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fanficimagery · 3 years

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When Enough is Enough pt. II

Imagine being let down one too many times by your best friend, only to end up making some new ones in the process.

Words: 8.5K Author’s Note: Okay so some of you asked to only be added to part 2 of this while others asked to be added everything Bucky.. and a few others weren’t exactly clear. So if you want to be tagged in any future Bucky related imagines please let me know so I can get your blog name written down on my list.

Tags: @aya-fay @70s-chic @sipsteacasually @kaitlyn2907 @scarlettwitch99 @thingsforimagination @mimilh @felicityofbakerstreet @eternalharry @eliwinchester99 @intothesoul @wintershadowkat @b1sexualtonystark @meredeph @miszswan

The Sunday before you are to return to work, you sleep in until nine in the morning. Your thoughts are immediately on Bucky's impending arrival and you couldn't help the butterflies that took flight in your stomach. He's a friend, just as all the others are, but you couldn't help but notice just how attractive this new friend of yours is. But not only does his attractiveness draw you in, his easy-going teasing and protectiveness does too. However, Bucky Barnes is still a man trying to find his footing in this world after all that's been done to him and finally getting his name cleared, and if he finds comfort with you then you're going to try your best and be the friend he needs.

So since you're not dressing to impress, you dress in your favorite lazy outfit after your shower- leggings, sports bra, a faded sleeveless band tee with the arm holes having been cut down to around your ribs, and a pair of socks. Damp hair gets gathered up into a messy bun and you walk around your apartment to pick up some things you had unknowingly left out.

You've skipped breakfast, so when there's a knock on your door and you open up to find Bucky standing there, you groan in relief. He raises both hands with paper bags hanging from each. "I come bearing sushi. Wanda let it slip how much you love it."

"Yesss." You step back, quickly taking in his own comfort outfit of sweatpants and a plain black t-shirt under an opened jacket. "Did you bring plenty of wasabi? And you can just kick off your shoes anywhere."

"Of course." He hands you the bags so he can kick off his shoes and strip out of his jacket before hanging it up. You don't know why, but seeing him in a short sleeve shirt makes you happy, knowing full well he was weird about his metal arm being out in the open. "And plenty of dipping sauce as well. Wanda was more than happy to give me advice."

"Wanda, huh?" You chuckle, leading the way to your kitchen. "You actually told her where'd you be?"

"Apparently I looked very pensive this morning. She asked and I figured she was a better confidant than Steve or Sam who would have made a big deal about us hanging out."

"True." Setting the bags down, you let him empty them while you head to the fridge. "Beer?"

"Yeah."

Grabbing him a beer and yourself a can of Cola, you return to the table and your eyes widen at the sight of all the sushi. "Damn, Barnes. That's a lot of sushi."

"Don't act like you won't eat half of it."

You laugh as you take a seat, handing him his beer and pulling a few trays to your side of the table. You take a container of wasabi and dipping sauce for yourself, and grab a pair of chopsticks to start digging in.

You moan in delight at your first taste, happily shimmying in your seat before taking another. Eventually, you ask, "So what are you going to do when I'm back at work and I can't keep you entertained by getting shitfaced?"

Bucky grins around his mouthful of food before chasing it down with a swig of his beer. "We actually got a mission comin' up so I'll be leavin' around mid-week."

"Well that sucks." You sigh. "Now who am I going to send random pictures to when I have downtime at work?"

He grins. "You can still send them to me. I just won't get back to you until after the mission's complete."

"Yeah, yeah."

The two of you continue to eat- Bucky dodging Steve's texts about where he is and when he's coming back, and you sending the middle finger emoji over and over to Wanda who keeps wondering how your date is going. Then once most of the sushi is gone and Bucky puts what little is left into the fridge, the two of you head to the living room. You immediately flop onto the couch as Bucky takes the plush recliner, only for you to hear him moving the chair into its reclined position seconds later.

"Oh. I definitely need to get one of these."

You laugh as he snuggles down and you pick up the remote to bring up your streaming services. "Anything you've been meaning to watch?"

"Not really. Just show me your favorites."

You start off with some humor by playing the Goonies. It's a movie that no matter how many times you've seen it, it always seems to make you laugh. And it seems Bucky is not immune either when they make Chunk to the truffle shuffle. Titanic plays afterwards, but only after making sure Bucky found it somewhat interesting after reading the movie summary to him. He is interested from beginning to end and doesn't even laugh at you when you shed a few tears for the old married couple who opt to stay in their bed as the room floods.

When a break is needed, you head off towards the bathroom as Bucky finishes off the leftover sushi. Both of you check your phones and read each other the missed text messages from Steve and his worrying behavior.

"Wanna tell Steve to fuck off via video message?" Bucky takes a moment to think on it before he grins and nods. "Excellent. Sit in the recliner. I'm gonna crawl up all in your business. That okay?"

"Yeah."

As Bucky gets comfortable in the recliner, you sit on the armrest before sliding down sideways onto his lap. You bring up the camera app on your phone and switch it to video, sliding your right arm behind Bucky's neck while holding your left arm out to capture the two of you on the screen. "Ready?"

"Sure, doll."

You chuckle quietly and then smirk mischievously as Bucky relaxes his expression into his best resting bitch face. After you hit record, you say, "Hey Rogers, stop being a little bitch and sending us text after text. I'm tryin' to fuck your best friend here." Bucky's expression cracks as he barks out a laugh and you turn to face him while grinning. You share a laugh with him before facing the camera once more. "Only joking, but seriously stop buggin' us. I promise to send him back in one piece."

As you prepare to send the text to Steve, Bucky says, "You're terrible."

"Whatever. Admit it, you adore me."

"Occasionally."

You huff another laugh as the video message finally sends. You and Bucky both watch as the delivered status turns to read, and then those three little dots appear as Steve starts typing his reply.

"Tell Bucky to wrap it before he taps it." You burst out laughing at Steve's text, Bucky's rumbling laughter only fueling yours even more. "God I hate your best friend sometimes." And before you climb off Bucky's lap, because honestly you were getting a little too comfortable, you send Steve a few middle finger emojis before deciding on a third movie to watch.

The third movie you choose is one that never fails to make you laugh- Bridesmaids. You had a moment of hesitancy because of the sex scenes, but you figured they were ridiculous enough that it wouldn't be awkward. Thankfully you're correct and you get the added bonus of hearing Bucky's laughter again during Megan's scenes, especially when they get food poisoning and are all fighting for the bathroom.

You and Bucky take yet another break after the film, just stretching and finding something to drink.

"So what's the verdict, Barnes? Are you enjoying the films?"

He grins. "Your taste is all over the place, huh? That last one we watched was raunchy."

"But hilarious! You need to watch the Hangover trilogy, but you definitely need to watch that with Steve and then watch him squirm at the pictures that roll with the credits."

"I'll keep that in mind."

Jurassic Park holds his attention and he can't help but comment how stupid one has to be to replicate dinosaur DNA and then open up a park with live dinosaurs. You laugh, but don't bother commenting. You'll tell him later there are more movies involved, with yet another idiotic man who felt he could get the park up and running once more.

It's getting dark, but it's still a little too early for dinner. One more movie and then you'll order or go out and pick something up.

"So this last one for the day is a movie that's directed more towards the female viewers, but you did ask for my favorite films and Practical Magic is my absolute favorite."

"Well put it on, doll."

As you press play on Practical Magic, you quickly grab a throw blanket and snuggle in. Instead of watching Bucky, you watch the film and mumble certain quotes to yourself. The magic scenes always bring a soft smile to your face just as Gary's confession to Sally of I wished for you too breaks your heart, and Sally and Gillian's heartfelt sister moment makes you cry.

Afterwards, Bucky hums in thought. "So that's your favorite?"

"Absolutely." You tell him. He's watching you curiously and you grin. "If I show you something, you promise not to laugh?"

"I'll try."

"Whatever. That's good enough for me." Standing up, you walk towards him and kneel, and tell him to pull your shirt sideways by the armhole next to your left arm. There on the back of your left shoulder and forever etched into your skin is a salt shaker, a rosemary plant, a lavender plant, and a heart. You then rattle off one of your favorite quotes to him. "Always throw spilt salt over your left shoulder. Keep rosemary by your garden gate. Plant lavender for luck and fall in love whenever you can."

Bucky chuckles as you get up, retaking your spot on the sofa. "You really are a fan of the movie."

You nod. "As a little girl, I was fascinated by magic. I thought I'd grow out of it, but I only grew more fond of it. And then I found Practical Magic and it had a bit of everything I adored."

"So what's the one scene that just gets you every time?"

"Ugh. You're making me choose?!" You feign being distraught and he grins. As you think about it, you keep coming back to two scenes in particular. "So there's two," you tell him, "and I'm not choosing between them." Bucky nods, awaiting your answer. "Gillian's possession. When Sally calls together the other mothers who were mean to her in order to make a temporary coven to save her sister, and Gillian begs Sally to just let her ghost ex have her."

Bucky hums. "That was a bit sad, doll. I saw you shedding a few tears over that."

"Mhm. And the other scene is when Sally comes clean to Gary and admits that she did a spell as a child to call forth her perfect love thinking it wouldn't exist, only it did. When Gary tells Sally that he wished for her too, it just breaks my fuckin' heart."

"Let me guess, you were one of the girls who cast her own spell after seeing that scene." You stay quiet for a moment and the second you feel your face heat, Bucky laughs. "What did you wish for?"

You groan quietly. "If I tell you, you can't laugh!" He only smiles in response and you know he won't drop it until you tell him. "Fine. So even though I knew it would never work, I gathered the weirdest objects and wished for a significant other with dark hair and colored eyes. He had to be protective and funny and love me for me. Simple."

For some reason you can't seem to meet Bucky's gaze then and you feel awkward the longer the silence stretches on.

"So dinner?" He asks.

"Oh god, yes please. Pizza and wings?"

"Sounds good."

You have the nearby pizza place on speed dial, so after finding out Bucky's preferences you make the call and place the order. It's going to be about a thirty minute wait, so you fill the time sending Steve pic after pic of Bucky who's none the wiser as he scrolls through his own phone and adding the most asinine comments to each picture. Steve thinks it's absolutely hilarious.

Then when the pizza and wings arrive, you beat Bucky to the door and thrust several bills at the delivery boy. He's more than happy with his tip and you hurriedly wave him off before shutting the door. You laugh at Bucky's disgruntled expression and then place everything on the table while gathering a beer for both you and him.

"Don't let me have more than two," you tell him while handing him his own bottle of beer.

Bucky agrees and the two of you dig into your own personal pizzas and boxes of wings once you're situated around the table. As you're eating, Bucky asks about what other movies you hold near and dear. You fill him in on a few others and he hesitantly puts it out there that he'd be up for another movie marathon when you both have a day off. You agree that that's doable.

Halfway through dinner, as you and Bucky are chuckling over the thought of making Steve sit through Bridesmaids, there's a sound of glass breaking from your living room and a muffled curse. The two of you immediately cease making any type of noise and Bucky is up with a gun in hand.

"Where the hell did that come from?! You hiss.

The telltale sound of a window then sliding shut can be heard.

"Shut up and get behind me."

The authority in his voice makes you freeze and your heart flutter at the same time, and you have to mentally scold yourself before you quickly do as he says. You follow Bucky towards the living, ready to duck at the ready, only to sigh and roll your eyes when you see who it is.

Bucky stands tall and lowers his gun. "Parker." You can practically hear the annoyance in his voice.

"Mr. Barnes?" Peeking around his shoulder, you raise your eyebrow at your best friend who's been too busy for you and is now frowning at Bucky. When he catches sight of you, he asks, "What's going on?"

"Uh, well we were having dinner until we thought someone was breaking in."

"Alone?!"

Your brow furrows at Peter's incredulousness, only for him to realize you're not impressed with his tone. You raise an eyebrow at him and cross your arms over your chest. "Did you need something?"

"Oh, um, yeah." He shifts from foot to foot, gesturing to his face where there's a scrape on his cheekbone. "My ribs took a beating too. Can you patch me up?"

"Sure." You sigh. "Why not."

Before you can leave to go to the bathroom to get the supplies you need, Bucky says, "I'll just get out of your way then."

You stop and face him. "What? But we haven't even finished our food. It won't take me long."

"It's fine, doll." He grins when he realizes you're trying to get him to stay. "You gotta hit the hay early anyway. We'll talk soon."

You hold his gaze for a moment longer, sighing when he won't budge. "Well at least take your food with you. No use in it going to waste."

Bucky nods and heads back to the kitchen, collecting his food. You watch him and then follow him to the door, holding his food while he bends over to lace up his boots. Once he retakes his food and you open the door, he thanks you for the time away from the tower and disappears down the hall.

Shutting the door and then heading back into the living room, you tell Peter to get back into his regular clothes so you can get to his ribs while you go gather your medical supplies.

Meeting Peter back in the living room and setting everything down on the coffee table, he says, "So you and Bucky-"

"Don't." You pick up the peroxide bottle and soak a cotton ball in it. "Bucky and I are friends."

Peter manages to keep his mouth shut as you clean the scrape on his cheek and place a small bandage on it. Then when you've checked his ribs and tell him he just needs to ice them, he mumbles, "Friends who apparently lick each other." You snort and think nothing of his sullen tone, but when you look at his face you see he's actually being quite serious. There's no chuckle or boyish grin and for a moment you're absolutely floored at his attitude. "I don't think I'm comfortable with Bucky being alone with you in your apartment."

"Are you- are you kidding me?" You huff and take a step back from him. When Peter just continues to frown, you shake your head at him. "First of all, I'm an adult woman who can make her own decisions."

"I know, but-"

"I'm not finished!" You snap. Peter's eyes widen, but he smartly ceases talking. "I am allowed to have friends whether you like them or not. We have a pact, Petey, and since I'm still abiding by it I would hope that you would too."

"Yeah, but that's for significant others!"

"Significant others or friends, it doesn't matter. And you should be grateful I've kept my mouth shut when it comes to you and Leslie because let me tell you, I've been biting my tongue a lot these past few weeks. Bucky and the others have stepped up since you've abandoned me, so you have absolutely no room to tell me that you're uncomfortable with him or any of them being around me."

"Leslie isn't that bad and I have not abandoned you." You snort, but don't bother opening that can of worms even further. He finally gets annoyed with your quietness. "I'm here, aren't I?"

"You're here because you needed a bandage. Tell me, Peter, where are you going after here? Where are you going after making five minutes of small talk and calling it a night?" He opens his mouth and then snaps it shut, shrugs, and you shake your head at him once more in disappointment. "Exactly. Just go, Peter. I'm so over this conversation right now and I have work in the morning."

"Wait, but we promised we'd never leave a conversation where we were still annoyed with each other!"

"And we also promised we'd never judge who the other decided to spend time with, but here we are." He frowns at you. "Go to your girlfriend, Peter. We'll talk again in another few days or weeks or whenever. I don't care right now."

Peter stands there, gaping, before he pulls himself together and makes his way back towards the window he had crawled through. He glances at you one last time, but you merely keep staring until his mask encompasses his head once more and he lifts the window before taking his leave.

As the window shuts behind him, you sag in on yourself and your breathing stutters in your chest as your eyes fill with tears. You've never been this angry at Peter and the fact that he thinks it's okay to ignore you until he needs something and then has an opinion about who you hang out with was just too much for you to let slide.

You quickly gather everything from your coffee table and return it to its rightful place in your bathroom, and throw away the trash. Your appetite is long gone, so you put up what's left of your food and then head to your room to gather some clothes so you can shower and get into bed.

By the time you've crawled into bed, you're still a bit annoyed. So grabbing your phone, you pull up your text messages and click on Bucky's thread.

To Bucky: Well that was a shit show. I don't think I've ever made Petey leave my apartment while we were still angry with each other.

From Bucky: I'm sorry, doll. Anything I can do?

To Bucky: If he gives you attitude, get a non-serum individual to punch him. You, Steve, and probably Nat will send him flying into the wall.

From Bucky: If I remember..

To Bucky: Well I mean if you forget, I won't complain. I'll probably laugh when he comes crying to me.

From Bucky: You're a terrible human being.

To Bucky: Whatever. You adore me just the way I am. And now I should get some shut eye. I'll talk to you soon. Night, Sarge.

From Bucky: Night, sweetheart.

For the next couple of weeks, you keep yourself busy with work. Bucky and a few others do go on a mission as he said they would, so you keep your texts to a minimum of three each day- a good morning, a random story from that day, and a good night. They're gone for four days and in those four days you've not heard from Peter. The only reason you know he's not completely done with you is the fact he likes your posts that you put up on social media.

But since you're not currently speaking to your best friend and are too exhausted to hang out with anyone else, you're in a bit of a funk and completely caught off guard one evening when the patient a police officer brings in smacks you right across the face. You had been trying to insert an IV into his arm when he completely lost his shit, and then you were hit so hard that you were strewn across the gurney behind you. And in your vulnerable position, a fistful of your hair had been grabbed and yanked right before the police officer had intervened and pulled the patient off of you.

You had been given a bit of time to ice your cheek before you had to get back to work, but your face and scalp were hurting you the entire time.

On your way home, however, you're surprised to receive a call from Pepper. You're heading towards your apartment complex when she invites you to dinner there at the tower since Darcy is finally back in town, and you hate to do it, but you're not exactly up to be around such a rowdy bunch. So you apologize to Pepper and ask her to apologize to Darcy for you, and take a rain check. Immediately she knows something is wrong, but you only tell her you had a rough night at work and all you want is a hot shower and to crawl into bed. She hesitates but wishes you well, and the call ends moments later.

