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fullstcp · 1 month

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"The Tortured Poets Department: Standard Edition" by Taylor Swift Sentence Starters

FORTNIGHT

"I was supposed to be sent away, but they forgot to come and get me."

"All of this to say, I hope you're okay."

"But what about your quiet treason?"

"And for a fortnight, there we were, forever running."

"All my mornings are Mondays stuck in an endless February."

"I took the miracle move-on drug, the effects were temporary."

"I love you, it's ruining my life."

"Thought of calling ya, but you won't pick up."

THE TORTURED POETS DEPARTMENT

"I think some things I never say."

"You're in self-sabotage mode."

"I've seen this episode and still love the show."

"Who else decodes you?"

"Who's gonna hold you like me?"

"Who's gonna know you, if not me?"

"I chose this cyclone with you."

"Sometimes, I wonder if you're gonna screw this up with me."

"Everyone we know understands why it's meant to be."

"That's the closest I've come to my heart exploding."

"We're modern idiots."

MY BOY ONLY BREAKS HIS FAVORITE TOYS

"I should've known it was a matter of time."

"There was a litany of reasons why we could've played for keeps this time."

"I know I'm just repeating myself."

"Pull the string and I'll tell you that he/she/they run(s) because he/she/they love(s) me."

"You should've seen him/her/them when he/she/they first saw me."

"I knew too much."

"There was danger in the heat of my touch."

"He/she/they saw forever, so he/she/they smashed it up."

DOWN BAD

"Tell me I was the chosen one."

"For a moment, I knew cosmic love."

"Fuck it if I can't have him/her/them."

"I might just die, it won't make no difference."

"Fuck it if I can't have us."

"They'll say I'm nuts if I talk about the existence of you."

"I loved your hostile takeovers."

"Fuck it, I was in love."

"Fuck you if I can't have us."

SO LONG, LONDON

"I kept calm and carried the weight of the rift."

"Pulled him/her/them in tighter each time he/she/they was/were drifting away."

"My spine split from carrying us up the hill."

"How much sad did you think I had in me?"

"I didn't opt in to be your odd man out."

"I stopped CPR, after all, it's no use."

"The spirit was gone, we'd never come to."

"I'm pissed off you let me give you all that youth for free."

"I'll find someone."

"You say I abandoned the ship, but I was going down with it."

"My friends said it wasn't right to be scared every day of a love affair."

"Every breath feels like rarest air when you're not sure if he/she/they want(s) to be there."

"How long did you think I'd go before I'd self-implode?"

"You swore that you loved me, but where were the clues?"

BUT DADDY I LOVE HIM

"I forget if this was ever fun."

"I just learned these people only raise you to cage you."

"I just learned these people try and save you cause they hate you."

"They slammed the door on my whole world."

"I'm not coming to my senses."

"I know he's/she's/they're crazy, but he's/she's/they're the one I want."

"Growing up precocious sometimes means not growing up at all."

"I'd rather burn my whole life down than listen to one more second of all this bitchin' and moanin'."

"I'll tell you something about my good name; it's mine alone to disgrace."

"I don't cater to all these vipers dressed in empath's clothing."

"You ain't gotta pray for me."

"If all you want is gray for me, then it's just white noise."

"We came back when the heat died down."

FRESH OUT THE SLAMMER

"I'm running back home to you."

"Fresh out the slammer, I know who my first call will be."

"It's gonna be alright, I did my time."

"My friends tried, but I wouldn't hear it."

"No matter what I've done, it wouldn't matter anyway."

"Ain't no way I'm gonna screw up now that I know what's at stake here."

FLORIDA!!!

"You can beat the heat if you beat the charges too."

"They said I was a cheat, guess it must be true."

"This city reeks of driving myself crazy."

"Little did you know your home's really only a town you're a guest in."

"Well, me and my ghosts, we had a hell of a time."

"Yes, I'm haunted, but I'm feeling just fine."

"No one asks any questions here."

"I did my best to lay to rest all of the bodies that have been on my body."

"Tell me I'm despicable, say it's unforgivable."

"It's one hell of a drug."

"Love left me like this and I don't wanna exist."

GUILTY AS SIN?

"This cage was once just fine."

"Am I allowed to cry?"

"Am I bad or mad or wise?"

"Oh, what a way to die."

"I keep recalling things we never did."

"How can I be guilty as sin?"

"There's no such thing as bad thoughts. Only your actions talk."

"We've already done it in my head, if it's make-believe."

"Why does it feel like a vow we'll both uphold somehow?"

"They're gonna crucify me anyway."

"What if the way you hold me is actually what's holy?"

"They don't know how you've haunted me so stunningly."

"I choose you and me religiously."

WHO'S AFRAID OF LITTLE OLD ME?

"You don't get to tell me about sad."

"If you wanted me dead, you should've just said."

"Nothing makes me feel more alive."

"Who's afraid of little old me? You should be."

"The scandal was contained."

"The bullet had just grazed."

"At all costs, keep your good name."

"You don't get to tell me you feel bad."

"Is it a wonder I broke?"

"So tell me everything is not about me, but what if it is?"

"They say they didn't do it to hurt me, but what if they did?"

"You wouldn't last an hour in the asylum where they raised me."

"I'm always drunk on my own tears, isn't that what they all said?"

"I'm fearsome and I'm wretched and I'm wrong."

"You caged me and then you called me crazy."

"I am who I am cause you trained me."

I CAN FIX HIM (NO REALLY I CAN)

"I can fix him/her/them, no, really, I can."

"I could see it from a mile away."

"I'll show you Heaven if you'll be an angel, all mine."

"Trust me, I can handle me a dangerous man."

LOML

"Who's gonna stop us from waltzing back into rekindled flames if we know the steps anyway?"

"I don't mind, it takes time."

"I thought I was better safe than starry eyed."

"I've felt a glow like this never before and never since."

"If you know it in one glimpse, it's legendary."

"You and I go from one kiss to getting married."

"You told me I'm the love of your life."

"You said I'm the love of your life about a million times."

"Who's gonna tell me the truth when you blew in with the winds of fate and told me I reformed you?"

"You took me to hell too."

"You shit-talked me under the table."

"I wish I could unrecall how we almost had it all."

"It was legendary. It was momentary. It was unnecessary."

"Should I let it stay buried?"

"I'll still see it until I die."

"You're the loss of my life."

I CAN DO IT WITH A BROKEN HEART

"I can read your mind."

"I can show you lies."

"I'm a real tough kid. I can handle my shit."

"I'm so depressed, I act like it's my birthday every day."

"I'm so obsessed with him/her/them, but he/she/they avoid(s) me like the plague."

"I cry a lot, but I am so productive, it's an art."

"You know you're good when you can even do it with a broken heart."

"I can hold my breath. I've been doing it since he/she/they left."

"I'm sure I can pass this test."

"I'm miserable and nobody even knows."

THE SMALLEST MAN WHO EVER LIVED

"Was any of it true?"

"Who the fuck was that guy?"

"They just ghosted you."

"Now you know what it feels like."

"I don't even want you back."

"I don't miss what we had."

"You didn't measure up in any measure of a man."

"Were you sent by someone who wanted me dead?"

"It wasn't sexy once it wasn't forbidden."

"I would've died for your sins, instead, I just died inside."

"You deserve prison, but you won't get time."

"You kicked out the stage lights, but you're still performing."

"But you are what you did."

"I'll forget you, but I'll never forgive."

THE ALCHEMY

"This happens once every few lifetimes."

"What if I told you I'm back?"

"I haven't come around in so long, but I'm coming back so strong."

"What if I told you we're cool?"

"I'm making a comeback to where I belong."

"Ditch the clowns, get the crown."

"The sign on your heart said it's still reserved for me."

"Who are we to fight the alchemy?"

"We've been on a winning streak."

"There was no chance trying to be the greatest in the league."

CLARA BOW

"I'm not trying to exaggerate, but I think I might die if it happened to me."

"This town is fake, but you're the real thing."

"You're the new God we're worshipping."

"It's hell on earth to be heavenly."

"Them's the breaks, they don't come gently."

#rp memes #rp starters #rp prompts #rp lyric meme #lyric prompts #lyric starters #sentence starters #roleplay prompts #roleplay starters #not the old me. 2.0 me. no it's all of meme combined (ask meme)#when there was me and queue (queue)

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that-bitch-kat3 · 1 month

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kats initial ttpd thoughts

fortnight:

stand out lines: i took the miracle move on drug, the effects were temporary

i like this one. i don’t think it’s my favorite (or i hope it won’t be) but i think the production does do it for me. i was honestly hoping that “i love you it’s ruining my life” would have been in a… better (?) song. this will undoubtedly grow on me but not a great start.

ttpd:

standout lyric: “i’ve seen this episode and still loved the show”

okay “who uses typewriters anyways” is objectively a really funny line. “i’ve seen this episode and still loved the show” im screaming crying and throwing up how dare you put that lyric in a song i have to listen to.

on a different note who tf are dylan thomas and patti smith? am i meant to know these people?

oh my god. the way charlie puth is about to have his career explode. this poor man. i hope he was warned.

CYCLONE!! CONEY ISLAND!!!

oh i like this bridge. also lucy as in lucy dacus?

i’m trying not to be a hater but taylor “now you hang from my lips like the gardens of babylon” couldn’t have come up with a more poetic way to say you put my ring on the finger where people put wedding rings? fr? is this about marty healy? i hope to god it’s not.

mbobhft:

stand out lyrics: “once i fix me he’s gonna miss me” and “there was forever in the heat of my touch, he say forever so he smashed it up”

i was ready to not like this one but im kinda into it. the line “i’ll tell you that he runs because he loves me” is… not something i am ready to unpack. this is a really good song and i will probs have it on repeat for a while but i stg if i don’t hear a song about joe soon im gonna be pissed

down bad:

standout lyric: jury’s still out

this song was not written by a 33 year old. jesus christ. taylor please. STAND UP. THIS IS BAD FOR THE BRAND!! however as a 19 year old: real af.

you loved his indecent exposures? interesting.

this is once again giving situationship. which is insane because JOE WAS HERE FOR 6 YEARS?!? WE DONT GET TO HEAR ABOUT THAT?!? i mean like she is entitled to her privacy but never in my life did i want to hear this much about marty healy

so long london:

stand out lyric: “i didn’t opt in to be your odd man out. i founded the club she’s heard great things about” “you sacrificed us to the gods of your bluest days”

not the production i was expecting from a track 5 but ill keep and open mind.

fairy lights mentioned!! ttpd bingo moment

i like this bridge tbh. it kinda fucks. “you swore that you loved me but where were the clues” taylor wtf?

two graves one gun?!? oh wow! very melodramatic and i love it

this song is good. very sad so great job! killed it! i’m not crying yet tho

but daddy i love him:

stand out lyrics: Growing up precocious sometimes means not growing up at all

HEYY RELIGOUS TRAUMA VIBES?!? FUCK YEAH!! FINALLY SOME GOOD RELATEBLE CONTENT!!

this is so champagne problems vibes

“im having his baby! no im not but you should see your face” BAHHAHA taylor wtf

i was hoping for more religious trauma energy than what i got. i had high hopes with that first verse

OMG WHAT?!? MAAM?!? “ID RATHER BURN MY WHOLE LIFE DOWN THAN LISTEN TO ONE MORE SECOND OF ALL THIS BITCHIN AND MOANIN” GIRLY YOUR “BABY” IS ANTISEMEIC?

okay this song is now just funny to me. deeply i would’ve kept this one in the vault but it’ll grow on me

fresh out the slammer:

stand out lyric: n/a

we are starting with the lowest of standards for the record. i do not have a good vibe from this song

its fine. liek it’s not revolutionary to me. like its okay but… why does this beat change like that and did the long prison metaphor help? i think not.

however yeah bring up that he didn’t propose again. love that for you

florida!!!

stand out lyric: well me and my ghost we had a hell of a time

!! what!! “they said i was a cheat so i guess i must be” ARENT YOU THE ONE WHO WRITE IVY AND HIGH INFEDELITY?!? WHAT?!? i am giggling so hard. taylor what are you saying?!?

this song reminded how much i love florence! i mean that woman can really sing

nbnc reference! that was not on my bingo card!

texas mentioned!! slay!!

i love this song. like i fr really like this one. the drums are a bit much but i love how their voices work together! delicious

guilty as sin?

standout lyric: “there no such thing as bad thoughts. only your actions talk” “i keep recalling things we never did”

i like how this one sounds

this song is really good! and bestie i get it! yikes!

this song is really for the girlies who make up fake scenarios to hurt their own feelings and i feel seen

false god references(?)

well terrible job everyone that was a bit too relatable! thanks! i’m going to throw up! or scream! or cry!

who’s afraid of little old me?

standout lyric: “you don’t get to tell me about sad” “is it a wonder i broke let’s hear one more joke” “you wouldn’t last an hour in the asylum where they raised me”

yay!! she’s doing witchcraft again!! thank god!! levitate queen!!

you should be afraid of little old me was not what i was expecting from this song! but i like it! also i am enjoying this production

“so tell me everything isnt about me but what if it is?” HAHAHH TAYLOR WHAT IS THIS?!?

no taylro they say that you’ll sue them they prublish public information about your plane! so close tho!

jokes aside i like this! this one’s gonna be in my tops i think! it reminds me of tlgad which is one love

i can fix him (no really i can)

standout lyric: “he had a halo of the highest grade, he just hasn’t met me yet”

texas mentioned again!! a win is a win

another song about matty healy?!? must we?!? are we sure? this is proof that any relationship pain is overshadowed by a 3 month situationship

loml: “better safe than starry eyed”

mmm im liking this one!

damn marriage is brought up a lot in the album for someone who wrote lavendar haze

i like that there is the love of my life to loss of my life switch! i was worried she abrievated that for no reason

still alive, killing time at the cemetery is a great line!!

!!! oh!! i wish i could unrecall how we almost had it all! i didn’t think i would like that lyric!! i in fact do.

icdiwabh:

standout lyric: “babe you gotta fake it till you make it and you did”

THIS SONG IS SO GOOD!! OH SHIT

okay now this is my shit. i like how she’s taking about her success and shit

i cry a lot but i am so productive it’s an art is so real

“try and come for my job” yikes.

the smallest man who every lived

standout lyric: “i would’ve died for your sins but i died inside”

this one isn’t doing it for me so far. i’m sure it’ll grow on me but idk it’s not killing it for me.

