetic based i do love that one of reoccurring villains or antagonist or whatever the word is, in dw is a perfect parallel, a perfect match to the doctor himself. very cool
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tartarusknight · 8 months
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But Now We're Stressed Out
CW: Spiraling about the future and feeling like you don't have one.
Eddie Munson always knew he wasn’t very smart. He struggled every time he tried to learn something that he wasn’t hyper fixated on. Even when he was hyper fixated on something it was a 50/50 chance, he could learn it. But even with his shitty track record, he really thought he’d be able to do this. This being getting his degree. He thought that music therapy was what he was destined to do but as he sits in a class filled with smarter people who cared about the curriculum a hundred times more than him, he felt out of place.
It had been a month of struggling to even pay attention to what the professor was saying. A month of his friends putting their faith in him. A month of people telling him that he just needed time to get into the swing of things. A month of feeling a second from dropping out and knowing that he wasn’t meant for this. He wasn’t meant to learn about the way the brain works or memorize all this shit that would be useful if he became the therapist, he set out to become.
As he got home after learning about all the shit he’d have to do for the rest of his life in this profession, he just sat on the couch. He felt numb to it all. He felt too dumb for it all. He stayed there with the radio playing lowly in the background. The apartment he shared with Steve and Robin was empty because they were both out working.
He would’ve been working too if Steve hadn’t assured him that it would be fine. That he and Robin could keep them afloat and that Eddie could just focus on his schoolwork. Even though Steve was going through EMT training and Robin was in school herself. Now he wished he had a job because all he felt was unproductive.
He just sat on the couch feeling like a failure before he even failed. If it had been the first try then it wouldn’t have been as bad. But he had already done this. After graduating with Nancy and Robin, Eddie planned on never going back to school. But the year after Vecna Nancy had gotten Eddie to apply for the college near Hawkins and Eddie got his associate of arts degree with much struggle. Each day had been a challenge but he found himself in classes where they wrote essays and discussed things and Eddie could do that.
After a year at the college, he had found himself taking a few classes for their teaching program. He thought that maybe he could teach kids. That he could do something with Music or English, he could teach it. He thought of lesson plans to get the kids engaged. It had been nice… until he got into a classroom setting. The moment he sat back by the teacher’s desk with the task of watching and answering any questions the students had, he choked.
He had felt stupid and like he was just reaching blindly into the dark. So, he got his AA degree and dropped out with a small bye to his teaching class professor. The woman had been kind, saying that he understood the work well and that with some work on himself, he’d be a great teacher. That his lesson plans were engaging and something fresh that would meet the requirements but still be fun for them. But he couldn’t do it.
He didn’t explain it to his friends though. He just went home and said that he didn’t think that teaching was for him. He didn’t know what he expected them to say but for them to agree wasn’t it. Steve said that it was a lot of work for little pay, that maybe it was better to look for a job where he could do better for himself. And honestly, Eddie hadn’t really thought about the pay. He hadn’t cared about it but suddenly he was picturing himself in the future barely staying afloat and dragging Steve and Robin down with him. He couldn’t rely on them for the rest of his life.
Then Robin had said that she hadn’t been able to see him as a teacher. Her words had made him freeze but he laughed it off, calling kids annoying and gross. And sure, maybe he never saw himself as a dad but he didn’t think he was bad with kids. He was better with teens for sure but here Robin was saying that she didn’t even think he was good with any kids. That he was kind of awkward and too intimidating to be a teacher. So, he joked about his distaste for children even though he wasn’t completely sure if it was a lie or not and tried to move on.
He thought that maybe that was it. He wouldn’t go back, but Nancy and Robin were telling him how important a degree was. And when Steve got into an EMT program, Eddie realized they wouldn’t stop bothering him about school either. So, he doubled down, looking into possible degrees he’d want. He took a whole year until he landed on music therapy. Everyone put their faith in him. They all told him how it was a little different but he was different so maybe he’d be great at it. They pushed their pride onto him and he felt undeserving of it. Eddie still applied and by some miracle got into the program, jumping headfirst into the degree.
