#AND THE POINT OF JENNIFER’S CHARACTER IS THAT SHES FUCKED UP AND STILL DESERVED BETTER. THAT SHE WAS NAIVE AND DESERVED TO GROW
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yknow. sometimes when i see anti posts i just sit here and think ‘damn. you would not have gotten Jennifer’s Body’
#billy hargrove#like. my loves… theres this thing called nuance#and that is what makes billy a complex and compelling characters whether you like it or not#someone can be both victim and villain. there is this thing called grey area and those things do overlap#and the audience is SUPPOSED to feel conflicted over the treatment of these characters#im just sitting here shaking the bars of my cage like MY LOVES. HE IS SUPPOSED TO BE THIS WAY#the duffers arent good writers. but you can practically place a 1:1 of billy and jennifer#AND THE POINT OF JENNIFER’S CHARACTER IS THAT SHES FUCKED UP AND STILL DESERVED BETTER. THAT SHE WAS NAIVE AND DESERVED TO GROW#BUT THE CHANCE WAS TAKEN FROM HER AND SHE WAS TURNED INTO A MONSTER. BILLY IS THE SAME. LITERALLY AND METAPHORICALLY#I THINK THIS IS LOST ON YOU AND IM NOT SURE THERES MUCH ANYONE CAN DO FOR YOU FROM HERE#like. good lord. ive seen people straight up deny that hes complex and boil his plot in s3 down to excusing racism and just-#NO. THAT- ITS- NO!! THIS IS A JENNIFER’S BODY SITUATION#im scratching at the walls here guys#anyway im normal again now. i just had strong feelings for a sec#anyway. jennifer’s body au? thoughts?#actually also rip billy hargrove. you wouldve loved jennifer’s body
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Misc f4rgo thoughts, typed up a few days before the finale and then edited accordingly in italics
Dot going from a morally dubious protagonist* to a truly heroic one is such a great play; blair @/commiegoth had pointed out that the first episode plays as a gendered inversion of the original '96 movie, and taking the series as a whole it also plays as as gendered inversion of Lester's character arc in s1. Juno Temple deserves a billion awards for that performance
The hangup I have re: Dot's escape is that it's inherently tied to finding the 'right' husband, the 'right' family, the 'right' take on Christianity. I wasn't expecting anything radical from Hawley here (the way he both films and talks about abuse is, for the most part, really progressive by TV standards and it's not like we were going to get family abolition), but at least give her more to do than vague allusions to volunteering. she needs hobbies!
(I'd prefer a scenario where she married Wayne solely for social and financial stability and fell in love after the fact. tbh I'd probably still be irritated and calling it half-baked, but I like it better)
(Knowing about Jon Hamm's personal history of racism and abuse also made this kind of an insane watch. It's a good performance but like.)
Ole Munch villain of ALL TIME are you kidding me?? I love the way he talks I love the way he's filmed to look bigger than he already is I love the 'fits, I... have extremely mixed feelings about the way his story ends (why did it turn into the fanfic where they were doing land acknowledgements!!! and not even for area-specific tribes!) Whatever. '500 years ago' smashcut you will always be famous.
I actually really, really liked Joe Keery as Gator as well. Hate seeing him all over the tag, but amazing job at portraying someone who's both a violent menace and a pathetic little boy. Could very easily see Hawley going the route of 'school shooters are insecure babies and deserve our pity uwu' and that's explored but then pity denied- it rules NEVER FUCKING MIND LMAO
Lorraine!!!! Jennifer Jason Leigh's performance grew on me over the course of the season, like, everyone is being very grounded and she is being a 40s actress; she's on another plane of reality and it's so, so good. Her first conversation with Roy is easily my favorite scene in the show and her last conversation with Roy my least favorite; I want Noah Hawley dead for this I'm not kidding
Danish. was there (jk he was also a favorite; great job imbuing what could've been a nothing henchman character with protagonist-of-his-own-story energy, Hawley and the actors he picks out are quite good at that)
(Speaking of, Indira and Witt had much more story in them since they were functionally in roles that had gone to main characters in past seasons. idk how to feel about it, I kind of wanted more of them but was also glad to see the guys on the sidelines getting a chance to shine) Edit: 😒
Mixed feelings about the music- heavy percussion as Munch's theme but then reused for the siege? The pop music? 'Whipping Post' and the cover of 'Toxic' felt especially egregious, but I liked more needle drops than not, and the overall themes were gorgeous
Hated the constant references to Trump. Not because it's out of left field for the show to be doing that, I remember Reagan fondly, but because it's so clear that this entire season is a direct reaction to the Trump presidency. We don't need to see him- let him loom silently in the background
Minneapolis doesn't have a zoo btw. if you even care.
#*i say this as a 'filmic' reading i know we all loved her from the get-go; women's wrongs etc#retroactively tagging#fx fargo
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1, 3, 4, 9 for the film asks please!
1.Name a few underrated actors.
Well no. 1 on this list is My Boy Hamish Linklater, obviously. That man is better than 99% of the hollywood faps and none of them could’ve ever played Father Paul with the depth and rawness and nuance that he did and I will love him forever for it and I think he should really start getting more main roles like that actually or I’m gonna go to hollywood and pick off execs one by one personally.
Paul Sun-Hyung Lee is next on my list because I actually NEED him to be in everything now. Kim’s Convenience really is genuinely one of the best and funniest and most heartwarming shows to ever to exist and I’m so happy that Simu Liu has gotten a LOT of jobs as a result- but man I see so many good potential casts for Paul too that I’m gonna go insane beating my head against the wall if they don’t happen. Like it would be a sin not to cast this dude as Uncle Iroh in a live action adaptation of ATLA. He is the best if not the ONLY man for the job and I will die on that hill. He tickles me silly every single time he shows up in The Mandolorian but lets be real: he needs more screen time bc the bit part they have him doing ain’t cutting it. Let him fully replace Cara Dune next season like please I am begging I would like to see more of him in the star wars universe and let him have an actual character to chew on like PLEASE!!!! He’s the fat star wars hero we deserve. Give him all the roles he’s excellent.
For ladies, my choices are these:
First choice for this category for me has gotta be Carla Gugino. I mean especially in the last few years? Her work with Mike Flannagan has been fucking incredible from Hill House to Geralds Game (which I feel like it’s not nearly discussed enough but it should be bc that one still like genuinely haunts me moreso than probably any other Mike Flanagan work or stephen king adaptation) and not to mention she’s a total MILF to boot anyway I just love her and I’m excited to see her and Mike tackle Poe
Stephanie Hsu coming in hot bc I Loved her in Mrs. Maisel and when I figured out she was in Everything Everywhere All At Once too I flipped my shit. She’s perfect in every way and I love her and I am so excited to see where her career takes her bc she’s just got so much and I love her.
And of course Kate Siegel. My girl comes thru for me every single time I see her and never disappoints. Would love to see her branch out from her own damn husband’s projects but honestly even if she doesn’t I don’t think I could complain bc he writes roles for her that are what she deserves. And if that ain’t love idk what is.
3.Most overrated actor(s)?
Just gonna do an mcu lightning round just to get it out of the way (god I am so gonna get fuckin lynched for this): RDJ, Chris Pratt, Sebastian Stan, Benedict Cumberbatch (bonus points for being so annoying that the MCU now inserts him into every movie to try and make me care about him: it’s not working), Evangeline Lily, Paul Rudd, Mark Ruffalo, Jeremy Renner, Elizabeth Olsen, Bradley Cooper(this fucking guy especially I hate how often his films get nominated for oscars he’s not good the best shit he ever did was 1) produce joker and 2) play the douchebag I perceive him to be in Wedding Crashers) Tom Holland, Zendaya.
By vicarious exposure due to his recurrent involvement in projects with Hamish Linklater I must say I don’t think Dan Stevens is that good of an actor either. He can do a lot but I don’t really feel it when he does it… y’know? I just don’t buy.
Also not a big Matt Smith gal. Not really looking forward to see him in the GOT spin off either and frankly if he’s playing Rhaegar that’s an eggregious mis-cast. Like the man has no eyebrows for feck’s sake
As for actresses Jennifer Lawrence hits the top of the list for me (probably just by association with bradley cooper shit) followed closely by Vera Farminga and probably also Nicole Kidman.
4.What’s a movie you watched over and over again as a child that you still love?
God there are so many lmao but one I remember actively seeking out to view is Howl’s Moving Castle. I remember they used to run it on STARZ all the time and I would try to catch it every single time it was on.
9.Name a film you think has some of the best costume and makeup/hair design.
God that’s tough. I mean take about any GDT movie and it ticks all the boxes for me in that category (I mean the fish man suit was about 90% practical. Nobody does that anymore and Doug Jones is a king and a legend for his work as such)… but then also LOTR and The Hobbit really got me good with the visuals also and they also still hold up like insanely well. But also what I re-watched recently is The Fall. And honestly to this day the costume design in that film continues to blow me away… so I guess take all of those for what they’re worth lmao
FILM QUESTIONS
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Devastated || 7. Suspicion
Paring: (Christopher "Sully" Sullivan x Original Female Character Mance!)
Word Count: 1944
Warnings: slight language, mentions death
Last: Honestly | Next: Preposition
Danny and Henry go to start the generator while Shea, Trish, and Katherine go to the kitchen. "I say we go to get a boat and get the hell out of here." Sully tells the others.
"I'm in." Chloe jumps up.
"I don't feel bad if something happens to you guys. You deserve it." Jennifer tells them as they start to leave.
"Jennifer," Sully sighs.
"Fuck you." She flips him off.
After Danny and Henry successfully jump-start the Inn's generator, they were confused to see Jennifer alone, "They left while Shea, Trish, and Katherine are in the kitchen." She tells them.
Henry goes to the Marina to stop everyone from leaving, and he tells Danny to shoot anyone he doesn't recognize while he stays with the girls.
"You okay?" Danny asks Jennifer.
"Of course not. And I'm pissed off at the others. How could you live with the fact that you could be responsible for killing a little girl? Sully gets mad at Malcolm for leaving Booth, but he leaves Madison to die."
"He's scared." Danny sighs.
"We're all scared. Do you think the person Cal found in the furnace could be Malcolm?" She asks him.
"Do you think that?"
"He's missing, and I'm 100% sure he didn't run off with the money. He felt terrible after coming clean. He probably wanted to get rid of the money. What better way than burning it?" Jennifer tells him what she thinks.
"That is a possibility." He agrees with her, thinking about what if she was right.
After an hour, Sully and Beth come back, "You were willing to let my daughter die. Anyone leaves the island, Madison dies! That's what we were told. And you tried to leave." Shea yells at Sully.
"We came back, all right? It doesn't matter."
"You don't know that! Nobody knows anything!" She yells at him more.
"Where's Henry?" Trish asks.
"We found JD. He's been killed." Sully tells her.
"Well, I-I thought he was in jail." Danny speaks up.
"He was at the Marina. Henry's taken his body to the clinic with everyone else."
"So if somebody killed JD, then does that mean he didn't kill my dad?" Trish asked as tires were screeching and loud music was playing outside.
"What the hell?" Danny asks.
"That's fucking Shane." Jennifer rushes to go out.
"Jennifer!" Sully yells for her, so he and Danny rush to go outside with her.
They watch her open the truck to see no one, so she turns off the truck just for Shane to point his gun at them.
"Put your gun down." She tells him.
"Tell your friend to drop his, or I'll have to wash him off my truck." He tells her, so Sully looks at Danny to put his down.
"What do you want?" Jennifer sighs, "Because now isn't the time with everything going on."
"I'm looking for JD."
"JD's dead, Shane." She tells him.
"Don't lie to me. I saw him escape from jail earlier today."
"Well, he would have been better off if he'd stayed cause someone sliced him open down a the Marina." Sully tells him.
"It's true. JD's dead. We shouldn't be out here, man." Danny speaks up, so Shane wants their guns.
"Are you kidding me, Shane? We need protection." Jennifer huffs.
"Give me your gun." He tells Danny, so he cooperates. "Go." He motions for them to go as he points his gun at them.
"Fucking ridiculous." Jennifer takes the lead.
"It's okay." Sully tells the others as they walk in.
"Shut up. It's not okay. Well, well. All right. Everybody move to this side of the room right now." Shane tells everyone.
"Shane put down the gun." Trish tells him.
"Well, you didn't say the magic word." Shane says as a gun cocks.
"Please." Henry puts his gun to the back of Shane's head, so Sully and Danny take the guns back.
Henry says the state police will be there tomorrow, so Shea says they need a plan to find Madison, but they had to wait to be safe.
"You still mad at me?" Sully asks, standing alone with Jennifer.
"Yes,"
"I know it was wrong." He tells her, "When the others felt bad about leaving, I started to too at the last second. Then I remembered I was leaving you too." He adds.
"Good thing to know." She looks out the window to see Abby and Jimmy.
They follow Jimmy and Abby to Henry. She states that her father will probably be fine and then asks about the papers Jimmy gave him. Abby places the pages in the journal, stating that they match, and begins reading.
"That's Wakefield's journal?" Jennifer looks at Jimmy, who nods his head.
"Still the same handwriting." She turns away.
"My... My... my mom, when she was younger, sh... had an affair with Wakefield." She shoes the other, and Jennifer looks at the book.
Sarah had my child
"They had a child together?" Trish says.
"Abby, this doesn't mean anything." Henry tells her.
"Abby, you don't know what..." Jimmy starts.
"She had a child with him. I could be John Wakefield's daughter." Abby tells them.
"If it turns out true... Welcome to the team." Jennifer sighs.
"What?" Trish looks at her.
"When I was ten, I found out my mom had an affair. Since being here, I found out my real dad is Wakefield." She explains to her.
"A few of the burnt pages mention Jennifer and her mother. How she kept Jennifer from him and said, he'll never meet her." Abby speaks up.
"Well, if it's not you, he was talking about... we have another sibling somewhere." Jennifer huffs, leaving, so Abby follows her.
"Look, it doesn't mean anything." Jimmy tells Abby, and they see Shane talking to the others' whispering, so they look over at the three.
Sully gives Jennifer a look to follow him, so she does, and they go to talk alone, "Abby's Wakefield's kid too?"
"We don't know if that's for sure. Just that her mom had an affair with him, too, like mine. There could be a whole other kid somewhere." Jennifer tells him.
"Shane is set that it's yours and her fault."
"Of course he does." She tears up.
"Don't cry. I don't blame you. Remember, we already had this conversation." He pulls her into a hug.
"You don't, but you can't speak for the others." She looks up at him, so he kisses her forehead.
"Come on." He holds her hand, joining Danny and Beth, going to the kitchen.
"What does Shane mean? You and Abby are Wakefield's kids?" Danny asks Jennifer.
"We aren't sure if Abby really is, but I am. I know that for sure." Jennifer tells him.
"I don't think you or Abby are involved in this." Beth tells her.
"Thanks," Jennifer tells her.
"You son of a bitch!" They hear Henry shout so they go see what's up.
"Hey, don't shoot the messenger, man. It's not like I'm Rosemary's baby. Look, you want to blame somebody, blame them." Shane tells him.
"Hey, you don't get to talk about Jennifer or Abby."
"Really? What about the journal that says Abby's mom got knocked up by Wakefield. And says Jennifer is his daughter? Can I talk about that?" Shane adds.
"Shut up, Shane." Jimmy speaks up.
"What? Seven years, everything's cool on this island. Abby and Jennifer show up, people start dying like flies. You do the math."
"That's enough." Henry shouts.
"It's kinda weird, but we don't know anything." Sully speaks up, so Jennifer slaps him.
"Why are you defending them? Your brother's dead. You, your dad, your friends. I lost Kelly. They all connect to them." Abby leaves the room, so Jennifer follows her.
"We don't know if it's true about Abby." Jimmy tells Shane.
"You're sister is Wakefield's daughter. That was confirmed." Shane tells him.
"Yeah, she is, but she's still my sister, and I know my sister. She didn't even want to come back here, but she only did for Henry. You dated her for years, Shane. You know what type of person she is. She's not capable of being involved in these murders." Jimmy tells him.
"Her father doesn't determine what type of person she is. She had no clue who her real dad was until like a day ago. She told me, and I told her she's not him." Sully speaks up to add while Jimmy goes to look for the girls.
Jimmy finds Abby looking over Wakefield's diary while Jennifer watches her. Abby tells him that they are at the center of the murders, and Jimmy vows to protect them. When they attempt to return, Shane had locked them out, stating that Jimmy can come in, but not the girls. Henry begins a fight with Shane, forcing Danny and Sully to break it up.
When Sully realizes Beth was missing, Henry let's the three in and follows them to the kitchen, where there was a trail of blood. Henry leads Sully, Danny, Jimmy, Jennifer, and Abby into the tunnels. At an intersection in the tunnels, the blood goes in both directions, and Abby suggests they split into two groups.
"I would kill to know whose doing the killings. It's gotta be someone close to you and Abby. Because it started when we got here." Sully says as he, Jennifer, and Danny go down their path.
"I don't believe Wakefield is dead because of my letters still." She tells him.
"Letters?" Danny asks.
"Yeah, they were saying they were my dad. Then I saw Wakefield's handwriting, and it was the same as the letters. So Sully thinks someone just did some digging and copied his handwriting." Jennifer tells him.
The three spot a pool of blood on the mouth of a crawlspace in their section of the tunnel, "Where do you think that goes?" Danny asks.
"Probably someplace even worse than here." Sully answers, "What is that?" Sully looks at the space. "There is no way I'm going in there."
"Hold my gun." Jennifer tells them.
"What? No. You aren't going in there." Sully tells her.
"Yes, I am."
"No, I'll go." Danny says, so Jennifer already starts to crawl through.
"You see anything?" Sully asks, worried about her.
"More blood." She thinks the worse. "Guys, there's another tunnel." She shouts to them.
"Jen, be careful." Danny tells her.
As she looks down the other tunnel, she sees the top half of Beth, causing her to scream and crawl backwards to get out.
"What? What is it?" Sully asks.
"It's Beth!" She screams at them.
"Dead?!" Danny asks.
"YES!" She crawls faster, and once she was close enough, they grab her legs, pulling her out. She clings to Sully as they ask her what she saw. "Half... She was in half. Her bottom half wasn't there." Her voice shakes.
"We need to go." Danny says, handing Jennifer her gun so they leave in a rush running into Henry and Jimmy.
"Where's Abby?" Jennifer asks behind Sully.
"A gate came down and separated us. We need to get some tools to get her out." Henry tells them.
"We, uh... we found Beth." Sully tells him.
"How'd it- What happened?"
"He cut her up. Stuffed her in a crawl space." Danny tells him.
Everyone meets up with Shane, asking him for the tools in his truck. Shane admits that his tools are in the truck but that Trish stole the truck earlier.
Henry finds some bolt cutters when he hears the truck returning. He runs to the kitchen window and sees that Abby is with Trish. He drops the bolt cutters before leading everyone outside.
#harpers island#Henry Dunn#Trish Wellington#Sully Sullivan#Abby Mills#Jimmy Mance#Sheriff Charlie Mills#J.D. Dunn#Danny Brooks#Shane Pierce#Nikki Bolton#John Wakefield#2009 show#drama#horror#mystery#ff#fanfic#fanifiction#matt barr#Christopher Sullivan#Christopher 'Sully' Sullivan
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ARC Review: Still Beating by Jennifer Hartmann
2/5. Releases 7/11/2023.
Note: this book was published previously; this is a review of a re-release ARC. Additionally, this review will discuss sexual assault extensively, as this is a crucial part of the novel.
For when you're vibing with... girls who aren't like other girls, actually, heroes who deserve better, and compelling ideas that went somewhere.
Cora hates her sister Mandy's fiance, Dean, and has ever since they started dating. But when Cora and Dean are kidnapped by a sadistic serial killer, they not only suffer at his hands, but are forced to have sex in front of him--repeatedly. After being rescued, Dean and Cora are fundamentally changed and bonded; and only they know what actually happened in the basement.
To be clear: when I give this book a low rating, it's not because I hate the idea. The idea is why I requested it. I knew this was a dark romance (and to an extent it is) I'm good with that, I knew it had sexual assault on the page, I'm good with that (though I am dubious on how it's handled). I appreciate the content warnings at the opening of the book. My issues are not about concept--the concept is the thing I like. My issues concern execution.
Quick Takes:
--I'll be clear here so that nobody readying this review toddles into this book confused about the sexual assault. Cora is raped by the serial killer, Earl (.... come on, couldn't we come up with a more creative serial killer name?) multiple times. Earl also makes Cora and Dean have sex, which neither of them want (though Dean can't help having an orgasm and Cora does get off in the last encounter, which sets off the second act turmoil). This means that Earl is raping both Dean and Cora, full stop. Dean says he was forced to rape Cora and has, understandably, a ton of conflict over it; I get this. It's a totally believable emotional reaction to what happened to him, and most of the believable emotional reactions in this book are Dean's. What bothers me is not that Cora doesn't see Dean as having raped her (an understandable response, and truly Dean was the mechanism of the rapist and not the rapist), but that NOBODY tells Dean that he was also raped. Like. Our cast of characters seems reasonably well-educated. I'm not looking for a Very Special Episode conversation, but nobody seems to emphasize to Dean "Hey, YOU WERE RAPED". It just bugs me a lot, because I got the sense that the narrative did not buy into Dean being assaulted.
