#They're all managing to call back to the same era of my life like some stupid forshadowing in a poorly planned anime | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

bitimdrake · 1 year

Note

Do you have fic recs by any chance? You really seem to have a lot of comics knowledge so I trust that you know what’s accurate to the source material and what’s not :)

you know I've gotten a few asks about this and I never quite manage to answer them, because I'm always convinced that I will somehow end up with a perfect and complete rec list if only I wait to reply just a little longer.

SO I'm gonna try cutting myself off at the head this time, and not giving you a prefect list by any means, but at least giving you an answer:

Here is a collection that I'm slowly forming for fics that really feel like they're actually based off comics. It is currently very small and people are welcome to bookmark to it if they find other very comics-based fics, but it's a start.

And a couple random recs as I scroll through my personal bookmarks:

Redrawing the Lines (11k) is fantastic Batman Reborn era Dick & Tim & Damian fic, and it continues as a series after.

also the second before the other shoe drops (8k) about the same trio. AU where Damian makes a murder attempt in a subtler way--but most important, is not demonized by a narrative that instead gives everyone a fair shake.

will we ever get to the other side? (5k) Dick & Tim in a very specific era where Dick's life is falling apart and filled with trauma, and Tim has just been hit with a huge smack of grief and also trauma, and neither is at their best but they're trying.

Everything by @silverwhittlingknife is ideal Dick & Tim content, and all deeply rooted in comics. I will call out:

The Return (11k), which is Dick's pov of Tim coming back to Gotham after Brucequest

only you will have stars that can laugh (9k) which is sad and loney but also sweet on Christmas

Red Letter Day (42k, wip) in which god Dick is trying his fucking best to hold it together okay. (aka everyone is kind of prickly, Dick is stressed, there's a Mysterious Wednesday of unclear importance, and I love them sm)

@flybynightwing has equally comics-based and also absolutely fascinating and compelling fics. I'll call out:

How Far Love Goes (99k) a case fic that draws in everyone in the bat family, with a tilt towards Dick (although the Steph is also fantastic), and turns into a reflection on Bruce as a parent.

goal-oriented mindset (5k) Catalina's pov, meeting Dick again well after everything went down. Subject may not be for you, but I find it SO interesting and roll it around and around in my head. (And it is of the very very rare selection of actually comics-based fics about that arc.)

It's a Wonderful Earth-218 (7k). A thoroughly depressed Dick goes to a world where he was never born, it's a wonderful life-style.

(And carrying on with various authors again:)

Hate and Love are Two Sides of the Same Coin (5k + 13k sequel) every member of his family is forced to say what they like least about Dick. The fic makes no secret of its thoroughly contrived premise and doesn't particularly care to justify it either, but still comes out with great characterization and relationship reflections.

Mikey Dies At The End (4k), outsider pov centered around Jason as the Red Hood, which is so very confident in its characterization of him and has zero considerations given to fanon and it's an excellent read.

A Meditation on Railroading (24k), a Tim-centric fic that deals heavily with his relationship with his dad. This one is not really canon at all, but it is good, and its version of the relationship is compelling.

Young Justice Visit the Suez Canal (3k) look this one is pure 90s-style Young Justice humor. We're here for a good time.

Aaand I know there are many more good fics, but I have run out of steam and I am trying so so hard to remember that some answer is better than no answer. Though I am very sorry to all my beloved writers & mutuals who have written excellent comics fic.

Anyway final tip is when you find an author who knows what they're talking about, go through all their fics, and then go through all their bookmarks.

#*#ask #anon #*dc #dc #fic recs #also a tip: just exclude 'dick is a bad brother'#ignore anything that says damian is inherently evil and bad #and know that 'bruce wayne is a good parent' is lmao so fanon but you should still enjoy it if you want to

147 notes · View notes

ollovae3 · 1 year

Text

Currently in a bit of a brain-is-mushy state still, wrote most of this days ago, but thought I'd toss this at y'all who remained through my hiatus (depression and burnout followed by school is,,,, fun)?? Like I said before, I've gotten hooked on The Walking Dead—also got my mom hooked on it somehow, so I'm cackling. As usual, that means my lil OC brain is churning a mile a minute but with no ability to choose, so I'd love y'all's opinions?

No art atm since I'm still recovering from literally drawing every day w the fear of 1000 gazelles (if that makes ANY sense), but I've got some picrews and info for em!! Not all the info tho cause I straight up have about 3 pages per character, in 2-column, 10pt font format. 💀 So here's their picrews and their initial moodboards!! Appearances changed since the boards so sorry abt that. 😅 Bless Canva tho, been addicted to that damn site since HS 👌

And yes I got attached to Daryl, leave me be w my love for the grump-w/-a-golden-heart trope— 🫣💀

Warning for some TWD-typical violence below, as well as mention of addiction/withdrawal.

Characters:

Halina Waldron:

Halina Waldron essentially had the Worst Vacation of Her Life. Went on a post-grad celebration trip, only for the Outbreak to start JUST as they got to their new stop for the trip (near the Atlanta area).

Managed to find the Dixon brothers before they found the Quarry, and essentially annoyed them into letting her tag along and learn from them. She hopes to find her family back in Vermont, but her story follows mostly along the canon route with the rest of the survivors.

Admittedly am tempted though to have her end up working for (not a soldier for) the Saviors at some point, as a way to change canon/put in some interesting conflict? But we'll see 👀

Brigid Hassall

Brigid Hassall, the Granny Witch from the Georgia portion of Appalachia! Personally designed her to be of partially Melungeon descent, as well as visibly Autistic?

Lived in the same lil town as the Dixons, with the talents of/later studying to be a medicine witch (variant of Granny Witches afaik). Was good friends with Daryl in school, and helped both brothers whenever they needed patching up or Merle needed help trying to quit whatever he was on. She turned semi-agoraphobic after losing her family, so the boys didn't see her and couldn't find her after The Outbreak. She did survive though, and kept growing things and hunting when she needed, helping travelers or defending her home from them.

Shows up around S3, during the Prison-Era. Got sought out for help w medicine and associated horticulture knowledge.

Andromeda Shaw

Andromeda Shaw, also called Meda [mee-dah], is a bit of a harsher character? She and her family were out camping with friends to escape the nasty flu going around when things hit. They lost their friends, who Meda had to stop from biting her family or getting into their RV, which hardened her, but broke her sibling (understandable ngl-).

After that, she and the family have been wandering in the RV, hoping to find people to trade with or somewhere safe to stay. Her parents had to focus on protecting and stabilizing her sib after that camping trip, so Meda's placed herself as the defacto family shield of sorts, there to have her dad's back and to help provide when the others can't.

The Shaws end up muddling with canon a bit, but don't show until around the Post-Governor Prison-Era in late-S3/S4? Eventually become more of a staple in canon during S6, when it turns out they're runners and residents of Alexandria.

So yeah!! I'd love any opinions on which of these girls you think I should run with more? I rlly like all of em so I'm just stuck blue-screening about which to work with, and I'd appreciate anything you might have honestly 😅.

Happy to answer additional questions abt em if that helps at all!! 💖

#writing tag #random tag #new oc #twd #the walking dead #walking dead #twd amc #daryl dixon #Georgia #appalachia #granny witch #canva #moodboard #aesthetics #picrew #im having a moment forgive me-#help #opinions wanted #long post

20 notes · View notes

roachleakage · 9 months

Text

While "The Rats in the Walls" has been my favorite Lovecraft story so far, I do feel that "At the Mountains of Madness" is highly underrated, if only because I rarely see people talking about the evolution it reveals in Lovecraft's own psyche.