DID SHE JUST CALL HIS DICK SMALL?!? HELLO?!? good lord i hope that’s what that meant

“you kicked out the stage lights but your still preforming?!?” GOOD LORD TAYLOR! it’s so jover

The alchemy:

standout lyric: “he jokes that it’s heroin but this time with an E”

i had to listen to this song twice cause i could just not lay attention

AYO ITS TRAVIS!! god the next album is gonna have so many football metaphors that i will not understand

this is really cute! i’m on team trayvis

clara bow:

standout lyric: promise to be dazzling

cool! now i’m sad!

as a girl who tries to be something exciting but feels like she never gets there this is very yikes! greta job gang

DID SHE JUST SAY HER OWN NAME?!? SHE NEVER DONE THAT

OH MY GOD

YOUVE GOT EDGE SHE NEVER DID

WHAT

the black dog:

standout lyric:

i am scared!

oh shit! who cheated on taylor?!?

oh wait. maybe that’s not true

i love old habits die screaming! tahts a funky line. i know we already had it but im a fan

!! hoax reference!!

!!daylight reference!!

oh joe. that poor man. they’re gonna kill him.

this is putting a sad spin on some of my fav songs so that’s cool

imgonnagetyouback:

standout lyric: “pick your poison babe, i’m poison either way”

did we need to do this in one word

OH MY GOD

SHE MAKING THE SAME THING AS GET HIM BACK BY OLIVIA RODRGIO

now i personally would’ve rewritten this one or picked a different song but this is a choice

this is a worse versions of get him back! imo

eras fading to gray is a crazy line!

the albatross:

standout lyric: “the devil you know now looks more like and angel”

this is kinda giving cowboy like me vibes but with more unnecessary vocal effects but that does in fact mean that i like it

peace reference?!

idk im into this one i think

chloe or sam or sophia or marcus:

standout lyric: all of them <3

my god this is a long title

oh my god. did she just out joe alywn? what? that can’t be what just happened

“you needed me but you needed drugs more” IM THROWING UP HOW DARE YOU

nobody touch me

“if you want to break my cold cold heart, just say i loved you. the way that you were” okay so now i am crying! hey! tahts cool! in other news put me on watch

this is one of my tops

you can tell cause i’m depressed now

maroon reference!!

okay so i will never recover congrats everyone!

how did it end?

standout lyric: “we learned the right steps to different dances”

i feel invasive listening to this. i didn’t want to hear about matty anymore but this is a lot.

this song is good but sweet lord. this is really sad. which i should’ve guessed but this is not what i was expecting

“D-Y-I-N-G” that was not how i thought that line was gonna end

so high school:

standout lyric: idk man they’re all cute

is this another one about travis?!? yay!!

awww she want to marry him! that’s so exciting!! and also maybe kill him but we do what we can

this is really cute

i’m glad she got this back! cause this is giving very fearless vibes which is perfect! i love that! i love that she’s having the sweet love again! and i’m so glad im not listening about matty! cause that man if the gift that won’t stop giving. no matter what i do. he just won’t.

i hate it here:

standout lyric: “No mid-sized city hopes and small-town fears” “when they found a better planet only the gentle survive”

second time bringing up being a precocious child! not something i thought we would get twice!

this song feels like it’s right off folklore

GIRL WHAT!?! “I'd say the 1830s but without all the racists and getting married off for the highest bid” this is why no one wanted to play with you as a little kid

oh yikes now i’m relating

“i get lost on purpose. this place made me feel worthless” crying in the club once again

she really had to fight not to call him a finance bro

thank you aimee

stand out lyric: “Everyone knows that my mother is a saintly woman but she used to say she wished that you were dead”

go to jail just for the capitalization

i feel like im missing something

is amiee real? is she a metaphor? is it someone from the rep era? i’m lost

if this is 15 year old beef that is amazing.

“there wouldn’t be this if there hadn’t been you” oh lol that’s so funny.

thank god taylor changed the name! cause otherwise they would kill her!

“and one day your kid comes home singing a song that only us two is gonna know so about you” oh that’s so good. you see i like taylor better when she’s being petty over decade old shit. it makes her more relatable

i look in peoples windows

stand out lyric: “i’m afflicted by the not knowing” “im addicted to the if only”

i love this.

is this the new shortest song in her discography? it’s gotta be. it’s like 2 minutes long

anyways. relatable. killin it

the prophecy:

stand out lyric: “Don't want money just someone who wants my company”

finally a song i can relate to! you know cause im psychic?

“I guess a lesser woman would've lost hope a greater woman wouldn't beg” yikes

oh no. i’m gonna cry. you see now im reminded of why i feel like im never enough. so cool 🤙

witchcraft again!! yay!!

what is gray-ge? gray/beige? was that already a word?

cassandra:

standout lyric: “what does kill you makes you aware. what happens if it becomes who you are”

bffr taylor does not patch cracks in her house

sorry i know tahts a metaphor, allow me to start by being less of a hater

oh i love a call back to the 2016 era. yikes

“BLOODS THICK BUT NOTHING LIKE A PAYROLL” HOLY FUCK WHAT?!?

“when its burn the bitch they’re shrieking, when the truth comes out they’re quiet” lol relatable

peter:

standout lyric: “we both did the best we could do underneath the name moon in different galaxies”

who is peter? very excting!

oh it’s peter pan! that’s cute!

is this about joe? i’m confused? i have no idea who this is about

i liek the piano! i like this more stripped back version

great bridge!

“cause love's never lost when perspective is earned” HEY BRO WHAT

the bolter: “she was leaving it felt like breathing”

standout lyric:

omg hey she wrote a song about me! jk it just started idk what this is

oh no

i cant do this right now

okay so no comment but yeah very relatable! cool! (except i’m not really a bolter now that i think about it. i just think i am. i’m actually not a quitter. im a stick with it person even when maybe i should bolt.)

robin:

stand out lyric: “you have no room in your head for regrets”

i like these a lot better than the first part of this album. i actually can’t tell if it’s a double release or not but i just like these more emotional songs more.

is she singing to her child self?!? is that what happening?!?

crying again.

the manuscript:

stand out lyric: looking backward might be the only way to move forward

my god this is a lot of songs! not complaining but i’m tired

okay i like the piano

“He said that if the sex was half as good as the conversation was soon they’d be pushing strollers” FUCKING HELLo?!? well now i’m in pain slay

this was not what i was expecting at all but let it be known i am crying and im not okay

this song really fucked me up guys

#this is really long #i’m warning you before you open it #honestly idk if you should read this #i’ll make content about it when i wake up #taylor swift #ts ttpd #the tortured poets department #ttpd #ttpd reactions #taylor swift ttpd #ttpd era #kat talks

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mar0on · 3 days

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The Secret Series characters as T.S lyrics bc I don't do anything else with my life

Cass and Yo-Yoji:

"Tendrils tucked into a woven braid Growing up precocious sometimes means not growing up at all He was chaos, he was revelry Bedroom eyes like a remedy" "Is it cool that I said all that? Is it chill that you're in my head? 'Cause I know that it's delicate" "You know how to ball, I know Aristotle" "And in a blink of a crinkling eye I'm sinking, our fingers entwined Cheeks pink in the twinkling lights Tell me 'bout the first time you saw me"

Max-Ernest: "No one wanted to play with me as a little kid So I've been scheming like a criminal ever since To make them love me and make it seem effortless" "It's me, hi, I'm the problem, it's me At tea time, everybody agrees I'll stare directly at the sun but never in the mirror It must be exhausting always rooting for the anti-hero" "I can change everything about me to fit in" "I'm still trying everything to get you laughing at me I'm still a believer but I don't know why I've never been a natural All I do is try, try, try I'm still on that trapeze I'm still trying everything To keep you looking at me" "Please I've been on my knees Change the prophecy Don't want money Just someone who wants my company Let it once be me Who do I have to speak to About if they can redo The prophecy?"

Cass: "'Cause they see right through me They see right through me They see right through Can you see right through me? They see right through They see right through me I see right through me I see right through me" "I just wanted you to know That this is me trying" "So, they killed Cassandra first 'cause she feared the worst And tried to tell the town" "'Cause I'm a real tough kid, I can handle my shit They said, "Babe, you gotta fake it 'til you make it" and I did Lights, camera, bitch smile, even when you wanna die (...) Breaking down, I hit the floor All the pieces of me shattered as the crowd was chanting, "More" I was grinning like I'm winning, I was hitting my marks 'Cause I can do it with a broken heart "'Cause there were pages turned with the bridges burned Everything you lose is a step you take So make the friendship bracelets Take the moment and taste it You've got no reason to be afraid

You're on your own, kid Yeah, you can face this You're on your own, kid You always have been"

Lily: "I was tame, I was gentle 'til the circus life made me mean 'Don't you worry, folks, we took out all her teeth' Who's afraid of little old me? Well, you should be"

Pietro and Luciano: "I guess you really did it this time Left yourself in your warpath Lost your balance on a tightrope Lost your mind tryin' to get it back

It's alright, just wait and see Your string of lights is still bright to me Oh, who you are is not where you've been (...) Did some things you can't speak of But at night you live it all again You wouldn't be shattered on the floor now If only you had seen what you know now then (...) Who you are is not what you did You're still an innocent" "I miss the old ways You didn't have to change But I guess I don't have a say Now that we don't talk"

Cass and Señor Hugo: "Were you sent by someone who wanted me dead? (...) Were you writing a book? Were you a sleeper cell spy? In fifty years, will all this be declassified? And you'll confess why you did it And I'll say, "Good riddance" (...) I would've died for your sins Instead, I just died inside And you deserve prison, but you won't get time (...) And in plain sight you hid But you are what you did And I'll forget you, but I'll never forgive The smallest man who ever lived"

Yo-Yoji: "You got that long hair, slicked back, white T-shirt"

#the secret series #yo-yoji the secret series #cass the secret series #max-ernest the secret series

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guiltysecretpasttime · 3 years

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Blended

I was (thankfully) given some time off during this holiday season; which I promptly used to spend time with the family and recharge at home. Also spent time watching various movies during this time and a little LoK story idea came from it.

In my usual writing preference – it’s still a Lin/Tenzin endgame story but – in sort of a modern setting AU, blended family/semi-highschool themed with ages differed a bit (Lin and Tenzin was aged down by around 5 years). Expect it to be tropey and may be a bit of a cliché. This is written on a whim so if it doesn’t make sense…ah well. Haha! May edit this piece later on…

I’m considering this to be a short story, just a little self-indulgent-written-for-fun type of thing. But if other people enjoy it too then that’s such an added bonus so I’m sharing it with you as well. 😊 Let me know what you think since this is somewhat different from my usual style, I guess.

Also – I have misgivings regarding creating OCs so I’m likely to lean on canon characters and take a lot of creative license in developing them for the story.

---

Title (tentative): Blended

Legend of Korra, Lin/Tenzin, Modern AU, no bending

(Not sure if one-shot or will be multi-part yet)

---

Tenzin, Republic City Primary School

“Thank you for making time to meet today,” The silver-haired lady clasped her hands together on her desk. “I know you must have a packed schedule, but I think it would be good to have the check-in session for your daughter today.”

“Yes, of course – anything for my daughter.” The bald and bearded man threw a look at the door’s window, where he could see his daughter swinging her legs while seated at the corridor.

“Ikki is a bright child and she’s been doing her best to catch up with the class requirements. She excels the most at individual tasks.” The teacher continued to talk a little bit more about the projects that the students have been working on.

Teacher Yue handed the father a folder marked “Ikki”. Tenzin carefully picked it up and looked into the contents, smiling as he saw Ikki’s artworks and class outputs.

“However, I see that she seems to have challenges in adjusting in a large class set-up.” Yue shared. “It’s nothing to worry about though. We’ve had several transferees in the past as well and this is usual; I expect that might take a little bit longer since it’s a transition from homeschooling to a big school.”

Tenzin frowned and he hurt for his daughter. His two children had both been homeschooled until recently.

They also had to experience a lot of upheaval in the past year or so – from the divorce, to being uprooted from their childhood home, moving to a new city, and then going to a new school.

He did notice that while his son was as precocious as ever (maybe owing to his young age?), his daughter had become more subdued since their move.

“What can we do for her?”

“Well, we have a big sister-little sister type of mentorship program.” The teacher pushed forward a brochure and several index cards. “It’s mostly an afterschool interaction activity, we have here several students who have been volunteering. Maybe you’d like to ask Ikki to join?” She pointed at the index cards. “Feel free to select which mentor you think would help her best. We usually ask the parent or the student to select their preferred mentor profile from the roster. We would not want Ikki to feel uncomfortable; you’d know her best than any teacher.”

He nodded. After a few moments perusing the index cards and the brochure and pulled out one from the pile. “Let’s go with this girl.”

Tenzin pointed out to a profile labelled Jinora.

---

Jinora, Home

The ten-year old girl has just finished putting hair in a bun when she heard a knock on her bedroom door.

“Jinora!” It was her oldest brother. “Mom says I can use the car today – want to leave with us instead of riding the bus?”

“Sure!” She called back, quickly grabbing her backpack. “I’ll be down in a bit.”

“Alright!”

Smack!

“Hey! Why did you do that for?”

“Good morning bro!”

Jinora rolled her eyes good-naturedly. That was probably her other brother slapping the arm of the other one.

Even at eighteen and sixteen years old respectively, they tend to act like children occasionally to the consternation of their mother.

She hurried down, knowing that if she did not do so, there would be no pancakes left for her.

Jinora heard her mother’s gruff voice in the dining room. “Bolin! Leave some eggs for your sister!”

“But, Mom,” Bolin spoke through a mouthful of scrambled eggs. “I’m a growing boy. I need this stuff.”

“And Jinora is a growing girl,” Their mother drolly responded, taking a sip of her coffee after putting down the last batch of pancakes on the platter. “There should be enough from everyone.”

“It’s fine, Mom,” Jinora immediately sat down and her brother forked two pancakes to her plate. “Thanks, Mako.” She slathered butter all over the cakes then squeezed a load of maple syrup.

She ignored Bolin gagging at her left at the amount of sweetness. She also ignored her mother who was hiding a smile and shaking her head at seeing the display.

In their family, it was only Jinora had a penchant for sweets. Her mother said she likely took after her father in that regard.

Her father…her absentee father…

Jinora shook off her maudlin thoughts when she saw Pabu, Bolin’s pet guinea pig, land on her mother’s shoulder, probably hopping from her brother’s backpack which was hung behind his chair.

Pabu began chewing their mother’s greying hair without warning.

Wheek-wheek-wheek.

“BOLIN!”

“I’m so sorry, Mom! Pabu get down from there – leave mom’s hair alone!”

All in all, it was another morning in their household.

It was noisy and sometimes chaotic, but Jinora would not exchange it for the world.