Also, I'll be real... I went into this knowing there would be rape, but the amount of times Earl rapes Cora himself surprised me. It really served no narrative purpose. Obviously, I don't mind rape being a focal point of this novel, but that's where it felt gratuitous, especially because the sticking point of the trauma was what he made Dean do to Cora.
--The thing that bothered me most, however, is that from page one, Cora is better than her sister Mandy because she is not like other girls. Mandy has "bleach blond" hair, unlike Cora, who has normal gold hair. Cora loves books and keeps wanting Dean to read Of Mice and Men to get smarter, whereas Mandy is a hair stylist. (Of Mice and Men may be important, but a fun read it is not, fuck off Cora.) Mandy never got in trouble for all the bad things she did, like wrecking a car when she was a teenager, or having parties!!! Oh, and naturally, Dean actually saw and wanted Cora first when they were teens, because he likes 'em natural, unlike Mandy. Honestly man, what Cora and Dean go through is enough for me to believe in them being trauma bonded. I can believe there was an underlying attraction neither wanted to acknowledge beforehand. I don't need to see Cora uplifted as Better Than Mandy for me to believe in the love story. In fact, the more this is done, the more the love story is undermined.
--Also, Mandy is clearly a normal hot girl trying her best, but in order to again underline that she is not as good as Cora, the author has her say RIDICULOUS SHIT. Like "oh Dean, you were only held captive and tortured by a serial killer for THREE WEEKS, I'd think you'd be over it by now". "Oh Dean, why aren't we fucking yet, it's been six weeks since you were held captive by a serial killer"? Bringing up an incredibly personal thing her sister experienced and was keeping a secret in gENERAL CONVERSATION? It's like, nobody's perfect, I'm not asking for perfect Mandy, but no real person who is not clinically insane would say these things in these circumstances. And we see later than Mandy is a loving, empathetic, remarkably forgiving woman, so why was she so callous before? There's also one more gut punch thing added in that makes zero sense, and literally serves no purpose except to say "Mandy didn't deserve Dean anyway".
But every person in the book who doesn't like Cora or exists to make Cora look better acts this way. There is a conversation, in public, overheard that... Like... I'm sorry, I just don't buy two totally sane people saying this kind of shit out loud, in public, in a WORKPLACE, about a kidnapping survivor they work with. I just don't. They'd keep it to the group chat as God intended.
--Oh, and another thing: Dean and Cora developing these feelings is treated by other characters as like a "welp, I guess Mandy just needs to accept it" thing, and she has been with this man for FIFTEEN YEARS. FIFTEEN. YEARS. That's longer than many marriages! And also, if Dean was in a mid relationship for FIFTEEN YEARS and liked her sister first, why did he never make a move before being with someone for FIFTEEN YEARS and proposing to her? (While somehow, never moving in with her...?)
--Aside from this and one moment in which he says that Cora's ex cheated on her with "some floozy" (file under things a man in his early thirties would never say in the 2020s) Dean is actually really likable and his perspective was a respite. It felt like he was recovering from trauma, whereas Cora's perspective felt like she was recovering from trauma in a way that Sam Levinson would write, and not in a "this is wild I'm so entertained" episode of Euphoria. I felt bad for him. I thought that there was a lot more going on with him that needed to be unpacked, whereas Cora's issues seemed more straightforward and confronted by the text.
--This girl does something so ludicrous to aid in her recovery that I did laugh. Then I remembered she was 29.
--One more note... Like, I'm all for insulting the serial killer, but the amount of times Dean's insults of the serial killer hinged on him being fat was like? Weird to me? Romance has this thing where the villains are often fat (and it exists across subgenres) and like? Personally, if Earl was as out of shape as the book suggested (which, to be fair, you can be fat and in shape but I didn't get that vibe from Earl) I'm not certain as to how he physically defeated big and fit Dean that easily in the beginning. He's literally kidnapped and is torturing y'all on the daily, is there not a better insult than "fat"?
--Weird note, but there is a "joke" Cora played on Dean referenced several times in which she told a college friend of his coming to town that Dean had a crush on him, then slipped Dean Viagra while telling him it was aspirin so he was popping a boner around this friend the whole night. This is treated as funny. That is not only pretty much sexual assault and definitely drugging someone; it's homophobic? How do I root for this woman?
The Sex Stuff:
The (consensual) sex scenes were well written. The sexual assault scenes are a lot more vague, as they should be. I respect the way the non-consensual scenes between Dean an d Cora were written. It's a hard balance to strike, and I'm sympathetic to that as a writer--you don't want to titillate, but you do have to communicate that there was just a seismic shift and realization for our leads.
Look, I didn't like this, and I went in thinking "I'm the type of reader who can handle this book". And I could handle all the dark shit. I just couldn't handle how much the text bent over backwards to uplift the heroine and trash her sister. Sincerely, if this book works for you, go with God, I am not judging. It just didn't for me.
Thanks to Netgalley and Bloom Books for providing me with a copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
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The tendency in fandom to take every white girl with short hair, regardless of the status of their canonical interest or lack of interest in women and explicit interest and/or sexual history with everything but, proclaim them a lesbian queen, and then ignore or absolve them of every single horrific act they take in fiction because of this. Is not doing feminism. Women. Lesbians. Or anyone. Any favors. It’s just bad.
Somehow. Some people really do apparently need to hear that...being any specific sexuality...is not a personality trait.
And also. Women aren’t inherantly less vile than men (or anyone non-binary, agender, fluid, etc, else), and whatever bad deeds they do should be judged based on just that—on the deeds, and their context. Not their sexuality, imagined sexuality, or their gender. Becuase none of those things effect whether committing murder is bad. At all. Not even a little. And none of them. Is even a personality trait. Affecting the character’s value as a person.
It’s cool, and good, to see characters with minority identities. And it’s real nice. When it’s whatever you are. But them being whatever. Is not a personality trait. Just a fact. And sometimes. People of any type. Are not good. Pretending any minority status—gender, sexuality, race, disability, neurotype, etc—is a get out of jail free card? Is not. Doing them. Or anyone. Any favors. Personality disorder. Doesn’t make you bad. Also doesn’t make you good. Your actions do. Acting like Amy from Gone Girl did nothing wrong when she date rapes her boyfriend & then frames him for doing that to her & ruins his life, then blackmails her husband who is terrified of being murdered by her into staying with her for the sake of the child she made at a fertility clinic with his sperm without his consent, bc she’s a woman. Isn’t good. Men aren’t more deserving of violence than women. Neither is anyone else. Jane. Left an infant child in an unheated car in subzero weather in a snow storm with zombies around that easily would hear it cry and go eat it. So she could lie and say she already let zombies eat it to bait a man with easily triggerable PTSD who had just lost his family to zombies for the second time into starting a fight. Because he was injured, unarmed, weak, down an eye, and 50, while she was fit, mid 20s, healthy, and armed with a hunting knife. Because she wanted an excuse to kill him without looking bad, because she wanted the 11 year old girl she was co-parenting with him, all to herself. And her immediately responding to the dude throwing a punch by stabbing him in the stomach to escalate the fight from brawl to life or death, then losing her knife, and instead of telling him the baby was alive & she’d made it up to start a fight which could have at any point ended the fight, begging the 11 year old child to gun down her oldest surviving friend with her own hands in cold blood so that she’d get what she wanted? Is evil. As is crying on the 11 year old and using pity as a weapon to get her to stay with her if she gets mad and wants to leave when she realizes Jane staged the whole thing for an excuse to murder, and so is after realizing like a month later that she is pregnant, committing suicide, and leaving the 11 year old that she just manipulated into killing her oldest surviving friend/completely isolated on purpose so she could have her to herself, totally alone in the apocalypse to care for an infant. Jennifer’s Body? Is a fantastic film. And Jennifer didn’t deserve any of what happened to her. But not one single boy she kills during the course of that film deserved it—and explicitly so. Even the guy who could easily have been a meathead jock bully is outside alone crying becuase his best friend just died and he loved him before she decides to lure him off and eat him alive. And acting like it’s totally fine & Needy should have just let her keep eating boys instead of killing her? Is fucked up. None of them deserved to die. And no one deserves death innately more because they are or are not something that is just a factual designator of their makeup as a human. The exchange student was scared and alone and nice, the catholic kid was sweet and Needy’s friend, Chip is a bad boyfriend but he meant well and being stupid doesn’t mean you deserve to die. And this girl ate them alive. That’s not funny. Or cool. Or fine becuase they were dudes. Gertrude Robinson? Chose again and again to betray people who loved her, or trusted her—sold out victims of awful trauma to their worst nightmares. Killed friends in the worst possible ways, like it was nothing. Michael loved her, and trusted her, and tried to care for her, and she without faltering fed him to his worst nightmare and forced him to become it. There is nothing excusable about that action.
Jude Perry? Has 0 redeeming features. Didn’t even stay faithful to her poor gf & was creepy obsessed w Agnes. Literally murdered her co-worker friend just because he was happy, and she wanted to destroy things: that’s it. She didn’t even dislike him. Murdered him because he had a wife and kid and house and it seemed fun, then burned down his house, took his wife’s money, and now checks in on his kid every so often in case he ever recovers from the trauma she inflicted enough to be fun to kill. There is literally nothing good about this woman. Yes. I mean that. Because being a lesbian? Is just a thing. There is no g/b tag, there is no tag at all. Amanda Young? Got kidnapped and tortured and forced to choose between killing a man who couldn’t resist but was conscious to watch her, and letting herself die, and she killed him. Then, instead of responding to that trauma with guilt or responsibility or anger at her captor, joined up with him and started helping him kidnap people just like her. She was not forced, she was not lied to. It does not matter if John was manipulative; she is a grown ass woman and like all grown ass adults, responsible for her own actions and choices. She did not get manipulated pitifully into this—she did not go unwillingly. She volunteered, with a happy vengeance, became obsessed with John and in love with him, despite his complete lack of interest. And she did not even just do what he did. She decided on her own that no one deserved redemption, & she killed them for fun in traps that wouldn’t let them go even if they did whatever awful thing the trap demanded as a price for life, just for the fun and power trip of watching them die helpless & in agony. That was all her, & her alone. She sat in a house full of people slowly dying from organ decomposition over the course of a few hours, for no crime worse than drug addiction—the thing she of all people should have been most sympathetic to—knowing full well at any time she could have saved them and stopped the game, and did nothing. She held a woman in her arms and stroked her head lovingly while she let her die in one of the most inhumane ways possible for the crime of having not been able to break an addition. She got saved by a 16 year old child multiple times, who had done nothing more than shoplift, and stood by while he had to watch a man get his brains blown out, another burn to death in an oven. As his organs slowly dissolved too. Watched the kid kill another human being & massively traumatize himself to save her life. And responded to that by attacking & knocking him out, tying him up, locking him up for days in a tiny safe bound and gagged with an oxygen supply to keep him alive, to be a piece in another game. Left his father, who had shown up to try & save him, to starve to death in chains in a horrible abandoned rotting room, & never even told him his son was alive. Let every other addict die horribly, let that kid sustain permanent damage to his organs that will kill him young, antidote taken or not, took his dad from him, & went back to torturing without a second thought. Kidnapped a woman whose worst crime was being a doctor & dating someone while maybe separated instead of divorced from her husband, put her in a trap that would take her head off with shotgun blasts, threatened her for fun, & then killed her even after she did everything she was asked, because it was more important to her that the old man she was obsessed with think she was special and great, than for the other woman to get to stay alive another day & go home to her daughter. There is nothing sympathetic about Amanda. She’s just not only evil, but too spineless to take responsibility for her own choices & actions, & tries to hide behind a “UwU I am sad & lonely & damaged & having trauma means I can literally torture people to death to feel special & it’s really tragic and sympathetic about me, not evil. Uhm. Some people??? Commit torture-murders?? To cope??” And acting like she’s somehow a victim in this becuase she is a pretty white girl with short hair? Is fucked. Up.
But every. God damn. Time. I see this. Please. It needs. To stop. People go: “UwU pretty girl short hair want” & I go “Ok. I see where u. Come from. Indeed.” But then. They go. “Girl pretty I like. So she was blameless. For this atrocity.” Those words...
Every day. I wake up. Thinking of Janic saying. Iconically. “At least me and Regina George know we’re mean,” and I weep inside. Because I cannot fathom. Or stomach. The lack of responsibility. I will kill. Characters who cannot admit they are bad. Myself. But somehow. They become. Flames. To moths. Of the “UwU pretty white girl short hair. We stan. Victim. Queen. Love her. Never done wrong.” Boy. We all done wrong. Even all my faves. At least once. I think. ...not if we count dogs probably, but people, yes. Ok. Anyway. All this is to say. Characters. Should be judged. Based on what they did. And why. And the aftermath. Not a grouping tag. I don’t mean any of these. Make bad characters. At all. Amy is a great character. So is Jennifer. So are most of them. I have quite affection even. For Jeneffer specifically. But you can like. Character. Without proclaiming. Them perfect humans. Who never did a thing wrong. Or their acts somehow. Justifiable. And ok. And you better stop saying. Ok. Because done. To men. Men do not. Deserve violence. Any more. Than anyone else. No one deserves violence defacto for factors. Outside their control. Wtf. Really people. It’s ok too. For character. To do much bad stuff. And still like character. Villains. And often just complex characters. Sometimes just characters. Do stuff. That is bad. It’s not supposed to be not their fault. Or ok. Also. Women are not a sisterhood. Of flawless beings. Who never hurt anyone or do any bad stuff. They can. And are. Often purpotrators. Of awful acts. And when they are. It is still. Very bad. Still. An awful act. Same level. Even. Of awful. Wild.
In conclusion.
Having short hair. While a girl. Doesn’t make her a butch queen. Who is absolved of all responsibility for that murder she committed. It just makes her a girl with short hair. That did a murder. I’m gonna. Kill someone. Too. And if I chop my hair off. I guess I can get away with it.
#personal#*dances wildly to abba music while delivering speech*#some of you all apparently really need a girl to come fuck up your life bc the lengths to which some of y’all so devotedly seem to believe#women are less evil is astronomical. and let me tell you. from personal experience? a girl can ruin your life. just as easily. and with as#little pity. guilt. remorse. or afterthought. as a man. and it aint any more ok. & you know what? so can a fluid person. or a nonbinary#person. legit anyone. can be bad. or good. and do bad. or good. theyre not defacto worse for coming from X starting point. and theyre also.#OuO not. better.#not everyone who likes or is sympathetic to these specific characters even be like that either like u know what? its possible to both be#sypathetic to a character & not excuse & atand their actions. I like & feel bad for Jennifer. a lot. one of my bros in college loved Jane#from twdg. Not bc she thought it was totally fine she’d been super evil though. its *dances* not that hard actually#also nothin against lovin evil lady characters or evil characters in general. just me or anyone else loving them does nothing to make their#evil deeds suddely ok or vanish into the mist#people have some real trouble w nuance huh. folks like a character & assume that means stanning everything theyve ever done. hate a charactr#and suddenly forget how to factor any outside factors into their view of said person’s actions. its a wild bad ride yo#like i get it. im a girl & ive had plenty of men ruin my life i truly get it. but is there anything truly more detrimental to feminism & to#just treating people decent in general than the WomenDoNoWrong mindset & apologism thrown up like its actually a decent counter t patriarchy#? probably actually yeah im sure there are worse. but its still REALLY not good!! feminism is just a stance that all people deserve equal#treatment & an investment in pursuing that reality. if youre excusing people of horrible actions bc girl & treating violence against non-#women as fine youre not a feminist u actually just suck generally as a person#i also lose my mind how half the characters i see get this treatment aint even lesbians & often explicitly like men yet get both assigned#that & treated like that sexuality is a hall pass for human rights violations. im dyin#this entire thought rant was prompted by reading a post earlier today about bi-phobia & gettin mad about how bi people get treated idk how#spagheti brain exactly went there to here so /fast/ but anyway. same brand of problematic. & i am v tired :] of this :] specifically :]#every time i see that post abt women killers in horror i am like ‘OP hiw are your points so good but all your examples so /terrible/.’ rip#i guess this is just life. and i feel excessively better after screaming jnto the void of my blog#also i get it gertrude robinson wanted to stop the apocalypse but fuck gertrude robinson she has no excuse. nothing could justify what she#did to people who loved her. and shes a well written and layered character whonisnt like just pure evil but she is VERY bad and i WILL kill#her (again) myself if given the chance & i have every right to.#spoilers#again. great charcters. amanda an iconic saw villain. gertrude fascinating. etc. but also. they be doing mad evil deeds & tis not ok
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Just Friends
Masterlist
Pairing: Tom Holland x Actress!Reader
Summary: You and Tom haven’t seen each other since filming Uncharted, and you decide to surprise him at his Jimmy Kimmel interview. Although you’ve always been “just friends,” you can’t help but think there’s something more.
A/N: Hey y’all sorry it’s been a few days since I last posted, I’ve just been super stressed with school and stuff, but I actually really like this fic and I hope you guys like it too!
Warnings: Language, fluff, angst if you squint
WC: 2.4k
~~~~~~~~
It’s been months since you and Tom last saw each other in person.
While filming Uncharted, the two of you had become extremely close, hanging out in each other’s trailers and spending all of your free time together. In such a short period, you had become best friends, but neither of you could deny the spark of something more. Unfortunately, the two of you never got to explore that spark because of the short time limit. After wrapping, you and Tom went your separate ways, him to Atlanta to film Spiderman 3, and you back to your hometown for a well-deserved break.
That doesn’t mean you two haven’t stayed in contact though. You and Tom have texted and facetimed almost every day since you parted ways, or as much as his busy filming schedule allows. Throughout this time, however, you never seemed to discuss the obvious love connection between you two. Without actually speaking about it, you both seemed to agree that that conversation would be better to have in person.
This bring us to today, where Tom is backstage at Jimmy Kimmel, anxiously waiting for his interview segment of the show. He picks up his phone and decides to text you before he goes on to settle his nerves, wishing you were here to comfort him in person.
T: Are you watching the show yet?
Y: yep I already have my tv turned to abc! are you going on soon?
T: Yeah, I’m so nervous though
Y: why? you’ve been on the show before and you’re like amazing at interviews
T: Idk, Jimmy just said “be ready for a surprise” and he looked really suspicious so I’m scared
T: I just hope they don’t bring like Jennifer Aniston out or something because I would totally freeze and make a fool out of myself
Y: lmao that would be kinda funny tho, but I’m sure you have nothing to worry about
T: Okay we’ll see haha
T: Gtg I’m on in 10, I’ll facetime you after I’m done!
Y: kk, good luck tommy :)
T: Ahh thank you!!
What Tom doesn’t know is that you are ten times more nervous than him. While he’s under the impression that you’re sitting on your living room couch watching the show, you are actually in the dressing room down the hall from him.
Last month, when Tom told you he was going to be on Jimmy Kimmel to promote Cherry, you had the idea to surprise him. You emailed Jimmy not expecting a response, but to your surprise, he actually emailed you back and loved your idea.
So, here you are, waiting backstage and shaking with anticipation to surprise Tom. To be completely honest, you’re even more nervous now that you know Tom is expecting some big star like Jennifer Aniston, who you know has always been his biggest celebrity crush. But nonetheless, you shake off the nerves as best as you can, just hoping everything goes well.
“Please welcome our first guest… Tom Holland everyone!” you hear Jimmy’s voice over the speaker in your dressing room.
Now that Tom is on stage, you can safely leave the room without him seeing you, and you head to the side stage, waiting for your cue.
Tom and Jimmy talk about Cherry for a few minutes, and you can’t help but admire him. His voice, his face, his outfit, everything about him is just perfect. And even better, he’s here in person, closer than he’s been to you in a long time. It takes every ounce of self-control in you to stop yourself from running onstage and hugging him now. ‘Only a minute longer,’ you tell yourself.
“So, other than Cherry, what other upcoming projects are you working on?” Jimmy inquires onstage.
Almost there…
“Well, as most of you know,” Tom addresses the audience, “I’m filming Spiderman 3 right now, which has been going brilliantly. It’s definitely going to be the best one of all the Spiderman movies I’ve done. And I just wrapped on a film called Uncharted a few months ago in Berlin, which was so much fun.”
“Ooh, Uncharted, tell us more about that!"
“Yeah, well it’s based on the video game, and I play the main character, Nathan Drake, who’s on a quest throughout the film. It’s a lot like Spiderman in a way, with all the stunts and stuff, and I think it’s going to turn out great, I can’t wait to see it finished.”
“That sounds like a lot of fun! And if I’m not mistaken, you seem to have met a certain Y/N Y/L/N while filming?”
