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the-moon-prince · 3 years

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The Last Of us~Kurapika x Reader ~Chapter III

AN: Hi my lovely fellows!

I finished the third chapter! Made with love and care for your enjoyment. I know this one is shorter, and I'm sorry. But I trust you will like it despite that detail! I made it extra fluffy, after the angst of the anterior, we all deserve a sweet.

I wish you a pleasant read, and I hope you’ll enjoy the new chapter of my story. (Chapter I) (Chapter II) (Chapter IV coming soon!)

Paring: Kurapika Kurta x GN! Reader

Word count: 2 111

TW: None!^

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It was clear something changed in Kurapika after that night. It didn't go unnoticed by Melody. She noticed in the rhythm of Kurapika's heart that the man's grief was lighter. Not to mention discreet short glances the young man sometimes gave (Y/n) when they were in the same room or how he tended to stay closer to them. Kurapika's heart longed in the days when (Y/n) was not at the Nostrade mansion.

And for Kurapika? He was neither oblivious of that change. He taught about how (Y/n) would serve him tea or coffee each time they did for themselves. He noticed the characteristic small manias no one else appeared to remark about (Y/n); like the silly way they stood with their hands in front of their chest when nervous, they touched their hair when they were concentrating on their work. Or even their nervousness around crowds. Despite the warmth that thoughts about (Y/n) gave him, they also filled him with doubts and fear. That person saw a side of him that very few had seen. On one hand, it made him feel less lonely, and he shared the burden of his soul with someone who, seemingly, comprehended him. On the other, it was his ugliest side. Don't get me wrong, at no point did he believe his cause was erroneous. It was the fear of lowering his defenses further, which had allowed him to survive so far, to at the end losing someone dear again.

There laid the dilemma.

On Saturday evening, as was customary (Y/n) went to "keep her company"-as Neon referred to her therapy. Neon, her bodyguards, and (Y/n) were in the girl's room; while she just played with her stuffed animals. Neon being herself, talked a lot about her pastimes and trifles. And then it happened. The trigger pulled. "You know, (Y/n) you're dumb sometimes." Neon said directly in the face of the mentioned. Kurapika did not appreciate the insult to his "darling"- Being his boss he couldn't face Neon directly nor punch her, although the desire was not lacking. In the end, Kurapika ended up saying, with a slightly irritated tone, sincerely "Neon, it's time for the pause, we'll all go take a breath" Without Neon giving any value to the subject, she permitted everyone to go. (Y/n) sticking to their routine, headed to the employee kitchen to prepare coffee, and began to boil water. Kurapika also followed, aspiring somehow to comfort them-only something lost in how- stated "That was rude. Are you upset?"

(Y/n) turned to see him, inclined their head, smiled, and denied "No at all! She's right. When I was a child, someone throws a rock at my head, and I ended up like this." - responded teasing, possibly to relieve Kurapika's worries- "Plus, it's not her fault... I mean... she said it, but she's entirely unaware of the impact of her actions on others... Not because she's mean, I'm not trying to be impolite."- they added, gaining a disconcerted look from Kurapika.-"Neon has a dissociative disorder. She has lived in her distorted bubble all her life. Consequently, she disconnected from the consequences that her actions may have!"- (Y/ n) explained excitedly to Kurapika. Their enthusiasm, more than their tone of voice, was also reflected in small movements that (Y / n) made with its hands. Inadvertently, Kurapika smiled, considering their enthusiasm adorable. To finally recognize how charming (Y/n) was to him.

Kurapika was sure he wanted to decide the whole condition with (Y / n), but he was still confused about what to do. He inferred that the wisest choice was to request advice. Next, he led towards the only other person he recognized as his friend in that place. Melody knew that Kurapika was young and inexperienced after all.

"I'm unsure about what to do, Melody. They've greatly helped me with something crucial to me, and I'm appreciative. (Y/n) is charming to me. They're so patient, thoughtful, and kind. I enjoy their company.

But what if it's not worth the trouble? It's illogical; we have known each other for roughly three months. They might not accept it or disappear. I can't permit myself to get disturbed." -Kurapika voiced all the insecurities he had. After a moment of meditation, Melody replied.

"I believe you like them. (Y/n) appears to make you happy, that's true. When they helped you, did they judge you, did they left?"-Melody tried to make Kurapika question his insecurities.

"Not at all; they were pretty reliable."-Kurapika answered, staring away. Melody gave him a sweet smile and continued-"If they proved themselves trustworthy, they merit a chance. I think you deserve to allow yourself a chance. I believe it will do good for you."

"Thank you, Melody." And he returned a sincere smile.

Likewise, Kurapika decided to take his chance.

Already 7:30 pm and the workers of the Nostrade house were leaving. (Y/n) was preparing their bag when they felt a slight touch on the shoulder. Kurapika quickly took a step backward when (Y/n) instinctively shrunk in surprise at his touch. They promptly looked at Kurapika, who cleared his throat before speaking. "(Y/n) do you care to stay a little longer. I require to tell you something."

The mentioned one gave their sign smile as they hummed and nodded-"Sure!"

"Accompany me to the kitchen please, it will be quieter." request (Y/n) fulfilled. Already in the empty room, Kurapika took a deep breath. So many details made him nervous at the minute. He doubted himself. He had no idea how to approach sentimental topics.

(Y/n) 's gaze was on him, but without meeting his eyes. Which caused him to not decipher what they were thinking. He had no idea if they would reciprocate, get angry, or react. If there was something that intrigued and delighted Kurapika, was (Y/n)'s way of being. For him, it was mysterious and transparent at the same time. Genuine but selective in what they showed. And he wanted to ascertain more.

"(Y/n), since our time together has been relatively short, this may seem illogical to you. However, for me, it has been remarkably important and enjoyable. So I reasoned: I like you."

(Y/n) still without seeing him in the eyes and without changing their smile, blinked a pair of times and sang, tilting their head "Thank you! I like you too; you're quite nice as well!"- Maybe they were a bit foolish after all...

"No, no! It's not that... I mean... I also do like you. I alluded to like you romantically." the young man amed to the person in front of him. Whose eyes widened making and making an O with its mouth. And while a flush creeped their cheeks , also rectified. "I do... too... like you romantically."-(Y/n) proceeded to put a hand on their forehead, the face visibly darker and embarrassed, to tremble-"I... That is much more logical... I am very sorry...I'm truly ashamed. I'm not good at those subjects!"

As (Y/n) felt bad, Kurapika also felt bad. He raised his hands, shaking them and little in denial "It's alright, it's alright. Worry not!" It was an embarrassing disaster. But they were a disaster together.

After some shame whines, (Y/n) sigh and continued "In this case, please allow me to invite you to morning tea tomorrow. It's the last I can do. I beg you." In an attempt to not make things more awkward, Kurapika quickly but joyfully added -"It would be splendid!"- to obtain a -"Marvelous!"- from his newly obtained sweetheart. They both went home ashamed. If something is clear, it is that neither of them stopped thinking about that event throughout the night. Also that the more they reflected on it, the more fortunate they felt.

The date was settled! The sole issue was that, due to the embarrassment, they both forgot to arrange an hour. And they both felt ridiculous.

Kurapika wondered what time would be proper to present, to ultimately arrive at 9:30 a.m. While (Y/n) was waiting for him since 8:30, worried they were going to be late. Since (Y/n) always wore some kind of embroidered floral ornament, Kurapika assumed they liked flowers. And showed up with a bouquet, plus it was the first time (Y/n) saw him with his traditional Kurta clothing.

"Good morning (Y/n). I bring you these, I hope they'll be of your taste." Kurapika greeted, handling the flowers. The (h/c) gladly accepted them as they made a sign to come in.

"Greeting Kurapika! They're splendid. Please come in and get comfortable." they told. Kurapika sat on the couch, and (Y/n) arrived with two cups, a teapot, and a kettle. "Do you prefer tea or coffee?"

"Tea, please." followed by the answer, (Y/n) poured tea into the cups and sat next to Kurapika. As if it were a silent understanding, neither mentioned anything regarding the incident on the schedule.

"I like your clothes. They are gorgeous!"- a little remark that touched the boy, who muttered a gentle -"thank you." Kurapika reflected a lot about his choice to confess, but he never repented it. The warmth he felt in that moment was pure for him.

(Y/n) raised his hands to their chest and, fidgeting with their fingers, modestly asked -"I apologize if my inquiring is stupid, but... are we lovers?"- They had their gaze concentrated in their hands. The first thing that people usually think of when meeting (Y/n) is that they were a serious, refined, and intelligent character. This was partially true, but it had a somewhat childish side, more intimate, and it was what Kurapika was witnessing at the time.

"Naturally," he answered.

"I'm sorry if I don't fulfill your expectation for me. You are the initial lover I have. In fact, also my first friend." Despite being a relatively sad statement, (Y/n) had their grin stamped on their inclined face. That smile. That it always seemed the same regardless of the emotion her voice conveyed, with certain narrow exceptions. Kurapika felt the obligation to if they were blue, comfort (Y/n). Just like they had done.

"I discerned that you invariably smile, and the smile is identical. Can I request an explanation?" He asked, knowing what his goal was. His partner was a bit uncomfortable with the question and shrugging their shoulders uttered.

"It's quite complex to elucidate... I have some challenges expressing emotions to others. Not because they are not explicit to me. Just my facial expressions don't mirror my sentiments.

Regularly, in addition to smiling, I can take a serious aspect. It does not cause me much trouble, since people consider me as someone friendly- not that I am not. Though may cause others to judge me uncanny. I'm sorry if it's the case."

"Do not apologize. It doesn't appear eerie to me." Kurapika assured with a sweet smile. (Y/n) looked him in the eye again, showing their happiness in their distinctive way.

"You are a kind person, thank you." following their remark, the room fell into a comfortable silence. Kurapika and (Y/n) were two shy souls enjoying each other's company. Although everything happening was alien to both of them, they appreciated it.

They needed a little kindness and company, which they seemed to have finally gotten.

Who could have guessed? Neon did something helpful for once!

#kurapika kurta x reader #kurapika imagine #kurapika kurta #hxh drabbles #hxh scenarios #hxh x reader #kurapika x reader #kurapika hxh #hxh #hxh imagines #kurapika #hunter x hunter

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rachetmath · 4 years

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Why I love team JNPR

You know the usual. This is in my opinion. If you like it, reblog it or both that’s your choice. If you have questions, or want to add on to this then comment. Read at your own time and will.

Ren and Nora compared to Yang: Yang had a mother. May not be by blood related but by relationship. Her mother died while she was young, but she still had her father and uncle to raise her. She had a social life in school, and she was trained by her father and uncle. Ren and Nora on the other hand, have no parents, only watched after each other and were trained by a bunch of strangers or by themselves. So unlike Yang, Ren and Nora would have a hard time relating to some people than Yang would.

Pyrrha compared to Weiss: Weiss was born and raised in a rich family. True, she was always cautious when it comes down to others using her for their own gain. But she takes her title way too seriously and it made her arrogant and cocky. Pyrrha doesn’t take her title too seriously, but she was overwhelmed by it. She hated how everyone only saw her as a tool or a weapon they can use for battle, and not as a person. She tries to welcome anyone into her life, but they always reject her, mainly feeling unworthy of her. Because of this Pyrrha felt truly more alone than Weiss. Unlike her, Pyrrha made her way to the top, she wasn’t born into it nor took the easy way to get there.

Jaune in comparison to Ruby and Blake: Jaune had nobody! Jaune had no uncle, no best friend, no teacher(sensei), NO SUPPORT to help him become a hunter. Jaune literally unlike Ruby is way out of his comfort zone. And unlike everyone he had no aura or training to help him. Jaune unlike Blake was treated, like a faunus, as a huge literal joke. This guy has literally had more reasons to be a villian than any of his teammates do. Plus, he has more things in common with the bad guys than he does with the heroes. He lost his partner and best friend due to the heroes, and Ozpin’s actions.

I liked team RWBY in volume 1-3, mostly because it made sense and was reviling each character’s problems and goals and was setting up the conflict of the story. But in volume three I started liking team JNPR more, because how they are not like the other teams. Everyone knows Pyrrha Nikkos, and believes without her, team JNPR is nothing more than failures. And you can’t blame them considering Jaune only became a leader because he was assigned to be one, and Ren and Nora were a bit too relaxed and into to each other to be leaders at all. And now with Pyrrha gone, they must prove that even without her, they can still be a great team. While defying the so-called “destiny” Cinder described as well.

In volume 4, we see Jaune does miss Pyrrha, and that he trains at night to her video message. He does feel sad that he lost her and that he couldn’t even express his feelings towards her as she did to him. And when he realized the truth, of course he was suspicious, his friend would have died either way by Amburn’s soul taking over or being a target for the rest of her life. Ren and Nora not only had to be there for each other still but now they had to be there for Jaune like Pyrrha did. (Even though they were completely horrible at it considering their flashback and action in volume four.)

In volume 5, (oh my gosh, this one is the reason I hate the show sometimes because of time constants) we learned the whole reason behind Jaune’s actions, which is revenge on Cinder. Team JNR were first to see Oscar before Ruby. Oscar was place under Jaune’s care do to the fact he was also a underdog (even though Oscar can just learn from muscle memory like Ozpin said) but Ruby takes that role for some reason and we are expected to take it. When the battle arrived, when Jaune had Cinder right in front of him, he did not hesitate to fight her. This backfired and one of his friends got hurt. He acknowledged that he missed up, that it was not suppose happen, and by doing so, he got his semblance. (Even when that makes no sense considering Cinder was after Ruby and Jaune’s secondary reason for coming along was keeping Ruby safe. At least I hope it was.)

In volume 6, could’ve better, Jaune made Oscar question himself even further, which is good. Because, one, Oscar is fourteen, and unlike Ruby he doesn’t have much of a clear idea on why he came along on the journey in first place other than Ozpin telling him to. When Jaune heard Oscar ran away, unlike Qrow, who punched him by the way, and don’t say it was for Ozpin because they share the same body, Qrow still hit a child, Jaune helped in the search and apologized to Oscar for his behavior. He gave Ruby an option when she couldn’t think of anything then she takes charge over it. Also, Ren and Nora admitted that they love Jaune and would not want to lose him just like Pyrrha. (Again, they were completely bad at that, considering they didn’t talk about that on the train, nor called Jaune out on his actions, completely ignoring him and etc. Really Jaune needs new friends.)

In volume 7, here’s the thing, Jaune had no reason to hate the General because he already worked things out with Qrow. How and when? We don’t know. But that shouldn’t mean he should flat out trust James with his life unlike Clover. Why you may ask, first, Qrow told him about the maiden powers. I mean, he wouldn’t leave out the people who knew about them like Ozpin, Good-witch and Ironwood, right? No. So Jaune has a reason not to trust James, not because of Pyrrha but Lionheart, the general’s actions so far and how the truth almost torn them apart mainly himself. Plus Jaune, and his team work more in Mantle, than RWBY, so they would have more run-in times with happy huntresses than team RWBY would on a regular basis. Then it’s how Mantle and Atlas situation is affecting their team with Ren and Nora butting heads over who’s right and who’s wrong, whether their ready to be hunters or not, and more importantly questioning their relationship and loyalty to not only each other but their friends. Image Ren, taking it too far where he could say something he’ll regret. Or by finding James to be right, he would sell out his friends believing it was the right thing to do. Image Nora having to choose between Ren or Jaune, which will be devasting more for Ren than Jaune because of how close they are to each other.

In volume 8, (Even though I highly doubt that team JNR will ever have a scene to themselves and now preview.) Jaune will feel bad because he not only lost the relic, he lost Oscar even though he’s alive. Now, how would this disturb him? Well, even though Nora would have to decide between him and Ren, in volume 4, there was a scene with Jaune going with Ruby and Nora going with Ren. It would feel obvious that she would follow Ren anywhere, even if it means leaving her friends behind. That could leave Jaune broken because he lost not only Pyrrha and Oscar but his teammates, making him the official Qrow and Raven of the group. This could cause Jaune to further out cast himself from everyone, trusting less in others and undoubtably make more horrible decisions than he already has before. That could also make him more of a target for the villains themselves. However, Jaune’s will to still protect the people and his friends will be the what keeps him sane and less brainwashed like Salem’s forces or the Ace Ops. (Or call team RWBY out on their mistakes.) But who can save him from a self-destructive path?

Many of you will say team RWBY might be able to help since their the main crew. Well, sadly, I disagree. Do to the fact that none of them tried to talk to Jaune after the Cinder and Ozpin incident. And there are multiple characters who have gone through a similar process or are wiser, than the main cast. The only ones who I feel can make an impact on him are maybe Maria and Penny. Penny may be android, but she seems more human than the RWBY girls put together. She is kind, friendly and mostly very supportive towards her allies. Maria may not have had many friends or levels of companionship as others, but she does know about how it feels to be powerless and scared of what’s to come. Maria would basically remind Jaune that being afraid and sorry for himself isn’t going to make things better. Penny would try to keep his sanity alive until he could once again maintain it on his own. However, the final person who I believe can help him is Qrow or even Oscar (Ozpin). Qrow would just remind Jaune on how far he has come, and for him to understand that nothing will play out as he planned. He would even tell him more about his team, mainly Raven and himself and how their decisions affected their family. Same goes for Oscar (Ozpin) but telling him how many mistakes he has made during his lifetime. He might even tell Jaune he knew about his fake transcripts, just didn’t care much about it if Jaune was willing to work and improve.

I know many people love team RWBY due to them being an all-female cast or for other reasons I cannot explain. But sometimes, there are situations that they cannot relate to. And even if there was, team RWBY does nothing to resolve it. For example, Jaune was sad about Pyrrha and trains under her videos. He wanted revenge on Cinder and Weiss almost died for it. And though he was asking appropriate questions, he went about it the wrong way, causing Oscar to feel unwanted and run away. Yet, none of his friends, bothered to either call him out on it, nor done anything to cheer him up or reason with him. Ruby who literally saw Jaune committing every one of those transaction, and has a dead relative, said nothing. Yang who lost both her moms, whose uncle was a constant drunk and had to take care of Ruby while her worthless dad is busy, said nothing. Weiss who has a somewhat of a dysfunctional family, said nothing. Blake who is supposed to be an escape victim of a one-sided relationship, who seen how friends change or show their true colors with time, and literally seen more death than her team members and blames it on herself, said, nothing. Basically, Jaune overcame some of his problems on his own along with the help of the Red-Haired Women (and she barely mattered). And even though Ren and Nora talked to him, he already had reinsurances he needed to move forward. The point I’m trying to make is the reason I like team JNPR is that they are more real than team RWBY. They have weakness, they have arguments, nothing goes their way and when something bad happens they face the consequences.

That is why I love JNPR better than RWBY. Jaune, he was just a normal person until he made a chose to leave his old life behind for something greater, only to have his character taken by Ruby and Oscar, who just ruins it, and to never improve. And we still know nothing about him. Pyrrha who should just stayed alive because no one has learned from her death. Ren and Nora are just to be a better ship than Bumblebee. I hope these characters get better, but I highly doubt it.

#rwby #Jaune Arc #pyrrha nikos #lie ren #nora valkyrie #JNPR #ruby rose #weiss schnee #Blake Belladonna #yang xiao long #oscar pines #james ironwood #qrow branwen #rwby ozpin #Glynda Goodwitch

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btsqualityy · 4 years

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Scripted: Part 5

Namjoon x Reader; Jimin x Reader

Genre: Angst, fluff, President!Namjoon, Head of Security!Jimin

Warnings: (Reluctant) open relationship, mentions of cheating

Author’s Note: I know that those aren’t the real names of Namjoon’s parents, but the names I came up with are just for the purposes of this story! Enjoy!

About a week later, you were making your way towards the West Wing of the Blue House, heading for Namjoon’s office. Things had been relatively pleasant between the two of you, but you mostly chalked that up to the fact that Namjoon still felt guilty about forgetting your wedding anniversary the week prior.

After he had gotten back from having lunch with his father, Namjoon told you that his father had requested that you come along next time and his father would bring Namjoon’s mother. Like the idiot that you were, you made the mistake of asking when and Namjoon told you that the dinner was already planned for the next week at his parent’s house.

See, you didn’t have a problem with Namjoon’s mother; in fact, you loved her. She took over the role of the female figure in your life after your own mother (and father) passed away a few months after you started dating Namjoon when the two of you were in your first year of college. Namjoon’s father on the other hand....you definitely preferred to stay away from him.

So that’s why you were headed to the West Wing, which you had found yourself subconsciously avoiding ever since the office incident.

“Hi Mrs. Kim,” you heard someone call your name out and when you looked to your left, you saw Jimin sitting in one of the offices waving towards you.

“Jimin, hi,” you smiled as you stepped over and leaned against the doorway of his office. “And call me Y/N.”

“Sorry Y/N,” Jimin chuckled. “What are you doing here?”

“Namjoon and I are having dinner with his parents tonight,” you replied as you rolled your eyes.

“I take it you don’t like them much?” He guessed from your mannerisms.

“I love his mother, but his father is a piece of work,” you replied honestly, gasping lightly after you realized what you had just said. “Keep that between you and I though?”

“Of course,” Jimin nodded.

“He in there?” You wondered, motioning with your head towards your husband’s office door that was just a little ways down the hall.

“Yeah, having a meeting with Taehyung-ssi I think,” Jimin told you and you just nodded before taking a second to take a look around his office.

“I see you’ve made yourself at home,” you smiled as you walked further into his office, looking at the pictures that he had hanging up on the wall.

“Yeah. I learned from being in the Navy that having personal mementos can make you feel more comfortable in a new place so I kind of went crazy,” he admitted.

“Who’s this?” You wondered as you pointed up to a picture of Jimin and a little girl whose smile was vaguely similar to his.

“That’s my niece, Hana. She’s my younger brother’s daughter,” Jimin beamed and you could tell that Hana meant a lot to him just by the look on his face when he said her name.

“She’s gorgeous,” you complimented before you turned back around to face him. “Speaking of kids, I learned some very interesting information about you yesterday.”

“What’s that?”

“A little birdie told me that you’ve gone back to volunteer at the Children’s Hospital three times in the last week,” you revealed and he immediately looked up at you with a raised brow.

“It was Sooyoung, wasn’t it?” He questioned and you just smirked in reply. “I asked her not to say anything.”

“Jimin, she’s been one of my closest friends since college,” you laughed. “You lost that battle before you even went into it.”

“Well, I couldn’t help myself,” Jimin shrugged. “Those kids have been through so much that the simplest things make them happy and I just...wanted to help, I guess.”

“No need to explain yourself Jimin,” you assured him. “I actually think it’s very admirable of you to go down there on your free time, which I know you don’t get too much of.”

“True. I guess I just saw why you’re so passionate about helping them, you know?” Jimin said and you nodded your head. Suddenly, an idea popped into your head.

“Jimin?” You called.

“Yes?”

“Since you want to help the kids out, why don’t you help Momo and I with the benefit that I plan on throwing for them?” You suggested and Jimin’s eyes lit up.

“A benefit?”

“Sooyoung was telling me about how the hospital could use some extra things and even though I could influence Namjoon to propose some legislation to get them extra funding, I try not to do that and it would take forever anyway so I figured that the next best thing would be to hold a benefit ball,” you explained. “You know, the whole ‘make the wealthy and illustrious members of society feel bad for not helping out more’ type of thing.”