---

Ikki, library

Truth be told, Ikki liked going to school. She even liked her teacher and classmates.

She liked to be busy and the activities were very interesting. Getting homeschooled and only seeing their tutor, nanny and Meelo had become very tedious anyway.

Staying at their old home also reminded her acutely that their mother was not there anymore. She did not understand what happened, but she tried to.

It has been more than a year since their parents sat her and her brother down to explain that they were separating but it did not mean they did not love her and Meelo any less.

At first, she thought it might have been her fault (or maybe Meelo’s fault for that matter, he did fart a lot and that annoyed her terribly). Her dad and mom were quick to quash those theories, however. They spoke of drifting apart, change in priorities and other grown-up things that she supposed she will understand when she gets older.

But for now, she supposed as she opened her notebook on one of the long tables in the library, they would need to get used to their new living arrangement.

It was difficult last year as they were shuttled to and from two households. It also did not help that their mother was starting out with her new venture had been spending less time at her home. On the other hand, Ikki noticed their father spending more time with them, cutting down his work hours. It all came to a head when Pema had said she will be moving to another country to establish her new business. And so, they ended up -.

“Hey, are you Ikki?”

Ikki looked up to see an older girl with dark brown hair in a bun.

She nodded her head yes.

The girl gave her a bright smile and extended her hand.

“I’m Jinora and welcome to Republic City!”

---

Lin, Future Industries Head Office

Lin tiredly wiped her glasses clean before putting them on again, rereading her email response for one last time before hitting send.

It had been a long yet productive day. Her team had managed to fulfill all the visual design requirements that were due that day. She reviewed the different files sent to the printers, making sure that the final and correct collaterals were attached.

Her last task was to ensure that the last set of proposals were on-brand and aligned with Future Industries’ visual identity. Once she had provided her comments and revisions needed on the file, she sat back as she waited for the files to be uploaded to their server.

She reached for her cellphone, wanting to check on her kids while waiting. She looked at their family group chat and read messages from the last time she sent one.

Ohana (Lin repressed the urge to cringe. That was the final time that she would ask Bolin to create their group chat)

Lin: Kids – as mentioned earlier, I’ll be home a bit late. No need to drop by to fetch me; have dinner already and don’t wait up.

Jinora: Mom, I’ll be staying behind after class – I got a mentee! ☺ Mako Bolin can you wait up?

Mako: Jinora Bo has training today; I think we can wait for you.

Bolin: Jinora 👍🏼

Jinora: Mako Bolin thanks! 🙌

Jinora: Mako what will you be doing while waiting? You sure you’ll be okay?

Mako: Don’t worry about me. I’ll manage.

Lin scrolled through some more messages. Knowing her eldest, Mako would like skulk off to the library.

Jinora: I met my mentee this afternoon. She’s such a lovely girl.

Lin smiled at this. Her daughter had always been the polite one.

Jinora: Her name’s Ikki and she’s two years younger than me. She said she and her father had first checked out Patola Mountain Primary.

Lin frowned. Patola Primary was far; she went there as a child.

Mako: Kid didn’t like it there?

Jinora: They didn’t have the chance to know. They had to move besause of her father’s job.

Bolin: heeey sorry guys- just about to be done with training. Just gonna shower …unless I just shower at home?

Jinora: Ew, no Bo. Shower first please

Mako: Agree. You’ll stink up the car, bro.

Ding!

Lin drew her attention from her phone as her laptop screen indicated that the files have been uploaded. She hit the send button and packed up for the day.

She was looking forward to spending some quiet time with her kids tonight.

---

Bumi, White Lotus Headquarters

Bumi leaned back in his fully ergonomic chair, thinking about how times had changed.

Being in an office was something he balked at when he was younger. But now, after serving a long career in defense and military, he submitted his retirement and come to the aid of his younger brother.

Ah, his only brother – back in the day, he would be hard-pressed to keep contact with his brother.

His brother who took on the role of spearheading their family’s company back when their father died.

His brother who had the task of continuing to revive the company and making sure it keeps up with the times.

His brother, who, despite being the youngest, was tagged by the board of directors as the heir apparent owing to his excellent academic records.

His brother who Bumi had felt envious of at some point. He later on realized that his brother actually missed out on a lot of freedom in his life.

His brother who managed to keep their company part of the Top 100 and make malls relevant again.

His brother who probably made some life decisions for the benefit of their company rather than his own.

His brother who had been through hell and back the past year when he and his much younger wife called it quits. His brother whose ex-wife is now galivanting somewhere in the Fire Nation, expanding a business built on horticulture and floristry.

His brother who, despite making some decisions that Bumi might not agree with, is still family.

And if there was anything that their parents taught them – family is permanent.

The ex-military man took a deep breath, looking at their last family photo. For what it’s worth, he liked to think that their fragmented family had found its way back into each other in their adulthood.

Bumi had to admit that Tenzin did have remarkable business acumen that benefited their company, a conglomerate built on the mall industry. With the fourth industrial revolution at hand and the shift towards virtual and digital, the White Lotus Corporation had been challenged during the last years of their father’s life. Tenzin had worked hard to change the ways of working and the culture in the company.

To do it, he had to make sure that there is a buy-in from the board. Ironically, to bring the company to the current century, he had to abide with one of the most archaic practices – an arranged marriage, a marriage that would serve as a press release to the business world in general, that their company was stable and there to stay.

Bumi had been surprised to get a call from Tenzin back then. He had called to let him know of his impending engagement, seeking support. Bumi had cheered, given his congratulations – but named the wrong bride. He had launched into a long tirade, berating his brother for his choices. Tenzin had shouted back his defense.

He still did not understand why Tenzin acted the way he did. However, he could never regret his niece and nephew which came from this questionable business-like union.

Bloop-bloop-bloop.

Speaking of which…

“Hey Uncle Bumi!”

“Hello there, cloudchild!” Bumi greeted his niece with a nickname his sister Kya came up with, given that the kids were actually born somewhere near the mountains. “How’s the new school?”

“It’s great!” Ikki beamed at him and gushed into a long narrative of what she had been up to in the past days.

Bumi enjoyed video conferencing with his niece and nephew. Granted, Meelo had a short attention span but Ikki had always had the flair for storytelling.

It pleased him to see her spark back. He had heard from his brother and their trusted bodyguard/chauffeur Shung that Ikki had been withdrawn during the first weeks in Republic City. It saddened him to learn that the otherwise bubbly child had been affected in that way.

“…And then, I invited her over! Daddy said it was okay – and she’s sooooo nice. Didjaknow she also knows how to play the piano! We practiced a bit. She’s good even if her family didn’t have a piano, they only had this electronic keyboard but it’s so short. But she did well. She said she had a stepdad and it was totally okay. They’re a happy family. D’you think I’ll have a stepmom too? I think it would be okay if Daddy thinks so and maybe we’ll be a happy family here too and you know I joined this contest in school and I-.”

“Whoa, slow down, kiddo.” Bumi let out his booming laughter. “I didn’t quite catch it – what’s the name of your new friend?” He was heartened that Ikki seemed to have adjusted better now.

“Jinora!” His seven-year-old niece practically chirped the name. “She’s actually here!” Ikki turned to someone from beyond the view of the webcam. “Jin, it’s my Uncle Bumi – I want you to meet him!”

“Um, it’s fine, Ikki.” A calm voice of an older child can be heard. “I can wait here.”

“Nooonseeense.” Bumi could see Ikki pull something, rather someone to the camera. “Uncle Bumi, this is my friend Jinora. Jinora, my Uncle Bumi.” She said by way of introducing them.

Jinora gives a small wave and a soft hello.

Bumi gives them a short bow. “Nice to meet you, Jinora. It’s great to meet the friend of my favorite niece (Ikki please don’t tell Korra).”

Ikki gives a delighted clap and proceeds into another lengthy tale on what she and Jinora were working on that day at home.

Bumi smiles back at them, observing the children’s banter as they demonstrate the monologue that Ikki was preparing for. It was amusing.

Heh, they could be cousins.

He recalled when he was young, he, his siblings and even the sisters-who-must-not-be-named would stay over in one house after school to work on school projects. It had been one of the highlights of his childhood. He was glad that his niece would be somewhat experience it; he had been worried a few years back when Tenzin and Pema (primarily Pema) were very protective of their kids. It was to the point that they were both homeschooled and basically kept out of the public eye and the public itself.

It can’t be good for socialization. But what can he say? He didn’t have kids so he probably wouldn’t know what he was talking about, right?

He’s just fun ole Uncle Bumi.

Nonetheless, as he turned his attention back to the two girls, Bumi promised himself that he will always be there for his brother’s kids. It’s the least he could do as their godfather.

---

Mako, Republic City High

“I worry about Mom.” Mako picked at his dumplings during lunch time, a stark contrast to his brother who was eating a lot (“Coach said I needed to bulk up!”).

“Why? Has my dad been overworking her?” Asami slipped beside him at their usual lunch table. She brought out her packed lunch of pasta and a bottle of coconut water. “Just let me know and I can try to look into it.” She was, after all, interning at Future Industries in her spare time.

“Now that’s just powerplay.” The exchange student from Ba Sing Se High chortled, taking a sip of his sparkling water. “And that’s a no-no and Auntie will definitely get mad if she hears about that.”

“You would know about powerplay,” Bolin swallowed a mouthful of chicken, pointing his fork at the other boy. “Wasn’t that why you got the last slot in the elective you wanted to take this year?”

“Who? Me?” The other boy dramatically placed a hand on his chest, eyes widening. “You think, I Wu would stoop so low as to manipulate the results of the audition for the voice elective? Don’t you think I have enough talent to get into that class?”

Bolin just snorted into his food and Asami choked on her drink. Wu cracked a smile at their reactions.

“Again, Wu – don’t let Mom hear you call her Auntie.” Mako reiterated for the nth time in their friendship. “She hates it.”

“That’s why I do it.” Wu winked at them.

“Wait, Mako, what were you saying about Mom?” Bolin managed to ask in between bites of food. “Is something wrong? I mean, she’s a little bit run-down but she said it’s just because of the time of the year.” The last quarter of the year, after all, is usually the busiest.

“No, it’s just – well,” Mako sought words to explain it. “I’ll be leaving for college, you’ll be away for training, and okay, Jinora would be there but she’s in middle school now…” He trailed off. With Jinora’s aptitude and interests, Mako would not be surprised if she took on a lot of electives and extra-curricular activities. “Mom works too hard, you know?” He ended lamely.

“She has always looked out for us, but yeah,” A shadow passed over his brother’s face. “Ever since Pa passed away a few years back, she poured much of her energy to ensuring our welfare. She’s barely spent time for herself.”

Mako met Bolin’s now worried eyes.

The brothers knew that their mom had sacrificed a lot for them and Jinora.

When they first met Lin and one-year-old Jinora, she had already been under a lot of duress – taking care of a baby, leaving behind Jinora’s deadbeat dad, settling down in a new neighborhood and restarting a career. It had been two years later when she married their father San, who had been a sergeant at the city’s police station at the time.

And, Mako thought wearily, history has not been kind to Lin Beifong at all. While they did have four years (four wonderful years that Mako will treasure for the rest of his life), their fairytale-like family life came to an abrupt end.

San was involved in an armed bank robbery four years later and had not survived the gunshot wounds – leaving Lin behind with two boys at the brink of puberty and a young daughter.

Bolin and Jinora had been very confused at the time. Mako, already fifteen, had been expecting that he and Bolin would be forced into the system or sent off to their relatives in Ba Sing Se. He felt that Lin would not be in any way obligated to take him and his brother in; they were not blood relatives anyway. They were just stepchildren.

To his stunned astonishment, Lin did neither. He recalled crying in Lin’s arms that night after his father’s funeral.

She had asked him, with a confused expression, why he was packing. Lin wept alongside him as she explained that Mako and Bolin are her sons and there was no way that she was sending them away.

Since then, Mako made sure to look after his mom the way she looked after them. The brothers’ protectiveness was soon well-known in their neighborhood.

Probably also why no one had expressed any type of interest towards Lin even years after…

Mako reflected that it might have been a good move on their part but now it might have been a little bit selfish.

He and Bolin would now need to rethink their strategy…

After all, their mom Lin deserves all the happiness in the world.

---

Tenzin, Republic City Primary School – Parking Lot

“Are you sure you’re not just using this as an excuse to have a sleepover?” Tenzin looked over at his daughter, a teasing grin out of place on his face.

“Of course not, Daddy.” Ikki replied indignantly, kicking pebbles as they waited at the parking lot.

“Why can’t you do the project at our house?” He was actually leaning towards allowing Ikki on her first ever sleepover/overnight but he wanted to hear from his daughter.

“We’ll need a big big printer, Daddy.” Ikki raised her arms to show him just how big. “We’ll need to print out my project and Jinora’s mommy has a big printer and lamin-lami-lamintor (“Laminating machine, dear?” Tenzin clarified.) because she frilancets (“Freelances?”).”

“Mmhhmm.” Tenzin looked across the school building, shifting Ikki’s overnight bag on his shoulder.

Ikki timidly approached him the other night, asking if she could spend Friday night and Saturday at her friend Jinora’s house. They had an output required of them of the big sister-little sister program. Tenzin was actually unclear as to what is the specific output that the girls had decided on but it did require a large-scale printer and a laminating machine.

Jinora attempted to explain to him what they were going to do during the last week that they were in his house but he felt out of his depth so he had nodded and let them work on what they needed to.

The father had met Jinora several times already in the past months so he knew the child was in earnest that their intent for the overnight activity would be mainly to finish a project. He also realized (well, Bumi made him realize) that Ikki was old enough for a sleepover (and Pema’s overprotectiveness would be to the detriment of their kids’ development). Additionally, he thought grimly, it would also keep Meelo from wreaking havoc on the work area of the girls.

Nonetheless, he took up Jinora’s mom’s offer to meet up for snacks before she takes the kids home. This would give him a chance to meet the mom, discuss some ground rules and as well thank the mom privately for letting Jinora help Ikki come out of her shell during her first months in Republic City Primary. Jinora did say that her pa and mom used to do the same before she spends the night over at her other friends – the parents meet up, share a small meal, get to know each other. Tenzin thought this was a good parenting tactic; it would definitely assuage his fears as well.

But now, said mom was late.

Jinora had hurried to them, dragging with her a large cartolina and illustration board. She explained that her mom’s work meeting overran and if it would be okay if she rode with them? Her mom will be meeting them at the local diner instead, so they don’t get caught up in traffic.

Tenzin could feel his impatience growing.

So far, this woman was not making a good impression on him.

How on earth she produced a lovely daughter like Jinora was beyond him.