“Oh, Y/N, yeah, she’s great,” he starts to gush, and you immediately smile, “we became friends super fast, and I miss her so much. I wish she could be here right now, but she’s watching from home actually, so hey Y/N!” he looks directly at the camera and waves, as if he’s waving to you through the screen.
That’s your cue. You tiptoe onstage behind Tom, trying your best to shush the immediate gasps from the audience.
“Well Tom,” Jimmy smiles, “I think your wish may have come true.”
“Huh?” Tom looks around, confused, until his eyes land on you, and he completely freezes.
“Hey Tom,” you smile.
“Y/N! Holy shit! You’re here, you’re actually here!” he exclaims, not caring that he just cursed on live TV.
Tom immediately springs off the couch and sprints to you, arms outstretched. As soon as he reaches you, he picks you up in a tight hug and spins you around, both of you laughing. He sets you down, but still keeps you in a tight embrace, not pulling away until neither of you can breathe. He steps backwards to take you in, still trying to fathom that you’re actually here, with him, after all this time.
“Y/N, wha-, how? I thought you were at your house!” Tom can barely form a sentence, smiling wider than ever and completely out of breath.
“Eh, my house was boring. I thought it would be more fun here with you,” you smile.
He pulls you in again, whispering, “I missed you so fucking much.”
“You have no idea,” you whisper back, resting your forehead on his.
The two of you lock eyes, and for a moment, it’s like you are the only two people in the world. You both start to lean in, lips almost touching, when Jimmy interjects.
“Alright, you two, while that was very sweet, we do still have the rest of the show to get through, so why don’t you come sit down,” Jimmy laughs, bringing you and Tom back to reality.
“Right, of course,” Tom responds, trying his best to keep cool in front of the audience.
Tom ushers you to the couch, keeping one hand on the small of your back as he follows you. He keeps his arm around you when you sit, staying as close to you as possible without raising any more suspicions from the audience.
“So, you two, huh?” Jimmy smirks.
“What? Oh, no, Jimmy, we- we’re just friends,” you laugh trying your best to hide the obvious blush on your cheeks.
“I don’t know, that seemed like a little more than just friend behavior to me over there,”
“What do you expect, I haven’t seen her in half a year!” Tom exclaims, saving you from more embarrassment.
“Okay, okay, fine. Just friends,” he turns to the camera and winks, earning laughs from the audience.
“Anyways Y/N, we already talked about Tom, so tell us about you! How was your experience filming Uncharted?” thankfully, Jimmy moves on.
“Well, up until this point I had only really done small indie films, so it was definitely a major change. But Tom was so nice in helping me and it actually turned out to be such an amazing experience, probably the most fun I’ve ever had filming a movie…”
You go on for a few more minutes, talking to Jimmy about your role in Uncharted and your career in general, exchanging small glances with Tom, who just sat back and listened, completely entranced by you.
“Alright, well thank you so much for coming Y/N, it was great to have you! I’m afraid I have to keep Tom for a few more minutes for our next segment, but you’ll have him all to yourself soon enough,” Jimmy smiles.
You laugh, “Thank you so much for having me Jimmy, it was such a pleasure!”
You stand up and hug both Jimmy and Tom, giving Tom a small peck on the cheek before you walk offstage, waving to the audience as you leave.
You smile all the way back to your dressing room, completely overjoyed that you were successful in surprising Tom. As soon as you sat down on the small couch, not even two minutes after you walked offstage, your phone starts blowing up with notifications.
You see that your best friend texted you, so you check that first.
BFF: so you and tom huh? girl why didn’t you tell me?????
Y: what no???
Y: we’re just friends!!
BFF: that’s not what literally all of twitter thinks
Y: wdym? they don’t know anything
BFF: go check rn, i’m telling you they’re going batshit crazy over you two
You check Twitter and immediately see the fans already going crazy over you and Tom.
“just friends”????? bullshit did y’all see the way they almost KISSED?????
TOM AND Y/N I SHIP I SHIP I SHIP
did y’all see the way tom looked at y/n? he’s totally in love omg
UGH I’M SO JEALOUS AKSDHJSAHDSHD I WANT TO BE Y/N SO BAD
they’re so cute help omg
THE WAY Y/N FLEW OUT TO CALIFORNIA JUST TO SURPRISE TOM??? JUST FRIENDS MY ASS
Were you really being that obvious? You quickly call your friend, looking for some advice on what to do, and she picks up right away.
“Okay you were right, they’re going absolutely insane,” you start.
“I mean what do you expect y’all almost kissed on live tv!”
“Shut up.”
“Come onnnnn Y/N, I know you like him and he obviously likes you too so just talk to him! You already know that you two would be the cutest fucking couple ever. Plus you already have the approval of twitter what more could you need?”
You laugh, but you’re still hesitant.
“I don’t know, what if he doesn’t like me back?
“HE. ALMOST. KISSED. YOU. ON. LIVE. FUCKING. TELEVISON. I THINK HE LIKES YOU BACK BITCH!”
“Okay first of all we didn’t almost kiss, and second of all I don’t want to ruin our friendship. Plus how would I even tell him?”
“Okay YES YOU DID ALMOST KISS! And this isn’t middle school! Just tell him how you feel.”
“I’ll think about it.”
“Think about what?”
You whip around and see Tom standing at your dressing room door.
“Fuck I gotta call you back,” you whisper, quickly hanging up the phone.
You turn back to Tom, still standing in the doorway.
“How much of that did you hear?” you ask, blushing profusely.
“Um, all of it I think,” Tom looks down and you immediately start to freak out.
Tom, however, looks back up at you and smirks.
“So you like me huh?”
You stay silent for a moment, a billion thoughts running through your head. You contemplate denying it and staying just friends with Tom. But then you think back to what your best friend told you just a second ago.
“Just tell him how you feel.”
“Yeah Tom. I like you. And not as a friend. This isn’t really the way I intended on telling you, and I get if you don’t feel the same way, but the way I feel about you isn’t just platonic. There’s a connection between us that I felt since the day we met and I can’t help but think that you feel it too. And then today it just got, like, ten times stronger and I-“
Tom promptly cuts you off by cupping your jaw and placing his lips on yours, sending a rush throughout your entire body. His lips feel like heaven, moving ever so gently against yours, and again, it feels like you two are the only people on Earth. The kiss is warm and loving, and although it doesn’t last long, the moment has already been engraved in your mind for eternity.
He pulls back, looking into your eyes, making sure he hasn’t made a mistake, but you only stare back at him ten times more lovingly.
“You have no idea how long I’ve wanted to do that.” he whispers.
“Me too,” you whisper back.
He takes your hands in his, “Y/N, I do feel that connection, and I want us to be more than just friends. I always have.”
As much as you are relieved that Tom feels the same way, you can’t help but worry.
“What about the distance? Are you sure we can handle that?”
“Of course we can,” Tom assures you, “I don’t care how far away we are from each other, I love you, and I’m never letting any amount of distance take that away.”
“But these past few months have been so hard without you, and we haven’t even been dating, I just- I don’t want to be apart from you anymore.”
“Then move in with me. Come to London and live with me!”
“Okay,” you grin.
“Wait, really?” Tom questions, taken aback.
“Yeah, why not? I mean, obviously we won’t be able to be together all the time because of our jobs, but it’ll be the closest thing.”
“Are you sure? That’s a big commitment to move that far.”
“I’m positive Tom. You’re my best friend, and now, I guess you’re my boyfriend,” you giggle, “I love you too, and I want to be with you, even if that means moving thousands of miles to London.”
Tom smiles, “You called me your boyfriend.”
“Shut up you dork, come here.”
You pull him in for another kiss, still feeling like you’re floating. Your lips once again move perfectly together, as if they’re made for each other. You’re completely consumed in him, and him in you, and in this moment, you know that he is the only one for you. In this moment, you know that you want to spend the rest of your life with him, and only him, and it’s the best feeling in the world.
~~~~~~~~
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#tom holland#tom holland fluff#tom holland smut#tom holland angst#tom holland x reader#tom holland x y/n#tom holland fanfiction#tom holland fic#tom holland x actress!reader#actress!reader#peter parker#peter parker fluff#peter parker x reader#tom holland imagine#tom holland one shot
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JENNIFER👏JAREAU👏DESERVED👏BETTER👏
✨it’s rant time✨
buckle up lads bc it’s gonna be a doozy
tw// suicide mention, tw// canon typical cm violence, tw// je— 🤢 jei—🤢🤢 i can’t even fucking say it 🤢🤢🤢 je*d
so yesterday i was watching criminal minds again (wow shocker) again for the first time in like,,,, 3 months??? [that’s not important] on weTV (which was just so happening to air reruns from season 3) and there was one thing that really stuck out to me that i didn’t necessarily think about much until i went into work today
season 3, episode 15 “a higher power” shows the team going up to pittsburgh to investigate a spike in suicides rates in the community under the suspicion that it’s the work of a serial killer (okay, cool, normal fucked up every day BAU life, nothing really sus there)
but what really kinda just hit me out of the blue today was just.... how unaffected jj was by the whole case in general
the team is maybe at most, a few hours away from her hometown, with the main topic of the case being surrounded by multiple suicides and taking her past into consideration (she’s literally a stone’s throw away from her hometown where she lost her sister to suicide) and yet she just.... remains unbothered... she never toys with the necklace around her neck or ever seems uncomfortable despite this case hitting way too close to home
i guess just rewatching this episode really just... opened my eyes into how underdeveloped jj was character wise for a really long time (i mean really we know more about gideon and elle in season 4 than we do jj and they had been gone for at least a season and a half at this point)
i mean.... i guess in in heat we get... something??? when we find out that she’s been seeing will for nearly a year?? cool i guess??? and we do get an episode named after her but really it doesn’t tell us much about her background or dive more into her story other than “oh strauss is forcing me to leave that sucks” but it doesn’t really go much into detail about anything beyond that
oh hotch handpicked her to join the unit but i don’t think it ever gets any deeper than that (when it should have!!!!??!!) [correct me if i’m wrong]]
by season 5 we have a detailed idea about every other character on the team (with the only exception possibly being garcia but i digress)
we know hotch has a younger brother that looks absolutely nothing like him and said brother wants to be a chef
we know rossi came back to the bau because of a cold case that’s gone unsolved for twenty years
we know every year, morgan goes home for his birthday and visits the grave of the john doe he found when he was a teenager
we know way too much about reid and his issues jesus christ
fucking hell we even know about emily’s dark past, how much it still haunts her even before we get the ian doyle arc
even ashley seaver has a deeper storyline than jj at this point like ffs
jj.... well..... she has that boyfriend down in louisiana ig?????
and that’s what becomes annoying
jj’s character really isn’t developed past more than i have a boyfriend and i’m pregnant up until maybe, and that’s a really generous maybe, the episode will gets held hostage at a bank and damn near gets himself killed (we see her with henry.... again, i’m being very generous here)
really, we don’t see jj get any sort of deep development the rest of the team has been getting until 200
i loved seeing her finally get some depth, for her character to finally be treated as if she’s an important asset rather than a pretty face that deals with media
she becomes a character we can sympathize with!!! she has issues and fears and traumas!!! finally!!!
and then they keep expanding on her as the seasons continue!!! like yes!!! this is what i wanted from the beginning!!! jj deserved this!!!
and then
it all comes crashing and burning into a pile of shit with five words
five
words
you know the words so i really don’t have to type them out and become unnecessarily angry
but wtf
all that character development they had spent building up over the years, after finally starting to get the ball rolling to making jj a solid character the writers decided “,,,,,,let’s just boil her down romantic feelings she kept hidden for....reid.” (of all people????? confusion)
the biggest sigh i just let out
first of all, that’s such an overdone trope in hollywood and in modern times we’re sick of it we need way more flavor than that
second of all it just..... ruins jj’s character right there on the spot
a majority (maybe i’m just generalizing) but most people in the fandom are reid stans and of COURSE they’re going to be absolutely livid at that bitch jennifer jareau pulling that card on their favorite little twink
it makes her look like a bitch
and it literally makes no sense whatsoever
they went on one “date” once in season 1 and it’s never mentioned again until jj confides to emily in the bathroom in the first episode of season 14
they have about as much romantic chemistry as two planks of wood
what was so wrong with jj and reid being best friends/having a sibling like relationship (which would have been a big deal for jj!!! to let someone that close again!!!! but no!!!!!!! jj is woman!!!!!! reid is man!!!! they must have romantic chemistry!!!!!! gross)
why did jj have to have hidden romantic feelings for reid
please tell me why that was a thing
and then the writers (probably sensing that they in fact fucked up big time) just kinda.... brush it off in 15
“u were my first love” reid: “oh okay (is sad for the duration of the season)”
it doesn’t fix what happened
it doesn’t change what happened
jj still looks like a huge bitch to a majority of the fandom
and it was overall a completely useless and pointless arc that just set out to completely ruin jj and it’s so infuriating
what was the reason
what was the reason
why u gotta do it to her like that writers
i’m sad jj deserved so much better than what those stinky writers did to her
tldr: jj deserved better
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THE MOST POPULAR GIRLS IN SCHOOL SENTENCE STARTERS.
rp starters, taken from mpgis season one.
feel free to change pronouns or other words !
the new girl.
❝ i am ... so ... pretty. ❞
❝ um, excuse me ? ❞
❝ who the fuck are you ? ❞
❝ i asked you first. ❞
❝ i asked you second ! ❞
❝ i’m ______. i’m new. ❞
❝ who the fuck let you in here ? ❞
❝ so. ______. let me tell you how things work here. ❞
❝ i already know how things work around here ! ❞
❝ this is me telling you that you need to learn your place. ❞
❝ i already know all those things ! ❞
❝ you’re not from around here, are you, ______ ? ❞
❝ okay, _____. just ... what the fuck do you want ? ❞
❝ fine. but know this: i do not like you. ❞
❝ i feel indifferent towards you. ❞
french class.
❝ you know what, ______ ? i respect you. ❞
❝ stop trying to change the subject, ______ ! ❞
❝ in exchange for that, you have to watch a whole episode of glee with me. ❞
❝ what ? that’s not even a fair trade, you like gossip girl ! ❞
❝ that’s not true ! ❞
❝ I LOVE GOSSIP GIRL SOOO MUCH ! ❞
❝ SHUT THE FUCK UP, ______ ! ❞
❝ hey, um, gossip girl is a good show ! ❞
❝ you are not my boyfriend anymore. ❞
❝ god, i wanna fucking murder you. ❞
❝ hey, ______, do you wanna go out on a date ? ❞
❝ it’s a fucking french word, you little bitch ! ❞
❝ ______ just broke up with me. ❞
❝ my people know very much about suffering. ❞
❝ when i get through with that piece of shit, he’s gonna wish his parents went through with that move to st. louis ! ❞
sister act.
❝ what the fuck do you want, ______ ? ❞
❝ i heard that you’re going around calling me a fucking liar ! ❞
❝ where did you hear that ? ❞
❝ i said where, not when, you idiot ! ❞
❝ suck it ! ❞
❝ it’s so good to see you ! ❞
❝ oh, no. no. we are not doing this again. ❞
❝ seriously, who the fuck is watching the door ? ❞
❝ how do you know about that ? ❞
❝ it smells terrible in here. ❞
❝ anyway, i want an apology. ❞
❝ you are a fucking liar ! ❞
❝ i didn’t believe that for a goddamn second ! ❞
❝ fuck you. ❞
❝ wait, what’s going on ? ❞
the most popular boys in school.
❝ god damn it, ______, who let you in here ? ❞
❝ i ... i thought you were gonna say ❛ what are you looking at, ❜ & then i was gonna say ❛ not much. ❜ ❞
❝ no, ______. ❞
❝ the fuck kind of name is ______ ? ❞
❝ i don’t play by your rules, man ! ❞
❝ suck my dick ! ❞
❝ i guess we see who the real man is here, don’t we ? ❞
❝ i’m a real man ! i’m not afraid ! ❞
❝ i’m not saying anything. i’m ... i’m just saying. ❞
❝ i’m going to shower. ❞
❝ why don’t we take a poll ? i vote no. ❞
❝ i vote no, too. ❞
❝ fuck no ! ❞
❝ i always believe in giving people the benefit of the doubt. ❞
❝ you ask this every week ! ❞
$57 lunch.
❝ i am going to reiterate a point that i make to you twice a week. ❞
❝ yes, i suppose that will suffice. ❞
❝ i like your top. ❞
❝ um, ______, you haven’t paid yet. ❞
❝ oh, don’t worry, i’ll take care of it. ❞
❝ what the fuck was that ? ❞
❝ oh, jesus christ, is that a fucking gremlin ? ❞
❝ whatever, just ... no one feed that fucking thing after midnight. ❞
❝ this is an emergency ! ❞
❝ i told you never to talk about that ! god ! ❞
❝ i will cut a bitch. ❞
❝ is this gonna go on much longer ? ❞
❝ i’m in. ❞
❝ can i go eat now ? ❞
❝ there’s nobody here. ❞
the letter zero.
❝ why don’t you give me a fucking break, okay ? ❞
❝ can i help you ? ❞
❝ what the fuck is that supposed to mean ? ❞
❝ i don’t give a fuck ! ❞
❝ oh my god, thank god you’re here ! ❞
❝ not right now, ______. ❞
❝ yeah, you cursed me out in the bathroom earlier today. ❞
❝ i thought we had a connection. ❞
❝ anyway, ______, i’m glad i ran into you here ! ❞
❝ ... oh. that makes a little more sense. ❞
❝ what the fuck is going on ? ❞
❝ why was i not consulted about this ? ❞
❝ we have new vending machines on campus, they take credit cards now. ❞
❝ fuck no, you guys are assholes ! ❞
❝ congratulations ! ❞
the least popular girls in school.
❝ oh, ______, our plan is coming together, like ... so good. ❞
❝ it’s so diabolical, there’s so many twists & turns ! ❞
❝ it’s like we’re the two new characters on gossip girl ! ❞
❝ but we are more beautiful ! ❞
❝ teen wolf is starting. ❞
❝ i’m recording it on the dvr so i can fast forward through commercials ! ❞
❝ well, i know, okay ? ❞
❝ oh, uh ... hey, ______ ... how’s it going ? ❞
❝ i guess ... better than you. ❞
❝ well, if we ever have a special on meat salad, i’ll let you know. ❞
❝ don’t erase my dvr ! ❞
❝ bye, ______ ! ❞
❝ yeah, that’s right ! walk away ! like a bitch. ❞
❝ what the fuck did you say ? ❞
❝ oh, no, nothing, i just said ... i just ... ❞
3rd grade.
❝ oh my god, ______, are you okay ? ❞
❝ you’re fucking kidding, right ? ❞
❝ it’s about time people start feeling sorry for me. ❞
❝ i feel terrible about this. ❞
❝ ______, looks like we’re playing pokémon cards again. ❞
❝ this is some bullshit right here. ❞
❝ you are nothing, ______. ❞
❝ hand it over. ❞
❝ oh, son of a bitch, bastard, oh my god ! why me ? why now ? does god hate me ? oh, jesus christ ! ❞
❝ what the fuck is wrong with you ? ❞
❝ fucking stand on the other side of me ! ❞
❝ don’t worry ! i’m sure everything will work itself out just fine. ❞
❝ i didn’t hear a fucking thing ! ❞
❝ it’s worse than we thought. ❞
❝ cool ... well, i don’t wanna be rude, but that story was very long, & much more involved than i originally thought it would be. ❞
pre pep rally energy drinks.
❝ why would god do this to me ? ❞
❝ how the fuck did this happen ? ❞
❝ you know, ______, you really shouldn’t do that ... ❞
❝ are you sure you’re not a gremlin ? ❞
❝ oh my god, ______, they got you, too ? ❞
❝ the fuck are you talking about ? ❞
❝ oh, yeah, i already knew about that. ❞
❝ i mean ... i already did not knew about that. ❞
❝ i swear, i’d rip your fucking head off ! ❞
❝ see ? i told you. ❞
❝ can we take these now ? ❞
❝ god damn it, fine ! ❞
❝ by a nap, do you mean an ambien & a box of wine ? ❞
❝ that doesn’t fucking matter ! ❞
❝ oh, we should totally fuck up their credit, too. & then we all unfriend them on facebook. ❞
gay van buren.
❝ i was just trying to put myself into a coma so i wouldn’t have to listen to you dipshits trying to talk & breathe at the same time. ❞
❝ where the fuck have you been ? ❞
❝ i’m telling you, i don’t trust that bitch ! ❞
❝ um ... ______, you don’t trust anybody. ❞
❝ i could totally go for a swim right now. ❞
❝ god, your hair is, like, super thick. ❞
❝ what the fuck do you think you’re trying to pull here, ______ ? ❞
❝ i think you really are a good friend, & you totally deserve it. ❞
❝ yeah, ______, thank you. thank you for fucking up my entire life ! ❞
❝ do you hate me, ______ ? ❞
❝ my life is over ! ❞
❝ are you nuts ? do you know what this means ? ❞
❝ maybe it’s not so bad. maybe no one noticed. ❞
❝ that’s not my name ! ❞
❝ welcome to my world. ❞
deandra’s arms.