When you get home, you waste no time in locking the door behind you and heading straight for your bathroom. You strip down and take the hottest shower your body is capable of handling, and let yourself relax in the steam-filled room. Afterwards, as you're drying off, you gently dry your hair since your scalp is still sensitive and then get dressed in some of your comfort clothes.

Then heading out into the kitchen, you find some leftovers in your fridge and heat those up, tiredly sitting at your kitchen table and digging in. Just as you're done with your food and heading towards the living room, someone pounds on your apartment door. You sigh, hoping they go away, and have only plopped down onto the sofa when a familiar gruff voice speaks through the wood.

You quietly groan as Bucky tells you he knows you're there and you get up to open the door for him. He's on the verge of knocking again when you swing the door open. "Hey. Pepper said-" He trails off as he takes in your appearance, expression going slack before his jaw clenches in anger. "Who?"

You shake your head, gesturing him inside as you turn around and walk towards your sofa. You hear your door click shut before the footsteps follow you. "Work got a little hectic. No need to hunt down anyone, Barnes. I'm fine."

"Half your face is bruised, doll. You are not fine."

"It's all part of my job." You shrug and plop down onto the sofa once more. Pulling a blanket over your lap, you stare up at your friend. "There will always be a drunk and disorderly patient. I was just lucky he didn't do more damage."

Bucky frowns, but he doesn't push you on it. Instead, he walks over and sits next to you, angling his body towards yours when gentle fingers grasp your chin to angle your face more towards him. "What exactly happened?" He asks as his eyes dart over every inch of your face.

"Some petty criminal did some damage to his head in the back of a patrol car. Police officer brought him in and he seemed pretty docile up until I jabbed him with the IV. He got the drop on me. It happens." Gentle fingers brush along your cheekbone and you flinch. Tears sting your eyes as you sniffle. "I'm fine."

"Just because you keep sayin' that doesn't mean it's true."

Your bottom lip wobbles at his words and you lose the battle with keeping the tears at bay. The moment they fall, Bucky pulls you into a hug and you cry into his shoulder. "Dammit," you mumble. "See what you started!"

Bucky chuckles and he holds you a few moments longer, rubbing a hand up and your back to offer a semblance of comfort. When he lets you go, you fall back against the sofa cushions and wipe the tears away with your blanket. "So what are we watching?" He asks while settling in next to you and draping an arm behind your head.

"Shouldn't you go back to the tower and have dinner with the rest of them? I'm-"

"If you say you're fine one more time, I will drag you back to the tower and let Steve motherhen you."

You sigh. "Low blow, Buckaroo."

"And for that horrendous nickname, you've lost the privilege of choosing what we're going to watch."

You laugh and don't bother arguing with him about it as he leans across you to snag up the remote. When he settles back down and you snuggle into his side, you huff a small laugh when he settles on TLC which is showing 90 Day Fiancé.

"Why this show?" You ask.

"Because it blows my mind that some people are so oblivious and can't see that their chosen partner is only in it for the green card."

As you let his reasoning sink in, you can't help but giggle as you picture Bucky sitting in his own apartment and bad mouthing the TV because he didn't like the decisions the people were making in their love life. You watch along with him, cringing at the more obvious couples that are only headed for future divorce and smiling when one of the couples is actually in it for love.

You manage to almost watch a complete two hour episode when there's a knock on your door, but you're too comfortable to get up and answer it.

"You get it," you say as you nudge Bucky.

He nudges you back. "It's your apartment."

"Yeah, but I don't feel like getting up."

"You could have at least come up with a better excuse."

You grin, finally taking your eyes off the screen and glancing up at Bucky. "M'too tired. Brain's not working fast enough." He continues to give you a deadpan stare until you jut out your bottom lip. "Please?"

The second Bucky's lips twitch, you know you've won. He huffs and roughly pushes himself up off the sofa as if answering the door is a hardship, and you go back to watching TV. At least until you hear a familiar voice stammer, "Uh, h-hey Mr. Barnes. Is Y/N home?"

Your gaze snaps towards the door where Peter is standing out in the hallway, hands in his pockets as he sheepishly stares at Bucky. The man in question turns and raises an eyebrow at you as if saying what do I do and you give him a terse nod to let him know it's okay. Bucky steps aside and Peter readily walks in.

"I should be getting back to the tower," Bucky suddenly says. "You kids have fun."

This time it's your turn to give him a deadpan stare and he smirks right before slipping his boots back on. Then as soon as they're laced up, he's walking out the door and shutting it behind him. Peter, who hadn't stopped staring at the intimidating man, finally turns to look at you. And when he does, his eyes widen.

"What happened to your face?!"

You sigh. "I'm fine. Just had a little incident at work."

"And Mr. Barnes was what? Comforting you?"

"First of all, can you stop calling him Mr. Barnes? You two avenge together and what not. I'm pretty sure that means you're on a first name basis." Peter grins as he takes a seat on the recliner near you, shrugging. "And Bucky was here because when I turned down dinner at the tower, Pepper figured something was wrong. Bucky took it upon himself to check in."

"So are you two like a thing or something?" He wonders.

"We're just.. friends," you say. "For some unknown reason we clicked and we're comfortable in each other's company."

For a moment Peter doesn't say anything, nor will he meet your gaze, but then he's looking at you and sighing. "I'm sorry." You blink at him, surprised to hear the apology. "I shouldn't have freaked out that one night. Who you are friends with and who you decide to date is your business."

You finally smile, even though it's rather small. "Thank you. And don't get me wrong, I know you meant well, but you should have dropped it and just trusted my judgment."

"Yeah. I know," he mumbles.

"Soo.. are we good?" You ask.

"Yeah."

"Good. I was getting tired of you liking my posts and not commenting on them."

Peter snorts. A moment of silence passes and then he says, "So you'll be glad to know that Leslie and I aren't together anymore. I broke it off earlier tonight."

You wince. "Sorry."

"Nah. Don't be. She was totally using me for access to the tower." You're torn between being smug about being right and being sad for your friend who just ended his relationship. "I only realized it earlier when she got upset because Mr. Rogers posted a picture of you and Mr. Barnes together, and she had a few choice words to say about it."

"What? Steve posted a picture of us?" You quickly pull out your phone, checking social media for any notifications. There are none, but as you get on Instagram you check Steve's page and sure enough there's a new pic that shows Bucky staring fondly at you as you laugh at something on your phone. "That little shit didn't tag us!"

As your thumbs move furiously to give Steve a piece of your mind and to comment how adorable you and Bucky look, Peter can't help but say, "You're attracted to him."

Your texting falters and you quickly glance at your friend to gauge his reaction, but when he just looks amused, you shrug. "I mean have you seen him? How could I not be attracted to him?"

"Does he know?"

"I have a feeling he does. Asshole likes to fluster me every now and then."

"Well if it makes you feel any better, I'm pretty sure he likes you back." You snort and go back to finishing up the comment on Steve's post. "I'm serious. When we stopped talking, he threatened me. He was pissed that I made you cry and said I was lucky. He's actually really scary when you're on his bad side."

It takes a moment for his words to sink in and when they do you can feel your ears heating up, followed by your cheeks. Peter starts to laugh and you groan in embarrassment. "Why is this so weird? Dating should be easy!"

"Well he is an Avenger.."

"I don't care about that! He's just- he's really, really hot. It's intimidating."

"Wait, what?" Peter huffs. "So you're intimidated by his hotness and not because he's a super-soldier with a metal arm?"

"Well yeah."

Expression melting into one of confusion, your friend eventually shakes his head at you. "You're on your own with that. Good luck."

You hadn't realized how much everyone had known about your and Peter's brief falling out until the two of you were laughing together once again at the tower. It seemed like everyone had sagged in relief now that the two of you were poking fun at one another once more, and you had to apologize for apparently making it awkward for them.

And now that your best friend knew of your crush on a certain super-soldier, there was lots of teasing material. Of course you kept him in line when you could, but there was no stopping the force of Peter, Wanda, and Darcy combined.

It's a random Tuesday night when you've driven over to the Tower, Bucky having called you over for dinner with a few friends. You had the day off so you didn't mind heading on over, but as the elevator doors slide open after having ridden up to the communal floor, you yelp in surprise as the small gathered crows that shout, "Happy birthday!", at you.

Steve, Wanda, Sam, and Peter pop confetti poppers as you step out of the elevator, eyes wide as you glance between each of them. "My birthday is not until tomorrow!" You hiss.

"But you work tomorrow." Wanda frowns.

"Mhm." Your eyes then narrow, glancing behind them at the streamers and balloons hanging from the ceiling. "And how'd you guys even know?"

Everyone glances at Peter and he takes a step back when your gaze slides to him. He chuckles sheepishly. "I might have hid your birthday cupcake here and Steve found it."

"Petey," you groan. "Why couldn't you just hide it at aunt May's like usual? You know I dislike birthday celebrations."

"You don't dislike them. You just dislike all the attention being on you."

"Whatever. Where's Barnes? He's the one who lured me here under false pretenses. I got a bone to pick with him too."

Everyone turns around and Bucky's head appears from around the corner. He smirks and you glare at him. "Not false pretenses. We are having dinner," he says. "It just so happens to be a birthday dinner. And it's running a little bit late, so until the food gets here you get to open presents."

"You guys all suck."

Peter and Wanda each take a hand and drag you further into the room, heading towards the kitchen. Bucky fully steps out from behind the wall and you aim a kick at his shin as you're walking by. He laughs as he easily dodges it and then you're standing by the kitchen island that's been cleared of everything other than birthday presents.

You huff a small laugh and shake your head fondly at them. "I love you guys, but you do know you didn't have to get me anything, right?"

"Shut up and open the presents," Bucky says.

"Open mine first," Sam says, reaching into the small pile and pulling out a white envelope. "Unlike the others, I was literally told within the last thirty minutes we were doing this so yeah. It's not the best present, but I think you'll enjoy it."

You smile at Sam as you open it, chuckling at the plain birthday card and his brief personal message written inside. But it's what else that's inside that makes you meet Sam's gaze once more, smiling fondly at him. "Thank you. I can't get enough of bubble tea and I'm sure I can do some damage with this gift card."

"You're welcome."

"Mine next." Peter reaches in for a medium-sized box and hands it over to you. "I know you're not a fan of presents, so I got you something I actually knew you'd enjoy."

Raising an eyebrow at him, you pull the lid off of the box. Then glancing down, you snort before pulling out a bottle of Patron Silver Tequila. "I knew we were best friends for a reason."

Steve groans. "Please drink responsibly."

"Please. Responsible is my middle name, Rogers." Everyone snorts and instead of trying to remain serious and feign offense, you end up laughing. "Sam and Buck are good babysitters. You have nothing to worry about."

"That's to be determined," he says. "Here. Open mine. I honestly had no idea what to get you, but Peter assured me you'd enjoy this."

Putting the bottle of tequila back in its box, you accept Steve's gift. Pulling off the ribbon, you can't help but laugh when you see what's inside. "Cards Against Humanity." Peter cheers. "We're playing this the next time I have off," you say, grinning at Steve.

"What is Cards Against Humanity?" He wonders. "I just picked it up and boxed it."

"It's possibly one of the most confusing card games or raunchy card games you'll ever play," Sam says. "I, for one, am looking forward to it."

"Thank you, Steve. I seriously can't wait to play it."

"You're welcome."

Wanda claps her hands. "Mine and Darcy's next. She ordered online and I had to pick it up earlier. But, um, I'm not sure you want to open it up in front of everyone."

"Oh god. Don't tell me it's a vibrator."

Sam laughs out loud as both Peter and Steve start blushing. Bucky looks rather amused and intrigued as Wanda slides two boxes over to you. She shakes her head, giggling. "Not quite."

For a brief moment you're relieved, but then her answer sinks in and you're hesitant all over again. You groan. "Is yours safer? I feel like it is. Which one is it?"

Wanda only smirks as she pushes her box towards you. You open it, marvel at its contents, and then put the lid back on much to the boys' displeasure. Trying to keep a straight face, you look at Wanda. "How many sets did you get?"

"There's four. All in colors that will look amazing against your skin tone."

"Thank you. I'll send you pictures when I wear them."

"Yes please! Natasha wants to know how they fit as well. She was the one who suggested them."

"I'll send them to the ladies group chat then."

"Well that's not fair," Sam complains. "First for not showing us what's inside the box and then you guys have a ladies only group chat. I wanna be in the ladies only group chat."

"But then that defeats the purpose of it being a ladies only group chat," you muse.

"Come on," Peter then whines. "What was the present?"

Your gaze slides to Peter, but instead of outright saying what it is, you say, "Think back to that one Halloween night where you wouldn't let me out of the dorm until I switched costumes."

It takes him only a minute to understand and when he does, he snorts. "That wasn't a costume! That was lingerie."

"Whoa, what?" Sam exclaims, grinning.

"Lingerie can be worn as a costume?" Steve wonders.

"I was actually a Victoria's Secret Angel, complete with the most amazing set of wings, and Petey forbade me from leaving the room. It was a sad, sad night."

"As much as I wanna get into that," Sam says, "I wanna know what Barnes got you more."

You chuckle and glance at Bucky, smile faltering when you see him tense. But then he seems to shake himself out of it and offers you a grin. "Open the bigger one first."

Wanda clears away the other presents as Bucky slides his two towards you. You feel giddy as you grab the bigger box, untying the black silk ribbons and lifting the lid. There's tissue paper you open up and you gasp, happily giggling. "You didn't?!"

"Well you did say it was your favorite movie, sweetheart."

"Yes!" You glance up, beaming at Bucky, and your heart swells at his own smile being directed at you. "I really, really love this. I can't wait to hang it up."

"What is it?" Peter wonders, trying to peer across the island.

"It's a quote from Practical Magic," you say and Peter huffs a laugh, knowing full well your love for that movie. You carefully pick it up and turn it around so everyone can see it as you read it off by heart. "Always throw spilt salt over your left shoulder. Keep rosemary by your garden gate. Plant lavender for luck and fall in love whenever you can."

"Aw," Wanda coos. "That's adorable."

"I made Bucky watch this movie a while back," you say. "I need to show it to you one of these days."

"I'm looking forward to it," she says.

With nothing else to say, you place it back in its box and set it aside in favor for the second box. It's a little smaller, but you're excited for it nonetheless. Untying the ribbon and lifting the lid, you immediately laugh at the white petals scattered atop the tissue paper.

"Barnes, you smooth sonuvabitch," Sam mutters.

Steve and Peter laugh, but you're so focused on the notecard that's under some of the petals. Lifting it up, you read the note to yourself because immediately you know it's personal. My better half has to be funny, get along with my friends, won't judge me for my past, and has decent taste in movies.

Heart fluttering, you bite the corner of your lip when it feels like you're smiling way too much.

"Well what does Prince Charming have to say?" Sam asks.

"That's none of your business." You close the note and then tuck into your back pocket, chuckling when Sam and Wanda complain. When you meet Bucky's gaze, you immediately flush and mentally curse yourself when you see him smirk in return.

Inhaling and exhaling deeply, you center yourself and then part the tissue paper. You look at the second portrait and gasp after you read it.

"What? What is it?" Peter wonders.

This second portrait is of a hand drawn bowl with a tipped over salt shaker, a small bundle of lavender, a small bundle of rosemary, and a heart beneath it. Above the bowl is a swirl of flower petals and inside the swirl of petals, in very pretty cursive writing, are the words I wished for you too.

Did he just- did he confess his own feelings by using a Practical Magic quote? Or was this just you overthinking his present? You glance to meet Bucky's gaze and at his gauging expression your eyes fill with tears.

"What did you do, Barnes?!" Sam scolds him. "You made the poor girl cry at her own birthday celebration!"

But Bucky isn't paying him any attention, instead he's solely focused on you. You set the present aside and walk around the kitchen island on shaky legs, and Bucky readily reaches for your waist as you grab his face and pull him down into a kiss.

You can't believe you're kissing Bucky, but then he squeezes your waist and returns the kiss, and you know you made the right choice.

Someone gasps, but then the following words let you know exactly who it is. "Darcy is going to be so angry she missed this." Wanda. That is Wanda.

"What the hell is going on?" Sam wonders. "What type of present can cause this type of reaction?"

You smile against Bucky's mouth, pressing a chaste kiss to the corner of his mouth before falling flat on your feet after having been on the tips of your toes in order to reach his mouth.

"It's my favorite quote from my favorite movie," you say. You turn around to address your friends, but Bucky doesn't let you go far. He wraps one arm around your waist and tugs you back so you're resting against his chest and tucked beneath his chin. "It's a movie about witches," you explain. "These two little girls are being raised by their aunts and they see them performing love spells for a local woman. Basically, one of the young girls refuses to fall in love after witnessing a love spell gone wrong and she does her own spell to call forward a love that would be impossible to find- a man who's favorite shape would be a star and who had one green eye, one blue. Years down the road, the sisters accidentally murder a man."

Sam snorts. "How the hell does one accidentally murder someone?"

"Shush." Wanda admonishes him. "I want to hear the story behind the gift."

You and Bucky chuckle, and you continue to explain. "Anyway, they send in an US Marshall to investigate the disappearance and the one who had done the love spell at a young age starts to fall for this man. She ends up telling him about the murder, but he doesn't quite believe her. Then they're on the verge of hooking up when she gets a good look at his eyes- one green eye, one blue."

"Oh my god. That's so cute!" Wanda says.

"It gets cuter. And sadder," you say. "So she explains to this man about her family, the murder, and how she can't be with him because he's only attracted to her because of a love spell she did when she was just a little girl. At first he's skeptical about this spell bringing him to her, but then he ends up believing her. And as he's walking away from her, he stops to tell her I wished for you too."