“What would I even do?” Jimin wondered.

“You could help Momo and I plan it,” you said. “And since you’re volunteering with the kids now, you know them and what they need so you could help us make it more...personalized, if that makes sense. Maybe you could even give a speech.”

“That sounds amazing,” Jimin replied honestly. “But with my job title, I’m not sure if that would be a conflict of interests or not.”

“If you weren’t a volunteer at the hospital and I asked you to lie in a speech as a favor to me, then that constitutes a conflict of interests. But you’re doing it because you care, right?”

“Absolutely,” Jimin replied with no hesitation.

“Well then, there you go,” you laughed, making Jimin do the same. “So will you do it?”

“I’d be honored,” Jimin replied and you cheered lightly, clapping your hands.

“Great! Looking forward to working with you partner,” you beamed as you stuck your hand out towards Jimin for a handshake.

“You’re hilarious, you know that?” Jimin laughed as he shook his head but he stuck his hand out to meet yours anyways, wrapping his hand around yours. You couldn’t help but to notice how soft his hands were, which you really wouldn’t expect from someone who had been in the Navy for so many years.

“Hey Y/N-ah,” you heard your husband’s voice and when you turned to look over your shoulder, Namjoon was standing right outside of Jimin’s office door with Taehyung at his side.

“Oh, hi Joon,” you greeted him, sliding your hand out from Jimin’s and turning towards your husband. “Hi Tae.”

“Hi Y/N,” Taehyung grinned.

“You almost ready to leave for dinner?” Namjoon asked and you nodded your head.

“Yeah, I was just talking to Jimin for a few minutes,” you told him. “He’s gonna help Momo and I out with the benefit ball for the Children’s Hospital.”

“That’s great Jimin-ssi,” Namjoon nodded his approval as he looked over at Jimin. “Be warned though, this one can be a little stubborn when it comes to how she wants things.”

“I’m sure it’ll be fine Sir,” Jimin chuckled.

“Alright, let’s get out of here,” Namjoon sighed as he handed a a large file of papers over to Taehyung. “You know where I’ll be tonight. If anything absolutely important comes through, let me know.”

“I got it,” Taehyung scoffed playfully. “Go have a good dinner you two.”

“Oh, we’ll try,” you smiled sarcastically, grabbing onto the hand that Namjoon was holding out towards you.

“Have a good night you two,” Namjoon said, nodding to both Taehyung and Jimin.

“Goodnight Sir, Goodnight Y/N,” Jimin said.

“Night Tae, night Jimin,” you replied, giving them a little wave before you and Namjoon walked off down the hallway together. Jimin moved to get back to work but he couldn’t help but to notice that Taehyung was still standing in his doorway.

“Yes Taehyung-ssi?” Jimin wondered.

“So, Y/N, huh?” Taehyung smirked.

“She told me to call her that,” Jimin shrugged, not understanding what Taehyung was hinting at.

“Of course. Well, you have a good night Jimin-ssi,” Taehyung smiled before walking away from Jimin’s office.

...................................

“Oh, it’s so nice to see the two of you!” Namjoon’s mom Mi-sook exclaimed, pulling you into a tight hug as soon as you and Namjoon walked through the front door of his parent’s house.

“It’s good to see you too,” you giggled, hugging her back just as tightly. “How have you been?”

“Good, good,” Mi-sook replied as she pulled back from the hug to look at your face. “Are you eating? You lost the fullness in your cheeks.”

“Not like she should be,” Namjoon interrupted and you looked next to you to shoot him a small glare, to which he shrugged in response.

“I haven’t been feeding you since you were 18 years old all for you to lose it in a few months,” Mi-sook chuckled. “I’ll make sure to feed you good tonight.”

“I’ve honestly missed your cooking,” you admitted as you linked arms with her as the two of you walked further into the house with Namjoon following closely behind. “So you’ll hear no complaints from me.”

“And you,” Mi-sook said as she turned around to look at her son, only to smack his arm. “You think just because you’re the President of our great country that you don’t have to call your mother anymore?”

“I always tell him that he should call you more,” you spoke up, making Namjoon glare at you and you just smirked at him.

“I’m sorry eomma, I’ll do better,” he apologized, stepping forward and hugging her.

“Is that my boy?” You heard a deep voice call out and you looked towards the stairs to see Namjoon’s father Sang-hoon descending them.

“Hi appa,” Namjoon greeted him, bowing to his father.

“How’s everything?” Sang-hoon asked and you had to resist the urge to roll your eyes.

“It’s going good,” Namjoon chuckled and his father nodded before turning towards you.

“Hello Y/N,” Sang-hoon said.

“Hi,” you replied stiffly.

“Well, no use of us all standing around here,” Mi-sook spoke up. “Let’s go eat.” The four of you walked into the dining room then, Namjoon and his father sitting at the heads of the small table while you and Mi-sook sat on the sides.

“So, how’s life been in the Blue House Y/N?” Mi-sook wondered after everyone had filled their plates up and began eating.

“It’s been good,” you smiled. “It took a while for us to really settle in, but now it’s just like home.”

“Did you finish decorating?” She asked and you nodded. “That must’ve been a nightmare, given how large it is.”

“Well, since it’s a historical place as well, there were a lot of things that I couldn’t change,” you explained. “So really, the only places I decorated were my office, our private living room, and our bedroom and bathroom.”

“Oh, to be a woman who’s only worry is decorating,” Sang-hoon murmured and you took a deep breath, willing yourself not to say anything reckless.

“I’m sure she does more than just decorating Sang-ah,” Mi-sook chastised. “From one woman of the house to another, I was simply inquiring.”

“You’re right though eomma, Y/N-ah does way more than just decorating,” Namjoon chuckled. “Tell them about the children’s hospital.”

“Oh, so for my official cause that I’ll be supporting as First Lady, I’ve decided to focus on the local children’s hospital,” you said.

“The one that your friend from college Sooyoung runs?” Mi-sook wondered and you nodded your head.

“The hospital houses the largest number of sick kids in our region and I figured, what better cause is there to support? I mean, these kids are going to be the future of our country,” you explained and Mi-sook smiled at you fondly.

“That’s great Y/N-ah,” Mi-sook beamed. “You always have had the biggest heart.”

“She’s organizing a benefit ball to raise money for them and everything,” Namjoon added. “I think it’s going to be great.”

“While this all sounds good and I’m sure that it’s a worthwhile cause,” Sang-hoon spoke up and you looked over at him. “Don’t you think it’s a little odd for you to be supporting a cause for children when you don’t have any of your own?”

“Sang-ah,” Mi-sook gasped.

“No, I don’t think it’s odd at all,” you stated firmly. “You don’t have to have children in order to sympathize with them.”

“I’m just saying, people may start to wonder why our First Lady hasn’t had a child yet when you and Namjoon have been married for five years now,” Sang-hoon noted. “They might even start to gossip about if you’re even able to conceive.”

“Appa, that’s enough,” Namjoon interjected.

“I’m only thinking of you son,” Sang-hoon shrugged. “Having a baby might help your approval ratings.”

“Do you hear yourself right now?” You chuckled in disbelief. “Namjoon’s approval ratings are fine and even if they weren’t, a baby is not going to make people like him more.”

“Y/N-ah is right,” Namjoon agreed. “And we are not going to use a child as a political weapon.”

“In the world of politics, everything is a political weapon,” Sang-hoon mused as he picked up his glass of wine. “You’ll be wise to remember that, Namjoon-ah.”

“Leave them alone Sang-ah,” Mi-sook tsked. “They are both still young and they have plenty of time.”

“Thank you eomma,” you smiled at her.

“But,” Mi-sook dragged out and you raised an eyebrow at her. “I would like to know when I can expect some little grand babies running around here.” You just looked over to your left at Namjoon, who was already looking at you. The two of you held each other’s gazes for a few seconds, unspoken words passing between your eyes. You then broke the gaze, reaching out to pick up your glass of wine as you looked back to his mother.

“Whenever we’re ready,” you shrugged before taking a sip of your wine.

...................................

“You know that being around your dad is the most exhausting thing ever, right?” You wondered out loud as you and Namjoon walked into your shared bedroom back at the Blue House. Dinner had been more than a little awkward after Sang-hoon’s whole spiel about the two of you having a baby, and you were more than a little annoyed.

“Imagine being raised by him,” Namjoon sighed as he reached up and unfastened his tie, lifting it up and over his head before throwing it onto the nearby dresser while you took off your heels. You then moved over to your vanity table, sitting down so that you could work on taking off your makeup.

“Thank God for your mom or else you would’ve turned out to be just like him,” you huffed.

“We’re not much different, he and I,” Namjoon muttered as he walked up behind you and set his hands on your shoulders, watching you as you grabbed a makeup wipe and worked on taking off your makeup. “I notice it every time I see him and it’s scary.”

“You’re not that bad Joon,” you assured him and Namjoon just shrugged in response. He stood behind you for a few minutes, watching as you finished taking off your makeup before you moved on to taking off your jewelry.

“You know, I don’t think that he was completely wrong,” Namjoon whispered and you looked at him through the reflection in the mirror on your vanity.

“I thought you supported me working with the children’s hospital,” you huffed.

“What? No, I do,” he shook his head. “That’s not what I was talking about.”

“What then?”

“Y/N-ah, we should have a baby,” Namjoon said and your eyes widened.

“Are you serious?” You chuckled in disbelief and you watched as Namjoon moved from behind you to bend down so that he was face to face with you.

“Of course I am. You know that I’ve always wanted children with you,” he murmured as he reached out and held one of your hands in both of his.

“Yeah, I know you used to always say that but that was before,” you replied.

“Do you not want a baby?” He wondered and you had to stop yourself from rolling your eyes.

“Of course I do. I always have but we have to be realistic about what we would be bringing a baby into,” you said. “Our marriage is literally a marriage in name only and has been for almost a year now. You’re barely home and I have my own commitments as First Lady so the baby would basically be raised by nannies and I don’t want that and you shouldn’t either.”

“You could cancel your commitments if you had a baby and you know that,” Namjoon told you. “As for my job, I can’t just stop that but I’d do my best and you know I’d stop the entire “arrangement” thing.”

“And who would you be stopping it for, me or the baby?” You questioned and Namjoon just sighed before looking away from you. “Look, I hear what you’re saying Joon but I just can’t get the image of you going off and cheating on me again out of my head.”

“I wouldn’t do that to you or the baby,” he promised.

“You’ve done it before!” You shot back, getting angry at how he kept pushing the subject. “Are you telling me that I have to have a fucking baby in order for you to remain faithful to me?”

“That’s not what I’m saying and you know it,” he scoffed as he released your hand that he had been holding.

“Sure sounds like it.”

“Look,” he sighed as he stood up again and you craned your neck in order to look up at him. “If you don’t wanna have a baby with me, then just say that and we never have to have this conversation again.”

“I don’t wanna have a baby,” you stated.

“With me,” he pressed.

“Namjoon,-”

“With me,” he growled lowly and you slit your eyes at him, anger coursing through your body.

“With you,” you finished and he nodded curtly before turning around and walking into the bathroom, slamming the door behind him.

...................................

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mercurysnitch · 4 years

Text

Mother Mercury Part 4: So Take A Chance With Me, Let Me Romance With You

Summary: Important steps are taken in multiple relationships. More of Eve and Mel’s family life is revealed.

A/N: Yes, this fic is still alive! (Just...) After a very long hiatus during which I got a job, lived through one lockdown only to be plunged into a second one which still isn’t over nearly four months later, and utterly lost all inspiration for a while, I’ve finally finished this part (and persuaded myself to stop editing it). Yet again I’ve had to extend the part count, this part was supposed to run to the end of filming but I realised it was getting quite long enough as it was, so I split it into two. The next part’s maybe halfway done, so lord knows when that’ll be published, but hopefully soonish.

I’m not entirely sure about a couple of sections of this, but if I don’t publish it now I never will, and I really want to get to writing part 6 as soon as possible, so here you go. I’m also quite excited about finally sharing a couple of bits of Eve’s backstory that I haven’t been able to talk about yet because they were spoilers for this chapter.

A quick reminder if you’ve forgotten since the last chapter: this fic is based on the idea of Freddie having had a biological daughter via accidentally knocking up a woman while under the influence at a party. (If you’re just joining us, it’s mostly explained in part 3). If you don’t like that idea, move along now. Also, shoutout to @i-lay-my-life-before-queen, whose various Freddie fics were a big inspiration for this story.

Warnings: Discussion of age gap relationships, kids, Eve and her fam are meant to have cats but I forgot to write them in so they might have other pets next part, I have no idea what the word count is but it ain’t short

*******************************************************************************************The secret knowledge that there was a Mercury grandchild in their midst seemed to give the Bo Rhap cast a lift over the following weeks. This proved surprisingly useful, as those weeks were marked by a deterioration in working conditions on the set. The director, who'd seemed frequently out of sorts almost from the start of shooting, kept disappearing for longer and longer stretches, and when he was around the atmosphere was increasingly tense. Everyone tried to get on with their jobs, but the tension was utterly pervasive.

Mel had even noticed a growing nervousness in the relative isolation of the costume department. Her boss Barbara tried to reassure her, but even she was worried. "We can't keep on like this, the ADs can't do it all themselves. Apparently Singer says he's been taking care of his mother, but I don't think anyone believes him." "Surely he has to be sacked?" Mel suggested. "I hope so" Barbara agreed. "Hopefully the producers can make the studio see sense and replace him before too long. I don't think anyone can take much more of this."

Privately Mel wondered whether Roger and Brian might be able to help. They were executive producers after all. Then again, would the studio listen if they raised concerns about the director? Mel suspected not, in normal circumstances. But she got the feeling plenty of people on the set would be voicing similar complaints before long. Perhaps Roger and Brian leading the charge would be enough to convince the studio take action. Mel only hoped something would be done sooner rather than later.

In the meantime, Mel and Ben could at least take comfort in each other. They’d quickly reached the point of spending nearly every night together, and now, after only a little over a month, Ben was wondering whether it was too soon for the ‘relationship’ conversation. He didn’t think it was, really, and he very much wanted to take the next step with Mel, small though it might be, but he was still plagued by nagging doubt about the age gap between them.

Ben tried very hard to keep his mind on work while he was on set, but the combination of a light day and an impending date that would be a very good opportunity for that important conversation had left him very preoccupied. He managed to get through the few takes he had to shoot without incident, but he knew the rest of the band could tell something was up even before he took the first possible opportunity to escape to his trailer during the break. He was hoping to be able to brood in peace, but that idea went out the window when he bumped into Roger en route. Normally this would have been a welcome coincidence, but today Ben was not in the mood. Not that Roger noticed.

“Ben! Just the man I was looking for. Just wanted to see how you’re going with the preparation for that next performance scene coming up. It’s a pretty straightforward song, but there’s a couple of…” The older man trailed off when he noticed his portrayer wasn’t listening. “Earth to Ben? You still here?” Ben started at the sound of his name. ‘Wha-? Oh, sorry, spaced out for a minute there.” Roger chuckled. “Yeah, just a bit.” There was silence as Ben realised they’d arrived at his trailer. “D’you wanna come in, chat in the warmth?” he offered. “Thanks” Roger replied, following through the door. The second Ben closed it Roger rounded on him.

“Right, what’s going on?” “What?” Ben was confused. “Something’s bothering you” Roger explained. Suddenly he softened slightly. “You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to, but talking about it might help.” Ben hesitated. He did want to spill his guts about his dilemma, but he wasn’t sure Roger was the best choice of confidant. So he stalled. “How can you tell?” “That you’re worrying? You were obviously miles away before, you weren’t actually hiding it” Roger explained. Ben was suddenly ashamed. “Sorry.” “It’s fine” Roger assured him. “So, what’s on your mind? Is it that prick of a director? I can talk to-” “No, no, it’s not work” Ben said unthinkingly. His eyes widened when he realised what he’d just said. “Oh shit.” He’d really done it now: Roger suddenly looked very interested, and perhaps a touch… was that really concern in his eyes?

“Not work…” Roger echoed wonderingly. “Love life then?” He smiled as he saw a flicker of alarm cross Ben’s face. “Ah, definitely love life.” “If… if I tell you will you keep it secret?” Ben asked nervously, eyes wide with worry. “Of course” Roger assured him. “Now, spill. It’ll help, truly.” Ben sighed. “Well, alright then.”

“The thing is, well, me and Mel are… going out, I suppose” he explained. Roger smiled triumphantly. “I knew it, I knew there was something-”“It’s been a month now” Ben went on, ignoring Roger’s crowing. “And I want to be official, but I just… I’m not sure.” Roger was puzzled. “Why not?” “Because of the age gap” Ben clarified. “I’m worried it’s too much. She’s only 21, and I’m… nearly 27 really, and I just… I don’t know.”

Roger stared at him. “That’s not actually much of a gap, you know.” “Well it feels like one” Ben countered grumpily. “I’m sure it does” Roger soothed. “But why does it bother you so much?” Ben looked at Roger as if he was mystified at the older man’s lack of understanding.“An older man with a younger woman’s supposed to be bad, isn’t it?” “You’re asking the wrong bloke, mate” Roger chuckled. Ben suddenly looked horrified. “Oh lord, I forgot, I didn’t mean-” “It’s fine, I know what you meant” Roger assured him. “I used to hear it a lot, when I started seeing Debbie. She was only 25, you know, and I was nearly 40.” “That… 21 and 27 seems like nothing next to that” Ben mused. “It’s not nothing” Roger assured him. “But it seems like more of a gap because she’s so young.” “More of a gap?” Ben questioned. Roger nodded. “Look, if you heard about a 27-year-old woman and her 33-year-old boyfriend the age difference would hardly register, would it?” “I s’pose not” Ben agreed.

“But you know why people get worked up about young women and older men? They worry the men are taking advantage of their younger immature partners who won't fight them because they don't know any better.” Suddenly Roger peered seriously at Ben. “Now, does Mel seem like a girl who’s easily led into doing things?” “No” Ben declared. “I’m not sure anyone could ever force her to do something if she didn’t want to do it.” Roger grinned. “Thought so.” “I’d never try to, either” Ben added defiantly. “Of course not” Roger agreed. “So, you know there’s no… unhealthy power dynamic, shall we say, and she's not overly immature, is she?” Ben grinned. “Definitely not. She’s a lot more mature than I was at 21. Maybe even more than I am now…” “Women mature earlier” Roger replied, nodding sagely. “Anyway, there’s clearly nothing wrong there, so why not take things further?” “But people might say-” Ben protested. “Oh, bugger that” Roger interrupted. “People say a lot of things, most of them absolute rubbish, there’s no point listening to any of them.” Ben knew, in his heart, Roger spoke the truth.

“Look Ben, you’re not wrong to think about these things, but I know you’re not the sort of man to try and push a woman around” Roger pointed out. “And I’ve seen you and Mel together, you…” Suddenly his voice softened, and he looked at Ben fondly. “You’ve got something special there. I think. If I were you, I wouldn't want to give that up so easily” Ben smiled, significantly reassured. “Thanks Roger.”

That very evening Ben and Mel had dinner at his flat, and a very important conversation. Mel was absolutely thrilled to officially be Ben’s girlfriend, and shared almost none of his concerns about the age gap. Much to Ben’s relief, she was happy to take things slowly from hereon in, though she was a little surprised at his request.

“It’s not you” he assured her. “I just… my last relationship I was with her for nine years, and we only broke up at the start of this year, I wasn’t looking for this to happen again so soon. But…” “I know” Mel said softly. “Neither was I.” There was a slightly awkward pause as they reflected on the unexpected events of the last few months.

“Can I- Can I ask what happened?” Mel asked hesitantly. “I mean, nine years…” “It’s ok” Ben reassured her. “We were teenagers when we got together” he explained. “Kids really. It was good for a while, but we just sort of… grew in different directions. Too different, in the end.”

“Well that’s…” Mel wasn’t quite sure what to say. She almost felt bad for even asking, but Ben assured her it was only human to be curious about these things. Even so, a distinct awkwardness had settled in the air, but fortunately Mel was soon able to change the subject.

“As we’re… official… now, how would you feel about meeting my family?” Ben was surprised. “Isn’t it a bit soon for that?” “Maybe,” Mel shrugged. “But we’ve got the Thanksgiving break coming up, and we always have a big family supper then, it’d be nice if you were there.” Ben was still uncertain. “As long as you think I won’t be intruding, or anything…” “You won’t” Mel assured him. “Besides, you’ve already met my mum, it’s not like you’re a total stranger.” “I s’pose not” Ben agreed, grinning.

He paused, suddenly thoughtful. “Why do you mark Thanksgiving, though? It’s not a British holiday.” “No” Mel agreed. “Have you heard of a guy called Joe Fanelli?” she asked. Ben nodded. “He was one of the ones who lived with Freddie, wasn’t he? The… chef, or something.” “Well, he was American” Mel explained. “He introduced the others to the tradition, and then Jim and my mum sort of kept it up.” Mel’s expression rapidly grew sad. “Joe died of AIDS too, only months after Freddie” she said softly. “The first year they decided to do a dinner to commemorate him… it was around Freddie’s anniversary too, it was always a time they wanted to be together.”

“I’d forgotten about that anniversary” Ben commented. “It’s Gwil’s birthday too, we might be busy that day…” “Poor Gwil” Mel joked. “Mum should be alright though, Vi’ll make sure she’s with her.” “Vi?” Ben echoed. “Mum’s wife” Mel explained. Ben looked shocked. “Wife?” Mel smiled mischievously. “Did you really expect Freddie Mercury to produce a straight child?” she quipped. Ben couldn’t help grinning; she had a point. His smile vanished when he noticed how Mel was looking at him, almost pleading with her eyes.

“Will you come then?” she asked softly. “To Thanksgiving supper?” “Of course” Ben told her, smiling reassuringly. Suddenly his expression shifted to a look of near-panic. Mel was instantly concerned. “What’s wrong?” “You’re not expecting to meet my family any time soon, are you?” he questioned. Mel shrugged. “Not if you don’t want me to. I mean, of course I want to, but I’m happy to wait if you’re not ready.” Ben exhaled in relief. “Oh good.” Mel suddenly glared at him. “I do want to introduce you to them at some point” he hurriedly clarified. “But I'm not ready to just yet, and I don't think they are either." "You don't think they're ready to meet me yet?" Mel questioned. "Why?" Ben sighed.

“It’s just… my ex, I was with her for so long, they all thought I was gonna marry her” he explained. “They really wanted me to marry her, actually. My parents absolutely loved her, I think they're still getting over the fact that she's not going to be their daughter-in-law.” “So you think they might not be entirely ready to hear you’ve found someone new” Mel suggested. Ben nodded. “I actually haven’t even told them about you yet.”

Mel grinned. "Should I be worried?" Ben shook his head. "No, no, they'll be fine" he assured her. "I just… this is still pretty new, y'know, I don't want my mum getting overexcited about us too early." Mel nodded. "That's understandable. I mean, I hope this lasts, but it has only been a month. And I know you've just agreed to meet my family, but I think Mum's planning to get you all round for tea at some point, so you'd be meeting them sooner or later anyway.” "I suppose.” Ben agreed. Suddenly he smiled softly. “By the way, I hope this lasts too."