❝ oh my god. i’m this close. this fucking close. ❞
❝ what the fuck did you just say ? ❞
❝ so, um, do you usually just stand here & watch while all this goes on ? ❞
❝ go fuck yourself. ❞
❝ hey, i like your dress. ❞
❝ oh, i’m definitely gonna check that place out. ❞
❝ do you know who the fuck i am ? ❞
❝ ______, you’re a member of this family ! ❞
❝ this is starting to hurt ... ❞
❝ ______, you were supposed to be watching the door. ❞
❝ do you know what these are, ______ ? ❞
❝ do you not know what has transpired while you were in pearl harbor ? we had our own pearl harbor here today. ❞
❝ live with that ! ❞
❝ ______, was that part of the plan ? ❞
❝ nothing like this has ever happened on gossip girl. ❞
prom, part one.
❝ ahem. ______, tonight, i consider myself the luckiest man on the face of the earth. ❞
❝ did you just steal lou gehrig’s retirement speech ? ❞
❝ hey, i’m real. what you get is what you see. what you trying to do to me ? ❞
❝ those are the lyrics to an old jennifer lopez song. ❞
❝ a compromise was reached. ❞
❝ time to go in there. ❞
❝ why are you wearing a tuxedo ? ❞
❝ do you like my dress ? ❞
❝ you look like a tampon that was dipped in skittles & vomit. ❞
❝ don’t mind if i do. ❞
❝ there’s nothing between us. ❞
❝ you take that back, bitch ! ❞
❝ haha, fuck you, too, there, buddy ! ❞
❝ things are fucking awesome for me. ❞
❝ see you up there, dumb whores. ❞
prom, part two.
❝ it’s so great to have you back. ❞
❝ it’s so great to be back. ❞
❝ don’t you ever fucking cut me off again, do you understand me ? ❞
❝ i’m gonna be honest, i don’t see what the big deal is. ❞
❝ i don’t really give two shits. ❞
❝ mostly because she’s a bitch, & because she’s a bitch. ❞
❝ this isn’t over. ❞
❝ i have been waiting all night ! ❞
❝ this can’t be right. can someone look at this for me ? ❞
❝ you cannot be serious.
❝ hit the bricks, bitch. ❞
❝ don’t worry, baby. ❞
❝ ______, aren’t you gay ? ❞
❝ wait, does this mean we’re friends now ? ❞
❝ oh, no, i still fucking hate you. ❞
#sentence starters#rp sentence starters#rp starters#rp meme#ask meme#🖋️.*｡･ﾟ meme → ᴍᴇᴀɴs ᴛʜᴀᴛ ɴᴇᴠᴇʀ ʀᴇᴀᴄʜ ᴀɴ ᴇɴᴅ.
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MOVIE REVIEW TIME!! A Little Chaos and Far From The Madding Crowd
I had a Matthias Schoenaerts weekend cause the boy can get it. Both of these movies were already on my list, but when I realized he was in them, they jumped to the top. So, here we go.
A Little Chaos
Available on Netflix. Directed by Alan Rickman. Stars: Kate Winslet, Matthias Schoenaerts, Alan Rickman, Stanley Tucci, Helen McCrory, and Jennifer Ehle
IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2639254/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_0
This one has been on my list for awhile but I really wasn’t in the mood for a depressing period piece. FYI, it is not a depressing period piece. In fact, the word I think works best for describing it is “cute.” It is not a great film, but it is very enjoyable. I smiled through most of it and then when I turned it off, I realized I was still smiling.
The basic plot is that French king Louis XIV is building Versailles and his head gardener, Andre Le Notre, is hiring different gardeners to do different parts of the whole since it is a whole lotta shit. Against his original idea, he hires Madame Sabine de Barra to create a section of the garden that will basically be an outdoor ballroom. She doesn’t do well at court, but some people still like her, some don’t. Given that there is an actual outdoor ballroom at Versailles, I don’t think I’m giving anything away by saying that she eventually builds it (although in actuality, it was not built by a woman…unfortunately). But that’s it. It is a very simple little movie. It is full of tropes and could be quite stupid but the amazing cast makes it charming instead.
So, the fantastic cast…everyone is basically doing exactly what you want them to do. Kate Winslet as Sabine de Barra plays a woman who has been through some shit but is gonna get things done her way and it is no use to try and stop her. She is better than you. Just accept it. Matthias Schoenaerts as Andre Le Notre is mainly there to look pretty (difficult with that horrible hair, but he can do it) and worship de Barra as she deserves. Alan Rickman plays Louis XIV because why the fuck not. Stanley Tucci plays the king’s outlandish bisexual brother who adores both his wife and his young lover. He was in the movie for like 10 minutes and was the best thing ever. Seriously, we need to protect Stanley Tucci at all costs. Helen McCrory is Madame Le Notre and is a bad bitch as only she can be. I bow down to her. Jennifer Ehle plays against type as the flighty mistress to the king. I thought I was going to hate her because the character was supposed to be annoying at first, but I ended up loving her too.
So, yeah. Not a movie to go nuts over, but if you are curled up on the couch one afternoon and want something light and sweet, this will do the trick.
Far From The Madding Crowd
Available on Amazon (but you have to pay for it, even with prime). Based on the novel by Thomas Hardy. Directed by Thomas Vinterberg. Stars: Carey Mulligan, Matthias Schoenaerts, Michael Sheen, Tom Sturridge, Juno Temple.
IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2935476/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_0
This is another one I’ve been considering for awhile. See that bit above where it says “Based on the novel by Thomas Hardy?” Yeah….that’s why I was putting it off. Now, it’s not that I dislike Thomas Hardy. I actually enjoyed Return of the Native…kinda. But his stuff is very much overdramatic, windswept English countryside. And damn, if that is not something that I am always willing to go for. But I’d do it for Matthias Schoenaerts. So I did.
So, here is the basic plot if you’ve never read the book (and I actually haven’t, but I’ve read about it…does that count?)…young woman, Bathsheba Everdene, with a middle-to-upper class education lives with family on a farm because her parents died. She meets a young man, Gabriel Oak, and then enjoy hanging out and working on the farm together. He has land that is almost paid off and a bunch of sheep. Her aunt owns the land that they live on and work. He falls in love and asks her to marry him. She says no, she doesn’t want to get married and be tied down to a husband. Immediately after, their fortunes reverse. He loses all his sheep (and it’s kinda horrible and depressing, so if you need to look away, I understand) and his land. She inherits a pretty nice farm and is no longer dependent on family. He’s wandering looking for work and accidentally stumbles on her new farm and gets a job as a shepherd there.
Now that she is moving among the landed class, she meets the next door neighbor, Mr. Boldwood, who falls in love with her (the way that happens is she plays a prank on him and is generally an asshole and hurts him and damn, woman, wtf, that was mean…but she does apologize). He asks her to marry him. She says she’ll think about it.
Mixed in with this, we see a side story about an army sergeant and his pretty sweetheart, who used to work at the Everdene farm but ran away to be with the guy…never a good move. They were supposed to get married, but she went to the wrong church. By the time she gets to the right church, he thinks she stood him up and has left. She is now destitute since she left her friends and family. This was another scene where I couldn’t bear to watch. I knew what was going to happen and seeing them both so happy getting ready for the wedding just broke my heart, so I fast forwarded. Sue me.
Anyway, army sergeant Frank Troy is now wandering drunk around the countryside brokenhearted and literally runs into Miss Everdene. She thinks he’s cute and decides to meet up with him. He shows off flashy sword moves and then kisses her and pulls a trump and then runs off. Because we do stupid things sometimes, she is completely charmed by him and runs away to marry him.
Now, through all of this, Mr. Oak has worked for her and been there for her and tried to help her and give advice. He points out that she was an asshole to Mr. Boldwood and she gets pissed at him for telling her because she knows she was and she doesn’t want to be told. He knows that Sergeant Troy is an asshole and tries to convince Miss Everdene to stay away from him but she doesn’t.
Literally at her wedding dinner with Sergeant Troy, Miss Everdene (Mrs. Troy now) realizes that she married and asshole. But she’s stuck with him.
If you really want me to tell you the rest in detail, I will. But basically, she has to deal with an asshole husband, a rich neighbor who is still in love with her (and kinda off his rocker about it), and the shepherd who has loved her for years and been there to support her even when she was an asshole to him. I wonder who she will end up with?!?!Okay, now for the movie. It was just okay. Like, I’ve read the first couple chapters of the book and there is SO MUCH INFORMATION that cannot be put into a movie. There is just not enough time. This is the problem with turning a book into a movie. They have to skip so much that they can end up leaving a lot of it flat. We see Miss Everdene be a good person several times. But we also see her be an asshole. I wish we had been able to see her more indepth. But there wasn’t time. I never felt fully connected to her. When she was being good, I liked her. When she was being an asshole, I disliked her. There was no continuity between those feelings. The movie never gave me a chance to feel conflicted over her. It was all surface feelings. Carey Mulligan does a good enough job for what she is given. But the best relationship is between her and her companion. That’s the only string that carries through with that character.
Matthias Schoenaerts is beautiful, of course. He is the solid character that all the others are whirling around. He is a big man, much bigger and taller than Carey Mulligan and Michael Sheen, but you can see how he curls his shoulders down to give the two of them more power as he is lower class than they are. There is a scene between him and Michael Sheen near the end where he straightens Sheen’s tie, and I think that is the only moment between those two where Schoenaerts stands up straight, as for a moment, they are almost equals. However, by the end of the scene, he is curled in again. It’s really interesting on the choices made there. Because when he is not in a position where he is “under” them, when he is working and being damn good at his job, he is standing up straight. It’s fascinating to see the difference between the two sides of this character.
Michael Sheen. Oh goodness, Michael Sheen. He did so much better for this character than this movie deserved. I love this man and he is so good as an actor, but this character is a bit out there. I wonder how much of his bipolarness is in the book. Cause the character is all over the place in the movie. He goes from one extreme to the next. And yes, some of the plot points are definitely from the book, but the in between stuff….is he really like that? So, Sheen does a great job with what he is given, again. But the character is just so weird and again, very little continuity throughout.
Tom Sturridge plays Sergeant Troy. This character is a huge asshole and Tom Sturridge plays him perfectly. If I met Tom Sturridge on the street, I would want to slap him because I hate him. That is a good sign for an actor.
Juno Temple…another one I love. She is slowly becoming a bigger name, but deserves so much more. In this, she plays Fannie, Sergeant Troy’s first sweetheart. He didn’t deserve her. And I love Juno Temple, so she can do no wrong.
Overall, it’s an okay movie. I won’t pay for it again. I rented it and I’m glad I didn’t buy it. But if it comes on tv, I’ll watch it. If you want to watch it, you won’t hate it. But I don’t recommend running out and grabbing it any which way. The cinematography was BEAUTIFUL. The way they used light was lovely.
So, since I mentioned Matthias Schoenaerts as my reason for going ahead and watching these, lemme talk about my feelings for him in these. He is very strange. Watching interviews with him and seeing his artwork, he seems to be a ball of chaotic energy, but in both of these movies, he is the calm figure that the others bounce around. I watched the beginning of Rust and Bone, but then my internet went out and I wasn’t able to finish it without paying for it again (which I intend to do). And of course, I ADORE The Old Guard. That’s another one where he plays against what seems to be his personality type. I also love The Drop (seriously, one of my all-time favorite movies and if you haven’t seen it, go watch it NOW). That character seems to be a bit more on his level with the chaos, but I hope not with the assholeishness.
Either way, he was stunningly beautiful in these movies. Kate Winslet adored working with him and says that he was so sweet about their sex scene because she was pregnant and felt like shit. His hair is awful in A Little Chaos, but I’ll forgive him, this time.
Anyway, watch A Little Chaos at some point. And I guess you should watch Far From The Madding Crowd at some point too, but don’t pay for it if you don’t have to. Go watch The Old Guard and The Drop RIGHT NOW. Those are much better movies of his. Go watch Rust and Bone and I will watch the rest of it soon.
In A Little Chaos. Seriously....why would they do this with his hair.
And in Far From The Madding Crowd. See....much better. And I see you, dude in the background looking at him. I agree, he is definitely a snack.
#matthias schoenaerts#movie review#a little chaos#far from the madding crowd#long post#something about his face makes me want to sit on it
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A Bowers’ Bet (Part 3)
Sorry for the long wait on this one! I hope you enjoy!
Summary: When Henry and Patrick make a twisted pact on who can steal Derry High’s most inexperienced student’s virginity first, they think it will be their most exciting game yet. But what happens when one starts to develop feelings, while the other is determined as ever to win, no matter what or who is standing in their way?
A Bowers Bet (Part 2)
On Saturday morning, Juliet’s parents left for an overnight for one of her father’s business trips. Her mom typically went along with him, but only if it consisted of a night or two and if Jennifer’s mother was going along as well. Juliet met her close friend Jennifer through their dads since they both worked for the same company. Their families were persistent in upholding their respectable, high status in Derry. Jennifer’s mom, Theresa, was a lawyer, a very dignified woman that Juliet quite admired. However in Jennifer’s case, having two successful parents who were hardly ever home meant coping with her loneliness by excessively and maybe even purposely, using her parent’s credit card when they were gone.
Juliet knew a shopping trip was in order, Jennifer always planned one whenever both parents were out of town. Even though the two girls have been best friends for years, their personalities couldn’t be any more polar opposite. Jennifer’s track record of guys is impressive while Juliet’s is clean, Jennifer cheerleads while Juliet is in literary club, Jennifer is the life of the party while Juliet has only been to two in her lifetime. But that’s kind of what makes their friendship work. They each have a tendency of balancing each other out and sometimes bringing out different side to them that no one would expect.
Juliet has the devil on her right shoulder and the angel on her left as she sat in the car with Jennifer, deciding if she should tell her about Henry or just keep her mouth shut. Deep down she knew what her reaction would be, but maybe if she explained everything from the poem and how wonderful last night went, she’d understand. Although at the moment, Jennifer was much too preoccupied with going on and on about how Gretta was sabotaging her by making the cheer team wear their hair entirely up instead of having the option to do half up, half down.
“The whole school is going to see my huge fucking dumbo ears because she needs the attention taken off of her horrendous overbite,” Jennifer hisses before changing the radio station. Juliet quietly chuckles at her as the only sound between them is the low hum of Mick Jagger and the harsh wind from the windows being slightly open.
“You’re quiet,” Jennifer states in her typical blunt manner, eyes on the road, being able to read Juliet without even having to look at her.
“No I’m not,” Juliet defends, staring out the window, knowing if she as much glances towards her direction she’ll crack.
“Juliet we have known each other since we were eight. At this point, I know you almost better than I know myself. Tell.”
Juliet slowly turns her head towards her while biting down on her lip, trying to hide her immense blushing and smirk just from the thought of Henry before letting out a soft giggle. Jennifer begins to gasp, knowing the look on Juliet’s face means only one thing. “Stop it right now! Who’s the guy?!” Jennifer rushes, her eyes widening with pure anticipation.
“Well...,” Juliet hums smiling, causing Jennifer to slightly swerve the car a little too far to the right.
“Juliet,” Jennifer warns in her typical voice that means “stop beating around the bush and say it.”
“W-well it’s just like, Ugh-I don’t know, i-it’s nothing serious yet, but-”
“For fucks sake Juliet, I hate when you stutter like that kid Bill Denbrough, just spit it out,” Jennifer demands, her patience running thin.
“I went on a date last night with Henry Bowers,” Juliet responds, causing Jennifer to slam on her brakes in the middle of the neighborhood, causing Juliet’s body to be yanked to the point where she almost got rammed into the glove compartment. “Jesus Jennifer,” Juliet scolds, rubbing the back of her neck from the sudden jolt she experienced from the abrupt stop of the car.
“Henry Bowers?” Jennifer pronounces the name slowly, her tone in disbelief mixed with a whole lot of judgement and well, repugnance. “Have you lost your mind? You were too scared to ask the waiter for ketchup last week, but you went on a date with Henry fucking Bowers? Please tell me you only went because he had you held up at gunpoint.”
Juliet knew how unbelievable it sounded coming out of her mouth, but how could she convince her that it was one of the best times out she’s ever had?
“I get it. I know his reputation, but he’s-he’s different, I swear, he-”
“God Juliet, don’t be so naive,” Jennifer interrupts, rolling her eyes. “Henry is known as Derry’s scum for a reason. He’s dirty. He’s gross. And even worse,” Jennifer pauses, her nose scrunching in disgust, “He’s poor.”
Juliet’s fingers begin to rub her temples in distress, immediately regretting her decision of even mentioning Henry to her in the first place. Jennifer finally takes her foot off the brakes and continues driving, but her rant was far from over. “I mean come on Jules, you have no idea what you’re getting yourself into. That whole gang is fucked up. They only flirt with girls like you for one reason.” Jennifer states, having a hard time deciphering how she should choose her words without being a little too brutally honest.
Juliet snaps her eyes away from the passing houses from the window and swung her head to face her. “And what’s that?” Juliet persists defensively, her eyes piercing at Jennifer.
Jennifer huffs, her stare intent while looking out onto the road contemplating what to say next. “Because you’re an easy target,” Jennifer murmurs, her voice low, but more calm. “You have never been seen at school with a boyfriend or really any guy for that matter and they can smell your inexperience from a mile away. He’s using you. I’m sorry, but guys like Henry don’t fall for girls like you.”
Juliet could feel some tears begging to break loose, but she pushes the feeling aside. “You mean girls who are at the bottom of the school’s hierarchy?”
“You know that’s not what I mean. You’re beautiful and smart and kind and deserve somebody better than Bowers. I’m just telling you his intentions can’t be good. Him and the other ones hit on every girl that has a pulse,” Jennifer responds, sticking an unlit cigarette in her mouth before she continues on and says, “They see someone shy and untouched like you giving them a chance and go fucking ecstatic.”
“That’s not true,” Juliet mutters, shaking her head in defense while staring down at her hands nestled on top of her lap. “Henry told me he would never hurt me and that I was safe with him.” There was a part of Juliet that could feel herself sounding like one of those girls she would roll her eyes at in a cheesy romance movie. Was it honestly too good to be true?
“I know you try to live your life trying not to be noticed, but guess what? You are. People see you. Henry sees you. He sees someone fragile, someone who he thinks he can easily control and manipulate.” Jennifer responds before taking a puff of her cigarette.
“You are always telling me how I should loosen up and try to put myself out there more, and now you’re giving me shit for finally going out with someone?” Juliet chides, her voice slightly raising. Juliet could tell she was getting irritated because she started talking not only loudly, but with her hands.
“Yeah Juliet, but that wasn’t secret code for me telling you to go out with the school’s biggest psychopath and not even tell me about it beforehand. What the fuck were you thinking?” Jennifer scolds, her tone harsh, making Juliet recoil in her seat. An awkward and tension-filled silence immerses in the car, causing the two close friends to suddenly feel distant.
Jennifer finally breaks the stillness and says, “Look. We’re going to the mall. Let’s get you a cute outfit for Gretta’s party tonight and you can come with me and you’ll see that you’re more than capable of meeting someone who isn’t a total delinquent.”
Juliet wanted nothing more than to decline her offer that sounded like a demand than an option, but it’s bad enough she had to keep Henry from her mother, she didn’t need Jennifer added onto the list and on her case about it as well. She thought maybe if she just went for a bit and pretended for Jennifer’s sake, she’d make everyone happy.
“Fine,” Juliet huffs, slouching back in her seat while crossing her arms.
Juliet is used to having to deal with what life throws at her alone. Between having a mother and best friend who shares similar traits of being dismissive and controlling, she felt like she was always more worried about pleasing other people instead of worrying about what actually made her happy. Henry gave Juliet a certain kind of attention that she wasn’t used to receiving from anyone. He made her feel understood, special, pretty enough, smart enough, but most importantly, Henry made Juliet feel like being herself was good enough. Juliet wasn’t going to let anybody get in the way of that. Not this time.
………………………………………………………………………………………
The last party Juliet attempted going to was last December. Similar to now, Jennifer begged and convinced her how much of a good time it’d be until it resulted in Tyler Brian barfing all over Juliet’s lap mid-conversation. She can only hope that history won’t repeat itself.
The black dress Jennifer picked for her was slightly sexy, but not too much to where it strayed far from Juliet’s character. The sweetheart neckline was cute with a very tiny black bow that was attached right in the middle. It was also a quarter sleeve and babydoll style. Jennifer pleaded that she wear heels, however, Juliet absolutely refused because she didn’t want to meet anyone new in the first place and her leather black booties would go just fine with it. To no surprise, Jennifer handled not only her wardrobe, but makeup too. She blushed and hollowed out her cheekbones, glossed her lips, and applied some cat eyeliner to enhance her eye shape, which surprisingly Juliet liked, even if she did still have to wear her glasses over them.