We dunk a lot on this guy, and rightly so, for the atrociously racist beliefs he displayed in many of his early works (and content warning for Rats - he does have a cat named after a slur in it). But something that I rarely see acknowledged is that he didn't retain those exact beliefs for his entire career. He was still pretty bigoted, but one thing he actually managed to improve on was his knee-jerk revulsion for the simple idea of a Different Kind Of Person existing. By the time Mountains of Madness came out, he just wasn't the same level of reactionary dickhead that he was, for example, back when he wrote "The Call of Cthulhu".

(Mind, he did write "The Shadow Over Innsmouth" around this era, which if nothing else shows us that he was not over his disdain for poor people. Again: still not a great person.)

Yet I've seen this story discussed as if it's a classic Lovecraft narrative wherein the protagonists see Something Spooky(TM) and flip their shit for no other reason than it being Strange and Different. Which is wild, because... that's not what the story is about, ever. That's not to say those elements don't exist - the narrator does remark at several points about the things he's seeing being unpleasant and even frightening to look at - but that's never the story's actual focal point, and even within the narrative, is far from the only perspective we're given.

So, to sum up the story for people who haven't read it (or if it's just been a while), "At the Mountains of Madness" follows the progress of an ill-fated geological expedition set to explore Antarctica. Their goal at first is simple: to follow the routes left by some earlier trailblazing expeditions and, using their fancy new rock drill, collect samples so they can learn more about the geological makeup of the continent.

However, things take a turn for the awry when some of their samples reveal bizarre markings, which one of the team members insists are fossilized signs of prehistoric life. This leads to him routing off part of the team for a quick detour to an area he believes will have more of these markings, where he soon discovers not just a few odd footprints, but an entire cave filled with the fossilized remains of what was clearly once a lush, thriving ecosystem.

Amidst what is clearly the paleontological find of the century, the team finds the bizarrely preserved remains of what appear to be some kind of bizarre marine creatures, resembling six-foot-tall sea cucumbers with more limbs than a sea cucumber has any business having. But what really makes these specimens bizarre is that they don't seem to be fossilized; their bodies instead seem desiccated, with a decidedly leathery texture.

To make a long story short - and spoil the story's twist for anyone reading - these "remains" turn out to be the bodies of the Great Old Ones*, a species of precursor who seeded the Earth with life before any point in known prehistory. And those aren't remains at all - they're simply dried-out and dormant, like tardigrades.

*These are typically known as Elder Things by the broader Lovecraft fandom, in an attempt to distinguish them from the Great Old Ones from "The Call of Cthulhu", whom many people identify as Cthulhu's fellow Elder Gods. However, "At the Mountains of Madness" uses both terms interchangeably, suggesting that these creatures may be the beings that Cthulhu placed into suspended animation. Wild!

At this point, the scientist responsible for this discovery has routed most of the expedition's members and equipment - which turns unfortunate for everyone involved when the Old Ones wake up after the world's longest nap. Confused, disoriented, and quite possibly pissed off at the sound of several irate dogs (who hate the way they smell, for some reason), the situation quickly escalates into a massacre of everyone at the camp.

Or, well, almost everyone. Because when the narrator and surviving expedition members examine the lingering carnage, they realize that one of the expedition members is unaccounted for, along with all of the intact creature specimens - and there are sledge tracks leading away from the camp and toward the mountains overhead.

They follow the tracks by plane, and at the top of these unusual mountains, discover something they were very much not expecting - the remains of an ancient, rambling city, like Rome if it was built by giants who really liked five-pointed stars. Unlike Rome, the place is half-frozen within an ice sheet, but there's still plenty of navigability for the characters to continue tracking their erstwhile companion.

What follows is a journey that I personally found to be the most enjoyable part of the story, as the narrator and his companion explore a few areas in the city and learn a surprising amount about its history. And the best part? They are clearly having a good time at it. Sure, as the narrator points out, the place is creepy as hell, and its existence completely upends everything humanity has learned so far about the origin of life and civilization. But on the other hand - archaeological find of the century! Ruins, older than ancient, preserved by the same ice that renders them uninhabitable! Weird alien frescoes! He's clearly into it, and his enthusiasm is infectious.

Along this journey, they learn a couple of important details about the people who built this city - who were, it turns out, the same strange creatures that had been dug out of the cave.

One, they hadn't build the city themselves - most of that labor was performed by the Shoggoths, alien beasts of burden whose incredible powers of mimicry made them adept at all kinds of construction projects, until they somehow became uplifted and rebelled against their creators. The Old Ones, who were apparently fine with owning slaves, eventually quashed the rebellion, but not before losing many of their own numbers to brutal decapitation at the hands (or... whatever passed for hands) of the Shoggoths.

Secondly, the pair learn that while the Old Ones had once reigned over a large chunk of the Earth, they were gradually driven out of their old habitats by the encroaching Ice Age, and toward the end of the city's history, were making the effort to retreat to a pocket of warmth buried beneath Antarctica's cooling surface. And so, after finding the frozen body of the missing expedition member tied to an abandoned sled, they head underground to try and find whatever creature must have dragged him all this way, assuming that they would be heading for that same warmth and safety.

However, they never make it far enough to find the Old Ones' new city. Instead, they finally overtake the Old One survivors that had fled the ruined camp - only they're no longer survivors. Their bodies have been brutally beheaded and left to rot in the caves. At the sight of what the narrator recognizes are freshly executed corpses, all his doubts and self-denial about what he's seen finally break down, and we get this paragraph:

They had not been even savages—for what indeed had they done? That awful awakening in the cold of an unknown epoch—perhaps an attack by the furry, frantically barking quadrupeds, and a dazed defence against them and the equally frantic white simians with the queer wrappings and paraphernalia . . . poor Lake, poor Gedney . . . and poor Old Ones! Scientists to the last—what had they done that we would not have done in their place? God, what intelligence and persistence! What a facing of the incredible, just as those carven kinsmen and forbears had faced things only a little less incredible! Radiates, vegetables, monstrosities, star-spawn—whatever they had been, they were men!

Now, of course this is a pretty questionable response. I mean, if I discovered the remains of a civilization whose response to their laborcritters gaining sapience was "eh, a slave is fine too", I would probably not adore them so hard as this guy clearly does. And yet, this is still very clear acknowledgment that you do not have to be human to be a person - for your life to have value, or for you to be deserving of compassion.

We know from Lovecraft's letters that his racist views did soften somewhat over the course of his life, as he decided somewhere along the line that superiority was more about how you conducted yourself than the lineage you were born from. And this story is a fantastic example, building a tale of historical mystery whose greatest revelation is one not of some cosmic, all-encroaching dread, but of connection - the recognition of alien beings who are nonetheless very much like us and who, under better circumstances, we might have even been friends with.

Of course, the story veers back into horror with the introduction of the Old Ones' executioner - whose vocal cry the protagonists mistake for one of the other Elder Things until the Shoggoth draws into view and they remember, too late, that these beings are not only hostile but excellent vocal mimics. And while there's certain terror to be derived from the appearance of the creature - it's big, and blobby, and creepy, and so forth - the real danger is in realizing that these beings are loose, having most likely wiped out their masters millennia ago, and still in the business of eliminating any Old Ones they encounter on sight.

Yeah, I'd run too.