"So you made out with Barnes because of that?" Sam shakes his head, chuckling. "Wow."

"It's fuckin' adorable. Stop ruining the moment, Samuel!" Bucky laughs at your words and pulls you closer to him.

"So while I'm happy for Buck," Steve says, "I'm still really curious about what Darcy's gift is."

Peter nods. "Same."

Wanda giggles, but says nothing as she grabs the box and slides it over to you. You groan because you know it can be nothing good, but you still open it since everyone is watching and waiting. As soon as you part the tissue paper and read the box, alongside taking in the picture on the box, your face flames as you shove the lid back on. Wanda cackles.

"I hate her."

"She said to give the remote to-"

"Don't!" You cut Wanda off, blushing even further. "I know who she means to have control of that."

"They- they make underwear that does that?" Bucky muses and you die a little on the inside in embarrassment. You elbow him as he starts to laugh behind you.

Sam instantly knows what the gift is now and starts to laugh, but Steve and Peter apparently need some help.

"Lewis got you vibrating panties, didn't she?"

"Oh my god, Sam, if you don't shut up I'm gonna punch you in the throat."

Steve is torn between laughing and trying not to make you even more uncomfortable, but his amusement wins out. "Given Y/N's flustered state, I'm assuming Darcy wants Bucky to have the remote."

"I mean this seems like it could make for an interesting night."

Everyone laughs at Bucky's sudden interest in the box you're doing your damnedest to keep shut, but luckily Peter steps in. "As much I love watching Y/N squirm, can we get ready to eat? I'm starving."

"Yeah, yeah. Let's go wait downstairs for it, kid."

Sam and Peter head for the elevator to take them down to the lobby, and you turn around in Bucky's hold. "Help me take this stuff to my car so I don't have to do it later?"

"Sure thing, doll." He grins. But instead of stepping away, he pushes you further into the kitchen island. You smile as he cages you in and then huff a laugh when he reaches for the box behind you. "So exactly how long do we have to be dating before we can test these out?"

You slowly lean upward so your lips brush his as you say, "I'd say very, very soon if you would put your ass into gear and help me move these presents like I asked."

Bucky laughs and presses a quick kiss to your lips. "Then let's get to it."

The telltale sound of a phone's camera goes off and you turn your face towards the sound. Wanda is beaming, her phone pointed towards you and Bucky. "Darcy wanted evidence I wasn't lying. She's going to be so happy."

Bucky turns his face to look at her then, his cheek brushing against yours where he's yet to back off from you. "Tell Lewis I said thanks for the present. I'll give her my review of them in a few weeks."

Wanda's eyes widen and you immediately blurt, "Don't you dare!" But she's already texting and you know the group chat full of ladies is going to be full of messages that you'll have to reply to later. Quietly groaning, you slap your hands against Bucky's waist and push him back. Looking up at him, you shake your head but the corner of your lips turn up in amusement. "You're terrible. I would threaten to withhold sex, but I've been looking forward to that for a while. I'd just be punishing us both."

"Just tell me when and where, sweetheart, and I'll be there."

"Oh no. You guys are going to be that couple," Steve complains.

And without missing a beat, you face him and say, "Fuck off, Rogers!" Bucky snorts.

"You're cranky when you haven't gotten laid."

You gasp as Bucky bursts out laughing right in your ear, but he quickly catches you as you try to lunge for his best friend. "You know what, I was going to be discreet when banging your best friend, but now I'm going to tell you all the filthy things Bucky likes to do just to annoy you. I will go into excruciating detail about the look and taste of his dick!"

Steve blanches as it's Wanda's turn to burst out laughing. "You've done it now, Steve."

And as Steve looks to Bucky for help, he merely shrugs. "You brought this on yourself, Stevie. Hope you enjoy the play by plays."

Relaxing in Bucky's hold and moving so you're hip to hip with him, you slide your arm behind his waist and hook your thumb into the belt loop of his jeans. "We're going to have so much fun."

#bucky x reader #bucky barnes x reader #bucky barnes imagine #marvel imagine #peter parker #bucky barnes #wanda maximoff #sam wilson #darcy lewis #the avengers #avengers #avengers imagine #marvel

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whywishesarehorses · 3 years

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Limitless - 2021 Pacific Crest Trail Ride Through

3 days ago, on April 7th, Jess Goodlett started the ride of her dreams - a 2,650 mile ride of the entirety of the Pacific Crest Trail, border to border. She is attempting this ride alone, with two BLM mustangs she has trained herself. Jess is part of the Limitless team, a group of women going on various adventures to prove that the things women can accomplish in pursuit of their dreams are Limitless. This ride is fantastic, and Jess is still sourcing financial support. She has venmo, PayPal, and merch set up if you are interested in helping out!

This is similar in spirit to the idea of Unbranded, and Jess has been in contact with some of that team for advice.

Below I've shared a blog post she wrote discussing the trip and her plans! Under a readmore because it's LONG.

Time to Make this Official.

Yes, the ride is on.

I am planning a thru-ride on the Pacific Crest Trail for 2021.

My name is Jess Goodlett. I am 25 years old, and I have been a part of Limitless since the beginning.

📷Photo of the Limitless group from 2017

People seem to say that I am pretty outgoing and adventurous. When I set my mind on a goal, I definitely become very determined to make it happen. Most of my family and friends were not too surprised when I dropped the news that I was going to continue the plan to attempt a thru-ride on the Pacific Crest Trail. This trail has been on my mind for years, and it was actually how Limitless got its start.

My trail name is Raindance (this is how I got my trail name), and these are my BLM Mustangs, Makani (10-year-old bay roan mare) and Malana (7-year-old chestnut mare).

Also, here is little Zendaya. She is too young to join in on the fun next year, but maybe she will get the chance to tag along in the near future.

📷Zendaya (Daya for short) is my youngest mustang. I hope that she will be able to join in our an adventure in a few years. She is only 3 right now, so she still has some growing to do.

Here [is a photo] of me from a few years back, when I was able to set foot on a small section of the Pacific Crest Trail. This is the moment that sparked up the passion for the trail again after dealing with nostalgia from the group’s ride on the Colorado Trail in 2017.

I had convinced my dad and uncle to drive a rental car up some narrow mountain roads just to be able to set foot on part of the Pacific Crest Trail near Big Bear Lake. It felt magical getting the chance to hike a very small section of the trail. It was like getting a small taste of a big dream. My time on the trail may have only lasted 30 minutes, but it made me realize that I was still very passionate about this trail even after my experience on the Colorado Trail.

📷Repping Limitless while dreaming of a thru-ride on the Pacific Crest Trail.

Making Plans

The plans have gone back and forth a few times, but the goal is to set out on trail in the Spring of 2021. For me, there are a lot of emotions tied in with this thu-ride. I am sure there will be a lot of time for reflection on the days leading up to the trail, including each and every day spent out there with my horses.

This is a big trek. Every time I look at the maps, I feel excited. Maybe a little nervous. But I am focused on what is ahead. The days are flying by fast, and I know the day that I head out to California will be here sooner than I can even imagine. A lot of my time right now is being spent with the horses, and any additional free time goes toward researching the trail.

Let’s talk about the trail.

📷Hike at Kendall Katwalk (part of the PCT) near Seattle, Washington near Snowqualmie Pass

What is the Pacific Crest Trail?

📷Map of the Pacific Crest Trail

The Pacific Crest Trail is a border to border trail that starts at the Mexican border and travels through California, Oregon, and Washington to the Canadian border. The trail is 2,650 miles long, and it is open to both hikers and equestrians.

There are only a handful of completed equestrian thru-rides that are documented. I am sure there are a few more that have gone unmentioned online, but to be honest, it is much more likely for people to plan a thru-hike along the Pacific Crest Trail. Us thru-riders are very few.

For those who may not know, a thru-hike or thru-ride is a long distance trail that is completed in one go (typically one season) – from one end of the trail to other end. This differs from section hiking where one may just complete small sections of the trail instead of the entire length. Though, what a thru-hike or thru-ride is for one person may differ slightly for another. Sometimes trail conditions during a certain year results in hikers or riders having to alter the original path on the trail to detour things like a fire or trail closure. But this does not take away from the fact that the trail was completed if they reach the end. As they say, hike your own hike, or in this situation – ride your own ride.

On the note of section hiking and riding, the Pacific Crest Trail is also a very popular option for those looking to just complete certain sections. According to the Pacific Crest Trail Association (PCTA), there are a total of 29 sections: 18 sections in California, 6 sections in Oregon, and 5 in Washington.

Elevation ranges greatly throughout the entire trail, along with a vast variety of terrain. The Pacific Crest Trail travels over many mountain passes and through many wilderness areas, national forests and parks.

More information can be found on the PCTA official website.

The Difficulties of Planning a Thru-Ride

Taking on a thru ride comes with a lot of its own types of challenges that hikers will not have to face. Adding in one or two horses on trail adds its own difficulty especially when it comes to the logistics.

As I am researching the trail, I am trying to answer questions such as: How are the water sources in this section? Where can I camp? Are there any grazing restrictions? Any trail concerns?

How will I resupply? Where are some places I may be able to pull the horses off trail to rest them? Who will be my emergency contacts? And the list goes on.

I cannot really plan too far ahead with any set plans, but one of my biggest obstacles will be the snow. Trail conditions can change daily, and I have no idea how the winter is going to look at this moment. Because of the length of the trail, some decisions will not be made until I am on trail. I expect many unplanned things to happen. That is just the way it is, and that is why the focus right now is to study and learn the trail as much as I can.

📷Photo of Makani from our 2017 ride on the Colorado Trail.

Why the Pacific Crest Trail?

It was 2013 when I first heard about the Pacific Crest Trail. I was actually scrolling through Facebook when I came across a post in an equestrian Facebook group where a few people were talking about long distance trails. The main topic was riding horses from coast to coast ,but then the Pacific Crest Trail was brought up in the discussion. It was the first time I had heard of an established border to border trail. I was very interested and after a few quick searches online, I quickly became obsessed with this trail and the idea of completing a border to border trail horseback.

Though, I knew I was not ready at that time to take on such a big adventure. I kept the idea stored away in my mind. It would sneak back into my thoughts every so often. When it did, I would spend hours researching this trail and looking for any information I could find for equestrians. I told myself that one day… one day, I would ride the Pacific Crest Trail.

It wasn’t until 2015, when I decided to reach out to some people about the trail. I talked with Gillian Larson, who had completed the trail horseback in 2014. She has been a big inspiration to me and to many others. Over the years, she has now completed the Pacific Crest Trail two times horseback. She has also completed the 800 mile Arizona Trail, the 500 mile Colorado Trail, and the 3,100 mile Continental Divide Trail, which is another border to border trail. (Seriously, check out her Instagram. Her photos and videos of the trails are absolutely breathtaking!)

I also spoke with Ben Masters of Unbranded who encouraged me to get out and “just do it.”

This is when I started to think about friends who may be interested in riding with me. Initially, I reached out to Devan Horn about riding a border to border trail. Devan was the first person I ever thought of to even contact about a thru-ride. She is adventurous and possibly the only person I knew at the time who would have been up for such a challenge. I mentioned to her that I was interested specifically in riding the Pacific Crest Trail. We talked briefly about a long distance trek, and we told each other that we would keep in touch.

A few months passed, when Ragan Kelly reached out to me about a long distance trail. She had spoken with Devan who had mentioned my name to her. Ragan knew a few more people interested in a thru-ride, and that is how Limitless began.

Now, the Pacific Crest Trail is a much longer trail than what my friends and I rode in 2017 with the Colorado Trail. But as I mentioned, the Limitless team originally started with the goal of riding a border to border trail together.

Our exact plans were to ride a shorter trail, the Colorado Trail, in 2017. Then, we wanted to ride a border to border trail, the Pacific Crest Trail, in 2020. But since the start of Limitless in 2015, a lot of things have changed.

When we completed the Colorado Trail, we could all agree it was a once in a lifetime opportunity. Out of the group, I was honestly one who did not see myself fully committing to another thru-ride anytime soon. My end of the ride on the Colorado Trail was not what I wanted. Also, what they do not warn you much about long distance trails is that life continues on in the “real world.”

Life. Work. School. Other hobbies and interests. New goals and new opportunities.

There was nothing negative that happened within the team. We are all really good friends and forever will be. I love each and every one of them wholeheartedly. Though, we do not get the chance to see each other often, we will forever hold onto the memories that we created together on the Colorado Trail.

So wait… you are doing this trek solo?

Yes, that is correct. Solo. I am riding the trail alone with my two horses.

I will be honest. This was never my plan. Originally, I was unsure of a solo trek. I did not want to ride this trail alone.

When plans for a 2021 trek started, this thru-ride was going to be made for two riders. But plans changed yet again, and I had to make a decision to either hold off riding the trail or to just go after my dreams.

I know the pros and cons of going by myself, and I know the pros and cons with riding with others. I have heard the recommendations. I have heard the concerns. And with that said, I will continue on with planning this trek solo. This will allow me to put all of my focus on my horses’ needs to get them safely through the trail.

Though, I do hope to have a few friends join in here and there for sections.

How long will this trail take?

This trail will approximately take five to six months to complete. The horses and I will average 20-25 miles per day. I am also factoring in plenty of rest days for the horses. We are starting early enough to get through the hotter, dryer Southern California sections, but we will very likely have to skip around and circle back to some parts of the trail because of snow. In order to complete the full trail in one season, we need to be done sometime in September before the snow starts back up in Washington.

So What is Next?

I have a little over half a year left to get ready for this trek. I am looking forward to sharing our progress leading up to the trail and sharing the adventures that are to come.

#poc equestrian #limitless #pacific crest trail #pct #blm mustang #mustang horse #endurance riding #trail riding #equestrian #horse #hiking #jess goodlett

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thelatelockdownlist · 3 years

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A Series on Series 04: Deborah Harkness’ All Souls Trilogy: A Discovery of Witches/Season 1

Hi! I’m Alex, a YouTube Newbie and this is The Late Lockdown List where I talk about the list of things I’ve got on my mind since the lockdown started.

Today, on the fourth episode of A Series on Series, I’ll be talking about Deborah Harkness’ All Souls Trilogy, starting with the first book, A Discovery of Witches

and the basis of the season 1 of the TV series.

Let’s dive a little bit into it.

Why is it called the ‘All Souls Trilogy’?

I could do research, but having read the entire series, I think it’s because the male lead, Matthew Clairmont or Matthew de Clermont, in the book belongs to the All Souls College at Oxford University.

A bit of trivia: All Souls College does not have undergraduate members, and it’s unique in the sense that all members automatically become fellows -- full members of the college’s governing body. The examination for the fellowship has once been described as ‘the hardest exam in the world.”

If you’re not familiar with the book or the TV series, just know that there are going to be a lot of spoilers. With that out of the way, first a primer:

The two main characters here are Diana Bishop

-- a Yale historian, visiting scholar at Oxford (where she also got her PhD) and reluctant witch.

She’s the daughter of two very powerful witches,

but due to the tragic death of her parents she’s shied away from witchcraft and very seldom uses her power, if at all. After her parents’ death, she was raised by her maternal aunt Sarah and her partner Emily who are both witches.

They tried to teach her, but Diana’s grief at her parents’ death caused her to all but reject magic.

Then we have Matthew Clairmont (aka Matthew de Clermont of the powerful vampire de Clermont family, aka Matthew Roydon), a geneticist, All Souls College fellow and 1,500-year-old vampire.

There are creatures in this series: daemons, vampires and witches. They’re not HUMAN. That’s why they call themselves ‘creatures’ -- to differentiate themselves from us. Daemons

are blessed with creativity and cursed with madness.

Vampires

are -- well, the usual kind that we’re familiar with. Here, though, they mate for life, like wolves.

Witches

have magic -- different kinds like time walking, precognition, flight, transmogrification, telekinesis, witchwind, witchfire, witchwater, and manipulation of the elements.

Basically, if you’re familiar with Harry Potter and Twilight, then you know what witches and vampires are. Speaking of the whole Harry Potter and Twilight thing, The New York Times calls this the ‘Harry Potter for grownups’

and NPR calls it ‘Twilight for the intellectually restless.’

Make of that what you will.

For me, I don’t compare this with the other two. I think it stands very separately from those. Since this is written by an historian, the approach is markedly different. It’s well-researched -- as are most historical romance novels -- because it does deal with a certain time period.

What I love about this -- and you’ll be hearing this from me a lot -- is the world building. I judge a book by the world it creates for me. I have to be able to LIVE in that world. And in most cases, I have to WANT to live in that world.

This is a world inhabited by creatures I’ve been fascinated with my entire life -- except for daemons. I did my first thesis on vampires -- let’s not talk about why it didn’t get accepted. It’s still a sore point for me even after so many years later. And as for witches, well… family tradition has it that my maternal great grandmother was a witch. In fact, growing up, I’d heard

whispers of her supplementing her income by being a ‘healer.’ I’m not sure how much of that is true but I like to believe that it is.

So vampires and witches, I’m sold. I can tolerate the daemons.

Another thing I love about this are the well-written characters. While I can’t actually relate to Diana Bishop, I don’t have to for me to like her. She just needs to be alive for me in the book. And she is very much so. I envy her graduate degrees -- I wish I had the discipline to obtain a PhD. And spending time at the Bodleian. *sigh*

Anyway, I can understand her rejection of magic. After all, in a way it’s what took her parents away from her. But I like how she was able to adjust when she realizes that she’s got this power -- which is far stronger than anyone thought it would be.

As for Matthew -- *sigh* -- I’m a sucker for vampires. Yes, I went there. I love him. He’s a scientist and he’s good with his hands. By that, I mean he used to be a stone mason so he can build things. What? I like a guy who’s handy.