Later, having finished dinner with much less serious chatter, Ben and Mel agreed that, happy though they were, it would be best to continue keeping their relationship quiet for the time being. This was exactly the kind of news that would travel extremely fast on the set, and Mel had absolutely no desire to find out what her bosses would say if they knew she was in a relationship with one of the stars of the movie. Ben was almost certain it wouldn't actually be an issue, but he knew if word did get out he wouldn't be the one bearing the brunt of any consequences. And he wouldn't put it past Singer to be an asshole about normally inconsequential things like on-set relationships.

Both Ben and Mel wondered whether their buoyant moods and satisfied smiles would give them away at work the next day. Fortunately, the attention of the rest of the band was diverted by the twin distractions of yet more unpleasantness from the director, and another set visitor.

Rami had assured Eve she would be welcome to stop by any time, but since her first fateful visit a month ago she simply hadn’t been able to find the time for another, until now. Naturally, Rami was thrilled to see her. “Eve! You made it!” She could see his grin from a mile away as she approached the wardrobe van. She trotted over eagerly, but when she got close enough to see his outfit she stopped in her tracks.

Rami was wearing the moustache today, and a short wig. For a moment, Eve thought she was seeing things. She’d known there was a resemblance, of course, but this was like looking into a time warp. “Are you alright?” Rami’s concerned voice cut through her reverie, breaking the spell. Eve suddenly realised she was getting teary. “I’m fine, I just… I never realised how much you look like him, with the moustache and all” she said, rather awed. Rami was confused. “But… you’ve seen me in costume before?” he questioned. “The glam rock days were before my time though” Eve explained. “But the 80s look… that’s the Papa I knew.” Understanding suddenly dawned on Rami’s face. “Oh of course. I, uh… Sorry?” “Don’t be” Eve assured him. “You’re doing nothing wrong.” Rami’s expression suddenly grew more thoughtful. “I just hope I can do him proud.” Eve smiled. “Oh, you will.”

Eve was quickly sent back to Rami’s trailer to see the rest of the band. She wasn’t terribly surprised to see her daughter there too, sitting apparently very comfortably on Ben’s lap. Mel was of course pleased to see her mother, though she couldn’t quite shake the feeling she and Ben were on the brink of being revealed to the rest of the band. Perhaps she shouldn’t have sat in his lap, but then nobody else had batted an eyelid at their apparent cosiness. At any rate her mother had shot her a wry glance when she noticed where her daughter was sitting, but said nothing. Maybe we'll get away with it this time, Mel thought to herself.

The band all greeted Eve warmly when she arrived, and they were soon chatting happily about all the happenings she’d missed on-set, good and bad. Mel wasn’t surprised to see her mother grow incensed at the way the director had been behaving in recent weeks. “All that and they still haven’t sacked him?” she exclaimed. “He’s on thin ice now” Rami assured her. “One more disappearance’ll probably get him fired.” “We live in hope” Joe quipped. “This is a good movie, but boy am I glad it’s nearly Thanksgiving, I am so ready for a break.” Eve smiled. “Looking forward to the holiday, then?” Joe nodded. "So much."

Still smiling, she turned to her daughter. “The little ones are so excited about the big dinner this weekend, they’ve been missing their big sister.” “I’ve been missing them too” Mel told her. “I’ve just been so busy lately… it’s been too long since I’ve been home.” Suddenly Mel noticed the rest of the group eyeing her curiously, apparently unsure whether to speak. Eventually, Ben cleared his throat, breaking the sudden silence.

“Ah, the little ones?” he asked casually, not wanting to sound too interested in Mel’s personal life in front of the others. “My other kids” Eve explained. “They’re a lot younger than her, so she’s always been the big one and they’re the little ones.” There was a sudden outbreak of nods of understanding, before Rami spoke up. “So, how old are they?” “Well, my son just turned eight and my other daughter is three” Eve told him, her face alight with affection.

“That is little” Gwilym commented sympathetically. “Yeah, but she’s very sweet” Mel assured him. “Most of the time” Eve quipped. Meanwhile, Joe was smiling slightly. “Eight’s a cool age though, I bet your son’s getting into sports and stuff now” he said, half-questioningly. “Yeah, he’s becoming a big football fan lately” Eve agreed, grinning though she sounded almost regretful. "I’ve never been that interested in it, actually, but my wife’s football-mad, so she’s pretty happy."

A slight ripple of shock went through the group at Eve’s reference to a wife, apart from Ben, who desperately hoped his lack of surprise at this revelation wasn’t too conspicuous. Eve herself was simply amused at the effect of her words. “You know, I honestly forgot that you lot didn’t know about Vi” she commented. “It’s fine” Gwilym assured her. “We just weren’t expecting it is all.” Eve grinned. “Given who my father was it shouldn’t have been that surprising” she quipped, to general murmurs of agreement. “But never mind that now.”

She paused, turning towards Rami. “I’m guessing all the Americans are going home for Thanksgiving?” Rami nodded. “Yeah, why?” Eve smiled. “I was going to say that if anyone was feeling lonely over the break, they’d be most welcome to spend it with us” she said kindly. “But I suppose everyone’s accounted for already.” “Pretty much” Rami confirmed. “Ah well, I’ll have to have you all round for tea some other time” Eve declared ruefully. Mel surreptitiously flashed Ben a look that quite clearly said 'I told you so.' The others merely smiled. “That’s very kind of you” Gwilym commented. “Perhaps we could make it a celebration, when the film wraps.” The others nodded, murmuring enthusiastically. “Good idea” Eve agreed.

“In the meantime, if any of you have any questions or anything, do feel free to ask” she added. “I have one” Joe said, rather uncertainly. “Do you know John Deacon at all?”

Both Eve and Mel instantly cracked near-identical knowing grins. Joe stared at them suspiciously. “What?” “We know him very well” Mel told him calmly, evidently enjoying Joe’s confusion.

“He and Veronica are practically my other parents” Eve explained. “When Papa died he sort of entrusted me to them. Well, to John, mostly.” “Entrusted?” Joe questioned. “He knew I needed a father figure, and he gave John the job” Eve clarified. “John and Veronica raised me just as much as Mum and Papa.”

Suddenly Eve smiled mischievously. “And then I repaid them by having a baby at 16 who they also practically raised.”

Joe grinned as understanding finally dawned. “That’s how Luke knows you, isn’t it?” he asked Mel, who smiled fondly. “Yeah, I sort of grew up with him and Cameron” she explained. Joe nodded as he turned back to Eve, uncharacteristically nervous.“Could I… could we, I mean…?” “Talk about Uncle John?” Eve suggested. “Of course. Let’s have lunch some time so we can chat properly, it could be a very long conversation.” Joe grinned with relief he hadn’t been shot down. “Thank you” he said simply, before his jaw suddenly dropped as the full details of Eve's response finally registered.

“Wait, ‘Uncle John’?” “I told you, we’re very close” Eve explained, with a slight laugh at Joe’s surprised expression. “Now, does anyone else have any other questions while I’m here?”

There was a pause while the rest of the cast considered the offer, before Lucy cautiously spoke up. “D’you have anything to do with Mary Austin, ever?” “Not anymore” Eve said darkly.

“So you did once?” Lucy questioned. “She used to visit a lot, when I was a kid” Eve clarified. “Looking back I think Papa probably wanted us to be close, but I’m not sure she ever did.” Lucy was surprised. "She wasn't… did you get on with her, at least?" "Oh, she was perfectly nice to me when Papa was around" Eve said airily. "And, I mean, I was a child, I took everything at face value then. But after Papa died, and I got a bit older, I started to realise a bit more about what she'd been up to, even back then."

"What she'd been up to?" Lucy echoed. "I think she always sort of resented me" Eve explained. "Obviously she knew none of this was my fault, but I think I still reminded her of all the things she would never have with Papa, …everything she'd thought they'd have together, before he realised the truth."

Lucy was taken aback. “That’s… actually quite sad, really” she said thoughtfully. “I just wonder, you know, I’ve heard such different things… some people say she was just very devoted to Freddie, but then often she’s painted as quite selfish, happily using the connection to her own advantage.”

Eve nodded. “Oh yes, she’s definitely not the devoted angel some people seem to portray her as.” Lucy merely nodded, but Rami was honestly a bit shocked. “She’s not?” he questioned. “But I always thought they loved each other very deeply?” “Oh they did, very much” Eve confirmed. “But that doesn’t mean she wasn’t capable of getting nasty to other people.”

“Can I ask how nasty?” Lucy said gently. “I’m sorry if that’s a bit forward of me, it’s just I’ve heard a few rumours about things she did after Freddie died, but no-one seems to know exactly what went on…” “It’s fine dear, I don’t mind” Eve reassured her. “Don’t share this around, but she tried very hard to challenge Papa’s will.”

The others were baffled. “Why would she do that, though?” Gwilym asked. “Because Papa left a lot of his estate to me” Eve said simply. “And she felt she was owed a bigger share than she was given.” “Owed?” Lucy echoed. “For everything she’d lived through with him” Eve clarified. “This is just my opinion, of course, but in hindsight I think some part of her always blamed Papa for things not working out between them. Even so, she was happy enough being the most important woman in his life, until I came along and knocked her down a spot. So in her view he owed it to her to give her something to make up for her suffering.” Eve’s voice was laced with contempt.

Lucy’s curiosity, meanwhile, was thoroughly piqued. “When you say she felt owed something…was she after something in particular?” she asked Eve. “She wanted the house” Eve revealed. “I was only eleven, so I couldn’t actually own it for several years, but Papa and Miami had set up a trust to hold everything until I came of age. At any rate Papa’s wishes were very clear, but Mary claimed that Papa had told her she would get the house and I would get the money, or something.”

Eve suddenly smirked. “Needless to say, Miami knew it was utter rubbish” she explained. “So then she tried to say he’d wanted her to live in the house until I inherited it, because she had a 'proper family' or something but that didn’t work either.” Suddenly Eve sighed. “Eventually she started threatening to challenge the will in court” she said sadly. “My mum never liked Mary much, actually, but I don't think I fully understood why until she did that.”

“So what happened?” Lucy asked, utterly intrigued. “It never went to court” Eve revealed. “Mary had absolutely no proof of anything being wrong with the will, no lawyer would touch it." "And the house?" Rami asked. Eve grinned. "Is mine to this day."

The band, Allen, and Lucy exchanged amazed looks. Meanwhile, Mel cracked a Cheshire Cat grin, knowing what they were all thinking. “So that means… you're the mysterious 'Lady of Garden Lodge' Rami marvelled.

Eve looked so baffled at this he immediately felt the need to explain. "I read a bunch of articles for research, some of the more recent ones talk about the situation with the house now, the bits they've heard at least." Eve nodded in understanding. "I know dear, I'm just surprised you'd heard any of that stuff."

Rami shrugged. “Oh, you know, I wanted to read all I could, it’s all useful.” Eve snorted. “I doubt the bits from the tabloids were terribly helpful.” “Not so much” Rami conceded. “But it’s still… I don’t know, I found it interesting seeing how they tended to present him, how it changed over the years.” At that Eve smiled mischievously. “Yes, I know. What fascinates me is the fact none of them have ever quite managed to put all the pieces together and guess who I actually am.”

“Surely that’s a good thing though, if you can stay anonymous and live a normal life” Gwilym pointed out. “It is” Eve agreed. “But it means I’m always wondering whether today’s the day someone gets a photo of me, or sees something, and works it all out. And any time I see Papa in the tabloids again I have to look, just to see if they’ve finally got the real story this time.” The others were rather taken aback at this. They’d never really considered what it would be like to live with a secret like Eve’s.

“I hate to say this,” Rami said, sounding distinctly uncomfortable, “but if this movie does as well as they’re hoping, it might mean…” He trailed off, unsure how to word what he wanted to say. “It might mean what?” Eve asked urgently. “It might mean more interest in Freddie, from the public” Rami explained. “Which would also mean-” “More interest from the tabloids” Eve completed. “I realise that’s a possibility” she assured him. “And I’ve got contingency plans set up if need be. If the secret does get out, I’ll be alright.”

Rami was reassured, but he also realised he’d never really considered the broader implications of making a movie to put Queen back in the public consciousness. Of course, the movie could still flop, it wasn’t even finished shooting yet, but deep down he really did think it could do well once it was completed. And he was beginning to wonder, if it was a hit, just how much it would affect everyone’s lives.

The next day marked the final day of shooting before the break. That evening, Ben stayed over at Mel’s to celebrate. But she had some slightly unexpected news.

“Mum told me to tell you Luke and Cameron Deacon are coming to supper tomorrow” she announced over dinner. “Okay” Ben replied uncertainly. “Should I be worried?” he joked. “No, no, they just want to get to know you” Mel assured him. Ben smiled gratefully before growing thoughtful.

“So it’s just your family and them tomorrow, no other guests I should know about?” Mel nodded. “Yeah, just them. All the Deacons have a standing invitation, but the rest of the kids are all busy, and Uncle John’s never in a social mood in late November…” Ben hoped he didn’t look too relieved at this news. “Oh, of course not.” Suddenly Mel smiled knowingly. “You will get to meet him eventually” she told Ben. “But I don’t think we’re at that point just yet.” “There’s no rush” Ben assured her.

The following day was largely spent relaxing at Mel's place, both Ben and Mel luxuriating in not needing to be anywhere for a change. Ben rather liked Mel’s house. He always enjoyed coming downstairs of a morning, padding into the kitchen, and being able to look out into the garden over his first coffee of the day, and that morning was no exception.

He'd gotten as far as sitting at the dining table with his cereal, looking over the living room and trying to ignore the fluffy white cat staring at him from the next chair, when Mel joined him. She smiled when she spotted the cat.

"I see you've got company already." "I think Mab'd rather I wasn't here, honestly" Ben commented. "No, no, she likes you a lot" Mel assured him. "She's just… trying to work you out." Ben smiled slightly. "Does she like me as much as her human does?" he joked. Mel grinned. "Almost" she quipped. "But I think her human likes you juuust a bit more."

Their banter was suddenly interrupted by loud purring emanating from beneath the table. Strangely, Mab hadn't moved from her prime perch. Mel, totally unphased, reached under the table to pat the sleek black cat rubbing himself on her legs. "Morning Jupiter" she said cheerfully. But Jupiter withdrew from her hand almost immediately, leaping onto the chair at the end of the table, directly opposite Ben. "Not in a parting mood today" Mel commented. Ben smiled. "Ah well, at least he's happy to look at me now." "He's come a long way" Mel agreed.

Jupiter had taken a while to warm up to Ben. The first time the blond stayed over he'd taken one look at the strange new person and fled upstairs, remaining in his bed in the study on the top floor of the house until Ben finally left the next morning. It had taken another two visits before he would finally choose to stay in the lounge room while Ben and Mel were watching the telly together. Even now he tended to keep his distance, though he would happily greet the couple if they arrived home together.

After breakfast the day wandered on in a lazy, unhurried sort of way. However, as the afternoon drew on Ben was increasingly aware of the time, keen to make a good impression by not being late to supper. Mel, though, wasn't phased. "We don't have far to go, it's only round the corner" she reassured Ben. “I know” he told her. “I’m just being nervous and paranoid, I’ll be fine.”

As he started to busy himself getting ready for the evening a thought occurred to him. "Say, why are you so close to your mum's? Is that just coincidence or-?" "It's not coincidence" Mel told him. "This used to be my gran's house, she left it to me when she died." "Your gran’s house?” Ben echoed.

Mel nodded. “She and Mum lived with Freddie for a few years, but after he got sick and the paparazzi started hanging around, they had to move out” she explained. “But Freddie wanted them close by so it would be easy for him to see Mum as much as possible in the time he had left, so he bought this place for them.” Ben’s jaw dropped.

“I knew he was generous, but a house?” he marvelled. Mel grinned. “Yeah. But he and Miami arranged it so it was his money, but the house was in Gran’s name.” Ben looked baffled. “Less conspicuous that way” Mel added hurriedly. “Wouldn’t raise as many awkward questions if people found out.” Ben nodded, considering the recent revelations.

“She renovated it a bit, later on” Mel reminisced. Ben nodded. “I noticed.” The first time he visited he'd realised the open plan kitchen and living room must have been the product of a later redesign of the old row house.

“I think once Mum took over the big house, after I came along, she realised she wanted her own space, set up the way she wanted” Mel mused. “She was always happy to have me round though.” She smiled. “I just about moved in when I did my A-levels. Lavender was born that year, I was a bit desperate for some peace and quiet.” "So the spare room used to be yours, then?" Ben asked. "No, I had the room up the top" Mel explained. "So I could stay separate from the other goings-on in the house while I was studying."

By the time they were ready to go Ben had managed to calm most of his nerves. But as they began the short walk to Eve’s house a worrying thought occurred to him. “Hey love, I’m about to meet your family but you’ve said nothing about your dad all week” he pointed out, trying to sound casual. Mel looked him over curiously. “My father,” she said pointedly, "won’t be there tonight, if that’s what you’re wondering."

Ben was slightly surprised at this. Though he'd never asked, he got the impression Eve had split up with Mel's father many years ago. However, he knew so little about Mel's family that he wasn't at all clear on the kind of relationship she and Eve might have with her father.

“He won’t?” he asked curiously. “He’s not in our lives any more” Mel clarified. “He left Mum when I was only a baby which could've been fine, but then he fucked off to New York when I was eight and I’ve hardly seen him since.” “That’s really shit” Ben sympathised. Mel shrugged. “True, but he was barely around even before he left, I mean, he left for uni when I was only a year old” she explained. “It didn’t make much difference to me, really.”

Ben was still considering the implications of this when Mel’s irritated voice cut through his thoughts. “Look, can we talk about something else, I really don't want to think about my father tonight." Ben smiled apologetically. "Of course. I'm sorry I brought him up now." Mel smiled reassuringly. "It's okay" she told Ben. "You couldn't have known what you were wading into."

At this point Ben was mildly surprised to find they were almost at the threshold of Garden Lodge. “It’ll be fine, you’ll be a hit” Mel said encouragingly, spotting his nervous expression. Ben wasn’t so sure, but there was nothing to be done about that now. He took a deep breath and rang the doorbell.

Eve beamed when she let the happy couple in. “Welcome to the manor” she joked. Mel immediately started asking about her younger siblings, but Ben stared around, trying not to be too overawed by the period splendour surrounding him. It was… well, it was definitely fancy, but still stylish, rather than ostentatious.

He was shaken from his reverie by a nudge from his smirking girlfriend. “Nice, isn’t it?” “Yeah, it’s… I was expecting it to be a bit, you know… but it’s very, um, elegant” he agreed. Eve smiled. “Thank you, dear.”

She led the guests through the house to the main sitting room, where the rest of the family was waiting. Ben had barely registered the three figures standing by an antique sofa when a little girl with long sandy hair came barrelling towards Mel.

“Mellie!” she cried happily, only to stop short when she noticed Ben. “Who’s dat?” she asked, suddenly uncertain. Mel immediately swooped down to pick her up. “Lavvie, darling, it’s alright, this is my friend Ben” she explained, settling the child against her chest. “This is Lavender” she added quietly to Ben. “She’s a bit shy with new people.” “Hello Lavender” Ben said gently. Lavender smiled shyly at him, but quickly turned away, burying her head in Mel’s shoulder.

Meanwhile Ben’s attention was quickly drawn by Eve clearing her throat. He looked up to find her standing next to a tallish woman with a friendly face and fine golden-brown hair cropped short, who was accompanied by a dark-haired boy who was evidently at the awkward in-between 'older kid' stage, not quite on the threshold of adolescence just yet, but clearly no longer a little kid either.

“This is my wife, Violet, and our son, Jamie” Eve introduced. Ben smiled as he shook Violet’s hand. “Pleasure.” “It’s lovely to finally meet you” Violet said warmly. “I’ve heard plenty about you.” “All good things” Mel assured him, noting his worried expression. “I’m glad” Ben joked, moving over to shake Jamie's hand.

Jamie shook politely while regarding Ben with curiosity. "D'you like football?" he asked. "I do" Ben told him. Jamie smiled. "Who's your team, then?" "West Ham" Ben replied. "Oh, they're rubbish" Jamie declared, clearly dissatisfied with Ben's answer. Mel smiled apologetically at her boyfriend, who merely gave her hand a quick squeeze to assure her he was fine as he continued the conversation.

He did feel slightly out of place, not having much experience with kids, but Jamie was quite chatty, and clearly enjoying the attention. At any rate the time passed very quickly, and it wasn't long before the doorbell rang again and Eve was leading the two youngest Deacon children into the sitting room.

Ben was slightly nervous when they were introduced, knowing Mel considered them both her big brothers. He'd already met Luke, of course, albeit briefly, and he wasn't sure he'd made a particularly good first impression that day. Luke, though, greeted him warmly, and it was soon clear that Cameron was just as friendly and welcoming. Nonetheless, Ben couldn't quite shake the impression they were here in large part to scrutinise the new boyfriend, though they were evidently quite happy to socialise with the rest of the family too.

It wasn't long before Violet ducked off to check on the food, which was Eve's cue to start leading everyone to the dining room. Luke took the opportunity to chat to Ben alone while the others were preoccupied.

"You know, I was a bit surprised when I heard you'd be here" he said casually. "You were?" Ben questioned. "Didn't think you two were that serious" Luke clarified. "I asked Joe about you and Mel, actually, that day I saw him, and he didn't even think you were a thing… yet." Ben raised an eyebrow. "Yet?"

"Joe's words, not mine" Luke told him, shrugging. "Well, he wasn't wrong" Ben commented. "We went on our first date the night before you visited." Luke grinned. "Did Joe know about that?" Ben shook his head. "No, and he still doesn't, actually." "Well don't worry, I wouldn't dream of exposing you both like that" Luke assured him.

Luke took a breath. "Look, I'm not here to do the whole overprotective big brother bit, you know." "You're not?" Ben echoed, surprised. "No" Luke confirmed. "Mel's a big girl, she can handle herself. And you must know she's quite capable of destroying you all by herself if you are stupid enough to hurt her." "I… suppose I do know that" Ben said thoughtfully.

Luke smiled slightly. "I think you're smarter than that, though" he said. "So I just wanted to say, it seems like Mel sees a proper future with you, a-" "So do I" Ben admitted, cutting Luke off. "We haven't been together long, I know, but I can already see it." Luke's smile grew at Ben's confession. "Good. I hope it works out, truly."

Ben was relieved that Luke seemed to like him, but he didn't have time to dwell on their conversation as he was soon finding his place at the enormous mahogany dining table. Naturally he went to sit next to Mel, which meant he found himself down one end, next to Violet at the head of the table. Luke was sitting opposite, a move Ben was quite sure wasn't a coincidence, with Cameron next to him. Ben felt slightly awkward sitting opposite the Deacons, but fortunately the conversation flowed easily.

Cameron was very curious about film-making in general, and Ben’s career in particular. “So, what else’ve you done? Anything I might have seen?” he asked cheerfully. “You do look a bit familiar, actually.” Ben suppressed a groan at the inevitable appearance of his least favourite question, knowing Cameron meant no harm.

“Um, I was in X-men Apocalypse?” he suggested. Cameron shook his head. “Haven’t got around to watching it yet” he explained. Ben smiled reassuringly. “Well, I’ve been in a few things, but that was the biggest, so if you haven’t seen it…” “There’s one thing he probably has seen” Mel piped up, smiling mischievously. Ben wasn’t quite following. “Yeah?”