#lovecraft #h.p. lovecraft #at the mountains of madness #horror #cosmic horror #gothic horror

5 notes · View notes

watching-pictures-move · 1 year

Text

Movie Review | Pathaan (Anand, 2023)

At the end of this movie, sometime after the end credits supposedly start and we've gotten one last musical number under our belt, our superspy heroes Shahrukh Khan and Salman Khan (the latter in a cameo appearance) discuss that they've been at this for thirty years and ponder who could follow in their footsteps. No names are spoken, but they reach the conclusion that they must continue, because nobody can replace them. This movie is in some ways a throwback, not unlike Top Gun: Maverick from the previous year, making a case for the importance of genuine star power. There are a few differences. One is that movie stars are still prevalent in Bollywood to a much greater extent than in Hollywood. When Tom Cruise positions himself as the last of his kind, it's a bit more convincing given the competition is in the form of ouroborotic IP-propagating vehicles. (If that isn't already a word, it is now. Let me just scribble it into the dictionary.) The Khans have their origins in an earlier era, but they're competing with the star vehicles of their arguable successors. The other thing is that Cruise in Maverick, after many years, is finally allowing himself to age, even if it seems like he's resisted the process for years through sheer willpower. Shahrukh Khan here sports a haircut that no man in his fifties should ever be seen in (and is called out for it at one point by another character), and in any given scene has his shirt open, his intimidatingly sculpted abs glistening from all the right angles. I'm not even being a hater, I'm a little in awe that he pulls it off. Genuine charisma goes a long way.

So there's an out of time quality to this, which also manifests somewhat in the movie's politics. The plot here has an obvious nationalistic streak, but one which seems tied more to Bush-era hysteria about terrorism than (my very rudimentary knowledge of) modern Indian right wing politics. And that kind of framing is also complicated by some of the hedging of bets that the film does. Torture is a prevalent theme, deployed both against at one point by the heroes. Pakistan is initially framed as an enemy, but then sympathized with. The hero's religion is inquired about, but deemed to be beside the point. (SRK is Muslim in real life.) The terrorist villain is given a sympathetic origin story, and the hero in a flashback foils an overzealous counterterrorism operation to save an Afghan village. The movie is likely covering its ass to an extent, but these gestures make it less noxious than it could have been, as the movie clearly does not take place in the same world we live in.

That unreality extends to the action, of which there is a lot and which managed to entertain me quite reliably. The movie, with its shared universe context, ugly yellow lighting and unconvincing and heavy use of CGI, is not immune from modern blockbuster conventions, and I should say that I have a personal distaste for all three of those things. Furthermore, I have a strong distaste for the 2000s-style sense of cool that colours this movie, an aesthetic seemingly zapped in from the Mission: Impossible 2 (a movie I do like, but only because John Woo knows how to do great set pieces like the back of his hand). But when the action is this over the top, one digitally-exaggerated bombastic set piece after another, it's hard to hold any of those things against it. When characters are zipping around on jetpacks, complaining about the physics seems like a moot point.

And the shared universe framing is less about paying off five second bits of throwaway dialogue from twenty movies ago than providing an excuse to get the stars together. SRK, Deepika Padukone, Salman, John Abraham (who at one point provides what can be describes as a malevolent Cameo message). Even if you don't have the same history with them (and there are references to their earlier films; I cackled when a character named "Karen" set up an endearingly lame Darr joke), the combined charisma is off the charts. When the movie isn't pulverizing you with its action scenes, it turns the lusty gaze of its camera on its unreasonably attractive stars, constantly swerving to ogle them from optimal angles. Listen, I said I'd be less thirsty in writing these reviews, but while Deepika Padukone has always been really hot, in this movie, her hotness reaches distressing levels, particularly as her loyalties appear to shift over the course of the story. I should also note that the movie refers to as a doctor, but I missed what she did her Ph.D in. Infectious diseases? Art history? Who knows.

#film #movie review #pathaan #siddharth anand

1 note · View note

baekhvuns · 2 years

Note

My wifi was acting up so if you got the same message twice just ignore!

God poor Hwa it was the first thing I saw in the morning, I'm glad he knows it wasn't his fault, but he was still upset 😭 thankfully he wasn't hurt <3. Yesterday I was sad watching San struggle, then he talked on universe about feeling angry at himself.

I'm gonna give Hwa all the praise tomorrow, watch me. Come on Baek we need to do this. BUT AT LEAST THEY WON OMG DID YOU SEE MATZ, SEONGHWA'S FACE BBY :"( and Yunho and Yeo?! They were so shocked and cute awwwww

Absolutely 2021 and 2022 are for the hags, especially ggs stans 🥰 SNSD's 15th anniversary can you believe?! And Minho is an MC for their showcase AAAAAAA. The song is pretty GG, SM didn't do them too dirty, but they definitely have better songs, I'm just gonna be happy they're back, also WHERE ARE THE ALIENS?! Btw, I saw you were watching Big Mouth with Yoona, I like it! And so true Bilibili is a life saviour for dramas and anime as well, I've been using it for months 😌

Deja the panther pls suyshdjsuahhsus I would be honoured

I'm honestly so baffled by your Noddy gender discovery I'm seriously wheezing 😭😭😭 yeah fuck that little clown looking guy even more, before I felt bad for hating him, but #noddyisoverparty

It was Wonderland Hwa - the 1st pc 😳 I bought so many albums for myself and my friends in SK, not only I got Hwa, but also got into a fan sign not so long after seeing them at KCON and falling for Seonghwa, the universe knew what it was doing...

If you send me your address I'll come and fight you for your crimes (Khronos ending)

Please I was embarrassed for them especially Baek, Taemin and Kai I was like "I'm so sorry guys" but yeah they can make everything look cool, can't relate though

I always clown the glazed arms or abs (I can't with Fireworks San it's too funny), but the Hwarms are doing something for me, his melanin makes the oil even more visible and I'm spiraling 🥴🥴🥴🥴 everyone's down bad for Hwa this era as well. Mingi you're not normal my guy, you need to be stopped

The nose post, truly life changing omfg. Exactly LOOK AT ALL THESE SIDE PROFILES

Pls 1D wasn't even a band, leave them boys alone, but yeah they're like every indie UK group I was into back in the day

Well yeah I'm gonna gatekeep bodyguard I'm afraid, though I feel like I should guard Hwa instead 😭

I have no clue about Person of Interest, but I got Lionel Fusco???

Well fuck the government so true, but not when you're rich already, like be fucking serious... Yes there were a few scandals and Spain is extra with their punishments too, since I support one of the Spanish teams I always see a lot of tax talk 👀

Everything is coming out at once and their new show too?! I only managed to watch Showterview, cause I had to and honestly it was wholesome, they had great chemistry and everyone had fun. I also liked the questions, pretty spicy ahhahah

So much Seonghwa recently I need to look away for a moment and feel normal BUT HOW???!!! The whiplash is killing me, we're getting oiled up sexy demon and 5 minutes later a small baby running around or mommy Hwa helping everyone

Oh I knitted for my plushies and dolls when I was a kid sushhsydjnabsjhs maybe I'll go back to knitting soon since I'm ancient

I know red Woo when?! More hair colours in general when???

Idk that must be some other guy, perhaps a twin of my uber driver???

Baby baby

P.S. idk if we manage to talk before my fan call tomorrow, so wish me luck, cause my throat is fighting for its life </3333 - DV 💖

hi hello!!

