#to learn how to manage them and deal with them in a productive way. she wasnt trying to upset me. she wasnt trying to make me mad | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

mysterious-moonstruck-musings · 8 months

Text

Destiny & Deliverance: Chapter 23

Destiny & Deliverance Masterlist ||| Dieter Bravo X OFC New as of 10/06/2023

SUPPORT YOUR CREATORS. REBLOGGING & COMMENTS ARE APPRECIATED.

Series Rating: Explicit (18+)

Series Summary: Natalia Cohen is experiencing major life changes, beginning with leaving an emotionally abusive husband. She is learning how to navigate life on her own while dealing with high functioning anxiety, depression, and mild PTSD. Everything is looking up for her. She is a highly respected consultant for a major LA firm, has her best friend, Lauren, by her side, and is on her path to healing. Everything changes when she meets a handsome and broken stranger on a work trip. He turns out to be a well-known actor, with a heart-breaking past. They quickly develop a connection that will forever alter their lives.

Warnings: Themes dealing with mental health, emotional trauma, alcohol use, and discussions about suicide. There will be fluff, tears, spicy language, and smut. This will be a slow burn type of story. Read at your own risk.

Chapter Quote: You meeting someone?

It had been three months since I left Dieter behind. All things considered, I felt like I had handled it well. Most days I managed to get through my routine without thinking of him, throwing myself into work and small craft projects. The paparazzi appeared to have gotten bored with following me around since there was no story to report on. I wouldn’t interact with them and there had been no sightings of Dieter and I together. The assumption was that we had split, and any drama related to said split had passed. Not having the paps shouting questions and sticking a camera in my face on my daily commute to the office made a huge difference in keeping him off my mind.

Staying away from social media and tabloid sites had also been crucial in being able to get back to some kind of normalcy. It had become vital to keep this distance, because Dieter was all over the news feeds due to his reinvigorated party boy ways. He didn’t seem like the same person anymore and it was too painful to see it over and over. As far as I knew he hadn’t been home during any of his filming breaks, and with the production of his movie wrapping up soon, I was anxious to know if he would finally come back to LA. Part of that anxiety was rooted in my concern about running into him. No matter how many times I had tried to imagine it, I wasn’t sure how I would handle suddenly being face-to-face with him again.

I would be lying if I said that I was over him. There was no doubt in my mind that I will always love him. How could I not? He had changed me for the better and helped me through a rough time in my life. During the time that we had been together, and he had been doing well, life had been so much more fulfilling. He showed me what it was like to be loved and appreciated. What it meant to be truly happy. Perhaps even more than that, he had given me the confidence to be myself. I could honestly say that I didn’t know any of that until him. I was able to acknowledge that he did all that for me, but at the same time I had also become mostly numb about it all. Maybe it was the anger, maybe it was denial, or maybe I had figured out how to move on without him. Either way, I felt like I was going to be ok, and I had accepted that he wasn’t going to be a part of my life anymore.

It was late on a Wednesday evening when I got news that he was back. Lauren texted me to let me know he had been spotted at one of the fancy restaurants that all the celebrities tended to hang out at. Unsurprisingly, he had been there with Anna and a handful of other people. I had asked Lauren not to tell me anything she read about him, but I still found myself grateful to get the warning. At least now I was aware that there was a possibility of running into him, so it wouldn’t catch me completely off guard. What I didn’t realize is how soon that would happen.

The following morning, I was surprised to receive a call from Ethan Carrington. He called to let me know that he was in town and wanted to have dinner to catch up. I thought it was a little odd, but he was one of our top tier clients, so I agreed to meet him that evening. I wasn’t surprised when he proposed meeting at one of the most upscale restaurants in town. We made plans to meet there by 7 PM and he let me know a table had already been reserved under his name.

To say I was flustered by the time I left the house was an understatement. All my afternoon meetings had run over, causing me to finish up work much later than I had planned. I had to rush to find something to wear, then shower, and get ready. To save some time, rather than trying to tame my hair, I blow dried it and pulled it back into a sleek low bun, then threw on a light layer of makeup. I got dressed in a navy sleeveless scoop neck A-line chiffon dress that had an asymmetrical bottom and was embellished with a sash around the waist. I dug out my matching navy peep toe high heels with ankle straps to wear, then quickly grabbed my purse and walked barefooted to the car.

With traffic slowing me down as usual, I made it to the restaurant with only minutes to spare. Luckily it had valet parking, so I didn’t have to worry about finding a spot. I did feel slightly embarrassed about making the valet wait while I put my shoes on. He assured me that this wasn’t even close to the strangest thing he dealt with, and we had a good laugh about it as he waited patiently for me to exit the vehicle.

As I was walking up the few steps to the entrance, carefully watching my feet to avoid tripping in my hurried pace, I was stopped in my tracks by a set of feet that had come to a standstill directly in front of me. When I looked up, my breath caught in my throat. Dieter and Anna stood in front of me, staring back at me and saying nothing. Dieter looked tired, the telltale sign of dark circles under his eyes revealing his sleep problems were probably still very present. His hair was longer than it had been the last time I saw him, and it was styled into soft, messy curls. He was dressed in charcoal dress pants with a black button up dress shirt. As usual, the top button was open, and the sleeves were rolled up. He also had his glasses on. A little voice in the back of my mind begrudgingly pointed out that he looked just as sexy as always. Still, something was off about him; it was clear in his fidgety body language, and particularly the turbulent look in his eyes.

My eyes widened as I took him in, my body almost reeling just as strongly as my mind did. “Dieter…umm hi,” I stuttered out. I was startled by his sudden appearance and did not know what to say or how to act. His stare shifted into an unsettling smirk, his dilated pupils making his eyes look darker than usual, and by the way he tipped his head back slightly I could tell that he shifted into performance mode, emitting a boisterous energy that became even clearer when he spoke.

“I’m surprised to see you at a place like this. You meeting someone?”

His tone sounded heavy, maybe even a little hostile. Ah, so that’s how this was going to go.

“Yes, I am.” I inhaled deeply and straightened my shoulders, unwilling to play whatever game he was trying to set up here.

“A guy?” He stared directly into my eyes as he spoke, unblinking, and it struck me how empty the expression on his face was. It was almost like he wasn’t in there and someone else was pulling his strings.

“Not that it’s really any of your business, but yes. It’s a guy.” I didn’t break eye contact, hoping that I was able to keep a neutral expression on my face. All of it felt like a test, but I wasn’t quite sure if I wanted to show him that I could easily pass it. Maybe the best response was no response at all.

He pursed his lips and arched his eyebrows before he shook his head, his eyes shifting downcast momentarily before he looked back up at me. Straightening up as he gathered his composure.

“Well, I hope you get to know this one a little better before jumping into bed with him. Assuming he goes for this whole… polished stepford wife look or whatever this is,” he said, his voice having just the slightest slur to it.

I could feel my jaw tighten, my eyes blazing with anger that his words suddenly re-kindled in me. I gave him a tight smile in return.

“Hmm,” I said, shaking my head slightly from side to side as I rubbed the fingers of my right hand across my bottom lip in disgust. He continued to stare at me expectantly, clearly wanting a response, and I had to look away for a moment before I met his intense gaze again. “I see what you’re doing, you know. Don’t worry, it’s still working.” I paused briefly, “So, fuck you.”

“Ooh, you already did that, sweetheart. A whole fuckin’ lot.” He gave me a cunning smile, teeth bared for a moment as there was nothing friendly or sweet about it.

I could feel my face tensing further at his combative remarks. I knitted my brows together and shook my head from side to side again. He was clearly trying to piss me off, and it was working. He knew exactly what to say to push my buttons. I wasn’t even going to attempt to understand why he was being like this, it simply hurt too much. I didn’t want to engage in an argument. I just wanted to protect myself from more pain.

Anna chuckled as she leaned in to break the intense stare that I was giving Dieter, “Damn, you’re a feisty one, aren’t you.”

I gave her a tight smile wrapped up in thinly veiled contempt. “I suggest that you don’t fucking speak to me,” I said very quietly, for a moment actually entertaining the thought of punching her in her smug little face.

She backed away slightly and grabbed onto Dieter’s arm, moving so that he was positioned between us. Clearly, my intimidation attempt struck its mark with her.

My attention was drawn away from them when I heard someone call my name. When I turned, I saw Carrington walking towards me from the entrance of the restaurant. Trying to shift gears, I tried to relax my face and gave him a polite smile as he approached. He looked like he had just stepped off the set of a James Bond film in the expensive tailored suit he was wearing, oozing confidence, and looking just as handsome as I remembered.

“There you are, I was beginning to think you stood me up,” he said with a joking tone as he leaned in to give me a small kiss on the cheek. “You look nice,” he added as he pulled away with a wide smile on his face, his eyes warm as he gave me a quick once-over.

“Ethan, thank you! Sorry, I was just catching up with some friends,” I said dryly, glancing back toward Dieter, who was now radiating disdain. His jaw twitched as glared at Carrington, his eyes narrowing and somehow turning even darker as he glanced at Carrington’s hand that now rested on the small of my back. Correcting himself, his eyes quickly moved back up to meet my gaze.

I didn’t flinch as we locked eyes and spoke up, “I guess I’ll see you around. Have a good evening.”

I gave them both a sarcastic smile. Carrington’s hand stayed on my lower back as he guided me toward the entrance. I may not have wanted to engage in the game that Dieter seemed to play, but part of me enjoyed that it clearly bothered him to see me with another man. A handsome one at that. Even if it was a work meeting, which he didn’t know.

As we were being led to our table, I had to take a few deep breaths to calm myself. I wasn’t even upset about seeing Dieter, only livid about his attitude and the way he had spoken to me. The waiter seated Carrington and I next to a window toward the front of the restaurant, handing us the menus which we looked at in a comfortable silence. From the corner of my eye, I could see Dieter and Anna were still outside, waiting for their car. She was on her phone, but he had spotted me through the window and just stood there, staring with his hands pushed into his pockets. I tried not to look directly toward him, but that didn’t stop me from peeking over my menu every so often to see if he was still there. Despite all the bravado that had been there earlier, and the confidence with which he had carried himself, he looked like a broken man now. It tugged at my heartstrings as I wished I knew what was going through his mind. I could tell the cocky front he was putting up had diminished to something that resembled hurt or maybe even regret. All the showmanship had left his stance as he seemed to be unaware of what happened around him, Anna even needing to pull him aside when someone tried to walk past them. Luckily, the valet pulled up with their car right after that, so I didn’t have to endure that sight for very long.

Carrington’s voice tugged me back into the present and out of my thoughts when he spoke up, “I would ask how you’ve been, but I think I may have a general idea of the answer.”

He gave me a sympathetic look before continuing, “That was him, wasn’t it?”

I smiled nervously as I glanced down at the table, wondering how much he knew. Probably everything there was to know publicly, be it true or false, “Yes, that was him.” I nodded as I looked back up at him, finding his eyes were as gentle as his voice had been when asking me the question. “I’m sorry my drama made me late and that everyone across the US knows about it, apparently.”

“Yeah, it was all over the news.” He seemed apologetic about it. “Hard to miss. I wasn’t sure if you needed rescuing or not, so I’m sorry if I interrupted something…”

“Not that I need rescuing…but thank you for that.”

He laughed, “Yeah, I doubt you do. You're pretty fierce on your own.”

His eyes stayed focused on my face, briefly dropping down to my lips when I smiled at his comment. I wasn’t sure how to take that, but I felt like he was possibly flirting. We were interrupted by the server coming over to take our order.

We proceeded with small talk while we waited for our food. He gave me an update on how the company was doing and mentioned the possibility of expanding soon, staying vague on the details. As we chatted, I noticed how attentive he was. Always looking me directly in the eye as I spoke, gesturing subtly to the waiter when he noticed I was low on water. We hadn’t really had a chance to interact outside of a business setting, so it was interesting to see him in a more personal manner and have an easy conversation. I was getting small glimpses of his personality that I hadn’t picked up on before. He was very witty and had a good sense of humor.

Once we started to dig into the main course, he got down to business.

“Well, I think we’ve run the gambit on small talk. I guess I should get to the reason I wanted to meet with you and stop beating around the bush.” He gave me a nervous smile. I gave him one in return, unsure of where this was going.

“I talked to Aubrey about this, and she indicated that you may be open to a change, given recent events and she’s supportive of it.” He gave me a small grimace, realizing that may not have been the best opener.

I smiled and motioned for him to continue.

“Our Chief Operating Officer will be retiring soon, and we’ll need a replacement. You’re the first person that came to mind for the position. I know, it’s a big change, so I don’t expect an answer now. I do, however, want to let you know that it’ll be a significant raise and we’ll cover the cost of any moving expenses and travel.”

Whatever I had been expecting from the meeting, this wasn’t it. He had my attention. “How significant?”

“Seven figures, significant.” He gave me a smirk as my eyes widened.

“COO…I mean, am I even qualified for that?” I laughed in disbelief.

“Well, you’re already basically telling me how to run my company and saved me a lot of money in the process. I’ve seen you in action. You have a brilliant mind, and your problem-solving skills are unlike anything I’ve ever seen. You’re also really good at handling difficult situations. Why wouldn’t I want that?”

He wasn’t wrong, he was indeed running his company based on my suggestions. I shook my head in agreement.

“It would require moving to New York though?” I asked, trying to process the information and what this all would mean for my future.

“Yes…and no. I would absolutely love for you to join us in New York. In fact, it’s my preference. However, like I said, we’re planning to expand. We’ll be opening another branch in Silicon Valley. I’ll need a COO there as well. Just know that if you choose that location, you’ll be building from the ground up. You’ll be fully involved with all planning. It’ll require you to spend some time in New York while we work out the details, but once everything is set, you would only need to travel occasionally. It also comes with slightly higher pay due to the extra work that’ll be involved.”

This time I sat with my mouth hanging open in shock, “I don’t even know what to say.”

“I don’t expect an answer right away. We have some time before I need to know.”

“I mean, it’s not a no. Umm, but I do have a lot to think through.” I reached for my water, taking a deep drink now that my mouth suddenly felt very dry.