---

Lin, Narook’s

Damn Sato, Lin ground her teeth as she finally parked her car into the last parking space in front of Narook’s. Of all the days for a meeting to go over time, it has to be today when she had explicitly asked to leave early to fetch her daughter.

Jinora had provided her enough context to know that making a good impression with Ikki’s dad was important to her daughter.

Lin heard that the dad was some big shot divorced corporate guy, who, she thought, was a bit paranoid about his kids’ safety.

Lin acted as an arts club moderator so she was regularly present at the Republic City High, which gave her chances to meet Ikki whenever she drops by the primary school to fetch Jinora.

The girl was a sweet child – energetic and delightful once she felt comfortable enough with you. It had come to her attention, in the short conversations with the kid, that she was not allowed to go out and play with other kids in their old neighborhood so she was very much excited to have a new friend outside of her class and her family.

When Jinora mentioned their culminating project and their dilemma on the timeline and materials, Lin suggested that they take the project home to work on.

The crestfallen expression of Ikki as she stated that her dad would not allow her pushed Lin to share that she’s willing to talk to the dad to help convince him to give his permission.

The infectious smile that burst on Ikki’s face was enough to convince Lin that she made the right decision.

Now, however, as she entered the diner, spotting her daughter at the corner booth, she froze and started to doubt all her life decisions that led to this moment.

Wondering and questioning the universe what had she done in her past life for her to deserve this.

Across Jinora, beside the talkative Ikki, sat Tenzin – her former boyfriend and Jinora’s father.

---

Note: Soooo hmmmmmm. What do you think?

#linzin #linzin fanfic #legend of korra #lin beifong #tenzin #jinora #ikki #mako #toccatina's fanfics #toccatina wip

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lumiolivier · 4 years

Text

Fan Fiction Master Post (and Where to Find Them):

Hello, Internet. It’s been about a year and a half since I last updated my master post and it’d be nice for you to pass this one around instead of the others. And so much has happened since the last list! I finally jumped on the Ao3 train! This list has got everybody here. If you got nothing better to do and need a little fic to put on the wounds life has dealt you (or if you’re a little bit of a masochist and want something that’ll tear your soul to shreds), then pick a link and indulge yourself, K? Like last time, this list is organized alphabetically by fandom and chronologically, if there’s a series. You’ll see what I mean. Enjoy!

** indicates a story in progress as of the time of posting this list.

Attack on Titan:

Classified Files: Ackerman, Levi

AU Crack! Hanji needs a favor from Levi, but there's no way Levi would be so willing. That's what she has Eren for! But...Well...Why can't Hanji's experiments ever go right?

Black Butler:

Just a Simple Interview, Right?

1 of 4. What starts out as just an interview with 19 year old earl Ciel Phantomhive for the paper turns into a little more than that a young reporter bargains for when she meets his enigmatic, yet beautiful butler. (Mostly T rated with some lemon chapters)

His Strange Little Girl and Her Butler, the Enigma

2 of 4. She had her interview, but gained a few new friends and one very, very special butler. Now, she has her beautiful demon husband for the rest of eternity. But when the honeymoon’s over…is it really over? Of course not. We can’t have anything simple, can we? (Also T rated with a few lemon chapters.)

You, Me, and Cambion Makes Three

3 of 4. The Michaelis family has grown by one. The young lord has finally married Lady Elizabeth. So, what comes next? A little catastrophe, perhaps? (Yet again, T rated with a few lemon chapters.)

Her Butler, One Last Time

4 of 4. So blissfully living as a magazine contributor in modern day New York City. Until she meets her new landlord…or her demon husband from a past life?

Peace, Love, Unity, Respect

(Mini-series) She’s graduated college. Her boyfriend dumps her. Her roommates find a way to cheer her up. But for whatever reason, she’s feeling a little desperate. Especially when the DJ keeps giving her looks. He feels like he’s seen her somewhere before…

Crossovers:

Trouble Comes in Threes

(Hetalia x Fruits Basket) Francis, Gilbert, and Antonio could get anyone they want. They're beautiful, they're young, and the whole school knows it. But...They've had it all and grow bored. Even traveling outside city limits wouldn't prove to be any sort of challenge. But after a mess of a party, it appears Yao and Kiku's family tree is extending its roots when their cousins relocate. They couldn't stay at the Sohma house forever.

A New Hacker Has Entered the Chat**

(DRAMAtical Murder x Mystic Messenger) The RFA is usually pretty airtight when it comes to their information. Although, when their systems end up getting hacked, Seven and MC put their heads together to figure out who did it and why their source is coming from two different places.

DRAMAtical Murder:

His Angel Bunny

When Angel goes into work on her day off, she just wants to throw her head against the wall. Until she sees a cute boy with a face full of metal and a heart full of sadness. She had to do something about it. Little did she know, that would lead to the greatest domino effect adventure of her life.

About Time

Just a quick one-shot of Koujaku doing a HUGE favor to humanity. Thank you, Koujaku, for your bravery and your services.

Death Note:

Lawliet

Ever wonder how L happened? The name? The person? The little boy behind it all…? (child!Lx parental!Reader going into the Kira investigation)

Fairy Tail:

The Princess and the Dragon

(AU) She wants to be where the wizards are. However, her father has other plans for her. Stay out of the books, Lucy! You don’t need to practice magic! How do you expect to further the bloodline if you don’t meet anyone?

The Siren’s Song

(AU) Beware a frozen heart desperate for warmth...What a load of garbage...Right?

The Knight in Shining Armor (At the time of me posting this, the last chapter is going out this week)

(AU) Erza's flashbacks to the days before she joined the guild kept getting worse and worse. Master Makarov couldn't stand to see one of the strongest members of the guild falling apart like that, so a special job for a special S-Class wizard should be enough to snap her out of it. Especially when that job is for the Fiore royal family.

Fullmetal Alchemist:

Halfmetal Heart

Edward and Winry’s precocious daughter Tricia has picked up the family trade, but when she goes to apply for her state certification, something wonderful catches her eye…

Don’t Forget

Their house used to be a pile of ash, but now, it’s a home as Edward and Alphonse reflect on the day it burned. One-shot

Happy Birthday, Sir

Today marks a very special day in Amestris. It’s the Fuhrer’s birthday! And his wife has a little something, something planned for him, but can Mustang let it be a surprise? One-shot. Partially goes off the Halfmetal Heart canon

The Spark and the Sparrow

Just some young Royai fluff about a thunderstorm that happened at Master Hawkeye’s house. One-shot

Hetalia:

Candy From Strangers**

Amelia's boyfriend is a jerk. No matter how anyone looks at it, he's a straight up jerk. One night, things got a bit out of hand and...Well...He's her ex-boyfriend now. A broken plate to the cheek does that. But a kind hearted stranger in the park was more than ok with fixing up more than the deep cut on her cheek.

Draw a Circle

France stumbles on a mysterious naked woman and can't keep her to himself, so he consults his good friend Britain. Who is she? And where did she come from?

The Legend of Zelda:

Courageous Duality

Five years after the Kokiri Village has been burned by the Gerudo King’s newest apprentice, Link gathers the intestinal fortitude to go back and pay his respects to his old home. Until he finds his true destiny deep within the Lost Woods. Takes place after Ocarina of Time

MCU:

Kilgrave’s Good Little Girl

Who better to bring in a murderous psychopath than a murderous psychopath? (Reader)

Mystic Messenger:

Mistake Messenger

A one-shot collection of alternate routes for Mystic Messenger ranging from sweet and fluffy to naughty and depraved. MC x EVERYONE.

Man’s Best Intern

(AU) Poor Jaehee. Overworked. Underpaid. Under appreciated. Luckily, with the newest C&R intern, anything is possible. Although, when Mr. Han takes a particular shine to her, Jaehee’s workload may be doubled even more.

The Number Next Door**

(AU) MC has finally gotten the opportunity to move into the apartment building of her dreams. After years of clawing her way up with her design blog, things have finally fallen into place for her. That is, until she learns her next door neighbor likes to blast meme music at 1AM.

Regularly Scheduled Programming

(One-shot) Saeran and MC indulge themselves with one night a week for garbage TV. Although, sometimes, we can't always get what we want.

Ouran High School Host Club:

Kiss, Kiss

1 of 3. You’re starting at a new school and for any normal person, that’s difficult. For someone with your list of diagnoses, it’s even worse. Especially when all you want is to keep your head down and find a quiet place to study.

Back to Normal, I Guess

2 of 3. After her summer in New York, Lana goes back to her school in London with her heavy heart full of the memories she made at Ouran Academy. But little does she know, the Ouran Host Club will always be there to welcome her back, no matter what time zone she’s in.

Our New Normal

3 of 3. Lana misses Japan. Can we blame her? Unfortunately, she had to graduate from Ouran Academy sometime. But her new life in New York with Kyoya is only just beginning. College is an entirely different ballgame.

Switch**

Daddy's only looking out for his little girl and he wants what's best for her. She's not ready to take over the...uh..."family business" quite yet. She doesn't understand why she has to go so far just to go to school. But Daddy's word is law. Hey...Why does the angry guy in her homeroom seem familiar? And what's a host club?

Supernatural:

A Family Forged in Fire

1 of 2. Lena was living in an orphanage. Constant rejection day in and day out. They were looking for a baby, not her. Little did she know that a case would bring a pair of brothers that would turn her life upside down.

When the Fire Goes Out

2 of 2. After taking down the devil himself, a girl needs to get away, doesn’t she? Even though it puts her brothers in a worry and opens up a golden opportunity for someone new to slip into her life.

Yuri!!! On Ice:

Adopted

1 of 2. AU: Victor and Violet adopted two precious little boys that they can’t help but love and became an unorthodox family. Even though the youngest can’t stand the oldest, but that’s the way siblings work. And things get even more troublesome when they both want to take up the very thing that brought Mommy and Daddy together.

Off the Rails

2 of 2. After Junior Grand Prix, the Nikiforov family has moved to New York and began their training for next season, including Violet’s comeback. However, her comeback may be a bit more than she…or Victor…bargained for.

Not a Perfect Fairytale (But It’s Ours)

Fairytale AU. Whoever decided the prince needed a princess has terrible foresight…

Surprise

Yurio is always a little paranoid, but for some strange reason, today, his radar was up even more than usual. Especially when Yakov doesn’t yell at him for missing a simple jump. One-shot

Dr. Nikiforov Has a Ring To It

Getting sick sucks something awful on its own. Getting sick with no one else home but your overbearing roommate to take care of you? That’s a mess in itself. One-shot

Pierced Through the Heart

(One-shot) Yurio and Otabek had been together a while now. Why couldn't they have something match like Victor and Yuri?

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tonyglowheart · 5 years

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I Still Don’t Know if I Can Write an Actual Fic BUT here are some more thoughts (or stream-of-consciousness musings) on Sentinel/Guide AU CQL!WangXian:

The world is one in which Sentinels usually end up with some cultivation sect or another. Not all cultivators are Sentinels, and not all Sentinels end up cultivators - cultivators aren’t necessarily out there actively looking for Sentinels - but a lot of ‘em end up with the sects

Sentinels are a known concept but not necessarily codified into a separate hierarchy; it’s more of a concept of if you have the potential to be a Sentinel, then the actions and movements relating to cultivation would help you regulate yourself and your senses and not lose control or zone out? Idk I’m a bit hazy on this aspect but I know I don’t want Sentinels to be a Separate Thing. Maybe it’s even seen more as being born with a natural aptitude to high-level cultivation, since like if you’re high-level you can...probably do some cool things with your senses :’)

no you know what!!! I suddenly remembered vague bits of stories from my childhood and either Sun Wukong or some other deity in folkloric/mythological tradition having powers such as Very Good Sight and Very Good Hearing (there were much better names than this. google tells me Thousand Li Eyes and Wind Following Ear. Both of which sound familiar and also much better in Chinese. The idea being one of them can see very far and the other can hear very far away. So this works within the Sentinel/Guide structure!!)

cool so building on this, I guess this could be a Sentinel/Guide AU where Sentinel level is based off number of heightened senses? in that some have one of those powers, some have many, and the idea that you have more corresponds to the idea of higher levels of spiritual power/cultivation

Since I like the idea that Sentinels & Guides are sort of incorporated in and aren’t really codified out of the cultivation world, I guess “cultivation partner” could either be a Guide or just. someone’s cultivation partner lol

(the way I kind of see it working is, if there really is a separate term for Sentinels & Guides, it would be a translation of Sentinel & Guide, but some sort of old story about a now-mythologicalized couple sort of like the NiuLang ZhiNv (Cowheard & Weaver Girl) story, and they’d be described as/titled 仙人 or 道长 (cultivators) first but then like “oh, they are like [whatever story, sry I’m not going to make up fake mythology rn :’)]”

More specific to the characters:

Lan Wangji is a high-level Sentinel obv, and being raised in Gusu was both helpful to him in that Gusu has few things which would trigger zone-outs in Sentinels, but then conversely this would make it difficult for him after leaving Gusu because he hasn’t had as much practice getting overwhelmed?

you gotta be quiet, you can’t indiscriminately fight, you have a very rigid set schedule, the food is bland apparently, you can’t kill livestock in the Cloud Recesses, etc etc? Look I don’t want it to be created specifically for Sentinels because it amuses me too much that the Lan descendants really just Were That Extra, but also this sounds Perfect for a high-level Sentinel baby to grow up and not be overwhelmed with pain every two seconds

This lets them build up their spiritual energy and ability to like regulate themselves and their senses so when they DO go out in the wild, they maybe have a bit less issues than someone who just is thrown into the world with all of their senses online and suffering?

yes ofc downside is: then they don’t have practice dealing with Loud and Distracting and Overwhelming things. *evil smile*

This works for me in CQL because of all of the times young Lan Zhan is all zoning out and...usually it’s WWX who like grabs him gently by the arm or calls out and gets his attention

I guess also popular within the trope is there’s usually SOMETHING that brings Sentinels online. could be something traumatic? could be puberty? I want to give Lan Zhan some pain and also Much Power and I think there’s an idea of the earlier you come online the more powerful you tend to be (TEND to be this is correlation not causation) so I...lowkey like the idea that sometime after Madame Lan dies, Lan Zhan comes online when he’s still a tiny lil bb, because that thought causes me the most pain

just think of lil bb Lan Zhan kneeling in front of his mother’s house waiting for her to open the door and then suddenly he swoons, and Lan Qiren and Lan Xichen rush up all worried, they bring him to a more populated part of Cloud Recesses (and incidentally, louder, and also ppl are worried so it’s not as quiet as it usually might be bc people are somewhat frantic that Lan ErGongzi passed out like that) when Lan Zhan rouses he can’t stop crying, which is really out of character for him? and they do their best to console him and finally get out of him that everything is too loud and it’s overwhelming him, so they bring him back to Jingshi

points for Extra Pain in CQL because while Madame Lan’s residence was a different place in the novel (I think?) CQL just Went There and was like “yeah you know Lan Zhan’s Jingshi? his study and bedroom and like overall place of residence and solace? yeah that’s where our mom used to live, you know, the place Wangji knelt in front of in the snow waiting for her?” :’)

so I mean Wangji was precocious to begin with, but this puts extra points into his being a strong cultivator from an early age too :’)

When Wei Wuxian arrived into Wangji’s life it’s like those two lines from Burn from Hamilton where it’s like: “ You and your words flooded my senses / Your sentences left me defenseless / You built me palaces out of paragraphs” >:D

This is about as far as I got for now before running out of steam, so send post ig

#mdzs #the untamed #wangxian #wangxian sentinel guide au #mine #mxtx

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djemsostylist · 5 years

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I watched Captain Marvel...and I think I hated it. A Review

So like, I really hated Captain Marvel. Well, hate’s a strong word I guess. But given what it could have been, and what we were given instead, well. It’s better than Gagnarok, which is faint praise, I suppose given how much I despised the last Thor outing.