“He was on EastEnders for a while” she told Cameron and Luke. “Omigod, really?” Cameron gabbled exicitedly. Ben let out a defeated sigh. “Yeah, I was… I played Peter Beale.” Cameron was very excited at this revelation, which served only to make Ben feel even more disappointed.

Mel patted his hand reassuringly. “He means well, darling” she murmured. “I know” Ben sighed. “I just wish that bloody soap wasn’t the only thing people knew me from, it just makes them think of me as 'the hot one'.” “Everyone who matters knows you're much more than that, darling" Mel assured him. "Besides, with a bit of luck they’ll all know you as Roger soon."

Fortunately the others soon started chatting about their own work, and the rest of the dinner passed quite enjoyably. The grownups were all very welcoming to Ben, and Jamie chattered away about football, school and all his other current interests, clearly enjoying having a few big boys around for a change. Lavender too had warmed up in the presence of more familiar adults, gabbling happily to whoever would listen.

In seemingly almost no time at all, the dessert dishes were being cleared away and the adults were apparently gearing up to leave the table. "What's going on?" Ben whispered to Mel. "Next tradition" she explained. "The littlies need to get to bed soon, but they want to join in with this first." Ben suddenly realised everyone else was leaving the room. "Where are we-?" "The music room" Mel told him. "Just… follow my lead, yeah?"

Ben nodded his assent as she led him away from the dining room to one of the smaller rooms towards the back of the house. Its' main feature was a gleaming, full-sized grand piano. "Was that… his?" Ben asked, in an undertone. "Yep, it was Papa's" Mel confirmed cheerfully. "He taught Mum on it, and then she taught me, when I was little." “Wow” Ben marvelled. His reverie was soon interrupted by Eve coming to stand by the piano stool, just as Mel led him to sit on cushions on the floor, next to Luke.

Eve smiled at the assembled company. “Alright Jamie, Lavender, it’s nearly bedtime, but you’ve got time for one song each. Which ones do you want today?” “One, doo, free, four!” Lavender cried, clapping her hands with glee. Eve agreed easily, but Ben was utterly baffled at what was going on until Mel retrieved a guitar from a corner behind the piano, and handed it to Luke, who tuned it up and began picking out the cords to ‘All Together Now’ from Yellow Submarine. And then Mel started to sing, and Ben was utterly amazed.

She sounded a fair bit like Freddie, undoubtedly, but she clearly had her own sound too. Ben couldn’t remember the last time he’d heard a better singer. She looked at him once she finished, and he absolutely beamed at her.

“We started her on the Beatles recently” Mel explained quietly. “She’s been obsessed with that song ever since.” “You didn’t tell me you could sing!” Ben marvelled. Mel smiled. “You never asked, darling.” Mel started to explain that singing together was something she’d always done with her mum, and it was their little tradition to sing together at Thanksgiving in Freddie’s memory, but she was called up to the piano before she could finish.

Jamie had asked for something called ‘Leeroy Brown’, a title Ben thought sounded vaguely familiar, though he didn’t think he knew the song. Violet got up too, to sit with Eve at the piano, and when Eve started to play Ben was shocked to hear the couple harmonising in the choruses behind Mel’s wonderful voice. He didn’t recognise the song, as it turned out, but it was a fun honky-tonk sort of song, and he picked up the singalong chorus quickly enough. Though he did feel slightly embarrassed at his lack of prowess in the midst of so many excellent musicians.

When the song finished he had to resist the impulse to applaud. But all too soon all eyes were on him. “Ben, you’re the newbie” Eve said kindly. “Any requests, before the junior choir has to retire for the evening?” Ben blushed slightly.

“Uhh… could you play something by Queen?” “Most of the back catalogue, actually” Eve quipped, smiling. “But let’s see, what sounds good with just the piano… ooh, I know. You ready?” she asked Mel. “When you are” Mel confirmed. “Alright. Ben, I think you might know this one actually” Eve told him.

There was a slight pause before she started plunking out a very familiar repeating note. Ben smiled in recognition just as Mel came in with “She keeps her Moet et Chandon,…” Again, Eve and Violet harmonised on backing vocals when appropriate. Ben found himself fighting the urge to bounce his leg in time with the beat, one he’d been playing quite a lot recently. And he couldn't quite stop himself singing along with the chorus.

When he wasn't joining in, he was watching Mel intently, and very much enjoying himself. She seemed very comfortable in front of an audience, and Ben was struck by how much her stage manner, as it were, reminded him of the videos he'd been watching of Freddie performing in the early glam rock days. Not in a deliberate way, there was just something about the way she moved, the cheeky faces she made while singing, that very distinctly resembled Freddie's particular brand of showmanship.

All too soon, the song was over. Mel returned to a grinning Ben as Violet declared it was bedtime for the children. Jamie immediately protested that he should be allowed to stay awake longer as he was so much older than Lavender.

"That was amazing!" Ben gushed. Mel smiled bashfully."Oh, thanks darling." "No, really, you're amazing" Ben insisted. "And your whole family is… Well, your mum I sort of expected I suppose, but Violet can sing too?" He was deeply impressed, but Mel seemed unfazed. "That's actually how they met" she said quietly. "Mum joined a choir, and when she went to rehearsal Violet was there, and, well… you know." "That's quite cute, actually" Ben commented. "So d'you perform ever? Outside the music room, I mean."

"I want to be in musical theatre" Mel revealed. "But I haven't gotten any of the auditions I've had since I finished drama school." Ben's jaw dropped. "Drama school? I thought you did costume design." Mel grinned. "Oh, I did a couple of electives, that was enough for the assistant job, apparently."

"Clearly" Ben quipped. "But anyway, that's really awesome you've been to drama school, why didn't I know that?" "We've never really talked about school and stuff" Mel pointed out, shrugging. "No, I s'pose we haven't" Ben agreed.

Their conversation was interrupted by Violet's announcement that Lavender was going to bed, Jamie's protest having successfully won him one more hour with the grown-ups. Mel soon ducked off to help tuck in her little sister while the others drifted back to the dining room for hot drinks and biscuits. Ben felt rather uncertain without Mel next to him, but the Deacons and Jamie kept him chatting until she reappeared, grinning.

"I think Lavender likes you" she told him. "She asked when we'd be coming round again, if it'd be soon." Ben smiled. "Well, that's two down" he joked. "Oh, I think you're pretty popular with the brother" Luke observed. "He loves having the big boys around, I think he feels a little bit outnumbered as the only boy sometimes" Mel explained. "And you like football, so you're definitely alright in his book." Ben grinned. "Perhaps we'd better come back soon, then."

"We might not have time for the next few weeks, there's some big shooting days coming up" Mel mused. "And a big night, don't forget you'll need time for that" Luke chimed in. Ben was utterly confused, but Mel just smiled.

"Oh yeah, the Christmas party." Luke nodded. "Yeah, you're both 'very welcome' apparently, which means Mum's definitely expecting you to turn up." He rolled his eyes, though he was smiling slightly. "I think Dad's actually hoping to meet you, too" he told Ben, who was rather taken aback. "John Deacon wants to meet me?"

Luke nodded. "Yeah. He was always a little bit curious about all of you blokes playing Queen, actually, but he's especially interested now that he knows his beloved Mel's been shagging the one playing Roger." He smirked at Mel, who rolled her eyes good-naturedly.

"Very delicately put, Luke, if you're not careful you'll get the guest blushing." Indeed, Ben was now stood next to Mel looking extremely sheepish. Luke simply grinned. "Me? Indelicate? Never" he teased. "You're never living that one down, you know."

Turning to Ben, he let his teasing expression drop. "Seriously though, we'd love to have you to the party, if you're not busy" he said kindly. "I'll do my best" Ben assured him.

The rest of the evening passed very pleasantly, and by the time the guests started to leave, having seen Jamie to bed and toasted Freddie several times, Ben felt as though he'd been very much welcomed into the fold. At the very least he'd made a good first impression with all the ones he hadn't met before. Later on, snuggled up in Mel's bed, he reflected on the events of the night. "Well, I think that went quite well" he declared. "They loved you" Mel assured him. Ben smiled. "I liked them too, you know." "I thought you would" Mel told him happily.

"One thing though, love" Ben said, content but still slightly curious. "What's this Christmas party we're invited to?" "Oh, it's just the Deacon family party" Mel explained. "Auntie Veronica and Uncle John have all the kids round for drinks and finger food a couple of weekends before Christmas, and we're always invited too."

Ben was confused. "Why do they get together before Christmas though? Don't they all go home for Christmas dinner?" "Not every year" Mel explained. "I mean, Luke and Cam do, but the rest have partners and kids. In-laws to visit and all that. Having the party means they can all get together and see each other every Christmas even if fitting in a visit home on Christmas Day turns out to be too much of a faff." "Makes sense" Ben mused.

"So, should I go to this party with you?" Mel nodded enthusiastically. "Definitely, dear. John and Veronica are lovely, they'll be so pleased to meet you." Ben smiled. "I'll put it in my calendar then."

That night, Ben had a few things on his mind. The Queen movie wasn't even finished and it was already changing his life. It had brought him to his wonderful, amazingly talented girlfriend, and his equally awesome new friends. And now he was going to meet John Deacon. John Deacon actually wanted to meet him, who'd have thought that would ever happen?

Sure, he sometimes had to remind himself not to think about the fact that he was shagging Freddie Mercury's granddaughter, but at the very least he was pretty sure he hadn't incurred Freddie's wrath, so far. In fact, he was starting to wonder if he might in some small way have gotten Freddie's blessing.

*******************************************************************************************

A/N 2: Just in case anyone’s confused, the middle song that Mel sang is Bad, Bad Leroy Brown, by Jim Croce. Which was of course (part of) the inspiration for Bring Back That Leroy Brown (written after Jim Croce died in a plane crash, iirc). Also, yes, John Deacon will be appearing in the next part.

#ben hardy x reader #ben hardy fic #ben hardy imagine #roger taylor x reader #ben hardy x oc #bohemian rhapsody fic #bohemian rhapsody imagine #joe mazzello x reader #gwilym lee #rami malek #freddie mercury imagine #freddie mercury fic #bohemian rhapsody cast #bohemian rhapsody movie

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11/08/2020 DAB Transcript

Ezekiel 18:1-19:14, Hebrews 9:1-10, Psalms 106:32-48, Proverbs 27:10

Today is the 8th day of November welcome to the Daily Audio Bible I am Brian it is great to be here with you as we reach out together, twist that knob, throw open the door, and walk through the threshold into a brand do shiny sparkly week. And I'm ready to walk into this brand-new shiny sparkly week. I always am because it's a new start. And there may be spillover. We may have all kinds of little entanglements that are being carried over from the last week but how we deal with them, we can take a new approach if we want to. And that's the reminder of a new week but that's also the reminder of a new day. Yesterday may have been brutal and we may have handled everything incorrectly and we’ve got a lot of cleanup to do, but how we approach that in this new day or in this new week, that's in our corner. Nobody's gonna make us defend the positions we had yesterday. If we now realize we may have been incorrect or overreacted we can just walk into this new week humbly, we can just get clean and get true and walk into freedom. And, so, we’ve got us shiny sparkly new week out in front of us and let's dive into it with all of our hearts. We’re gonna read from the God's Word translation this week and we…we will be continuing the journey that we…that’s being pulled forward from last week in the book of Ezekiel and in the book of Hebrews. So, first obviously, we’ll read from the Old Testament. Ezekiel chapters 18 and 19 today.

Prayer:

Father, we thank You for this brand-new week that we are walking into. And we are walking into it with the anticipation that You will lead and guide us. You are always doing this. You are always patient with us and we are humbly repentant for the times that we are just…it's just too chaotic and we are spinning and we are…You are the last person on our mind and we are not…we are thinking about how we’re gonna cope and we’re thinking about how we’re gonna get through and we turn to You when it seems as if there’s no possible way that can happen instead of walking with You through everything knowing for sure we can navigate this. No matter how difficult or confusing it is we will get through. We won't be trying to cope. We will be coping and overcoming because this is a state that is within us as opposed to us asserting our will upon those around us. So, may we be overcome by You, by Your very presence. May we be overwhelmed by Your presence instead of all of the things that are trying to distract us. Come Holy Spirit, well up from within as we become aware of Your guidance and leadership Your comfort. We pray this in the name of Jesus. Amen.

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dailyaudiobible.com is home base, it is…it's the website, it’s where you find out what's going on around here, what the Initiatives are. The Daily Audio Bible Shop is there as well as the Community section with the Prayer Wall and ways to get connected. So, check…check this out. If you’re using the Daily Audio Bible app you can…you can access all of these things from within the app by pressing the Drawer icon and that's the little…little drawer looking icon in the upper left-hand corner and that’ll get you there. So, check that out.

If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible, you can do that at dailyaudiobible.com as well or using the app as well by pushing the Give button in the upper right-hand corner. And I thank you humbly, thank you deeply for your partnership. If you prefer the mail, the mailing address is PO Box 1996 Spring Hill Tennessee 37174.

And, as always, if you have a prayer request or encouragement, you can hit the Hotline button in the app, little red button at the top. Hard to miss. It’s the only red button up there. So, that's the one and you can press that and begin to share with no matter where you are in the world, or you can dial 877-942-4253.

And that's it for today. I’m Brian I love you and I'll be waiting for you here tomorrow.

Community Prayer and Praise:

Good morning my friends this is Aaron from sin city. Hope everyone’s doing well and blessed in these last and evil days. I just want to encourage everyone to be steadfast. Stay with the Lord, stay focused, stay encouraged because God is able to keep you from falling. Jude 24:25 says, “now unto Him that is able to keep you from falling and present you faultless before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy to the only wise God our Savior. Be glory and majesty, dominion and power both now and forever.” And remember also that God has not giving you a spirit of fear but love power and a sound mind. So, you’re going through marital difficulties you’re going through depression, you’re going through anxiety, you’re going through stresses in your life, children are backsliding, disobedient. Know that one, the word of God is right, and the word of God is being fulfilled and God is not so easy to forget what you’re going through. He loves you and He cares for you. So, as Peter says, “let’s cast our cares upon Him because He cares for us. And don’t worry. Be anxious for nothing. But in everything in supplication and prayer, giving of thanks let your requests be made known.” We just have to learn folks how to just give it to God and let Him deal with it, let Him handle it. Because He’s able to do exceedingly and abundantly above all that we ask or think. God bless you. Have an awesome day, awesome week. Enjoy the month of November.

Do not boast about tomorrow because you do not know what a day may produce Proverbs 27:1. This is what the Lord says, let not the wise boast of their wisdom or the strong boast of their strength or the rich boast of their riches but let the one who boasts boast about this, that they have the understanding to know me that I am the Lord who exercises kindness, justice, righteousness on earth. For in these things I delight declares the Lord. Jeremiah 9:23-24. Let someone else praise you, not your own mouth, a stranger not your own lives. Proverbs 27:2. Long ago the Lord said to Israel, I have loved you with an everlasting love. With unfailing kindness, I have drawn you to myself. Jeremiah 31:3. If you know how much the Lord loves you, you don’t have to sing your own praises, advertise your ability, vocalize your riches. You boast in the Lord God who has given new life, confidence, been your provider, guide, healer, redeemer and loves you with an everlasting love. So, Lord I lift you up today. I lift you up today O Lord and I thank you that you are the King of Kings and Savior of the world, the Creator, Redeemer, Defender and Healer, our Prince of Peace our indwelling God. Your Holy Spirit has anointed us. Your Spirit, You died to provide for us as a covering, down payment, infilling sanctified who releases us from any advantage or strategy of the enemy over our lives. Only because of you Lord do we have truth and life and have it and can enjoy it with you at our side ever filling us with strength and joy whatever comes. We have life and we have it abundant until it overflows into the life of all around us with blessing and encouragement, patients, kindness, goodness. Only in you Jesus, gentleness and self-control. So, we can walk humbly love mercy and be examples of God’s justice in this broken world. Love conquers everything. God’s love never…

Hello DAB family today is November 4th and I just finished listening to the November 3rd podcast and I’ve gotta tell you Brian’s comments and the end of that…the reading today pretty much epitomized why I love this community so much, why I listen, why I put a log…my own log on the campfire every month to keep the fires burning. If you haven’t heard it, basically it just reminds us to whom exactly we owe our allegiance, to which kingdom precisely, to which king exactly we owe our allegiance and what this is all about - to love one another as we have been loved. So, to that end, thank you Brian. Thank you for giving us this medium that keeps it really real and free the stuff of this world that weighs us down. Also, I just want to give a shout up Julie who I believe called in as a relatively new listener. Praying that what you have lost will start to be restored as you come back and into the word. Praying for the woman whose son was in that horrible incident. O…that’s terrible. I…I just lift you up sister and all of those who were involved. And thank you to the one who called in praying for our elderly patients…parents. Yeah…I’m one of those who has elderly parents in a situation. So, yeah, another reason why I love this community. We are all going through something and we are all going through it together. Thank you DAB.

Daily Audio Bible community I am a…almost a 3-year listener in Chicago in desperate need of prayer. It’s Wednesday, November 4th and I’m just really struggling. I just feel like everything in my life is going badly. I’ve got several strained relationships in my family, horrible things that are happening with my son. Work is good and my health is good. And I know that I should just really be thankful. I’m blessed for the areas that are going good but the things are going bad just feel so heavy today. And I can’t stop crying. I can’t focus at work and I just need all the prayers to get. Thank you so much.

Hi family this is Biola from Maryland I hope you’re all doing well. Brian and Jill God bless your ministry. China, I’m still prating for your pregnancy for a healthy pregnancy and that you and Ben will have that baby safely in the name of Jesus. Chris, it broke my heart to hear your prayer request and I pray that God will comfort you and your daughter over the passing of her mother in the name of Jesus. And I am also praying for the sisters that called in, Desiree and the other lady who can’t read her Bible because of cancer. Lord we know O God Lord that cancer is a thief because it was not caused by you Lord. And, so, in agreement with my brothers and sisters in the Daily Audio Bible we come against this cancer in the name of Jesus. Oh Lord of heaven I pray that You will arise with healing in your wings over these ladies O God, these precious daughters of yours O God and everyone in the DAB family battling with cancer or even Covid. Dan, I heard your prayer request about your sister-in-law who is battling Covid. I’m hoping in the name of Jesus that she’s fine now and she’s out of the woods. And I pray for everyone who is still suffering from Covid and is a member of the Daily Audio Bible. Father hear our cries over them and heal them in the name of Jesus. Margot I was chuckling when I heard your testimony. Isn’t that like our God?? You asked for a window, He gives you a balcony. Margot I’m praying for you and praying that God will prosper you in your ministry. I’m praying for all the missionaries from the world, that God would prosper them. I thank the sister that called in from Nigeria. God bless you my sister. Family whenever you remember Nigeria please pray for that country that God will intervene, stamp out corruption in that country and that God would comfort the hearts of those whose families of those who have lost their lives in the name of Jesus.

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yavannah · 4 years

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The heavily grayed dirty hair had been cut somewhat short and the beard slightly visible on the cheek was just a thin stubble. But the body and essence showed that the man had spent a very long time here. In addition, Calea bothered some degree of familiarity feeling, but why, he did not know.

Bira stepped straight to the man, touched his shoulder lightly, and said something. The man looked at Bira and then turned to look at the guests. There was a look on the man's face that was partly disbelief, partly astonishing. The same feeling came over Cale, as he now saw the man's narrow face properly. He recognized the man immediately, “Westridge,” he said, feeling joy and disbelief at the same time.

The man stood up and stepped, a little limping to them, “Professor Steven Cale?” The man asked in disbelief, in a deep sonorous voice that Cale knew well.

“How is this possible?” Cale asked, stepping closer to Westridge, looking at the slender essence of this, whose clothing was partly tribal in style, partly his own. Perhaps even a little seedy, but what you expected, when the man had lived for nearly two decades here, beyond the reach of modern amenities.

Danny noticed the same and said, “you look awful”.

“Thank you, I guess,” Westridge replied a little punctually, but couldn’t be angry. Actually, he was very happy to see familiar faces after all these years.

"How?" Terri asked, having seen what had happened on that fateful day. The fall and that disgusting snake.

“A long story,” Westridge replied, “but I have to say I still see nightmares from that day,” he remarked, his eyes darkening for a moment.

“Waarren, everything, good?” Asked the woman, who stepped beside Warren.

“Yara, everything is fine,” Warren replied, repeating the same yet in the woman’s own language, looking at the woman very tenderly and warmly. The woman looked at Westridge closely, but accepted what he had said and calmed down.

“What is this then?” Danny asked, raising his eyebrows and grinning.

"Well, as I said, the long story," Westridge replied, smiling slightly confused and absently scratched back of his head.

“Woah!” Danny laughed, for he knew how to gesture what was going on, “hey, where did you hide that whining, picky, fine-edged Snob that where on our previous trip?” He asked jokingly.

“I changed, but you obviously didn’t,” Westrige stated calmly and smiled. He remembered very well a few specific cases on a river boat. Only a few moments he longed to go back there, but then looked Yaraa and thought that this was better.

“But you’re the complete opposite now that you remember what you were like on the riverboat,” Danny stated with a grin, “but apparently you’ve done well, Waarren,” he teased.

“Uh, shut up,” Westridge snorted, but there was laughter in his eyes. This small joking he had longed for all these years.

“It’s nice to see you,” Danny finally said, giving Westridge a decent bear hug.

“It’s nice to see you too,” Westridge replied with a laugh.

Cale and Terri also gave a hug to Westridge who responded. A few compliments were still exchanged until Westridge urged the guests to sit down, however, following Bira and the other men of the tribe. He knew they were skeptical of the guests and for good reason. He himself had seen a little too close what followed as men with guns rushed to harass members of the tribe. A few had been lost, but most had escaped from the previous lodging and this had been built in a hurry to have some sort of shelter. At least for now.

“I thought he died?” Asked Carl, who finally dared to speak when he had first found a clean and comfortable place to sit.

"Apparently, he didn’t", Cale replied, smiling broadly, "and that's good," he added with satisfaction.

Carl shrugged and fell silent. He just wanted to get information and maybe he could get some important information from this Westridge as this had apparently lived with the tribe for a very long time. Apparently since he had ended up in the river during that previous unfortunate trip.

Wetridge looked at his old friends and a momentary deep sadness struck him. He longed again back for civilization, but then he glanced at Yara again and knew he could not leave the woman he had fallen deeply in love with. Another reason was that they had a beautiful daughter, whom he wanted to protect from the evil, which was waiting for, if the men would attack again.

He told his guests everything that had happened to him, even the little adventure he had had with Yara. That story also seemed to pique Carl’s interest. Especially when Westridge talked about the rocky structure covered with vegetation.

“Wow, well you’ve already had to experience everything,” Danny said, raising his eyebrows as he couldn’t think he could live here and he had a hard time believing that this man, who had been very attentive at the time and had longed for golf, ginitonnic and clean with sheets, enjoyed here, without those mentioned amenities.

“Yes,” Westridge admitted, glancing at Danny, who had a smile on his face.

“I still have your golf club. I wonder if you still want it back altought it’s bend”, Danny said with a grin, as he remembered very well the blow Westridge had swung on the golf club, straight into Serone’s hard skull. It had made him marvel the power what had been in the arms of that slender man in the end.