“Of course, I wouldn’t expect anything else,” He took a bite of his food as he studied me, obviously trying to figure out where I stood on the offer.

He continued to tell me about the many benefits the company offered. He was trying his best to sell it to me. The offer was appealing and something I really needed to consider. We eventually moved on to other non-business related topics. It was nice getting to know him on a more personal level. Time seemed to fly by as we continued to chat, even after our meal was finished.

We finally decided to call it a night after he insisted on covering the bill. We walked out to collect our vehicles. While we waited, he leaned in to give me a polite goodbye kiss on the cheek, lingering slightly longer than what is socially acceptable. I got a whiff of his musky scent. I couldn’t deny, he smelled amazing. I cleared my throat as he pulled away, trying to correct my train of thought.

He smiled sheepishly, “Sorry, I lingered. I made it awkward. Forget that happened.”

We both laughed. I caught myself biting my bottom lip, which seemed to briefly bring his attention back to my mouth again. Fuck. Was I flirting now? Thankfully, we were interrupted by the valet returning with his vehicle. Mine followed behind a few seconds later.

“We’ll talk soon. Have a good evening,” he finally said as he took his keys and walked toward the driver's side door, giving a charming smile as he went. I agreed and gave him a wave as I collected my keys and moved toward my own car.

My head was reeling during the entire drive home. I wasn’t sure what just happened, and I had conflicting feelings about the whole thing. Did we have vibes? Were we flirting? Also, what the hell was wrong with me for allowing that to happen? There was no way I could work for him under those circumstances. Not to mention what had happened with Dieter and Anna. I needed to talk through this with Lauren.

When I got home, I quickly changed into my pajamas, then facetimed Lauren. She didn’t answer. I gave it a few minutes then tried again. She answered on the second round, a surprised look clearly visible on her face despite the dim lighting around her.

“Talia? Something wrong? Why are you calling me back-to-back?”

“For starters, you signed up for excessive calls when you decided to be my friend,” I reminded her. “Also, don’t get me started on your texting habits.”

“Okay, what the hell has gotten into you?” She laughed as she shook her head, leaning behind her to switch a lamp on, which illuminated the view on my screen considerably.

“You’re not going to believe how my night has gone. I’m turning the tables; I’m the one that needs life advice.”

She had an odd look on her face and seemed to be distracted, her eyes trailing off as she looked at something off camera.

“Hello? Did you hear me?” I was pacing around my bedroom by this point, bursting to spill all the details of what had happened.

“Yeah, sorry, I heard you. What’s going on?” She seemed to have her focus back on me now.

I went into all the details of how the evening had gone from start to finish as I continued to pace around my room. I was feeling flustered and anxious about the whole thing the more I thought about it. I wasn’t even sure how to begin to make a decision about the job offer and I was completely avoiding my thoughts on Dieter. While his behavior pissed me off to no end, I couldn’t help but feel hurt all over again. Which was a feeling I didn’t want to acknowledge out of fear that it would send me spiraling all over again.

Lauren sat staring at her phone, wide-eyed. She looked overwhelmed with the word vomit I had just thrown her way.

“Ok, I need a minute to digest all of that,” she finally said. Her attention was again drawn to something else as an exasperated look formed on her face.

“What the hell are you doing over there? Is somebody there?”

“NO! No, it’s…” She appeared to swat at something before she continued, “it’s a cat. I have a cat. A stray. It’s not staying. It’s kind of an annoying jerk,” she said with a nervous laugh. I wasn’t sure if I bought that. I gave her a skeptical look.

“So, Dieter really said all of that to you? Seriously?” she asked, quickly changing the subject.

“Yes, he did. He was a total asshole. He looked like he was on something. He’s like a completely different person.” I shook my head in disbelief.

“Did you ever consider that maybe he’s trying to piss you off on purpose? To push you away?”

She had a sympathetic look on her face now.

“Oh, I know he was trying to do it on purpose. I know him well enough to know when he’s putting on a show. He’s just not usually so cruel about it. I don’t know why he’s being like that.” I shrugged, unsure of what else to say.

“Maybe you should try talking to him again. He’s kind of hardheaded. Perhaps putting some pressure on him might bring him back to his senses.”

“No, you know what, let’s just not focus on him.” I paused briefly, shaking my head again, “I don’t even want to think about him. He’s made it clear how he feels.”

“You can’t avoid it forever.” She gave me a pointed look.

I threw my hand up in frustration as I rolled my eyes, “I’m not avoiding it. I’m accepting the reality of the situation.”

Lauren rolled her eyes in return, “No, you're locking all those feelings away in a secret room in that pretty little head of yours and pretending they don’t exist. I know how you are. You’re both so fucking stubborn.”

I was taken aback by how blunt she was being. That was usually my role.

“Ok, whatever. Can we talk about Carrington now? What should I do about that? I mean, if I take the position in Silicon Valley, I wouldn’t really have to see him once things got settled. So, if there were vibes, it would be a non-issue, right?” I drew my brows down together as I contemplated that choice.

Lauren sighed heavily before she responded, “Look, I can’t tell you what to do about that. All I can say is don’t make a choice based on a man. Any man. You’ve wasted too much of your life doing that. Don’t take the job just because you want to get away from Dieter and don’t not take it because this Carrington guy may or may not have been flirting with you. You do what you want, then we will deal with what comes after.”

She was very matter of fact in her response. Even though that wasn’t the answer I wanted, I knew she was right. I needed to remove the men from the equation and figure out what I really wanted. Lauren spoke up again, pulling me from my thoughts, “Sorry to cut it short, but I gotta go. I need to feed this cat, so he’ll chill out.” She was fighting a smile.

“Why do I feel like you're talking in code about something else?” I gave her a confused look as she started to laugh.

“Oh, gotta go. We'll talk tomorrow. Bye.”

She did not even give me a chance to say bye before hanging up, “What the hell was that about?” I shook my head as I set my phone down on the docking station. There was definitely something going on; her behavior during the call was kind of bizarre, so was the excuse about the stray cat. As if I needed something else to wonder about.

I decided to finish getting ready for bed after that. Even though my mind was racing with so many different thoughts brought on by the day’s events, I was happy to settle in for the night. I laid there for some time, waiting for the melatonin to kick in. It seemed like it took a little longer than normal, but sleep did finally take me.

Two weeks after my dinner with Carrington, I still hadn’t decided. Luckily, he was understanding and said I still had some time to think about it. Lauren was still being weird and dodging questions. I had reached a point that I didn’t care what she was up to. If she wanted me to know, she would tell me. I already had too many things on my plate to worry about. Of course, the universe still wasn’t satisfied with my long list of troubles and decided to add to it.

I was sitting on the couch, attempting to read a book in between my spells of wandering thoughts, when the doorbell rang. To my surprise, it was Gabby. We hadn’t talked at all since news got out that Dieter and I were no longer together. She would send the occasional text to check in on me, but that’s it. Honestly, it was too hard for me to talk to her. It only made me miss him and the life we were building together even more.

Gabby greeted me with a tight hug. When she pulled away, I could see the worry in her eyes.

“I’m sorry to just barge in on you, but I wanted to talk to you in person.”

She gave me a nervous smile as I waved her in and led her over to sit on the couch. She had a tentative look on her face as she asked me how I was doing.

“I’m actually ok. I’ve just been keeping busy and focusing on work mostly.” It was hard to meet her gaze, because I knew that if I did, I wouldn’t be able to hold it together. Her eyes reminded me of her brother’s, which seemed to unearth the raw emotion that I had managed to keep locked away thus far. It was all simmering under the surface for me, and I knew it wouldn’t take much for it to start peeking its ugly little head out of its hidden room.

“Have you seen any of the gossip sites lately?” She started to rub her hands against her thighs, clearly nervous to bring up the topic of her brother.

“Uhm, no. I try to avoid all that stuff these days. I don’t want to know what your brother is up to.” My chest tightened at the mere thought of him. I rubbed my shoulder with my right hand, trying to remain calm and grounded. It was impossible though.

Gabby sighed heavily, “Talia, it’s getting bad,” she said, and I could hear how upset she was. “Every other night he’s out partying with Anna, and he’s gotten into several confrontations with random people at bars and clubs. He isn’t acting like himself at all. I think he’s using something, but I don’t know what it is. We tried to talk to him about it and now he won’t even speak to us. I’m really worried about him.”

I could feel her eyes on me as I stared at a random painting on the wall. Focusing on the swirls of color and different brush strokes to distract myself from what I was feeling.

“I’m not sure why you’re telling me this. I can’t do anything about it. He’s made it pretty clear how he feels.”

“I don’t know what his fucking problem is, but he loves you. I know he does. We could all see it. I think he would listen to you if you would just talk to him.” She had an edge to her voice as she spoke. She never took her eyes off me. I briefly glanced over at her. The fear in her eyes nearly broke me. I could feel the tears forming in my eyes as I looked back toward the painting.

“I tried Gabby. The night he called and ended it... I had a flight booked for the next day and he told me not to come. He lost his shit when I asked him if he was on drugs. He doesn’t want to talk to me.”

She reached over and grabbed my hand, squeezing it tightly, “You should have gone anyway. I really think if he sees you in person, he’ll listen.”

“I saw him… Two weeks ago. He was an asshole and made it pretty clear that he didn’t want to speak to me.”

I let out a shuddered breath as I looked down at our hands. Telling her that I couldn’t do anything to stop her brother from hurting himself was one of the hardest things I had ever had to do.

“Maybe if we all tried. I’m pretty sure he has blocked everyone at this point, but we could all show up at his house and talk to him.” Her voice was strained. I could tell she was trying to keep her emotions in check as much as I was.

“Gabby, I just don’t think you can help someone who doesn’t want to be helped.”

I looked up at her and watched as she knitted her brows together at my words. A mixture of frustration and anguish written all over her face.

“You’re not even gonna try?”

“I can’t,” I said quietly. The tears finally spilled down my cheeks.

She shook her head from side to side, not understanding where I was coming from.

“Why not?”

“Because…if I give in, he’ll completely consume me. And if I can’t get through to him, then you’ll lose both of us. I know I won’t be able to come back from it and that scares the hell out of me.”

I could see the fight drain out of her body as she took in what I was saying. I cleared my throat.

“I guess I should probably tell you, I’ve uhm...been offered another job. I have a choice of going to New York or Silicon Valley. I haven’t made my final decision yet, but I’m leaning toward accepting one of them.”

She couldn’t hold back her tears any longer, “You guys are really over, aren’t you?”

“Yeah, I think so.” I shook my head in agreement. The tears were now blurring my vision as I felt my face tighten. I gave up on trying to hold it back. She pulled me in for another tight hug.

“I want you to know that I still consider you to be part of this family. I don’t want you to forget that. I’m still holding out hope that fate will bring you guys back together somehow. I’m convinced you two are meant to be.”

I pulled away, giving her a small smile as I thanked her for being there for me when she didn’t have to be. She left soon after that with promises to keep in touch. After she was gone, I laid down on the couch. I stared at the ceiling for who knows how long, completely disassociating. Once I finally came back to my thoughts, I couldn’t help but to question every decision I was making. I felt lost and now I had the added concerns of Dieter’s wellbeing. I had managed to ignore that piece of the puzzle thus far by isolating myself from the knowledge of what he was doing. Now that I was aware, it was going to be hard continuing to ignore it.

A/N: Happy Friday y'all! How are we feeling about asshole Dieter? That was some seriously rude things to say to poor Talia. How about that dinner with Carrington and his offer (and maybe flirting)? And what the hell is Lauren up to? Also, Gabby is seriously breaking my heart right now. So, just another warning...the next chapter is going to be A LOT. When I say they hit rock bottom, I mean it. It's all (slowly) uphill after that though... Chapter 24 is complete and currently with my beta. I'll post the teaser on Monday. The chapter will come as soon as we are done with final edits. 💜

Lastly, everyone give a big thank you to @for-a-longlongtime for her excellent beta skills. She never fails to take things up a notch.

Sound off about your thoughts and feelings for this chapter. You know it gives me life. 😉 As usual, I have included the mood board for this chapter below.

Next Chapter

Tag List: @rhoorl @bitchwitch1981 @readingiskeepingmegoing @runningmom94 @for-a-longlongtime @hisandsnakes @chaoticfestninja @survivingandenduring @partyofone3413 @cakipy-blog @titlee78 @poodlebae @guelyury @weho2kcmo @missladym1981 @maried01 @alokaerza @samiamproductions @misstokyo7love @themonadiaries-blog @madnessofadaydreamer @pedrostories

Let me know in the comments below if you would like to be added to the tag list.

#dieter bravo #dieter x ofc #dieter bravo fic #Destiny & Deliverance Series #pedro pascal #pedro pascal characters #dieter bravo x ofc #pedro pascal character fanfic #pedro pascal fanfiction #Pedro Pascal Fanfic #dieter bravo x oc #dieter bravo fluff #dieter bravo fanfiction #pedro pascal smut #the bubble #the bubble fanfiction

107 notes · View notes

mothandpidgeon · 1 year

Text

Aunt Flo's First Visit [pre-outbreak!Joel Miller x f!reader]

MASTERLIST - follow @mothandpidgeon-updates and turn on notifications to stay updated with my fics!

Pairing: pre-outbreak!Joel Miller x f!reader

Summary: After Sarah gets her first period, Joel is determined to be a supportive parent despite the fact that he doesn't know the first thing about menstruation. But when he goes to the pharmacy to shop for supplies, he finds himself in way over his head.

Words: 2k

Rating: G

Warnings: period stuff and everything that comes with it

a/n: This is really fluffy and a little silly. I saw a tik tok by a menstrual product company about a customer trying to find the right thing for his daughter and it just gave me such Joel energy this happened. I haven't finished any fic in MONTHS because I'm working on my book and that's not finished either so it feels really good to complete something. (If you want to keep up with my publishing journey, I'm mainly documenting it here.) Please enjoy.

Also, I challenged myself to write in present tense bc I never do and I really was struggling so pretend the grammar is all correct. Thank you.