This movie had so much potential. So. Much. Potential. Because they actually had the bones of a good movie. The casting, as per usual for Marvel, was spot on. They created some really interesting characters who weren’t actually cliches like they very easily could have been. And the idea of an origin movie that merely exists for its own sake, especially this late in the MCU lineup, is an interesting one.

Thing is though, this one...well, it sucked. And I think it’s entirely because of the writing and directing. It read like a YA version of a Marvel movie. And it’s the first time in a while that I read reviews and thought “What am I missing?” Most of the round-up that I saw prior to the movie claimed that Sam Jackson and Ben Mendelsohn were a delight, the humor and nineties references were subtle and delightful, and that the whole movie didn’t force things on you but rather allowed the moments to breathe. Even here--the majority of the people I follow are gushing over the movie and the relationships and the subtle building of Carol’s backstory and I’m just like....? Because I got none of that?

Fury, as a character in this movie, makes literally no sense. He seems a whole lot more like Sam Jackson than Nick Fury, and if this movie was attempting to show us how a young and bouncy Nicholas J. Fury became the jaded leader of SHIELD, than they fucking failed. Fury cooing over cats and completely trusting aliens makes no sense, and rather than have him grow over the course of the movie into the Nick Fury we see today, he does...none of that? He was frankly kind of obnoxious, and the amount of moments he dropped a not so quippy one liner the writers desperately wanted us to laugh at made me actively irritated by the end.

Maria was a fascinating character, or she could have been? She and Carol are wingmen test pilots, working under a female scientist developing cutting edge technology. She’s a single mother in the military with a precocious young daughter and together with her best friend they’ve made themselves a family. Her best friend is then killed in a horrible accident gone wrong, and she...actually I don’t know. I’m assuming she left the Air Force perhaps because, like Sam Wilson, she had a hard time finding a reason to stay in. At least that would be what I assume. And maybe she always thought Carol survived and the Air Force covered up something they shouldn’t have been doing and maybe she took a quiet retirement in return for not asking questions, and maybe she always wondered what happened the day that Carol died. I don’t know, really, since they don’t ever really allow her to do much of anything except tell Carol who she is 5 times and then suddenly decide to go into space because her daughter told her to. We were robbed of Maria, is what I’m saying, and I think they could have given us so much more. (Give me a story where Maria takes the retirement and the payout and moves to Louisiana but never really stops looking for answers because Carol wouldn’t just have died like that and one day she digs too deep and she runs into an Agent named Nick Fury who was looking into something too and together they discover what the Air Force tried to cover up all those years ago. Frankly, I feel like this should have been the plotline that Earth had sans Carol, but I digress).

Carol’s team was criminally underused. Gemma Chan, Jude Law, Djimon Hounsou (and those other dudes)--they had virtually no part. And it could have been fascinating. Carol was with them for 6 years. 6 years. That’s a ridiculously long time actually. And she has a life there. At least, we can assume? She appears to have an apartment (or quarters), access to public transit, etc. She is close to Jude Law (I refuse to call him Yon Rogg bc that is a fucking stupid name), and she is also, again ostensibly, close to his team (hereafter called Kree Team 6). The scene with them boarding the plane for their first mission together (which totally did not feel like that at all) was interesting, and a lovely glimpse in to team and the dynamics. I liked seeing how they fought together, their ethical views (they go out of their way not to hurt the locals/refugees, which we’ll get to later). And I loved the look into Kree society--it felt more real and grounded than any of the alien societies (beside Asgard) that we’ve seen before. But we get nothing from them. Like, Gemma Chan has 3? lines? Hounsou has maybe 2? And Jude Law 100% feels like he was supposed to Mar Vel (and likely her lover?) before someone, sometime after way too much of the script had been written, decided not to go that direction. Which leads me to the next question, of why not? Because Carol doesn’t need a love interest? I mean, sure I guess, but Thor, Steve, Bruce, and Tony have all had a love interest, and I don’t think it detracted from their stories? Like, Tony still has his bond with Rhodey, Steve obviously has his with Bucky, Thor is still codependent on Loki. Would Carol being in a relationship with Jude Law prevent her from having an equally or more important relationship with Maria? Like, I would have loved for about half the movie to take place with Carol still with the Kree, if only so that we could have felt something of Carol’s relationship and connection with them, which would make the revelations that much more crushing when she does find out. Like, how much worse is it if Carol has an actual life with them (which has likely only been a little bit shorter than the amount of time she’s been in the Air Force) only to find out it’s all based off a lie? Only, it wasn’t totally a lie because she had friends and a home and a job and a lover and a life which she wouldn’t have had if they hadn’t taken her, and yet.

I loved Carol. Or at least, I think I did? Reviews kept whining that Carol was brainwashed half the movie, which sure, but she was no Bucky Barnes. And I loved that. I loved that she has awful nightmares that wake her up and make her seek out her lovermentor to spar, but she is still herself. Like, she isn’t deadened and unemotional and tormented. She’s happy and scrappy and sarcastic and goofy and bouncy and a little bit of a hothead and she is still herself. I loved the scene when she looks at the guy over the newspaper, the sly little half smile she gets when she says “Heroes. Noble warrior heroes” like she knows she’s being a little bitch and she loves it. I love that when she knocks on Jude Law’s door at 2:00 in the morning he can’t even pretend to be irritated with her. I love that she banters with her team and loves her powers and isn’t afraid of dying. I loved who Brie Larson made her in the spare few moments she had between the awful directing and the horrible lines and the things that didn’t really make sense. I can’t wait to see her in Endgame, and much like I did with Hawkeye in Civil War, go “Oh, there’s Carol!” because she had been hiding behind a shitty plot and horrible dialog and suffocating directing for far too long. (Also, I loved her costume and her design and the mohawk is beautiful, and her powers aren’t OP at all.)

Like, imagine if the movie is divided into Carol with the Kree slowly realizing shit ain’t what it seems and the other plotline is Fury and Maria trying to find out wtf is going on, and then they meet up in the climax to take down the bad guys. We get to know Carol, Maria, and their relationship to each other and everyone else. Imagine if we didn’t have to guess at literally everything. And imagine if, in the end, Carol leaves, not because she has to guide the fucking Skrulls to a new home, but because she’s functionally immortal now, and what kind of a life does she have with Maria and Earth any more? (Like, the movie doesn’t address this at all, but I mean, this is a Thing. Whether it’s because she’s Kree (wtf did the blood transfusion do?) or because of her powers, she is immortal now, yes? Or as immortal as Thor or Steve, theoretically.)

The thing is, the Russo’s and Markus and McFeely are really, really good at taking little things and tiny moments and making us know and understand backstory, and showing us how relationships grow and develop in the things we can’t see or don’t have time to see. These writers/directors...are not. They suck, frankly. Who is Mar Vel, what is her relationship with Carol and Maria, what was Carol’s life like in Kree land, why is Maria retired and living in the Bayou, why is Fury on uppers, how did Carol become a Kree, why did they give her the disk control thingy and why doesn’t she take it off, what did they tell her about her past, and most importantly, WTF with the Skrulls and Kree. How did you manage to tell us how to feel to for an entire movie while also telling us nothing at all. (Also, The Russo’s and M&M are good with continuity while still writing new things, while these people, are, again, not. Like, don’t even get me started on the Tesseract.)

And then, okay, when the Kree Team attacks that first planet to save their operative, they are all super specific about making sure the locals don’t get hurt, they protest the innocent, etc. Gemma Chan immediately pulls up her rifle when they say they are just civilians, Jude Law goes out of his way to put up a shield to protect his dudes and NOT hurt the locals, and he seems sorta grossed out by Ronan and his zealots. So...wtf with the “all Kree all evil murdered who kill babies and the Skrulls just want to be with their families.” Like, it’s so fucking tired. A twist for twist sake, which if you didn’t see that coming...well, that’s on you. I’d be much more here for “everyone sucks a little bc people can suck sometimes” rather than the shlocky bullshit family reunion I was forced to endure. The Skrulls were fucking insufferable frankly, and the entire reveal with Talos and the Skrulls from then on was like an embarrassing episode of Stargate.

And look, I’m not opposed to humor in Marvel movies. I’m not, I swear! I legit loved both Antman’s, Peter always fills my heart with smiles, and Sam Wilson refusing to move his seat up made me legit cackle. I don’t like when I feel like the writers spend an entire movie nudging me in the ribs with increasing brutality while screaming “Isn’t it FUNNY THO???” Because no, dear writers, no it’s not. And yes, yes I do get the jokes, but good god could we have a minute? I mean, by the end, the jokes were literally being telegraphed a few 30 seconds before they dropped. (The Kree scanning people--Cat, High danger level. I bet Fury’s going to be...oh yeah, hahaha he is a nonexistent threat isn’t that hilaARIOUS? No, it’s fucking stupid.)

It was, frankly, awful. I hated it, so much so that by the end I couldn’t even muster up enough of a Give a Fuck to care that her callsign was Avenger (and I fucking LOVE callsigns) or care that the stinger had all of my children. I really didn’t. This movie was so fucking disappointing because it didn’t have to be bad. It really didn’t. If they had hired competent writers and directors (I should have known when they hired the Tomb Raider lady this was going to be awful), they could have made it work. They really, really could have. And they didn’t and everyone loves it and I’m happy because shitty butthurt fanboys are being legit gross about this and I want them to be crushed by money, but. I want the next movie to have better writing and better directing because it’s what we deserve. I don’t want to have to keep settling, because it’s good enough.

#Captain Marvel #carol danvers #marvel #my opinions #if anyone cares #this is a lot of words but like #this movie was so fucking disappointing and everyone on here is screaming about how amazing it was and im just like #am i overly critical of everything #did i miss something?#like wtf

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dweemeister · 6 years

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The Philadelphia Story (1940)

Sometimes the best comedies are not the ones that you laugh the hardest over. In George Cukor’s The Philadelphia Story, the film’s situational wit leaves pleasant aftertastes from scenes – comedic and otherwise – that draw an unsuspecting viewer in, making them care about the central characters (who live comfortably in socioeconomic settings few experience) in unexpected ways. Constant belly laughs are not what one will get from this movie, but instead middling chuckles and smiles realizing the ridiculousness of the plot, the sincerity in what the movie wishes to say. Released by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) and based on the stage play of the same name by Philip Barry, The Philadelphia Story is one of the great comedies from classic Hollywood – in no small part due to its source material and adaptation, but most importantly its three central performances.

As the daughter of a Philadelphian socialite family, Tracy Lord (Katharine Hepburn; labeled “box office poison” by the Independent Theatre Owners of America after the financial failure of the now-beloved Bringing Up Baby and other films) is engaged to the fabulously wealthy, but uptight and overly content coal baron George Kitteridge (John Howard). Tracy divorced her first husband, C.K. Dexter Haven (Cary Grant) two years ago for not meeting her lofty standards. But Dexter is about to make a surprise reappearance in Tracy’s life, as he is acting as a family liaison between the Lord family to Spy magazine reporter Macaulay “Mike” Connor (James Stewart) and photographer Liz Imbrie (Ruth Hussey). Mike and Liz are there to cover Tracy’s wedding – part of an elaborate blackmail scheming involving the magazine’s publisher (Henry Daniell) and the Lord patriarch’s (John Halliday) brush with adultery. As the hours pass, Tracy begins to question whether she is marrying George for the right reasons, all while finding herself attracted to Mike and pondering whether her standards were indeed too inflexible for Dexter.

Despite Hepburn being an unwanted commodity among Hollywood executives, she still exerted significant influence in choosing George Cukor as director and Donald Ogden Stewart as screenwriter. Hepburn even chose her co-stars, Cary Grant and Jimmy Stewart. This arrangement was made possible because Hepburn – through Howard Hughes – held the rights to the original stage play, selling them to MGM’s Louis B. Mayer at a discount of $250,000. The discount came with stipulations: that Hepburn have final say in the film’s producer (Joseph L. Mankiewicz... the man responsible for the scene’s opening minutes that involve a broken golf club and a facial shove less invidious than James Cagney’s), director, screenwriter, and cast. Female Hollywood moguls were more common in the silent era, and here was Hepburn making decisions as one, albeit for only one film.

These decisions result in an outstanding ensemble performance, particularly from the leads. It is difficult to talk about each performance in isolation, given the richness of Donald Ogden Stewart’s dialogue and how each lead has a different approach to another. For Hepburn, the snootiness that must come with having an obscene amount of money is broken quickly once Cary Grant, Jimmy Stewart, and Ruth Hussey arrive. She is a forceful personality, who believes she knows what she wants, then arriving – upon further reflection made impossible by John Howard’s character – to conclusions that make her question not only what she wants, but what she needs (surprise, surprise... these things are distinct!). Screwball circumstance has dissolved pretense. In her vulnerability, she grows and comes to greater understanding. Hepburn’s exchanges with Grant are irresistible. Though the two are not as funny here as in Bringing Up Baby, the scenario and their characters in this film are less (using a word from my Bringing Up Baby review) “airheaded”; the proportion of loving overtures here is reversed (Hepburn piled on a vast majority of the romantic flirting in Baby; Grant is more restrained here but it is he who talks of his love most). There is a sense of loss that defines both Grant and (eventually) Hepburn – especially the former. Grant plays Dexter as a wiseass here for a job and resolution. He argues with Hepburn, but never does it devolve to fighting. Love is not safe, states Dexter. Few actors other than Cary Grant could argue with a fellow romantic lead, roll their eyes during dialogue, and make arguments funny without being demeaning.