My wifi was acting up so if you got the same message twice just ignore! God poor Hwa it was the first thing I saw in the morning, I'm glad he knows it wasn't his fault, but he was still upset 😭 thankfully he wasn't hurt <3. Yesterday I was sad watching San struggle, then he talked on universe about feeling angry at himself.

it’d working just fine!! ☺️ RIGHT 😭😭 i wish the electrical team checks the ear pieces every time bc wtf was that 😭🤚🏼 im glad he realized it as well!! aND THEY WON!!! DID U SEE FBWNDHWK WOOYOUNGS REACTION TO THE 12 DIGITAL POINTS FBDBDB AND THEN san too?? 😭😭🤚🏼 _SlQgfPkMA

they won the second baekhyun started tweeting and it was like my two worlds colliding 😭😭

YOU BETTER BESTIE GIVE HIM ALL OF IT GIVE HIM 2 EXTRA FROM A USERNAME CALLED BAEKHVUNS !!! DEJA WE ARE DOING THIS RIGHT NOW PLS SHOW HIM THAT TOO FBFBF 😭😭 PLS THE WAY HONGJOONG WENT TO HIM 😭🤚🏼🤚🏼 YEOSANG WAS SO BLOWN AWAY PLS

I SAW THE SHOWCASE AND IT WAS SO FUN FBFBF the song is pretty but i rly don’t like the pre chorus i thought after hearing it multiple times i might but it?? like the part right before the “i love” fbdnfb the album tho does sound better! YEAH WHERE ARE THEY WHERES THE KWANGYA 🤌🏼 OH MY GOD YES ARE U WATCHING IT TOO??? GONNA WATCH THE NEW EPS TN omg no fr bilibili is a true life saviour i just hope they don’t brung the ads there too 😭🤚🏼 and all of that for free in 1080p?? 😩😩😮‍💨

Deja the panther pls suyshdjsuahhsus I would be honoured

LMFAOOOO YOU GOT IT I WILL NAME IT THAT BDBD

I'm honestly so baffled by your Noddy gender discovery I'm seriously wheezing 😭😭😭 yeah fuck that little clown looking guy even more, before I felt bad for hating him, but #noddyisoverparty

LMFAOOOO 😭😭😭😭 WHY HIS NAME NODDY THEN #bamboozeled 😭🔫🔫 NAH FR THAT KNOME LOOKING GUY CAN FUCK OFF #noddynevercomingback

????????????? U HIT THE BIGGEST JACKPOT ON THE FIRST TRY????? UR LUCK??? HELLO HELLO GIVE US A LITTLE BIT OF THE LUCK 😭😭😭🤚🏼 i have a luck in avoiding things fbfbfbfb BRO IT WAS FATE FROM SOME WATER HATING GOD 🤚🏼🤚🏼

If you send me your address I'll come and fight you for your crimes (Khronos ending)

LMFAOOOO THE WAY I SCREAMED AT THIS FHWNFHWJHFWKHDWK if u think khronus was a bad end, bestie what will that villain yn’s ending do to u?? 🥰

Please I was embarrassed for them especially Baek, Taemin and Kai I was like "I'm so sorry guys" but yeah they can make everything look cool, can't relate though

BRMWBDMWBDKW NO LITERALLY SAME BUT THEY MADE IT LOOK SO COOL tbh unpopular opinions, superm songs may sound chaotic but they do have good songs 😭😭 tho the seniors did carry,,, wish u were here is so good 😭🤚🏼

LMFAOOOO SANS GLAZED DONUT ABS WERE SO DBDBD 😭😭😭😭 they fr looked baked 😭😭 hwarms, hegs (legs), hwabs, hace (face), hwips <3 all of them be triggering me atp THIS ERA IS 2HO HWA AND MINGIS TBH 🤚🏼,,,, mingi is not normal and i won’t be either with his au in my drafts screaming at me dbdbd

The nose post, truly life changing omfg. Exactly LOOK AT ALL THESE SIDE PROFILES

Pls 1D wasn't even a band, leave them boys alone, but yeah they're like every indie UK group I was into back in the day

TRULY LIFE CHANGING I WILL BE LOOKING AT EVERYONES NOSES TO SEE WHO’S GOOD 😭😭🥰🥰<3 FBDNDB 1D WAS LIKE A 5 YEAR CONTRACT TO RULE THE WORLD AND THEN BOOM GONE,, he’s so stunning??? a very elegant guy, hand in marriage 🤲🏼

Well yeah I'm gonna gatekeep bodyguard I'm afraid, though I feel like I should guard Hwa instead 😭

LMFAOOOO 😭😭😭 I THINK WE SHOULD GUARD HIM TOO NOTHING BAD SHOULD HAPPEN TO THAT MAN 🔫

I have no clue about Person of Interest, but I got Lionel Fusco???

i have absolutely no idea too and so i got john reese <3

YEAAAHHHH FRRR !!!!! no bc if u rich, just pay the tax like bro u got the money?? 😭😭 oh??? u do??? which team 👀

showterview was so funny !!! it was fr like a sibling chemistry BFKWHDKWHDKW THE “SHUT UP” TO MINGI SCREAMED DBDB omg the questions about rivalry w different groups i was like “sunmi 👀 ayo 👀”

ITS ABSOLUTELY NOT POSSIBLE ANYMORE EVERYWHERE ITS HIM 😭😭😭 am i complaining tho? no ☺️ but my wips are dhdbdbdb OILED SEXY DEMON LMFAOO 😭😭😭😭😭 no ur so right that mommy hwa thing he did with jongho 🤚🏼

Oh I knitted for my plushies and dolls when I was a kid sushhsydjnabsjhs maybe I'll go back to knitting soon since I'm ancient

im. when are we starting this knitting club im on my way we should make seonghwa a shinestar scarf <3 BBWMFJEK “IM ANCIENT” I FELT THAT DBDB

I know red Woo when?! More hair colours in general when??? /// Idk that must be some other guy, perhaps a twin of my uber driver???

i swear to gOD if they dye it for the concerts im genuinely gonna be sobbing 😭🤚🏼 OH??? TWIN OF UR UBER?? SURE ARE ALIKE ARENT THEY?? have u ever confused them <3 ☺️ this your guy?? your ceo?? omg here is a ceo taehyung series which i die for fbfbfbf ceo seonghwa’s arrange marriage is like that in the aspects of richness

Baby baby /// P.S. idk if we manage to talk before my fan call tomorrow, so wish me luck, cause my throat is fighting for its life </3333 - DV 💖

BESTIEEEEEEEEE OH MY GOD ITS TMR???? PROBABLY ALREADY FOR U RN OH MY GOD FBFBFB PLS GIVE HIM ALL THE PRAISES AND SHOW UR CATS 😭😭😭🤚🏼 PLS <3 pls ask them to do a stop in cn not toronto one day <3

quiz !!

???? dilf.

#✉️ : ask #dv 💖 anon

0 notes

thedamageofherdays · 3 years

Text

This week's (16-08-2021 - 22-08-2021) reading log is here. This week's reading log is super duper long and filled with lots of good things (my apologies for the long post, I really could not find a good spot to do a read more). I discovered some new favourites and re-read some old favourites and while I had an intense week personally at least the fics I read were absolutely phenomenal. I do recommend checking out the warnings as some fics are a bit heavier/angstier and you might wanna be prepared. Most of these fics are Stucky but there are a couple of other ships in between.

If you are looking for more fun and/or good things make sure to check out the @marveldisabilitycelebration as well to see all the awesome art, fics, meta, etcetera people created! And while I am mentioning events I am a mod for let me also just quickly mention that sign-ups for the @stuckygiftexchange are still open until the end of the month <3

Favourites are marked with a 🌻 Fics that are only available to AO3 users are marked with a 🔒 and Tumblr fics are marked with a 🍀

🌻 The Bends by dreamsinthewitchouse @dreamsinthewitchouse [Danbeau, side Stucky, 2k words, Teen]

Memory is not a house you can just walk back into after finding the key you thought you’d lost. It’s a thing you wade into and out of, rewriting it as it rewrites you.

It’s not without its rewards, either - recovering a memory about Maria and Monica, about her life, feels better than socking a thousand bad guys in the face, better than all the photon blasts in the world.