“Just keep it, as a souvenir,” Westridge laughed, for he, too, remembered that episode vividly, even though no one had laughed at the time of the incident.

Danny laughed and promised to keep the golf club as his great treasure, which made Wesridge laugh a warm friendly laugh that sprung deep from his chest.

For a few more moments, they joked until Westridge turned the conversation to more serious topics, “I would be curious to know how you decided to come back here because you hardly come after me if you thought I died on that fateful day,” he said.

“I admit we didn’t expect to find you here. We were actually looking for Shirishamas again”, Cale began, “I, Terri and Danny, wouldn’t have wanted to leave, but we were pressured, so here we are now”, he said.

Westridge was silent and watched Cale's face, for something in his words immediately showed a red flag. Apparently they weren’t just looking for this tribe, he concluded, but said nothing out loud. He decided to let them express their case for themselves, in their own words, if necessary.

“Uh, um,” Carl began, clearing his throat, “I became interested in what you said when you encountered those poachers,” he continued.

“What about it?” Westridge asked, looking sharply at Carl. Another red flag. ‘You don't seem to be interested in poachers’, he thought.

“Well, when you mentioned the structure where you stayed with this .. krhm .. woman,” Carl explained, trying to be tactful but failed.

Westridge's gaze became relatively icy as he glared at Carl, for the man's comment had shattered badly in his ear, “This woman happens to have a name and she’s my wife, so it would be nice if you could talk about her a little more respectfully”, he said in a formal polite tone, which, admittedly, contained a certain coolness.

“Uh, of course. Sorry”, Carl said quickly, “but like I said, I’d be very interested in that building. Mainly where it is located and could you guide us there?”, he explained.

“Unfortunately I didn’t memorize the route because we had a something else to think about at the time”, Westridge replied, still in that cool polite tone, “you see we tried not to run into those poachers again, because after what happened to them, they really weren’t particularly friendly to us”, he pointed out.

“I guess you then pissed them off properly”, Danny stated with a laugh and pushed Westridge companionship into his shoulder.

“Possibly, but not on purpose”, Westridge said calmly.

“But I would like to know if you could still find that structure, uh the ruin again?” Carl asked, hoping the man would agree. He knew he had made a mistake. But now it helped but to appease and humble himself, he thought. Perhaps later, if forced, one could resort to a little harder means.

“Like I said, I’m not the best option to guide you, and I can’t promise to know how to get back there”, Westridge began, but had decided not to point anyone to the tribe for that job, even if they would probably find their way back to their ruins, even in their dreams, “I might try to guide you in nearby areas, but my sense of direction here is lousy”, he pointed out.

Indeed, his orienteering was nothing alongside the inhabitants of this tribe, but he would also not point out a single member of the tribe in his place. Especially when he had a bad feeling about that man. He owed this tribe to his life and putting any member of the tribe in danger would be a bad way to thank. Besides, this place had become his home and tribe for his family, and he would not allow anyone to harm any of them, at any cost.

Stubborn, Carl thought irritably and was already thinking of a new plan. He knew there was nothing he could do about it, under the watchful eyes of the tribe, for he would very suddenly be a model example of a pincushion.

“But,” Carl tried again, albeit very diligently.

“Another reason I don’t want to return to that area is those poachers, because they seem to visit there regularly, and I don’t want to run into them and believe me when I say you certainly don’t want to be a target for them,” Westridge replied.

“I understand,” Carl said, contenting himself with some of his losses.

‘Checkmate’, Westridge thought, even though he already guessed that this would certainly not end there yet. Not really, for he had seen a small nasty flash in the man's eyes when that expressionless mask had seemed to have fallen down a couple of times due to irritation. I wonder if he even told others what he really was and by what means he was going to reach his goal, Westridge thought.

Cale glanced at Carl suspiciously, but decided to be silent. Now was not a good time to challenge a dispute or question anyone’s actions or omissions.

The rest of the evening went smoothly and Westridge chatted happily with Cale, Danny and Terri. He heard all that had happened in the world during the time he had lived with the tribe. Some of the news was terrible, of course, but some was interesting. He learned many things about what had changed since 1997.

Danny even introduced him to his latest cell phone, which made Westridge a little curious, even though he felt that he could do without that device, as he had done so far. But on the other hand, it was interesting to see how everything that had previously taken up a huge amount of space could now fit in a small thin widget that could be safely put in to a pocket.

Cale, Terri, Alejandro, Danny and Carl stayed with the tribe for the night, though subtly set up their camp outside the hut, as they were clearly not invited to the hut. It was only Westridge’s privilege.

***

Well, here is this part of my Anaconda Fanfic. I hope you like it.

Thanks again for the source of my inspiration, and of course the awesome cc authors. And still apologies for possible typos in the text. English is not my native language and I use a google translator with translations, so the results are far from perfect.

***

Edit... I just tried to fix some minor typos/errors in the text. Sorry about those typos.

#anaconda #anaconda fanfic #fanfic #base on b horror movie #my story #the sims 4 #ts4 #warren westridge #terri flores #steven cale #danny rich

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enigmari · 4 years

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Oh my GOD Please infodump abt hatoful.... ive repeatedly tried to get into it but have no idea how/how to connect any of the lore. Thanos !

I SAW THE TYPO TOO LATE IT WAS SUPPOSED TO END WITH “THANKS”,

SKDFSKJSLKDFJ no worries anon, it happens to the best of us. Anyways, how should I start this…

So, if you’re totally new here, Hatoful Boyfriend is a visual novel dating sim whose basic premise is “what if cliched boyfriend archetypes… but birds?” And it takes this premise completely wholeheartedly, while still maintaining a comedic tone. You pick classes and club activities each in-game day to increase your skill points, and depending on your levels (and a few dialogue options) you’ll either successfully romance your birdie of choice or get a Bad End. Most of the birds make their interests/level requirements obvious from the start, and you have a bunch of save slots to work with if you wanna go the scum route. Pretty simple and straightforward.

(Actually, that’s a lie, it gets much more complicated later. Don’t worry about that right now.)

Most of HBF is framed through the perspective of the protagonist (I’m gonna use her canon name for convenience) Hiyoko, and she is… not the brightest bulb in the box. Especially in the first game, when events in one character’s route will be foreshadowed in other routes, she will rarely call them out or make note of them. Naturally, this also means some reveals will be spoiled depending on which order you do the routes in. You also unlock documents in the Archive section after completing each route, which adds another level of puzzle piecing to the mix.

(No, this is not the complicated part I was talking about earlier. Sorry.)

In this next bit, I’m going to briefly run through the routes of the first game from least to most complex in terms of lore, as well as what things are foreshadowed when. I’ll also toss in the archive documents when I feel they’re most relevant to the information you have. We ready?

Okosan’s routes: Mostly joke endings, unless there is some greater plot significance to pudding that I’ve missed for all these years.

Ryouta’s route: Mostly about character building, the only real hint you get is that his mother is sickly and it’s implied he inherited this from her.

Azami’s routes: You could get here with the same stats as Ryouta’s route, but then you fuck it up by taking this job opportunity away from him. How rude, Hiyoko.

Sakuya’s first route: He opens up to you about his abusive and bigoted dad, and with some encouragement you encourage him to run away and become a musician like he always wanted. Mr. Le Bel is very important to multiple other characters in this game.

Sakuya’s second route (needs perfect stats/dialogue choices): Same conversation about his dad, but he chooses to live with you instead. Your big hint is at the end, when Yuuya sends you a letter saying there’s “something he’s wanted to tell [Sakuya] for a long time. Something important.”

Yuuya’s route: You don’t actually get to find out what the "important thing" is, whoops. You do find out that Yuuya’s a spy for the Dove Party, Shuu is one for the Hawk Party, and the school has been increasingly influenced by the Hawk Party as of late.

BAD END: You may have gotten it earlier, but now you have context as to who’s killing you when you fail a route- it’s the Hawk Party. The reason why is still unclear.

[CW for gore, child death, medical abuse, suicide, and attempted genocide from here on! This game is a trip!]

Shuu’s first route: Absolutely not a romance route and if you ship Shuu/Hiyoko please block me and tab out immediately thank you very much. You learn that Shuu has been killing students for medical experimentation, confirming Yuuya’s suspicions about the quills in the student store and the food in the cafeteria.

Shuu’s second route (needs perfect stats/dialogue choices): Same ending where Hiyoko dies, but he’s attached enough to her that he takes her head in a jar when he goes on the run. You do learn that Shuu doesn’t care about the Hawk Party’s politics, just that they can enable his personal experiments.

Archive Note 11: Someone (Shuu) knew that Yuuya was a Dove Party agent from the start. He also notes that some of the students are “fascinating”, which you know from his route means they’re good experiment fodder. You learn that he has reason to believe his victims won’t oppose the experimentation, but not the details.

Archive Note 10: Shuu makes notes about human “adaptability measures.” Given that Hiyoko is the only human at the school, you can guess that this will involve her in some way.

Archive Note 06: Notes about the Spanish Flu, how deadly it was to humans, and the connection to an “Avian Influenza.”

Archive Note 04: Notes about a “Goodwill Ambassador” for humanity, who needs a strong natural immunity to Avian Influenza. Hiyoko’s stats show that she has a base level of 800 Vitality, so you can guess that she’s the ambassador. This is why she dies when you fail a route- the Hawk Party saw she didn’t build a good enough connection to the birds, so they take her as a lost cause.

Archive Note 07: Shuu makes notes about “carrier capacity” in the student body, inducing it in some way in a “normal” individual. You can guess this is the details of his medical experimentation, but not who the victim is. You can also guess that the disease to be carried is Avian Influenza.

Anghel’s route: It’s not actually that complicated, but I think you need to complete Shuu’s route before the “mad love of a fallen angel” option is available. (EDIT: you actually just need to complete one playthrough to unlock this option. Even the Azami solo ending will unlock it.) This ending seemingly undermines all the things we learned about Shuu right before, but this is just Hiyoko’s perspective.

Archive Note 01: A certain student (Anghel) has hallucinogenic properties that can affect bystanders, putting them in a trance-like state. This explains why everything went totally off the rails in his route.

Kazuaki’s route: Again not a romance route (no matter what he says about “waiting”, ew) because the whole point is that Kazuaki is afraid to open himself up to love of any kind. You learn he had someone he cared deeply about in the past but lost, and now he’s been soured from the experience. You also learn that he smells like bleach.

Nageki’s route: You learn that he’s a ghost, that he killed himself in the school some years ago, and that he doesn’t have all his memories. He disappears before you learn anything more, but he’s happy so it’s okay and why am I crying agai-

Archive Note 02: Someone (Nageki) writes about how they are trapped, and can’t remember what happened to them.

Archive Note 05: Nageki remembers he made a promise to someone very important, but he can’t remember who or what it was.

Archive Note 03: Nageki once woke up in a place that wasn’t the library- somewhere with bright lights and a white ceiling. He’s not as trapped as he first thought.

Archive Note 14: Nageki notes that he can move between floors, going from the library to the chemistry lab below. You can guess that the place with the bright lights is somewhere below these two rooms. This also reveals that Nageki knew the layout of the school when he was alive.

Archive Note 12: Nageki notes that after meeting Hiyoko, he feels fulfilled “just as he did back then.” He still can’t remember everything, though.

Archive Note 08: Notes about an underground facility, a fire, and a Subject 00 whose remains are in storage. You can guess that the facility is the place with the bright lights, and Nageki is Subject 00. You can also guess that Nageki set the fire, since he said that he killed himself.

Archive Note 09: Notes about Subject 00′s relative, whose remains are also in storage. You can guess that this is the “important person” that Nageki made a promise to a long time ago.

At this point, the only documents left are Note 13, which is about a terrorist incident at the Heartful House orphanage in which only two birds survived, and Note 15, which is about another terrorist incident some years ago in which the Ave’s High City building was bombed. Nothing in the main routes hints at these notes, so it’s a good time to move to…

Bad Boys Love route: This route is literally the length of the rest of the routes combined, so we��re doin’ more sections, baby!

Kazuaki’s lost loved one and Nageki’s important person turn out to be each other. They were the survivors of the Heartful House incident, and Kazuaki (real name Hitori) took care of his little brother by himself. Nageki was sickly, so he volunteered himself for a medical experiment at the school that could potentially cure him to take the burden off of Hitori.

Unbeknownst to them, the Hawk Party was already in control of the school and their real motive was to investigate the disease Nageki was carrying- Avian Influenza. Shuu was specifically the lead for this project, and he also witnessed the Heartful House incident when it happened. At the time, he went by the name Isa Souma and was a medical researcher. He worked with Ryuuji Kawara, Ryouta’s dad, until Ryuuji’s death from disease.

Ryouta and Hiyoko were also there, because her parents were former human ambassadors too. Unfortunately, they became some of the casualties, which left the two kids heartbroken. Shuu, seeing them and recognizing Ryouta, offered to grant them a wish. They both wished for a world where humans and birds would never fight anymore, which Shuu took to mean “kill all the remaining humans so they can’t fight the birds” because… he’s like that.

Shuu decided that the easiest way to kill all the humans would be to spread the Avian Influenza, and this is why he sought out Nageki. Nageki was forced to kill humans as part of the experiments, and this traumatized him so much that he set the lab on fire to stop it, trapping himself inside. Hitori witnessed this too, and swore to get revenge despite Nageki asking him to destroy his remains and live a happy life. He bleached his feathers and swapped identities with another bird to fake his death, and applied to the school as a teacher under his new name.

Nageki’s plan didn’t entirely work, and the Hawk Party was able to store some of his remains for future experiments with Avian Influenza. This brings us to the timeline of the main routes, where Shuu took advantage of Ryouta’s sickly constitution to make him a new carrier for Avian Influenza. Yuuya tried to interfere on behalf of the Dove Party, but Shuu blackmailed him with the knowledge that he killed his real half-brother because he hated Mr. Le Bel and wanted Sakuya to live instead.

The new strain of Avian Influenza that Ryouta carried was enough to make Hiyoko sick and kill her. The death of the Human Ambassador kickstarts the beginning of this route, and Shuu planned for the humans who would retaliate to also be infected. It doesn’t go as he planned, of course, but that’s laid out pretty well in the rest of the route so I won’t re-summarize it here.

Aaaand that’s about everything for the first Hatoful Boyfriend game! I’ll gladly do infodumps/lore summaries for Holiday Star or the other side materials if anyone wants, but this took almost three hours to write as is so I’m going to give myself a break.

#anonymous #ask me #mari.txt #hatoful boyfriend #EDIT: THIS IS VERY SPOILERY. I HOPED IT WAS OBVIOUS FROM THE LORE REQUEST BUT YEAH.#i don't think it'll spoil your enjoyment of the game bc i didn't go into that many details (also experiencing =/= reading) but yeah.

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yogaadvise · 4 years

Text

More Hard Hitting Words From The Dalai Lama About The Mass Brainwashing Of Society

The 14th Dalai Lama of Tibet is passed by a Dalai Lama for no factor, and also it is apparent that he is garnering whole lots of interest. After the November 2015 Attacks in Paris, he straigh-forwardly told the world that hoping simply is not a service for what have actually occurred, along with other similar wrongs that show up to constantly happen all around the world. He stated that events of the similarity bomb assaults at airports as well as city sites is a problem developed by people, and also asking God to solve it out makes no sense. We should be the ones responsible for the mess that has been produced. His comments went viral as they resonated throughout the world, to everybody who understand that activities on a mass range is needed at this time, to alter the instructions our planet shows up to be going on for many individuals.

Read also: Meditation is Essential. Schools Replacing Apprehension with Meditation is the Future We Want to See

Intertwined with the Paris attacks are the truths of war, and also there's a superb item composed on the Dalai Lama's website site pertaining to the mass indoctrination of humans. We carefully pertaining to this subject right here at Reflection Talks as well, specifically in concerns to war, incidents of terrorism, as well as the growth of these groups that are executing such strikes all over the globe. For this reason, an expert from the Dalai Lama's declaration with which we highly agree with:

Of program, war and also the big army establishments are the best resources of physical violence on the planet. Whether their purpose is defensive or offensive, these large effective companies exist solely to kill humans. We ought to believe thoroughly concerning the truth of battle. The majority of us have actually been conditioned to relate to army combat as exciting and also attractive - a chance for guys to verify their proficiency and courage. Considering that armies are legal, we really feel that battle is acceptable, generally, no one feels that war is criminal or that accepting it is criminal attitude. Actually, we have actually been brainwashed. War is neither glamorous neither appealing. It is impressive. Its very nature is one of disaster as well as suffering. (source)

The above declaration is an item of reality without a doubt. If you consider it, the armed forces in general, as well as the so referred solid organizations only exist to eliminate humans. As the Dalai Lama tackles the mass brainwashing on this issue, we are conditioned to believe that armed forces solution is something to take pride in. Certain, males and females who are going into the service, choose the purpose to offer the country. They choose a boatload of bravery as well as good-hearted objectives, but what they miss to recognize is that this international battle on terrorism is an entire fabrication.

The enemy they consider are shielding their nation from, is really A Item of their very own country. As Dr. Michel Choissudovsky, College of Otawa's Emeritus Professor of Economics informs us, the worldwide war on terrorism is entirely bogus, as well as based upon replica presumptions. Soldiers are taught right into believing that they are pursuing a genuine enemy, which they are securing their own state. In the really exact same time, that exact same enemy is entirely supported and funded by the western armed forces alliance, and also as the Dalai Lama further recommends in his message:

War is like a fire in the human community, one whose gas is living beings. I discover this example specifically appropriate as well as beneficial. Modern warfare waged primarily with different types of fire, yet we are so conditioned to see it as thrilling that we discuss this or that marvelous tool as a remarkable piece of modern technology without keeping in mind that, if it is really used, it will certainly shed living people.

Then he continues to say that:

War likewise strongly resembles a fire in the method it spreads out. If one location gets weak, the commander sends in reinforcements. This is tossing online individuals onto a fire. Since we have actually been brainwashed to think this way, we do not consider the suffering of private soldiers. No soldiers want to be wounded or die. None of his loved ones wants any kind of injury to find to him. If one soldier is killed, or incapacitated permanently, a minimum of another 5 or 10 people - his relatives and good friends - endure as well. We ought to all be alarmed by the extent of this disaster, but we are too confused. (source)

The extend of this brainwashing is rather significant. It is that brainwashed soldiers ought to roll out if we are mosting likely to stop war in basic, along with the substantial murders of various other humans. It is the belief of people that they are doing something great, providing the orders, and shooting that moves the entire equipment of battle. We are the reasons that war exists in the first place. It was created by us, and also as long as we equally take part in one way or another, we extend it. Just picture in your mind what would happen if each as well as every human getting on the planet refused to join war? This is the reason we say change must come from within, and as more soldiers awaken to this call, to comprehend what is really taking place, there will certainly be increasingly more individuals refusing to head to war.

But no matter how sinister or bad are the lots of murderous tyrants that can presently suppress their nations and also create global problems, it is evident that they can not hurt others or destroy countless human lives if they do not have a military organisation approved as well as pardoned by society.

Several of those soldiers that are used by corporate/bank creature masters are beginning to stir up and also talk out the truth.

The Dalai Lama takes place to mention exactly how costly war is. That is something that many people consider, as it is truth that entirely money is gathered billions into the military, along with the Department of Defense in America. Those quantities are able to fully relieve hardship and cravings on our world. Money is made out of slim air, typed on a computer screen and printed by the powerful elite at will.

We're talking about, as X Canadian Protection Minister Paul Hellyer states, trillions, and I mean thousands of billions of dollars which were invested on work which both the congress and the commander-in-chief do absolutely nothing around. Invite to, what head of state Eisenhower called, the armed forces commercial complex, where, as we were cautioned by him, the surge for lost power exists and will proceed. What would he say today concerning what has happened?

The objective is, if we're going to make use of cash money as a tool, why not allocate it to provide food, sanctuary and garments for everyone in the world and also take that lots of? The shield expenses of a few states can do this no issue.

We need to feel fed up with the physical violence as well as eliminating taking place around us. If a pet kills a human, its miserable, but if a human being is eliminated by one more human being its unbelievable. We require to make a certain attempt to think about each other as fellow human beings, as sisters and our siblings.

Thank you Dalai Lama for saying things which you have said within recent months.

#bikram yoga #meditation #yoga

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basicsofislam · 5 years

Text

THE CHILDREN AND GRANDCHILDREN OF THE PROPHET (PBUH) : Husayn (r.a.)

It was the 4th year of the Migration. The second grandson, who would continue the blessed descent of the Prophet, was born. The Prophet rushed to the house of his daughter as soon he heard the good news. He hugged his grandson. He named his grandson “Husayn”. A ram was sacrificed for him. In addition, his hair was weighed and its weight was given to the poor in silver. He was also circumcised.

After that, the house of Hz. Fatima became more valuable in the eye of the Prophet. He started to go there more frequently; he hugged, kissed and loved his grandsons. He smelled them by saying, “Hasan and Husayn are my basils that I smell in this world.”[ Tirmidhi, Manaqib: 31. ]

The Prophet never wanted his beloved grandsons to cry due to any reason. He did not like it when they were made cry. Once, he was cuddling Hz. Husayn. He kissed and caressed him and took on his lap. Meanwhile, Husayn peed on him. The Prophet gave him to Ummu’l-Fadl and said, “Hold him. He peed on me.” Ummu’l-Fadl (r.anha) got angry with Husayn and hurt him. The Prophet could not bear it when his grandson cried. He said to Ummu’l-Fadl , “May Allah forgive you! You saddened me by hurting him.” Ummu’l-Fadl apologized to the Prophet. Once the Prophet heard Husayn cry. He said to Hz. Fatima, “Do you not know that I feel sorry when he cries?”[ Hz. Muhammed ve İslamiyet, 4: 160. ]

The Messenger of Allah (pbuh) loved both of his grandsons very much. He did not discriminate between them. When both of them wanted something, he would give it to the one that wanted it first. Once, he went to visit and love his grandsons. They were sleeping. Hz. Hasan woke up and asked for some milk. There was a sheep in the house but she gave very little milk. The Prophet approached the sheep and milked her. The sheep gave a lot of milk. While he was about to give the milk to Hz. Hasan, Hz. Husayn woke up and asked for some milk. The Prophet gave the milk to Hasan. Hz. Fatima said, “O Messenger of Allah! You probably love Hasan more.” The Prophet said, ‘I love both of them equally but Hasan asked for milk before Husayn did.”[ Usdu’l-Ghaba, 5: 523. ]

The Prophet's beloved grandsons became toddlers and started to toddle, which made them cuter. They loved their grandfather very much and wanted to see him all the time. It looked as if they felt that their grandfather was sent as a savior to human beings and that the universe was created for his sake.