I also like the love story. Matthew and Diana are equals -- in the sense that they are partners in the relationship. Of course, with Matthew having been alive for more than a millennia -- plus vampire, plus a guy, he has a tendency to be domineering, convinced that he’s doing all things to protect Diana. However, Diana is a POWERFUL witch. She’s a scholar, too. She can take care of herself. Matthew may be physically stronger, but Diana is a POWER. And as she grows into that, Matthew struggles to keep up as well curb his tendency to be overprotective. For the most part, they do keep this balance.

On to the differences of the book from the show:

Overall, the TV series was faithful to the book. Most of the scenes in TV series are in the book. The show is gorgeous. I love the architecture and just the overall mood. I think Teresa Palmer makes a good Diana, but I love Matthew Goode. Period. But he is very, very good as Matthew Clairmont.

I know Teresa Palmer is Australian and Diana Bishop is American so I’m not sure if it’s just me, but I do hear Teresa’s native accent here and there. It’s not distracting, but since I know that the one she uses for her character is not her original accent, I can’t help but hear the Australian one. Matthew Goode, on the other hand, is British, and Matthew Clairmont is as well. Well, for the last couple of centuries he is, but he’s originally French. But overall, I have no problem believing they’re really Diana and Matthew.

As for Gillian Chamberlain,

the other witch at Oxford who in the TV series is sort of Diana’s friend… in the book, they’re merely acquaintances. She’s played by Louise Brealey aka Molly Hooper in Sherlock.

I love the actress and I love that I found Gillian both slightly annoying and a bit pathetic. Because in the book, she is. So I love that that’s how she’s also played in the series.

Then we have Aunt Sarah. When I saw Alex Kingston, my first thought was, “River!” If you don’t know, Alex Kingston played ‘River Song’ in Doctor Who.

And I loved her in that. So I knew I’d love her here, too. I do have the same ‘thing’ with her as with Teresa. Alex Kingston is British and here she plays an American. I can hear the accent. It’s not distracting, but it’s there.

And then there’s Peter Knox.

In the book, I found him arrogant, condescending and just a generally irritating person. In the series, he is more so. And the actor who plays him played Ser Alliser Thorne in ‘Game of Thrones.’

He was one of the Night’s Watch who tormented and had a hand, literally, in killing Jon Snow. But he got his comeuppance when he was hanged with the rest of the traitors. He was very convincing as a conniving SOB in GOT. And he is here, as well. In fact, he’s equal parts menacing and irritating. Which is a terrifying combination because if he’s just irritating, you can swat him away like a gnat. But because he’s menacing, you know you have to watch your back.

Satu Jarvinen

in the show is exactly how I thought she would look like when I read her in the book. In fact, the actress Malin Buska, infuses her with a somewhat edgy, emo attitude that really works. You can see why Satu and Peter work well because they seem to have something missing inside them that they think the other one has. It’s not a romantic connection -- more that of villains who don’t think they’re bad people.

And Ysabeau de Clermont.

Lindsay Duncan plays her, who also played Lady Smallwood in Sherlock.

She does have the whole ‘lady of the manor’ aura -- both regal and frightening. I really liked how she snobbishly said how modern day witches are so uneducated -- all because Diana even with her post graduate degrees didn’t speak Occitan.

FAVORITE SCENES:

The rowing scenes:

This is very self-serving because I like rowing. I haven’t had a lot of chances to row in the water. I bought a rowing machine at the start of the pandemic and actually did a few months of rowing for 20 minutes three times a week. Then I stopped. I can’t remember why. But I love the scenes of Diana rowing -- which she does to rid herself of excess energy caused by her power -- because I imagine rowing along the Thames myself.

Any time they’re in the Bodleian: I love libraries. I’ve loved them since I was a child. I loved them when I was in college. I was actually really excited that my university decided to extend the library hours on Fridays just so I could stay there and read to my heart’s content. Also, whenever I go to a foreign country, I always go to the national library.

This isn’t in the show, but in the book, but I love how everyone at the Bodleian scrambled to cater to Matthew when he went to the library. I liked how irritated Diana was that this guy took her spot… that they gave it to him solely on the basis of his being an All Souls fellow. In the TV series, they don’t really emphasize how much of a big shot Matthew is at Oxford.

I like how Matthew, when he was talking to his daemon friend, Hamish Osborne, was self-aware enough not to immediately think that Diana had the same feelings for him as he did for her. Since he’s a 1,500-year-old vampire who knew Charles Darwin, of course he’s a great resource for a history of science researcher.

I love that part when Diana was trying to guess how old Matthew was and she asked, “Survived the fall of Carthage?” and he says, “Which fall of Carthage?” It was a playful exchange, and you can see that he was showing off a bit.

Sept-Tours:

literally ‘Seven Towers’ and is the current family home of the de Clermonts. It must be hell to heat, but as most of the residents are vampires, it shouldn’t be a problem. It’s beautiful and like Matthew, I would probably claim my own tower as well.

While it’s not my favorite scene, I think they did the part of Satu torturing Diana

-- in the pretext of trying to ‘open her up’ to see what her power is -- was done well. When I read that scene, I was wondering how much of it they were going to put in the book. So it was heartening to see that ‘horrifying’ scene there.

I’m not sure how I feel about the ‘instalove.’ You know that thing that sometimes happens where the leads just fall in love at first sight? In the series, it feels like it’s instalove. Diana and Matthew first meet at the Bodleian -- the day after Diana experiences the magic in Ashmole 782. It’s a book all creatures have been trying to find. Matthew, in particular, has been searching for it for more than a century. It’s thought to explain the origins of all creatures. Matthew is initially drawn to Diana because she is able to “call” the book.

Anyway, going back to the idea of ‘instalove,’ I mean, sure there was chemistry… but... In the books, their connection was fostered both by the time they spent with each other and their curiosity about Ashmole 782. I was more convinced in the book about that part than in the TV series. Or maybe it’s my deep-seated and sometimes difficult to conceal bias FOR the book versus its live action adaptation.

The Congregation: Secret island!

It’s actually on an island in Venice, concealed from humans. It has nine members, 3 from each supernatural race. And since the de Clermont patriarch established it, one of the rules is to always have a de Clermont on the Congregation. It was created during the Crusades as a self-regulating body for the creatures. Because most of the creatures abused their powers and abilities to influence outcomes during the Crusades, they attracted unwanted attention from humans. Ostensibly to keep the creatures safe from humans, the congregation agreed to several covenants: the main ones being that they must not interfere in human politics and religion and for creatures not to mix together, especially in terms of romantic relationships.

This is the covenant Diana and Matthew break. In fairness to Diana, she had no idea. She didn’t even know about the existence of The Congregation, much less the covenant. And so Matthew does this whole ‘noble idiot’ thing where he denies his feelings for her… but of course, in the end, they end up together.

Moving on, the first book ends with Diana and Matthew going back to New York to Aunt Sarah’s and Aunt Em’s house. The original plan was for Diana to learn more about her magic from her witch aunts. The problem is that Diana’s magic isn’t the same as theirs. And they need someone to teach her so she can call the book again -- this time intentionally.

They’re joined by married daemons, Sophie and Nathaniel; two vampires: Marcus, Matthew’s vampire son, and Miriam, an ally of the de Clermonts and Matthew’s colleague at the lab, and Hamish. As there are now 3 witches (Sarah, Em and Diana), 3 vampires (including Matthew) and 3 demons, this is in effect a ‘coventicle’ -- this will be important later in the books.

They’re all gathered there for different reasons: Sophie, because she’s meant to give Diana something that has been passed down in her family for generations (and one that’s needed for the timewalk, the vampires to update Matthew regarding their research (and I guess for moral support as well), and Hamish both because he’s Matthew’s best friend and lawyer (real world legalities must be observed before one undertakes a timewalk).

They leave for Sept Tour, which Matthew volunteered as their HQ of sorts, on Halloween. That night, Matthew and Diana are going to timewalk. And seconds before they could do so, Gerbert de Aurillac, Peter Knox and Satu Jarvinen arrive to stop them.

Of course, they don’t and we see our couple land somewhat shakily in 1590 London…

And the season ends there, setting us up for the next one and The Book of Shadows.

FINAL NOTE:

I LOVE IT!

Like I said earlier, it’s faithful to the book in the sense that I didn’t find anything that was off.

If you loved the books, I’m sure you’ll love the TV adaptation as well.

I was a little nervous that I wouldn’t love it as much. I’d been burned before, you see. (I’m looking at you, American Gods. Even Ian McShane and Orlando Jones’ Mr. Nancy couldn’t keep me hooked.)

However, I wasn’t disappointed in this one. There’s a lot to love here and I’m glad that there’s a second season -- and now they’re even done filming the third.

So that’s it for the first book and Season 1. Catch you in the next episode for The Book of Shadows and Season 2. Bye!

#the late lockdown list #a series on series #a discovery of witches #review

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masterthespianduchovny · 3 years

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why is it so important people to prove that David and Gillian hate (or don't) each other? Or that they were (or not) a couple? real question.

Anon, here’s my thorough input about your ask:

I’m not sure if you’ve watched the x files or not, which is important to understand some peoples very strong emotions about this topic. 😅

I reckon most people don’t care about David and Gillian’s relationship, which may include yourself if you’ve seen the show, but if not:

The x files was a groundbreaking show and had introduced a new male-female dynamic, but largely the show was built off of the backs of the two leads David and Gillian. If these two didn’t click, the show wouldn’t have worked. From day one, these two had insane chemistry. Typically, if they didn’t spend enough time together in an ep, people would complain. When the show’s quality began to decline, people tuned in for Mulder and Scully.

Based off of how magical these two were together on screen and that they never missed a beat, you’d never imagine they didn’t get along at times. But, the friction between them was notable on some occasions via interviews and certain non show clips. Sometimes they spoke highly of one another and other times, it was obvious that they weren’t in the best of places.

On the flip side, during this same time, there was also the media who were fascinated with them. Because, when David and Gillian got along IRL, they’re a sight to see. They’re way more animated and giggly around one other. On several occasions, the media has flat out asked them if they were a thing, if they ever would be, and are they interested in each other. At times, their answers and behavior is very fascinating even literal decades later.

I honestly do think that fans and the media can differentiate between acting and real life. There is something about their interactions that makes think people they were involved or some hope they are/were/will be.

You also have certain situations that doesn’t help matter, such as in 1997 David agreed to go as Gillian’s date as support to the golden globes and they looked like a couple (she was going through a divorce and this was how he supported her). A mag accidentally called him her boyfriend. Lol. Gillian has confirmed that she was interested in David and he appeared to interested until she said she wasn’t from New York. They threw a lot of sexually charged jokes at each other even tho they were said to hate one another. David asking if Gillian came became she moaned a certain way and Gillian saying she wanted to suck David’s dick. In the first x files movies, they asked to make out for fun in character knowing full well it wasn’t going to be in the movie.

So there are some sus things that happened that, even people who don’t care, start to think, “hmm...what’s going on between them?”

There’s this famous jimmy kimmel interview in 2016 where he flat out asks this because they were all giggly and flirty. And none of this includes the moments when they flirt, specifically Gillian, to have fun with fans. Gillian also gets flustered when asked questions about David and he gets defensive.

Basically, this relationship has had more interest and intrigue than (their) actual relationships. LOL.

Now, the vocal naysayers are a different case. People who don’t believe they were ever a thing usually say their piece and walk away. But, the vocal detractors are a different story. Some believe that people who are pro Gillian and David (which doesn’t necessarily mean them being involved) can’t separate reality from fiction. Tbh, they are conspiracists about the two, so there’s that. But, these people get upset at those who even dare believe that David and Gillian are friends.

If you’ve ever seen an interview between the two, you’d understand why many would want them to be friends. They’re gold together. Why would anyone want to believe that is acting???

Those who froth at the mouth about this is typically because they hate David. Why? Well, that’s their business and they’re allowed to feel that way. But, since they hate David that means Gillian hates David. Because David and Gillian didn’t get along at times, this proves how David is the worst. Gillian has always had loyal, staunch fans, some of which, have taken on her problems and/or issues with David as their own. It’s a lot of things, really. I don’t mean this in a snarky way at all, but they worship her and thinks she a goddess. (I’m not referring to most or all of her fans getting this defensive and whatnot).

Since they have these deeply intense feelings of hatred towards David and see themselves as her defender/protector, the mere idea that they could be friends is an insult to her and them.

Which means that they’ll flat out ignore interviews and quotes where Gillian denies hating David, says they’re friends, the things she likes about him, and that David wasn’t the only who misbehaved back in the day. They’ll bring up completely unrelated things as “evidence” as to why Gillian hates David. They’ll accuse him of unproven things that actually makes Gillian look bad as well. But, as long as they get to shit on David, it doesn’t matter.

They’ve gone as far as misconstruing a statement Gillian made years ago to mean, “David was like an abusive partner.”

So, pro David and Gillian people either want them to be friends/involved because we’d like to believe their dynamic based on their insane chemistry is real. And we don’t want to believe that they hate each other in real life because it doesn’t vibe with their face to face and paper interviews.

Where as anti people: 1. A fraction of them hate the idea that just because they had chemistry means something was/is going on (these people aren’t against them being friends) 2. Anti David people who adore Gillian and think of him as an abusive partner she needs to be protected from. These are the most vocal critics. Most of the anon hate I receive are literally people complaining about David and why they hate him. And the posts I’ve made don’t even say they’re together or were, many of them are about David and Gillian being friends. Lol

They assume that anyone who doesn’t hate David thinks he can do no wrong and they must rectify this mistaken belief.

And, don’t get me wrong, I think it’s adorable how much some fans love and gush over Gillian (and David, he has fans too. Lol). But, some fans take it too far and are taking on these actors (alleged) grievances as if it’s their own or that they know intimate details that they’d have no knowledge of.

In the grand scheme of things, it’s not “important.” But, when you’re invested in the actors on some level, more times than not, you’re invested in their relationships: romantic, friendships, familial, and professional.

There’s a lot of shit I don’t know, forgot, and didn’t touch on that much, but that’s the gist of it. 😂 this has been an ongoing thing since the 90s and, apparently, will never die.

One last note: if you pay attention to pop culture and celebrity relationships and rumors, the intrigue around them is insane. Many couples who are/were bigger celebrities than them don’t get this much attention. I don’t know if it’s because the question still exists as to whether or not they’re telling the truth or what, but this has been going on for over 27 years.

Celebrities pay top dollar to get the type of attention they get FOR FREE. Their are superstar singers who’ve had PR relationships that people don’t care for or have forgotten about, where as David and Gillian constantly have people curious as if the two have ever be a thing or will. Like, even when these two have been married and in relationships, interviewers STILL will bring up the possibility of them being together.

If you follow celebrity couples, you’ll know how rare and unusual this is. When celebs have questions like this, it’s because they were a huge couple (think Brad and Jen). Like, I’ll probably make another post and go in-depth about it because this post is already super long (😩), but the media usually doesn’t keep being up romance questions for two celebs who have emphatically denied being involved for literal decades and there aren’t rumors connecting them. Even the media has let go of rooting for Kate and Leo to get together, yet David and Gillian still get questions. 😅

#david duchovny #gillian anderson

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dapper-ships-herself · 4 years

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I doubt I will have the motivation to do all these prompts, but this one is cute. Reverse self ship. Part of @fofebruary

Dazai picked up the first volume on a whim one day just because he was bored and he'd randomly found it. He'd expected not to like it all that much, because it's a magical girl series and those are all full of ~light~ and ~hope~ and all the believing in the purity of the world bullshit. But this series had a sense of realness. Still steeped in the classic magical girl themes, but it never shied away from showing the darker parts of the world too and got a bit bloody at some points. What really got him hooked was the purple magic knight, Gillian. She is disillusioned about a lot of the world, struggling to find her place and her reason to be alive, but even those doubts never stop her from trying and fighting for a brighter future and for her team; bonus points, she's adorable and a doofus. He bought every single volume that had been released so far, binge watched the anime, and got every game and so much merch like immediately. This was all back in his mafia days and carries over to the present. He will talk anyone and everyone's ear off about Gillian aka "my goddess!" and openly calls her his wife. Everyone just chalks it up to Dazai being Dazai and that he's a weird otaku but whatever, nothing new.

Not much for romance usually, he honestly can't help falling in love and picturing himself and Gillian together, going on dates, kissing, double suicide, jk actually while Gillian isn't able to outright cure that tendency, he is surprised that the hope of her and her show rubs off on him and knows she would be disapointed hearing him talk about it or offer it

Chuuya hated the series just because Dazai likes it and talks about it nonstop but one day sees a clip of Gillian and gets a crush and he fucking hates it, absolutely denies that he also loves the series now.

Yosano also loves the series and is less open about it but she and Dazai have had discussions about why Gillian is their favorite.

Gin very secretly enjoys the series and often gets all blushy under her mask thinking of Gillian. Tachihara once accidentally found out and she almost slaughtered him when he started to make fun of her.

Higuchi has merch in a shrine in her closet.

Lovecraft does not have any merch but has watched the series after he was introduced to it from seeing Margaret giving Mark a hard time for his figurine he owns. Margaret only does that because she wishes she had the courage to buy more merch but has the whole series tucked secretly away where the rest of the guild can't find it.

Poe has 100% written his own reader insert fiction and uses his ability to experience it.

Also, Ranpo loves the series too and even though he has never really wanted a sibling before finds himself thinking she'd be a good sister. Fukuzawa once pointed out that he seemed attached to this character and he got super embarrassed about it.

Fukuzawa sees Ranpo watching and sees Gillian's struggles and Adopts, nobody but he himself knows this.