Then again, realising there’s still memories she can’t access, even after all this time, feels like drowning in space.

Not the one out there - the one inside her.

🌻 Sweet & Salty by musette22 @musette22 [Stucky, 3k words, Teen]

Idiots in love. That's it. That's the fic.

When life gives you lemons by moonythejedi394 @moonythejedi394 [Stucky, 34k words, Explicit] (11/15 chapters)

Or 13 Terrible Things to Do With Lemons Other Than Making Lemonade

Steve Rogers is a home health nurse. He works for an agency, which assigned him to the aging Winifred Barnes, the one and only Silent Era Hollywood darling. As her needs increased, she requested the agency assign Steve to her full-time. She could pay for it, so she got it. Steve then moved in with her, becoming her caregiver; he cooked, he cleaned, he managed her medications, he made sure she was comfortable.

Winifred's children treated him less than ideally. He was the help, after all. And then Steve had the audacity to go and turn out to be eldest son James Barnes's soulmate. No one saw that coming.

🍀 SamRhodey Tumblr Fic by ipoiledi [SamRhodey, ? words, Teen?]

“Wilson, this is Rhodey; Rhodey, Wilson,” Tony Stark says, and suddenly some six foot tall sexy guy is shoved right in front of Sam, and they both stumble a little, bumping into each other. This is a crowded party. “You guys have things in common, right?” Stark asks. “Uh, Army stuff. Talk about that. I hate wallflowers; stop wallflowering and talk to each other.”

Shorteralls by moonythejedi394 [Stucky, 6k words, Explicit]

The first time Bucky ever saw Steve Rogers, he was struck by how Neanderthal-like his response was. It was immediately followed by a bout of mental scolding. The second time was just about the same. The third time, it was actually appropriate for Bucky to start a conversation with him, at which point he was determined to be the gentleman.

No such luck. Steve Rogers is, always has been and always will be, a relentless flirt. These days, Bucky's Neanderthal-ist feelings about Steve are consensual and highly appreciated. More so now that they're having a baby.

what the fuck are perfect places anyway by tigerlilycorinne [Stucky, 6k words, Teen]

Steve clears his throat and stands. “Well, I should head in. I might want to begin packing.”

Bucky stills. “You won’t,” he says, trying to sound commanding. It only comes out uncertain. “Don’t.”

Steve shakes his head. “Maybe not tonight,” he says, and Bucky knows they’ll be discussing this again soon.

“Then stay. Play… play cards with me or something.”

Steve’s eyebrows jump up, his mouth tugging up in another of his bemused smiles that do things to Bucky’s insides, but he drops his hand from the doorway and steps back into Bucky’s room. Somehow, Bucky feels as if he’s won—not the war, just the battle.

Steve won’t stay forever. But he’ll stay for cards.

Steve and Bucky, on the run after Civil War (with a few alterations to canon), are laying low in Wakanda. But they can’t stay there forever.

🌻 honestly thought i’d be dead by now, but what you can trust is that i need your touch by moonythejedi394 [Stucky, 105k words, Explicit]

Bucky is 37 years old; he’s unmarried, hasn’t had a Sub of his own, is definitely not ripped, comfortable at his job as an Advanced Practice RN at Brooklyn General ER, and just got his Five Years coin from AA.

Steve is 26 years old; he’s unmarried, his last and only Dom has Alzheimer's, he's worryingly muscular, uncomfortable in his job as the government’s poster Alpha for masculinity and strength, and worries more than he should about his BMI.

Unfortunately, Steve and Bucky meet initially in a not-cute moment. Bucky’s tired as shit thanks to the sudden alien invasion that shook New York and Steve is tired as shit because he hasn’t slept more than 20 minutes at a time in – well, since 1936, probably. Bucky’s Alpha instincts get irritated at the sudden presence of another "Alpha" into his territory and Steve’s suppressed submissive tendencies latch onto this grumpy bachelor Alpha and he only suppresses it further.

Bucky’s grumpiness and Steve’s duckling impressionism aside, both of them are a mess. But since both of them are a mess? Their messes seem to fit pretty well together.

Deep Sea Diving by Aida Ronan [Stucky, 5k words, Explicit]

Steve's wallowing in heat-related misery under a shade tree in Central Park when a man walks by in bright red booty shorts and a crop top. RIP Steve Rogers. It was nice knowing you.

honey, make this easy by steebadore [Stucky, 8k words, Explicit]

Bucky likes the way he looks. His silk button up with the tiny gold polka dots feels soft on his skin and is tailored perfectly; no pulling at his chest or belly. His hair falls in shiny dark waves and his skin is smooth and dewy. He looks expensive. He looks taken care of. He looks like Steve’s.

🌻 let's take it back to the start by howdoyousleep @howdoyousleep3 [Stucky, 6k words, Teen]

How it all began.

This sleepwalking through my life. by barthelme [Stucky, 1k words, Explicit]

The internet is an interesting place and when Bucky came home (or, when he came to live with Steve), Steve did a lot of research. Apparently, it’s not safe to wake a sleepwalker. He assumes that waking a sleepwalker with traumatic dreams and PTSD is beyond just being frowned upon.

And he tells himself--has told himself--that this is safer for Bucky. That if he were to stop him and wake him up, that Bucky would be mortified to be slurping on his best friend’s cock. That all of the improvements he’s made would be lost, would be repressed, would be just--

They’d be back at square one.

So he lets Bucky do it.

🌻 the way i've been craving by howdoyousleep [Stucky, 3k words, Explicit]

"Lunch break at 12:30. My office. Hope you’re hungry…"

It’s the ellipsis that sends Bucky’s insides swimming warmly, his heart beating twice as fast against his ribs where he sits in class. Senator Rogers is concise, direct, to the point. Without an ellipsis this is lunch, this is a meeting. With it though?

This is a booty call.

nasty but classy by howdoyousleep [Stucky, 4k words, Explicit]

“No, you don’t have to know the purpose, that doesn’t matter. Nat showed me this challenge where couples drink a lot of wine and get drunk together but they can’t touch each other. And whoever touches the other first has to...has to give the other head.”

🌻 Put It on Repeat, It Stays the Same by giselleslash [Stucky, 20k words, Explicit]

Steve and Bucky have a one night stand that turns into a friends with benefits situation. A weekend snowed in at Bucky’s apartment brings to light how much that really doesn’t suit either one of them.

Greetings to the New Brunette by victoria_p (musesfool) [Stucky, 10k words, General]

"You said he should have a hobby. That it would help."

"I meant, like, knitting or coin collecting. Motocross, if he was feeling antsy. A baby's not a hobby. It's lifetime commitment."

🌻 Rogers & Barnes: Partners by triedunture [Stucky, 10k words, Teen]

Steve and Bucky have to pose as a couple for a mission. Nat insists it really is the only option. She's checked.

The complication: unbeknownst to even Natasha, Steve and Bucky's friendship has been rocky ever since Bucky confessed his tender feelings and Steve left him out in the cold. Can asexual, completely-in-love-with-his-angry-best-friend Steve complete the mission and win Bucky's heart?

(The answer is yes. Yay!)

this will be our year (took a long time to come) by biblionerd07 [Stucky, 4k words, General]

Bucky's therapist is worried he's using Steve as a crutch and wants him to try going on outings without Steve. It wouldn't be terrible, honestly, if Bucky could just manage to open his mouth and say something to Steve.

I'll hold my breath by Little_Lottie (tfwatson) [Stucky, 8k words, Mature]

Sometimes Bucky’s hands flex in Steve's direction. Neither of them knows exactly why, but at least one of them has a hunch.

Bucky touches everything but Steve, even though Steve is all he really wants to touch.