And it was a waste of money. He couldn’t do it. He’d fail the coming test because he couldn’t focus and he’d remind everyone that he was a three-time senior that wasn’t just trying to be a rebel and not graduate. But rather a person who was so dumb, no matter what he did, he couldn’t win.
“Eds, you home?” Steve asked, as he entered the small apartment, still in his work clothes. “Hey, you okay?”
Eddie looked up at his boyfriend, “I don’t think I can do this.” He whispered and Steve instantly sat down on the couch next to him. He looked concerned and Eddie hated it. “I’m not- it’s not for me Steve, I can’t do it. I’m not-” he couldn’t get the right words to exit his mouth.
Steve hesitated, “why do you think that?”
Eddie squeezed his eyes shut, “I’m not smart. I’m not dedicated enough. I sit in that class and everyone is so quick to understand but I’m asking the people next to me to help me with the work. I see them all hear the teacher and make notes with ease. I can’t even write fast enough!” Eddie rambled and Steve grabbed his hand.
“Hey, everyone feels that way to start out with. I promise you’re not stupid. You don’t give yourself enough credit. You’re smart, Eds.” He promised and Eddie looked away, “come on, you wanted this. What- remember why you chose this.”
But Eddie didn’t choose this because he was passionate about this. He chose it because it was cool enough and he’d be respected for it. But he couldn’t say that. “Come on, let’s remember why. Tell me why you’re passionate about it,” Steve pushed.
Eddie swallowed back the tears that felt like they might show up. “I- Music is important to me. It- it just fit.”
Steve smiled at him widely, “that’s right! So, you can do this! Sure, not every class is fun, but it’s the end goal you gotta think about.” Steve promised but Eddie couldn’t see a future that was happy anymore. He thought of the year he took off, living off of the savings for a good half of the year until he started working again. How much music he wrote and how he felt broken but free at the same time.
Steve just looked at him with that stupid blind optimism. Eddie had seen how happy Steve was in his job at the hospital, how he was tired but he seemed to enjoy the work. Eddie had only one job that he’s enjoyed so far in his 23 years of life. He worked as an apprentice at a piercing shop, helping here and there with piercings. But he had quit when Steve and Robin asked him to move to Chicago with them.
Sure, the job had a shitty manager and he was paid like shit but it was interesting. Eddie doesn’t know if he’s been interested in much since then, honestly. He didn’t know how to explain that though. Not when the whole party had been pressuring him to leave that job because the manager was sketchy as shit. That Eddie sometimes was missed on pay day or was yelled at for doing his job. They all had worried about him in that job and he didn’t know how to explain that he liked that job.
Eddie sighed, “I can’t do this Steve. I’d have to get a Masters, that’s a lot of school.” He tried again but Steve gave his hand a squeeze.
“Yeah, but it would be worth it, right? I know you, Eddie. You’re smarter than you give yourself credit for.” Their conversation was interrupted by the phone ringing. Steve glanced over but he refocused on Eddie. “I’ll just call them back,” he waves it off. “What has you stressed right now?”
Everything.
Eddie looked at his hands, “I have an exam coming up.” He technically wasn’t lying but it didn’t feel like the truth either. “I know I’m going to fail it, Steve. I can’t even focus on the textbook to read a paragraph. I don’t have the motivation to do the work.” He stressed but as the phone started ringing again, Eddie knew he was losing Steve’s attention.
Steve gave his hand a squeeze, “how about you crack open that book and I’ll help you study.” He promises like he doesn’t have enough on his plate. Like he could hold Eddie’s hand through his entire college career. Maybe he could but it’s not like he could have Steve help him with everything for the rest of his life. “Sound good?” He asked as he picked up the phone.
“Sure, Steve,” Eddie gives him a tight smile and heads out of the room as Steve answers the phone.
He heads into their room and out to their fire escape and pulls out a cigarette. As he breathes in the smoke, he knows he can’t open the book. That something inside of him was broken. He rubs his eyes as the sound of Steve talking with Robin about dinner filled his ears. Eddie knows that there was a chance that Steve would help him study but Eddie wasn’t sure he wanted the help. Maybe he was undecisive. Maybe he was tired. Maybe he was just too dumb for all of this. He felt too young for all of this. But he knew the rest of the party was working towards a goal, that even Erica, who was just entering high school, had a future in mind.