Once, they looked for the Prophet. They thought he could be at the mosque and walked toward the mosque. They entered the mosque and fell down. Meanwhile the Prophet was telling something to his Companions. When he saw that Hz. Hasan and Husayn fell, he interrupted his talk and went to pick them up. He cuddled them and said,

“Allah Almighty said, ‘Your riches and your children may be but a trial.’ How true He spoke. I saw these two children. They stumbled while walking. I could not put up with it and interrupted my talk to pick them up and brought them here.”[ Tirmidhi, Manaqib: 31. ]

Once, the Prophet was walking with his Companions. While they were passing by the house of Fatima, the Prophet saw Hz. Husayn playing in front of the door. He hurried toward Husayn, opened his arms and wanted to hug him. However, Hz. Husayn ran to the right and left, trying to escape from him. The Prophet smiled at his efforts. Then, he caught him. He put one of his hands on his head and the other on his chin. Then, he kissed and loved him. He said, “Husayn is of me and I am of Husayn. Anyone who loves Allah loves Husayn too. Husayn is a grandson among grandsons."[ Mustadrak, 3: 177. ]

Once, the Prophet (pbuh) was talking to his Companions; Umm Ayman came and said in excitement, “O Messenger of Allah! Hasan and Husayn have been lost. We could not find them.” The Prophet said to his Companions, “Go and look for my grandsons.” They went to different directions. The Prophet went out with Hz. Salman to look for them. When they arrived at the top of a mountain, they saw Hz. Hasan and Husayn. They were standing by hugging each other. There was a snake near them, with its mouth open. The Prophet ran toward them. The snake moved away, entering a hole. The Prophet went over to his grandsons and caressed them. He said, “May my mother and father be sacrificed for you! This is a great grace of Allah.” Then, he put one of them on his right shoulder and the other on his left shoulder. When Hz. Salman saw this, he said, “How Lucky you are! What a nice mount you have!” The Prophet said, “The riders are nice too. Their father is superior to them.”[ Hayatu’s-Sahaba, 2: 493. ]

Hz. Hasan and Husayn grew up. They became old enough to wrestle each other. The Prophet made them wrestle and smiled. Once, they were wrestling again. The Prophet encouraged Hz. Hasan. He said, “Come on, Hasan! Catch Husayn!” Hz. Ali was there too. He said, “O Messenger of Allah! I think you should support Husayn because Hasan is older.” The Prophet (pbuh) said, “Look Jibril is supporting Husayn by saying, ’ Come on, Husayn! Catch Hasan!'"[ al-Isaba, 1: 332. ]

The Prophet saw his grandsons almost every day. He sometimes went to his daughter Fatima's house to see them and sometimes Hz. Fatima took them to the Prophet's house. She wanted her children to learn from him.

Once Hz. Fatima took his sons to the Prophet when he was with Umm Salama. Hz. Ali was also there. Meanwhile, verse 33 of the chapter of al-Ahzab was sent down: “Allah only wishes to remove all abomination from you, ye Members of the Family, and to make you pure and spotless.” The Prophet covered his daughter Fatima, Hz. Ali’, Hz. Hasan and Husayn with his garment. Then, he prayed as follows: “O Lord! They are my family members. Remove all abomination from them and make them pure and spotless!”[ Tirmidhi, Manaqib: 32. ]

After the death of the Prophet, Hz. Husayn, who was brought up by Hz. Ali, led a very plain life. He led a life that would set an example to everybody. Many of his statements reached us. Two of them are as follows:

“The jobs of the people entrusted to you are divine trusts. Do not exploit them. Otherwise, they will be punishment for you.”

“A generous person has good manners; a stingy person has bad manners. If a person thinks of the wellbeing of his Muslim brother before himself, he will find better things in the hereafter.”

Hz. Husayn was a person whose prayer was accepted by Allah. Once, he was passing by a man who was cleaning his water-well. When the man saw Hz. Husayn, he said, “I am enlarging my well but I cannot increase its water by any means.” Hz. Husayn asked the man to bring him some water from the well. The man brought some water. Husayn (r.a.) drank a little from that water, rinsed it and sprinkled it into the well. After that, the water of the well increased and sweetened.

During the incident of Karbala, one of Yazid's men asked, “Is Husayn among you?” Then, he uttered rude words for Hz. Husayn, for whom the Prophet said, “He is the master of the youths of Paradise” and said, “I give him the glad tiding that he will go to Hell.” Hz. Husayn opened his hands and prayed Allah as follows: “O Allah! Send him to Hell!” As soon as he finished praying, Yazid's horse shied and he fell of the horse; his leg was stuck in the stirrup. He went to Hell by being broken into pieces.

After the death of Hz. Muawiya, Hz. Husayn did not accept the caliphate of Yazid because he was an oppressor and fasiq (sinner) He did not act in compliance with the orders of Allah. It was unthinkable for Hz. Husayn to pay allegiance to such a person. When the people of Kufa saw that Hz. Husayn did not pay allegiance to Yazid, they invited Hz. Husayn to Kufa and said that they would pay allegiance to him. They did not like the way Yazid lived. Thereupon, Hz. Husayn decided to go to Kufa. The Companions asked him not to go there but he insisted on going. He set off for Kufa with his children and relatives.

Yazid got very angry when he heard this. He ordered Ubaydullah bin Ziyad to prepare an army and to prevent Hz. Husayn. Ibn Ziyad prepared an army under the command of Hurr bin Yazid and sent them against Hz. Husayn. Yazid ordered Hurr to force Hz. Husayn to settle in a place without water, stones and trees. Hurr fulfilled his order. He forced Hz. Husayn to settle in Karbala. Hz. Husayn and his mujahids could have killed Hurr bin Yazid and his men but Hz. Husayn did not want to shed the blood of Muslims in vain. He tried to make a deal with them but no deal was made. One day later, an army of four thousand soldiers under the command of Umar bin Sa'd came to help Hurr bin Yazid. They surrounded Hz. Husayn and the people with him. They surrounded the place where there was water. The weather was very hot. Hz. Husayn and the people with him were very thirsty. They asked for water but their demand was refused.

Hz. Husayn realized that they were determined to kill him. He did not want the people around him to be killed. He addressed them as follows:

“O my friends! You see that the world has changed. The good ones died and the bad ones remained. Life has no taste. The remaining part of our life is nothing but water left at the bottom of a container and life in boring grassland with bad weather. Do you not see that people do not act in accordance with what is right and do not give up what is wrong? A person who is left in such conditions needs to prefer death to life. I regard death as happiness and living under the administration of oppressors as dishonor.”

After speaking like that, Hz. Husayn asked the people around him to go away at night making use of darkness. However, they did not accept it. They said, “May Allah not leave us alive after you! By Allah, we shall not leave you!” They showed a great example of loyalty. Hz. Husayn was influenced by their words and deeds.

After a while, both armies were deployed opposite each other. They approached. Hoping to prevent a big disaster, Hz. Husayn made a moving speech. He addressed the people of Kufa as follows:

“O people! The Messenger of Allah (pbuh) stated the following in a hadith: ‘When a person sees a tyrant oppressing people, doing what Allah forbids without fear, acting against the Sunnah of the Messenger and ruling over the people with tyranny and sinfulness, and when he continues to keep silent and do not try to stop him with his hands and tongue, Allah will drive him toward the place that he rightly deserves.’ These men (Yazid and Ubaydullah bin Ziyad) follow Satan all the time. They stop worshipping Allah and cause mischief. They have suspended the laws of Allah and have shared the Treasury of the state among themselves. They permit what Allah has forbidden and forbid what He has allowed. It is my duty before everybody else to oppose this.

“You sent me many letters that the situation is like that. You sent me messengers that you would pay allegiance to me and that you would not leave me alone. If you keep your promise and pay allegiance to me, you will act righteously. If you have broken your covenant and if you do not like my coming here, allow me to go back.

“Think of it a bit. Will it do you good if you kill me? Will it be legitimate for you to shed my blood? Am I not the son of your Prophet's daughter? Am I not your Prophet's cousin Ali's son? Are Hamza, Abbas and Jafar not my uncles? Did the Messenger of Allah (pbuh) not say for me and my brother, ‘they are the masters of the youths of Paradise’?”

However, this raving group definitely wanted to kill Hz. Husayn. They were not in a position to understand anything. They attacked all together. There were a lot of people attacking Hz. Husayn and those with him.

The people around Hz. Husayn promised that they would protect the beloved grandson of the Messenger of Allah until he was martyred. They resisted the attackers heroically. They formed a wall of flesh around Hz. Husayn. After a while, all of them were martyred one by one.

There were only a few people left around Hz. Husayn. They had several wounds. Hz. Husayn also had several wounds. He wanted to take a sip from the last bowl of water he had; he took the bowl to his mouth. Just then, an arrow hit his mouth. The bowl fell to the ground. He wiped the blood on his mouth with his hand. Meanwhile, another arrow hit him on the side. A group of ravagers attacked him. They cut his hand. Then, they martyred Hz. Husayn, whom the Prophet called “my basil”. They cut off his head and sent it to Yazid. It was the 61st year of the Migration.

One day after this terrible incident, the people of the village of Ghadiriyya near Karbala arrived there and buried the martyrs. They wanted to make the grave of Hz. Husayn unknown but the nice scent coming from the grandson of the Prophet made his grave known.

Hz. Husayn’s younger son Umar and his son Aliyyu’l-Asghar, who was ill, his son, Zaynab and some women were saved from being killed in the incident of Karbala.[ Hz. Muhammed ve İslamiyet, 4: 195-202. ]

With this incident, another miracle of the Prophet became clear. The Messenger of Allah (pbuh) said years ago that Hz. Husayn would be martyred in Karbala. It turned out as he said. It occurred as follows:

Once, Jibril came to the Prophet. The Prophet was with Umm Salama then. The Prophet said to Umm Salama, “Close the door and do not let anybody in.” While they were inside, Hz. Husayn arrived and wanted to go in. Hz. Umm Salama tried to stop him but he managed to go in somehow and sat on the lap of the Messenger of Allah (pbuh). The Prophet kissed and caressed his grandson. Jibril said, “Do you love him a lot?” The Prophet said, “Yes, I love him a lot.” Jibril said, “Yes, but your ummah will martyr him.” The Prophet said, “You mean the believers will kill him?” Jibril said, “Yes. I will tell you where he will be martyred if you wish.” When the Prophet said, "Yes", Jibril left for a while. He returned with a handful of red and wet soil from Karbala. Thereupon, the Prophet started to shed tears. He gave the soil that Jibril brought to Umm Salama and asked her to keep it.[ Mustadrak, 3: 777; Usdu’l-Ghaba, 2: 22. ]

On the day when Hz. Husayn was martyred, the sun was eclipsed and the sky became red. People thought Doomsday would strike. On the other hand, not only people but also jinn cried due to his death. Umm Salama narrates: “I had never heard jinn cry after the death of the Messenger of Allah. Once, I heard them cry again. I felt that Husayn was martyred. I sent my servant to find out what happened. My servant returned after a while and told me that Hz. Husayn had been martyred.”[ Isaba, 1: 135; Hayatu’s-Sahaba, 3: 493. ]

Hz. Husayn, who spent his life in the service of Islam, narrated several hadiths from the Prophet. Some of them are as follows:

“To leave unnecessary things shows the beauty of a person's Islam.”[ Musnad,1: 201. ]

“The real miser is a person who does not utter salawat when my name is mentioned.”[ Musnad,1: 201. ]

“O people! We act as if death is prescribed for others in the world, not for us; we act as if it is obligatory to act in accordance with what is right for others, not for us. We think the dead people that we saw off will soon return; we spend their inheritance as if we will stay in the world forever. We seem to have forgotten all of the advice and we do not fear that a misfortune will hit us. How happy is a person who is interested in his own mistakes and does not see others' mistakes! How happy is a person whose income is legitimate, whose secret things are good, whose open things are useful and whose path is straight! How happy is a person who acts modestly without humiliating himself, spends his legitimate income in the way of Allah, who spends time with knowledgeable and wise people and who shows mercy on poor and needy people! How happy is a person who spends most of his money but does not speak very much, who acts in accordance with the Sunnah and does not resort to bid'ah!”

Lastly, we will narrate two hadiths mentioning the virtue of Hz. Hasan and Husayn:

“Hasan and Husayn are my children. He who loves them is regarded to love me. He who loves me is regarded to love Allah. Allah puts a person He loves into Paradise. He who does not love them and treats them as enemy is regarded to treat me as enemy. Allah does not love a person who treats me as enemy. Allah puts a person He does not love into Hell.”

He stated the following for (Hz. Fatima, Hz. Hasan and Hz. Husayn) “I declare war against a person who declares war against you; I will be in peaceful terms with a person who is in peaceful terms with you.”

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backtodc · 6 years

Note

As fun as it is to throw salt at Gosho I think this could be a good time to talk about some good DC cases. So, which are your top ten cases so far?

Hmmm, this took some thought–presented chronologically because I couldn’t pick preferential order XP

Billion Yen Robbery (013-016): Even disregarding its long-term impact on the plot, this case on its own had a good twist in how Akemi disguised herself and the lies she told to track down her robbery partners. I’m always a fan of people, rather than going for big heavy-duty disguises, just using little details of makeup and presentation to completely change their appearance. Ran’s big heart was evident in this case and how strongly she felt about “Masami”‘s safety after just meeting her twice, and this one also what is still one of my favourite ninja-Ran moments to date. Potential kidnapper/murderer across the street? Maybe we should call the police, or run down the stairs OR I GUESS WE COULD JUMP OUT OF A FIRST FLOOR WINDOW AND CHASE HIM ACROSS THE STREET AND DO A FLYING KICK TO DESTROY HIS CAR WINDOW AND ALSO HIS NOSE

Akemi’s death opens up a shitton of plot, and, despite how it gets slightly overused later on (not quite to “did you know Bruce Wayne’s parents got murdered” levels but definitely a biiiiit overused) it’s still one of the most genuinely tragic deaths, especially since Shinichi admitted his real name to her to try and offer her some comfort as she died. TEARS Q_Q

A Haunted Mansion Murder Case (017-019): The case that introduced the Ayumi, Mitsuhiko and Genta. I always think of this one quite fondly. It had a genuinely creepy atmosphere–the “haunted” mansion looks the right side of cliche-creepy, especially once it turns out there’s actually someone around, and honestly I can forgive the incidents of the kids wandering off alone and vanishing because they’re six, of course they’re gonna do silly shit like wander off alone in a haunted mansion. And the truth of the matter is something that’s vanishingly rare in Detective Conan, something I wish we saw more often: a crime of passion.

There’s no clever trick to the murder: the son, Akio, just loses the rag under a torrent of verbal abuse and smashes his father’s head in with a candlestick. There’s no clever trick to the cover-up, either; his mother messed with the crime scene a bit and reported it as a robbery, and given that the family’s obviously very wealthy, money probably changed hands if any investigating officer did think to suspect anything other than a robbery. All she’s thinking about is protecting her son from the consequences of his crime; all he can think about is his guilt and horror over the murder he committed. The case goes from genuinely creepy to honestly tragic. It’s a proper emotional story, and at no point do any six-year-olds have to witness a human corpse, which I’m always in favour of. And I like Genta, Mitsuhiko and Ayumi and I’m glad they were introduced shut the fuck up

The Hatamoto Family Case (020-025): This was another case with good creepy atmosphere, a solid closed circle situation, classic big fucked-up family situation but at the heart of it, Natsue and Takeshi are a genuinely sweet couple who really don’t deserve all this bullshit and you spend the case really hoping for them to be safe and things to turn out okay for them, the traumatic deaths of several close relatives aside. The murderer is pretty sad, though I feel like Gosho intended him to be more sympathetic than he actually was–he certainly could’ve done with less abuse from his grandfather and been allowed to emotionally invest in his art more, but the cousins thing aside, murdering multiple people over a girl you’ve never even approached marrying somebody else with whom she’s had an actual relationship and is in love with is… not sympathetic. But I’m also glad that the nice chef uncle came out alright too, and that all three of the sympathetic family members reappeared in later cases since they were all very likeable characters.

Moonlight Sonata (062-067): This one sticks in a lot of people’s minds, and I think it’s for the same reason that the haunted mansion case sticks in mine; atmosphere. This is another one with a good, genuinely creepy atmosphere from the immediate sense of “small town with a dark secret” we get as soon as the Mouri Detective Agency arrives on the island. Gosho was very good at building these atmospheres once upon a time, I would’ve liked to see him write a horror manga. The case is deeply tragic from start to finish, from the murders of the Asoh family, to the fact that Seiji/Narumi got the idea for the “curse” from playing a funeral song for a man who’d just had a heart attack after admitting to murdering their family, to the complex nature of Dr Asai’s grief and guilt that they felt the need to avenge their family but simultaneously called for a detective in the hopes that they’d be stopped, to their suicide at the end because they can’t live with what they felt obligated to do. There are Gosho’s usual… issues… with gender, and given the bigotry that became obvious later he probably had no clue at all what he was doing with Dr Asai’s gender, but I feel like they weren’t handled unkindly for an AMAB character living as a woman? I could be wrong and I wanna open this one up to the trans folk in the audience because I’ve never found a trans fan’s commentary on Dr Asai and how they think they were handled, but goddamn I still cry thinking of their suicide at the end and I appreciate that this was a one-off case that had a visible long-term emotional impact on Conan.

Magic Lovers’ Murder Case (192-196): As well as being an interesting murder involving some quite sympathetic characters, this is a really good case for seeing what Kaitou Kid’s like under the mask (or was like; I feel like he’s lost depth since this?) as expressed through Katsuki Doito. He came along to investigate suspicious user activity, but he joined the magic-lovers’ forum because he is a nerd for stage magic and stage magicians and enjoys nerding out about stage magic and stage magicians. He gets to unapologetically fanboy over his late father with other magicians, with is pretty goddamn cute imo. He also gets to show off knowledge and fondness for other magicians, and his knowledge of magic tricks is useful in solving the case, even though, by his own admission, he’s no detective, and it led to tragedy. We don’t really see how Kid felt about being unable to prevent that murder, since he was still being played as pretty mysterious at the time, but it was a good choice for his second appearance in DC imo since it cemented him as Not A Bad Dude. Also, Conan gets to be one of Those Shonen Protagonists by running across a burning bridge, which, y’know, is always cheesy, but also always kinda cool (the artwork was particularly effective imo)

Twilight Mansion (299-302): I genuinely enjoyed the gathering of the knock-off famous detectives and was pleasantly surprised by Hakuba’s appearance (back when I still held out hope that that kind of thing meant that Kid would get more involved in the plot). The mansion itself is actually quite gorgeously designed and rendered, especially at the end when the exterior crumbles, and again, DAT CREEPY ATMOSPHERE. I guess it’s officially plot-important now, too, which I just wanna say, I officially called nine years ago, but also I was hardly the only one calling BO involvement with Karasuma.

Most of all, in general, I just really like watching and reading things involving skilled people being very competent at what they do, so the fact that ALL of the gathered detectives (save that one dead one) figured out what was up and were able to communicate and come up with a plan without revealing themselves to the brilliant detective BEHIND the whole thing, and the execution of that plan, were all very, very good and I liked it. I might reread this one right now, actually, while I’m thinking about it, I really do enjoy it top to bottom.

Golden Apple Case (350-354): PEAK interesting backstory on the part of Vermouth and Yukiko, a reasonably interesting murder, Yukiko’s RAD driving scene, and one of my favourite Ran moments ever. The confrontation with the serial killer/Vermouth is tense as hell, and the fact that Ran reacts instinctively to save his life and just can’t bring herself to drop him and let him die, to be responsible for a death, no matter whose, is a very powerful statement on the integrity of her character. She’s just to her core, and Shinichi does steal the moment a bit by helping her pull the serial killer up and getting the really good “you might need a reason to kill, but you don’t need a reason to save a life” line, but this still feels entirely like a Ran moment for me. We find out later that this incident had a profound effect on Vermouth, too, and is possibly the entire reason she’s hiding Shinichi’s secret from the BO and explicitly the reason she doesn’t want Ran to come to harm. Shame we haven’t had much Vermouth character development in a while because this stuff was JUICY.

Two Cases Under One Moon (429-434): An ICONICALLY good Bo-fightin’ case where everybody involved is putting in Maximum Effort. Heiji puts on an extremely good show as a fake Shinichi (the boy’s an extreme drama queen and Heiji does that very well), Yukiko’s disguise skills are valuable and well-used, we finally get the revelation that Vermouth has been Dr Araide for a while AND that she’s maybe immortal (…not… that we’ve gotten ANYTHING on that since..) AND we get the VERY interesting nature of her feelings concerning Shinichi and Ran. Also, we get Ran so concerned about Ai’s wellbeing that she hides in a car boot and then jumps into gunfire in order to protect her, GOD that’s SUCH a good Ran moment. Shinichi, Jodie and Akai all also get to be very brave and very smart and very badass, and ugh really I just wanna go back to everything about Vermouth in this case and explore more of that forever. Please. Also more Jodie, whose backstory we finally got in this case after revealing that she’s not Vermouth. What is it with interesting women disappearing as soon as their backstory is out MOVING ALONG

Clash of Red and Black (595-609): This case is a cracking case. This one was long and complicated and many-layered and everybody involved was on their highest gears and it was great. Akai and Conan work as a fantastic team and Conan gets free reign to do some very good detective work for the FBI (I still believe he told Akai who he was during this case, it would make sense and undercuts how concerned I am with all of these grown adults letting a six-year-old run all around an active incident). We get a good look at the incredible power and cruelty of the Black Organization when they cause immense collateral damage just to flush the FBI out. We get the story on both Akemi and Akai’s relationship AND the Hondo family, and OH BOY THE HONDO FAMILY.

It’s also one of the most interesting Eisuke cases, imo, where not only does he do some solid investigation to find Mizunashi Rena, we get a glimpse of some real deep trauma over losing his last family member that’s driven him to be willing to attack Rena with scissors out of desperation to get answers about what happened to his father and sister. I mean, I am most definitely not advocating stabbing coma patients, but for Eisuke a lot of the trauma of your whole beloved family dying or disappearing was just implied and not explored, and then he got booted from the series immediately after things got interesting with him, so bleh. We also barely see Hidemi after this, and ?????????? because she’s a CIA agent who’s in DEEP to the BO after surviving a HORRIFYING situation where she has to proudly boast of murdering a man who was secretly her FATHER, who SACRIFICED HIS LIFE TO PROTECT HER… why are we dicking around so much with Mystery Family instead of exploring this one??? This case is kind of the last hurrah for anything interesting happening with the Hondos so I love it for that.

And I love the complicated counter-bluff involved in delivering Kir back to the Black Organization without looking like they were delivering her. Again, this was apparently in exchange for her assisting the FBI and she barely appears after this…? Nope this isn’t about salting at Gosho moving on

The Life-Threatening Broadcast of Love (804-808): I love this one solely and 300% for the part where Miwako Sato jumps out of a helicopter, shoots a noose off of her boyfriend’s neck, grabs him, wraps her coat around him to protect them and knocks both of them out of the range of a bomb blast at the last second, like the goddamn action hero that she is.

So in no particular order, those are my top ten: how about the rest of you?

#peggaboo #detective conan

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kaleidographia · 5 years

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[Review] Tales of Vesperia: The Brightest Star in the Night Sky Doesn't Shine as Strongly as I'd Hoped

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Warning: Contains allusive/thematic spoilers.

The day is finally here! Tales of Vesperia: Definitive Edition, containing content previously unseen outside of Japan, has finally been released, so that us English speakers and/or non-PS3 owners can experience the new storylines, characters and features for the first time! Alas, this isn’t a post about that, firstly because this post is going up day-of-release and I haven’t had a chance to play it yet, and secondly because I am writing this from outside of the country and won’t be united with my pre-ordered copy until I return next week, RIP.

Therefore, this post is written from the point of view of someone who has only played the Xbox 360 version. I will try to keep it brief for the sake of not spoiling newcomers to the game, and also hopefully not to complain about things that are fixed (or broken??) in the Definitive Edition.