Start from the Beginning by Mumble_Bee [Stucky, 13k words, Explicit]

What about a sex pollen fic where the pollen-ed one doesn’t remember getting hit in the face with a sex flower, and wakes up midway through the depollenating?

Or: the one where Steve wakes up on his back with a stranger buried balls-deep in his ass.

Match by emphasisonem [Stucky, 4k words, Mature]

The situation’s actually kind of funny from the right perspective, Bucky thinks as he reads the message for what feels like the hundredth time. He’s finally matched with a hot, funny guy. Tall and broad and clean cut. An absolutely breathtaking smile. Bucky’s walking wet dream. And he’s good. They haven’t messaged on the app, but Bucky already knows him.

He knows him because Steve Rogers is an art history professor at his university. His art history professor.

Best friends and married since childhood by StuckySituation [Stucky, 1k words, General]

Inspired by @/peterssquill's post in tumblr: "bucky and steve got married on the playground when they were like eight and though neither of them would ever admit it to anyone, even each other, they still consider it official"

~♥~ ♥~ ♥~

“Natasha, stop trying to set me up with every woman you meet, I’m-”

“Too shy? Too scared?”

“No, I’m-”

“Too busy? You’re mostly retired these days, not a good excuse anymore.” Natasha smirks and then drawls: “Or just too gay?”

Steve flushes at that, even if isn’t true -- he’s bisexual, not gay. “Let it go, Nat, I’m not looking for anything. I’m already married, for fuck’s sake.”

Clearly not what she expected. “What.”

Steve grimaces. He didn’t mean to tell anyone that, ever.

“Sorry, can’t talk about it right now!” he says and jumps out of the plane.

Nobody Should Be Alone on a Holiday by emphasisonem [Stucky, 2k words, Teen]

“So, um-” Bucky begins speaking again, pulling Steve from his less-than-work-appropriate thoughts. The brunet has shoved his hands into the pockets of his dark slacks, and he’s shifting from one foot to the other as he smiles shyly. “I have a question for you.”

“Shoot,” Steve grins, leaning back in his chair and crossing his arms over his broad chest. Bucky swallows deeply as one of his hands comes up to pull at the collar of his button-up, and Steve can’t help following the motion of his Adam’s apple.

“I was, uh-” Bucky continues- “That is, I heard you don’t have Thanksgiving plans?”

In which Bucky finds out that Steve's going to be alone on Thanksgiving and invites his coworker to spend the holiday with him.

🌻 It's Been A Long Season Through by thiccbuckybarnes @thiccbuckybarnesfic [Stucky, 49k words, Explicit]

Bucky Barnes is in desperate need of a change in scenery, which is why he makes the foolhardy decision to quit his job, leave his asshole of a fiance, pack up his life, and move to his grandfather’s old farm all within a single day.

He expects confusion, hardship, and maybe even failure. But love? He wasn’t expecting that.

Or, a Stucky Stardew Valley AU that nobody but me wanted and that’s ok.

oh, peach pit, where'd the hours go? by thiccbuckybarnes [Stucky, 10k words, Explicit]

Can't see the forest for the trees.

Or, Steve learns that just because he and Bucky got their happily ever after, it doesn’t mean the past won’t come back to bite them.

I'll find my way by rainbow_nerds [Stucky, 725 words, Teen]

Steve had watched Bucky fall, and nothing had been the same since.

AU-gust day 19: Daemons

special delivery by glim @glim [Stucky, 6k words, Teen]

It's not that Steve's bad at taking care of himself when he gets sick; he just wishes he didn't have to all the time.

At least he can order most of what he needs online. That's some small comfort, that he can have soup and ice cream and everything else brought to his door.

at first chance i'd take the bed warmed by the body by spacebuck @spacebuck [Stucky, 8k words, Explicit]

This close, Steve can see exactly how beautiful his hands are. He’s never really noticed before, or at least he’s never really had a reason to notice, but the man’s hands are large, tanned like he works outside all day. There’s an endearing callus on the heel of one of his palms, and Steve can’t quite work out when calluses became endearing.

Steve pauses the video. Swallows hard. Casts his eyes around for anything that’ll keep his mind off the hands on his screen, off the words inked into those hands, the delicate shape of a bird’s wing, the curling edge of a vine.

He looks down. The name of the channel is right there, blaring the man’s name right into Steve’s brain until it feels like he’s known it all along.

Bucky Barnes.

OR: the one where Bucky's a youtuber who solves puzzles on camera, and steve's smitten and horny

🌻 Rock On! by millesable @marvelousescapism [Clintasha, 700 words, General]

“Hey, Romanoff!”

He lifted his hand, index finger and pinky finger raised, thumb out, all other fingers tucked. Their secret sign; their confession for the world to see, safe in the knowledge that the world wasn’t listening.

“Rock on!”

🌻 You Like the Way I Look by dontcallmebree @iamthe-wo-manwhocan [Stucky, 2k words, Explicit]

Bucky sidles up to him, hand boldly coming to rest on his chest. “What about you, big guy? Care for a dance?” Steve watches Bucky’s eyes twinkle with satisfaction, somehow already knowing he’s got Steve on the hook.

A decade out of the ice, Steve Rogers returns to New York. Reeling from a battle against the Chitauri, a night with the troublesome Bucky Barnes might be just what he needs.

Join the Rebellion by rainbow_nerds [Stucky, 765 words, Teen]

Bucky knew he shouldn't be out after curfew, but he couldn't resist the urge. He didn’t know where he was going, but he knew it was where he wanted to be.

AU-gust day 20: Dystopia

🔒 Five Days in December by mywingsareonwheels @mywingsareonwheels [Evanstan, 4k words, Teen]

“Shit shit shit shit...” muttered Chris to himself, glad that the sound of piped Christmas carols was drowning out his swearing amid the picture books. Most of the store was heaving even though it was Sunday, he’d been recognised at least three times, finding presents for all of his nieces and nephews was proving far more of a headache than expected, and he’d just sent a pile of copies of "Strictly No Elephants" tumbling off the bookshelf.

He scrambled about trying to pick them all up, and then dropped them again as someone bumped right into his backside. He lost his balance, caught himself against a bookcase, and a landslide of "Carter Is a Painter’s Cat" joined "Strictly No Elephants" on the floor. He yelped.

“Ah fuck, I’m so sorry… Chris!”

* * * * * * * * * *

London, December 2021. Amid cats, books, and the cold English drizzle, Chris finds everything he was hoping for and thought he would never have.

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

Reaching for Fire by dixons_mama @dixons-mama [Stucky, 7k words, Explicit]

Bucky has always felt a fire in his heart (and other body parts) when it came to his boss, Steve Rogers, but he's made sure to never feed those flames. When he finds out about Steve's second job, though, he's tempted to let that fire out.

i've been dreaming of a face like yours by thiccbuckybarnes [Stucky, 3k words, Explicit]

Bucky is about to busy himself with making a small dinner for himself when he stops in his tracks at the figure drinking a cup of coffee in the kitchen, leaning against the counter and smirking at him.

It’s Steve.

“Surprise, sweet boy,” he says before setting his cup down.

Or, PWP reunion sex

🌻 Somewhere, Under Your Skin by thiccbuckybarnes [Stucky, 16k words, Explicit]

Bucky Barnes treats himself to a one-night stand after having a very bad no good day.

The sex is good--great, even. Might be the best sex of his life.

But Bucky wouldn’t have slept with the guy if he had known that he was going to continuously run into him every day for the next fucking month.

Or, a Big Grump Bucky has a hot one night stand with a college kid who is popping up everywhere in his everyday life and he doesn’t know how to deal with it.