Mori thinks she's cute and also adopts and has figurines with changeable clothes, pretty open about it.

And Francis's daughter probably watched and so he bought tons of merch as gifts for her and then later sees it again and gets reminded of his own daughter a little by her favorite character and so mentally adopts, mentions this to no one.

Oda also wishes he could adopt and has spent many hours listening to Dazai rant about her, Ango gets roped in against his will.

Kouyou probably notices Kyouka secretly watching it mostly for the adorable mascot and feels sympathy for Gillian and joins in on the adoption train, sort of tells Kyouka that she wishes she was there to guide the young girl.

Yumeno is given the series to keep them self company in their cell and imagines her as a big sister that would take care of him and not leave him alone, has no one to tell.

Dialogue: "Shall I enlighten you, young Atsushi, on true perfection?."

Erza hears about this book series not long after escaping the tower of heaven and joining the guild. She finds strength in Gillian's refusal to stop fighting and her dedication to her friends. She gets a crush, but the series stays in the back of her head until years later she finds it again and rereads and this time falls in love with the purple knight. She has a whole bunch of merch but refuses to tell anyone about her love out of embarrassment.

She also secretly has two requips where one is a cosplay of Gillian's magical outfit and the other is a piece of armor that she thinks looks like what her magical outfit would be. She never uses them to fight, and requips into them for fun sometimes when she's home alone, cosplays and imagines she's one of the magical knights too.

Dialogue: "What'cha got there, Erza?"

Byleth saw this play while she was traveling around as a mercenary and was instantly captivated by the story of Gillian the purple knight. Her design was really what drew her in, but as they continued on their way she kept thinking about her and thought about how amazing she is. The next town they reached that had a production of the play, she insisted on watching again, and so it continues everytime they find a troupe putting it on. They come across a merchant one day who has a wall scroll of Gillian, and even though she knows it's silly and that with all her traveling there's not even a wall for her to hang it on, she buys it and carries it around. She's not sure what she feels, since love is kind of out of her reach at this point, but she knows she admires Gillian.

Her dad suspects she has a crush on Gillian and thinks it's cute. She won't go out of her way to talk about the play or Gillian, but she will talk about it if asked. Her students know that if they want to get on their teachers good side and try to get a grade bump that they can give her anything related to the series.

It's only after she starts being able to really feel her emotions that she realizes she's in love with Gillian.

Dialogue: "Isn't she cute?"

#self ship #selfship #self shipping #selfshipping #promomyselfship #dapper draws #dazian #erzian #bylian #f/o febuary

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lozzique · 5 years

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Okay now that I've slept on it, my thoughts on the CATS film.

First of all, I am still not completely sold on it. We have only seen a first look trailer and the trailer released yesterday. Before I go into my points, I have to mention what cats means to me.

It's one of those musicals that a lot of people see live as their first musical, and that is the same for me. I saw it when I was 16, about to start college, and it's cheesy to say but seeing that show literally changed my life. Through CATS I have met the most amazing friends online because we all share the same love for a show that holds such sentimental value to us, whether we saw it live or watched the 98 film version. So you can imagine how jarring it is to see this trailer and see how different a lot of the aspects we love are.

Anyway, it's not like I wasn't expecting changes, I knew there would be! But when the rights of CATS were being sold to Andrew Lloyd Webber, T.S Elliot's widow had said that Elliot had never wanted his characters to become pussy cats prancing around on a screen, for he had already turned down Disney. This isn't the first movie production of cats, we had the 1998 VHS version which is well known and loved amongst the fandom, there has been a cancelled animation of CATS which had so much potential and now we have the 2019 version.

Personally I've been suspended in suspense for months awaiting this trailer, and while I think the new concept from what I've seen from the trailer looks good there are parts that throw me off and do make me slightly upset. I will try and condense them down.

The animation. To me when the first shot of Victoria (the white cat) came onto screen I genuinely thought if you make her blue she'd look like an avatar. But that was just a first impression. The body of the cat itself isn't that bad, it's how you would imagine a cat walking and dancing like a human would look like; IT'S THE FACE WHICH GETS ME. Yes I understand they want the audience to be able to see the actor and actress's faces beneath the animation, but what I am not seeing is an actual CAT NOSE. If there were distinguishable cat noses then I don't think I'd be that thrown by it.

Trying to make it realistic. While I really appreciate they've tried to make it realistic, I feel like they've missed the mark. CATS on stage isn't meant to be realistic, you are meant to feel like you've stumbled upon a Junkyard filled with magic and strange looking cats, but they look strange in the wrong way in the film to me, sorry to say it. I can see that the CGI animators have gone for more realistic looking cats in some cases, that's okay, but I feel like they really didn't need to do that if these Cats are already singing and dancing around in their own Milk Bar etc, which of course isn't realistic since it's not meant to be, then why not make the cats look cool and interesting? Why not give them fur that is coloured slightly differently to a normal cat? It's what helps them stand out at being Jellicle Cats. The great thing about CATS on stage is that you can clearly see differences between characters because they all look different! Yet in the trailer I found it hard to pick out the characters that aren't being played by a big name because their fur colours blended into the background, or they all looked similar.

Choreography. Okay this part is me just stating a plain dislike and sorry but bare with. GILLIAN LYNNE IS SPINNING IN HER GRAVE! If you don't know who the late great Gillian Lynne is, she is the original choreographer of CATS the musical, if you are unfamiliar with her work just search the CATS 98 film on YouTube there you will see a perfect example of her work. She was extremely talented and really brought the feline movement to life in the dancing. She passed away recently and it was a great loss to the theatre and dance world. But, the current choreographer for the CATS movie who also choreographed Hamilton and the broadway revival of CATS, to me doesn't fully present the feline illusion in his work. Andy Blankenbuehler has a very distinct dance style which of course works for other productions, but it's the wrong style for cats. Real life cats move elegantly. The broadway revival of CATS honestly was to me not that great from what I was able to watch online, that's nothing on the cast, it's just the choreography did not sit well with me, it was too hip hop and modern for something that is meant to me making you feel like you're watching cats dance under a moon.

There are probably more negatives I could pick out but I don't feel that's necessary so I'll move onto some positives!

I will be seeing the film. Yes I will still watch it because I'm curious, I'm not going to let my negative feelings from one trailer stop me from watching it in the cinema, I may love it once I've seen the whole thing, who knows. The version I am used to will just hold a special place in my heart.

I'm really excited to see the talent of the ensemble characters! If you don't know what that means, it is essentially the background characters. The amazing part of CATS is that you can look at any character at any point in the show and they will be doing something that brings to life their character and I hope that translates onto the screen.

The set looks really fun! Though I'm used to seeing CATS set in a Junkyard I am really excited to see that their universe has expanded, the inclusion of the Milk Bar or the cabaret that Bombalurina seemed to be in looks really fun because I have always imagined what a world just for cats would look like. The illusion that they are cats is really helped by how everything is supersized and I bet the cast had a lot of fun working around that.

Finally, I hope that this movie inspires more stage to screen adaptations (hopefully done right) because it would open up such wonderful stories that are presented on stage to a wider audience. Theatre tickets are generally expensive so screen adaptations are really good to tell the story to people all over the world.

Yes I'm well aware I've had too much to say about this, but CATS is really special to me and many others so I wanted to share my feelings, good or bad.

Think what you want about the CATS movie, everyone is free to express their own opinion whether they hate it or not, all I can say is don't be nasty or hateful to anyone who is genuinely excited about this film, let them be! And don't be nasty or hateful to people who aren't excited, they just have a different view compared to you.

#cats the musical #andrew lloyd webber #Cats the movie #judi dench #ian mckellen #idris elba #james corden #jennifer hudson #rebel wilson #taylor swift #universal #ts elliot

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chercher0w0 · 5 years

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A Discovery of Witches - Show vs Book - 1

If you don’t want to read this long rambling mess of thoughts, I’d say that, in summary, the show and book are great complements for each other. As usual, I would say that it’s best to read the books first and get all the plot through Diana’s POV, as well as more of her inner thoughts. Then, follow up with watching the show to see the other supporting characters more fleshed out, as well as, in general, be able to get solid visualizations of the places, people and magic in the story.

Goes without saying that under the cut there are spoilers for the whole of ADOW S1, as well as mild spoilers for Book 2 and 3, especially at the end where I speculate about Season 2 =w= (( for more ADOW and bishmont feels, my fandom trash site is @cherchersketch. Once S2 is out, I’ll probably throw my episodic book vs show ramblings there ))

Opening

In lieu of some sort of opening song, every episode starts with these words, as well as Matthew’s voiceover, ending with him reciting a phrase that his father once said, “In every ending, there is a new beginning”. It’s interesting because in the book, the titular phrase “ A Discovery of Witches” only appears towards the end as Diana is trying to find out more about Ashmole 782. The mention of Phillipe’s words don’t even show up until near the very end of the second book, Shadow of Night. It is an intriguing way to get viewers interested in the show though. From the very first episode, it’s speculated that Ashmole 782 contains the origins of all 3 types of creatures, vampires, daemons, and witches. It is also reminiscent of Matthew’s speech in episode 2 that only two emotions keep the world turning, desire and fear. The title cards confirm that that is true, Ashmole 782 does, at the very least, contains the origin of witches and their first spells. Especially since, in the actual scene where, in the book, Diana sees those words scrawled on a piece of paper, together with one of the missing Ashmole 782 pages as well as a letter from her parents. Instead of the letter and this phrase, the show uses the house as the expository catalyst instead. In episode 8, Diana only receives the missing page. The house shows, through some sort of flashbacks, more or less what the letter states. It’s one of the many ways the show writers really did a great job changing details so the exposition can be shown, instead of just told outright.

Opening Scene

Honestly, when I first read the book, I was surprised how different the very beginning is. As usual, the main point for switching things around is to be able to organically show and gradually introduce viewers to the world of the series. From Matthew’s opening dialogue, which is the very first shot we see as well as the first dialogue we hear for this and every episode, “Once the world was full of wonders but it belongs to humans now. We creatures have all but disappeared. Daemons, vampires and witches hiding in plain sight, fearful of discovery, ill at ease even with each other.” it immediately lets us know how this world is different from ours, the existence of these three types of supernatural creatures, as well as their hostile attitude towards each other.

It also shows us Diana not having complete control of her powers, accidentally activating them in public. And most importantly, establishes the magic of the book, Ashmole 782. I love the shot of the librarian not finding it initially, then suddenly seeing it in the empty spot as she’s walking back with the rest of Diana’s requested books. In the actual book, it directly opens with Diana having Ashmole 782 in front of her, a brief description of it, and then a bunch of exposition about herself, her parents and her powers.

Bishmont

Another thing that surprised me, how they changed many scenes to have more Diana x Matthew scenes. Because lbr, we all know what sells. Haha.

From the very first time they meet, the scene in the book and TV show are very different. Also, quite understandably, due to the differences a more visual medium like TV has versus a book which can more easily describe stuff that can’t be shown. In the book, Diana has slightly more control over her powers, in that she vaguely knows it just takes a bit of desire, so to retrieve the book she needs, she just imagines the book in her hand and it flies there. She only realizes that Matthew is also there, noticing her use of magic, because as a witch she can feel when the different types of creatures are looking at her, so she feels his stare as cold spots in her back. In the show, Diana’s grasp of her powers are weaker and more erratic, so the book she hopes to get instead flys off the shelf and lands in Matthew’s hands.

In the book, Matthew’s initial realisation of his craving for Diana is much more reserved than in the show, though it’s through similar catalysts. On the show, we get that scene of Matthew sniffing Diana’s dropped sweater and just barely being able to control his predatory instincts, prompting him to momentarily run to Scotland to hunt. In the book, a similar thing happens, in that Diana leaves her sweater in his car from being driven home from yoga. It’s implied he got a similar reaction to her scent, though he only tells Diana about it later on, once he’s returned from Scotland.

Another beautifully added scene is the one before the dinner Diana invites Matthew to. In the book, it goes as expected. On the show, the addition of Peter Knox barging in beforehand to harass Diana, leading to Matthew rushing in with vampiric speed to stare down Knox is gr9 because there can never be enough growly protective Matthew scenes.

One aspect of Matthew’s initial stalking of Diana that I feel the show really improved on over the books, is when he breaks into Diana’s room to find Ashmole 782. On the show, he takes advantage of the fact that Diana is out rowing to look through her room to find it. In the book, he just creaks in while she’s sleeping and even makes sure she stays asleep by feeding her his blood. Kind of approaching Twilight’s Edward level of creepiness, though at least it’s more of a means to an end instead of some weird desire to watch Diana while she’s asleep.

Since they don’t usually show the whole thing on TV, unless it has a higher rating, I didn’t really catch on that they haven’t fully done the nasty at this point. Only realized it when I read that Matthew is specifically refusing to go all the way (for now. Until we learn why in Book 2 ;w;) and on a rewatch saw that yea, he’s just... using his hand or his mouth :x

One thing I do enjoy in the books over the show is that there’s more time for Diana and Matthew’s relationship to slowly develop. When I first watched it, it felt a bit too fast to be honest, though I did still enjoy the chemistry between Matthew Goode and Teresa Palmer, and a lot of the bishmont scenes were 🔥 🔥 🔥 It was pretty obvious that a lot of scenes had to be cut out to fit everything into the 8 episodes. In the book, though they’ve also known each other in the same short amount of time, but the way Diana and Matthew’s feelings for each other gradually develop through several dates and yoga lessons (OMG the yoga) makes it seem less Insta-lovey.

Diana

As I stated at the beginning, the book and the show complement each other. On the show, Diana is shown as being extremely athletic, often rowing by herself or going for a run. It doesn’t really seem to have much significance other than showing that Diana has hobbies outside of her academic work and occasionally providing an excuse for her to be alone so she can be snatched up (yes we know the scene I’m talking about). In the book, there is actually an explanation for it. We are told that Diana’s power incontinence leads to a build up of adrenaline which leads to her panic attacks, an unfortunate effect of the spellbinding on her. To work off the excess adrenaline, she turns to sport as she hates having to rely on medication to regulate it. Also, as previously mentioned, book!Diana seems to have a bit more “control” over her powers whereas TV!Diana does’t seem to at all. She also seems to have more of a witch’s power for the third eye, seeing visions when she looks at certain objects, like Matthew’s armour.

Matthew

I would say the main difference between book!Matthew and TV!Matthew is his anger management. From Diana’s description in the book, in the beginning Matthew seems to have an extremely quick temper, being able to go from calm to furious in a matter of seconds, even over seemingly small matters. Later on, it is revealed that he has an inherited blood rage problem. But without knowing that, initially it just seems like a red flag issue and someone Diana should avoid. On the show, Matthew Goode portrays a Matthew (Clairmont) that is always tightly in control of himself, but not necessarily with a hair trigger fuse. His bursts of violence only appear when Diana is threatened so it seems more justified to the viewer. And book!Matthew’s eyes do the thing where they go all black when he’s in the throes of a blood rage. I’m interested to see how it will be portrayed on the show in the next 2 seasons. Honestly, TV!Matthew never seemed overtly prone to anger like in the books. Just the “usual” overprotective vampire growling and fighting. Guess we’ll have to see how the show is gonna portray it because it’s a pretty major point conflict in the relationship in book 2 and 3.

A bit of a minor detail but in the book, it is shown how impressive Matthew’s academic career is since his living quarters are in an exclusive area of the campus, as befitting his title as one of the very few with an All Souls scholarship.

Gillian (and her friendship with Diana)

Book!Gillian is a bit more of a throwaway character than TV!Gillian. Book!Gillian seems to be more of a casual acquaintance to Diana, just another one of the Oxford area witches trying to get her to join the local coven. I like the modification in the series where they made her a closer friend to Diana. It gives a greater impact when Gillian ends up betraying Diana’s trust, spilling the secrets Diana thought were safe with a friend to Peter Knox. It amplifies the feeling of loneliness and isolation that Diana goes through when she learns there is no one in Oxford she can really trust, other than Matthew even though she’s only just gotten to know him. She is also portrayed as slightly more sympathetic on the show. In the book, she is just an example of the many witches in the area who despise other creatures, and thus looks down on Diana for fraternizing with a vampire. This disdain, plus her ambition to be a part of the congregation, leads her to doing Peter Knox’s dirty work, like breaking into Matthew’s lab and sending Diana the gruesome photos of her dead parents. On the show, she seems to have more of a timid personality, making her a bit of a doormat that is easily manipulated by Knox. She is also given a lower position, still being unable to qualify for tenure while Diana is one of the youngest to have done so at Yale, giving Gillian a bit of an inferiority complex. This makes it easy for Knox to feed her lies about Diana using her powers for her own academic gain, leading Gillian to carry out Knox’s dirty work in order to gain more of a status in her witchy community.

It’s also an interesting detail that later on, when Matthew sucks her blood as payback for breaking into his lab, on the show it’s presented more as him wanting to know what Gillian has seen and how much she was able to report to Knox. It kind of implies that the extra blood loss that lead to her death might have been due to her dragging herself all the way to the house of the coven leader, at least, that’s how I saw it. Matthew later on even mentions that he didn’t mean to kill her. In the book, since we’re not really shown the scene, it is just mentioned that Matthew sucked her blood and killed her for revenge. Since Matthew is one of the two main leads, and Gillian was a closer friend of Diana’s than in the book, it makes sense they would want to tone down the extent of Matthew’s culpability while still having Gillian end up dead.

Marcus (and his children. Or lack thereof)

There’s a bit more of Marcus in the show than the book, which is nice. We see book!Miriam more in the beginning since she’s the one who guards over Diana in the Bodleian on Matthew’s behalf. Understandable as being Matthew’s lab assistant gives her access to the same areas in Oxford, unlike Marcus who works somewhere else. I liked the added interaction of Marcus and Diana where she asks him what food to prepare for her dinner date with Matthew, in exchange for letting him and Miriam draw her blood. It’s a cute scene.