Joel knows how to do a lot of things. He can manage a crew, change a flat tire, and build just about anything. He never considered himself smart by the classical definition but he knows how to make a car battery from scratch despite the fact that he got a C in chemistry.

If somebody had told him a decade ago that he’d one day be paralyzed with fear in the feminine hygiene aisle, he would’ve laughed. But right now, Joel would give all his knowledge along with his left arm if he could just figure out what the hell he ought to buy for his daughter.

He knew this day would come eventually. It’s his own damn fault he never prepared himself. Somewhere in the back of his mind, he must’ve expected Sarah to just know how to handle it. Being a single dad wasn’t a walk in the park but he couldn’t imagine how much harder it would be if Sarah wasn’t so damn self sufficient. Even at 13, she can get herself fed and dressed and off to school without help. Of course she could figure this out on her own.

But Joel was reminded that Sarah’s still just a kid when she finally told him that she’d gotten her period for the very first time. She was so embarrassed to admit it, Joel practically had to drag it out of her.

He was angry with himself. He should’ve been ready, wished that he knew the right words to say. Joel promised himself he would put things right so she wouldn’t feel like she ever had to hide anything from him.

That was a lot easier said than done, he realizes now.

Joel stands in the aisle overwhelmed and confused. Boxes and soft packages in friendly, pastel colors stare at him from the shelves. He’s never spent much time with the feminine hygiene products, not unless he was scooting by them to pick up a little carton from the family planning section. He hasn’t bothered to learn about that stuff. Women’s stuff. He’s not disgusted by menstruation, isn’t afraid of it. It’s just one of those things he never had to deal with.

Without Sarah’s mom, though, he’s had to figure out plenty of girl things. He can remember the lesson on managing Sarah’s curls from the kind woman at the hair salon. Names of Shampoos and oils that felt foreign were now routine and he’s mastered using the combs and clips that looked more intimidating than some of his power tools. But he struggled for a good long while before that kind stylist took pity on him.

And here he is again, flying blind into the female whirlwind.

There’s so many options on the shelf. Words like HEAVY and gentle and sport. And the prices. Christ! He thought the hair stuff was expensive.

Joel’s head is spinning but he has to get it together. He’d vowed long ago that he would be Dad and Mom too. That’s what his daughter deserves.

Just a year ago, he hovered outside of the dressing room at the mall as Sarah tried on training bras.

“Did you find one? You were in there for a while,” he said when she emerged.

“Dad,” she replied in that tone she was using more and more often, the one that told him to shut up.

It isn’t the changes to her body that scare him, all of the subtle ways she’s becoming less familiar. His little girl is growing up and he mourns her childhood. It won’t be long before she’s driving, going off to college. Maybe she’ll have a daughter of her own but Joel hopes she’ll wait longer than he did, have a chance to make a life for herself.

Speaking of which, he realizes he’s going to have to sit her down for a real talk about boys next. He better get ready for that one. Explaining where babies come from hadn’t been too difficult. Condoms and venereal diseases are a whole different ball game. Teenage boys are gremlins– he’d know– and Sarah’s so smart and pretty, she’s going to have to be careful.

Joel doesn’t know how long he’s been staring at the shelves when a woman appears in the aisle, another shopper. She’s got her keys looped around a finger, headed straight for the tampons, her flip flops smacking against the bottoms of her feet. Joel has a box in his hands. He doesn’t even know what he’s picked up, it’s just got the least intimidating packaging and the price is reasonable. He can’t help but catch the woman’s eye and the look she gives him is a little wary. It must be obvious that he’s out of his depths. But she gives a polite, tight lipped smile and proceeds to ignore him as she approaches the pantheon of period products.

He watches as her eyes dart around the shelves and quickly she makes a selection, plucking up a box clad with pink and purple silhouettes. So easy. Well, it must be easy for her. He wonders how many times she’s visited this part of the pharmacy, if her mother brought her to the store when she was Sarah’s age and showed her all the options.

His free hand fidgets at his side and he swallows dryly. He feels like an idiot but he reminds himself that he’s got to do this. For Sarah. The woman is already half way back to the end of the aisle by the time he’s found his voice.

---

“Excuse me, miss. Could I trouble you for a second?” you hear from the man behind you.

You turn around, confused, but there’s nobody else that he could be talking to. Here you thought you could get in and out quickly. You’re cranky and tired and all day you’ve had toe curling cramps. It hits you like a ton of bricks every month. All you want to do is get home to your couch to watch some crappy reality tv.

But this lumberjack of a man– broad shoulders wrapped in a flannel shirt– is giving you puppy dog eyes. You’ve never been hit on while holding a box of Tampax Pearl but there’s a first time for everything.

“I apologize. This is real awkward,” he says, rubbing at the back of his neck with a big hand. “I’m trying to get something for my daughter but I’m a little lost.”

His voice is warm and sweet and he’s handsome as hell but you keep your distance.

“Didn’t she tell you what to get?” you ask.

His expression grows even more bashful and his voice lowers.

“I’m afraid it’s, uh…well, it’s new territory for both of us,” he admits.

You can’t help the sympathetic smile that forms on your lips. Some poor preteen girl just got welcomed into the cruel arms of womanhood. It will be all downhill from here. Wild mood swings, angry breakouts, blood leaking through her favorite pair of pants. At least, it seems, she’s got her dad on her side. It takes a lot of balls for a guy to pick up a box of tampons let alone stop a stranger and ask for help.

You’d like to tell him that you’re too busy to help– you can hear your Haagen Dazs calling you all the way from the freezer– but you at least owe it to this kid to help him out.

“What’ve you got?” you ask, nodding towards the powder blue box in his grasp. It looks so little in his big hand. You walk back towards him and take a look. “Oh. Nice try but I wouldn’t go with that.”

He regards his choice again. It’s kind of adorable, the way the corners of his mouth frown as he squints at the words on the front. “What’s wrong with these?” His words aren’t defensive, he’s genuinely curious.

“Tampons can be pretty tricky when you’re that age. And those don’t even come with an applicator,” you explain. You remember trying to use a tampon that first time. You’d never put anything up there before and it stung like hell.

“Applicator?” His brows furrow and you can see fear in his brown eyes.

“So you can put it…in,” you tell him and motion with your finger, jabbing your pointer upwards.

His cheeks go pink. Ears too. You try to suppress a giggle as his brain short circuits for a second. His throat works as he swallows and places the box back on the shelf— gingerly, like it might explode.

“Which are the ones that don’t…go inside?” he asks.

It’s impossible to keep from grinning.

“Pads,” you say.

He nods.

You choose a package and place it in his hands. It’s a multipack, everything from light to heavy, and no wings so she doesn’t feel like she’s wearing a diaper.

“Try this,” you say. “She might not like them. It takes some trial and error.”

He reads over the circle in the corner that claims it’s 100% Leak Free! You can see he’s still overwhelmed but he’s far less nervous. He really is good looking and you have to wonder how he doesn’t have a woman in his life to help him out.

“This many?” he asks.

“She might need more.” You shrug. “Just stay away from the scented ones. And you have Tylenol at home?”

“I think so.”

“How about a heating pad?”

He shakes his head.

“Go get one,” you advise.

He blows out air and then steels himself with a nod, ready to face the red menace.

“I’m awfully grateful for your help,” he says and you can tell by the look on his face, he means that.

You feel your own cheeks heat.

---

Joel ends up behind her in the checkout line after securing an electric heating pad and grabbing an extra bottle of Motrin.

“What do you think?” he asks, showing her what he picked.

“Good job,” she tells him. Her smile is tinged with amusement but his chest still swells with pride. Maybe he’s not such a failure of a father after all.

Now that he’s less bewildered, Joel can’t help but notice how pretty this woman is. She’s dressed for comfort without any make up as far as he can tell but that smile and the kindness in her eyes is what does it for him. If they met under different circumstances, maybe he’d try to flirt. Not that he’s had the opportunity to practice recently. It’s for the best, though. There’s absolutely no way the combination of bumbling idiot, single parent, and menstruation makes for a romantic connection. Besides he’s here on an errand for his daughter.

Joel tries to keep his eyes from wandering over her as the teenager behind the register rings her up, the pink box and two bags of M&Ms. She gives Joel one last smile before leaving the store.

He thought he might feel embarrassed buying nothing but period supplies but he’s too busy thinking about how helpful she was. Sarah would just about die from mortification if he told her a complete stranger gave him a crash course in maxi pads. He chuckles to himself.

“Hey!” someone calls as Joel approaches his truck.

It’s her, the woman from the pharmacy, crossing the parking lot. Joel smooths his hair.

“These are for her,” she says, handing him one of her bags of candy. “Chocolate helps.”

Joel gives a soft laugh as he weighs the M&Ms in his hand. “That I knew,” he says.

“And, uh, here,” she tells him, holding out the long receipt.

Joel takes the paper. On the back she’s scribbled her name and phone number.

“You know, I don’t know. I just thought– if she has any questions. Or maybe if you do,” she says, shrugging. She’s much less confident now than she was in front of that endless selection of menstrual products. It’s cute and makes Joel feel a little less like an idiot for the way he was fumbling a few minutes ago.

“I owe you one,” he says.

She shakes her head. “Just be patient,” she warns. “She’s gonna be a bitch but don’t take it personally.”

Joel grins.

“You’re a good dad,” she tells him and he doesn’t know how to respond to that.

She’s already backing away towards her car and waves again.

Joel looks at her number, once again finding something he doesn’t know. He’d give his left arm to figure out how soon is too soon to call.

---

MASTERLIST - follow @mothandpidgeon-updates and turn on notifications to stay updated with my fics!

#joel miller x reader #joel miller x f!reader #pre outbreak!joel #joel miller fic #tlou fic #joel miller fluff #fluff

273 notes · View notes

shadow4-1 · 6 months

Text

You're Not My Boyfriend! - Crazy!Soap x Reader Imagine (SFW)

[I just found out that my best friend of 10 years thinks we're dating (even tho he knows I'm married and have only ever referred to him as a friend - albeit my best friend). Idk what mental hoops he had to jump through to get to this point. Instead of dwelling on this interpersonal fact, I'm going to distract myself with a imagine on why Soap would most certainly act with the same kind of crazy.]

The two of you crossed paths for the first time because you're someone who works a support role for the 141 (ie. the medical/technical fields). You're not in the 141, in fact, you rarely see them because you're too busy with your own duties behind the scenes. You know they're important/a big deal because your superiors tell you so, but it's not like you really care. You don't deal with them enough to.

When you finally crossed paths with Soap, you find all of the team a bit brutish. You don't really like talking to them, and if you have to, you keep it curt. Soap is the one who actually tries to chat you up. You still keep up the same behavior because no thanks. He smiles too wide, and he doesn't blink enough. You're 95% sure all of these men are psychopaths.

A few weeks go by, and you completely forget about him. It isn't until flowers and chocolates and teddy bears with your name on it start showing up. The same note is always inside: Can't wait to see you again. Your stomach flips because you haven't been on a date in a couple years. All of your coworkers think you finally have a new significant other. They coo over the gifts and talk behind your back about how someone like you doesn't deserve the effort. You don't have it in yourself to speak up nor would it really matter.

You throw yourself into your work to distract yourself from the gossip. You tear through assignments like it's no one's business. Eventually, your productivity is noticed by Laswell. Unbeknownst to you, she does a background check on you. She finds out you've already been noticed by the 141 and have been receiving gifts from a particular member. She's half tempted to tell you but decides against it. She knows this won't end well either way. Laswell decides to leave you be, but manages to pull some strings to get you a well-deserved promotion.

The gifts stop for a few months but start up again sporadically. Rumors start about how the timing of the gifts matches up with the 141 deployments. Someone on the team has taken a liking to you. You roll your eyes at them, and you don't want to believe them. Those meatheads from the 141? One of them likes you when they've got dozens of other pretty young things working in their peripherals? Ha, likely story. The person actually sending you the gifts is probably the old janitor. After all, chivalry is so dead nowadays.

The gifts keep coming even as you enjoy your new promotion. The notes start to change, but they continue to remain anonymous. You start to accept that your favorite flowers are being sent from a 141 member. You have to see them more often, thanks to your new post. It doesn't take you long to figure out which man has been trying to capture your attention. God, why does it always have to be the creepy ones?

He's too touchy and too insensitive, and he's loud and makes you feel small. You want him to leave every time you have to be in the room with the team. Why couldn't it have been the Captain or the maniac in black? Why does it have to be the Scottish one who won't shut up?

You learn (against your will) that his name is John "Johnny/Soap" MacTavish, he's single and ready to mingle, he loves his mum and his sisters and he thinks you're "bangin" (whatever that means). It's so obvious he's got a crush on you, but you desperately try to play it off. He's a puppy, and all you have to do is wait for him to grow up and realize it's never going to happen.

One night, you decide to head out with your coworkers for drinks. And lo and behold, guess who dragged his whole team out to the same bar? You're understandably pissed off, but you can't bear to tell Soap off in front of everyone. It's probably the biggest mistake of your life.

He physically sweeps you off your feet and refers to you as his "bestest girl". Despite how annoying he is, his good mood seems to run off on everyone...including you. He buys you drinks, and you keep him at a respectable arms length. Despite how much you really don't like him that way, you have to start admitting he's got a weird charm to him.

You make him repeat it back to you. He seems all too happy to agree with you.

Later on in the night, you take him off to the side. You explain to him clearly that the two of you are friends. Only friends. You'll never be more than that. But, he's a good guy, and if he needs someone to talk to, you're down to be friends.

"Yes, Bonnie. We're only friends."

With a sigh, you slap his shoulder and tell him to buy you another drink.

Weeks drag on. The romantic gifts stop, but the gifts keep coming. At first, it's nothing you'd really bat an eye over from a good friend. It's Scottish hot chocolate tablets that he swears you have to try. It's CDs of his favorite bands because your taste in music should be broadened! It's books and bags and stupid little trinkets to personalize your desk.

You can't believe you find yourself humoring him, but you do. After all, it seemed like his crush on you disappeared. You get him weird snacks and make him mixtapes for his longer missions. Always under the guise as a treat from the rest of the staff, you send care packages if you can. Johnny calls you out on it but you feign ignorance. He's your friend. You'd actually hate to know he's slogging around in mud, hungry and alone.