(Written for HYBB Bingo Square: Grumpy Bucky)

i've played heartstrings before but not in your key by thiccbuckybarnes [Stucky, 11k words, Explicit]

He glances down, seeing a folded couple of papers, before peering up at Bucky. The older man is biting his bottom lip, making it pretty and red. Steve wants to run his tongue across where his teeth are digging into his flesh.

"What's this?" Steve asks, setting his phone down, emails forgotten. Bucky shrugs and looks away.

"I dunno. You tell me, genius," he says, sounding bratty enough that it makes Steve's dick twitch in his pants. Jesus, there has to be something wrong with him.

Steve glances once more at Bucky, who now has his arms crossed against his chest and is pointedly not looking at Steve, before picking up the stack of folded papers. He opens them, seeing a collection of maybe five or six sheets of paper. His eyes immediately land on the list of familiar words with negative next to each one. -- Or, Steve Rogers is a jealous, possessive little shit that wants nothing more than to mark up his boyfriend and stake his claim. And Bucky knows it. (And he likes it.)

🌻 I'm Home (With You) by BonkyBornes @padfoot-and-the-marauders [Stucky, 2k words, General]

In any other circumstance, the apartment would've been perfect. But it was today, and the fact that he was here meant he wasn’t out searching. He knew they hadn’t had any leads for weeks and he knew Natasha was right; all three of them were exhausted and a break would do them good. It just felt wrong to Steve that he was comfortable while Bucky was still out there—somewhere. Probably cold. Probably hungry.

The knock came again. Sighing, Steve unwrapped his hand from the dog tags and remembered how to move. Cold wind and snow greeted him when he opened the door. The solitary figure was walking down the steps, collar popped against the chill.

“Did you need something?” he called.

The person stopped. They were still. And then they turned. *

Or, the Christmas Steve deserved after Winter Soldier.

The portrait by rainbow_nerds [Stucky, 915 words, General]

Steve Rogers has a Gift. He can help people find their soulmates, all he needs is some art supplies, a quiet place, and eye contact.

AU-gust day 21: soulmates

Maybe A Muse by buckybarnesdeservestobehappy [Stucky, 2k words, Mature]

When Bucky Barnes needs extra money, he’s appalled that his best friends think he should become a model for the art department on campus. Shy, nerdy, and socially awkward, he’s not sure that’s something he feels comfortable doing. Still, he needs money, and he likes the idea of becoming someone’s muse. The problem is he had no idea two things would happen. First, one of the students in the class is exactly his type; second, he has to model nude.

#my reading log #r's reading log #fic rec #stucky fic rec #fics recs #stucky #danbeau #samrhodey #longpost #long post #clintasha #evanstan

164 notes · View notes

carryonthroughtheages · 3 years

Text

Hello everyone!

Another year of Carry On Through The Ages is over and done! We have emotions and exhaustion, but we're so happy that this year had the hype and excitement that it did.

Thank you, from the bottom of our hearts, to all of the AMAZING creators who spent the last several months working away at their historical content!

Thank you also to the hard-working mods: @bazzybelle, @giishu, @palimpsessed, and @xivz . This fest would not have been as successful as it has been without you!

We encourage everyone to look under the page break for all the fics and art. They're all fantastic!

Here is the link to the AO3 Collection: Carry On Through The Ages 2021!

Thank you all, and until next year! 🧡🧡🧡

MONDAY:

1) sun on the sea (T) - @trenchcoat-moth : AO3 // Tumblr

Tensions run high in England, and Malcolm decides it's for the best he sends Baz to live with Fiona, where he'll be safer.

That is, until Baz's ship is attacked.

2) The Words I Long To Say (M) - @bazzybelle : AO3 // Tumblr

Simon Snow was dead.

Baz Pitch was sure of it. Simon had gone away seven years ago to fight a war in the jungle and he hadn't come home.

So, when Simon shows up in Baz's club, investigating a string of brutal murders, all Baz wants to do is hold him close and never let him go.

But these aren't the same boys from 1960 and Baz has a lot of processing to do before he's ready to believe in Simon again.

3) we are slaves to gods, whatever gods are (M) - @wellbelesbian : AO3 // Tumblr

I don’t fully understand what plagues him, but I know it’s bad, and I know it goes deeper than guilt. He didn’t want to kill his father, not really, but we were instructed to do so by Apollo. Cleanse the house of its sins, dispose of a murderer to set things right. It was only right that I join him; he was avenging my mother as much as his. Clearly, Apollo didn’t seem to consider that such an act would make Simon a murderer in his father’s place. It seems I got off fine, but as far as Simon is concerned, the vengeful spirits that once spun and danced on the roof of the palace now hunt him down, determined not to stop until he rids the world of himself.

4) World War II Era Art - @stardustasincocaine : Tumblr

TUESDAY:

1) the art of loving you (E) - @one-more-offbeat-anthem : AO3 // Tumblr

1955. London. Young love.

Forbidden love.

A year ago, starving artist Simon Snow met Baz Pitch, son of a wealthy art patron, at a party, and their days (and nights) together have been a wonderful secret.

But Simon is tired of being a secret and knows it's time for things to end.

(Baz has other ideas.)

2) Reliquary of an Arsonist (T) - @tea-brigade : AO3 // Tumblr

Simon Snow grew up a ward of Watford Abbey, but when his magic manifested in an explosive accident as a child, he became the Abbey’s anchorite—never to leave Watford’s walls, for his own protection. That is, until Abbot David sends him on an important errand…

Basilton Pitch paints portraits for his patron, Lord Grimm. But he’s never forgotten the magic he learned from his mother—nor the men who condemned her to death as a heretic. When Simon arrives and offers Baz a commission from Watford Abbey, he sees his chance to avenge his mother once and for all...and he’s willing to burn down everything in his path to that end.

But it was no coincidence that pulled these two unlikely souls together. Something more sinister is underway at Watford Abbey, and only Simon and Baz can uncover the truth before everything goes up in flames.

3) Westward Son (E) - @aristocratic-otter : AO3 // Tumblr

Simon and Baz have found each other again, but there's nowhere in Brooklyn or Virginia where they can safely be together. So now, they venture the hazards and struggles of the Oregon trail, to perhaps find a little homestead in Oregon of their own.

4) A Way Out (T) - @lying-on-the-sofa : AO3

I frown at him..“You don’t know me.”

He offers his hand. “Simon.”

Simon. I feel the name around in my mind and assign it to his face. Simon. I don’t shake his hand. They’ve still got my arms pinned. “Basilton.”

Simon nods at me. “Now we know each other. Let him go.” Very casually, he takes his other hand from behind his back. A sword, flashing. He leans on it and smiles invitingly. “Let him go.”

This time, they listen.

Simon Snow has been trained for years to become a tribute—one of the fighters Athens sends every ninth year into the Minotaur’s labyrinth. He wants to know the way out, if only for Penny’s sake. Luckily for him, Prince Basilton of Crete also wants a way out—off the island, where no one will know he’s the half-brother of the Minotaur.

Unluckily for both of them, they don’t exactly form the most agreeable pair.

WEDNESDAY

1) long is the road the leads me home (G) - @wellbelesbian : AO3 (Version 1) (Version 2) // Tumblr

Baz has a rather unremarkable life, and he's fine with that. Running his late mother's beloved inn with his temperamental aunt, estranged from his father and step-siblings, he's successfully convinced himself that he's better off without attachments.

Then Simon barrels into his life, guns blazing and rapier drawn, and Baz is swept up in dramatic plot he never bargained for.

Worse still, he finds he quite likes the thrill.