Jimmy Stewart and Ruth Hussey have an understated chemistry that gradually reveals itself. Stewart, lucky he, is charmed off his feet by the entire lead cast – and yes, that includes Grant in one of the rare instances he makes someone of the same gender starstruck (not sexually, of course, because one couldn’t do that in a ‘40s movie... if you’re a romantic fanfiction writer, this movie is for you!). Some of Stewart’s interactions with Grant seem borderline flirtatious, threatening to overshadow a hilarious off-screen swimming quasi-tryst that occurs in the film’s final third. For Jimmy Stewart, this would be one of the last times playing a youthful romantic lead – a type of role he would dabble less frequently in after returning from his wartime Air Force service. On the sidelines according to film’s billing but not in the film’s functions, Ruth Hussey – as Liz – seems to be the only one who has everything figured out. Liz is The Philadelphia Story’s most neglected character in the film’s love pentagon, and Hussey portrays the character as being the least uncomfortable in this complicated emotional puzzle playing out in swanky surroundings. But just because Liz is neglected by the characters does not mean she is inessential. She prevents The Philadelphia Story from lifting off to flights of comical and narrative fancy – grounding the film for those who do not see themselves in any of the other main characters. Just as an actor need not be sensational to be effective, Liz demonstrates that love need not be sensational either.

Joseph Ruttenberg’s (1940′s Waterloo Bridge, 1944′s Gaslight) cinematography lends sensuality to the nighttime scenes. His camera moves slowly, gracefully through the interior of the Lord household and its grounds. Soft lighting is used once, in a moment of intoxication and innocence that seems like genuine romance at that given time. Cedric Gibbons’ (MGM’s premier art director) work, as it almost always is, is stellar. But technical achievements aside, it is the strength of the writing that powers The Philadelphia Story.

Certain readings of the film criticize The Philadelphia Story as undermining Tracy – her agency and desires – as soon as Dexter makes his entrance. Take these lines between Tracy and George:

GEORGE: You're like some marvelous, distant, well, queen, I guess. You're so cool and fine and always so much your own. There's a kind of beautiful purity about you, Tracy, like, like a statue. TRACY: George... GEORGE: Oh, it's grand, Tracy. It's what everybody feels about you. It's what I first worshipped you for from afar. TRACY: George, listen – GEORGE: First, now and always. Only from a little nearer now, eh, darling? TRACY: I... I don't want to be worshipped. I want to be loved.

The introspection Tracy delves into forms the heart of The Philadelphia Story – not Tracy’s father and his infidelities, not the precocious, farcical comedy from Tracy’s teenager sister Dinah (Virginia Weidler). In this introspection she never abandons her independence, sophistication, or ferocity. Donald Ogden Stewart’s verbose, uncharacteristically (for a screwball comedy) long screenplay allows time to better understand the masculine chaos revolving around her. Being with George – suffocating her with his worshipping ways – has prevented her from understanding her past and (to reiterate an above point) the difference between what she wants and what she needs. She is not settling nor bending to anyone else’s demands, all while realizing love is never zero-sum. It requires generosity of spirit, a commitment to understanding. What Tracy undergoes is not sacrifice, but personal growth.

While negotiating with Katharine Hepburn for his appearance in this film, Cary Grant demanded that he receive top billing for this film. Hepburn acquiesced, but Grant’s intentions were more honorable than you might think. His entire $137,000 salary (a hefty wage in 1940... ~$2.47 million in 2018′s USD) was donated to the British War Relief Fund. A charming rascal though Grant might have been on-camera, his motivations to appear in The Philadelphia Story were always honorable. And with The Philadelphia Story, Katharine Hepburn – defying MGM’s expectations and proving her former employers at RKO wrong – delivered a critical and popular hit. Her negative reputation was behind her, with the Time Magazine review reading: “Come on back, Katie, all is forgiven.” An MGM contract awaited. So did one of the most lauded acting careers in Hollywood history.

For those reading to this final paragraph and are still skeptical of The Philadelphia Story, I offer a personal note. Being an ardent fan of Turner Classic Movies (TCM), The Philadelphia Story makes frequent appearances on TCM’s schedule – given the size of TCM’s library, “frequent” means three to six times a year). Having heard so much praise for the film and being high on my watchlist, this was one of those handful of movies I had been putting off for years. The timing of my first viewing has inspired mixed feelings: I’m glad I waited, into my mid-twenties (because I would’ve dismissed this as saccharine ten years ago), but I also wish I had known how much I needed this film earlier. There’s that word again, “need”. This is a shining example of the best of Old Hollywood’s approach to romantic comedies – nothing cruel or insulting in its humor. It may not be the funniest comedy either, but comedies are more than just inspiring laughter. Step away from your expectations. From there, you, like Tracy, might just be able to see those less visible things than mean the most.

My rating: 10/10

^ Based on my personal imdb rating. The Philadelphia Story is the one hundred and forty-fifth film I have rated a ten on imdb.

#The Philadelphia Story #George Cukor #Cary Grant #Katharine Hepburn #James Stewart #Ruth Hussey #John Howard #Roland Young #John Halliday #Mary Nash #Virginia Weidler #Henry Daniell #Donald Ogden Stewart #Philip Barry #Joseph L. Mankiewicz #Joseph Ruttenberg #Cedric Gibbons #TCM #My Movie Odyssey

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customstoriesforyou-blog · 6 years

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Persephone had always been precocious. As one of the younger generations of gods, she had always been doted on; particularly by her mother Demeter. It had long since been whispered that the goddess of harvest had trouble conceiving or that she was perhaps not capable of it. As such, Demeter was sometimes over protective of Persephone though she knew that she could not keep her daughter’s wings clipped forever. Until she’d had a child, she’d never known just how much love she was capable of. The love of a Mother knew no bounds, goddesses weren’t exempt from that.

Persephone had a pleasant childhood for the most part, though she often felt slightly off. She was the goddess of Spring and Rebirth and yet there was something about death that inevitably fascinated her. She was life bringer, and yet she was more interested in the death of the world; when the world slept. Wasn’t she, on principle, supposed to hate Winter? Wasn’t she supposed to hate her Uncle Hades for similar reasons? Persephone was a wonderfully bleak child, she happed upon an unfortunate hatchling who had fallen from its nest and met an untimely demise. She was fascinated by the stillness of the bird, the coldness. She knew, even at a young age, death was as much an inevitability as the coming Spring. Still, she kept this secret. It would surely be frowned upon; she didn’t want to cause her mother worry. Despite her tendency to be overbearing she loved her mother dearly and would never purposefully upset her.

Persephone grew into a stunning young woman with a list of suitors both male and female. Persephone was bewildered by her attractiveness to suitors, she was, after all, hardly different than any one of them. She did have flowers and gardens bloom if she was near, but surely that wasn’t such an awe-inspiring power? Not compared to her mother? Not compared to her father, the almighty Zeus? Persephone was kind and polite but promised nothing more. If she were honest, she wanted to enjoy being an adult without the promise of being married off. Of course, there was the ritual kidnapping to look forward to, so she always kept a sharp eye out.

Persephone and Artemis were rather good friends. Persephone admired Artemis’s self-sustaining ability and her vow of virginity. Artemis was always friend to a woman in need. Animals loved the huntress. It was whispered that Artemis could commune with her animal friends, something that Persephone had always wished she could do herself. Despite her darker tendencies, Persephone loved all that Spring offered the world. Rebirth, new litters of animals, fresh flowers burst into bloom. Artemis, for her part, enjoyed Persephone’s company, even if the other goddess was a little green in terms of the world.

“What if I don’t want to get married? I don’t think I could stand living with someone forever. I want to come and go as I please, I don’t want to be tied down to anyone. My mother did that to me enough. What god is going to agree to that?” Artemis is silent, reflective. Persephone is a very pretty girl, she will find someone. Persephone is rather curvy with light brown hair, tanned skin, and hazel eyes. She is awash with flowers; her hair is decorated with tropical flowers and her clothing seems to have be designed with flowers in mind. She is rather captivating but seems endearingly naïve to what she has to offer the world. Artemis is lean and muscled like an athlete, her hair is black as night and her blue eyes reflect a certain cynicism about the world in general. She dresses in furs and armor and has little patience for most people except her twin Apollo. The friendship she has with Persephone is rare.

Artemis is quiet for several moments before sighing. “Persephone, you wouldn’t do well on your own. You have always lived for someone else, do you even know how to live for yourself? I will admit it’s rather freeing to have no one to answer to but yourself but it’s also…lonely. I like being by myself for the most part. I do visit those in my temples if I absolutely need contact but other than that? It’s just me and nature. I don’t think you can stand that. You like to talk with people, socialize. You like comfort and you want to be…. happy. My way of life doesn’t promise that I’m afraid.”

Persephone sighed, trying to keep from proving Artemis correct. “I guess, you’re right. I mean I still feel like a kid at the end of the day. I just need to grow, you know? Have some experiences! Just…try to grow as a person.” Persephone smiled, her whole face transforming into something magical. “I guess I do like people but I can’t ever…be my whole self with them, you know?” Persephone kicked at a rock idly. “I just know there’s more to the world than what I offer. I want to learn about the darker side of life. I saw a dead bird once…it fascinated me.”

Artemis raised a brow before shrugging. “It’s good that you are interested in things outside of your realm of understanding. There are not many that would admit to a preoccupation with death.” She smiled slightly, her blue eyes mischievous. “Perhaps you should court Hades then.”

Persephone snorted loudly. “No way! I mean I suppose he’s handsome enough but he’s so boring! He never leaves the Underworld and he…. well, I guess he’d be a good provider. He wouldn’t be like my father and…” She stopped speaking nervously. Even among the children of Zeus speaking ill of him wasn’t tolerated. She shrugged helplessly. “Maybe I need a man like Hades. Handsome, mature, committed to a relationship.” The more that Persephone dwelled on it, the more she was sure that Hades would be her perfect compliment.

Artemis chuckled softly. “You would choose who you spend your life with so easily? There are always mortals if you wished to…experiment.”

Persephone made a face. “No, eww! They’re like babies! That would be wrong. At least to me. You could never really understand each other anyway. We’re immortal and their lives are like a blink of an eye to us.”

Artemis sighed. “Persephone. I didn’t mean…never mind. It was wrong of me to suggest that in the first place.”

Persephone sighed softly. “Thank you for listening to me. I don’t really have anyone else to talk to these days. Mother is busy and wouldn’t really…care to hear it in the first place. I…don’t have many other friends. I never have. I never understood why.”

Artemis sighed. Poor girl, she really didn’t know?

Artemis clapped Persephone on the shoulder, squeezing gently.

“I’m sure that soon all your problems will be behind you. Just…chin up, as they say. I’ll always be here to talk to you…should you need it.”

Persephone smiled widely. “Oh, thank you Artemis! I don’t know what I’d do without you.”

Artemis flushed the slightest bit, her cheeks golden. Persephone kissed her cheek gratefully as she turned to leave. “Thank you, my friend. I don’t feel nearly as alone anymore. Too bad I can’t spend my time with you in your hunts.”

Artemis watched Persephone walk away, touching her cheek where the younger goddess has kissed her.

“Too bad indeed.” She mumbled.

#mythology #persephone #artemis #original #series

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wileds · 6 years

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so does he have a lower opinion of faunus since a lot of his houses help were faunus

wakes up early, sees this in my email notifs, hewwo ??

i can’t emphasize enough that love grew up a bit sheltered especially in the years immediately after he came into his semblance. his power is activated by shedding blood and being exposed to it. it was not a pleasant experience and it had real legal ramifications between the victim and love (a minor at the time of course) which brought on a surge of protectiveness from his parents as well as them using their political/social clout to win a favorable solution for love, basically sweeping the event under the rug, while also keeping love ignorant about what exactly happened to the person. which is why i still say that he has no criminal record. quite a bad idea in hindsight - love feels certain that he killed them and he was not given the chance to personally apologize to the family for it, if they would even have him at this point, and all of this began his feelings of shame around his semblance alongside its celebration from his tribe as a mark of charisma / a good warrior / what have you, which is why i’m always inches away from saying that love has a bit of a complex around his affinity which is … pretty unfortunately janus-faced when you really think about the contrary natures of his supposed fate: greatness or madness, or greatness even in madness - greatness is the central destiny here, the contrariness bolstered by stories of previous inheritors of their hereditary semblance who always fell into one of the two categories. the inheritor immediately before him was for sure bloodmad. which doesn’t help matters. love has a feeling that he would become so too if he fully indulged his semblance. maybe that’s paranoia or the aforementioned shame talking, but whatever, it’s genuinely how he feels.

why am i talking about semblance again.

back to the point, he was sheltered more after this event. a lot of the house help and hires were faunus so he did spend a lot of time with them when his parents were busy. yes seeing faunus in certain roles affected him, i know how iffy it can sound to say ‘i have a __ friend so i understand ___!’ or ‘i know many __, so __!’ his curiosity about some faunus traits will come across as ignorant or even affronting if done in the wrong way. and a question like ‘can i touch it?’ always vacillates between ok and wtf no. but in actuality he typically doesn’t bring attention to faunus traits at all because then he knows he won’t make a social faux pas and he’s taken way too many etiquette classes to blunder too badly at this point idk how he was as a kid, he was a fucking handful. but today he is a naturally sensitive person. has more tact than you might expect from his abundance. he’s not afraid to apologize or be corrected, at any rate. tends to notice/comment on someone’s overall attractiveness rather than specifics (he takes note of people’s attractiveness like people do the weather. it’s just a part of how he meets someone and it doesn’t need to mean anything). there’s no intentional othering going on when he thinks of faunus or meets one. also like … i’m sure historical figures such as the faunus queen of vacuo who led during the great war + the apparent egalitarianism of the society (but is it tho) has introduced some levity into vacuoan society and into love’s mind even if through history books or lessons or moments of exposure. going too far into the i don’t see species i see people direction is also an issue (kind of like the i don’t see color argument which negates imp history, current social/criminal/etc injustices, prejudice & racism, etc). but. i answered this ask a year ago and it’s still faithful to his attitude.