That sounds like pure hell.

"Y' git used to it, Bonnie."

Eventually, he suggests spending time outside of work. He mentions he'd gotten a new gaming console you'd been dying to have yourself. That night, the two of you sit comfortably side by side, trying to kick each other's asses at a video game. When he wims, he leans back and laces his arms beneath his head, grinning and laughing. He looks so proud of himself. A part of you whispers that it's because he'd weaseled his way into your good graces, but you were in too good of a mood to listen to that part of your brain.

Just as you were about to get ready to leave, Johnny stops you. It was late. You should take his bed and get some rest. He'd take you to work in the morning. Despite yourself, you agree. It was late, and you were tired, and the drive back home would be too long. You take off your pants, crawl into his huge bed and pass out.

The next morning was normal. You had an extra uniform in your locker, so you got changed at work. You had gotten a great night's sleep, so you didn't think about your appearance. But apparently, everyone else did.

The gossip began at full force. Someone saw you changing despite the fact you always came into work in uniform. Johnny looked terrible. It was obvious he hadn't gotten great sleep last night. You looked well rested. In fact, you were even glowing! And Johnny had dropped you off, too?

Oh no.

You wanted to address the new rumors, but that's all they were. And even if you did, you were sure it would just backfire. You tried to keep your head down, but one of your best friends (a fellow coworker) came by your desk. Apparently, Johnny was bragging that his bestest friend spent the night over.

You were so mad you tracked him down and pulled him to the side. You whispered angrily at him, chastising him for making it seem like the two of you were an item. You were only friends!

"Yeah, you're m' bestest girl." He shrugged, grinning happily. "N' m' you're bestest boy. We love each other."

The deranged pieces were starting to come together. The way he brushed off the advances of the other girls. The way all of your prospective partners disappeared after getting into it with him. The knowing, almost pitying glances of the 141.

"W-we're friends!" You squeaked. "You're not my boyfriend!"

"Boy friend. Boyfriend. What's th' difference?" Johnny laughed hard, doubling over. "We're together."

After that, you blocked his number and tried to ignore him. Of course, it didn't work. Johnny was relentless. He got new phone numbers to text you. He started sending gifts (this time a mix between the romantic and the mundane). He sent letters of all kinds during deployment. He even sent pictures you were sure would get him in trouble.

You tried so hard to ignore it all until one night, he messaged you on social media.

He was out on a mission again, but he just had to say how he felt:

I can't wait to get home and see you again. I miss you so much. You're one of the only people I can talk to and laugh with. I'm sorry if I made you upset. We should talk about it over dinner. My treat, Bonnie.

You knew better. God, you knew better. But that part of your heart that wanted to trust and love won over. You agreed to talk when he returned, but you made it very clear that it would be a meeting between coworkers, not even friends.

The day eventually came, and the two of you sat across from each other at a too fancy restaurant. There was a dress code, so you had on a nice dress. You were mad from the jump, you couldn't believe you'd let him talk you into this.

He was dressed nicely in a suit, with a bushel of flowers and a medium-sized gift box. He apologized for making you feel uncomfortable. He'd never meant to make you feel that way. He really did see you as his best friend. In his eyes, you were the only person who truly understood him. He let his physical attraction blind him, and for that, he was sorry.

"I'll admit, I did a few bad things against y'." He offered you the box. "I wanna give it all back, wipe the slate clean, love."

Love?

You shakily opened the box and felt bile rise up in the back of your throat. It was pairs of your old panties, missing chapsticks, nail polish, scrunchies, and even a dirty uniform shirt you thought you had lost. The contents of the box had a slightly musky scent that no longer resembled yours. He'd stolen these things and had kept them for a long, long time. Perhaps even before the two of you had become "friends".

You covered your hand with a mouth as you felt like you were getting sick. What the fuck?

"We'll, now tha' everything's been laid bare..."

You watched in shock as a few classical musicians with their instruments came around the table. They encircled you and began playing a romantic piece with sweet vibratos. The guests at other tables started to gasp and point at you. You tried to stand, but John put a hand on your shoulder to keep you sitting. With a voice loud enough for the whole restaurant to hear he began to talk.

"These last couple years you've been my bestest friend, m' bestest girl." He sighed dreamily before getting down onto one knee.

You were mortified. You tried to pull your feet away from him, but he placed a firm hand on your knee. He pulled out a shiny box from his suit pocket. The music hit a peak that made you start to cry from overstimulation. No, no, this couldn't be happening. He's crazy!

"Please, be m' bestest girl forever." He practically pleaded, opening the box to show off a much too large diamond ring. Women at the tables behind you gasped. The music began to stop, but the whine of the violins hurt your head. Tears began to spill down your face.

"Marry me, love."

The entire restaurant went silent.

You could feel dozens upon dozens of eyes on you.

The pressure was too much for you to outright say no.

But you couldn't say yes, either.

You began to sob loudly. You covered your face and tried to hide away from the gaze of the strangers. John shushed you and cooed and pulled you into his arms. You wanted to fight him but his large body shielded you from the petriying public gaze. He rubbed at your back and whispered encouraging words to you. Eventually, he got you to stop blubbering and pulled away from you just enough to look down into your face.

"I love you. N' 've always loved you." He smiled.

You squeaked at the feeling of ice-cold metal being slipped down your middle finger.

You looked down at the ring in shock.

The entire restaurant erupted into claps and whistles and congratulatory whoops.

"N' now we'll be bestest friends forever, love."

#cod imagines #soap x reader #soap headcanons #john soap mactavish #soap cod #soap imagine

132 notes · View notes

oreganosbaby · 1 year

Note

What are some notably bad takes you've seen on the Dick Pic incident?

Ok my biggest frustration with Dick Pic Incident takes are that most of them tend to take it as a very conventional #metoo sexual harrassment narrative. This flattens their characters and their relationship so much. Within this narrative, Roman is the predator and Gerri is the victim. Imo, the people who have this take are more likely to see Roman as being a sex pervert and are not the type to see Gerri as being predatory or as betraying him. I don't agree with literally any of those takes, obviously.

I feel like the whole narrative of Gerri as victim and Roman as predator completely misunderstands the intention of the dick pics proper because they are unable to let go of the socially normative idea of what an unsolicited dick pic is for. So, people tend to assume Roman intended to impose his will over her, to sexually threaten her, humiliate her or undermine her. This also leads to a misunderstanding of why the dick pic was so fucked up for Logan and why it was the final nail in the coffin for Roman. The idea that Roman was doing this with aggression goes against his entire deal as being the inverse of his father’s masculine ideals. Roman sent those pictures out of this hysterical overflow of psychosexual anxieties regarding the possibility of genuine emotion without the pretense of business. It parallels his anxieties about his mother’s wedding wherein he identifies with his mother and his anxieties about Logan’s feelings toward him. It seems people are forcibly decontextualising the incident so as to make it fit a particular narrative since that's the only way they can make sense of this or they're misinterpreting his character entirely as someone who is far more proactive and by extension, masculine than he actually is.

The other element is people misinterpreting Gerri's feelings about the dick pics. Like, she's not traumatised and she doesn't feel threatened by him. To some degree, Gerri legitimately sees herself as superior to Roman and able to control him to some degree. With the dick pics, he was getting out of her control but, I still don’t believe she understood this as him asserting himself or sexually threatening her. To Gerri, it was him being hysterical and clingy because if he really were asserting himself, he’d be able to act more independently and he clearly isn’t. His attachment to her is really the crux of her problem with this. What she wants is for him to let go of this libidinal attachment to her because she sees it as weighing her down and for him to learn to manage his libido so he could use it for more productive ends. Roman is unable to do this because his libido is what has guided every major career decision he’s made; it’s the libido that goes first, not the professional goals. She didn’t fully understand this and this is also why she thought their interests were aligned.

I think that both have a hard time situating themselves in relation to each other within the hierarchy. Within their “special conference calls” it’s simple but, in business, it isn’t. Roman assumes Gerri sees him for him-- that she sees him as impotent but, Gerri doesn’t see that and she expects him to “mature” out of this and advance himself. Both understand that regardless of her expectations, Roman’s power does largely come from his relation to Logan. The dick pics were obviously a huge liability to Gerri and she understood Roman as getting preferential treatment because he’s Logan’s son-- after all, that’s why she’s stuck with him in the first place. I think Roman can’t calculate the weight this has so, while he’s aware that this matters and it’s why she’s stuck with him, he likely didn’t expect his father to even suggest killing Gerri in favour of him. I think that a lot of people miss the complexity of the power dynamics here and don’t understand how Roman sees himself within the hierarchy.

#succ sesh #myplasticadversary #dalia replies

223 notes · View notes

russellsppttemplates · 2 years

Text

I'm happy if you're happy (Charles Leclerc)

Despite being known faces to the public, Charles and Y/N manage to keep it (almost) low key when they go to a Champions League match

Note: english is not my first language. I thought about something like this as soon as I found out he was there and the request just came to prove that we all think alike and seem to have the same wish in life

Thank you so much to everyone who likes and reblogs, your feedback is appreciated 🤍 and I'm taking requests so if you have any ideas or concepts you want to share, feel free to do so as I'll try to get to them the best I can!

Tw: briefly mentions puberty related body changes

When Charles found out that Juventus and the team you supported were in the same Champions League group, he hoped that you would be able to go and watch a game together as a way of relaxing and enjoying a football match like a normal couple would. Sure, he was grateful for all his fans and knew that without them he wouldn't be where he is, but that didn't mean that he sometimes wished he could go out and not have to worry about running into people who knew who he was. But over the years, since you started dating, he had learnt with how to balance everything out. You had started acting later than your colleagues, only finding how much you enjoyed the mixture between singing and acting that musical theatre provided later on your teenage years, and after many smaller plays, you were now one of the actresses directors first thought about contacting whenever they had a movie or a show that required singing, your voice being quickly spread over the many soundtracks of recent productions. And with it all, you helped Charles learn, like you had been learning too, the balance between being a known person around the world but still managing to live a pretty normal life.

So, when Andrea announced that the Juventus group stage game against your team was during the week Charles knew you were going to be home, he didn't think twice and asked him to get tickets for you as well.

Arriving at the Allianz Stadium, you had managed to get in the box without making too much fuss, the security staff guaranteeing that all of the reporters were not allowed in that area of the stadium and wishing you a good game. You sat next to Charles as Jeremy and Andrea took their seats too, watching the players from yout team entering the pitch for their warm-up, "Tell me, Y/N, how are you going to feel when your team looses? Just so that were prepared to deal with you in a few hours time", Andrea teased you since they were all supporting the italian team, "I know it's going to be a hard game for them, but I still have hope they'll get a good result", you said firmly as you opened your bag, pulling out the scarf you've had since you were a kid, a sweet memory of going to your first game with your grandpa, "Oh, she came prepared!", your boyfriend's personal trainer mused, "and I didn't bring my t-shirt because I haven't bought a new one since I got the one when I was a boobless teenager going through puberty", you playfully teased back. "Well, I like your boobs now, no need to hide them in a tight t-shirt", Charles whispered in your ear, pressing a kiss on your neck, "thank you baby. I like your boobies too", you patted his chest over the t-shirt that left little to the imagination about the muscles under it. Giggling as Jeremy fake gagged, you clapped along when you heard the fans that had travelled to see the game sing one of the team's support chants, "you could go and sing along with them. Although I think your pretty and well located voice would be very different compared to theirs", Charles pointed out, "yeah, I don't think we'd hear Y/N that much", Andrea said as he handed you a bottle of water you has asked him to get since he offered to bring you something, "thank you", you said before taking a sip, "Oh, when I was little I always wanted to go to their stand in the home stadium and chant with them, but my grandpa always said that I would end up swallowed in the middle of them", you reasoned, "and I'm sure my manager wouldn't be very happy to know that I was straining my voice like that". Humming in agreement, Jeremy spoke directly to you, "by the way, I saw your latest movie last week with my family, they all loved it, and my niece seems to think that she can now sing like your character", he said, cringing at the memory, "For the first time only last week? Jeremy, mate. You don't know what you are loosing", Charles replied, "and of course she want to be like Y/N, she has the most beautiful voice ever", he said looking into your eyes as you rested your arm on the armrest to support you so your lips could kiss your boyfriend's, "thank you, mon amour".

The teams had now gone back to the dressing rooms and you were watching Charles and Andrea talk about some new plan he had for him when you heard the Champions League Anthem, whistling as the players found their positions on the pitch, "I didn't know you could whistle like that", Charles said, shocked that in the years you had been dating he had never seen you do it, "Please, she does that everytime you overtake someone in your races", Andrea forwarded, smiling at you.

It only took Juventus a few minutes to score the first goal, the three men erupting in cheer as you crossed your arms over your chest, not even looking at them before deciding to join the clapping with the fans from your team, "How are you feeling Y/N?", Jeremy asked, leaning over in his seat so he could see you, "It was a nice goal, to be fair, bht there's still a lot of game to play", you replied shortly as your eyes followed the ball, feeling Charles place his hand back on your thigh and squeezing it.

Just before half-time your team scored, you jumping up on your seat when the striker dribbled to the goal, letting out a squeal when the ball hit the back of the net before looking back at Jeremy, the smile on your face earning a huff from him, "like you said, there's stil game to play".

"I don't want to jinx it, but it's been really nice just being here with you, no one asking for pictures or autographs, just enjoying a game with you and my friends", Charles said near your ear as he wrapped his arm around your shoulder, the music blasting through the stadium's speakers during the half-time requiring that closeness, not that you minded. You nodded, "yes, I'm quite surprised but I guess people are more worried about the game, as they should too. They're all playing really well", you said as you noticed the players going back in the pitch, doing all sorts of jumps and leg exercises to warm back up.

The second part had been tense, your team scoring ten minutes in as Juventus tried to get past them, you getting up everytime the goalkeeper made a defense, making Charles grab your hips so you could sit on his lap, "they're probably winning because you are supporting them so vividly", Andrea mumbled, "you always say I'm a nice supporter, the best one even", hou tried to reason, the teasing glint in your eyes, "That is when you are supporting me, not all of them", Charles chirped in as he gestured to the men running on the pitch, making you kiss his cheek sweetly before returning to clapping.