We are first shown that vampires are increasingly failing to sire by TV!Marcus failing to save his friend, James. They then analyse his blood, proving that he has the same genetic markers as other cases of failed sires. In the books, it’s just a vague mention of it happening to other vampires. The show kind of gave me the impression that it was the first time Marcus had tried siring but in the books, he has a whole family of children in New Orleans. I’m curious how the show will incorporate that then, since they’re sort of an important plot point for certain events, especially in Book 3. Also, the point that Marcus attempted to sire James without asking for his permission first brings to mind Matthew’s previous siring of Cecilia that led to her suicide. It’s not given a huge emphasis on the show though it comes up twice, so having read the book Matthew’s anger at Marcus siring James without asking for permission is an extra D:

Pacing and plot changes The biggest difference between the book and the show, is that the book is written in a first person limited style, from Diana’s POV, with a smattering of third person limited chapters to show some scenes where Matthew is away from Diana. The show show employs more of a third person omniscient style. From the start, we are shown all the members of the Congregation, as well as other characters that loom in the background, slowly closing in on our main characters. It’s less of a jarring experience when certain events occur.

Satu In the show, we are shown from the beginning how Peter Knox recruits her into the Congregation, as someone who can take his side in Congregation matters. She is portrayed slightly more sympathetic as instead of just appearing in the middle to open up Diana, we see her already confronting Diana early on to try to gauge Diana’s powers. We also see her try to learn more about Diana by reading through Congregation archives. And we see Peter Knox’s power over her initially as he subdues her using his power. Also, like most witches, she is convinced that Matthew is using his vampiric powers to put Diana under his spell. Though these don’t justify the extremes she goes to, it is less of an abrupt shock when she appears to whisk Diana away from Sept-Tours and open her up to see Diana’s secrets and true powers.

Juliette Another whoa-that-came-out-of-nowhere antagonist in the book. In the show, as with Satu, we see her slowly closing in on our main characters as she is shown to have an obsession with “Matthew”, under Gerbert’s control. Though it does seem kind of :x that Marcus and Miriam didn’t warn Matthew when Juliette broke into his room. It was only a matter of time before she tracked him down to Diana’s home in Madison.

Sophie and Nathaniel Definitely preferred the introduction of Sophie and Nathaniel in the series than the book =w=;;; In the book, when they show up out of nowhere to hand Diana one of the items she needs to travel to 1590, it seems a bit Deus Ex Machina-y because we are only following the events through Diana’s limited POV. In the show, we see Sophie slowly try to decipher who she is supposed to hand her family heirloom to, through her prophetic dreams. The idea of creatures intermixing is also gradually introduced as we find out that Sophie is a daemon born to witches, carrying a witch baby. Also implying that her prophetic dreams is due to her witchly heritage. It also shows us, from the start, Nathaniel’s proficiency in computers, which will come in handy later on.

Deleted Scenes It’s a 579 page book that has to be condensed into less than 8 hours of screen time so of course some things have to be cut.

Yoga Oh the yoga scenes. It would have been vaguely hilarious to see Matthew doing yoga XD Also, it added to Diana and Matthew slowly getting to know each other, as well as the possibility of all creatures getting along. Pacing-wise, it would probably have been a bit too early in the show to introduce the concept of all the different creatures working together in harmony. Throughout the 8 episodes, there’s a nice development from outright hatred, with Gillian’s attitude towards Diana hanging out with Matthew, begrudging cooperation, within the members of the Congregation, tentative co-existence, with Nathaniel’s daemon group talking about how they interact with other creatures and humans, to the shadow congregation/conventicle that Diana’s family, Matthew’s family and Sophie’s family end up forming towards the end of the season.

The ghosts Another practical cut because plot-wise, they don’t really add as much. It would have been fun to see Granny ghost and the other’s checking Matthew out the first time he steps into the Bishop house XD

Season 2 speculations

- Suddenly watching a period piece. Haha. Though considering the ending of Season 1, it’ll probably expand on the story and intersperse bishmont’s 1590s shenanigans with present day details, like Marcus’s leadership of the Knights of Lazarus and what happens between Emily and Gerbert - bloodRage!Matthew. Yes please. I AM HERE FOR IT 🔥 🔥 🔥 - T H E M A R R I A G E and finally getting to see bishmont do the do 😏 - Diana’s R A I N B O W magic. Also, I honestly still can’t quite picture what the knotting that she does with her magic looks like so it’ll be interesting to finally get to see it on screen. - Also quite curious to see if they’ll leave the loss of their first child in. On the one hand A N G S T plus a parallel to Matthew’s first marriage to Blanca. On the other hand, is there enough screen time? Also, the whole fear of hereditary blood rage could cover the same A N G S T.

Honestly, there’s so much plot to cover, I’m curious to see how they’ll do it in 10 episodes (EDIT: thanks for the update on S2′s ep count @adow-trash . Sorry I’m super new to the fandom. Only started diving in on Monday)

#A Discovery of Witches #ADOW #all souls trilogy #Deborah Harkness #adow spec #bishmont

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pantherlover · 5 years

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Rosemary and Rue Re-Read: Part 2

Here’s part 2! Once again, spoiler warning: I have read every book in the series up to Night and Silence (although not all of the short stories), and I will be referring to events that happen in later books.

Chapter 2

I love the way Toby smells magic. And I love the way that this skill is introduced, too - she’s so casual about this ability, and she’s so sure that she’s weak compared to purebloods that I genuinely thought that it was a common skill for at least the Daoine Sidhe, if not all fae. It wasn’t until we saw someone else trying to detect magic, and be unable to identify the smell beyond it maybe being, like, a flower, that I realized that it’s actually a really impressive/useful skill for Toby to have.

Quentin darling! I think I was surprised that Quentin showed back up in book 2 the first time I read it, because he’d been kind of a jerk in book 1. I have definitely changed my mind since then. And he’s so adorable here! SO confused by everything that Toby is, but still stubborn/duty-bound enough to keep up with her (even at his most stuck up).

Toby not wanting to see Sylvester because she thinks he blames her for what happened with Luna and Raysel is heartbreaking.

Seeing Toby’s childhood memories makes me feel so Conflicted. On the one hand, at least she has some memories of good times with her mother. On the other hand, reading this part again makes me wonder how much of this as a lie - did Amandine really love Toby when they were living in the mortal world, or did she just love that Toby helped give her the illusion of being mortal?

I wonder what would have happened if Toby had chosen being human. We know that Toby’s Choice only happened so early because Amandine was turning Toby human, so the Luidaeg stepped in to make sure that Amandine’s line wasn’t disturbed. Killing Toby would’ve defeated the purpose of the Luidaeg interfering, so that wasn’t an option. Neither was letting Amandine turn her completely human. Would someone have had to step in to raise Toby in the mortal world if she’d chosen it? (Would the Luidaeg have had to do it?) Edit: Okay, I re-read the short story where it happens, and it seems like if Toby had chosen being human Sylvester would have either killed her or let Amandine turn her human. I still think the Luidaeg raising Toby would’ve been an interesting ‘what-if’ scenario.

14 years always seemed like a very specific time period for the spell to work. Was it ever confirmed if someone let Toby out of her enchantment, or did Toby break herself out? I think I have to wait until The Winter Long to get an explanation.

Do we know for sure if Lily was the one who put Toby’s illusion on for her? I’m not sure if it’s an important detail or not, but I’m Suspicious. Mostly because I’m not sure why Lily would help Toby with her illusions and not bring Toby into her knowe to help explain things to her.

This cop is such a dick. Sure, let’s just assume that this dazed, obviously traumatized woman is lying about who she is for funsies (never mind that if he had been working on her case, I assume that he would’ve seen at least one picture of her, so I don’t think it’s outside of the realm of possibility that she should’ve at least looked a little familiar to him). And let’s yell at her for being so confused that she puts down the wrong date! That’ll help the situation!

The situation Toby’s in right now is so bleak. It feels like she’s drifting in this gray-zone between the two worlds, with nothing to anchor her to either one. It’s really well written and really, really hard to read.

Both of Toby’s dreams left me with several questions.

One: I am 100% certain that Amandine’s obsession with turning/keeping Toby human has something to do with Janet. What was their relationship like? It seems like Amandine was taken from Janet when she was fairly young - does she think that her mother let her go? Is making Toby human something that she thinks will bring her closer to her mother? Is she doing it to spite her mother (I mean, it’s Amandine, so)? Is she doing it for some other inexplicable reason that we don’t have enough context for? I! Am! So! Curious!!!!

Second: What’s the likelihood of Toby’s father being someone important? My first thought was that it wasn’t very likely, because humans have never been a super important part of this series, but the last two books have started to include humans more; Toby brought Officer Thornton back from Annwn, Janet, the mortal who broke Faerie was introduced, and Gillian, a changeling child who was turned mortal has now become a pureblood. So I think it’s possible? But I’m still not 100% sold on the idea that he’ll end up being important yet - although that might change during this re-read!

(Slight tangent, but: please let Gillian meet Chelsea. Please, please, please let Gillian meet Chelsea. They could bond over so much! Chelsea could help Gillian come to terms with being thrust into this strange world she doesn’t understand when she used to be mortal! It could be so good!)

Third: We know that Evening wanting Toby gone was the reason that Toby got turned into a fish in the first place. So why is she helping Toby come back from the pond? Does Evening think Toby will be more easily manipulated into doing things she wants her to? Or that her trauma stops her from being as much of a threat as she was before she went into the pond? Or is she just biding her time to make sure that Toby gets into an ‘accident’ that can’t be tied back to her? Does anyone else have any ideas?

Chapter 3

What do you want to bet that this is the only time that Toby actually gets an adequate amount of sleep for the rest of the book? At least she got to start her quest well rested.

I really like this explanation of why cats and the fae have a close relationship with each other. It seems very fitting that these two beings would stare each other in the face and say to each other, “I may not need you, but I want you, so you’re just going to have to deal with that.”

“I got the cats so I wouldn’t be so lonely. I was starting to reconsider that idea. Maybe lonely was a good thing.” I hope, several years after this book is set, she’s staring out into her living room (which is currently housing a dozen children arguing over what pizza to get, May and Jazz, who are egging the kids on, and Tybalt, who’s taken over an entire couch and is watching the proceedings with fascination) and can’t even imagine how she was capable of ever thinking that.

There’s a whole lot to unpack from the paragraph where Toby’s explaining the things they’ve done for each other: Toby clearing Evening’s name when she was accused of trying to destroy the Queen’s Court (which is ironic on multiple levels, and is a story that I want so much now), Evening helping Toby out when she gets in trouble tailing the Duchess of Dreamer’s Glass (which, now that we know who the Duchess is, made me go ‘wait, what??’ when I read it and instantly made me want to know more about that case) - ending in Toby declaring that ‘if there was a pureblood other than Sylvester that I’d trust with my life, it was her.’ Which is. Awful. And gets worse the longer the series goes on.

This book’s plot is seriously making me want to skip ahead and re-read The Winter Long, because I’m pretty sure that there are at least hints of answers there, but: What was Evening’s plan here? Does she get herself killed every couple of centuries just to keep her hand in? Was she hoping that the geas would end up killing Toby? This was horrifying the first time I read this (and it kind of still was this time, if only for Toby’s sake), but now I’m so confused. This seems like it was a lot of effort just to get Toby to do something for her, so there must have been another goal she wanted to accomplish from this, but what is it??? I think Evening explains a little bit of it in The Winter Long, but again, Evening is a lying liar who lies, so I’m not sure I should believe her explanations anyway!

And so Toby’s shoved face first into her first Quest, and therefore back into Faerie. She may have been brought back kicking and screaming to the world that she Chose, I don’t think she would’ve been capable of ignoring it for long - Faerie needs her, after all.

(And I think there’s a kind of poetic justice to the fact that Evening’s the one that incited the Journey of the Hero who’s going to rip her schemes apart one by one.)

That’s it for this part. Again, come talk to me about the books! Let me know if I’m missing something totally obvious!

#October Daye #Rosemary and Rue #ReRead Project

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terramythos · 5 years

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Notes from my October Daye reread, #7 Chimes At Midnight. Or, "don't eat evil pie if you're planning to overthrow the government". Advanced spoilers, please read the books, etc.

Reminder right off the bat that sweet fashion disaster May used to be an eldritch horror of the night???

-the month name in her case seems to be a coincidence? (But like. How could a name like May Daye be a coincidence. Come the fuck on.)

-Goblin fruit is super yikes. Super addictive drug that inevitably leads to death?

- Tybalt and Toby domestic shit hell yeah

Tybalt: arrested for being horny on main

- Toby: let's visit the Queen, who demonstrably hates me, about the goblin fruit problem. What could possibly go wrong (spoiler: a whole lot)

-"i may be a composite of multiple dead people, but I'm not stupid" May is nonbinary, pass the fucking tea

-The Gang Overthrows the Queen

Quentin is such a good kid! Fuck!

-I just... love the characters and how they've developed over the series. Quentin is great, Tybalt is great, The Luidaeg is great... October has changed into a more open and less depressed person. It's great! I mean, everything goes to shit over the next 2 books, but we've come so far!

-Quentin getting extremely upset that The High King didn't notice the Queen didn't have a legitimate claim to the throne? Haha. Haha. *takes another shot*

-Quentin: we could just like... TELL the High King that shes not a legitimate ruler. Like we literally could just call him up and say--

Toby: he would probably kill us and how would we do that anyway

Quentin: *silently screaming*

Have I mentioned I LOVE the Luidaeg? Shes such a great character.

-the implication that tybalt's archaic speech is at least partially just to fuck with Toby is so fuckign funny god they're so cute

GOD...

-Quentin not quite bowing to Arden, or at least not as formally as the others. That's foreshadowing. God damn it.

- The Undersea: is relevant

Me: wow I knew we introduced all that lore 2 books ago for a reason

- "Princesses aren't exciting. I've met Princesses." I am so glad I am not ACTUALLY drinking every time Quentin's identity is foreshadowed, because this book alone would have killed me by now.

- everything: goes to shit

Me: ah, there it is

- Toby becoming instantly addicted to goblin fruit and forgetting 2 of the most important people in her life has me at a severe oof. :(

- fucking props to seanan for making pie legitimately threatening.

- October Daye patch 7.1 notes: due to balance concerns, toby has been shifted back to more human.

Gameplay effects: hair is brown again. blood magic effects and self-healing have been reduced by 75%. Iron resistance increased 75%.

-Theres a line about how Tybalt should have known better than to believe anything could have gone right for very long and. Yikes in context. Yikes with knowing Tybalt's backstory.

- fun lore with the Luidaeg offering to turn Toby into a Selkie to save her from impending death. Being like... technically the Selkie Firstborn. And how much doing that would actually cost. It's certainly something to file away for later because I don't imagine we would introduce a concept like that and then abandon it...

-SUDDEN HEAVY SETUP FOR BOOK 8 STUFF. SUDDEN BOOK 1 BEING RELEVANT. Why did Evening, some random noble, have a fucking ancient powerful artifact just kinda... randomly in her possession? INDEED.

- toby: Why does the name Eira Rosenhwyr sound so familiar?

Mags: Oh she's a Firstborn

Toby: Right, that definitely explains it one hundred percent. Time to not think about it at all ever again.

- TOBY I'm aware you're kind of out of your mind right now but surely you can see the aesthetic similarity between EIRA ROSENHWYR and EVENING WINTERROSE. Ajdjenskkelbsbd

- I fucking googled it and Eira Rosenhwyr translates roughly to "Snow Rose Evening" lmfao

- Mags, continuing exposition: yeah she always had this Snow White thing where like she never stayed dead for long

Me, considering book 1's central conflict and how Evening was described multiple times as Snow White: 🙃

- I really appreciate the fact that whenever Walther shows up in a book he pretty much saves the day in a major way just by making like. A potion

- toby: magic is weird. Candy made from my blood that temporarily curbs the effects of addiction? Right

Walther: you're dating a cat

-I forgot we learn The Luidaeg's actual name in this one???? "Yeah I'm Antigone what up"

-OH THATS WHERE THE "ANNIE" PSEUDONYM COMES FROM. God damn it.

-God I love Danny and his godawful expletives "Oberon's scrotum". God

- I haven't mentioned it too much but there are soooooo many good tybalt and toby moments. They have such a good and loving relationship. Boy I die

-there's a bit where Toby consumes some of the Luidaeg's blood for Reasons and gets a brief Luidaeg-POV flashback.. which shows the Luidaeg protesting Amandine abusing Toby as a kid. So even though they don't really meet until book 1, it puts her first unofficial appearance in a new context. Just some all powerful ancient sea witch checkin up on her niece at Safeway, y'know

- god the first Cu Sidhe shows up in this one and he just looks like a glam rocker who's also sort of a dog. Jesus christ

- they just act like dogs too and it is so funny. Fucking zero attention span, super excited and happy at being told they did a good job.

- arden: there's no way you're amandine's kid. She would never sleep with a human. Her husband would be pissed

Toby: ??? My mom isn't married?

(Oh boy that's gonna be a fun one)

AND, AFTER SIX AND A HALF BOOKS OF SOLID FORESHADOWING:

We get the Quentin reveal. The alcohol poisoning ceases.

-There's some real good irony in like. THE Crown Prince getting apprenticed to Toby, who is a member of Faerie's biggest underclass. And they become fucking BFFs over the course of the series. That's some good shit

👌👌👌some GOOD👌 shit right there

-God just going back there are SO many hints. I noted a lot of them on this series reread but some of my favorites are the real subtle ones. Like Quentin in book 2 being inexplicably amused when Toby orders him to do something.