… after going to shade academy he at least feels ok to ask mai and aris questions too lol, rip if he’s ever said anything awkward or offensive to them. i am sure he has been offensive due to some part of his upbringing.

that said, all of the faunus in love’s life were not in subservient roles while growing up. some of his most impactful tutors were/are faunus. including one of his primary weapons & combat trainers who i am currently trying to create. her name is leila and she’s one of the lakhdari’s (alt name for the akhdar clan which his tribe belongs to) most formidable warriors. even though she flitted in and out of love’s life because she needed to go and kick ass somewhere, she is like one of his most favorite people ever. not pictured: little love, an only child, precocious and celebrated and sometimes feared with very few friends his own age, telling his badass adult trainer that they’re friends now ok? can i visit? what’s your scroll number? then they actually became friends and leila is always like, well, alright i guess. leila is an arabian oryx whose faunus trait are those horns and she is also literally a golden-eyed warrior (they have their own lore for golden-eyed warriors) (it’s a wip from my end but i gesture vigorously at love’s own gold eyes. when i say he’s fated he’s fuckin fated) … leila’s profile post is forthcoming mostly because i don’t know how the hell to edit gifs in ps for her graphic.

AND NOW THE CONNECTION.

the point of his tribe’s endogamy (marriage within one’s own group) is to preserve their hereditary semblance. it already skips generations instead of being passed down faithfully from parent to offspring. there is an element of blood purity for a blood affinity going on here. in a difficult place like vacuo you can understand why one might want to keep a semblance like that close and alive. the clarkia semblance plus their role as prominent dust merchants contributed to their wealth and influence today. in addition, the clarkias are a human tribe. so that reinforces things. the akhdar clan they belong to have both humans and faunus though, hence folks like leila. this dynamic even goes into his and ksenija’s relationship, who are second cousins i think … there was reluctance from some people in love’s life about letting them meet a lot, although their parents got along fine because love’s parents went the exogamous route. exogamy is when one marries someone outside one’s own group. isa married amina who is way outside the kin group although still of an equal (or higher tbh) socioeconomic status than isa, when the general tradition of the clarkia tribe is to marry within one’s own group. basically they all married for love and so they didn’t really give a fuck about faunus heritage when love like, cried and begged to skip out of lessons in order to see ksenija when he was little. family is so important to them.

the clarkias are a failing house because they’re in the dust industry, and that hasn’t been doing too hot in vacuo for a long while. love is trying to help save his family from obscurity. part of this means him keeping traditions and expectations like the above going. part of his decision in choosing to become a huntsman is because of this desire to keep them from obscurity, when the clarkias really have no reason or tradition of buying into the idea of a huntsman when they’ve been warring and fighting against grimm generations before shade academy ever popped up as the ““““only real source of order.””””” so love fully expects to marry a human too. it doesn’t stop who he associates with, befriends, flirts with, or sleeps with. but he’s gonna marry a human. he is currently engaged to one even if they kinda want to break it off, but even then love is gonna marry a human. if anyone thinks that’s problematic please call him out on it but he never talks about his betrothed or marriage expectations unless he has to, not because he’s ashamed (they’re actually very compatible! they just don’t want to marry each other) (also i have not ‘created’ his betrothed yet because this is going to be all disney aladdin / 1,001 nights mythos which i haven’t had the time to watch/read for the past. year … lol.)

he is a member of vacuoan elite and marriage prospects or who his family has hired / continue to hire seriously does not mean that he personally thinks lesser of faunus, only that he grew up in an environment that has informed his life and expects certain things from him.

#thrushed #✧ﾟ * hc. i see gold on your cheeks and glitter in your lungs –— *#long post /#me: i-- ; sb: you love making headcanons. we know. you LOVE headcanoning you love it SO MUCH we know - you LOOOOVE HEADCANONS

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sirfrogsworth · 6 years

Photo

Sometimes my brain fog makes me feel pretty dumb. I go to the kitchen and forget why. Then I go back to bed and realize I actually meant to pee and in the 20 steps to the bathroom forgot I had to go. So I get up again and somehow end up back in the kitchen. I open the fridge and confusedly stare at my food. And it isn’t until I do the potty dance that I realize, “Oh, I should probably pee.” I then shuffle-step my way to the proper location and curse my brain for failing me yet again.

My brain self esteem can get pretty low after events like that. So when something happens that makes me feel super smart, it’s hard not to brag about it.

Which I’m totally going to do now.

I keep seeing stories all over the place where people are explaining that Groot 1.0 is super dead and Groot 2.0 is a completely different tree-person. Some are saying Groot 2.0 is a real son-of-a-Groot, others are saying it’s more like a clone. I think technically he is a cutting. Which is when you take a piece of a plant and use asexual propagation to create a brand new organism. I’m not sure if clone or son fits exactly.

Whatever Groot 2.0 is, people are freaking out about Groot Prime being very very dead.

They are shocked... SHOCKED, I SAY!

Often leaving analytical internet comments like “noooooooo” and “whaaaaaaat????” and “whyyyyyyy?” and also “James Gunn you have broken my Groot-loving heart you soulless mongrel!”

And I’m like, “People didn’t know this? I thought this was common knowledge clearly spelled out by context clues in the movies.” And then I’m like, “I must be one smart sci-fi botany enthusiast if I knew this and all these dummies did not. Maybe I’m a very stable genius or something.”

I thought it was obvious because Groot made a selfless sacrifice to save his newfound family. It would make no narrative sense to bring that Groot back to life because it would totally negate the emotional impact of his powerful, tragic choice. Why would Rocket be crying if he knew he could just regrow his best friend? Plus, I knew that you could grow new plants from cuttings. You cannot take a cutting and grow the same plant. I remembered this because I had weird memory flashes from a high school biology lesson. The class was especially memorable because my teacher was a mustachio’d misanthropic alcoholic who hated his life and only found solace in the beautiful science of nature.

Then there was Groot 2.0′s behavior. He was clearly acting like a different person. Going through stages as a baby, a precocious toddler, and then an obnoxious smelly adolescent rebelling against his parental figures. It didn’t seem like he had any knowledge from before. There was a reason he seemed quite a bit dumber. Babies are dumb. If you ask a baby what 2+4 is, they just make those little spit bubbles and fart a bunch.

Groot Prime did none of that. He was a kind, mature tree person that drank water from questionable sources. I thought it was pretty apparent this was a different Groot from the moment I saw him dancing in the pot. But since so many people didn’t put all that together, it’s clear I should brag about my intelligence on the internet and say I am the smartest person to ever smart.

I mean, I guess it’s possible that I just lucked into making the proper connections to figure this out. Just because I caught the context clues and retained knowledge of plant cuttings from a biology lesson from years ago, I suppose that doesn’t necessarily mean I have superior intelligence. And it’s possible that there are tons of people as smart or smarter than me that understood different movie plot points that I couldn’t parse. I still have no clue what happened in Donnie Darko.

I’ll also admit I had to read the plot of Inception on Wikipedia.

Three times.

And, in the end, I did go to the kitchen to pee... on several occasions.

But I think I’m still going to let my ego run wild for a bit longer and brag about my super brainy GotG conclusions until I do another super dumb thing.

Maybe I’ll go for broke and pee in the kitchen sink next time. Who knows?

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thingabmajig · 3 years

Text

twenty-one: getting older

Hey.

In case you’ve ended up seeing this letter, I am not dead. I’m probably just off somewhere and have turned off my internet just for the sake of my mental health. Kidding. This is my personal letter to myself: an annual tradition of some sorts I do every year.

It’s quite a whirlwind ride how I end up writing these things in the craziest of circumstances: sometimes I write these things down on my phone’s notes months (or a year) in advance or maybe I write it down really late that I forget to do it. This year, I’m sitting down here on my chair writing this 15 minutes before the clock strikes twelve. (And no, I am certainly not pulling off a Cinderella right now.) Weird anecdotes aside, I actually had the hardest of times coming up of what to write with. It’s probably because of the fatigue or our really messed up government so it is political, haha.

This year has actually been more insane than it was last year. I really don’t know if people have accustomed themselves to this situation but I think I’m certain that I haven’t still—and we’re almost two years in this hellhole we’re living in. Maybe it’s the quarter-life crisis coming in really early or probably just being lethargic of everything but here we are. I just can’t believe that I actually turn twenty-one today and it felt like it was just yesterday that I turned 20 or something.

To be really honest, wasn’t really excited to celebrate today. Kind of felt that with all the backlogs I’m having and probably ignoring all of it in the course of things, I’d rather just lie down the entire day, get some sleep, level up my Prinplup to an Empoleon, and probably listen to Red (Taylor’s Version) as a celebration. Well, I guess that’s how I imagined it would be. Let’s see tomorrow if it ever goes that way.

But yeah, this year’s letter was borne out of “Ribs”, “Getting Older”, and some Mitski songs. I know it’s weird and bear with me if you can. I guess sometimes growing up means that you look at the world differently than ever before. It probably includes accepting that there’s a world out there with people struggling their everyday to just get through, people ailing in poverty, people clamoring for power when they shouldn’t in the first place, or people just stuck wondering where their lives will be. I guess I feel myself as the last one of the bunch.

Nonetheless of how horrid and worse the last year probably was, I kind of just want to leave an inner monologue in case my future me reads this:

Let me quote Lorde on this one with her 25th birthday message that says, “THE PRECOCIOUSNESS IS IN THE PAST BUT SOMETHING BETTER’S COMING UP / LIKE A FLOWER / COMING UP.” I know you’re scared and riddled with anxiety not only because of the sem but with the future that lies ahead of you but I wanted to know that I’m actually proud of ourself for still standing and making it this far. Life remains to be an oxymoron but there’s still a lot to celebrate: we move to Tito Roy’s house and had a space of our own (though a robber came in and took some stuff a month after we moved in), Lorde and Taylor released new albums and re-recordings (SP is the bomb and let the critics say it’s otherwise. Taylor too has been raging on even better than she had did before.), we also turned into a University Scholar for the first (and probably the last) time so that’s a dream come true, and you also became CAP’s AVP for Communications too (quite the hard time with your boss at first but you’ll get through). Whatever happened in the past year, good or bad, take it with you and let it be a part of you. Feel whatever you’re supposed to feel as long as you don’t get to hurt anybody n the process. You’ve made it this far because you believed in yourself and you’ll continue to be. This year’s theme actually was supposed to be called “looking forward, moving forward” but the truth is life’s become a spiral and every day just feels the same. I’d rather be slapped by the truth for now that we’re getting older than putting our rose-colored glasses on and pretend that the world’s not ending outside. My birthday wishes for you this year is that you vote the right candidate for the 2022 elections. Take care of yourself and your mental health never at the expense of whatever that is. I hope that you don’t give in to what other people say about you and the pressures that come with them because you have your own timeline and you are your own life’s captain. Enjoy every single moment of your life with your friends and family—then appreciate them for how they love you and value you beyond society’s standards of measurement. Hope you also get a new phone and finally get rid of that old iPhone 4 that you struggle to work with for 5 years now. Right now I just wanted to ramble on and on like you always will that you’ll always be okay. You got the Lord behind you and in everything you do. It’s going to get more weirder and zanier as you go so I hope you never lose yourself in the process. I’m always believing in you even if you don’t do and self-sabotage yourself. Nonetheless, enjoy the life of being twenty-one and have everyone important to you by your side. Excited for what lies ahead, and it’s certainly a brand new blank slate for us. Hope you’re doing well in the future ‘cause I’m sure you are. Give yourself a break, and have a little faith.

In case you go back and recover your old Spotify playlists, here’s your annual mixtape on getting older. Hope you like it. Stay awesome.

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/7Gqt3ujrcCAljWX2E626JJ?si=34fed7440280482c

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ayearofpike · 6 years

Text

The Last Vampire 4: Phantom

Pocket Books, 1996 179 pages, 20 chapters + epilogue ISBN 0-671-55030-6 LOC: CPB Box no. 357 vol. 4 OCLC: 34651186 Released May 28, 1996 (per B&N)

Sita wakes up from her miraculous transformation ready to start a new life as a human. Even more miraculous: Ray, the resurrection of her long-passed husband, has somehow survived his terrible demise and is human again as well. She’s excited to be normal with him, renting a house, making friends, and having a baby. Only the baby progresses at a supernormal rate, and has the same powers and appetites Sita had as a vampire. They’ll soon find out she’s much more than that, though.

This was a storyline that I’d totally forgotten about until I read the back-of-the-book copy. Sita has a baby! The baby is a monster! The book ends on a realistic cliffhanger! Only reading all of these in one shot do I realize that here’s your goddamn Cold One II: Seedling right here. I mean, look at it: the lady is impregnated by an undead monster and gives birth to a precocious and beautiful dark-haired child named after the Hindu goddess of death, and what happens next? Pike claims he’s not going to tell us, but Last Vampire 4 and 5 got you, G.

Also, I neglected to mention this in the last entry, but you probably noticed: Not only have they done away with the horrible die-cut letters on the covers, but now they’re not even faking it anymore. I imagine that the cover artist (and maybe Pike too) got annoyed that they were hiding most of the artwork in an inside flap that people weren’t even inclined to flip to now that it didn’t peek through the letters. (The Lost Mind and The Visitor both had actual full cover art, hidden on another piece of cover stock just inside the front cover, with what would have previously peeked through printed on the letters. Maybe I should go back and shoot those, plus the ones inside the die-cut covers, for this blog. Let me try to catch up with the reading first, though.)

The story itself starts right where the last one left off, as has become par for the course in TLV so far. Yeah, dig it: since Sita first murdered a detective in Oregon, maybe six weeks have passed up to the beginning of this story. She’s awakened from her transformation nap by pounding on the door, along with a familiar sounding voice that is not Seymour (the only one living who is supposed to know who and where she is). She doesn’t answer, and the knocker goes away, but a little while later Seymour does show up. He’s bummed that Sita has given up her immortality, but excited at what it means that she’s a human about his age. Like, maybe she won’t make him a vampire, but maybe now they’ll get down. It’s not that far-fetched a wish, I guess, considering she is more truthful and thorough in talking to him than she is anyone else (and probably more than anyone else Seymour knows), but still. Dude.

They have to get out of Dodge, though, because Sita doesn’t know who’s still alive and trying to reach her. They drive to LA and set up in a hotel, and after Seymour falls asleep Sita goes for one of her customary nighttime walks. As per usual, she gets accosted by some scum of the earth who plan to rape and kill her, and as per usual she lets them catch her. Only — oh yeah! She doesn’t have her vampire powers and abilities anymore. What she does have is a pistol, and she uses it to cap both would-be attackers in the head. How is this better than crushing skulls and drinking blood? Sita doesn’t think it is. In fact, she has a breakdown walking back to the hotel and has to take a break in a coffee shop to try to get her wits.