Juliet’s knee was uncontrollably bouncing up and down the whole ride there. She could already hear the music blaring from outside before they even drove up to the house. Her heart almost jumped in her throat though when she saw the infamous Trans Am parked in the sea of cars that were in Gretta’s driveway, causing her leg to stop shaking. Oh no. As soon as Jennifer parked along the sidewalk, she turned the ignition off and began clapping her hands fast in an excited way. “We’re here! You ready?”
No.
“Yeah!” Juliet exclaims in her best, fake eager voice she could muster.
When they walked inside the large, red brick house, Juliet immediately sees a staircase decorated with people from school either talking, smoking, or making out. Her eyes shift to the left where it was the Keene’s living room, but was currently being occupied as a dance floor flooded with sweat, alcohol, and hormones.
Juliet didn’t want to admit to herself that she couldn’t help but feel somewhat paranoid Henry was here. Would he be happy to see her? Confused? Angry? “Let’s go grab a drink,” Jennifer yells in Juliet’s ear because of the blaring music, interrupting her thoughts. Juliet nods as they walk down the hall to where more couples were lingering on the sides of the wall, kissing.
When Jennifer walked into the kitchen, she was immediately greeted by Gretta and a few other girls as well as a group of boys who hollered at her as soon as she stepped in. Juliet lingered by her side.
It wasn’t hard for Juliet to not feel Gretta’s typical judgemental stare as she eyed her up and down. Moments like this was the reason why Juliet would never want to be able to read minds. “Interesting seeing you here Juliet,” Gretta sneers in a tone that could only be described as condescending and then says, “Nice dress. For once it doesn’t look like something your grandmother picked out.” This causes a fit of giggles from her posse that are attached at her hip.
“Nice frizzy ponytail that you wear every single day,” Jennifer quickly intervenes before grabbing Juliet’s hand to lead her near the sink where all the glass bottles of drinks were laid out. “Your ability to be quick on the spot never fails to impress me,” Juliet smirks while nudging her shoulder with hers, earning a wink from Jennifer.
“Here,” Jennifer offers, handing Juliet a red solo cup. “It’ll ease the nerves,” she grins with a mischievous glint in her eyes before taking a sip. Juliet gave her a small smile, deciding it would be best to at least try it. Her eyebrows raise immediately at the strong concoction Jennifer mixed together, deciding it would be best to not finish this unless she wants to be found blacked out on the front lawn.
“Shots time!” Peter Macintosh shouted, his cheeks flushed from what was most likely the high amount of alcohol he has already consumed. He was a heavy set guy, who for some reason always looked sweaty and wore his jersey pretty much everyday. He was only useful on the team for his size since he could tackle just about anyone. This was Juliet’s que to relocate elsewhere for a few minutes.
“I’m going to run to the bathroom real quick,” Juliet says while lightly grasping Jennifer’s arm.
“Use the one upstairs. The bathroom that’s down the hall is always where Tommy Johnson and Pam Kirkland are fucking each other’s brains out,”Jennifer informs, physically shuddering at the thought of when she had accidentally interupted one of their sessions last time.
“Good to know,” Juliet chuckles, shaking the vivid thought away before nudging her way through the intoxicated crowd that was beginning to form. Once she reached the staircase and begins walking up them, she couldn’t help the strange feeling like someone had their eyes on her.
…………………………………………………………………………………
“Any fucking time now Criss,” Henry huffs, waiting for Vic to hand him a cigarette while he was pulling one out of his pack. He was in his usual, typical annoyed stance with his arms crossed while leaning against the house, impatient as ever. Him, Patrick, Vic, and Belch were huddled outside on the back patio smoking, each with a beer bottle in their hands.
Casey Fletcher walked by them and Belch couldn’t help but turn around to get another last glance at her ass before turning back around to face his friends. “Is it just me or is there a lot of hot chicks here tonight?” Belch asks, swigging his beer back.
Vic nodded, seeming to still be mesmerized at Casey’s backside as Henry only shrugged. Belch and Patrick give each other a knowing look, seeing how that reaction wasn’t a normal one for Henry. This would be the part where he agreed and told them what he’d like to do with a girl who had an ass like that. But tonight he was off and they could all tell.
“What’s the matter Bowers, don’t see a bitch here we can share like last week?” Patrick taunts. Henry rolls his eyes, remembering the dumb blonde girl whose name he didn’t even know because well, he didn’t even ask. She wanted to take turns which resulted in Patrick having his first go and once he was finished he tossed her right over to Henry.
“All I see are a bunch of easy sluts who try too hard,” Henry utters under his breath, checking briefly over the girls who are standing on the other side of the pool who were unshamefully giving, as the gang would call it, their best “fuck me” eyes.
Vic snickers before he mumbles, “Somebody’s whipped,” causing a breathy chuckle from Belch and Patrick.
“The fuck you say?” Henry asked, but it was in fact a warning.
“He said your whipped man,” Patrick responds for Vic before he continues and says, “Pretty little Juliet most have swept ole Henry here off his feet. Awh, how sweet is that?” This causes an amused reaction out of the boys. Patrick knew what he was doing. He wanted to get a rise out of Henry. He wanted to edge him on. Rile him up. Make him do something that could work out in his favor.
“I ain’t fucking whipped alright. Has anyone forgotten that she’s just a fuckin’ bet? All I got from last night is that she’s just another needy bitch with mommy issues who’ll jump at the chance to spread her legs if it means adding some excitement to her boring life,” Henry responds, the words tasting disgusting coming out of his own mouth. He didn’t mean what he said, but he refuses to have his friends, especially Patrick, thinking she has even in the slightest, meddled her way into his stone cold heart.
Patrick however, knows his bluff. He hid in the woods and eavesdropped last night when Juliet and him were in the treehouse. He knew that she in fact wasn’t exactly easy considering she freaked the minute Bowers touched the waistband of her panties, but secondly, he knew Henry opened up a bit about his dad to her. Patrick couldn’t tell if that was a ploy to get her to feel bad for him or if he was being genuine. However his lack of eagerness to get any action tonight is evident that Henry might in fact be developing the worst F word in his book. Feelings.
“Sounding a little cocky there Bowers,” Patrick responds, crossing his arms over his chest.
Henry laughs before saying, “Says you. At this point you should honestly just call the fucking bet off. She was all over me last night and I think she's made it clear that she wouldn't touch you with a ten foot pole. Face it Hockstetter, I’ll have her underneath me by next week.”
If Patrick wasn’t certain before, he is definitely certain now. He could see what Henry was trying to do. Persuading him to call the bet off so he can walk away hands clean with the girl who he thought was just another mediocre virgin to fuck in Derry. No. As far as Patrick is concerned, Juliet belongs to him. Henry can try to convince Patrick all he wants that he has no chance, but he remembers that look Juliet gave him in the movie theater. He sees how she’s into Henry regardless of his well known, fucked up reputation. Henry and him were one in the same. Patrick knows the kind of girl Juliet is. She’s attracted to people who are broken, people who need to be fixed. That’s the only reason why she instantly fell for Henry first, because she thinks there’s hope for him. Patrick has no problem playing his part until she sees the truth.
“If you think she’ll easily fuck you first then why call the bet off early? Isn’t that the whole point why we made it in the first place?” Patrick retorted, his cheshire grin growing from ear to ear. Henry could hear the teasingness in his tone and realized that Patrick could sense what he was trying to get at, so Henry attempted to play it off the best way he could. “I’m just sayin.’ You got a lot of catching up to do Hockstetter. Thought I’d be nice and give you a little warning to save you from the embarrassment later,” Henry smirks while patting him on the back.
“I appreciate that,” Patrick responds, reciprocating the action by giving Henry’s shoulder a friendly pat, but instead he doesn’t release his shoulder and pulls him in closer, his mouth inches away from his ear. “But the only one who’s going to be embarrassed here is you when I’m balls deep inside your little girlfriend’s tight virgin pussy, wrecking her fucking insides.”
Henry has to physically bite his tongue on the right side of his mouth to prevent from attacking him on the spot. At the end of the day, Juliet is technically a bet that Henry conjured up in the first place. Henry couldn’t show any possession over her, no matter how much he likes her, no matter how crazy it drove him. He releases an amused huff, wishing he could actually drown him in the pool.
“But for now,” Patricks states, his tone a lot more uplifting as he wipes the shoulders of Henry’s jacket, “Let’s play with what we’ve got right here.” He grins, referring to one of the girls that was staring at them earlier with his pointer and middle finger.
Henry knew if he turned down the offer, he’d look like the biggest bitch of all time. What guy says no to pretty girls practically yearning to get any sort of attention from them? But the thing was that these girls weren’t Juliet. They didn’t look like her, act like her, or even laugh like her, but all Henry could do is play along and keep the twisted mentality that whatever Juliet doesn’t know won’t hurt her.
The brunette Patrick beckoned over, whose name was apparently Tracy, seemed to be the most interested in Henry, however, she was quite the talkative one. She wasn’t getting Henry’s not so subtle signs of disinterest in conversation as he responded to everything with a monotone one worded answer and the habitual way he continuously kept flicking his pocket knife in and out. Patrick and Vic actually got so bored they ended up ditching Henry and thought walking over to the other side of the lawn to watch a drunk Peter barbecue Doritos was a much better source of entertainment.
Patrick and Vic started to make their way back to Henry, Tracy, and Belch, passing the patio’s white french doors again until Vic’s clunky, black combat boots come to a stop.
“Oh shit!” Vic busts out laughing, which causes Patrick to turn around and see what the hell was so funny. Patrick stalks slowly towards him and mimiks his stance. “Look who showed up,” Vic smirks right as Patrick sees Juliet on the other side of the clear glass door. He licks his lips, taking in her appearance. Her all black, short dress is enough for him to already feel a slight hard on in his jeans. Her hair was down and loose like usual, with her petite glasses still adorning her face, but the fact that she was wearing clothes that actually fit her and the more heavily applied makeup made the two boys have no choice but to gawk at her for a minute.
“Damn. She looks hot,” Vic observed, crouching behind a bush so the two could have a closer look without their ogling being too obvious. “But I wonder what she’s doing here. I’ve never seen her at parties and I know Henry didn’t invite her.”
“I don’t know why the hell she’s here either Vic, but it must be my lucky fucking day,” Patrick mutters, staring at her intently. He could tell that regardless of how good she looked, she was uncomfortable. The way she kept glancing at the ground and the nervous way she was toying with her necklace was a clear sign that she didn’t wake up this morning and say “there’s nothing more I’d love to do today than go to a wild high school party.” Patrick felt sort of jealous, hating how he wasn’t behind the cause of her anxiety at the moment. Soon though.
“I gotta go tell Henry, he’s going to absolutely lose his shit,” Vic chuckles all giddy, getting ready to stand up before Patrick grabs him by the collar, yanking him harshly back down.
“Don’t say a word to him that she’s here or I’ll fucking cut your tongue out and make you wipe my ass with it. I want to see the look on that fucker’s face when he sees her here himself,” Patrick sternly warns, not wanting to tell Vic exactly what he has planned.
“Alright, Jesus I won’t. Let go of me dick bag,” Vic shrugs, nudging Patrick’s grip off him. Vic brushes the knees of his camo pants and starts to walk back towards Henry again. He couldn’t feel Patrick’s presence near him and his senses were proven right when he turns around and sees Patrick stepping into the house, closing the door behind him. Vic quietly snickered to himself, knowing it was only a matter of time before shit was about to hit the fan.
When Patrick enters the house, he spots Juliet down the hall. He watches and follows behind her closely before she reaches the steps and carefully walks up the stairs while holding the banister. As soon as she gets to the top, that’s Patrick’s que to begin heading up there as well.
……………………………………………………………………………
Juliet started analyzing the Keene’s bathroom decorations, realizing exactly what she was starting to do. Quit stalling, she thought to herself before shaking her head and giving herself one last glance over in the mirror before opening the door.
As she was walking she heard what sounded like a muffled scream coming from one of the rooms on the right hand side. She stopped and slowly tiptoed her way closer to the door until Juliet heard a girl’s moaning and then it all clicked. Oh.
“Sounds like fun,” a voice says, making Juliet frantically spin around to see none other than Patrick Hockstetter.
“Patrick, hey! I didn’t see you there,” Juliet smiles nervously, having no clue how someone with his height can have this special talent to pop up out of nowhere.
“Listening in?” he questions with a smirk, the sound of the headboard banging into the wall now apparent.
“No! Oh, god no,” Juliet laughs, running a hand through her hair. “I was using the bathroom and came out and heard a girl screaming and got nervous for a sec, but uhm- yeah I, uhh, thinks she alright,” she chuckles, making Patrick simper from her innocent response.
“So what brings you here?” Patricks asks.
“I just told y-”
“No, I mean like the party. I’ve never seen you at any before,” Patricks states, leaning on the side of his shoulder and resting his head against the wall.
“Jennifer wanted me to go with her so I thought I’d just come for a little while,” Juliet explained, not wanting to get into detail as to why Jennifer insisted on her being here tonight.
“Henry didn’t invite you?” Patrick asks, his eyebrows knitted together in curiosity. Juliet shakes her head, feeling stupid that the boy she just went on a date with last night was at the same party, but she was trying to almost avoid him for reasons she didnt know why.
“Huh. Weird,” Patrick quietly mutters under his breath. sliding his shoulder alongside the wall to inch closer to her. His response suddenly made Juliet feel self conscious. How come he didn’t ask her to go to Gretta’s party? Was he embarrassed of her? Maybe he knew she didn’t go to parties and thought it’d be stupid to even ask?
“You’re not having fun are you?” Patrick observes, a sly smile forming on his lips.
“I mean I’ve only been here for about fifteen minutes, 7 of those minutes I’ve spent in the bathroom so…” Jennifer bites down on her lip, suppressing a shy smirk which made it extremely difficult for Patrick to restrain himself from pushing her into one of the empty bedrooms.
“Does Henry even know you’re here?” Patrick asks, and it’s like Juliet can feel he already knows the answer.
“No I haven’t seen him yet. Like I said, I really haven’t been here very long,” Juliet explains, twirling her necklace between her fingers. Patrick notices the nervous habit and begins to feel exhilarated.
“Well he’s right downstairs. Let’s go surprise him, he’ll be thrilled to see that you’re here, especially since I heard you two uhh...really kicked it off last night,” Patrick winks, grabbing her wrist and leading her down the rest of the hallway. Juliet felt confused in the way Patrick said that, but she couldn’t even think clearly with Patrick practically dragging her so fast that she almost tripped going down the staircase. Once they reached the bottom he motions for her to take the lead as he stands directly behind her.
“Do you know where he is?”Juliet turns her head to ask him.
“Last I saw he was talking outside to some girl named Tracy,” Patrick responds casually, pretending to search for him in the living room, knowing exactly what he was doing. Juliet couldn’t help but feel the tiny pit in her stomach grow in size. She didn’t know if she was being completely played or acting totally crazy over a boy she has gone out with only one time.
“C’mon. Maybe he’s still out back,” Patrick says in her ear before walking in front of her as she follows close behind. He opens one of the french doors and she takes in how there’s quite a lot of people out here as well. Between the ones hanging around the perimeter of the pool, or the guys to the far right playing some sort of drunk version of football, Juliet briefly glances around the area. That is, until her eyes suddenly land on Henry’s back. His arm is wrapped around some girl’s waist. She’s whispering something in his ear, causing Henry to smirk as he pulls her in closer, his mouth inches from hers as he says something Juliet can’t hear, but it causes her to start kissing down Henry’s neck.
Patrick notices Juliet has spotted them because of her obvious stare and her face that portrayed nothing but disappointment. “Well that’s not Tracy,” Patrick clears his throat as if what he’s witnessing is awkward, even though he’s the one who perfectly managed to make Juliet catch Henry in the act.
Suddenly, Belch and Vic walk up to them, the look on their faces completely different. Vic’s was more friendly while Belch’s was full of concern.
“But soft, what light through yonder window breaks? It is the east and Juliet is the sun,” Vic mocks in his best shakespearean voice he can summon while giving a bow.
Juliet swallows her utter dismay and smiles at Vic. “Impressive,” she smirks, causing Vic to grin back at her. Belch interjects when he says, “Hey Juliet, Henry would be so happy to see you here. Let me go get him, I know he’s around here somewhere.” This was his poor attempt to try and cover Henry’s ass, but he knew in that moment it was most likely too late.
“No.” Juliet demands, her voice so stern that it almost surprises herself. The three boys gaze at her in a bit of a shock. “Let’s go say hi to him together,” Juliet offers, putting on a brave face. As much as Juliet just wanted to go home and cry in her room, she realized she was over everyone thinking she was like some china doll that’s could break easily. Her heart may feel broken but it was her mission in that moment to make sure no one saw the cracks.
“O-Okay,” Belch stutters, watching in bewilderment as Juliet takes heading towards Henry. The unknown girl is still draped all over him, but Juliet wasn’t annoyed at the poor girl having a good time.
Once the three of them approach him, Juliet gently taps him on the shoulder, causing Henry to turn around. His initial face was of pure annoyance until he realizes who’s standing behind him. He quickly yanked his hand away from the blonde’s side and his mouth opened slightly, but no words were coming out.
“Juliet,” Henry observes, taking in her appearance while also in complete shock that’s she even standing in front of him in the first place. A million thoughts and questions were racing through his head, making for once, Henry Bowers actually speechless.
“Hi,” Juliet responds, her voice soft, deliberately acting like she was unfazed. There was a few seconds of awkward silence before the unknown girl helps breaks the ever present tension when she says to Juliet, “I love your dress! I almost bought the same one at the mall, but they didn’t have my size.”
“Thank you! My friend actually picked it out. You see, she wanted me to come to this party to meet someone because I went out with this guy last night who she thinks is a total waste of time. Told me I could do so much better,” Juliet looks so her eyes are now instead staring right into Henry’s. “Turns out she was right.”
This results in a fit of breathy chuckles coming from Patrick and Vic while Juliet maintains her cool. Henry’s piercing blue eyes were like daggers into hers, but she never once glances down at the ground. Juliet gives him one last glare before turning swiftly around and walks straight back to the house. The most horrible and pathetic part of this whole situation was that there was a part of Juliet that wanted Henry to chase after her. Unfortunately, he never did. Juliet didn’t know why her heart was beating out of her chest or why the back of her neck felt slightly sticky or why she was breathing so hard, but she knew that she could not stay at this party for another second.
Patrick jogs after her, not wanting to lose her in the crazy crowds of people inside. When he steps into the kitchen, he quickly catches her wrist.
“Where ya goin’?” Patrick asks.
“I’m going home,” Juliet states, tucking some hair behind her ear.
“Didn’t you come with Jennifer?”
“Yeah, but I actually live close by so I’m just going to walk,” Juliet responds while her eyes casually search the area for any signs of her best friend. Things were bad enough with Henry, the last thing she needed right now was for Jennifer to see her talking to Patrick Hockstetter of all people.
“I’ll walk you home,” Patrick demands.
“You don’t need to do that Patrick, I’ll be okay,” Juliet tries to convince him.
“Sorry princess but I’m not taking no for an answer. Your face is too pretty to be on a missing person's poster downtown,” Patrick places his hand at the small of her back, using that as an advantage to guide her through the small crowd of people so they can reach the front door to leave. Juliet didn’t particularly want Patrick’s company, especially now, but he did have a decent point.
“Okay, just let me find Jen to let her know I’m going,” Juliet explains before Patrick gives her a nod. “I’ll be waiting outside.”
Juliet scouted through the living room first and luckily spots Jennifer on the couch, sitting on Ryan Novack’s lap. “I’m leaving,” Juliet states, making Jennifer get off the jock’s lap, analyzing her intently.
“What do you mean you’re leaving, we just got here.”
“I just don’t really feel that great and I think it’d be best if I went home,” Juliet lied, hoping Jennifer would be easy going. Hoping.
“First about Bowers and now this. Catching your little lying habit from your hillbilly boyfriend?” Jennifer hisses, crossing her tan arms over her chest. Juliet stares at her offensively before Jennifer continues on and says, “Although I guess I shouldn’t talk since I forgot to mention how the Bowers Gang are notorious for getting laid at parties.”
Suddenly, the light bulb goes off in Juliet’s head as she connects all the pieces together. “You brought me here on purpose,” Juliet utters, almost as if she’s saying it aloud to herself.
“Don’t give me that look. I mean how else would you be able to see what a pig he is? You should be thanking me.”
“I should be thanking you?” Juliet chuckles in disbelief. “Okay then, thank you for dressing me up and bringing me here to only make me look like a total ass. Congratulations, you proved me wrong. Henry is a total jerk and you’re a complete bitch.”
Juliet has never spoken to Jennifer like this before in her life, but Juliet’s blood has been boiling since her encounter with Henry and Jennifer wasn’t helping simmer down the heat. Juliet shook her head at Jennifer and darted out of the living room as fast as she could, leaving Jennifer quite dumbstruck. For some strange reason, Juliet didn’t feel bad for saying exactly what was on her mind, even if it hurts her. The only thing that made her heart feel heavy is that the two people she cared about deceived and lied to her in just one single night. And unfortunately, the lanky boy waiting for her outside wasn’t any different.