Unluckily for Juventus, they were unable to score a goal, leaving the end result 1-2.

"I could be a really bad sport now, and tease all of you, but I'm just going to respectfully say it was a well disputed match", you said while you waited for the fans to exit the stadium before you guys could make your own way out of the stadium once the crowds were gone.

When you got to the hotel room, you were exhausted, going to the bathroom for your night routine before coming back to the bedroom area and grabbing one of Charles' t-shirts to sleep in while he was in the bathroom. You watched as your boyfriend put on his sleep shorts, reminding yourself how lucky you were that he was all yours, opening the sheets on his side of the bed so you could cuddle into his chest, him getting the hint straight away and snuggling into his pillow, looking for his comfortable position before grabbing your waist under his t-shirt and pushing your body to his, "we should do this more often, you know? It's not like we don't try, but I really love just having you with me, no one bothering. We were really lucky today and it might not happen again so soon, but I rely enjoyed it", you whispered as you kissed his naked chest, sleep already catching up with you. Brushing some hairs out of your face, Charles smiled as looked at you, "I know, me too. It's a shame they lost though", he chuckled, earning a small giggle from you, "yeah, but there's always the second leg. Maybe you'll be happier there", you said as he noticed your eyes were definitely closing for good, "Goodnight, mon coeur. I love you so much", he said pressing a kiss to your forehead, your mutter of a "sweet dreams handsome I love you too" bringing a blushy smile to his face.

Since he hadn't been to tired, Charles browsed through Instagram for a bit when he noticed a message from a fan, opening it to see a video of a girl recording her blunt reaction to the second goal your team scored and, in the back, he could see you celebrating while he was looking at you, amused by your reaction and what he thought people often referred to his look of love. The message read Ciao Charles, I don't mean to sound creepy but I was recording my reaction to the goal and I only realised that it was you and Y/N in the back when I got home. I'm not posting it anywhere because I know you value your privacy, but I thought it was too cute of a moment to not share with you. I hope you had a nice time and that the second leg works better in our favour!

Yeah, at the end of the day, he was happy if you were happy.

#charles leclerc imagine #charles leclerc x reader #charles leclerc fic #charles leclerc fluff #f1 imagine #f1 x reader #f1 fanfic

624 notes · View notes

mackeydoodledoo · 5 months

Text

Chapter 4: Life in District 7

Pairing: Lamina x (Fem!Mentor)Reader

Summary: You began living life in 7 after Lamina finds you. The both of you continuing on growing, a continue developing feelings for one another. However, Lamina continues to deal with her PTSD from the Hunger Games...

Warnings: Social Anxiety, Swearing, New Life adjustment

Key: Italics = Thoughts, +*+ = Time Skip, Bold/Italics = Flashback

Theme: True Colors - Justin Timberlake/Anna Kendrick

A/n: None

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

*Y/n's POV* You walk back into the house to search for Lamina.

"What do you want?" She asks

"I was just... Letting you know that your father and I are heading down to the market," You say, "And... I nearly forgot that my mother packed me some baked goods before I left. Mostly baked them for you of course..."

Lamina doesn't answer as she coddles her brother. You awkwardly leave them on her nightstand and briskly walk out of her room.

*Lamina's POV* When you hear the front door close, you out your brother back into his crib for a nap. Walking back into your room, you walk up to the settled basket on your nightstand. You move the cloth covering the baked goods and reach for one... Slowly bringing it to your mouth, savoring its taste...

"Also, how did you get these done so fast?" You ask, biting into a treat

"Well, when your mother is pretty much a culinary artist, and her only daughter is in the infirmary, she stress bakes," She answers, "Hence, why I have so much food right now."

"So you're an only child?" You ask, highlighting Y/n's only-child status

She nods, "Father died when I was a little kid, and mother never remarried. So, when you told you had a younger brother, I got a little jealous."

"You? A capitol citizen jealous of a girl from the district?" You chuckle

"Yeah," You say, straight faced, "I've always wanted to know what it felt like to have at least one other sibling. But, guess I'll never know."

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have assumed that you basically could have everything you wanted," You say, tucking hair behind your ear

"It's okay," She says, "We're from opposite upbringings. Technically, I could have everything I wanted. But, I chose to go at it my own way."

"Not really when you're spilling personal information like this," You say, "My mother died giving birth to my little brother. We're kinda alike in a way."

"If... If it were up to me, I would switch places with you; you mentoring me, and I'd be the one going into the arena," She confesses

"You'd die?" You ask

She nods.

"Well, maybe in another life we would meet under different circumstances," You say

You think back to that specific night and sigh...

I've missed her ma's baking...

*Y/n's POV* Lamina's father brings you into the market. You weren't sure what you were expecting other than lumber sales, but you were taken aback with all types of lumber that was around.

"So you all don't just cut down trees huh?" You ask

"Of course not," Lamina's father explains, "Of course, that is our main schtick. But, we managed to find little hobbies to utilize some creative skill in our district."

As you gaze around, you see people carving utensils, figurines... Even instruments...

You were amazed.

"Set it up here kid," He gestures to an empty table

You set his stuff down as you see eyes set upon you form everywhere...

"Don't mind them," He tells you, "Once you're here for about a year, they'll stop seein' you funny."

"Hope so..." You sigh, "So, how does this go?"

"Watch and learn," He says

You watch as a couple comes walking up to the table. However, began to look at you oddly.

"She's my apprentice," Lamina's father averts their unpleasant gaze

He goes onto explaining the products you and him had brought.

+*+

You return with Lamina's father after a day in the market.

"I'm assuming that you don't have a place to stay?" He asks

"No I don't sir," You say

"We have a spare room, you're more than welcome to stay with us for as long as you need," He says

"You're too kind," You chuckle

You follow him to the spare room, which you happened to pass by Lamina's room; she sits in her bed, reading a book of sorts.

She's kinda cute when she reads...

Your eyes drift to her nightstand... Basket open... You couldn't tell how much she had consumed.

"What do you want?" She asks

"Nothing," You say, quickly making your way into the spare room

You take in the surroundings; way smaller than what you were used to back living with your mother. But, you weren't going to complain.

You settle yourself into the small room...

+*+

Screaming...

Your legs burst out into a run and you nearly slide past Lamina's doorway, but caught yourself on the doorframe.

"Hey hey what's wrong?!" You ask, panting

"N-nothing, I'm fine," Lamina attempts to compose herself

"You're clearly not fine," You say

*Lamina's POV* You viciously wipe away your tears.

"I'm fine Y/n, now get out!" You say, pinching the bridge of your nose, trying to hide your tears

You let out a sigh and turn your back towards Y/n, slowly drifting off to sleep...

+*+

You wake up to the birds chirping outside. As you sit up in bed, you look over to the door and see Y/n, knees pressed against her chest, using her arm as a pillow; sleeping uncomfortably against the wall.

Was she there... All night?...

You were falling even harder... But, you weren't sure how to tell her that...

You get up from your bed and make your way towards Y/n. You gently shake her, and her eyes flutter open.

"Come on," You whisper

She begrudgingly stands but almost collapses from the pain in her back and legs. You keep her upright as you begin to motion towards your bed.

"I.. I thought you were going to take me back to bed, in the spare..." She yawns

"Too far..." You say

You gently lay her down along your bed, tucking her in like you would to your brother.

"Thanks for... Staying with me," You say, brushing some loose strands of her hair

"Always," She replies under her breath

You couldn't help but crack a small smile...

"You're so dumb sometimes," You say under your breath

You stand up and make your way out of the room, making your way down to the kitchen.

"Mornin' kiddo," Your pops greets you

You could easily tell that he was already cooking up breakfast.

"Mornin' pops," You greet back, walking up to his side

"You uh... Slept okay?" He asks

"Yeah, why?" You ask

"Well, you would often wake up two to three times a night," He points out

He was right, you normally would. Ever since coming home from the 10th games, you've lost a great amount of sleep.

*Y/n's POV* You walk down the stairs and see Lamina's family at the table.

"Ahh, good morning Y/n," Lamina's father greets you

"Morning," You reply

"You slept okay?" He asks

You nod.

"Lamina finish up, we have to get you ready for the reaping," He tells her

Both you and Lamina drop whatever the both of you held... You nearly forgot about the 11th Hunger Games...

"Uhh..." You break the horrifying silence, "I don't know if you know about this but... Lamina is exempt from any future hunger games."

"Exempt?" He asks

"Basically she has no obligations to put her name into further reapings for the rest of her life," You say, "When the Dean chose us for mentorship, he had us read up on the hunger games rules. And according to the rules, every victor, despite still being of the reaping age; Lamina being sixteen, she does not have to participate

Lamina attempts to stop tears from rolling down her face. Lamina's father gently grasps your hands and gets onto his knees; profusely thanking you for the information.

+*+

Instead of accompanying Lamina's father to the market like the last few months, you accompanied Lamina to the forest.

"What did you bring me out here for?" You ask, "Don't you... Have... Friends... Around here?"

"They're all at the reaping..." She explains

"Oh..." You sigh

Lamina stops and presses her hand on your shoulder and hides the both of you in a hollow stump. The both of you watch a pair of peacekeepers walk by.

"Why are we hiding from them? You don't need to go to the reapings," You whisper

"They probably wouldn't care if I'm a victor," She whispers back, "They'll probably throw me in the reaping anyway."

The both of you slowly crawl out form the makeshift hiding spot and continue your way through the woods.

+*+

The both of you find a part of the forest that you're far enough from the peacekeeper population, but not far enough to be past the border from 7.

You watch as Lamina strgetically finds stable branches, unnoticeable cracks and scales the seemingly smooth tree. She turns and looks down at you.

"Are you coming or what?" She asks

"Y-yeah, hang on," You clear your throat

You attempt to match where her hands grabbed and where she placed her feet. You look up and see her already halfway up the tree.

What the hell?!... Wow...

You watch her pull off to the side somewhere far up the tree. In which you attempt to climb faster.

"How do you make this..." You strain, "Look... So easy?!..."

You let out a yelp as your foot loses its footing. Your hands claw at the bark, attempting to grab at anything. However, you stopped... You look up and see Lamina grasping at your arm. You regain your footing and your other hand grabs at the tree's surface as you carefully catch up to Lamina.

"How do I make tree-climbing look so easy?" She jumps back to your question, "Been climbing trees all my life."

"Yeah... Makes sense," You sigh, trying to let your thrumming heart calm down

When you do, you begin to take in the scenery before you... Mountain ranges for miles... Rivers connecting to lakes here and there... You were able to see everything.

"If only... This were in the Capitol," You sigh

"I didn't think I'd live through the games," Lamina comments, "I... Also never got to thank you..."

You look at her, "For what?"

"Bringing me home," She says, looking back at you, "When they announced me the victor, I was surprised that you lived up to your promise."

"Please, there was only so much I could do behind a computer screen," You chuckle

"Well, your last bit of advice really pushed me through the moment when the tributes from 4 were double-teaming me," Lamina says, "I think it was something like... 'If they try to kill you, kill them first.' Kind od thing... That was what was going through my head when I was fighting them..."

You were surprised on how well Lamina remembered that line... Because it was word-for-word. Even though it came out of your mouth, you didn't remember how you said it....

You felt Lamina's pinky brush against yours. You look down at it, then back up at her.

"Thank you, Y/n," Lamina smiles

"Always," You smile back

Lamina scoots closer to you, enough to rest her head upon your shoulder; the both of you gazing out on the beautiful 7 forestry whilst avoiding the horrific reality of the world you both reside in.

+*+

It was a slow process on adapting to the culture in 7. However, you were surprised on how everyone was being so kind towards you; despite being from the Capitol.

"I bet everyone is beginning to tolerate me is because I got you home," You joke

"It is not that Y/n," Lamina says, "Okay that is one factor, but you don't flaunt your wealth nor do you think lowly of us."

"Well, after I announced to my mother that I was moving, she isn't giving me any ounce of support," You say

"What?!" She asks, "I thought you had a good relationship with your mother."

"Oh, trust me, I do," You say, "I did tell her that I wanted to make a new life. So, any ties I would have with the capitol, other than her, are severed."

*Lamina's POV* "So..." You say, "You're now going to be seen as a lowly person?"

"It's better than being brainwashed into believing what the capitol is doing to the districts are right and filthy rich people should be praised like... These gods... That they were in control over everything, even in the districts." She says

"You said 'they'," You point out

"Y-yeah... I guess I did," She chuckles, "I just... Felt.. So... Out of place there... I.. I... Always felt. Different compared to the traditional capitol families. That, my life wasn't in the capitol. That. It could be... Somewhere out here."

"Well, I'm glad you chose 7," You say

"I thought you weren't happy to see me when I arrived," Y/n chuckles

"I wasn't," You confess, "But, after having you around here for awhile now, I don't think I'd let you go back to the Capitol."

"Then that should be easy for you," She smiles, "I wouldn't want to be anywhere else."

+*+

You wake up with a scream, cold sweat and tears streaming down your face. Y/n rushes over.

"Hey," She yawns, but obviously concerned, "You okay?!.."

You nod, "Just another nightmare..."

You let out a sniffle, wiping your tears.

"Same one?..." She asks, having a good guess of what it is

You nod again.

You watch her sit next to the door, the usual night after night.

"Actually... Will you... Hold me?..." You ask

Her eyes search you for certainty... In which you easily show to her that you were, indeed certain, and watch her get up and make her way to your bed, carefully getting underneath the covers with you. Almost immediately you cling to her; causing her to twitch.

"Is this... Too much?..." You ask, noting how she twitched in your embrace

"No," She says, slowly relaxing her arms, "Not at all."

You immediately settle yourself in her embrace and slowly rest your eyes, listening to her heartbeat .