And all of a sudden Ray walks in. How is this possible? Last time we saw Ray, he was lighting a stream of gasoline on fire — a stream that was pouring directly on him. He tells Sita that in the time between the explosion and when she murdered New Vampire, the latter had gathered up the scattered pieces of Ray and reassembled them, trying to bring him back to life by feeding him blood. Sounds fake, seeing as New Vampire would have only had two days to do this, yet here is Ray. He also tells Sita that it was him knocking on the door in Vegas, and after she left he went in and found the crystal setup and laid in it himself, so now he’s human again too. She tells him what just happened, and obviously he wants to get her out and clear of the area. But what about Seymour? Sita’s already told him to go home, and Ray says if she just bails maybe he’ll get the point.

So she gathers up her crap without waking him and goes with Ray all the way to ... Whitter. Yeah, almost 30 miles from where she killed two guys, that should be far enough, right? They build their normal life together, and it’s two months later that Sita discovers she’s pregnant. She meets another heavily pregnant woman while shopping for baby books, a single mom-to-be who works in a nearby Catholic church for whom Sita finds an instant affinity. But they can’t hang out too much right away, because Sita’s pregnancy goes way faster than it should. In fact, even though she wasn’t showing at all when they met in the bookstore, she has a full-term baby five days later, a baby with an unusual calmness and coldness. Sita names her Kalika without even thinking about it: “she who destroys.”

The baby grows fast, too. Two days later, she’s a year mature and biting open Sita’s nipples to drink blood instead of milk. Looks like two ex-vampires couldn’t help but give birth to a vampire after all. It’s not too long before Sita can’t handle it, and they’re not sure what to do. Ray suggests that Sita go lure in a source of food with her feminine wiles. Which is weird to her, because a) he was always the squeamish one about drinking blood and b) he flat-out refuses to even try to get someone himself. So Sita ends up at a nearby park, where she cons one of the basketball players into following her home and inside on the pretense that her violent ex sometimes breaks in. Once she’s got him inside, it’s a small matter to knock him out and tie him up, even though that fucker Ray still doesn’t show up to help.

She has to go out to get supplies to drain blood for Kalika, as it’s not so easy as ripping open a vein and healing it with a drop of her own blood anymore. While she’s out, she calls Seymour, who is pissed about being ditched but still listens as she tells him what’s been happening. He’s not sold on the ethical justification going on — is her child’s life, a potentially destructive new force, worth Sita messing with her new human karma to hunt food? Only problem: a daughter is the one thing in the world that Sita has wanted since she was taken from hers five thousand years ago, and she can’t just let her die. So they’re left at an impasse, and Sita goes home to drain a cup of B-Baller’s blood for Kalika, who chugs it and immediately wants more.

She has to leave the house after feeding the baby, but where to go? She first prays to Krishna at the spot where she sunk the original vampire in the ocean, then ends up at the Catholic church to pray some more. Her buddy shows up and accepts that Sita can’t talk about her problem right now, but promises to be an ear when she’s ready. Then she leaves, and Sita curls up in a pew, where she has the purple-spaceship dream again. This time Krishna tells her a parable of only doing what we’re asked by God, and not feeling like we have to sacrifice everything of ourselves to feel like we’re properly giving to our faith.

Three more days pass, and Kalika is now basically five. She wants to go find another source of food, as B-Baller is weaker by the day and not able to fully sate her hunger. She tells Sita to go pick up a dude at a nightclub and she’ll tag along in the backseat and do what needs to be done. At the club, she meets a lawyer who invites her back to his place, only when she gets there she smells the decay of death. Obviously this dude has had other victims. They get into a scrap, but Sita left her gun in the car and has to rely on her martial arts, which don’t help when Not-Laywer pulls his own gun and gains the upper hand. Lucky for Sita, Kalika walks in right at this moment, and totally ruins Not-Lawyer’s shit.

So now Kalika can hunt her own food, and five more days pass, by which time she’s the same apparent age as Sita (as in, they both look about twenty, not five thousand). So Sita wants to let B-Baller go, but she’s afraid he’s going to run straight to the cops. Neither Kalika nor Ray wants to leave where they are, as they are weirdly invested in New Friend’s coming baby. Ray says she should just kill B-Baller, which is more proof that whatever has made him alive now has drastically changed who he is. Conveniently, a pair of cops show up right at this moment looking for B-Baller, on a tip that he was seen here last. As Sita is trying to figure out how to non-suspiciously turn them away, Kalika says she saw him nearby and offers to show the cops where. And that’s two more bodies that will never be found.

The phone rings just then, and it’s New Friend, in serious labor. Sita takes her to a fancy hospital rather than the nearby one, I guess trying to hide the baby as much as possible, and eight hours later a boy is born — a boy with lots of hair and a peaceful demeanor and no name, as New Friend has never thought of one and doesn’t seem to think this is weird. And then! Sita. Calls. Home. If she’s trying to hide, she sure is doing a shitty job of it. Kalika answers and demands to know where the baby is. Sita says no, so Kalika gives the phone to B-Baller and lets Sita listen as she gruesomely murders him. Like this is going to make Sita more inclined to introduce Kalika to a BABY. But then! Kalika puts Seymour on the phone. What the fuck is Seymour doing here? Apparently Kalika called him and said he needed to come right away. This is an important person in Sita’s world, so she makes a deal: she’ll bring the baby to the end of Santa Monica Pier in 24 hours.

Obviously Sita has no intention of doing this. She does get the baby out of the nursery, and while the nurse’s back is turned she swipes his blood sample. Then she takes him to New Friend and asks for the circumstances of her friend’s pregnancy, because all signs are pointing to this not being a normal baby. It seems that New Friend was out praying in the desert one night, when a bright blue light shot out of the sky and overwhelmed all her senses until she blacked out and woke up in the morning, still in the desert, untouched but feeing larger. A god? Maybe, but it’s becoming more crucial that New Friend become scarce. Sita tells her to take the baby and a stack of money and run. Sita doesn’t want to know where they’re going, but she gives New Friend a phone number to call in a month. Meanwhile, she has to figure out how to face Kalika.

What if she was a vampire again? That’s stupid, there’s no more vampires. But there is an ice-cream truck around the block from the warehouse she burned down a couple months ago, one where Original Vampire was held captive and tortured. Miraculously, it’s still there, and a homeless dude has kept it running and freezing, seemingly knowing she was coming back for it. There’s a nice big glob of frozen blood just inside the door, and she sticks it in a thermos and drives back to Vegas, planning to use the old alchemist’s setup to reverse her transformation and be able to fight again.

Guess who followed her, though? It’s Ray! Although he didn’t so much “follow her” as he has “been a product of her human imagination and a wish-fulfillment fantasy.” Yep — Krishna’s teachings and concerns about being able to give up desires as illusion have manifested in this ghost that Sita has been so convinced is her love. But what is Kalika then? Apparently she did bang the alchemist that night in her hotel room (Pike does hint at this after all in TLV3 — I thought he specifically excluded it), and his lingering humanity mixed with what he got of her vampirism was enough to create the fetus. But now Sita knows that Ray isn’t what she wants, and she has to banish her illusion. She has to kill him. So he hands her a knife, and she stabs him through the heart, and there’s gore and anguish and screaming and then he’s gone, along with any blood, any body, any trace of him having been there.

There’s an unnecessary chapter where Sita tells B-Baller’s parents about his fate, but then we learn more about her transformation. Specifically: it worked, better than she could have expected. Now that she’s operating from purely the blood aura of Original Vampire, she’s even stronger and more aware than before. But beyond that — maybe because she impulsively dripped in a couple drops of the baby’s blood — she feels like fortune will turn things her way. Let’s find out.

She finds Seymour and Kalika at the pier and talk about the nature and necessity of killing. To Kalika, it doesn’t matter, because the soul will be reborn until it’s ready to reach nirvana. Sita doesn’t see it that way: if there’s no reason to kill, it’s cruel, never mind the ultimate end for the soul in question. The ideals are at odds, so Sita knows she has to act. She darts forward to kick her daughter into submission, but Kalika grabs Sita’s foot and breaks her ankle like nothing. Then she chucks Seymour off the pier, where he at least lands in deep water and starts swimming toward the shore. Kalika still wants to know where the baby is, and Sita obviously can’t tell her, but Kalika forces some kind of hypnosis onto her mother and gets her to give up the phone number and the plan.

As she leaves, Sita demands to know what’s so special about this baby. Kalika responds by ripping up a board from the pier and throwing it into the water — straight through Seymour’s back. Sita dives in, determined to save him, but by the time they get to shore it’s too late. He’s lost too much blood to even be able to be turned into a vampire. (At least, I guess, without the tools made handy by the creepy sociopath in TLV2 that allowed her to turn FBI Dude, who was similarly close to death.)

So she builds him a funeral pyre, but something stays her hand with the match. Instead, she gets out what’s left of the baby blood and pours half of it onto the wound and half of it down Seymour’s throat. Five minutes later, he’s alive and awake and alert and ready to move on. Only not right now, because this is the end of the book.

For the first time in this series, I actually don’t feel like Pike is forcing a cliffhanger ending. It seems like he genuinely had too much story and character-building to put into just one book, and did some pre-planning in spreading this story over two. (I don’t remember if it keeps on into the sixth, but I feel like it didn’t. Although these three Sita books popped out within five months of each other, so the plan was there even if the connection fades.) The tone and sensation here is more in keeping with what I came to expect from the first two, rather than the Matrix/Blade progenitor that was the third story.

And I’m not annoyed by “to be continued” this time! I’m even kind of looking forward to reading the next one. Let’s see if he can keep me invested through five more books about Sita. (Spoiler alert: I doubt it.)

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whatdorothyhaleknew · 4 years

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So, a few weeks before the lockdown, I was at a gathering for a friend's birthday. It was a relaxed affair, the usual thing of people standing around, drinking, talking. While talking to two guys I knew amicably, though I can't remember precisely how, the topic got onto the British Empire. For clarity, the two guys I was talking to are of Indian descent, and I am of Irish descent, although we are all actually born, raised and still living in Britain.

The conversation was gentle and not too serious, and fairly well-balanced - one of the guys was actually defending it, as his relatives had been soldiers in the British Army, and served during the World Wars. However, we were still pretty critical of it, and to cap off a general feeling from our discussion, and wishing to move on from the topic, I said something purposefully blunt and vulgar, along the lines of: "all in all, the British really have fucked us all over."

The guy who did not have relatives in the army paused, looked at me, and with a slight smirk murmured: "yes, but I think we have it....worse."

My response was to straightaway tell him "let's not do that, this isn't some kind of pissing contest," and he backed off whatever string of thought he was having then and there. My reaction was tamped down enough to maintain the easy-going atmosphere. I did not express the depth of my disgust with his comment, but having seen a similar "erm, I think we have it worse" comment made under a news article, I want to get out here what I would have liked to say to him had I not been worried about ruining the atmosphere of a generally nice party.

Do you know what my family went through, Ireland, during the Troubles? Because I don't. My mother refused to talk about it. She would switch the radio or the television off when it came up on a news bulletin. She would refuse to answer questions about it. She maintained a very particular distance from us, her English children, and from me in particular, her most curious and persistently enquiring child. That distance was not solely cos of Ireland, and partly because of the bizarre and unhealthy relationship she had with our dad, the seedy details of which she kept submerged right up until her death. But that's another topic entirely. No, a lot of what was dragging that woman down, she carried with her when she crossed the Irish Sea. And what it was that haunted her, I have no precise idea.

I know it was bad. Her reactions, sometimes when I prodded too much, as a clueless, empathyless child, told me as much. She cried once, begging me to stop asking about her life before she came to Britain. I got some details out of her, a few droplets of blood out of that stone. The Black and Tans had killed a whole family in a house near where she went to school, she once told me. I was so clueless as to the history of Ireland, I didn't know who the Black and Tans were, that they were the British military police in Ireland who had disbanded years before her birth. She let slip once that her father had to put in severe effort to stop her brothers from joining the IRA, my living uncles who still regarded the British with a burning, black hatred, and communicated a constant rumbling support for Sinn Fein, even after some of them emigrated to the Midlands. I can infer, from a comment made by someone at one of my uncle's funeral, that we did in fact have relatives who were active members, but I was never allowed to even learn their names. Mum herself held a fierce defensiveness of the IRA. One time, after the Omagh bombing in 1998, all the newspapers and television pundits were going on about the heartlessness, the savagery of the attack. I, a precocious-enough tween to read the paper headlines, and dense enough to miss the everpresent atmosphere in our home, parrotted some of the most condemnatory, flat analyses, ripping into the IRA as a violent, hateful group. My mother grabbed my arm, squeezed it until it hurt, her mouth thin, her eyes searing. I remember her trembling. She didn't shout, but her voice sounded strained. "Don't you dare say those things about the IRA. They were the only thing protecting Ireland for the longest time." Later on, when she realised how much she had frightened me, she tried to comfort me. It didn't work. I had no idea what had made her so angry.

A few years after, as a voracious reader of the Horrible Histories books, I read the one on Ireland. I started to learn, on the page, the history of Ireland, how the British had invaded, how many rebellions there were, and how many people were killing the other people. In the early days of Wikipedia, as well as obsessively learning about my favourite heavy metal bands, I poured through the pages on Irish history. I learnt about Michael Collins, the Falls Curfew, Bloody Sunday. It's a fucking mess. I still struggle to keep up with it. And I still don't know, precisely, what haunted my mother. I guess, just all of it? Living in a country during its most violent, frightening days? Being from that community where everyone knows someone who had joined the IRA, or who had been shot, or shot someone else? I could ask my surviving Irish relatives, my aunts and uncles, my cousins, but honestly, how can I bring up something that disturbing, painful, and bloody. I have inherited my mother's attitude in part. I feel a brief flurry of fear and panic when the topic comes up.

Your attitude is disgusting. It is repulsive, mean, shallow and self-serving. It is contingent with an attitude that uses traumatic past as little more than political leverage, and fails to appreciate the real, lived damage.

I'm not going to compare my family's trauma with anyone's, because to reduce it to some kind of metric, to turn it into a pissing contest at some party, with some eejit who has no idea what that pain is like, is not treating that trauma, or anyone else's, with what it needs: respect. I'm willling to accept, in the woke lingo of contemporary social justice movements, that my skin colour carries a certain "privilege," that I don't have to worry about certain things that non-White people have to deal with. I understand the well-meaning desire to square some circles with that approach. But honestly, carrying that blanket, unthinking assumption, and applying with a fucking mallet to every situation, every individual, is disastrous, and can only be done by someone who has no idea of that kind of pain.

This is not a fucking game. Do not chart me on your scale of "who has it worst." And grow fucking up.

#ireland #trauma #family #family trauma #stupidcomment

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