But maybe that was the problem. They all had dreams. And in all honesty, Eddie never pictured living past high school. College was too far in the future; it wasn’t something he ever had to think about. Then it had been. So, he did his best and hoped that getting his general credits done was enough but it was never going to be enough.
He was never going to be enough. He’d need a degree and he didn’t know how to pick one that fit him. Not a single serious career felt like the right fit. Because Eddie was broken and dumb. He couldn’t figure out his own goddamn life. “Eddie does spaghetti sound good?” Steve called and Eddie put out his cigarette.
“Yeah, want a hand?”
“Sure! Robin’s gonna be home within half an hour. We can have it ready for her.” Steve shouted and Eddie knew the past conversation was finished to Steve. So, Eddie pushed it away, for now it could be finished for himself too.
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katsuizu-stuff · 2 years
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Ok imagine class 1A taking a group photo with Halloween costumes and these being their costumes…
Girls
Jiro: Raven (from og teen titans)
Asui: Keroppi (the frog from Hello Kitty)
Momo: Princess Jasmine (from Aladdin but in her red outfit with the crown)
Mina: Emily (From Corpse Birde but make her pink obviously)
Uraraka: Velma (From Scooby Doo)
Toru: Invisible Woman (From Fantastic 4)
Boys
Kirishima: Shark boy (From Sharkboy and Lavagirl)
Kaminari: Thor (From Thor for obvious reasons)
Sero: Spider-Man (From Spider-Man for obvious reasons)
Katsuki: Chef Gordon Ramsay
Izuku: Hulk (From Hulk)
iida: Optimus Prime (From Transformers)
Todoroki: Prince Zuko (From Avatar the last airbender for obvious reasons)
Tokoyami: As a plague doctor
Koda: As a zookeeper
Shoji: As a ninja
Aoyama: As a prince
Sato: Willy Wonka (From Charlie and the chocolate factory)
Ojiro: As a lion
Mineta: As nerds (the candy)
Like this would be so cute to see also add Eri in there dressed as a fairy or princess and I would die at the cuteness
***
P.S.
This is what I mean for Mineta’s costume
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upontherisers · 1 year
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oooo could I please request "Soulmate AU" + "Character in Peril" for...your choice of ship! <3
oh this is the webster/webster letter writing AU for sure.
a quick catch up for everyone who isn't shosh: georgie writes for the radcliffe review and publishes an open letter to the men of harvard calling them to burn their draft cards/refuse fight in the vietnam war, and she gets a letter to be published from one david webster, a harvard man, basically pushing against all of her arguments. they write back and forth, all of their dialogues getting published in the review.
adding the soulmate AU and characters in peril on top... i'm thinking a world in which you can feel your soulmate's pain and get bruises/scars from their wounds.
georgie's a smart girl, so it doesn't take her long to figure out her soul mate is a writer... at least, she hopes so. she's deducing from the callus that formed on her middle finger, the constant stinging slices of what have to be paper cuts, and the bruises they pass back and forth from jamming their fingers on their typewriters. (her soul mate also has a typewriter? match made in heaven.)
the morning of her 21st birthday, she wakes up sorer than she's ever been in her entire life. everything hurts; she feels like she got hit by a car. as she stretches in front of her mirror, she catches a weird yellow tint on her side and pulls her shirt up to expose a bruise that runs from her right hip to her shoulder blade. and her heart stops.
she honestly hadn't given her soul mate that much thought at this point in her life. some people take out personal ads, some people get specific injuries in order to compare them to others, some people lightly scratch names and addresses into their skin to get the whole thing over with. she'd never felt the need to do that--she was at a good place in life, at a good school, doing good work--and apparently, neither did her soul mate. she'd always assumed she'd find them when she'd find them and not think about it until then.