Chapter 5

#lamina #lamina tbosas #lamina x reader #female reader #the ballad of songbirds and snakes #the hunger games #tbosas

28 notes · View notes

female-malice · 5 months

Note

One of the things I really enjoyed about the Three Body Problem trilogy was how Cheng Xin, despite of being one of the most objective wholesome and goodly characters of the series she managed her actions turned to be the ones more polarizing and controversial and even at some point "incorrect" at the point that a big part of the fandom keeps acting like if she was some kind incompetent idiot, when in reality she was just... an engineer who ended being chosen as the one in charge of one of the most fucked up defense mechanisms made by humans.

The fact that Cheng Xin "failure" defending Earth is because she took serious her ethics instead of it being a product of some moral failure, is something I loved and it hurt me as reader when she realized how wrong she had been for acting "right". Probably if someone like Thomas Wade had been the one taking a fucked up option instead of her I would be like "damn that's sad but it was bound to happen ¯\_(ツ)_/¯". But fandom act like if having a characters taking wrong choices by right reasons are stupid as if we could not end doing something like that in our daily life.

Like, no wonder why sometimes popular media chicken outs about making an authentically morally ambiguous female characters who are not antagonists or give a powerful female character a moment of objective failure; fandom can't even deal with a "nice" woman failing due keeping her ethics in place.

90% of the fandom failed to pay attention to the last 100 pages of the series.

(spoilers ahead)

Cheng Xin "fails" to save the solar system. But that's not where the book ends. There's 100 more pages.

We learn a lot about the universe in those 100 pages. But by that point, most of the fandom is too angry with Cheng Xin. So they don't read the ending carefully.

Cheng Xin chooses to return her micro-universe's mass to the main universe. She does this due to her sense of duty and ethics. This is the same sense of duty that informs all her decisions throughout her life. Sophon greatly admires Cheng Xin for her choice and her sense of duty and ethics.

In the ending, just over 1 million civilizations made it into micro-universes. That includes Earth civilization, galactic humans, and Trisolarans. Cheng Xin is the lone representative of Earth civilization at the end of the universe. And she does her part to save the universe. She rejects survival inside the micro-universe and embraces the chaos and danger of the aging main universe.

The first axiom of cosmic sociology is that survival is the primary need of civilization. Remember what Wade tells Cheng Xin? "If we lose our humanity we lose a lot. But if we lose our bestial nature, we lose everything." A civilization can survive eternally within a micro-universe. What would happen if it was Wade at the end of the universe instead of Cheng Xin? I think it's obvious. He would remain in the micro-universe and destroy the main universe.

Cheng Xin's act only returns the mass of 1 of millions of micro-universes. But Cheng Xin is quite the influential figure for both Trisolarans and galactic humans. However, how can she influence anyone while she's in a micro-universe? Well, Sophon is there. Sophon says that it's impossible to transmit information into the main universe. But the Trisolaran micro-universes are designed and programmed by Trisolarans. Maybe there's a way to transmit from one Trisolaran micro-universe to another. And the Trisolarans put Sophon in there with Cheng Xin! Sophon says Cheng Xin's universe was designed specifically for her. It's the smallest micro-universe they ever designed. Trisolarans were obsessed with humanity, Yun Tianming, and Cheng Xin. I know they'd want to watch Cheng Xin in her micro-universe. I'm sure they found a way to do that.

So Cheng Xin's choice might have been transmitted to all the Trisolaran micro-universes. But what about galactic humans? Well, it's implied that Trisolarans may have conquered many galactic humans. And they may have put them in Trisolaran micro-universes. So it's possible that two civilizations saw Cheng Xin's choice.

Cheng Xin's choice shows that at the end of the universe, cosmic sociology is no longer helpful. Survival is no longer the right choice. Duty is the right choice.

Returning mass to the main universe would've been impossible for Wade. He couldn't Return. He could only Advance.

Hopefully, there are thousands of Cheng Xins from various civilizations at the end of the universe. And hopefully, there are no Wades.

#three body problem #spoilers #liu cixin #death's end

35 notes · View notes

idkaguyorsomething · 6 months

Text

Why Greta Gerwig should adapt The Magician’s Nephew instead of The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe

I had some thoughts. They are below the cut in list form

Something we Haven’t Been Shown Before- to put it bluntly, we already have a perfectly good adaptation of TLTWATW, and it’s probably as good and accurate an adaptation as you could ask for. There are a few minor details that got cut and added, but honestly, as far as book-to-movie adaptations go, it’s extremely faithful to the plot, themes, characters, the whole shebang of the original book. Even if you don’t count the live action movie, there’s still the animated movie, the BBC production, and several play adaptations out there. It’s had its time to shine and by adapting The Magician’s Nephew, we’d be getting something fresh from the franchise.

Equally Accessible Starting Point- while TLTWATW was the first Narnia book to be written and published, chronologically The Magician’s Nephew takes place before it, serving as both a prequel and standalone story so that newcomers to Narnia could get into the series with either book. C S Lewis himself said that it didn’t matter which one people chose to start with, so it would serve as a great entry point for anyone looking to get into the Chronicles of Narnia as well as provide an interesting prequel for people familiar with the movies that already came out, leading me to my next point:

Worldbuilding- this book has so much cool stuff you guys. The pool world, Charn, the apple grove, the rings, Frank. ¡Actual literal worldbuilding! Also Sherlock Holmes and Atlantis for some reason. There’s just a lot of really interesting concepts and locations in this story that have the potential to be a true spectacle while also serving as a rewarding expansion of the universe that Narnia fans know that newcomers will still be able to appreciate.

Our Heroes- Digory and Polly are incredibly adorable and likable protagonists. They feel a good deal more fleshed out and realistic than the Pevensie kids in the books, and even though the movies went out of their way to give them some more depths, our dynamic duo from The Magician’s Nephew still feel quite distinctive in their own right. Their interpersonal conflict never grows as deep as something like, say, Edmund’s betrayal, but they both have different perspectives and things they bring to the table as individuals while also having a very fun, genuine friendship. Bonus points for being a rare boy/girl relationship that is never so much as hinted to be anything beyond platonic.

The Villains- The Magician’s Nephew has a pretty perfect combination of antagonists who manage to be memorable and legitimately menacing as well as pathetic little meow meows. This book gives us Jadis’ backstory as well as her getting to wreak unhinged havoc in downtown 18XX London as well as Uncle Andrew, a conspiracy theorist incel Redditor before Reddit was ever a thing. They’re delightfully entertaining in completely different ways, and seeing them onscreen would be an absolute treat.

Thematic Resonance- lots of things that happen in this book carry a lot of similar motifs to other films that Greta Gerwig has worked on, and since she hasn’t really created any epic fantasy style films yet, they could provide a strong emotional core to center any experimentation she tries out in the genre. You’ve got Digory’s loving but complicated relationship with his mother due to her illness displacing them from home, the coming-of-age aspects as the children encounter various adult figures they feel powerless to oppose, and learning the consequences of one’s actions. It’s even mentioned in the book that Polly is working on a little writing project that she’s sensitive about, like Jo March. A lot of people have complained that they feel Greta Gerwig will neuter the story by toning down the religious elements (which there is A LOT to dissect about concerning how C S Lewis’ beliefs led to things like the Problem of Susan, but there just isn’t enough information about the actual movie out yet to draw any actual conclusions) yet I’d argue that these emotional arcs, which play into Gerwig’s strengths as a director, could easily hold up a movie on their own if handled well. Combine that with the potential for unique visuals, the book’s surprisingly good sense of humor, and the many concepts that could be brought onscreen in a truly unique way, and you’ve practically got a recipe for a great addition to the Chronicles of Narnia unlike anything the movie fans have gotten before.

Feel free to disagree about any of that, though. Hearing where other people think the netflix movies should pick up would be really interesting, so leave any thoughts on the subject in the notes if you want. I just wanna see Fledge the pony accidentally get yanked into another dimension.

#narnia #chronicles of narnia #the chronicles of narnia #the lion the witch and the wardrobe #the magician’s nephew #greta gerwig #digory kirke #polly uhhhh #fuck i can’t remember if polly even has a last name #to be perfectly honest i think netflix will just adapt tltwatw because that’s the most famous one #but this was my favorite book and dammit more people need to know about polly and digory

25 notes · View notes

hiwelcometothemonstersancturary · 2 months

Note

Do you think the music video “Sleep Well” is canon to Poppy Playtime, and is it canon for your AU?

Also, I wish instead of including all this ARG (like Theodore’s tragic tale that had no reason to not be in the actual game) and extra stuff just for hype purposes and promoting their YouTube content, Mob Entertainment would instead make the game have a stronger story by just putting that stuff in there, either in the main plot or by making the player find it like the VHS tapes…I have many issues with them as a company…

I just hope the actual canon sticks to a morally gray conflict with no chickening out, and maybe even have our antagonist be somewhat sympathetic, no matter whether the ending is good or bad for all parties involved…I’m just kinda dreading/expecting that there will be huge open ends/dangling plot threads or even a sequel hook so the franchise can be milked even further than it has been, especially with that movie in the works…

I just saw that music video, and... Honestly it's a nice song, but I dont think any of it adds up to anything lore wise? And oh my God, I can't agree enough with you regarding all the ARG stuff.

As someone who's ALSO making a mascot horror game, and also as someone who had their brain rewired at age 11 thanks to FNaF's, I am SO tired of games pulling the mysterious/obtuse lore on us. Mob (as in, the company, not the poor probably overworked gamedevs) cannot deal with the idea of their game actually having cohesive lore and impactful moments that aren't shock value. Everyone loved chapter 3 not because it was a masterpiece, but because it's actually a decent horror fucking game. Of course chapter 3 is good, chapter 1 was a paid demo and chapter 2 was almost Hello Neighbour levels of fun! Of course chapter 3 is good, it's actually trying to be a horror game instead of a YouTube Kids content farm product!

Chapter 3 of Poppy Playtime lacks any impact that isn't shock value. That's it. And yes, I disliked chapter 3 so much it reverse engineered me into making an AU where everyone lives because fuck this awful shock content logic!

I want the canon to stick to a morally grey conflict as well. I WANT Prototype to have an actual point and for him to be a tragic character, I WANT the game to show us that maybe Poppy isn't as good as she wants us to believe, and I WANT the game to pick all of this and still go "but what the Prototype did was wrong, and we need to put an end to this carnage". But, c'mere, look at me.

I have no faith this will actually happen.

That's it! Zero faith, nothing, nada! I was expecting nothing out of chapter 3 and STILL managed to be dissapointed. I doubt Poppy Playtime will ever try to have an interesting story inside the chapters, much less an actually compelling conflict. At this point I'm just seeing where Mob Youtube Kids Content Farm Entertainment will do to destroy any future opportunities of something compelling.

Also. I would have liked chapter 3 way more if we actually saw Theo go from being Theo into becoming Catnap, with his death scene being PAINFUL to watch after spending the entire chapter learning how he became Catnap.

#the negativity tag #poppy playtime #ask tag

14 notes · View notes

marvelmusing · 2 years

Text

An Era of Power

Part Three

Pairing: Aleksander Morozova x Fem!Reader

Summary: You begin to feel at home in the Little Palace, and slowly grow closer to the General.

Word Count: 2K

My Masterlist • Series Masterlist

Settling into life at the Little Palace comes naturally to you. When you wake in your own room on the first morning, you find a dark purple kefta hung on the folding screen waiting for you. Your kefta is a darker shade than the typical Materialki kefta, and the hem’s are lined with intricate gold embroidery that shimmers in the sunlight.

Genya becomes your friend almost instantly. The two of you initially bond over being different from the rest of your fellow Grisha. She tells you all about the gossip and rumours from the Grand Palace, and informs you of certain Lords and Dukes you would do well to avoid.

You spend a lot of your time in the Materialki workshop, watching the Durasts and Alkemi tinkering away with their experiments, and occasionally offering to help them. Seeing you curled up in a corner with a stack of books from the library becomes a common occurrence for the Little Palace’s Materialki.

Combat training goes better than you first expected. After the centuries, you’ve picked up the general knowledge needed to do well in a fight, and with the daily use of your powers, you find it easy to keep up with the rest of your classmates.

Lessons with Baghra garner less positive results. In all honesty, you had tried hard in the beginning. But it hadn’t taken long before the two of you had lost your temper with one another. Baghra had spent the majority of your first lesson belittling you and your power, making you feel more and more alienated from the Grisha around you. You had stormed angrily from her hut, your feet crunching over the gravel as you made your way back to the Little Palace. You’ve lived for centuries, you shouldn’t have to deal with a crotchety, old woman. However, you continue to pretend that you are as young as you look, which means that you have to deal with lessons like a schoolgirl.

Sometimes you consider telling the General the truth. After all, Darkling’s live long lives. You haven’t asked General Kirigan how old he is, but your guess is that he’s in his mid-hundreds, maybe one hundred and sixty. If anyone could understand your situation, it would be him. But the General is still practically a child compared to you.

You don’t see the General very often. He’s usually managing troops on the frontline, either in the North or the South. It makes you impatient. For the first time in your long life, you feel the importance of being Grisha. That you’re in a position to finally do something for yourself, and your people. Whilst learning more about Grisha, and how different abilities worked, was interesting it couldn’t couldn’t compare to how you felt when you were with the General. He often only returned for a day or less even, but he always found some time for you. Though these brief conversations were nice, you can barely hide your excitement when you hear him call your name as you’re walking through the grounds.

You turn, smiling as he approaches you. He gives you a polite nod, returning your smile with his own.

“When did you return?”

“A few hours ago.” You raise a brow at him, looking at the pathway he had been walking on.

“And visiting Baghra was one of your first priorities?”

“Something like that.”

“I will warn you, Baghra tends to over exaggerate my lack of ability.” A small grin warms his features, and your heart flutters at the sight.

“I find that easy to believe. How have you adjusted to life at the Little Palace?”

“Quite well, I think. Lessons have been… productive.” His lips quirk again, as if he finds your choice of words amusing.

The two of you exchange light conversation as you wander around the lake. Neither of you mention a particular route, but you seem to know where you both want to walk. You’ve always loved the grounds of the Little Palace, surrounding the building with a halo of woodland that seems to shield it from the rest of the world.