……………………………………………………………………………
The night air was a little chillier than usual, making Juliet cross her arms over her chest to warm up her hands. Patrick notices the small sign and takes off his leather jacket and drapes it over her shoulders.
“Oh. Thanks,” she smiles at him before slipping her arms through the sleeves. A small smirk plays at her lips when she says, “It’s a perfect fit.” It was comical how huge the jacket was on Juliet. The sleeves were so long that you couldn’t even see her hands.
“It looks good on you. Ya know I’m really digging this whole look you got goin’ on. It’s sexy,” Patrick smirks, tugging slightly at the bottom of her dress.
“It’s definitely different, but I think you pull it off a lot better than me,” Juliet teases, referring to his similar all black ensemble of boots, jeans, and a thin long sleeved shirt.
“Are you saying I’m sexy Jules?” Patrick smirks while throwing his arm over her shoulder. As shocked as she was, Juliet started to feel a sense of comfortability with him. Nobody besides her family or Jennifer called her Jules, and for some reason hearing Patrick use the nickname gave Juliet a sense of warmth that she didn’t think Patrick was capable of. Juliet thought to herself that Patrick could have easily let her leave the party alone, but he wanted to make sure she was safe whereas Henry let her walk away, not caring whatsoever about where she went or how she felt.
“Patrick?”
“Princess?”
“I want to apologize,” Juliet states, keeping her eyes straight forward as they walked while Patrick looks at her slightly confused. “I just feel like I’ve been rude to you lately and that I was quick to judge you before even actually getting the chance to know you.”
Patrick was beaming with pure ecstasy. He had her right where he wanted her.
“Don’t sweat it sweetheart,” Patrick responds, petting her head. “If it makes you feel any better, I seriously underestimated you. I didn’t think you had it in ya to tell Bowers off like that.”
“Neither did I,” Juliet chuckles before she says, “But you were right and tried to warn me and I didn’t listen. I’m sorry.”
Juliet suddenly feels tiny droplets of water speckle across her nose before she realizes that it’s starting to lightly drizzle. In a literal instant, the light drizzle turns into harsh, downpour rain.
“Shit,” Juliet hisses before Patrick grabs her hand and they both begin to run down the sidewalk. They sprint for a few blocks, each step like walking into a giant puddle until Juliet steers Patrick towards the white house that’s hers at the end of the cul-de-sac. They race across Juliet’s soggy lawn and up her creaky wooden porch steps when they finally make it to the front stain glass door.
They both stood there, catching their breaths while taking in each others sopping wet appearances. “This is the second dress in a row Hockstetter. I’m starting to think you’re some kind of bad luck charm to my nice clothes,” Juliet jokes, referring to when he spilled soda on her just last night and now this. Patrick leers at her, his eyes studying her face to her wet hair to the droplets of water on her exposed skin to the way her makeup is slightly smudged. She looked messy and it made Patrick’s appetite for her all the more unbearable. Juliet feels his thumb graze over her knuckles and that’s when she glances down and realizes her hand is still interlocked with his.
“I’m sorry,” Juliet awkwardly apologizes, slipping her grasp from his and instead placing her hand on the door knob before she rambles on and says, “Please, come in so you can get dried off and wait until this rain passes. It’s the least I can do.”
“If you insist,” Patricks smirks, gesturing his hand out for Juliet to walk first. She obliges and he follows, making sure to lock the door behind him.
@kola95
#Henry Bowers#patrick hockstetter#bowers gang#it 2017#it imagine#henry bowers x reader#patrick hocksetter x reader#patrick hocksetter imagine#it fanfiction#the bowers gang
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4 stars
This is the sequel to From Blood and Ash. I appreciate a book that starts up exactly where it left off like literally seconds after. I thought that was a fun and excellent choice because the first book definitely ended on a 'omg what' moment. Overall, I did enjoy the book and I do want to see where it continues but I did still have some grievances with this book/series.
First, I'll start off with what I liked. The book finally has a map which is nice. There's definitely more worldbuilding and world information being spun out. Kieran is one of the joys in this book, we didn't get to properly get to know him in the last book but he's a welcomed and refreshing character. The banter in this book is more entertaining (when it's not repetitive and I'll get more into that later) and Casteel's and Poppy's tension and relationship is good to read. Poppy even seems to have more of a personality than she did in FBAA thank god and she does eventually start growing a backbone. There's so much less ellipses in this book too and there's some pretty descriptive scenery scenes I enjoyed. The smut is also pretty good although there was one scene I was like really?? you're fucking there??
Now, the parts that did let me down a little bit and I'm probably being nitpicky in some instances but I'm only like this I think when I do overall enjoy it.
My first issue is that Poppy is like the only female character. There's women characters but there's only one we actually get to see interact with Poppy and be friendly but this isn't until about 500 pages in? Tawny from the first book, who was more a shadow than anything, isn't here and the only other females with names either are dead (Shea), gets killed off (Magda who we never really interacted with anyway), or the guardian and the healer who are literally blink and you miss them. There's a shit ton of males everywhere. I'm Tired™️ and books deserve more female characters. It also plays heavily in the Poppy isn't like other girls trope, she's incredibly special and unique. I get this is a fantasy book and the way the author is going with Poppy but it's a little tiring.
One of my other issues is the pace and the plot. If you're looking for a plot heavy book, this book seems to throw the plot entirely on the back burner. It's still there but it's not the main focus because they're trying to still do what they were trying to do in the first book: leave Solis and get to Atlantia. This book mainly focuses on dumping world info, leveling up Poppy's powers, and the romance/smut. That's not a bad thing but it makes this book's pacing incredibly slow. They don't even start moving towards their next stop until 200+ pages in. The book gets generally faster paced around 300 pages in and then grinds to a halt again around late 400 to 500 pages. What's going on about 500 pages to the end is fairly interesting stuff but it's rough because I just wanted them to keep moving. But let me tell you that literally almost nothing happens in this book except for the very end and most everything that happens is waiting for Casteel to explain his motivations and reasonings.
The repetition is what I struggled with the most, especially in the beginning. Casteel, Poppy, and at times, Kieran, rehash the same conversations multiple times. Not once, not twice, but several times. Once the book gets going, the repetition still lingers in areas like constantly referring to Poppy wanting to stab people. Her violence is constantly mentioned to the point that i wanted to be violent. It could be a funny thing to make reference to if it didn't pop up every ten to twenty pages. Casteel is a big repeater of the same thing which mostly is compliments (except for him saying he's horny when she's violent and her repeating constantly he's disturbed and this happens SO MUCH IN THE BOOK) and while they're nice, I prefer them to be used maybe less often so they have real meaning to them. I think I just prefer being shown and like SJM, Jennifer is a TELL TELL TELL person. We're constantly being told everyone hates Poppy because she was the Maiden (and we go over that several times in different situations). We're told Poppy is so intelligent although I've yet to see her do something that I'm like oh that was smart. We're told she's so random asking random questions which is really weird to read about. Poppy's internal monolouging again is mostly redundant and there's not more perspective or insight you gain from it.
This book definitely felt more romance than plot and that ending was very intriguing. We're finally in Atlantia so I'm interested to see what happens next. I was shocked when they actually married because folks, we're in book 2 here there's like two or three more. I do think if the book was shorter, the pace might be better. All in all, I enjoyed it. I do think this series needs a glossary so I can keep track of gods and royals and whatever else. And I hope that we actually get more female characters.
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12. New Alpha in Town
Anchor
Stiles Stilinski x Original Character (Reader)
Episode: 1x12; Code Breaker
Word: 5,295
Warning(s): Mature language, canon violence, blood, character death
Author’s Note: The end of season one! Peter and Kate are dead, Derek’s the alpha, and the Allison and the Argents know about Scott. Tell me what you think! Reblog and like!
Masterlink in Profile Description!
"Let's go," Peter ordered, getting to his feet. "both of you."
Olivia shook her head and kept her wet eyes on Lydia. Her cousin was still unconscious, which couldn't be a good thing, and her pink dress was turning dark red from the blood she was losing.
"Olivia."
"No," she snapped, glaring up at her father. "I'm not just letting you leave her here."
Peter rolled his eyes and pulled a handkerchief out of his jacket, dapping Lydia's blood off his lips. "You don't have a choice, darling," he stated flatly. "You and Stiles are coming with me."
"I don't care," Olivia protested, raising her voice. "She's bleeding out, she needs help. I'm not leaving her to die."
Peter, running out of patience, reached forward and roughly grabbed Olivia's arm, pulling her to her feet. Stiles jumped up as Olivia struggled against her father, ready to intervene.
"Call your friend," Peter said as Olivia looked at her father, afraid. "Tell Jackson where she is. That's all you get."
Peter dragged Olivia away with him as he walked off the lacrosse field, leaving Stiles to make a panicked phone call.
-
The atmosphere inside the Jeep as Stiles drove them to the parking structure at the mall was suffocating. No one spoke and it was quiet save from the sniffles Oliva let out here and there. Stiles kept trying to make eye contact with her through the rear-view mirror, but she kept her gaze to the window.
Olivia tried to absorb everything that happened since she and Stiles left the gym; she had tried so hard to keep Lydia out of everything supernatural but now she was bitten. She would either die or become a werewolf and Peter was to blame. Olivia's father, who she had loved so deeply, had hurt one of the people she loved most in the world.
It blew her mind to know that the man who used to read her bedtimes stories and made chocolate chip cookies with her had turned into such a monster.
"You don't have to feel bad," Peter eventually spoke up, looking between Stiles and Olivia. "If she lives, she'll become a werewolf. She'll be incredibly powerful."
"Yeah," Stiles scoffed. "and once a month, she'll go out of her fucking mind and try to tear everything apart."
"Well, actually, considering that she's a woman—twice a month," Peter shrugged.
Olivia turned from the window and narrowed her eyes at Peter. "Shut up."
"I can see that this is a touchy subject," Peter clicked his tongue and chuckled. "Fine. Stiles," he turned to the spastic teen. "What are your intentions with my daughter?"
Stiles, who was pulling into the parking garage, spluttered in shock. He gave Peter a wide-eyed look and didn't answer. Olivia scoffed from the backseat and leaned forward so she could look her father in the eyes.
"His intentions are for you to leave us alone," she spat.
Peter glared at her. "Watch your tone, Olivia," he said sternly before facing forward and pointing to a silver car. "Park next to that car."
Stiles pulled into the closest space, a few cars over, and shut off the Jeep. Peter was out of his seat within seconds and grabbed Olivia's arm, practically dragging her out of the vehicle.
Olivia grunted from his painful grip of her as Stiles jumped out of his seat and protested loudly. "Hey, let her go—ah!" Stiles groaned as Peter grabbed his ear with his free hand and started dragging both of them to the silver car. "Ow, ow."
Peter let them go and started digging in his pockets for a set of keys.
"Whose car is this?" Olivia asked, rubbing her arm.
"It belonged to my nurse," Peter said, finding the keys and unlocking the trunk.
"What happened to your nur—" Stiles gasped in shock when Peter opened the trunk to reveal a dead body. "Oh, my God!"
Olivia wrinkled her nose at the horrible smell coming off Jennifer's body. "You killed Jennifer?"
Peter grabbed the briefcase that was leaning against the body and slammed the trunk closed. "I got better," he shrugged. "Besides, she was a bitch."
Olivia agreed that the nurse was a bitch but that didn't mean she deserved to die. She deserved to rot in jail for helping Peter kill people, not rot in a locked trunk.
Peter set the briefcase on the trunk and pulled out a laptop.
"Good luck getting a signal down here," Olivia spoke up bitterly and Peter pulled out a personal hotspot. "Great, MiFi."
"And you're a Mac guy," Stiles observed as Peter turned the MiFi on and opened the laptop. "Does that go for all werewolves or is it just a personal preference?"
Peter gave him an annoyed look and turned the laptop toward him. "Turn it on and get connected."
Stiles grimaced and flipped the MiFi over, connecting it to the MacBook. "You know, you're really killing the whole werewolf mystique thing here," once he loaded up Google Chrome, he went to the Sprint webpage so he could locate Scott's phone. "Look, you still need Scott's username and password and, I'm sorry, but I don't know them."
"You know both of them."
"No," Stiles insisted. "I don't."
"Even if I couldn't hear your heartbeat, I would still be able to tell that you're lying," Peter said matter-of-factly.
"Dude, I swear to God—"
As soon as Stiles lost his temper, Olivia felt herself being spun around, her back pressed to her dad's chest. She could feel the sharp edges of his claws against her neck and she squeezed her eyes shut, wishing that this was all just a nightmare and that her dad wasn't threatening to kill her to get what he wanted.
"I can be very persuasive, Stiles," Peter said, his voice too casual for what he was threatening. Stiles gaped fearfully at him and froze, not wanting to do anything that could get Olivia killed. "Don't make me persuade you."
"Okay, let her go," Stiles quickly turned back to the computer. "I'll do it, just let her go."
Peter chuckled, amused by the fact that Olivia was Stiles' greatest weakness—he used to be the same. He let Olivia go and she flinched away from his blinking back tears.
"What happens after you find Derek?" Stiles asked Peter as he clicked on the log-in button.
"Don't think, Stiles," Peter advised. "Just type."
Stiles pressed his lips together. "You're gonna kill people, aren't you?"
"Only the responsible ones."
Stiles swallowed heavily, guilty at the thought that he was actually helping Peter kill people. "Look, if I do this, you have to promise to leave Scott and Olivia out of it."
Peter sighed heavily. "Do you know why wolves hunt in packs?" he asked, turning to Stiles and Olivia. "It's because their favorite prey are too large to be brought down by one wolf alone. I need Derek and Scott—and Olivia, once she takes the bite. I need all of them."
Stiles glared at the computer. "Scott's not going to help you."
"Oh, he will," Peter disagreed. "because it'll save Allison. And you will because it will save Scott, your best friend whom you know so well, you even have his username and password."
Stiles pressed his lips together and sighed before typing in Scott's username.
"His username is Allison?" Peter asked in disbelief; Stiles nodded and typed in Scott's password. "His password is also Allison?"
"Still want him in your pack?" Stiles snarked, giving Peter a pointed look.
Peter rolled his eyes heavily, privately thinking that he did have a point.
Olivia watched the laptop impatiently and gasped when the GPS finally loaded, recognizing the location. She couldn't believe Derek had been right under their nose the whole time.
"Wait, what the—?" Stiles fumbled.
"That's where they're keeping him?" Olivia looked at her father. "At the house?"
"Not at it," Peter shut the laptop and put it back in the trunk. "Under it. I know exactly where that is."
The faint sound of a wolf howling echoed through the air, catching their attention. Peter's head whipped toward its direction while Olivia shivered, goosebumps rising on her arms.
"And I'm not the only one," Peter smirked; he turned to Stiles and demanded, "Give me your keys."
Stiles sighed and pulled his keys out of his pocket, handing them to the alpha. "Careful," he warned, thinking that Peter was going to use his Jeep. "she grinds in second."
Peter squeezed the keys in his fist, bending the metal easily. He handed them back to Stiles, who gaped at him.
Peter went to leave but he hesitated. "One more thing."
He reached out to grab Olivia once more, lifting her arm higher. His eyes flashed crimson-red and his fangs descended, causing Olivia to realize what was happening. She began struggling against his hold and Stiles reacted, jumping toward them. He was easily pushed down to the ground by Peter.
"No, Dad, don't!" Olivia pleaded, panicked tears falling down her cheeks. "Please don't!"
Peter wasn't persuaded by her pleads; he bit down on her forearm, his fangs digging deep into her skin. Olivia screamed from the white-hot ache that soared through her body: it was the worst pain she had ever felt by far.
Pulling away from his daughter, Peter threw her on the ground next to Stiles. Stiles scrambled to help her, leaning her up against the car next to them. Once she was settled, holding her heavily bleeding arm against her chest, Stiles jumped to his feet and glowered at Peter.
It felt like Olivia was underwater and it was the pain from the bite holding her beneath the surface. She tilted her head against the car and closed her eyes, trying not to faint. Though their voices were warbled, she could still hear Stiles and Peter speaking.
"I'm trying to avenge my family," Peter told Stiles. "I'm not the bad guy."
Stiles scoffed angrily. "You're not the bad guy?" he raised his voice. "You turn into a giant monster with red eyes and fangs, you're killing people—you just bit your daughter!"
"The bite is a gift," Peter said firmly, casting a brief look at Olivia. He turned back to Stiles and stepped toward him. "You know, I like you, Stiles. Since you've helped me, I'm going to give you something in return...Do you want the bite?"
Stiles' eyes widened at Peter's offer. "What?"
"Do you want the bite?" Peter repeated. "If it doesn't kill you—and it could—you'll become like us," he gestured toward Olivia and Stiles' eyes shot to her.
"Like you?"
"Yes, a werewolf," Peter took another step toward him. "Would you like me to draw you a picture? That first night in the woods, I took Scott because I needed a new pack. It could have easily been you. You'd be every bit as powerful as him. No more standing by his side, watching him become stronger and quicker, more popular—watching him get the girl..." he smirked, seeing that Stiles was still staring at Olivia. "You'd be equals, maybe more."
Stiles could see the blood from Olivia's bite dripping down her arm and staining her white dress red. Her face was almost so pale that it seemed translucent and her eyes were shut, as though she was asleep. The only things that told him she was actually awake were the tremors wracking her body and the whimpers of pain escaping her lips.
"Yes or no?" Peter grabbed Stiles' arm, bringing it up to his face.
Stiles' eyes flickered back to him, hardening. Even if he did want to be stronger, to be Scott's equal, he didn't want to be a werewolf like Peter. He didn't want to turn into something he didn't recognize—he didn't want to be like a person who would use his daughter's life for his own gain.
As Peter's fangs slipped out, Stiles ripped his arm out of his grasp.
"I don't wanna be like you," he spat.
Peter chuckled, shaking his head. "Do you know what I heard just then?" he asked, thinking of the blip in Stiles' heartbeat. "Your heart beating slightly faster over the words 'I don't want'. You may believe that you're telling me the truth but you are lying to yourself. Goodbye, Stiles."
As Peter got into his nurse's car and drove away, not giving Olivia a second glance, Stiles rushed over to her, kneeling down in front of her.
"Hey, Livvy," Stiles cupped her pale, wet cheek and rubbed his thumb across it. "Wake up, okay?"
"'Mm awake," Olivia slurred tiredly.
Stiles smiled sadly as she opened her eyes. "There's those blue eyes," he looked around, trying not to panic. "I need you to stay awake until we get to the hospital, okay?"
"Mmkay."
"Where's your phone?" he asked quickly, worried about how shallow her breathing was. "Do you have your phone?"
"...Jeep..."
"Okay, stay awake," Stiles breathed before rushing over to his Jeep. He opened the door and grabbed Olivia's purse, digging her phone out of it. He didn't know her passcode but he used the emergency button to call for an ambulance.
He walked back over to Olivia as he spoke to the dispatcher, explaining that there had been an animal attack and that they needed an ambulance at the mall. The dispatcher told him to stay calm while they sent an ambulance his way and stay on the phone with them until they arrived.
It took fifteen minutes for the ambulance to get there, Stiles talking on the phone the whole time to give them updates on Olivia's status and trying to keep her awake. When the paramedics finally arrived, it was all a blur.
He remembered a paramedic asking him questions and then suddenly he was at the hospital.
While Olivia was rushed to the emergency room, he stayed back to give a nurse some of her details, including her driver's permit and the name of her aunt. By the time he was done, he was being questioned by a deputy.
Almost an hour had passed before he went up to the trauma floor, intending to see how Olivia was doing. He ran up the stairs, not having enough patience to wait for a slow elevator ride, and burst onto the floor, seeing more police officers mulling about.
Noah rushed up to him before he could run to Olivia's room.
"You know what," he snapped. "it's a good thing we're in a hospital because I'm gonna kill you."
Stiles clenched his jaw and looked over his dad's shoulder, spotting Olivia in one of the trauma rooms. There were two nurses there with her, including Melissa—which made Stiles feel better—a doctor in surgical scrubs, and Natalie. A bag of blood and saline hung from an IV pole next to her, but Olivia was unconscious.
"Stiles!"
"I'm sorry," he breathed, looking back at his dad. "I, uh, I lost the keys to my Jeep and Olivia—she was attacked. I was—I was with the ambulance—"
"Stiles, I don't care!" Noah raised his voice.
"Is she gonna be okay?"
Noah softened when he saw how devastated his son was. He clapped a hand on Stiles' shoulder and held it in support. "They said she lost a lot of blood," he told him. "She's getting a transfusion and they're stitching her up."
Stiles nodded, relieved that Olivia was recovering. "What about Lydia?"