- Like?? She makes the kid do chores. She's almost gotten him killed like half a dozen times. That's just some... premium good shit.

Well the book sums up that revelation pretty well lmao

- Did... did Arden just imply Toby's mom caused the 1906 San Francisco earthquake...? That is certainly something I either missed or forgot. How is that like even a thing

- The night haunts are cool as shit and I'm glad they're showing up as bigger players. And now we have setup for Toby owing them a favor. Delightful.

ME SIPPING THAT LUIDAEG LORE JUICE

- October Daye patch 7.1.8 notes: oh god we fucked up we fucked up changes reverted

-Blood magic CPR? Canon. Then again I'm pretty sure Toby was established using blood magic to resurrect someone in book 2. So. Book 2 is still relevant

God I'm such a sucker for this angsty shit. And of course this would be Tybalt's solution, considering his backstory. God. Fuck

-I like how they went from enemies to like ridiculously sweet and affectionate lovers.. but it's not 100% perfect, they still have arguments and disagreements. But it all comes down to them caring about each other. That's some good shit right there

- Dianda being a huge badass and just singlehandedly taking out six guards while iron poisoned. a good development.

- new toby power of literally stealing someone's powers by drinking their blood. We're going like full vampire here huh

- and The Queen... who we establish actually traded her name away... manages to escape. Wonder when she shows up again 🤔🤔🤔

- ok god the fucking short story epilogue is SO GOOD. Luidaeg POV!!! Luidaeg lore is always good but this is one of the only parts we have seen Amandine. It reveals that The Luidaeg literally has just been October's guardian angel for years, which explains why some all powerful sea witch just stumbles into Toby's life???. Amandine is a fucking brat. It foreshadows fucking... SOMETHING with the goddamn month names. And it sets up Eira. God next book is going to be so good.

- There are interesting parallels between Toby and her mom. Amandine was trying to turn Toby into a human for fucking years?? As some kind of shitty experiment? Almost succeeded until The Luidaeg intervened. There's all these lines about how Amandine had stolen centuries of Toby's life, how Toby would be defenseless and Faerie would still know who she was even if Amandine succeeded. What does this say about Gillian? Toby turned her completely human in book 4 to save her life. There's no way that's not going to come back in a big way.

-What. Is with. The month names. Seriously we have not had any new ones since 3 but that's still like 5 characters. I know there are several more coming in the next few books and I still don't know why the fuck lol

-This book was mostly the final setup for next book, which is an absolute fucking bombshell. Probably the best book in the series and that is saying something. I'm excited to reread it. But on it's own this one is a good read too... love that we finally got the Quentin reveal!! The horrific Queen is gone for now! Stuff!

#oh god the winter long is next. heaven preserve me #that one is gonna be a LOOOONG post #how am i going to limit it to 10 pics... i had issues with this one!

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words-writ-in-starlight · 6 years

Text

so long and lost

We all knew I was going to end up here, we all knew it, every last goddamn one of us. Takes place immediately after One Salt Sea, relevant spoilers about Selkies.

Looking at the Luidaeg was stranger than ever, in this disguise—Cousin Annie, she had called it, but there was more than that. Toby had seen this youngest ‘Annie’ face plenty of times, but now the Luidaeg had layered it thick and heavy, until even the hair-raising sense of monster in the room was smothered under the level eyes and sad lips of her disguise. It was normally impossible to stand beside the Luidaeg without feeling something, no matter how at ease Toby had gotten to be with her. Even Quentin admitted to it, when pressed—like standing at the edge of a sea-side cliff in stormy weather, acutely aware that you were close enough to touch something that had been old and powerful when humanity was still figuring out how to make bricks.

Now, Annie passed nearly invisible among the Selkie clan, and when Toby turned away to let the Luidaeg talk to someone passing nearby, she almost lost sight of her in the slow-milling crowd.

Toby passed near enough to hear a clutch of teenagers whispering enviously over the new Selkie, the newly passed skin, and her stomach rebelled so sharply that she had to stop in place and breathe. Oberon bless the little boy that the Luidaeg was herding out of her path, because Toby thought she might die of the horror if she had to explain herself.

Those kids—and they were kids, the oldest of the group couldn’t be more than seventeen—were bickering over the flayed skins of the Luidaeg’s children. Moaning over the idea like they had never craved anything else, like they couldn’t bear a moment more outside the sea, like the water called to them as strongly as any magical geas.

No wonder Connor had been so furious when he found out that she had gotten a skin destroyed.

The thought came unbidden, of Connor as one of these kids hoping for a Selkie skin, hit Toby in the chest, as clean and brutal as any bullet she’d ever taken. She slipped out of the house while the Luidaeg’s back was turned and half-ran back to the car, and pulled her jacket so tightly around her that the leather creaked. It didn’t smell like pennyroyal and musk anymore, just like cut grass—copper didn’t cling half so well.

Maybe she couldn’t smell the copper because she was too busy tasting bile.

Toby bent over, trying to take deep breaths of the salt-touched air, trying not to be sick. Then, when she was sure she wasn’t about to throw up, she crouched down, settling down on her heels and pressing her head back against the cold metal of the car door, and listened to the distant sound of voices.

It was a long time before the Luidaeg sat down beside her—or maybe it wasn’t long at all, just a few minutes of breathing. Toby didn’t know if she was trying to ignore the slow roll of nausea or the aching hole in her chest or both, and the Luidaeg didn’t say anything, sitting down on the cold asphalt with her legs crossed and her hair loose from its usual ties.

“How can you stand it?” Toby asked at last.

“I’ve stood a lot of things,” the Luidaeg said. “Some of them for you. I helped you kill my own brother.”

“Because I asked.”

“Because it had to be done. So does this.”

“Careful,” Toby said to her hands. “You might start to sound like me.”

The Luidaeg scoffed and shook back her hair, a careless movement as well suited to her mask of a wayward Roane as anything. If Toby hadn’t known better, she would have expected to taste Roane on the air. But the gaze that the Luidaeg turned on her was sharp and driftglass clear, very much herself.

“I condemned an entire race for the sins of their progenitors. The least I can do is watch.”

Toby nodded, the brief moment of humor evaporating like mist under the Luidaeg’s eyes. “Do they—know?”

“Yes,” the Luidaeg said. “Firstborn live a very long time—longer than even purebloods can really grasp—and we can hold a grudge even longer. It had been a generation since my children died, when their skins were brought back to me, but I was—angry. I’m still angry. I’m not sorry for the deal I made them, even though it was cruel.”

“And part of the deal was that they had to tell the truth.”

“Every new Selkie gets a skin and a story,” the Luidaeg said, eyes slipping away from Toby. Toby lowered herself all the way onto the ground at last, feeling her jeans grow damp from the fog-kissed asphalt. “They learn their history first. They can take the skin or leave it, afterward.”

Toby pressed her lips together. There was something in the Luidaeg’s voice that was too heavy, too tired for it to be so simple. It was so hard to blame her for it. “Like changelings can take or leave Faerie?”

“Just like that.” The Luidaeg’s eyes drifted to the ocean, hidden by a low line of bushes and the long stretch of the beach, and for a moment it was so close that Toby imagined she could feel the pull of the tide on her bones, the water clutching at her and trying to drag her down away from the light. The shiver that crawled down her spine was nearly a convulsion. “They took my babies from me,” the Luidaeg said distantly, that sense of monster in the room coming back in a rush at the rasp of her voice, “when none of us had ever done them any harm, because they wanted the ocean so desperately. They were ready to trade innocent lives for what they craved, as long as those innocents were someone else’s children. They can look at their own children and do the same. I might live with my grief for eternity, so they will, too.”

“That’s cruel.”

“Revenge often is, and I never claimed to be kind,” the Luidaeg replied, and Toby nodded.

It was hard to blame her for that cruelty, when Toby would have gladly murdered Rayseline and Oleander slowly, excruciatingly, for laying a hand on Gillian.

The salt air tasted bloody on Toby’s tongue, but the bile was gone, and she would take the exchange. She sat and breathed slowly while the Luidaeg sat beside her, quiet, eyes on the invisible waterline and head tipped slightly as if to listen to the voices there. Toby wondered if she ever pretended to be listening to the Roane instead of the Selkies, or if that kind of dream was too painful to consider.

Finally, Toby cleared her throat and said, “I—a while back, a couple years, in Tamed Lightning, a Selkie died. Colin Byrne. His skin—my car caught fire, and his skin burned.”

“Yes,” the Luidaeg said. “I know.”

“I didn’t mean to lose it,” Toby said. “Con—Connor was furious with me, but Quentin—I couldn’t think about anything else. I just grabbed Quentin and tried to get away.”

“Why are you telling me this?” Toby stopped short at the question, and the Luidaeg slanted a narrow, dark-eyed look at her, eyes all black from edge to edge. Whatever Toby had been about to say vanished, caught in the sea-witch’s regard like she hadn’t been in years. “Do you want my permission, late in the game as it may be, to have saved your boy at the cost of mine?”

“I—no,” Toby said, taken aback. “I just—I thought you should know. That I wanted to bring it back. I didn’t know you had anything to do with the Selkies, but…” She held up a hand, helpless. “It should have come back. I should have done more to save it. I’m just sorry, I guess.”

The Luidaeg laughed, and Toby tried not to look too obviously like the sound made some instinctive part of her brain sit up and say run. She was probably doing a bad job, from the way that the Luidaeg glanced at her.

“Of course that’s what you have to say,” the Luidaeg muttered, shaking her head. “Of course. My father’s children are so predictable.” Toby didn’t say anything, holding very still and feeling not unlike a mouse under the eye of a cat. The Luidaeg was quiet for another moment, and when she spoke, her voice was softer than Toby had ever heard it.

“I know every Selkie clan in the world, and whose skin they wear. The Byrne family wore the skin of one of my sons. His name was Caoimhin—it meant gentle. He was the sweetest boy. He doted on his younger siblings, and he liked to stay near the beach in case any children fell into the water, so that he could pull them back to shore.” The Luidaeg’s eyes were dry, and the ocean felt nearer than ever, the smell of salt so close that Toby had to touch a shaking hand to her face to be sure that there was no water there.

I shouldn’t be hearing this, Toby thought numbly. This was precious information, nothing that could possibly be free. Just listening was probably against some deeper law of Faerie—there were people who would think that a changeling should be executed for the crime of merely being in the vicinity while a Firstborn told her secrets.

The Luidaeg’s gaze came back to Toby, still black from edge to edge, but the darkness was soft and wet, like the eyes of a seal.

“He would have let you leave him behind, even if he had been alive, to save your boy,” the Luidaeg said, sad and smiling and terribly sure. “I can take my revenge and do my little cruelties and call in my greatest debts, but I can’t seem to hold that against you.”

“Why?” Toby asked before she could stop herself. In for a penny, in for a pound.

The Luidaeg actually laughed at that. The sound made Toby’s chest hurt again. “I don’t have to explain myself to you, October Daye. If you think about it, I’m sure you’ll get there eventually. Come on, hero,” she said, rising to her feet, and she held out a hand to help Toby up. “You need to get home to your family.”

#starlight writes stuff #toby daye #october daye #the luidaeg #the FIRST THING that popped into my head rereading a local habitation was 'JESUS TOBY GOT A SELKIE SKIN DESTROYED'#and so here we all are #listen i just want to CRY ABOUT THE LUIDAEG #and talk about SELKIES #and how DEEPLY AND TERRIBLY HORRIFYING THEY ARE #this is an entire CULTURE an entire HERITAGE stolen from the roane #i still love the idea of selkies hearing their skins cry in their sleep #newly skinned selkies are known to wake screaming the first time they sleep in their human form #from dreams of bloody hands clutching them close and a ragged voice saying 'please please please'#the roane are long gone and long dead and their skins contain nothing but the memory of a terrible death #that and the weeping desperate desire of a child in pain--to see their mother and feel her arms around them and be safe #and if selkies want to have the sea they have to live with the memory of their skin #also: obviously the reason the luidaeg can't hold it against toby is because toby is A Hero #and a Hero would have saved the roane if they could #anyway!!!!!#why has not one single person talked At Length about tybalt's thoughts as he watches toby wear his jacket for Literally Years #i want to point out that toby very much thinks of it as Her Jacket (the only armor she'll ever wear GET OUT OF MY HOUSE fucking illegal)#but it's actually super not it's tybalt's jacket and she runs around wearing it religiously and protecting it and repairing it #for YEARS before they get together #and whenever she's unconscious and recovering while tybalt is around he!!! wears!!! the!!! jacket!!!!!!!#because it makes him feel close to her!!!!!!!!!#i'm suing seanan mcguire for emotional damages!!!!!!!#idiot teenagers with a queue

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warmbeebosoftbeebo · 6 years

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I’m dehydrated and you’re one of my faves. Where did ya go?!

been here, falling hopelessly behind on posts, both my own n others. i did just do a bden’s booty post with brallon, vices era that’s quite…uh…educational. yeah, educational.

i’ve been reading on orgasm gap research between het women, bi women, lesbians, gay men, bi men, straight men too. you know something is profoundly wrong with our (cultural) definition of sex when researchers and laypeople can say straights have more sex than lesbians, who supposedly have the least, but straight women only average 7 orgasms a *month* while lesbians average 55 monthly, more than anyone else. *x-files music with gillian anderson quoting some piv & porn-critique*

i wondered something the other day: imagine if only people who really liked women and wanted to just show people having a great time sexually made sexual material? bc most porn is so clearly “women are trash/cum dumpsters/whores/cunts so let’s hurt and humilate them” i’m astonished most people can’t see it. (it’s amazing how common women’s faces are visibly distressed, in pain, etc, and this is either irrelevant or the whole damn point.)

i’ve also had so many dirty thoughts about b i can’t even… like outercourse/tribadism/frottage are criminally underrated–been thinking lots lately about that with b (not that i don’t do that usually haha). am also working on a part two of bden’s tongue–that man’s so oral n his mouth generally is just… so sexy n ridiculous at the same time? how does he manage to get me thinking these filthy thoughts about his mouth on me, esp on my vulva, when being a complete goober with his lips and/or tongue? fucking houdini. (he’s my favouriteeee. precious lil boob) also, how is my life now in significant part “contemplating” him having a smaller than average dick. (bden has a small peepee ok peeps? on what planet does he have a bigger than average one? bc it ain’t earth.) god, i wanna touch that man’s dick, feel it in my hands n in my mouth n between my thighs n between my labia n on my clit n dsfkldfskl;dfskl;dsf

i’ve also been thinking of doing an imagine with a trans character, esp since it’s been requested a couple times, but was thinking of doing one with one who was starting to desist/recently desisted. i don’t consider myself a desister bc i never took steps to transition medically, and was never publicly socially out, due in large part to my environment (structural feminism, livejournal vs tumblr, my mom & her own history, knowing my brother had also been trans when younger than me for a few years and desisted, eg he used to steal my underwear n menstrual pads to wear them, wished he was female, wished there was a magic way to become one), but from 12-16 i was trans (intensely wished i was a gay man, contemplated medical transition sometimes, had a vivid fantasy life of being a gay man, wrote about being a gay man, i still to this damn day get dysphoric/anxious/panicked/distressed at the idea of wearing a dress or skirt in spite of my trying to rationalize it away, etc). given tumblr, being born later in the age of lupron for preadolescents n medically transitioning adolescents, no radical and other structural feminism (eg shere hite, kate millett, audre lorde, dworkin, alice walker) my life would’ve turned out very different.

i would be super interested in talking with someone(s) who wanted to look at ideas around an imagine with bxreader with that, like struggling with seeing one’s body as female, having genitalia being called vulva/cunt/pussy/etc, wondering how to be seen as a person while being female during sex–i think a lot of what drives the fact that 70-80% of young trans are females who identify as male/nonbinary/etc, and what drove it in part for me, was rejection of porn culture/pornification/women being seen as holes for males, and not wanting to be treated like women in porn & mainstream culture (which is pretty much the current softcore porn and softcore virtually isn’t actually made anymore by pornographers) are treated, combined with how completely Barbified teen girls, 20something and 30something women in mainstream culture are, with a few rare exceptions for older women like Ellen (who are generally not seen as sexual but only funny, talented, etc). (asperger’s, anxiety & depression, eating disorders/disordered eating (anxiety n disordered eating also played a role for me), same sex attraction & lesbians being seen as boring and so last century at best, and evil oppressors at worst who are treated incredibly poorly by others, inc "the queer community" or being redefined out of existence are some other issues at play.) i’d love to hear from desisters and people contemplating desisting in particular, but others are welcome to chime in around these themes.

bden’s own history with “crossdressing” and the dress-up box (from about 6 on thru adulthood–he’s spoken repeatedly about wearing his mom’s clothes n heels n his sister’s cheerleader uniform, would wear his mom’s jeans all the time from 13 on, and even in fever era wore whole outfits from the women’s section), wrapping curtains around his waist to be a dress at 5, playing female roles in family plays, wanting to sound like female singers like gwen stefani, carly simon n beyonce n not like a man, etc could also be interesting to look at. b’s family being strict/traditional mormons kind of boggles my mind, bc they seemed to have left him to it, n he was (and still is) a big momma’s boy. like you can tell boyd loves his son but have you seen that man’s political views on twitter? omfg. i imagine he bit his tongue a lot around his youngest, and i wonder if b’s gender nonconformity played a role in b’s brothers coming to live with them (b, his 2 sisters, mom, dad) when he was 8. i bet grace (mom) stood up for him a lot, n that b was more feminine than his sisters (altho for sure there’d be a lot of shared interests with plays, the dress up box, n such).