It’s only once the Little Palace is completely out of sight, that the General stops. You stand bedside him, head tilted aside as you watch him stare up at a large oak tree which towers over you both, its leaves touched with brown - a telltale sign of autumn’s upcoming descent.

“This tree is around a hundred and seventy years old.” He tells you. The two of you continue to look up at the tree as the leaves rustle with the branches swaying in the breeze. “I wonder what it would have looked like when the Little Palace had been built.” He adds, tilting his head aside as he looks down at you. A smirk curls at the corner of your mouth.

“Is that a request, General?” He mirrors your smirk with a challenge.

“If you believe you are capable of such a feat.” You raise your brow at him, determination filling your features. Taking a deep breath, you shift your focus from the charming smile the General is giving you and close your eyes to prevent him from distracting you.

Bringing your palms together, your concentration fixes onto the components of the tree in front of you. You turn your hands in alternating directions, palms brushing together, and the bark of the tree groans as it begins to shrink. The leaves fold in on themselves, curling back into green buds. The branches retreat into the trunk of the tree, shrinking into fragile twigs. You push further, reducing the tree to a small sapling which dwindles down into the ground.

When your eyes flutter open, you squint in the sunlight now pouring down on you both as the shade of the tree is gone. A frown of confusion crinkles your brows, as you take in the empty patch of grass.

The General steps forward, towards the space where the tree had existed for over a hundred years - a mere fraction of your life. He leans down, picking up a small round object from the ground. It looks hard, and shines in the sunlight. You suddenly realise, it’s an acorn. You had turned an enormous oak tree back into an acorn. A startled laugh escapes your lips, and the General smiles widely at you.

“I can’t believe I did that.” You tell him in an astonished gasp.

You stare down at the acorn in his hand, blinking in shock as he pockets it and continues to walk along the grass.

“Won’t someone notice a tree missing?” You ask him as you pick up the pace to rejoin his side. He shakes his head.

“Very few people venture this far into the grounds.”

You nod in acknowledgement, and the two of you continue to walk through the blades of overgrown grass and tangled wildflowers. You watch a butterfly flutter towards a tall bunch of delicate, purple flowers. Your gaze drifts back to the General. He appears to be lost in thought, his brow furrowed slightly as he watches each of his steps. You swallow hard, before deciding to voice something that has been weighing on your mind,

“Baghra keeps telling me my improvements aren’t enough. As if she knows something I don’t.” He glances over at you,

“Like what?”

“She acts as if I’m working towards something.” He holds your gaze for a long moment, the corner of his mouth wavering slightly.

“You’re quite perceptive.” You shrug lightly before remarking,

“A result of my power really.”

“In what sense?”

“I have to understand how something works before I can alter it. I know how an acorn grows into a tree, so I can reverse the growth. If I don’t understand something, I can’t control it.” You’re both quiet for moment, before he asks,

“Is that why you’re always reading? Because you feel the need to understand everything, so that you can control it?” You turn to look at him sharply.

You’re used to seeing through people, but you often have a hard time reading the General, or understanding his motives. It’s startling for you, to have someone see you so clearly. A small smile flickers across your lips.

“You’re quite perceptive yourself, General.” He mimics your earlier shrug.

“A result of my profession.” Your smile widens at the sound of him mirroring your words. This smile fades slightly as you consider your next words.

“I won’t ask Baghra about it, she either wouldn’t tell me or just confuse me out of spite. But…” You hesitate as you watch the General step over a clump of thistles onto a fallen tree trunk, and he watches your face intently. “I like to think that you would tell me the truth.”

He sighs, running a hand over his face. You wobble slightly as you step onto the tree trunk in an attempt to follow him. He grasps your hand, pulling you up onto the trunk. A rush of certainty floods through you, a result of his amplification. You’re suddenly aware of how close you are, your chest almost flush against his, the warmth of his body barely an inch away from yours. You feel your cheeks warm at the proximity, despite the serious nature of your conversation.

“Shall we sit?” He asks, and you nod.

He bends, sitting down on the peeling bark of the tree, and you settle next to him, swinging your legs as they dangle over the edge of the trunk. You remain quiet, waiting for the General to speak again.

“I have spent the last few months spending whatever free time I had trying to discover what you are.” You hold your breath, terrified for a moment that he’s found you out. That he knows you’re immortal.

“What did you find?” You ask tentatively.

“Nothing. As far as anyone is aware, you’re the first of your kind.”

You knew that. Morozova had no idea what would happen when he altered your abilities with merzost. From what you remember, he seemed like the kind of man to never repeat his experiments, only seeking to find something new to create.

“I have spent my life attempting to repair the damage done by my ancestor. Ever since the creation of the Fold, the Church has prayed for a Sun Saint to destroy the blemish that scars our country.” His voice is filled with doubt as he looks down at the worn grass below you.

“You don’t believe that?” He looks back at you, his eyes meeting yours.

“I used to. Now I believe that instead of fighting shadows with light, instead of finding my opposite, all we need is someone who can reverse his mistake.”

Your face drops. Your thoughts begin to spiral - surely he couldn’t mean you were the saviour of Ravka? His gaze remains direct, fixed on you with an unwavering look of confidence.

“Me?” You ask in a whisper. He nods slowly,

“Yes.” You shake your head before you can even voice your doubts.

“I can’t.”

“Why not?”

“The Fold is huge, I couldn’t possibly-“

“You’ve just turned an oak tree back into an acorn. With a more training, the right amplification, you could-“

“No. I would have to understand how it was created in the first place, and Morozova’s journals were destroyed hundreds of years ago.” He pauses for a long moment, before turning back to look at you,

“If we could locate the journals, do you believe you could do it?”

You falter. Logically, you might have the ability to do it. But confidence has never been your strong point. After years of staying hidden, finding the extent of your power has never been a priority for you. You truly don’t know how far your abilities could go. You shake your head again.

“They were destroyed.”

“We don’t know that.” He states. A tiny smile curls at the corner of your mouth.

“You are incredibly determined, General.” He breathes out a small laugh, his gaze losing some of its intensity as he realises you’ve accepted his suggestion. The two of you share a smile, until you look down at the trunk of the tree you’re sitting on. Your fingers trail over the space between you, picking at loose pieces of bark as you avoid meeting his eyes.

“Do you think I can do it?” He nods resolutely.

“I do.” He looks at you with the same unwavering certainty you feel when his fingers brush against your skin. “You and I are going to change the world.”

»»---------------------►

AEOP Tag List: @budugu

#the darkling #the darkling x reader #the darkling x you #the darkling x y/n #the darkling fic #aleksander morozova x reader #aleksander morozova #general kirigan #general kirigan x reader #shadow and bone au #ben barnes #an era of power

414 notes · View notes

storiesbyjes2g · 5 months

Text

3.60 Updates

I hated waking up super early and wondered how Sophia did it for so long. But I felt so slothful, sleeping soundly while she dragged herself out of bed every morning. True, I had nowhere to go and no reason to stay awake, yet I felt terrible. Despite our late night shenanigans, I was determined to get up and see her off for once. It was challenging, and I hesitated to commit to a 5:30 wake up time, but I pushed through and was glad that I did.

I wish I could spend one day in her head and see what went on in there. She was ridiculously funny. Like, what was there to laugh at that early in the morning? I didn't think mornings were funny time, but somehow she got us laughing. If this was a preview of what the rest of our life together would be like, I'd die a very happy man.

It was much too early in the morning to think about food, at least for me, but I offered to cook a fresh meal while she showered. To my surprise, she declined in favor of the leftover sauteed potatoes and mushrooms from last night.

"Really?" I said.

"I had a dream about it!"

I didn't think it was that good, but I'm glad she enjoyed it. And at least she had food to eat for breakfast now, seeing as she usually skipped it. How she could do her job on an empty stomach was beyond me.

I eventually showered and ate breakfast myself, then headed outside for yoga, grumbling at the sight of my dirty mats. So far, the only nice thing about desert living was the weather. Oasis Springs was my home for the moment, and I'd do whatever I could to make the best of it. But I sincerely hoped Sophia wasn't in love with this city because I couldn't bear living there forever.

As I dusted off the mats and prepared to begin my session, I remembered I bought a drone to record myself and set it up. I wasn't sure if I'd like being a content creator, but I committed to at least giving it a shot.

Afterward, I called my sister to update her on what had transpired over the last 24 hours. As soon as her shriek hit my ear, I regretted sharing my news, only because I knew she would tell Mama. Less would also have a thousand questions for me, just like Mama, but at least she wouldn't ask me about weddings and babies; I could deal with her shenanigans way better than Mama's. Still, I begged her not to say anything. She said she wouldn't, and I really hoped she was telling the truth.

As for her, she's looking for her own place. Mama gave her money too, so she wasn't concerned about finding a place, especially because Mt. Komorebi is full of shoebox homes. Paying the bills was another story, so she was also looking for a permanent job. Working full time meant she would have to spend less time on the slopes, which threatened her pursuit of happiness. But she'd give it a shot and see how she managed.

I mistakenly asked if she was dating anyone. She raved incessantly about the joy of being unattached, boasting proudly about her extensive roster. [sigh] Don't get me wrong. I absolutely loved how much braver she was than me, diving headfirst into this wild dating world and having the time of her life. But that was not something a brother wanted to hear about from his little sister, so I told her I had some work to do and got out of that conversation as quickly as I could.

I sat at the computer to record an introduction video for my SimTube channel. I had set it up a while ago, right after Sophia suggested it, but it's been dormant this whole time, waiting for me to decide making videos was a good move.

I introduced myself, stated I loved yoga and wanted to show everyone how it could help them live a better life. Without a plan, I messed up a lot and had re-record many times. Eventually, however, I did a take I liked and edited the video. Media production was new to me, and I struggled with it a lot. But even though I wasn't having a good time sitting there all that time not being active, I somehow found enjoyment. Maybe I liked the challenge of learning something completely new and foreign? Whatever the case, maybe I could do this SimTube thing after all. Still, I had to get up and stretch because editing videos required way too much sitting for my tastes. Just as I was about to sit back down, Sophia pounced on me from behind with the tightest hug. I didn't realize it was 3:00, and she startled me in the best way.

"I missed you sooooooo much," she said.

"Hey! I missed you too. I didn't even hear you come in. Did you have a good day?"

"Not really. But I have a list of things that will make me feel better," she said with a gorgeously mischievous look.

"A whole list, huh? Bet. What's first?"

"Last one under the sheets takes out the trash."

Need to catch up? See what you missed or start reading here!

#ISBI challenge #sims 4 story #sims 4 gameplay #adolting #adolting gen 3 #luca winston murillo #sophia aguilar #happy new year!#we're back!

28 notes · View notes

banamine-bananime · 5 months

Text

reds and blues as employees on a dairy because it brings me joy

red team all work in the dairy and blue team work in the calf ranch and heifer barn. they hate each other because the reds will blame absolutely any problems on blue team fucking up their replacement heifers and blue team will blame any and all calf illness on the maternity pen. 42 day old calf breaking with diarrhea that is abos-fucking-lutely obviously coccidia? nah that's obviously because of poor colostrum hygiene, and even if it isn't, it's because reds're somehow fucking up the colostrum protocols - yes sarge we know the serum total proteins on new calves SEEM to show good passive transfer but we just KNOW there's something going on in that pen because you idiots cannot be trusted not to, like, start dipping navels with strawberry-flavoured vodka or something

carolina is 50/50 owner with church after inheriting it from their father. it was a couple hundred cow tie-stall barn used for research - both dr. church's own research and renting to other researchers. when he retired they decided they wanted to start nearly fresh, hopping markets from research to commercial production, expanding and converting to a much larger free-stall (they're around 900 head now) and robot milkers, and greatly expanding and upgrading the youngstock facilities to keep up with the replacement heifer need of the larger herd. it was a rough first few years, especially with *ahem* the quality of labour they were able to hire, but they figured it out and things are going shockingly well now

reds:

carolina: counts as red for these purposes because she's the manager of the dairy. she has a very love/hate relationship with management because god does she like getting to do things Her Way and research and analyze and work to make them perfect and tell people exactly what to do, but unfortunately, people. People are absolute pests and will not just do what you tell them because you said so, and learning this has been IMMENSELY frustrating for her, but she's gradually learning people skills and that respecting your employees, hearing them out and actually explaining Why you want things a certain way, will get you sooooo much farther. She also hates how much time she has to spend behind a desk and will take absolutely any excuse to strap on some coveralls and help with breeding or drying off or covering silage or really anything physical. thank god, because she is an absolute machine and will sprint in her steel-toe rubber boots and coveralls with the giant fucking heavy-ass tarp up the pile all on her own. she would not be on her own if she slowed down to a normal human speed, but there is absolutely no way she's gonna do that.