"She had surgery," Noah informed him and Stiles looked into the window of Lydia's room, seeing that she had a breathing mask attached to her face. "They fixed her up but something else is going on with her."
Stiles raised his eyebrows. "What do you mean?"
"The doctors say it's like she's having an allergic reaction. Her body keeps going into shock," Noah recalled the doctor's report. "Did you see anything? I mean, do you have any idea who or what attacked her?"
"No, I have no idea," Stiles shook his head and told his dad the same thing he told the deputy downstairs. "but Olivia was attacked by an animal. I didn't see what kind, it was fast."
Noah nodded understandably. "What about Scott?"
"What do you mean?" Stiles gave him a confused look. "What about him?"
"Did he see anything?"
"What do you—is he not here?" If Scott wasn't here, that meant that he was one of the wolves that they heard howling earlier.
"What are you talking about?" Noah crossed his arms over his chest. "I've been calling him on his cell phone. I've gotten no response."
Stiles looked around his dad again, locking eyes with Jackson, who was waiting by Lydia's room. Jackson shook his head, silently telling Stiles that he hadn't heard from the werewolf.
He sighed, rubbing his hand over his buzzcut. "Yeah, you're not gonna get one."
-
Once Natalie left Olivia's room to check on Lydia, Stiles snuck in to see her. She was awake now but happened to be a little groggy and high from the pain medicine they were pumping into her. He sat down in the chair next to her bed, gaining her attention.
"Stiles."
"I'm glad you're awake," Stiles smiled weakly. "How are you feeling?"
"I'm okay, a little tired and woozy but the doctor said that's from the blood loss," Olivia's voice was kind of dazed but Stiles could tell that she was trying to focus. "Listen, I need you to find Scott and Derek."
"Livvy—"
"Please, Stiles," Olivia pleaded, grabbing his hand to squeeze tightly. "I need you guys to stop my dad before he kills anyone else."
"I-I can try," Stiles nodded, though he didn't know exactly what he was supposed to do against an alpha werewolf. "I'll go see what's going on."
"Thank you, Stiles," Olivia smiled gratefully, squeezing his hand again.
Stiles smiled weakly and squeezed back before releasing her hand. He left Olivia's room in search of his dad, hoping that he'd be given some information. He knew that Derek was being kept at the Hale house but he didn't know much more than that.
"Dad!" he called, spotting his dad down the hall. "Dad, can I—"
"Stiles, just go wait with your friends, all right?" Noah ordered, patting his arm and turning to walk away.
"Dad, tell me what's going on," Stiles demanded, catching up to him. "Look, you know it has something to do with Derek."
"What?" Noah gave him a strange look and stopped in his tracks. "I thought you two said you barely knew him."
"All right, we might know him a little better than that," Stiles admitted, scratching the back of his neck. "I mean, he's Olivia's cousin."
Noah looked at him in disbelief and grabbed the back of his neck, pulling him along the hallway away from the other police officers. "You do realize that I'm elected to this job, right?"
"And if I help you figure this out, you'll be re-elected," Stiles snarked. "Am I right? Dad, come on."
Noah let go of Stiles and stopped walking, sighing heavily. "You know what, Lydia Martin has got nothing to do with a six-year-old arson case."
Stiles froze; the last he heard from his dad, the case was still unsolved. He knew from getting his dad drunk that all the victims were connected by the Hale house fire, but he hadn't known there was anything else they found out.
"When did you decide it was definitely arson?" he asked.
"When we got a key witness," before Stiles could ask, Noah shook a finger at him. "And, no, I'm not telling you who it is...but yeah, we know it's arson. And it was probably organized by a young woman."
Didn't Olivia say that Kate Argent was the one who killed her family? Stiles thought to himself.
"What young woman?"
Noah scoffed. "If I knew that, she'd be in jail."
"Was she young then or is she young now?" Stiles asked; he had to make sure that Kate was actually the one who organized the fire.
"She's probably in her late twenties," Noah's phone rang and he looked at the caller ID. "Oh, I gotta grab this call."
"You don't know her name?" Stiles grabbed his arm to stop him from walking away.
"No, I don't—what is this, twenty questions?" Noah pulled away from Stiles' grip. "All we know is that she had a very distinctive—what do you call it—a pendant."
Stiles furrowed his eyebrows. "What the hell's a pendant?"
"Stiles, do you go to school?" Noah snapped. "A pendant! It's a necklace. Now, can I answer the phone."
That was all the confirmation Stiles needed; if Derek was right about Laura Hale searching for a necklace that looked exactly like the one Allison wore—Allison, who got her necklace from Kate—then it all fell into place. Peter, who had killed everyone involved with the fire that killed his family and left him comatose for six years, was going after Kate. He was going to kill her—and Olivia wanted Stiles to stop him.
He gained more respect for Olivia than he already had; he wouldn't be able to say that he'd stop someone from killing a person who had hypothetically killed his family. He would have wanted revenge just like Peter.
Stiles waved Noah off and went back to Olivia's room. Natalie was still with Lydia but Jackson was sitting at her bedside, both of them speaking quietly. They looked up at him when he entered.
"I'm heading out," he told Olivia, giving her a pointed look.
Olivia nodded, pursing her lips into a small frown. "Be careful, Stiles."
Stiles nodded, his heart skipping, and left the room. He was halfway down the hall when Jackson caught up with him.
"Hey, where are you going?"
"To find Scott," Stiles snapped, having no patience to deal with the selfish jackass.
"You don't have a car," Jackson pointed out unhelpfully.
"I'm aware of that, thank you."
"Here, I'll drive," Jackson grabbed Stiles' arm, pulling him to a stop. "Come on."
Stiles ripped his arm out of his hand and glowered at him. "Look, just because you feel guilty all of a sudden doesn't make it okay, all right?" he spat. "Half of this is still your fault."
Jackson clenched his jaw but didn't deny Stiles' claims. "Look, I have a car," he stated. "You don't. Do you want my help or not?"
Stiles pursed his lips and conceded, "All right, did you bring the Porsche?"
Jackson nodded and pulled out his keys. "Yeah."
"Good," Stiles grabbed the keys from him. "I'll drive."
They weren't able to take another step to leave the hospital as they came face-to-face with Mr. Argent and two other guys, all dressed in black. Stiles and Jackson stepped away from him, staring with wide eyes.
Mr. Argent smiled pleasantly. "Boys," he greeted politely. "I was wondering if you can tell me where Scott McCall is."
"Scott McCall," Stiles hummed nervously. "Um, I haven't seen him since the dance. Jackson, you?"
Jackson gulped loudly when Stiles looked at him for support. "Uh..." he drawled blankly. "I—"
Stiles rolled his eyes in exasperation. "Oh, for the love of God."
The two men behind Mr. Argent lunged forward, each of them grabbing Stiles and Jackson. They shoved them down the hall, despite their protests, and pushed them into an empty room.
Mr. Argent locked the doors behind them. "Let's try this again," he said sternly. "Where is Scott McCall?"
Stiles, who been thrown into a gurney next to Jackson, stood up straight and glared at the hunter defiantly. "You can fuck off," he cursed loudly. "because I'm not telling you a thing—"
Mr. Argent grabbed the front of Stiles' shirt and pulled him across the room, slamming his back into a cabinet.
"Let me ask you a question, Stiles," Mr. Argent's voice was angry and harsh as he looked into Stiles' equally furious eyes. "Have you ever seen a rabid dog?"
"No, but I could put it on my to-do list if you just let me go," Stiles glanced down at Argent's hands, still gripping the collar of his shirt.
"Well, I have," Mr. Argent said firmly. "And the only thing I've ever been able to compare it to is seeing a friend of mine turn on a full moon. Do you wanna know what happened?"
"Not really," Stiles quipped lowly. "No offense to your story-telling skills."
"He tried to kill me and I was forced to put a bullet in his head," Mr. Argent emphasized his statement by poking Stiles in the forehead, forcefully pushing his head back against the cabinet. "The whole while that he lay there dying, he was still trying to claw his way back toward me, still trying to kill me like it was the most important thing he could do with his last breath. Can you imagine that?"
"No, and it sounds like you need to be a little more select—"
Mr. Argent cut him off by slamming his hand into the cabinet right next to his head. "Did Scott try to kill you on the full moon?" he shouted. "Did you have to lock him up?"
"Yeah, I did. I had to handcuff him to a radiator," Stiles seethed, glowering at the hunter. His voice shook with rage and his jaw clenched tightly. "Why? Would you prefer I locked him in the basement and burned the whole house down around him?"
Mr. Argent reared back like he had been slapped and held up his index finger. "I hate to dispel a popular rumor, Stiles, but we never did that."
"Oh, right," Stiles scoffed. "Olivia said you guys had a code. I guess no one ever breaks it."
Mr. Argent exchanged glances with the two other hunters. "Never."
"What if someone does?"
"Someone like who?" Mr. Argent looked back to Stiles.
Stiles scowled. "Your sister."
Mr. Argent clenched his jaw and abruptly let go of Stiles. He backed away from him and crossed his arms over his chest. "Where are they?" when Stiles didn't answer, Mr. Argent sighed heavily. "I'm not going to hurt Scott if he's innocent. Where. Are. They?"
"The Hale house."
Mr. Argent nodded and nodded at his men; they unlocked the door and left the room.
It was silent for a whole minute while Stiles tried to calm his anger.
And then Jackson spoke, "What now?"
"Now we're gonna learn how to make self-igniting Molotov cocktails."
-
Stiles sped down the mile-long driveway that led to the Hale house, the Porsche bouncing from the bumps and potholes in the dirt path. Jackson sat in the passenger seat, a scowl on his face, and two freshly made Molotov cocktails in his lap. Stiles pressed on the gas pedal, speeding up.
"Hey, hey, hey," Jackson objected as they flew over a small hill. "This isn't exactly an all-terrain vehicle!"
"Yeah, did you pay for it?" Stiles snarked.
"No."
"Then shut up," he snapped and sped up once more.
They pulled up to the old Hale house within minutes; the alpha—in all his red-eyed, ugly glory—was standing in front of the house, snarling at Scott, who laid a few feet in front of him. Stiles slammed on the breaks and grabbed one of the Molotov cocktails, honking the horn to get the alpha's attention.
He ran out of the Porsche and whipped the Molotov cocktail at the alpha. Unfortunately, the alpha simply caught it and roared in Stiles' direction.
"Fuck," Stiles cursed, flinching back.
Scott looked around quickly, spotting Allison's crossbow. "Allison!" he called for her, grabbing the bow and tossing it to her.
Allison caught the bow and aimed it at the alpha, letting an arrow soar into the cocktail. The beaker broke and exploded, engulfing the alpha's arm in flames. Jackson took the opportunity to throw the other Molotov cocktail; it hit the alpha and caught the rest of his body on fire.
The alpha roared loudly and stumbled around, his gaze landing on Allison. Before he could take a step toward her, Scott shouted and sprang up, jumping into the air. He kicked the alpha away from Allison, where he landed on the ground, changing back into Peter.
Stiles sighed in relief, glad that it was finally over.
While Allison and Scott made up, kissing and exchanging their love, Derek slowly walked out of the house. Stiles watched curiously as he made his way to Peter, glaring down at him.
Scott saw Derek ready to kill Peter and jumped to his feet, running over to him.
"Wait!" he called, catching the older werewolf's attention as he kneeled next to his uncle's burnt body. "You said the cure comes from the one who bit you. Derek, if you do this, I'm dead."
Derek pressed his lips together and it wasn't hard for Stiles to guess that he had lied to Scott about the cure. Derek just wanted Scott's help to take down Peter.
"Her father, her family," Scott continued begging. "what am I supposed to do?"
"You've...already...decided..." Peter breathed painfully. His eyes glowed red as he snarled, "I can smell it on you!"
Derek raised his hand, his claws growing from his nail beds, and Scott lunged, "Wait, no, don't!"
Derek thrust his arm forward, slashing his claws along Peter's neck. Peter made a gurgling sound as he choked on his blood and took his last breath. Derek stood up and turned toward Scott, his eyes glowing the red of an alpha.
"I'm the alpha now," he declared.
-
-
Olivia stared at Derek, studying him to see if there was anything else that was different about him. She knew his eyes had changed from their usual icy-blue to the alpha-red but there had to be something else that had changed, too.
Derek stared back at her, resting his arms on the side of her hospital bed. She could see the curious look in his eyes, along with shame, but she didn't fault him for killing Peter. The man she knew as her father died long ago when Kate planned that fire. The alpha hadn't been her dad that she loved. She lost him a long time ago.
Olivia was just glad that it was all over. Kate was dead—courtesy of Peter—and Peter had been stopped. Derek was now alpha and he could start building his own pack, which now included her.
"Well?" she broke the silence.
Derek glanced out of the window in her room, glad that he was officially cleared of all the murders he was accused of, and then looked back at her.
"Her bite wasn't healed," Derek told Olivia, looking back at her.
"Not at all?"
"Not at all," Derek confirmed.
"But Aunt Natalie said she'd be fine," Olivia was confused—you either turned or died. "Do you think she's rejecting it?"
Derek frowned, remembering his first love. "I don't know," he said quietly. "But she's not a werewolf, which means—"
"She's something else."
Derek nodded. "What about you?" he asked. "How's your bite?"
Olivia grimaced and held up her injured arm, the gauze wrapped around it stained slightly from excess blood. "See for yourself."
Derek reached forward and carefully unwrapped the bandage. He removed the bloody gauze and sucked in a deep breath at the sight of her wound. It was stitched up but completely fresh—no healing had been done.
He furrowed his eyebrows. "It's not healed."
"Yeah, I could tell by how much it hurts," Olivia grumbled, frowning at her wound which was bound to scar. "So, I'm not a werewolf, either...how am I supposed to know what I am?"
Derek squeezed her hand reassuringly. "I don't know, but I'm going to find out."
(Gif is not mine)
#teen wolf rewrite#stiles stilinski x oc#stiles stilinksi x reader#teen wolf#stiles stilinski#stiles stilinski fanfiction#teen wolf fanfiction#stiles stilinski x original character
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The Vintage Joshifer Series: End of Love—Chapter 20
End of Love by hutchhitched
Hey, all! For those of you still interested in this story and/or Joshifer, I’ve finally finished it! This is the penultimate chapter. Chapter 21 will post next Tuesday. It’s already written, so no delay this time. I am beyond grateful my muse chose to grace during the month of July, and I’m equally thrilled to put this story to rest after next week. Even though the events in this chapter took place a little over five decades ago, current unrest in New York, Oregon, and a number of other places are reminiscent of the struggles of those years ago. It’s disheartening, but this story has always been a little too close to current events. I know I’ve said this often, but the fight’s not over.
Historical events in this chapter include the following:
The Stonewall Riots began on June 28, 1969 at the Stonewall Inn, a well-known gay bar, in Greenwich Village in New York City. Gay patrons, tired of frequent police mistreatment and brutality, fought back when police raided the bar. The struggle evolved into a six day civil rights protest and ushered in what is known as “gay pride.” The words of Jennifer’s news report comes from an article in the New York Times on June 28, 1970. I took some artistic license by including it a year prior in the story.
WNBC is the local NBC affiliate for New York City. It gained its call letters in 1960.
There was a massive presence of African American trans activists involved in the Stonewall Riots. I don’t include that in Josh’s experience because I wanted to keep him close to his friend’s character in the story, but intersectionality studies have done a wonderful job at providing a better look at the true historical picture of Stonewall.
The Stonewall Inn is still a working bar in New York City. I was able to visit in the days following the legalization of gay marriage in the United States in June 2015.
Last but not least, the Woodstock Music Festival took place in August 1969 near Bethel, New York. It was a three day music festival that was the pinnacle of the counterculture movement in the United States.
New York City, New York, June 1969
“Where’s your friend’s place?” Connor asked as he and Josh exited the subway and onto Seventh Avenue. “I’m ready to put this bag down and get to the bar.”
Josh grinned at his younger brother as they hoofed it south to Andre’s apartment. It had been much too long since Josh had experienced all the city had to offer, and he was looking forward to trying to forget his broken heart in booze and weed and meaningless sex. As if any of that actually dulled the pain he felt every time he thought about Jennifer. Which was every second of every single day.
“Quit being so impatient. We’ve got nothing else to do besides party for days. Happy graduation, bro,” he said with a clap on Connor’s shoulder. “And we’re here.”
Andre buzzed them up, and Josh tried to hide his happiness at being reunited with his friend. They hadn’t seen each other since the concert in New Haven before… Before he went back to Chicago and fell into domestic bliss with Jennifer and lost himself in the process. If he could figure out how to go back and do it over, he would, but the fact was that he wasn’t a good boyfriend. Monogamy wasn’t his thing, and nothing about the months he’d spent in the Midwest made him think he could balance his personal life with activism. He wasn’t good at splitting his attention between two things, especially when one was a leggy blonde whose pussy made him want to worship between her legs for days. Besides that, he was in love with her, and it scared the shit out of him.
“Good to see you, man,” Andre huffed through their hug. “I need a catch up on everything since we last talked. Been out in Cali with your bro, huh?”
“Yeah, Andre you remember Connor. Connor, Andre. Out at Stanford with him. Just trying to find my way back.”
“Back to what?”
“Let’s smoke a bowl first. Then I’ll tell you. It’s too much right now.”
An hour later, the three were sprawled across the living room as smoke hung heavy in the air. Josh felt his bones dissolve and his head float into a happy space, one where he wasn’t a fuck up or a failure. Instead, he was that idealistic kid from Kentucky who genuinely believed he could change the world, shape it into something that was just for everyone, including Andre and his own brother, who’d come out since Josh joined him in Stanford. He hadn’t wasted 1968 in bed with Jenn. He hadn’t failed to help change the minds of those who looked down on others as inferior.
“I went to Chicago. You know that,” he spoke into the haze swirling above his head. “I found her. She was beautiful. Is beautiful, and she’s so talented. So much more herself than she was at Berkeley. I’m so proud of her. She’s a reporter on the local NBC station. Reported on the DNC protests and made a name for herself, but me… Things didn’t go so well for me. Chicago chewed me up and spit me out and ruined me. She ruined me. Except she didn’t. She saved me. I lost myself, and I was dragging her down with me. I couldn’t do that to her. I had to leave, to give her space to really shine, and to figure out how the fuck to find myself again because I’m so lost. I don’t know how to fight anymore. How to stand up for what’s right when I know I’m not doing that for her. I don’t deserve her, man. I don’t, and I couldn’t drag her down anymore. So, I left. I wrote a note, and I ran. Haven’t talked to her since.”
His voice trailed into silence, but the music continued to pulse. Andre nodded, clearly working through the information, and Connor closed his eyes and rolled his head from side to side. Nothing Josh had said made him feel any better. All he’d done was be honest about his actions. He wasn’t looking for approval, and he wasn’t looking for advice. The best thing he could do was leave her alone to succeed and thrive on her own.
He told himself that later that night when he picked up a woman in the bar and fucked her in the bathroom. He repeated that mantra when his brother decided to return to California and leave him in New York to find a job. He insisted he was being honest with himself when he switched on the local news and realized Jen had transferred to New York. And then he reiterated it when he agreed to join Andre for drinks at the Stonewall Inn.
****
Josh swept his dark hair out of his eyes and pulled it back into a ponytail. He chuckled at the thought of what his dad would say if he saw his elder son’s hairstyle. Chris had always been loving and supportive outside of his frustration over his injury, but that didn’t mean he thought men should wear long hair. It was shaggier than Josh was used to. At some point, he needed a haircut, but he couldn’t seem to justify paying for something so mundane when there were a million other things that were more important. He was itching for a cause to support in a meaningful way, and it felt like something was coming.
The air itself was heavy. New York City in the summer was often full of heat and humidity and that day was no different. The temperatures hung in the mid-90s well into the later afternoon as he made his way south through Greenwich Village toward the gay bar Andre frequented.
It felt good to be in the city. Even though he’d never lived there, it felt right somehow to be in the cradle of counterculture, even if he’d gotten a little too comfortable with the status quo during his months in Chicago.
Seven months since he’d seen her in person. He still couldn’t think about what she’d felt when she found his note, how she’d crumbled when she realized he wasn’t coming back. He knew she’d been waiting for it. Despite his irresponsible actions and inability to commit, he understood Jen better than he did himself. She’d known he was going to run, had been preparing for it the entire time they’d spent together, and he’d proven her right.
Being without her was terrible for him, but it was everything she deserved. She was too good for him, always had been. Even when she was spoiled and selfish, she’d had class and an innate kindness that he’d never be able to emulate. Josh strolled the last short distance with a wry grin gracing his face. He allowed himself the length of the block to beat himself up, and then he plastered on a smile and waltzed through the door of the Stonewall Inn.
The bar was dark with bulky furniture and a long row of stools framing the shiny wooden counter. Bartenders pulled beer and mixed drinks quickly and served them with flirtatious smirks that elicited copious tips. Andre called his name from the back, and Josh twisted his way through laughing groups of men who were finally able to relax in a world that wasn’t ready to accept them.