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theabominableblogger · 6 years

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My Reaction to “Gotham” S2E1

Yep. Back at it again. Not in chronological order. Whoopie...

Also, I have watched sections of this episode before as part of preparing for the Jerome Reborn arc in S3 but not all of it so while it’s technically a rewatch, it’s not a rewatch.

AN: I managed to record my reactions to this episode and hopefully I can transcribe what I said into this post.

Ermagherd der Bertcurve!

“Bloody hell.” Bloody hell, indeed!

“There must be a million possible combinations, Master Bruce.“ Type in your birthday! That’s a popular combination.

One month later? Wow!

What the heck happened?!? What happened? Just a terrible fallout from the S1 finale?

OOOHHHH IT’S VICTOR [Zsasz]!

Pretty sure this song is about heroin... but I dig it.

AN: It is

*ends up head bopping to it three seconds later*

Helloooooooo Jerome...

What... the heck?

Why is Jim a traffic cop? What happened?!? Seriously, what happened?!?

Is he [Zaardon] literally wearing an umpire uniform?

*Zaardon pulls a sword* Noooo my God, is that a real sword? That does not look like a real sword!

Noooo, that looks like a real sword. I don’t know...

Seriously, what happened?!?

"’Zar-don,’ that spelled how it sounds?” “Two A's.“ Hahaha!

“Hear me, Gor-DON...” GOR-DON!

“The master will unleash hell upon you.“ Someone unleashed hell on YO HEAD! What happened?!?

Ah, OK, Ed does look better without the glasses. Kind of.

“ [Stop] Copying me [Ed]!” “Dude it's a mirror, that's how they work.“ Hahahaha!

“You know what I think we need? I think that we need a little more fun. Some romance.” Eeugh...

“I told you, leave Miss Kringle alone.” “Imagine her in our arms. Those big eyes looking up at us, and soft trembling flesh.“ Nooooooo, nope, this is getting weird...

Why is Commissioner Loeb still here?

“Commissioner, this is not just.“ EXACTLY!

“[Essen] Take Officer- Mister Gordon's badge and gun. That's an order.“ Noooo!

“This is all for the best, though.” Screw you [Loeb]!

“Some men are just not meant to be cops.” Screw you!!!

*flips off screen with both hands*

What the... heck?

*jams out to opening theme*

“Oh, there’s things I [Jim] could do.” “I [Lee] thought you said you didn't have any legal moves left.” “I don't.” Please don’t tell me he’s gonna go work for Oswald, I swear to God, Jim! NO!

Meanwhile at Arkham Asylum...

He [Jerome] slicked back his eyebrows... hahaha!

“Whatcha in for?” “Killing my [Barbara’s] parents.” *in unison with Jerome* Me too!

AN: I'm gonna take this opportunity to kinkshame all the Jerome and Cameron Monaghan fans in “Gotham”... whenever he does stuff like stretch his face out. But unless kinkshaming is your kink... you’re welcome.

*basically ends up reciting some of Jerome and Barbara’s back and forth dialogue*

Pfftt.... Hahahahaaa!

Jerome in the background’s like “Hmm hmm!”

“You're [Barbara] bad....” “Yeah, so why don't you [Jerome] go make me a sandwich.“ Hoo hoo hoooooo!

Selina, what are you doing working for Oswald?

“Jim! Come on in!“ *on the verge of losing my voice* Jiiiim, what are you doing?!?

“Isn't she [Selina] darling? It's like having a cat around the house.” We know she’s Catwoman!

“I'd [Oswald] call us even, but let's not quibble.“ He [Jim] owes you like two favors!

Has Oswald had spies follow Jim?

“What does Lee think?” Yeah, how does Penguin know about Lee?

“I [Oswald] want you [Jim] to prove to me that our friendship is a real one...” IT’S NOT!

“Ooh, slow down, slurpy!” Harvey says as he pours Jim another shot...

Godd, are we gonna get drunk Jim in this episode?

*Jim and Harvey do a brotherly headbutt across the bar counter* Aaww....

“You two [Bruce and Alfred] are dirty. What have you been doing?” “I [Bruce] imagine you [Jim] have something important to say.“ Haha!

Oh my gosh... Bruce has grown up so much since the end of S1. Wow.

“Surely, sometimes, the right way is also the ugly way.“ But it’s Penguin!

*Bruce opens the “Batcave”* Please bring up the theme music! Or did they shut it off?

Man.. I wanted to hear theme music for the Batcave!

*Bruce beats the crap out of the lock in anger* Duuude, what are you doing?!?

Barbara’s looking at Richard [Sionis] like “You are disgusting...”

“[Jim Gordon’s] Supposed to be a cold stone hard-ass. But you're Penguin's bitch, huh? Who the dickens can you trust anymore?“ Uggh, that’s gonna piss him [Jim] off...

“To Don Falcone, I'll pay. To that fruitcake leprechaun?” Hahaha what?

Oh my God, Jiimmm! No!

Jim, what why why?

That weird camera angle again!

Jim, whatcha doinggg?!?!??

*Jim shoots Ogden* That’s murder.

Ooooohhhhh snap!

Yeah, you don’t have a badge anymore so... that’s just murder!

What’s the fertilizer for?

“I [Bruce] wanted to present it as a fait accompli.” “Don't start talking French to me [Alfred]!” Hahahaha!

“Maybe we should wait until you're older. I mean, who knows what your dear old dad was up to down there, anyway.“ Was he [Thomas Wayne] a Batman before Bruce became the Batman?

“I'm [Bruce] building a bomb to blow down that door.“ *laughing* Oh my God...

“You [Alfred] may assist me or not, as you wish. But i-if not, some tea would be nice.“ *scoffs*

What’s a tarpaulin?

AN: Just a fancy word for tarp

Alfred’s like “Fine, I’ll go but I’m gonna complain about it the entire way!”

Jim just looks piiiiissed!

“You OK, Jim?“ No, he’s not!

“Oh yeah. Daydreaming.” LIES!

“What’s wrong?” “Nothing.” ALSO LIES!

“We [Jim and Lee] could go away and never come back. What's keeping us here?” GOTHAM!

Isn’t that like part of the established drinking game yet? Someone’s like “Oh, let’s go away!” and someone else is like “No, I can’t. Gotham!”

Is that... Commissioner Loeb?

Oooooohhhh ho hooooo!

There we go! Turn on the lights!

*Victor lifts up the head of Loeb’s guard* OHHH my GOd!

*jaw drops when Victor makes the head ‘talk’ to Loeb*

Peanut butter!

Careful, Loeb, you’re gonna bust a forehead vein with all that anger.

“But that does lead us to this sad pickle.“ A sad pickle...

Gotham in a nutshell: A Sad Pickle

“Want me [Victor] to kill him now?” “No, make him [Loeb] a nice cheese toastie. Yes, kill him now, please!” Hahahaha!

*sings along with the male choir at Loeb’s retirement ceremony*

“Please welcome distinguished businessman, visionary scientist, acclaimed philanthropist and new chairman of development at the Gotham Chamber of Commerce, Mr. Theo Galavan.“ Hello youuuuu...

Loeb’s just like “Oh my God, what have I done?”

WHAT HAVE I DONE/ SWEET JESUS WHAT HAVE I DONE/ BECOME A THIEF IN THE NIGHT/ BECOME A DOG ON THE RUN

*The Arkham inmates clearly aren’t impressed with Zaardon* HahaHAHAHA!

“I [Theo] haven't lived in Gotham very long, but I already love her like a native. It just- it just kind of grabs hold of you, doesn't it?” Meanwhile the natives of Gotham are grumbling into their pamphlets.

“There's magic here. Magic. And that is down to everyday heroes like Gillian Loeb.“ *starts singing “Magic” by B.o.B*

“My best wishes to Commissioner Essen.” Yaaaaayyy!

Jerome’s just like “Oh my Godddd...” in the background when Richard’s telling his story.

HAHA I love the reaction of all the inmates [toward Zaardon]!

What is that?!?

Ohh, Tabitha!

Seriously, what is that blue stuff?

AN: Knock-out gas

Man, Essen dies in the next episode! Uggh!

What’s that painting in the background [in Theo’s office] behind all the inmates?

It’s like “Castle”: you can tell what season of “Gotham” you’re watching just by Jerome’s hair.

Or, in extension, Cameron Monaghan’s hair.

“Well, that sounds fabulous, but I [Barbara] am not a brilliant outlaw. I just have... mm... issues.“ Yeah... yeah, that um- that sums you up.

*Richard turns down Theo’s offer* Tabitha’s like “Oooh, buddy, no...”

Shaking her head in the background!

“Oh I [Theo] had such high hopes for you [Richard]. I didn't anticipate sexual jealousy. That always poisons the well.“ Oh hooo....

*Tabitha kills Richard* Oh dang.

“Anybody else wanna leave?” No.

*in best Sean Pertwee accent* All righty then, mate, we’re blowing up this door!

Fire in the hole! *makes explosion sounds*

Oh my God, they’re [Bruce and Alfred] actually blowing it up! They’re blowing up the door!

*Bruce and Alfred celebrate and high five each other* Hahaha!

*sings* Sec-ret laaairr... sec-ret laaiirrr...

“Unless you [Bruce] feel a calling, a true calling.“ Batman!

That dun-dun-dun-dun music in the background sounds like the "Batman Begins” theme.

Jim’s like “Ah, back to justice. At last!”

*jams the crap out to the ending theme*

#damned if you do #Gotham #FOX #the blogger reacts #looked at the stars and considered a reaction #bruce wayne #victor zsasz #jim gordon #jerome valeska #edward nygma #barbara kean #selina kyle #oswald copplepot #theo galavan #alfred pennyworth #richard sionis #tabitha galavan #cameron monaghan

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site-specific-vada-baldwin · 3 years

Text

Presentation Prep

I wrote a script and pre recorded my presentation which was useful since I had a lot of video and digital work to show. this also helped me be able to say what I wanted to in the presentation.

So I wanted to do write design because I didn’t really know what it was and I wanted to try a different style of designing, in order to widen my understanding of the design process and designer/director/writer collaboration. I also liked the idea of working with an existing site and developing a performance that is unique to that space. Taking theatre out of its traditional space was also an exciting prospect because it makes theatre accessible to a wider range of people. I also wanted to improve my model making skills and really get to grips with working digitally. In my manifesto that I wrote at the begging they key point for me was to get the right balance between the site itself and the design I produce, making sure not to over power the site I was working with.

Why bca

I chose the bare chested adventurer for a few reasons. when we visited the site with Bridget, the way she described the text was really clear to me and it felt exciting to focus in on this small section of life that one existed in this house. I loved the idea of the houses physical state being reflective of the emotional deterioration of the characters inhabiting it ad the idea that the house itself was a character. I really wanted to find an interesting way of giving the house a voice and a presence. As you can see from the pictures of the site, it has so much to offer allready and I felt o could really get stuck into making the piece specific to the site.

Process

So the process has been different to other design projects, with agog research and developmennt of ideas. I liked going back to my research throughout the process. I began with ideas of puppetry and making the house a character and it having this almost malevolent hold on the people that live there. initially I was researching the themes of drug use and how that impacted the characters emotional statee, I then got too caught up in this, taking a completely different route, looking at video mapping and the function of the brain, but when I took a step back, I revisited my original ideas which helped me gain focus again. Niro board was really useful for me because I had all my ideas on one page and I could easily see them together. This helped me decide which design elements worked together.so I ran with the main focus of bringing the ouse to life. I found a poem by Robert cording which reads “ I have come to love slowly how old houses hold themselves” this sparked ideas of the house being a person or even multiple people and I asked myself lots of questions about how they would interact with the charactersannd if they should speak, but after discussions with Bridget we decided it would be more effective for the house to be alive in a more subtle way. this ultimately worked better wit my other ideas for the actual visual design.

So my initial inspiration for this was

this image. It got me thinking of having the scenes around the house like a museum of this familys history. This idea let itself well to the scenes and movie the audience around the space, making the most of the site.

Image 2. This image of scaffolding inside a building was the second key image for me. having the inside and outside come together since the house is already over grown with nature stood out to me. Because Scaffolding is ususlly seen on the outside of buildings, having it on the inside really empasises the feeling of unease I was looking to create in the performance and it also helps demonstrate that this family is broken and needs to be supported.

I then went on to researching magical realism. I watched pans labryth and realised that the design of it and the themes (particularly the feeling of hopelessness and a battle with a negative force ) was something I wanted for my performance. I then went onto watch the shining as the design is intended to be off putting which helped me discover ways of making my audience feel as unsettled as Laura does in this house.

Combining the framed scenes with a more magical element of puppetry and movement would really emphasise the power the house has on the characters which is why Seth finds it hard to leave so I began to find ways of realising this.

The way I imagine bringing the house to life would be using practical elements that are of the house which would create a kinetic space. I would do this in the performance buy having ivy reaching out towards Seth as if the house it trying to keep him there, having dust falling when Gillian gets angry, having water run down walls when a tap is turned on, leaves falling over the characters, rubbish rustling in a corner, and wallpaper peeling off the wall. Id also use sounds that again are like echos of the people who once lived here, maybe a phone ringing unanswered ,footsteps or a doorbell Lucy suggested I show my ideas of puppetry and movement and the house being alive in this way through a film, but I realised it was quite difficult to get this across so the film gives more an impression of the family history in the piece with some of those practical elements.

Play film.

The idea with costume was that each character looked as if they were consumed by the house in varying degrees.

So first we have Gillian, the grandma, she has simple clothes with Layers of fabric that represent all the history built up around her.She is weighed down by her life ad she is now blending Ito the walls with the graffiti, she has lost most of her identity but her sparkly shawl and She wears a cat broach which was inspired by the cat she kills in the original story show that the woman she one was was a little glamorous. and an awful 70s fur rug sits at her feet hi lighting how sort of grim she has become.

Next is Keith, yes he is still very much of the house but he has more of himself present, he has rock climbing equippment suggestive of his adventurous days. The yellow tie around his head suggests he is a bit of a joke to other people, his mad busies ideas ever work. His shorts blend into the graffiti and dirt of the house, he has spray pain on his arms and legs he doesn’t bother to remove when he paints. He wears a surfing brand t-shirt from the 70s when he bought it as a younger adventurer he wears it with his watch to time the waves but he no longer surfs.

He also has a dressing gown that is almost like a beech towel that he would remove during the performance.

Next is Seth, he sits looking sad and worn down, his clothes are stained and imprinted with some graffiti but he is less consumed by the house than Keith, he watns to leave , the grey and blue of his clothes are quite dull and come from the house . The stripes on his shirt are the. Colours of Lauras clothes so that he mirrors her a little, showing he wants to leave and be with her but he can’t

And last we have Laura, she doesn’t blend into the house at al, she is quite normal, she has dirty white trainers from the site to show she dosnt belong there.

Its summer so she has shorts but its Wales so a huge jumper, her clothes. Odd socks because o one is perfect.

Render 1

Here is how I imagine the main room of the house would look. The audience has been lead to this point by Laura, listing to words of the text and sounds of the house and they enter the house, this is where we meet. Seth sitting on the scaffolding that is suggestive of a bedroom, ivy reaches out to him, It has probably collected there as he spends a lot of time here and the house is constantly reaching out to him through this use of ivy. the scaffolding is old, over grown and was probably one of keiths failed attempts to fix the house many years ago. Seth would sit not playing his cello probably looking out of his window at the sea

Model

The next moment I chose to focus on is the kitchen scene between Seth and his dad Keith. They talk and make fritters. I wanted the scene to be in this room of the house because it is a bridge between Keith and Seths spaces, a place they can meet in the middle and the audience can observe this from the end of the kitchen.

I wanted to use the site as it is and build onto of it in order to give an impression of what the house would have been like Almost like the past and present merging together to create a feeling of the characters being ghosts in their own house

My aim with the design was to further the feeling of ueasemin subtle ways much like I the shining. There is a 4 seater table but only 2 chairs in the kitchen, the other chairs are placed randomly else where in the site, to suggest that Andrea the mother left years ago. Because of this the design of the kitchen would be outdated for the time. This late 90s early 200-s house has a dated 80s carpet in the kitchen which isn’t practical and to an audience today this would be more rare, the ugly marble pink tiles which were taken from a tile I found at the site would also look. Very 80s. They almost grow. Out from the corner suggesting there would have been a full room of them. I chose the outdated AGA cooker that would be common in a farmhouse is rusty.

Graffiti on the walls and furniture that Keith has done himself read smoke and worlds best fritters.. rubbish piles in the corner, pizza boxes, beer bottle and banana peels and a rusty sink hangs off the wall.

The carpet is also becoming a part of the earth and the vines are taking over the walls. This is actually less over grown than the site itself.

I also wanted to mention that I made one of my walls with mount board and no foam board to see how I could use it to make designing more sustainable and it was really useful to do, I think ill use it again.

Image 3. This image was the inspiration for my next and final moment. When I saw this image it was exactly how I pictured the end of the performance. Keith and Seth sitting among their rubbish and old belongings which Seth removed from the house having one last Sesh leaving the audience wondering if they will actually change their ways or if they will carry on as before. The house looks inviting, drawing Seth back in, Keith is a part of the house, also tempting him to to go. This image for me was one that was clear from the beginning and really helped guide the rest of my design.

Reflect

So at the beginning I said I wanted to improve my model making and digital skills which I think I have, im really happy with my costumes. I also thing I got the balance of site and design right. My film didn’t really communicate what I wanted it to but it was helpful for me to realise the difficulty in communicating movement in a design and actually that id need to consider how this movement would be realised in the show.

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