sarge: head herdsman and cannot be convinced not to spend an ungodly amount of time at work. worked on then owned a teeny family dairy his whole life until it was not economically feasible and had to sell a few years ago, coincidentally right when church and carolina were doing their overhaul and looking for someone experienced they could trust to deal with all the inexperienced chucklefucks they were able to hire. It seemed like the perfect serendipitous coincidence, until they realized they hated each other and sarge has... some Interesting beliefs and methods that he absolutely cannot be persuaded out of. getting him to stop putting red kote on EVERYTHING was carolina's greatest Sarge Achievement. he's also the hoof-trimmer alongside lopez and getting sarge to, for the love of god, stop putting wraps on every therapeutic trim SERIOUSLY NO ONE CAN SEE THEM AS SOON AS THEY GET DIRTY AND THEY'RE JUST STAYING ON WAY TOO LONG AND MAKING THINGS WORSE SARGE PLEASE GOD is her white whale. he does most of the repairs on vehicles and equipment and she has to beat him off with a stick from making very-not-OSHA-approved "improvements". nevertheless, over the years they've grown an incredibly weird friendship that absolutely terrifies and deeply confuses church

grif: does the ration mixing and drives the ration truck and feed pushup and alley scraper, and, most importantly, the skid steer. other people can (and do, on days he's not working) step in for the other things, but the skid steer? carolina has OUTLAWED anyone but grif from driving it after donut had an oopsy daisy and completely fucked up a water line (she was sooooooo mad they had one HELL of a frosty meeting. she is very careful to Not Yell because she knows that is a Bad Manager thing to do but carolina has no ability whatsoever to disguise how mad she is, like in her face and body language, and and does not realize it or how terrified people are of her LMAO). he would actually be a really shitty feeder without simmons neurotically messaging him where he's supposed to be every 15 minutes in the morning because feeding would NOT be on schedule and he might even forget a pen tbh (this is very bad. think of a lactating dairy cow as an elite ultrarunner who is in a constant fight between her limited capacity to take in food and her absurd energy expenditure. any disruption restricting feed intake is the root of pretty much all evil for lactating cows). between the two of them they make one functional person. because why not establish deep co-dependency with your co-worker for no reason <3

simmons: kinda jack-of-all-trades herdsman. huge snitch to carolina or sarge whenever people are slacking or fuck up, which she appreciates because usually it's really hard to have eyes on the ground to see whether the protocols you put so much effort into perfecting are actually being followed, and what you need to do that make them easier to follow/people want to follow. it's much easier when you have an obsessive suck-up, thankfully. when she saw him looking over her 1000 spreadsheets and reports and making his own, reorganized-for-maximum-efficiency versions for fun she realized, holy shit, this is my out from some of the most tedious, mindless, repetitive administrative management work, THANK YOU GOD. she only trusts him with stuff that does not involve making decisions and she still briefly checks over his work, of course, but oh my god, he is SO thrilled and smug to have Responsibility and to be Entrusted with anything even remotely management-y. also does a lot of routine preventative maintenance on equipment because sarge isn't as interested in maintaining things as making new, better (/more terrifying) ones, and no one else is so anal about maintenance schedules.

donut: main breeder and maternity pen herdsman. good lord, the fisting jokes. no one knows if they're on purpose. boy howdy is that boy good with an ai gun, though! so they all just have to endure some of the most awkward turns of phrase they've ever heard. he cries dramatically every time there's a stillbirth or a weak neonate that dies, and then immediately is like okay i'm normal now! (he is never normal.) has an EXCELLENT appreciation for the importance of LUBE, MORE LUBE ("NO I MEAN IT MISTER THAT POOR GIRL DESERVES BETTER FROM YOU!! I WANT YOUR ARM DRIPPING") whenever checking labour progress and especially in dystocias, and does not tolerate anyone helping not treating his gals with the utmost tenderness and respect. also deeply fucking weird and LOVES finding bovimanes or abortuses because eeeeeewwwwww so weird so cool doc look!! look at it hehehe YUCK!!!!

lopez: professional hoof-trimmer who comes in biweekly. hates working with sarge SO much. blasts regional mexican music as loud as he can by the chute so he doesn't have to hear him.

doc: obviously the hospital herdsman. god bless him, he tries, but he is so susceptible to "oh i heard from bob down the road that oregano oil and yeast will prevent subclinical ketosis and you HAVE to give today [this is a popular cefapirin intramammary tube for treating mastitis, but only works on susceptible bugs, and god people are. very bad at choosing which cases to use it for and what duration to use. especially because it takes 5 days for inflammation to go down and milk to return to normal even if the infection is cured sooner] for 5 days for it to work". dr. grey is their herd vet, comes by weekly for herd check, and god, she both HATES and LOVES doc. hates because good god man, please stop all this nonsense and just!! listen to her advice!!!!! she put effort into these treatment protocols JUST LISTEN TO THEM. loves because wow, fascinating how this man's mind works, and what a CHALLENGE trying to mentally wrestle him into compliance.

blues:

church: manager of the youngstock barns. constantly bitching to carolina about a) how terrible the reds are and how they're obviously fucking up all the calves at maternity, SERIOUSLY carolina how are they supposed to work with this!! and b) how terrible and annoying the blues are, really, carolina, he means it this isn't a joke stop laughing, not a day goes by that he doesn't fantasize about firing everyone, selling, and retiring to a cabin in the middle of nowhere where he'll never have to fucking speak to anyone again. at least while alpha is fronting. epsilon doesn't need to do the performative "i hate everyone and i'm killing myself the next time caboose leaves a gate open and we have to spend an hour collecting naughty heifers" bitching quite as constantly, he's more comfortable expressing actually liking his coworkers. but he does occasionally fly off the handle and get way more actually mean than alpha, which is obviously Suboptimal for workplace toxicity, because he feels like the one in the system that has to take on everything the others can't or won't and so he internalizes all the real work-related stresses until he blows up about them. theta really really loves the calves and fronts semi-frequently when things at work are calm and they're handling the calves. they all try not to let omega front at work because JESUS CHRIST, but tbh there's a couple times in stupid petty arguments with tucker and caboose he does and it's literally just like the stupidest cheesiest gimmick villain WITH MY CALF ARMY I WILL TAKE OVER THE WORLD AND SUBJUGATE THE PUNY BIPEDS!!! tucker's like lol sure man. caboose is supportive because fuck human babies fr calves are so superior.

caboose: mostly works with the older heifers because no one gets these hormonal naughty teenage gals like him. keeps picking different favourite heifers and naming them sheila. tex works with the post-weaning girlies too and they're a dreamteam honestly. together they can and will deadlift a yearling if she gets herself stuck in a stupid spot. frequently causes gate-related chaos. tucker is starting to get suspicious he does it on purpose because he likes seeing the heifers get to go exploring.

tex: unrelated to church and carolina, but is the only one that actually worked at the farm when owned by their dad. their dad wanted her to have 1/3 ownership but she turned him down. carolina is still hurt by how much mentorship/approval he gave tex compared to his actual kids. tries not to take it out on tex but tex's general abrasiveness and her messy relationship with church don't help matters. doesn't actually work full-time at the farm anymore, has her own beef operation (texas longhorn ofc) now but still drops by to have fun with caboose and the heifers and to bother church. are they dating? exes? about to kill each other? about to elope? no one knows! she'll bring her ropes or her dartgun just to make people freak out about YOU CAN'T DART THE DAIRY COWS TEXAS (obviously she wouldn't. whether she should be darting her own cows is another question but they are wild gals and she is a wildly good shot so, hey, if it works and she knows the risks and is using them with a veterinary prescription)... but she is serious about roping the naughty heifers when they escape. she believes in the power of a good rope and bowline knot like nothing else.

tucker: works with the pre-weaning calves. in a constant battle over the calf barn radio with church and kai and is NOT above hiding it so they can't change it. always trying to get out of doing any cleaning tasks and slacking off and talks a big game about what little asshole shits the calves are but who's in there babying any pneumonia calves with extra bedding and perfecting ventilation and giving SO many oral electrolytes so gently to scours calves? who's bullying church into buying dummy nipples and making PVC pipe hay slowfeeders (well, blue team all make them together. team craft day!! mostly spent with tucker certain caboose is going to take off tucker's and/or his own fingers with the saw) for enrichment? who's paying unannounced recon visits to the maternity pen to make sure they're treating the neonates right and have all the colostrum equipment and calf pens pristine (he and donut have a weird frenemyship)? he wasn't like this until he had junior and now he can't stop thinking how he would want someone taking care of his baby to treat him... god. now he has to actually try. fucking annoying Feelings and wanting to do the right thing ugh!!

kai: oh man she loves the calves they're her CREW her GIRLS her SQUAD!! so many selfies with them. sometimes she "breaks into" (she has a key) the barn after hours with her besties (randos she met at a party) for fun. church has told her a hundred times that there are fucking CAMERAS and he's going to fire her next offense he swears to god. but he knows she at least won't let anyone fuck with the calves or the barn (and, in fact, has gotten into some spectacular fights with some of those drunk people who have tried vandalism).

#rvb #red vs blue #alexa send post

23 notes · View notes

multi-lefaiye · 11 months

Text

a modern ghost story - wip re-intro

finally, a re-intro for my first ever writeblr wip intro... waow how time flies.

taglist (i'm gonna be real with y'all, i lost track of the taglist and had to dig it up again--tentatively tagging the original taglist as well as folks i thought might be interested): @albatris @skitzo-kero @anexor @lychniscitrus @transmasc-wizard @chaieyestea @vacantgodling @kingkendrick7 @jezifster @manuscriptsatmidnight @fictionalbullshitter @astral-runic

(if you'd like to not be tagged in posts relating to this wip going forward, lmk!!! <3 and if you'd like to be added to the actual taglist, also lmk!!!)

synopsis: A Modern Ghost Story is the tale of the four members of The Cyclone Seekers, a group of semi-famous storm-chasers, and their harrowing adventures chasing after storms in Nebraska in 2006. On the way, they quickly come to learn that they have far, far more than tornadoes to worry about waiting for them in the storms. Something sinister is afoot, and their past may come back to haunt them in a very literal way.

setting: various fictional locations in Nebraska, United States, in 2006

genres: postmodern horror (?) with traces of comedy--fundamentally a road trip story, though, about healing and facing the horrors head-on.

vibes except it's not clear what these mean: late nights at sleepovers where no one wants to go to bed yet, a mason jar full of bottle caps, the highs and lows of a long road trip with your friends, strange messages on the radio in a voice you thought you'd forgotten, the past is always one step closer than it appears to be, the coppery taste of blood on your tongue, your heart pounding in your ears as the world roars around you, a group of queer adrenaline junkies, "therapy is expensive, but sitting in your car while it rains is free."

characters:

picrew: [link]

Roach - 29 - they/them - 5'2"

Roach is not the face of Cyclone Seekers, as they find the idea of actually appearing on camera daunting. For the most part, Roach prefers to stay behind the scenes, most often handling their budget, equipment, and transportation, as well as acting as their cameraman. A lifelong smartass, they always say exactly what's on their mind and they're not particularly graceful or tactful. Why would they be, after all? Talking around the point only wastes time, and Roach hates to stop when there's important shit to get done.

Despite their blunt and often rude nature, Roach has a big heart deep down, and they care deeply for their fellow Cyclone Seekers, considering the others their best friends in the world. Roach doesn't have a lot of people in their corner, and they're steadfastly loyal to the end.

Oliver Cox - 32 - he/him - 6'1"

Oliver, like Roach, is not the face of the Cyclone Seekers. Instead, he is the manager of their ViewTube channel and website, as well as the one who usually deals with the people side of things. He's very sweet and enthusiastic, and generally a very gentle man who hates to even raise his voice. While, like everyone else, Oliver has his moments of anger, he prefers to redirect this anger into something productive rather than taking it out on others.

This isn't to say, of course, that Oliver is an innocent child. He's had his fair share of hardships and struggles in his life. However, he believes wholeheartedly in the goodness of humanity and the world around him. And this extends to the team, especially Roach--despite their often prickly exterior, Oliver considers them a very dear friend and is very happy to have them in his life. He sees the best in everyone until they give him reason not to.

Sydney "Syd" Ambrose - 29 - they/she - 5'11"

Syd is a friend of Roach's from college, an extremely anxious person who, at heart, has always wanted to leave their mark on history in some way. With their thirtieth birthday rapidly approaching, they want to do something great before the big day. This has, in part, reflected on their work with the Cyclone Seekers. As one of two hosts of the show, Syd is often in the spotlight, despite their severe anxiety about public speaking. When the cameras are rolling, their fear falls away, and they easily steal the show.

Aside from their ambition to do something great that lands in the history books, Syd has had a lifelong fascination with storms. The world of more traditional meteorology wasn't for them, so they've decided a more fulfilling career is to chase storms around and study them directly. It's working out so far, despite Syd's growing restlessness regarding the group's lack of mainstream success.

Yara Key - 30 - she/her - 5'7"

Yara is the other host of the Cyclone Seekers, and she's the much more outwardly optimistic and outgoing one. Their bit on the show is that, though Syd is the anxious one, they're also first to jump headlong into danger just to get a good look at a tornado; Yara, meanwhile, is friendly and outgoing but also the first to hide. It's a good bit and one that brings her a lot of joy, though it does irritate her sometimes to have people assume she's actually a coward. Because she isn't--she's just not stupid.

Though Yara hasn't known the others that long, she's a loyal friend who cares about them all deeply, and her not-so-secret crush on Syd is something Roach teases her about rather frequently (to which she gladly responds by teasing them about their similar crush on Oliver). When it comes down to it, fame isn't important to Yara, but she has a genuine love for entertaining people. And if she can do it while educating them about dangerous storms at the same time? All the better.

Vincent Cruz - 28 - he/him (questioning they/them) - 5'9"

Vincent Cruz is not a member of the Cyclone Seekers, nor does he have any particular interest in joining their little group. In fact, he thinks they're pretty ridiculous, and more than that, they're fucking stupid. He's grown up his whole life in a small town in Nebraska and knows all-too-well how dangerous storms like the ones they seek out can really be. They're going to get themselves killed, and they'll be lucky if it's quick.

However, Vincent feels an obligation to help them, or at least to make sure they can't put themselves or anyone else at risk with their antics. He isn't sure what makes him feel such a desire to protect them, but he insists it's not out of any care for them. They're just stupid. If he doesn't do anything, then they'll die. Simple math. (Ignoring the fact that they're his first friends in years, and they seem to genuinely like him for who he is when few others do.)

Vulture - 31 - he/him - 6'2"

A mysterious figure from Roach's past, one that they, until now, were completely certain was out of their life forever. Vulture is cold and cruel and pretentious, seeing himself as quite literally better than everyone else. He loves to hear himself talk and wants everyone to think he's the coolest motherfucker in the room at all times, for better and for worse.

For the most part, he doesn't seem interested in Roach, for which they're grateful. However, he has been contacting them again for the first time in nearly ten years, asking to meet up again.

#a modern ghost story wip #wip intro #wip reintro #writeblr #writblr #multi makes text posts #christ FINALLY.... WE'RE HERE #got lost in the sauce making that vulture picrew lmao #anyway yeah :)#i think vincent had the biggest glowup here but i'm so happy with them all #so excited for the directions they're going now #this really feels much more like a story i can sink my damn teeth into #i hope y'all enjoy :3 #also i know i said the rewrite is roach centric #but god i love syd.... revived my affection for them....#so we'll see #roach is the primary protag but uhh :) we'll see

26 notes · View notes