Tales of Vesperia is a game in the long-running “Tales of” franchise from Bandai Namco, the first one in HD, originally released for the Xbox 360 in 2008, later receiving an updated PS3 version in 2009, exclusive to Japan. Like many older fans, my introduction to the Tales of series was with Tales of Symphonia for the Gamecube, and I fell in love hard; I was therefore extremely excited to play the next games, but unfortunately, I never owned the platforms for them until very recently. Along with Tales of the Abyss, Vesperia and Symphonia form the “holy trinity” of games in the series almost everyone loves; find a Tales fan and ask them their favourite game, and the answer will likely be one of those three (note: I’ve heard very good things about Graces and the two Xillia games, but unfortunately haven’t had a chance to judge them firsthand myself). The three games, while not directly related in terms of plot or setting, share a lot of things in common, as they had mostly the same creative team, often referred to as “Team Symphonia” (as opposed to “Team Destiny” which made most other games since then). One notable difference is the scenario writer, Takashi Hasegawa, while Symphonia and Abyss were written by Takumi Miyajima.

The Tales series is known for its reliance on anime and JRPG tropes, often used in a way that plays off cliché expectations only to then layer plot twists and character development and produce a much deeper experience than what would be expected from the get-go. When used effectively, these methods produce a story that is both fun and emotionally challenging. Tales of Vesperia is no different, offering a cast of archetypes that should be highly recognizable to those familiar with the genre, and yet this may be best set of characters in a Tales game. The party has impressively good banter, chemistry and dynamics and several scenes had me laughing out loud or yelling, and I never had a bad time watching their relationships unfold.

Unfortunately, the game spares little time fleshing out backstories or learning more about each individual character outside of the main plot. By the end, I was left wanting, as the cast was so endearing and vibrant, yet I knew next to nothing about them aside from what had been relevant to show onscreen. I longed for more information about where they had come from and how they had gotten where they were, but it is a testament to the strength of the character writing that their storylines reached a satisfying conclusion despite this relative sparse amount of information about them. “Backstory is not story”, Craig McCracken and Frank Angones were fond of saying to fans of Wander Over Yonder, but for a game with the size and scope of a 60-hour JRPG, not providing that window of information feels like a hole in the worldbuilding.

Mechanically, Vesperia builds on the model established by Symphonia and refined in Abyss, where combat takes place in a 3D arena and the player can run around, hit enemies and rack up combos fighting game style (the franchise calls this “Linear Motion Battle System”). While Symphonia was in 3D, it restricted the player to a single side-to-side corridor of action. Abyss added the ability to run around in 3D space by holding down a button, a feature Vesperia also has. This makes combat easier and more fun, as nothing is quite as satisfying as avoiding an attack and then running around and hitting the enemy from behind. And, as the game allows up to four players controlling different party members, and I have a player 2 (shoutout to my roommate Opal), Vesperia’s system is the most well-suited to multiplayer. If nothing else, I never felt lost while on the battlefield yelling for backup. The one major flaw is that boss fights come with massive difficulty spikes and I often had to grind and formulate careful battle plans with Opal just to not get continuously massacred by bosses.

Storywise, Vesperia starts off very strongly, sort of peters out near the middle, and then the third act falls apart. At first the theme is anti-authority, with a protagonist who grew up in the slums, neglected by nobles, who became a knight and then quit out of disillusionment when it turned out all they did was squabble about politics, and the inciting incident and early driver of the plot is his quest to “fix the plumbing” as a popular Tumblr text post put it. It’s clear Yuri has all the reason in the world to not trust authority and he even goes full vigilante against unjust abuse of power, but while this thread seems like the most important theme in the story, after a while so many other elements come into play it ends up lost and doesn’t really make much of an appearance except to highlight the differences between Yuri and Flynn’s approaches to life and how they prefer to help people. On its own it’s a compelling idea, but it never gets the follow-through it deserves, and my expectations were certainly subverted—but in a bad way.

It’s hard to talk about the third act without spoilers so I will probably come back to it for a proper analysis at a later date, but its ultimate message was already kind of limp in 2008 and is even more laughable now. For a game whose initial premise was so strongly against authority, the ultimate resolution of the main conflict reads as incredibly daft in light of just about everything that is happening in politics at the moment. There’s a very strong environmental allegory and the comparisons to climate change are not subtle, but the writers probably bit off more than they could chew because realistically trying to solve this problem in the time the story allotted would have been next to impossible; I still would have hoped the implications of the given solution had been actually explored instead of settling for an “oh well, guess everything’s been fixed now”.

I’m being harsh about the plot because to me Vesperia has a lot of wasted potential. Don’t get me wrong: I do love this game. It is in fact up there with the holy trinity as far as my opinions of the series go, but it lands in third place out of the three because it just fails to live up to what its first half promises about the world it created. To put it bluntly, if the story had just ended at the conclusion of the second act, it would have been much stronger. That the game continues for another 20 hours on a completely different track with an unsatisfying, unrealistic conclusion is a huge shame because it brings down what could have been a real masterpiece of tropey anime JRPG narratives. I live for that stuff, there’s a reason I want to play every Tales game, but that’s what makes this letdown the most disappointing. At least the characters themselves get good conclusions; it is unfortunate I can’t say the same for the main plot.

Despite all this I think Vesperia is a worthwhile experience, and one of my favourite things about is its aesthetic sense. Every location is immersive, polished, and the pinnacle of what I want to see in a videogame, to the point I dream of Symphonia and Abyss remakes made in the same style (and every other game in the series, to be honest, but that seems unlikely with the direction it’s taken since then). I genuinely cared about the party and I wanted to see them succeed and I was ultimately happy that they did even if I did roll my eyes a lot. The combat was so satisfying and so fun to play with a player 2 it makes me twice as mad that Zestiria’s camera goes completely wild during multiplayer and prevents me from joining in. I should note that for someone who plays as many games as I do I am notoriously terrible at them so I heavily favour story over mechanics, but Vesperia is a game that reminds me that engaging gameplay can make a huge difference. Yeah, I suck, but at least I’m having fun while sucking. That’s more than I can say for a lot of games.

If you like JRPGs, games that let you run around and hit things, or fun and intriguing character dynamics, you’ll probably like Tales of Vesperia. If you’re looking for a coherent story from start to finish, you’ll probably disappointed, but there’s just enough there to keep you engrossed until the end. Overall, Vesperia is solid, and the parts it fumbles aren’t bad enough to ruin the whole thing, but hopefully the extra content in Definitive Edition helps to smooth it out; I’ll have to find that out for myself.

Aside from how it messes up the voice acting this time around. Oh, Bamco.

#Review #Tales of #Tales of Vesperia #videogames

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thirdherrscher · 6 years

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can you tell us more about your mahou shoujo site camp camp au??

WWHWH IM GLAD YOU ASKED NONNIE

it works as either a roleswap or its own branch- though there really isnt much to say if its its own thang. however! one trait both verses have in common is the site is a shady camp that provides magical sticks and helps alleviate trauma/stress(except not really) while the admins are known as counselors. they do have a site that advertises itself to misfortunate children: “whether or not you want to attend our camp, or use your stick, is entirely up to you”

the roleswap follows the canon mss storyline, with some the roles,sticks and emblems altered a bit to better fit certain aspects & dubious content/characters taken out. the motives, the existence of tempest, the king,etc remain just about the same. the kids are around 2-3 yrs older than their canon counterparts and mahou sept takes place 10+ years before the current timeline

the swaps + hcs under the cut cus it gets kinda long [tw for mentions of abuse, suicide and violence, please proceed w care]

NIKKI:

switches with aya

stick is a gun with the ability to teleport her targets, later on upgrades to sharing memories + distributing lifespan

emblem is a flower

lives with her disconnected mom who seems to find a new partner at the end of every week. her father is mostly absent in her life

was severely bullied by sasha,tabii and erin at school

sports a lively facade out of stubbornness

her only escape was taking long walks out in nature

was Very traumatized having believed she murdered tabii with her new stick

was the only one out of the main trio to genuinely think they were all friends

has a big fat crush on max and neil

becomes less vibrant and more protective of her loved ones as her Magical Girl Adventures take a darker turn

MAX:

switches with tsuyuno

stick is a smartphone with the ability to freeze time

emblem is the letter X

lived with a neglectful family until they were killed by a burglar

he felt nothing when they die, but was immensely wounded when he realized theyd been trying to escape without their son

uses his time magic solely for his own advantage. he wont hesitate to fuck over assholes who threaten his image or simply out of spite

hes That One Classmate nobody bothers with but would never mess with

was one of the only people who defended nikki and neil from their bullies

though he made it clear he associates himself with nikki and neil only for their magic, he genuinely began to care for them immensely like the big softie he is

NEIL:

switches with kiyoharu

stick is a ring with the power of telepathy and is able to peek into/take over his targets’ sensory system if he chooses to

emblem is the infinity sign

pushed around for being a typical nerd;got more shit after getting outed as genderfluid

unlike canon, neil actually cares for his dad- even if he does embarrass him quite a lot

when presented with his stick, he laughed at the idea of things like “mahou camp” existing??and thought it was some pathetic scam

surprise surprise, freaked the FUCK out when it turned out the stick worked

he further refused to use his magic after finding out it takes a toll on his physical being

like max, he only befriended the other 2 for his own interests. he does eventually start caring for them despite trying(and failing) to hold them at an emotional arm’s length

developed post-traumatic mutism from witnessing the deaths of his friends; currently uses telepathy to communicate

HARRISON:

switches with rina

has a LOT of stolen sticks stowed away in his top hat. the one he was granted with was a conductor’s baton that explodes its targets

secondary stick is a sword that cuts through any surface

his tertiary stick is a wooden staff that emits electrical discharge

the baton’s emblem is a crescent moon, the sword’s is the letter V and the wooden staff’s is a crown

was the second magical after ered to receive the slaughter note

bought the camp’s lies about tempest in a heartbeat, driven by fear for what was to come & arrogant thoughts of him deserving to live in a new world free of scum

his plan was foiled by max and co after a failed attempt on nikki’s life

he is Very terrified of preston and avoids him at all costs

the trio only protected him from harm for more info regarding tempest

he still has natural magic, which he sometimes uses as an alternative to sticks

he develops a tiny crush on nikki

SASHA:

switches with sarina

her stick is a yo-yo with a string so sharp it slice n dices whatever gets in the way

emblem is a heart

was one of nikki’s bullies,along with tabii & erin

often referred nikki by her full name before they made amends

her accused nikki for “murdering” tabii & grew more hateful than ever when her throat was slashed (by max, actually), leaving a hideous scar as a reminder of the incident

for this “misfortune,” she was granted a stick. really it was because the camp needed a new magical hunter

tried killing nikki and her friends out of vengeance, but slowly her perspective of nikki slowly changed after the latter saved her from getting crushed by a collapsing building

her feelings for nikki went from pure hatred, to mere tolerance, to finally–after a heart-to-heart conversation–geniunely caring for her well being

nikki still hasnt 100% forgiven sasha for all she’s done,which sasha comes to find understandable

PRESTON:

switches with nijimi

stick is a wristband with the power of mind-control

emblem is a star

grew up in a shithole neighborhood, in a shithole household with shitty parents

his parents were so deep in debt with loan sharks,they committed suicide when they realized they couldnt pay up, leaving a Very scared pres to fend for himself

temporarily lived with jen, his teacher and mother figure, and for the longest time, he was frightened to go outside out of fear of running into the same loan sharks

one confrontation by momma bear jen later, pres decided to settle things by wiping clean the memories of his family’s debt from the loan sharks’ minds

preston eventually got his life together & made it big in the theater industry as a child prodigy

he had a horrible relapse when he found jen’s bloody, headless corpse, out of the blue on a very normal day. realizing it was a murder committed by another magical, preston follows the series of murders of similar fashion; bent on finding the killer to avenge jen

put his career on hiatus to properly work with the trio, who he took a genuine liking to until they were busted for lying about harrison’s whereabouts(he still hasnt completely forgiven them for that.) he only agreed to cooperate under one condition: he gets his hands on a certain rotten magic kid after this

he lived with his grandmother since jen’s death

NURF:

switches with asahi

stick is a brass knuckle which enhances his physical abilities

emblem is a cancel sign🚫

was raised in a broken household; his parents would fight constantly, often scaring the poor boy into hiding

he was much closer to his mother and was devastated when she got sentenced to prison. with her out of the picture, mr nurfington began taking his frustrations on nurf more frequently than ever

nurf ran away after mortally wounding (maybe possibly killing) his dad by sheer impulse, spending years on the streets and move out of one shelter after another

he has scars from a combination of his previous home life and life on the streets. hes also blind in one eye

despite walking the path of delinquency, he tries his best to fix his attitude for himself and those around him, especially after he meets his new friends

DOLPH:

DISCLAIMER!! i am using my own revamped version of dolph for this because Fuck Canon

switches with kosame

stick is a carving knife he uses to cut himself, the blood flowing from the wound is used to heal external injuries of others. he is, however, unable to prolong lifespans

emblem is the degree celsius

was the lonely kid in class nobody paid attention to

is childhood friends with ered, but they grew distant as ered became more popular he became convinced she wouldnt associate with the likes of him anymore

was the only person who approached ered kindly when she fell

he became depressed after he was diagnosed with terminal illness, but acts like nothing’s wrong. pretty much lost the will to live when ered allegedly killed herself

he never practiced self-harm before receiving his stick

SPACE KID:

switches with mikari

stick is a flying broomstick

emblem is a sun

had a carefree life with his family with everything he could ask for: happiness, wealth & all the space-centric things he could get his hands on. until they were killed by a deranged murderer on the loose and has lived under his great uncle’s care since

life with buzz wasnt so bad though, he was still relatively happy

hes gets treated as the expendable one by his friends

often lets harrison ride his broom with him

ERED:

switches with kayo

stick is a compact mirror which can hold up to 10 different abilities of magicals she comes in contact with

emblem is a spade

used to be a popular girl and lived with her two dads (jacob; bearded dad & nathaniel; blonde dad) and a younger sibling

her life came crashing down when nathaniel killed 3 teenage boys to avenge the sibling, whose murder had been left without justice. nathaniel was sentenced to prison, jacob lost his job and eventually fell seriously ill & ered, treated lesser than a dog by peers and those she had a hand in picking on, was forced to trudge through this ordeal with no rights to even cast a glare at her bullies

her hair is short because it was cut by bullies

dolph was the only one who tried reconnecting with her. while she appreciates some light in this misery, she still keeps her distance to keep the bullies from targeting him as well

she was the first magical girl to be given the slaughter note; in that she found out dolph and nerris, an old campmate, were also magicals

both dolph and nerris were able to find out ered’s status as a magical girl. the former thru overhearing a conversation with nerris, the latter because she followed ered

ered highkey cant believe she let some geeky kid save her ass time and time again

she faked her and nerris’ deaths to get out of the mahou camp’s radar + keep their loved ones safe

NERRIS:

switches with sakura

stick is a video game controller with the ability to unleash shock waves

emblem is a diamond

had an average life with a loving family before her father’s death; which the police merely brushed it off as suicide. furious, nerris took matters into her own hands to find the killer(another magical most likely) herself

she still adores dnd games

she went to camp with ered and dolph once

she was surprised+confused when ered approached her, wondering why a (former) cool kid would want anything to do with her. she was Disappointed But Not Surprised when she found out it was bc ered was looking for other magical girls

she helped ered a lot through the magical girl fiasco, and they ended up growing closer than mere comrades

along with ered, she formed an alliance with nikki and co in their efforts to dismantle the mahou camp

PIKEMAN:

switches with ni/ochi

stick was a PET bottle that traps oxygen surrounding it

emblem was the roman numeral XIII

was cameron campbell’s nephew

he was sent to a military camp for boys. his fellow campers pushed him around to the breaking point and the mahou camp granted him his magical boy status.

he used his stick to murder those who humiliated him, ruling the camp via fearmongering

he simply vanished off the face of earth one day- some guessed he simply couldnt take military camp anymore, but nobody could truly conclude where he’d gone

the truth is pikeman used his lifespan down to its last drops, his body and stick disintegrating & reborne into the counselor “two”

CAMERON:

switches with detective misumi

bio uncle of pikeman and adoptive uncle to daniel

is a shady fbi agent secretly associated with the mahou camp

only formed the alliance bc he suspected they had something to do with pikeman’s disappearance

has an immense collection of sticks in a secret basement

cam about 14 y/o dan: “ive only known li’l danny for a day and a half and if anything happened i would kill everyone in this room and then myself.“

cam about daniel now: “danny has been my nephew for over a decade and i still would—”

faked his murder of jasper for currently unknown reasons. he seems to have taken the still-alive jasper under his wing for the moment

DAVID:

switches with tsurara/the king (yes, i buy the tsurara=the king theory dont @ me)

stick is a drill with a laser beam twister

emblem is the libra symbol

is best friends with gwen and former childhood friends with jasper

was badly abused by one of his counselors it ruined his love for camp

even after accidentally murdering said counselor and burying the evidence, davey insisted he drop out of camp

the guilt, the trauma, everything was so overwhelming davey began to emotionally break down

pursued a relationship with bonquisha in hopes it’ll dull the pain; he became thoroughly convinced, yes, this is real happiness. he ended up turning down gwens efforts to help him

the truth behind the abusive counselor was leaked, and no one has ever changed their opinion of david so fast. bon left davey in disgust as davey himself got bullied to the point of suicide

because he died so miserably, david was allowed another shot at life- reborn a physical manifestation of his negative feelings, with the desire to wipe out humanity. the “king” was born and brought forth the threat of tempest

GWEN:

switches with hyouka/nana

shares her stick and emblem with david

she used to be a total shut in since her father died in an accident. david at the time was a classmate who’d bring in notes and assignments from class everyday.

gwen was upset when he told her he wouldnt be able to come anymore due to an upcoming summer camp. realizing she enjoyed davey’s company too much, she offered to attend camp with him & theyd been inseparable since

is very protective of david, always down to fuck up anyone who hurts him

when she discovered the truth about david’s counselor, gwen offered to gather money for therapy with his newfound stick.

she and davey temporarily fell out bc davey changed his mind about letting her help him and gwen’s temper got the better of her

she was devastated at witnessing daveys death, and harbors a deep resentment for the camp

she continued to use david’s stick until her lifespan ran out, and was reborn the counselor “seven.”

DANIEL:

switches with alice

stick is a flip phone with the ability to reverse time by one minute

emblem is a knife

his parents were arrested for being dangerous cultists. dan had never known what hell truly was until his peers found out, and was given the humiliating nikcname “son of a cultist”

he HATES anything cult-related, and blames his family for ruining his life

having grown up in a cultish household, some of their twisted tendencies rubbed off him

he attended the same camp as gwen,davey,jasper and jen as a teenager

cameron adopted dan as his nephew out of pity after he bolted from camp in midst of a breakdown

he was initially all up for helping nikki’s gang, behaving kindly and almost like a father-figure to them. he decided to leave the kids alone to take care of a mission gone horribly wrong, believing theyd literally be the death of him if he kept wasting his powers for a bunch of “brats with no survival skills of their own”

JEN:

switches with mikado

stick is a mechanical pencil with the ability to create magic-negating barriers

emblem is the operator symbol ⨂

was practically preston’s adoptive mother. she was always there for him in his time of need, making sure he was okay and nurtured him as if he were her own

similar to daniel’s case, jen’s parents held questionable beliefs. she was also bullied for the same reasons

doesnt mind cracking a satanic joke every now and then despite her past

she was killed by harrison for her stick

JASPER:

switches with isoko

main stick is a set of rollerblades that enhances his speed. it also gives him the ability skate smoothly over uneven surfaces and areas that defy gravity. its emblem is the leo symbol

his secondary stick is a hairdryer that returns the targeted object/person to its original position. the emblem is the letter J

was childhood friends with david. jasper changed when davey “stole” his place as the honorary camper and they officially fell out after jasper tried getting the camp shut down

he still attended the same camp as gwen and david as teenagers

hes really kind of an ass

neither of his sticks were given to him by the mahou camp

went under the alias “J” as he distributed countless sticks to everyday folk

was allegedly killed by detective campbell for his crimes, but in actuality is still alive and well to this day

#thank you for showing interesting in this silly lil au #also im sorry if some of these arent v well written hfsdhgk #some of these might make more sense if u read the manga #especially sept #camp camp #asknico #anon #trash aus

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wazafam · 3 years

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Stephen King's coming-of-age drama Stand By Me is a timeless tale of four friends, just as relevant today as it was on its initial release in 1986. The film is based off a novella by King called The Body, and was directed by Rob Reiner. It was received well by fans and had largely positive reviews, with critics praising the performances of the young stars. Reiner calls it the favorite of all his projects, and King loved the adaptation. But what would a 2021 version look like?

The story of the movie is told through the point of view of Gordie Lachance (Wil Wheaton), who, as an adult, reads in the newspaper that his childhood friend Chris (River Phoenix) has been killed. He begins to write a recollection of a childhood adventure with Chris and their friends Vern (Jerry O'Connell) and Teddy (Corey Feldman) in which they go on a quest to find the dead body of a teenager in their neighborhood who had gone missing. Some older teens led by the terrifying Ace Merrill (Kiefer Sutherland) also seek the body, wanting to claim the glory for locating the boy. Ace threatens, bullies, and belittles the younger boys, pushing them to their emotional limits. Gordie, who is mourning the death of his kind older brother Denny, finds the strength within to stand up to Ace, defending himself and his friends.

RELATED: Every George Romero & Stephen King Collaboration That Never Happened

The drama touched audiences and remains a fan favorite, retaining its legacy over thirty years after its debut. Much of the magic of the film was credited to the casting, about which Wheaton said, "Rob Reiner found four young boys who basically were the characters we played." Were the film to be remade today, it would be necessary to recapture the striking chemistry and lovely acting that made Stand By Me so special.

As the film's point of view character, the role of Gordie requires a lot of sensitivity and strength. Gordie is an imaginative, reflective boy who has lost the only family member who noticed and appreciated his talent for storytelling. At the tender age of 12, Gordie feels invisible in his own home, cast aside in favor of his athletic and charming older brother whose death has rocked his family. His father is not handling grief well, acting gruffly and dismissively toward Gordie, who just wants to be seen. Gordie feels like the shadow cast by his older brother will forever get in the way of his relationship with his parents. He seeks closeness with his friends, particularly Chris, who acts as his cheerleader, telling him that his parents simply don't know him, and that one day he'll be a great writer.

Wheaton's portrayal of Gordie was powerful and poignant, and it earned him a spot on VH1's "100 Greatest Kid Stars." The boy who replaces him would have to be a skilled actor and a bankable star, and Jacob Tremblay is both. At a young age, he has already garnered praise from critics for the dramatic heavy-hitter Room, and his performance in another King story, Doctor Sleep, was so effective that he disturbed all of his adult co-stars. Tremblay has shown enormous range and star power for one so young, and his winning relatability and potent depths would bring Gordie Lachance to a new generation.