“My man,” he said as he tugged Andre into a hug and was then introduced to the rest of the group. He tried to remember their names, but the words were lost in the din of the club. He ordered a beer and sat back to listen as his friend interacted with the other men.
“Things are worse,” Andre insisted. “There hasn’t been a raid in a while, but it’s only a matter of time before the pigs show up again.”
“It’s shit,” another man agreed and tucked his blonde hair behind his ears. “Sometimes I wonder if we ought to do something about it. Fight back next time or take it to the streets.”
Andre seemed more relaxed than Josh had ever seen him as the group discussed the political climate of the nation. Advances in equal rights for a number of groups hinted that change could be in the near future for gays and lesbians, too, but it was understandable that the bar’s patrons didn’t trust the nation’s power structures. And why would they? There’d been so little progress for the gay community since McCarthyism and the oppression of the decade before.
Josh lost track of time as he drank and listened. He contributed when he felt like he had something to say, but he mostly enjoyed hearing about the movement from insiders instead of trying to insert himself. Despite his close friendship with Andre and his own brother’s coming out a few months prior, he didn’t have a lot of contact with men who were attracted to other men. He’d always loved the female form, although he’d considered sexual attraction to the same sex. Somehow, it had never happened, and he didn’t feel like forcing something would do any good. He’d rather be supportive of those who had those feelings that try to be someone he wasn’t.
A tussle by the door caught his attention. Andre and the others at the table tensed, and Josh felt the hair on his arms rise. Something was happening, although he wasn’t sure what.
“It’s a raid,” Andre muttered as he rose and pushed Josh behind him.
“What do you mean?”
“I mean, it’s a raid. The pigs are here.”
Josh watched in disbelief as police swarmed into the bar and yelled at the patrons. Drinks spilled, and men scrambled as police batons emerged and landed on those sitting at the bar. Time seemed to slow down, and he watched in disbelief as a brawl broke out in front of him. He’d drunk too much; that much was clear, but he felt like he was in a dream. Drifting along beside Andre, he joined the protest, raising his voice next to his friend and others he didn’t know. He yelled and marched and raised his fist as the streets became a battleground. He watched as those around him sparked with pride and celebrated their liberation.
He hadn’t felt the rush of working for something that mattered for so long, and it felt amazing. This wasn’t his personal fight, but it also was. What could be more personal than standing against police brutality and for the rights of everyone?
As the sun rose over the horizon, Andre and he stumbled home and slept for a few hours before rejoining the fray. For the next three days, he felt himself coming alive. When the police beat him, he curled in on himself and ignored the pain, and when it was all over, he lay in Andre’s apartment and realized he had to stop running. He’d left Chicago because he wasn’t worthy of Jen’s love, and he’d done nothing in the seven months since to change that. He needed a purpose, and he had to stop waiting for one to come to him. Instead, he had to go find it.
****
But then suddenly she was there on his television—Andre’s television—and he forgot everything except how much he missed her. He gaped at the screen as she talked and tried to quell the ache in his gut.
“…today’s remnants of the riots from Greenwich Village. A reminder, thousands of young men and women homosexuals from all over the Northeast marched from the Village to the Sheep Meadow in Central Park three days ago, proclaiming ‘the new strength of pride of the gay people.’ This movement, which some are calling gay pride, rejects the oppression of gay men and women and demands equal treatment and respect in society and under the law.
Thousands have taken to the streets, marching and protesting against police brutality and raids of gay bars and clubs. I’ve spoken to a number of protestors, and each reminds me that this movement has been long in the making. Stay tuned for further coverage. In the Village, I’m Jennifer Lawrence for WNBC, Channel 4.”
“That a girl,” he murmured as the screen faded from her to the anchor in the studio.
She looked amazing. A little more mature and stylish than she’d been in Chicago but also happy and confident. The slightly nervous energy she’d always portrayed on the screen in the Midwest seemed to have evaporated on the East Coast, and it was a good look on her.
“Was that her?” Andre asked lazily, his grin visible from the dim corner. “That’s your chick?”
“Yeah, that’s her,” he breathed.
Andre took a hit and passed a bud to him, and Josh inhaled twice sharply. It took a few minutes, but the marijuana did exactly what he wanted, which was to loosen him up and relax. He couldn’t believe they were in the same city again, and he wondered briefly if they were drawn to each other unintentionally or if there were cosmic forces at work to reunite them. How could he explain to anyone that two people who lived in Kentucky ended up halfway across the country together at college in California, reunited and lived together in the Midwest, and then landed in the same city on the East Coast?
Well, now he needed to get his shit together. The only problem was he had no idea how other than following his calling. He was an activist. That was part of him down to the marrow in his bones, and she was still a reporter. How was he ever going to reconcile that restless, never satisfied portion of him when Jenn was a part of the system? How could he fight “the man” when the woman he loved was part of it?
“I can see the wheels turning, Hutch. What’s going on in that big, beautiful brain of yours?”
Josh sighed and swiveled his head to face his friend. “I’ve never been good enough for her. I don’t know what to do except leave her alone, but I can’t stand being without her.”
“You know, you don’t have to give up everything for a cause, especially when it’s not your own.”
“They’re all my causes,” Josh protested. “Just because I’m not oppressed doesn’t mean I shouldn’t work for change.”
“Just because oppression exists doesn’t mean you should martyr yourself.”
Josh started to retort but snapped his jaw shut. The words hit hard and low in his stomach. His friend was right. Denying himself happiness wasn’t helping anyone else, and it certainly hadn’t made his or Jennifer’s lives any better. He’d broken both their hearts for far too long, and he had to figure out how to make it right.
“You’re right, man. I know you are, but I’m just not there yet,” Josh sighed. “I think, though, that I might need to move here once I am.”
“Always a spot here for you, Hutch.” After a few minutes of silence, Andre added, “There’s talk of an event here in a few months. Think you could stick around and facilitate planning? Might help you get your mind right, and then you can head back to California to see your brother and get the rest of your stuff.”
“Yeah, I can do that, I guess. What is it?”
“A concert. Somewhere upstate.”
“A concert?”
“Not just a concert. It’s a movement. Days of music, and all of us communing with nature.”
Josh rolled it around in his mind for a few minutes. It sounded like something to occupy his time while he got himself together. The next day he met with the planners of an event they affectionately referred to as Woodstock.
****
“Josh, I can’t tell you how much of a help you’ve been during this,” his boss said as they moved a stack of flyers into a crate. “I wasn’t sold when Andre asked me to take you on, but your creative ideas have been stellar.”
“Just trying to help out however I can,” he responded. “Glad to have something to do that might help the cause.”
“Every little thing helps. Now, you’re off for the week. Go enjoy some good music upstate. I’ll see you behind the scenes.”
Josh gave a two-fingered salute and made his way back to Andre’s apartment. They were hitching a ride with some other friends and making their way north to the festival, and he still had to pack before they could leave. He was almost there when he decided to pop into the corner bodega and grab some food. Who knew what kind of opportunities there would be to eat with however many people showed up in Bethel? They’d had to change locations not long ago and they’d tried to plan for all eventualities, but that didn’t mean Josh couldn’t bring some extra sustenance.
“Always be prepared,” he said to himself with a laugh and turned the corner. He stopped dead in his tracks. Not a hundred feet away was a woman with long blonde wavy hair. “Jennifer?”
He chased after her, but he quickly realized it wasn’t her. The same thing happened at the festival several times. Woodstock was a gas, a writhing throng of bodies with music that transcended him and made him fly with happiness. For the first time in a while, he felt like he knew himself. He’d helped plan it. He’d thought ahead to bring food when so many others wasted time searching for dinner. He was surrounded by friends and people of like mind. The lack of restrooms and facilities to bathe didn’t bother him. That could all wait until he returned to the city, which came much too soon.
Back at Andre’s, he smoked weed while he took a long, soothing bath. He jacked off lazily and let his mind drift to a slew of different times he’d been with Jen. He fantasized and planned and finally came to the realization that he needed to head back to California to tie up loose ends and spend time with his brother. Connor would help him focus. Being back where he and Jennifer had first met and fallen in love seemed like a good idea.
“Tomorrow,” he decided. “I’ll buy my ticket. California, here I come.”
#joshifer#joshifer fanfiction#the vintage joshifer series#joshiferrecs#joshifersource#fyeah-joshifer#jhutchdirectory#end of love#1960s
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Honest opinions on horror villains
Okay so I love horror villains and horror in general. Most of them are really interesting and have a sort of grotesque charm to them that I can’t really describe, it draws you to them and pulls you into wanting more. But there are some horror villains that are either overrated and underrated, and today I’m here to discuss some of them! (I’d like to reiterate that I don’t hate any of these characters, I actually like them all! But I’m just talking in a general perspective and my view on their popularity and the actual movie they come from.)
LESLIE VERNON
* overrated.
* okay, I know, people are going to get upset at me over this. This was an amazing movie, they said. It’s so new and different from the others, they said. And I completely understand that! It’s unique and inventive and I love the whole premise of the movie, but goddamn did it bore me..
* I like Leslie Vernon as a character, but I don’t love him like I do with other characters. He’s cool! I adore his slasher design, but his personality bores me a little bit at times. There are some points where my emotions and feelings on the guy are a little bit like a rollercoaster — up and down, up and down, up and down. It’s crazy.
* once again, I like the concept of his movie, but the way it was presented in a filmmaking point of view is underwhelming.
ART THE CLOWN
* underrated.
* there are three movies I know of with Art in them: The 9th Circle, All Hallow’s Eve and Terrifer. And all of them are equally shit, which is to be expected since it was written and directed by a young guy who specialises in special effects. But damn was Art interesting to watch.
* there are some points in the movies where I think “why couldn’t he have starred in a better made film?” because if that were so, he’d get so much more publicity! Art is an absolutely terrifying demon clown creature, way more scary than Pennywise, and people from around the world should know his name! He’s the only character in all the movies who actually has good actors.
* shitty movie, fantastic character. I hope to see more of him.
MICHAEL MYERS
* overrated by a milestone.
* look, I’m all for Michael Myers. He’s hot, lemme tell you that. But he’s a really boring character. It’s all the same (apart from the 3rd movie)! Michael returns to his hometown to find and kill Laurie, killing a whole other group of people who she happens to be involved with at some time during the movie.
* when I watch a horror movie, I want to have the villain to have some sort of character. At least with Jason, you can see some emotion in him which defines him as a whole! But with Michael? He’s a clean slate, and that is soo uninteresting.
* first two movies were great, others were unneeded honestly.
BILLY LENZ
* underrateeeeed.
* stinky attic boy needs some love. He is what started the slasher genre for peats sake and yet everyone overlooks him as a horror villain. Let me tell you, that phone scene in the beginning was absolutely fucking terrifying when I first watched it, and it’s still unsettling to this day even after I’ve watched it a million fucking times.
* we never even got to see Billy’s face properly throughout the whole movie and yet he made such an impact on everyone who ever watched Black Christmas! And that ending scene? Perfect cliffhanger. (The remake was shit compared to the original)
* great movie, great character, needs more credit.
BRAHMS HEELSHIRE
* overrated.
* bet y’all are shocked at this aren’t you? He’s the character I most often write for. But that’s really because he’s heavily requested. I actually don’t really like him all that much, too much exposure I guess. I mean I have nothing against his character as a whole, he’s attractive to me and interesting but I don’t actually know.
* now the movie is something I do know about though: bullshit. Absolutely terrible. A basic plot line (which isn’t necessarily a bad thing sometimes, it just needs to be played out right) and a director which results to cheap jump scares because apparently that’s ‘scary’. The movie as a whole is so predictable and it never scared me once when I went to watch it at the cinema. I can understand why people like it though.
* decent(?) character, bad movie.
OTIS DRIFTWOOD + family
* underrated.
* okay this might have something to do with my weakness for Bill Moseley, scarily cute women and clowns, but man do I love the Firefly family. Each and every character, even the ones we barely see, within the family is so perfectly polished and unique, and I love Rob Zombie for it. He can’t write dialogue for shit but man do I love his horror villains.
* although the first movie was very confusing at some points. Like, what?? What was with that ending? It was a very good movie in my opinion and was actually pretty horrifying. It used things that disgust us and manipulated that to terrify every single one of its viewers and that’s perfect. Hated the protagonists though.
* fantastic movie, great villains, shitty protagonists,
FREDDY KRUEGER
* overrated.
* now don’t get me wrong, I love Freddy, I grew up loving Freddy. He’s witty and fun to watch, maybe not like Chucky, but after a while he gets so repetitive that it gets really really annoying. Couldn’t they think of something unique and interesting for him to say instead of him just calling everyone a bitch??
* the writing becomes boring after a while, the directors add so many unnecessary features, weaknesses and powers we had no clue even existed up until this very point, and it’s overall not a very good franchise when you get into it. I enjoyed the first and seventh movie a lot, but all of the other ones didn’t really excite me all that much.
* okay character, okay movie, but isn’t worth all the attention.
NUBBINS SAWYER, DRAYTON SAWYER, CHOP-TOP SAWYER + GRANDPA SAWYER
* un👏🏽der👏🏽ra👏🏽ted
* these boys deserve just the same amount of attention that Leatherface does. I know that Bubba is a really cool character, and he deserves attention too! But that doesn’t mean that his family get to be left out. Each and every single one of them helped shape the Texas Chainsaw franchise to what it is today, and honestly it wouldn’t have been as amazing without them in it.
* Texas Chainsaw has so many metaphors within it nobody really goes into. When we first meet Nubbins and he’s kicked out of the van, Franklin very obviously points out “would you be able to do that?” referring to Nubbins slicing his hand up, and later on we see Franklin blowing raspberries at his friends due to the fact that he couldn’t go upstairs because of his disability, which is exactly what Nubbins was doing when he couldn’t get into the van. This area is the director exploring the ways that people could so easily turn into madness without people realising it.
* Drayton Sawyer is your average looking fellow who runs the Sawyer household, but he is not average at all. He’s sadistic, witty, hypocritical, and surprisingly still a Christian. He claims that he “doesn’t like to do the killing” and yet he’s shown constantly poking and prodding at the final girls like they’re some caged animals, living only for the pleasure of himself. The fact that he’s an elderly man basically screams “wolf in sheeps clothing”, because usually when you see an elderly person, you assume them to be kind and wise, whereas, Drayton can’t even spell ‘sex’ correctly.
* Chop-Top wasn’t present in the first movie sadly, but it’s explained why, which is understandable in a filmmaking perspective. He is probably the most terrifying character out of the bunch. He’s impulsive, disgusting, and absolutely fucking insane. Whether or not this is due to his time in Vietnam I don’t know, but man does it make a great affect. And that time in the movie where he was introduced? It was absolutely heavenly. No one in today’s horror industry would build up suspense like that and cause so much raw fear from a petty jump scare. The fact that he carries around his damn brothers corpse like he’s puppet, treating him like he’s still a living being adds onto the scare factor as well.
* great villains, good movies, everything after TCSM2 wasn’t really very good though.
Okay, now that’s over and done with! Let me show you my top ten favourite horror villains (from actual horror movies), you’ll either be completely shocked or completely not! :)
Pinhead — love the creature design. Fantastic personality and concept. Annoyed he’s not a woman.
Bubba Sawyer — baby boy needs love. And affection. And kisses. And basically anything positive. We must protect him.
Chop-Top Sawyer — terrified me when I first saw him as a kid. I wanna fuck Bill Moseley. I love his personality. Wish his movie came out.
Captain Spaulding — funny ass motherfucker. Always cracks me up. I want him to be my daddy.
Hannibal Lecter — interesting in a psychological perspective. Has a way to make your skin crawl without doing much.
Art the Clown — scarier than Pennywise. I wish his movies were better. Why didn’t Terrifier make it obvious he was a demon?
Otis Driftwood — boy’s a hottie. But please stop fucking corpses. Once again, Bill Moseley.
Stu Macher — first fictional crush. He’s my irl type of guy. I dated a guy like him once.
Jennifer Check — movie was ahead of its time. Legit was about having a succubus gf. Lesbian scene was hot. I’m gay for Meagan Fox.
Billy Lenz — terrifying phone calls. Nasty boi. The remakes will never be as great as the OG Black Christmas.
Anyways, so that’s it! It’s past midnight currently so I might just go to bed lol but whatever. I’ve wanted to write this out for a whiiile but decided to just get it over with now. I’ll say it all again: every character I write for, I like, I just have different levels of like, so please no hate over this. Thanks!
#horror#movie#pinhead#art the clown#brahms heelshire#leslie vernon#michael myers#billy lenz#jennifer check#chop top sawyer#drayton sawyer#nubbins sawyer#freddy krueger#otis driftwood#baby firefly#captain spaulding#bubba sawyer#stu macher#ghostface
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Decided to rewatch the hunger games movies with a grain of salt and...
I really want someone to break down why the movies set people off but instead I’ll say why it sets me off, hopefully Lindsay Ellis style.
Cinematography- this is always a big one for me because I’m such a sucker for good beautiful cinematography so when I see it done so averagely in a movie that deserved better it pisses me off. IDK why I want to compare The Hunger Game movies so much to The Handmaid’s tale but I do. These are two dystopian stories told from the first perspective of women. The cinematography from the first episode of the show was praised and rightfully so considering how beautiful it was and how greatly it complimented the story.
Cast- I think some cast members were perfect. Cenna, Haymitch, President Snow, Rue and of course Effie. However, they should have worked harder with the big three. Katniss, Peeta, and Gale. They just didn’t represent the age that they were supposed to be. Like y’all, Tom Holland is like 22 now, he’s older than these three characters are supposed to be. I don’t remember how they chose the casting and tbh I’m too lazy to look it up. But I think they went for Jennifer Lawrence after she won the Oscar for Winters Bone and honestly the movie was the perfect audition tape for the movie, considering setting, the story and the tough acting necessary. And honestly, rewatching the Hunger Games movies Jennifer Lawrence did a great job, she has the range. But now it feels a little like Scarlet Johansson in “Ghost in the Shell”. She was just not right for the part. Katniss Everdeen is supposed to be at least half Native American same as Gale, from the descriptions in the book but instead they went for full on white because I think at the time it wasn’t really something that was plausible or bankable, to have your protagonist be a POC.
Plot- it truly is bizarre and so meta that IRL the producers of the movies decided to up sell the love story as much as they did. But people fighting against their government is a harder sell of a movie than a love triangle, especially out of a YA book with a female protagonist (very sexist of the industry honesty, never watched or read the Maze Runner but I know this was mostly marketed as a teen boys kinda book and even though the hunger game books are deep as fuck it still felt like it was marketed towards young girls and therefore when the movies came out they thought this is what they needed to sell to us to make money considering how good Twilight did a few years back, a very teenage girl story) . Again, bringing it back to the Handmaids tale SPOILER ALERT FOR SEASON 1, you always get the sense that the relationship between June and Nick is less out of love and more out of necessity and survival. In an unfeeling society they feel the need for each other not out of love but out of human necessity. I think a lot of it is helped by the fact that the show is actually narrated by the main character which brings me to my next point:
Point of view- it is such a disservice that there was no narrator. They have very little to work with in the movie because Katniss, although the accidental leader of a revolution, doesn’t act much on what she think, she processes. She actively even tries to show as little emotion as possible. This is not a character to easily portrayed in film and have your audience still root for them. If we’d gotten a narrator, we would be able to see that she has more in common with June in Handmaids tale in season 1 with her personal relations and with Jyn from Rogue One with how she begins to rebel. Katniss is a reluctant rebel. She wants to keep her head down but she’s young and she still has a very full heart. This is why her age is important. She may have already been through shit but she STILL feels very deeply. She’s young enough to feel the pain of losing someone she cared for deeply, Rue and then in the end of the games be played and pushed to kill Peeta or die. And also killing that boy that killed Rue pains her. It’s the first person she actively killed. All of these make her see how the society she’s living in keeps pushing her and others in the society to participate in these killings then be told to carry on as if it was nothing and at the end of the Games she’s had it because she knows it IS something, she’s aware Rue meant something to her family and to her, Peeta meant something to her, the boy that she killed meant something to his family. Her big fuck you is the berries. She didn’t expect to even survive them. The rest of the nation sees this and a revolution begins. But 👏🏼we 👏🏼don’t 👏🏼get 👏🏼the 👏🏼dept👏🏼 of 👏🏼these 👏🏼moments 👏🏼as 👏🏼we should. We don’t know what her thinking process is as it is portrayed!
Last words, the movies sacrificed a lot in the name of money and bankability. I think we’re going to have to expect this out of a lot of adaptations. Right now the movie industry is really going through it. The newest blockbuster movies are becoming less experimental and more passable (for more info look up Nerdwriter1’s video “the epidemic of passable movies”) in order to get as many people to see it as possible. Whoever is making these movies is all about making sure they’re a safe bet.
AND THIS IS WHY I TRULLY truuuuly hope to some day see some new adaptation of the Hunger Games or maybe even the prequel coming in May as a TV show! 👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼
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