but a bruise that covered her entire side, aches that made it hard for her to walk down the stairs... what was going on?
it gets continues. a burst of pain from her ankle while walking across the radcliffe review offices caused her to fall and hit her head on a desk, probably giving her soul mate a rough go of it wherever they were. a rip of searing pain across her spine made her cry out during a lecture, embarrassing, then terrifying when she saw the strip of skin that had been ripped diagonally across her back. her right thumb was almost consistently bruised, and the pain from it getting jammed against something faded into a part of her life.
it wasn't until david writes, describing a common thumb injury that soldiers have from getting their hands jammed in their rifles, that it clicks. bootcamp injuries--falling from a climbing wall, a sprained ankle on a run, an ammo belt getting caught while climbing a fence and peeling the skin off your back.
she held david's letter, shaking, then threw up in her bathroom.
she wakes up in the middle of the night, blinding white pain behind her eyes, ringing in her ears, and figures it's from being too close to an explosion. her achilles tendons are rubbed raw from boots that don't fit. she tries to keep up with the fighting obsessively for a fortnight before she realizes it's futile to try to pinpoint where her soul mate could be. there are hundreds of thousands of men over there, from multiple countries, too.
the best she can do is hope that he's okay. petition for peace. protest. fight for them to come home.
the skin on her forearms is red and irritated all the time, hot to touch and peeling, and when david writes about the sun burn soldiers get from holding their rifles out in front of them while they walk, georgie thinks maybe.
he's a writer, he told her about the time he cut his foot on a rock while swimming in cape cod--and she has a scar running along the bottom of her right foot, he went through boot camp, he's in vietnam now. maybe.
she runs to the bathroom and throws up, again.
she wakes in the middle of the night screaming with a white hot pain burning under her ribs on her back. a week later, one of david's letters says he caught shrapnel in the back in the a shau valley, and she was becoming quite acquainted with her toilet.
she doesn't tell him because she can't. part of her has too much pride; she published all of their letters, and she didn't want to get that vulnerable in front of all of their readers. it would be a conflict of interest as well, attempting to engage with good faith in intellectual debates on war and government with her soul mate.
she loses sleep, can barely eat, and thank god school's out for the summer because her grades would've undoubtedly slipped. she's worried all the time, grateful when she's not in pain but always worried about when the next hit will come.
she'd come to care about david, before concluding that they were soul mates. she loved writing to him, hearing his thoughts, talking with him despite some of his infuriating ideas about justice and war. she loved when they debated, when his arguments were hard to pick apart or when he came at her from an angle she wasn't expecting. she loved hearing about his life, their parallel existences as new yorkers who moved to boston. she loved sending him books and getting them back with his hastily scrawled annotations and thoughts. (those didn't make the letters. that was just for them.)
she's walking through the radcliffe review offices one morning, on her third cup of coffee at 7 am because an explosive headache woke her up at 3 and she knew she wouldn't fall asleep again, when it feels like someone took a two-by-four the back of her leg.
she saved the coffee, but the feeling was so disorienting that she had to sit on the wood floor for a moment before it dulled to an ache. she hobbled to her desk then to the bathroom to vomit, because she remembered an account from a marine that got published in one of the harvard magazines.
gunshot wounds don't sting, they don't burn... they feel like getting punched. it's a dull, bruising, ringing pain, like getting hit with a baseball bat.
he wasn't dead, she'd know if he was dead. but she leaves before anyone else gets to the office, and spends the day in nauseous hell, and the next day, and the week an a half after that before she gets a letter saying that david indeed had been shot, and that he was coming home.
bonus scene:
She's sprawled out on her bed in nearly nothing as his lips roam her skin, his hands finding where he wants to kiss next. I'm sorry, he says, brushing his mouth over a horizontal scar across her shin.
You never explained that one, she says.
He laughs. I don't remember it.
It's from bootcamp.
He laugh again and shakes his head. Still don't remember.
His big hands wind their way to her calf muscle, where two circular scars sit on either side of her leg. His lips press so gently, yet so warmly. I'm really sorry about this one.
Hey, she shrugs. It brought you home.
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