As the naïve, silly comic of the group, Vern is often picked on but is resilient enough to brush right by the taunts. He is the one who introduces the idea of the trip to the group, asking them if they want to go see a dead body. He was under the porch digging for a jar of pennies he had lost when he overheard his brother talking to a friend about spotting the dead body of Ray Brower. Vern's desire to find the body coincides with his yearning to be a town hero instead of a "town loser." He is so often dismissed and ignored that he seems keen to prove himself. At first glance, Vern may seem a little slow and merely there to be a source of comedic relief, but he just like the other boys is facing an unfamiliar and yawning future, and he is trying to reinvent himself via an act of bravado.

RELATED: How Old Are Stranger Things' Child Actors?

Stand By Me was O'Connell's very first film, and his breezy, natural skills are effortlessly presented. Similarly, Lonnie Chavis is relatively new on the scene but has already won audiences and adult co-stars over with his maturity and adaptability. A keen observer of life and the human condition, Chavis was able to dive into his roles with electric energy and a firm grasp on reality that won him a significant role on the hit show This Is Us. Chavis would be a fun, fresh face to experience on the silver screen.

Teddy is perhaps the most tortured and erratic of the group. He suffers from a frightening home life with a father who has PTSD and takes the worst of his episodes out on Teddy, including an incident wherein he held Teddy's ear to the stove until it almost burned off. Despite this, Teddy venerates his father, holding sacred the fact that he "stormed the beaches of Normandy" in World War II. Teddy is often given over to fits of rage and sorrow, attempting suicide by standing in front of a train and getting into a screaming match with the man who runs the local dump. Teddy, in a way, is a symbol of the aftereffects of war, something still very close to home at the close of the 1950s when the film takes place. The window of innocence seen in the '50s would soon give way to the turmoil of the '60s, something that these young men are about to face along with adulthood.

Feldman was already a rising star when he appeared in Stand By Me, and the film stood as a testament to his position as an up-and-comer. His turn as Teddy Duchamp was truly incredible, marking a high point in the actor's career. Another such up-and-comer is Dylan Gage, who broke the hearts of audiences with his sweet, plaintive, and effective portrayal of young gay teen Gabe on the comedy Pen15. Fans of the show were gobsmacked and undone by Gage's performance as the middle-schooler coming to grips with his sexuality, finding the earnest performance gracefully executed. Gabe was also a theater actor, playing a sort of Edward Albee-esque character onstage across lead actor Maya Erskine, showing off his comedic ability and wonderful range.

In the 1986 movie, the late River Phoenix played Chris Chambers. As the narrator, Gordie says of Chris, "He came from a bad family and everyone just knew he'd turn out bad...including Chris." Chris Chambers is the leader of the group and Gordie's best friend, but he has trouble seeing the light in himself as much as he sees it in other people. His father and brother are violent toward him, and he has become convinced that he is worthless and will never amount to anything. He struggles against the turmoil of lowered expectations, desiring to advance academically but not being permitted to due to a suspension from school and access to the economic security that his friend Gordie has. He tells Gordie that they are bound to go separate ways because Gordie, unlike the rest, will have the opportunity to go to college, and he won't want to hang with losers like them. In the end, it is revealed that Chris pushed himself to graduate high school, attend college, and become a lawyer. He bravely tries to intervene in a bar fight where he is stabbed to death.

RELATED: Why Lost Boys Was Almost Like The Goonies (& Why It Changed)

Like Chris, Phoenix faced a difficult home life, sensitive emotionality, and a premature death. The talented young actor offered an abundance of heart and fire for one so young, and his performance in Stand By Me is one revered by fans. To replace him would be no easy task indeed, and that is why the role should be taken up by someone whose popularity and talent are pronounced. Noah Schnapp of Stranger Things has proven himself a valuable and enlightened actor whose star is beginning to shine.

Ace Merrill is not only a terrifying bully in Stephen King's Castle Rock, but a kind of symbol of childhood trauma and death. His palpable presence onscreen casts a pall over the film, acting as a dark and heavy cloud that disrupts the sunny bubble of childhood that the four young boys wish to hold on to. A notable turning point for Gordie occurs when the boy aims a gun at Ace, confronting his newfound comprehension of death and the unknowable consequences of the future all at once.

Sutherland was chilling as Merrill, his presence onscreen almost Shakespearean as he stalked through the hamlet of Castle Rock, Oregon. His smooth, detached performance is icy and effective, convincing audiences that he might pose a deadly threat to the boys. To match such a profoundly unnerving performance would take experience and poise, both of which Asa Butterfield has in spades. The young star of Hugo and Sex Education has enough clout to carry the bully off with aplomb.

The older version of Gordie is not visible through much of the film, but his voice carries the story. He is the audience's lens through which these characters are seen and the mirror of adulthood that many viewers face. At the end of the film, his words, "I never had any friends later on like the ones I had when I was twelve. Jesus, does anyone?" reflect thoughts that many people have had. Richard Dreyfuss plays the role tenderly in the original, and a return of Sutherland would be a fun nod for fans of the original as well as an echo of what happens with adulthood. Sutherland and Tremblay also bear a passing resemblance, so he would fit the role nicely.

RELATED: Every Horror Movie With A Final Boy (Not Girl)

Though the role of Gordie's older brother is a mere cameo, he is a weighty presence in the film. Much of Gordie's character hangs on the approval of his older brother, and the motivation to find the dead body leads Gordie to a profound understanding of death, life's ultimate conclusion. When he gazes upon the body of Ray Brower, he not only understands the finality of existence but the phenomenon that took his brother away from him. The actor who plays Denny Lachance has to sparkle. He is handsome, charismatic, and kind, and the original cameo by John Cusack was just the ticket. Movie star Tom Holland would be well suited to such a task. Universally adored, sweet, and bankable, the star of Spider-Man is the perfect choice to play Gordie's beloved older brother in a Stand By Me reboot.

NEXT: Recasting Horror Movies' Most Iconic Final Girls In 2021

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movienotesbyzawmer · 4 years

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Star Wars: The Last Jedi

December 18: Star Wars: The Last Jedi

(previous notes: Star Wars: The Force Awakens)

Source: UK 3D Blu-ray (this was much easier to come by than a US release, for some reason)

This movie is only 2 years old, a relative infant babe in arms. And I unambiguously loved it when it came out, both times I saw it in theaters and again when it was first released on video. But there have been dark whispers, haven't there. Snobs and haters started flooding the information superhighway with poorly supported condemnation of this perfectly entertaining sequel. Was I wrong? Was I missing some smear of shit on the screen that everyone else could see? Or is Putin up to his old tricks? Excuse me while I pop on my rose-colored 3D glasses and jot down some fresh observations.

Cool first shot, zipping through a bunch of ships that's like some kind of convoy.

Then a bad guy ship shows up and whoa is it neat in 3D.

This first exchange between Poe and Hux is funnier than anything in the prequel trilogy, my goodness was that a refreshing way to start this movie! Love it!

BB8 thunking down into the guts of the X-wing! That's the right kind of gadgety roboty attitude for a Star Wars movie, I tell you.

Bombers, there are bombers. How do bombers work in space? I ask like I'm complaining, but I'm not. I'm sure there's a Lucas-y explanation. And yes I know that Lucas isn't doing this movie, of course I know that, it's like you don't even know me.

Jeez, those bombers are getting totally wasted. Probably because they're full of bombs. BOMBS, see.

This tense scene where the bomber pilot has to kick down the remote control from a precipice, this is great suspense. The pilot sacrifices herself. The first 12 minutes of this movie have a hell of a lot going for it. But also, the look of it is different from all of the others. Stark closeups for instance. Nothing wrong with it, but feels like it's very committed to this director's personal stylistic preferences.

Now we're on Hidden Skywalker Island to find out how this plot thickens. It's a cool contrast from the space battle. And it's got Rey. And Porgs!

0:16:40 - Snoke's proper throne room. With Actual Snoke because it turned out the other one from the last movie was pretend-like. This throne room was put together by a visionary interior designer who really likes red.

Luke drinks some green milk from a plump creature who looks at Rey like she's saying "have some, it's pretty good, seriously you gotta try it, it comes from my nipples".

The scene with Rey and Luke in the book cave, it's good, I think. It's ever so slightly witty, but it makes sense as a way to get past the stubborn impasse the two were in before.

Kylo hesitated to blow up his mom because he's not too happy with his Dark Side family rn. But she's blowed up anyway and it's a pretty visceral image when that happens. Fortunately she is kind of Jesus so it's fine, she's fine, we're all fine here now thank you, how are you?

Hah, the Porgs are shaming Chewy into not eating a dead Porg! Porgs are way less in-your-face in this movie than Ewoks are in that other movie.

Enter Laura Dern! Conveys intelligence and confidence. I bet internet dicks hated her for no good reason. Other than that they are working in a non-descript office building in central Russia. Anyway, her friction with Poe is cool because she's being rational and it's just hard to argue against her points.

0:39:00 - Enter Kelly Marie Tran! Rose! Of course Sergei and Boris are social media bullies about this character. But even though she's coming into this story a little late, she's already gotten some solid character development.

So this is something I'm only realizing because I just watched Empire Strikes Back, but the two movies have similar structures in addition to being middle-of-the-trilogy movies. They both go back and forth between two subplots; one about a Jedi training a rookie on a planet, the other about just the good guys desperately trying to outrun a dauntingly large space fleet of bad guys.

Hah, Porgs getting pesky in the Millennium Falcon, I'd forgotten that.

Not so much with the wipes between scenes in this one but that one at 53:55 was neat.

And now we're in an actual casino! It's the Star Wars universe's version of Monaco. Lots of fun creatures and robots, but shot with a very flashy style that seems more obtrusive than how Lucas just peeks around in the Cantina.

The Master Codebreaker is literally Errol Flynn circa 1925.

1:00:50 - The first flashback of The Luke/Ben Incident. Kinda Rashomon-esque.

Benicio Del Toro. I love the guy, but there is often a sense in his movies that he had a very persuasive conversation with the director to let him do odd quirks with how he talks, and the director just grimaced and hoped it would turn out okay.

They break out of the stables with the racing animals, and stampede their way through the casino, satisfying!

But also, this whole Monaco planet is so like Monaco, so specifically, that it's not very galaxy-far-far-away.

First time we see Luke in the Rashomon flashback with the 'bout-to-kill-Ben look, that is a mighty fine facial expression from Mark Hamill.

1:14:35 - We're at the highly abstract Nightmare Cave sequence. This is a little indulgent, I bet Lucas did not like. He probably didn't like the equivalent sequence in The Force Awakens, but for what it's worth, I super like that one.

Rey and Kylo having a connection, I think we're not supposed to like it, and maybe that's the point? I'm okay with that. As long as it doesn't turn out that they are twin siblings separated at birth and gee what a shocking twist that would be <eye roll>.

I bet it took some discipline to have the Finn/Poe/Rose subplot be relatively simple.

1:29:00 - Weird little coffin craft Rey gets in to go to Kylo's ship. Oh, and the shot of coming out of lightspeed facing the bottom of the Destroyers! Cool!

1:30:55 - Hah! You thought they'd forgotten how to be funny, but then they do that clothes-iron gag. I like it. Reminds me of the coat hanger gag in Raiders of the Lost Ark.

"I know where the nearest escape pods are" "Course you do". Hah.

Snoke telling Rey "I connected you because I knew Kylo was weak" sounds like an internet troll. Am I hung up on that? On internet trolls?

Big hanger full of troops and even flying TIE fighters inside the hanger, looks great.

Very grim situation now… the intended plan completely fell apart, and now the escape transport plan is completely screwed, and Rey is just helpless it looks like. Or is that just what it LOOKS like.

Snoke death is neat. Also neat are his guards' variable, flexible sword things. Also also neat is how the one guard gets tossed into an electro-processer and shoots out red flakes!

1:50:42 - Oh, my favorite thing, a magic battle. As Rey and Kylo try to out-Force each other to Force-get the light saber, it all comes down to who Force-gets better.

But then! Then it DOESN'T suck because they equally Force-get so hard that it just breaks, and then the neatest of all the parts of this movie, LD lightspeed-spearing the master bad guy ship! Awesome visuals and sound.

"You're a bug in the system" "Let's go chrome-dome". That's a pretty Lucas-y dialogue exchange.

As they fly away from the destruction, I love the look, how much detail there is to the wreckage.

Yeah, this final planet has those ice fox things! It feels like this Episode has slightly less zeal for "delightful new creatures", but it's not NO zeal.

Also this is the planet where the surface is salt, but under the salt surface is a mineral that is very red, for reasons of it looks cool, I guess. There's even a mechanic which can't possibly make sense, where these crafts NEED to drag on the surface just a teeny bit. But so what, I like to look at it. I'd rather look at that than look at YOU.

The underground blood crystal cave is a damn fine sight to see.

Not sure I care that much about the quick drama about Finn trying to Kamikaze the big gun and Rose stopping him. Although Rose saying "saving what we love" makes it kinda sweet and now I'm sorry I pooh-poohed it. But she gives him a little kiss, which is the only remotely romance-y thing in this new trilogy so far and do we need that? Whatever, I root for both of these characters.

We just saw the gold dice from Solo. But this movie came out before Solo, so I guess we were all like "dude what the hell is THAT". I wonder whose idea the dice was.

"Do you think that you got him". So, this reminded me when I first saw it of an early Mark Hamill movie called The Big Red One. A war drama with him and Lee Marvin, probably right around the same time as Empire. In that movie, MH shoots again and again and again at a definitely-already-dead German soldier. He just keeps shooting the corpse. Lee Marvin walks up to him as he's doing it and whispers in his ear, "I think you got him". Gotta be a deliberate reference, right? Pretty obscure one if so

Hah, Poe and Rey hadn't met yet, that wasn't obvious until now.

Okay, the final scene. It's a cool final scene, but… okay so the first time I saw it, I definitely didn't notice that the kid levitated the broom all casual-like. But I noticed it in later viewings and was like "oh, how did I miss that". Well I'LL TELL you how, because it is super freaking subtle! It's like it changes every time or something. It is FREAKING me OUT.

But I still really like this movie. It is full of tons of great qualities, and only minor issues. It's surprisingly witty, and has a lot of non-Lucas style to it, which would be a problem if it didn't feel so genuinely inspired. So nice try, Anatoly! Go fuck yourself, Fyodor! You can turn neighbors against each other, Yuri, but you can't make me hate The Last Jedi!

(next: The Rise of Skywalker)

#star wars the last jedi

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backroadblues · 7 years

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May 26th, 2017 - Bellagio, Italy

May 27th, 2017 - Venice, Italy

Having spent a beautiful day and evening in Bellagio on Lake Como, we must now say goodbye. Our itinerary takes us today to beautiful Verona and then on to Venice. The drive from Bellagio directly to Venice would take us about 4 hours, so we decide to break the drive up with a quick stop in the beautiful city of Verona.

Before we can get our trip underway, we must first have breakfast in the beautiful little dining room at the hotel. A breakfast is provided with our room. The offering is quite nice. There is the traditional yogurt, pastries, breads, fresh fruit, juices and cured meats, but we are also treated to soft or hard boiled eggs. Trent, Elisa and I join each other for breakfast while Carolyn packs her “small” bag to get ready for the trip to Venice. When Trent, Elisa and I finish we go to check-out and load the car up while Carolyn has breakfast.

With our bodies now fully refueled, we set off on our European road trip. To get to Verona, we must first navigate our way out of Bellagio by going back down the narrow mountain road. This time we are leaving fairly early in the morning at a little past 9:00 am and fortunately for us traffic is sparse. However, there are more bicyclists on the road at this hour than there are automobiles. The Giro Di Italia bicycle race is going on right now, and it it passing near here. This seems to have inspired every amateur cyclist to hit the road. To bad for us they had to do it on this narrow mountain road. We in turn must dodge the cars that are dodging the cyclists. Once again, we make our way down into the town of Lecco without incident. As we reach Lecco, we change direction heading toward the larger city of Bergamo where we will pick up the Autostrada that will take us to Verona. After about 2-½ we are pulling into Verona. Both Carolyn and Trent have slept most of the way and as they awaken as we are pulling into Verona, the both say, “gee that didn’t take too long”. I say in my head, “of course not, you were both snoring”.

Verona is a very large city that has sprawled well beyond the walls and monuments within the ancient part of the city. We make our way through this sprawl with the ancient Roman amphitheater as our targeted destination. It is now about 11:40 AM and it is clear that many tourists have made the ancient part of Verona a key destination. It is crowded. As we drive, we pass near a McDonalds with its Golden arches blazing. Although none of us really care for McDonalds food when we are back home, we find ourselves yearning for some of this classic American comfort food. We pull in and immediately, we find that this McDonalds is not like the ones we have at home. This one has a McCafe in the front half of the store that has an Espresso machine that is huge. Also, the selection of pastries and cakes and tortes is huge. We struggle to make our way past it to the counter where we can order some burger and fries. Here the ordering process is different than we are accustomed to. We must first place our orders at computerized kiosks. The menu is mostly similar to what we see at home - with the usual suspects - Big Macs, Quarter Pounders, Fries, etc. We place our orders on the kiosks and are then issued a receipt with a number on it and we go to pick up our food at a counter that is more reminiscent of what we see at home. As we collect our food, we are are chuckling at the sight of us eating burgers and fries while we are traveling in one the the worlds best countries that is noted for its cuisine. Instead, we much on these burgers amongst the locals. Except for the language we could be sitting any any other McDonalds restaurant back home.

Once again being refueled, we are back in the car and quickly find covered public parking near the Coliseum. The space available is like the streets leading to Bellagio - narrow. I wedge the mini-van into the space and somehow contract my body so that I can get out of the car. We make the short walk to the ancient monument and stand i awe. Verona is home to one of the best preserved ancient amphitheater. This theater was built in 39AD.

It is rumored that it was constructed for the people of Verona when the nearby Bergamo Spartans - a gladiatorial team became dissatisfied with their ancient amphitheater in Bergamo. They had requested that the city of Bergamo build them a new one, but when the people declined, the team up and moved to nearby Verona, whose citizens were willing to take on the tax burden of building this lovely Roman amphitheater.

Perhaps I’ve taken some literary liberties here to highlight the point that there really is no future - it is simply the past repeated. What is the most stunning fact about this amphitheater that seats up to 35,000 attendees is that it is still in use today. It has been lovingly preserved - not restored. On this day, workers are preparing for a major performance inside of the arena. Think about this. This structure is almost 2000 years old and it is still serving the people of Verona just as it did in 39AD. In the states, we declare stadiums obsolete and demolish them after 50 or 60 years. It really is a crazy thought.

We could go into the amphitheater, but the line for tickets is long and we are short on time as we must arrive in Venice as a prescribed time to pick up the keys to our Air B and B apartment. When we were last here in 2009, there was no admission to the key sites such as the amphitheater and the cathedrals. Now the cities are searching for all forms of revenue. Residents and tourists alike must now pay for access - even for the public and many private restrooms. It is unfortunate.

After we see the coliseum we then make our way towards the home of Juliet - of Romeo and Juliet fame. You see, the old tale of Romeo and Juliet that is so cleverly told by William Shakespeare in the late 1500’s was actually influenced by tale of tragic love that was based on a true story here in Verona. The story of the feuding Montague and Capulet families actually took place. Juliet had been betrothed by her parents to another, but alas, she was in love with young Romeo. Like me, Shakespeare took some literary license with the original tale and his rebelling was a much bigger seller than the original tale - it is still read by virtually every high-school student in the world. When we last here, a visit to the ancient home of Juliet and its fabled balcony was somewhat of a side trip that was not on the key list of sights to see in this town. Once again, Rick Steves has ruined it (just kidding) this little alcove is now swarmed with tourists of all nationalities. Also, now for a few Euro’s tourists can pay for the opportunity to stand on the very balcony where Juliet sought out her forbidden lover chanting those immortal words, “Romeo, Romeo, where forth art thou…”. now today we get to see those words uttered in every possible language by shabbily dressed tourists. Somehow this particular site has lost a lot of its past charm - I feel like I"m in Disneyland.

Another interesting thing about the city of Verona is that they have done a very clever job of merging the new with the old. To get to the home of Juliet and many of the other ancient sites, you now navigate a wide pedestrian mall that is lined with high-end shops. It is sort of like a “Rodeo drive” of Beverly Hills fame has been transported to Italy. We make a quick stroll to some of Verona’s other key sites, its Duomo, the Ancient Roman stone bridge build in about 100BC - again it is still in use today. Those romans really built things to last back then. After getting about 15000 steps in with our walking tour of Verona we make our way back to the car so we can head on into Venice. This led will be about 1-½ hours to get us to where we will park outside of Venice. We will then need to take a couple of different modes of transportation to actually get to our apartment in Venice. Our host has suggested we consider parking in Piazzale Roma as that will be nearer to where we will need to catch a boat that will take us to the St Marks area where our Apartment is. Trent is driving us there on this leg and he does a great job getting us there. As we are a seeking parking, the place is a madhouse of cars everywhere. Clearly it will be crowded in Venice. We are promptly advised that there is no long term parking available here and we must head back to the Tronchetto area to park. So Trent manages to maneuver us through all the traffic so we can make a u-turn and get back to Tronchetto. We quickly find parking but getting out of the garage with all our luggage is a bit tricky. There is no signage anywhere directing tourists like us how to get to transportation that will take us into Venice. We finally figure out that we must buy a ticket for a people mover that will take us back to Piazzale Roma, which is were we just were. From there we can either take a private water taxi or the Vaporetto (public water bus) to our location. We opt for the charm and relatively in expensive Vaporetto. We must go to the Arsenale stop where our hostess Marta will be meeting us to take us to our apartment. It takes us about an hour but we finally get there. Marta is a young girl that works for a company that has about 100 different B&B apartments here in Venice. Our apartment is modest but located very near to St Marks square. We get settled and decide to head out to take is some of the sights. We stroll along canals and through different squares and then make our way out to the Grand Canal. We stroll past the Doges Palace and into St. Marks where we see the beautiful Cathedral.

Surprisingly, the crowds in Venice seem to have thinned a bit. It looks like some of the tourists from the 4 cruise ships that are in port have headed back to their berths for the evening. We welcome the relative calm that has begun to fall over the city of enchantment. Eventually, we find a restaurant - Vecio Canton that our hostess had recommended. We all cool down with some beverages. It seems that coldest beverage one can order in Italy is Birra ala Spina - or beer on tap. We all partake and welcome the refreshment. This evening, Trent and Carolyn both order the sautéed scallops as their starters, and for their mains Trent orders a steak with creamy green peppercorn sauce and Carolyn has the Spaghetti in meat sauce. Elisa has a salad as a starter and Spaghetti (gluten free) Carabonarra, a egg and cheese sauce with pancetta or smoked ham. I have a small pizza with spicy salami. The food is good, the water charming and the beers nice and cold. You can’t ask for more. We decide to skip desert in the restaurant and opt instead to head back St. Marks Square where we can sit and have a gelato.

We make our way back to the square that is modestly occupied by tourists and locals. Everyone is sitting at a cafe table outdoors. There are many that have live musicians playing contemporary and classical Italian favorites. It is interesting, the bands are positioned all along the square and each takes turns playing for the guest sitting before them. We hear Andrea Bocellis’s classic Conte Partiro about 4 times, each played by a different band somewhere along the large square. It is thrilling each time.

With desert finished we take inventory of our step count for the day - we are well over 20,000 steps as we call it a night. We are weary but happy. We did and saw a lot on a day that was punctuated with 4 hours of driving. No wonder we are tired.

That’s all for now. More later. Ciao!

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