2) New Romantics (T) - @ninemagicks : AO3 // Tumblr

Basilton Pitch, twenty-two years old and a famed poet of the Romantic era, has fled to the countryside. In Mummers House, the fabled haunt of literary greats, he sulks himself into oblivion and awaits a sad, disappointing end to his brief years of brilliance. The cause of his downfall? None other than Simon Snow, the so-called “bad boy of English poetry”, breaker of rules and eternal thorn in his side. Baz hopes that Mummers House might mean an escape from London, from Snow and his increasingly virulent popularity... but the rain that comes has other ideas.

3) thnétos (T) - @snowybank : AO3 // Tumblr

thnétos: subject to death, mortal

a retelling of Apollo and Hyacinthus

4) A Medieval AU art piece - @thewriterxj : Tumblr

THURSDAY

1) From Eden (E) - @orange-peony : AO3 // Tumblr

I wonder if his skin is warm or cold to the touch. I tell myself it’s simple curiosity, that I’m an artist and capturing things on paper or canvas is my way to make sense of the world. That drawing him feels so natural, so I should just follow my instincts. Ebb used to say it all the time. Follow your heart. It knows where you’re supposed to go.

I wish I could. I wish I had enough money and freedom to just draw what I want. To paint him in his unattainable beauty. To draw him the way I want to. Naked and vulnerable, raw. Without frills and expensive suits.

Just Baz on paper, my fingers tracing his delicate and beautiful lines with simple charcoal.

2) Slings and Eros (M) - @palimpsessed : AO3 // Tumblr

Young god of love Simonides is tasked by his father, the god of war, to bring about the ruin of a mortal prince to punish his blasphemy. However, once Simonides sees his intended victim, he begins to have misgivings. Prince Tyrannus might have offended the gods with his very existence, but all Simonides can see is how beautiful and lonely he is.

Or, a very loose interpretation of the Eros and Psyche myth.

3) I Don't Want to Set the World on Fire (M) - @knitbelove : AO3 // Tumblr

September 1940: Going back to Watford feels different this year, and not just because England is at the brink of war with Germany and Italy. Penelope seems unsettled by everything, and Agatha is distant, and Baz is … simply not here.

What if Carry On but during the Blitz?? Yeah.

4) A Fool's Oath (M) - @thewriterxj : AO3 // Tumblr

A simple soldier is invited to join the ranks of the royal guard. He and his appointed mage arrive at the royal city to find themselves at the mercy of an unmerciful court. As he struggles to find his place in this foreign environment, he also finds himself entranced by music that only he seems to hear that floats out about the city. He makes an oath to wed whoever makes such beautiful music.

Too bad that person is the crown prince.

FRIDAY

1) Stranger Tides (T) - @tea-brigade & @xivz : AO3 // Tumblr

“If some god shall wreck me in the wine-dark deep, even so I will endure…” Captain Simon Snow of the Chosen One is many things—cunning, handsome, ruthless. Greedy. It’s no surprise that Snow finds a way to piss off the God of the Sea, he always manages to get himself into some type of trouble. This time, however, he’s not the only one who will suffer the consequences. Poseidon promises to not stop his pursuit until Snow and all of his men are dead.

Enter Basilton Pitch—rich, beautiful, mysterious. Suspicious. He offers the crew of the Chosen One a hefty sum to take him back to Europe from the Caribbean. And who is Captain Snow to refuse so much coin? After all, Greek gods aren’t real.

Right?

2) The wayward heir [comic] (M) - @letraspal : AO3 // Tumblr

Like a folk song, our love will be passed on. Simon Snow wants to be an artist. He used to live in Fiesole where he worked in the wool shop of his good friend Ebeneza Petty. He has now chosen to return to his native Florence in order to participate in an art contest hosted by the Pitch family, the most important bankers in all the three continents and Simon’s last chance for an art patronage. No matter how much he hates them.

But being back in Florence also brings back the memories Simon wanted to leave behind : his days as an orphan, the mystery about his mother, and once more being under the inquisitive eyes of his godfather, the new archbishop Davy. The archbishop is very same man who would never forgive him for dropping out the priesthood and ruining his secret plans against the Pitches.

The last thing Simon needed was an unbearably handsome jerk getting him into trouble on his very first day in Florence. How can focus when this man is the most annoying person he has ever met and yet his major source of inspiration.

3) Prohibition Blues (T) - @heyyyandrea : AO3

Simon Snow is a baker and aspiring playwright in Prohibition Era New York City. When he meets a handsome man at Shepherd's speakeasy who is interested in his work, he can't help but think it feels too good to be true.

4) Earth Below & Sky Above (M) - @phoxphyre : AO3 // Tumblr

In the depth of the palace of King Minos of Crete lurks a creature known as the Minotaur.

Baz, prince of Athens and chosen of the god Poseidon, has heard the stories. And now he’s volunteered to come to Crete as one of the annual tributes—to dance with the king’s bulls and fulfill his destiny. He just wants to survive the bulls, protect his people, and go home.

But what if the Minotaur isn’t a monster—but just a boy? And what if instead of slaying him, Baz fell in love with him?

A Carry On retelling of the myth of Theseus and the Minotaur, set in Bronze Age Crete.

5) A 1980s AU Art piece by @stardustasincocaine : Tumblr // Instagram (Slightly NSFW)

99 notes · View notes

ragingpancake · 3 years

Text

Menace 2 Society

Set during any time period when Rodney and the gang are on Earth. Possible The Return era. John's away and Rodney finds out a life of crime really isn't for him even though he's really good at it. ~1600 words. Crack.

Author's Note: a repost from my old livejournal, written for @popkin16 allllllll the way back in 2011.

The alcohol stopped burning several shots ago. Now, it slides down as easily as a glass of water (hold the lemon) so he downs the cheap whiskey and motions for another. He thinks the bartender is smirking as he slides the glass across the counter, so Rodney salutes him sloppily with two fingers. "To," he hiccups and burps. Half the liquid sloshes out of the tiny glass as he raises it in thanks. "T'you. For keepin' the good stuff comin'," he says. Or at least that's what he tries to say but it's possible he's speaking Ancient. He swallows and drops the glass back to the smooth bar top and leans over, pressing his face against the cool wood. It feels good and he wants to close his eyes and just sleep. It's not like anyone would miss him anyway.

He sighs and rubs his cheek against it and then he sighs some more. This has turned out to be a spectacularly shitty day. "Ca'I get one more?" Rodney asks. He wiggles a single finger in the bartender's direction, but he will not be swayed. "Sorry buddy. I think you've had enough." It sounds familiar and Rodney remembers even though he came here to forget. "Says who?" He asks, drawing himself up to full height. It's most likely ineffective because he can feel himself swaying on his bar stool. He'll be lucky if he doesn't topple right over into the floor like Humpty Dumpty and that's enough to set him off in a fit of manly giggles. He mumbles the nursery rhyme under his breath--at least, he means to--as he stumbles to his feet and wrestles his wallet out of his back pocket. His fingers, normally so deft and skilled, feel fat and totally useless as he opens the flap and wrestles a wad of money out. It isn't easy but eventually he's successful. He tosses a couple tens down on the counter. "S'been real, m'man!" He calls to the bartender and sweeps his jacket gracefully off the back of the stool. Well, he thinks he sweeps it gracefully off the back of the stool except he's not graceful even under the best of circumstances and drunk out of his mind doesn't really count. He almost falls, but he compensates and manages to keep himself upright. He's the fucking man. "Smooth, McKay," he congratulates himself and saunters--stumbles--towards the exit. Rodney has one hand on the doorknob when the sound of raised voices catches his attention. He whirls around, but when he stops, the room keeps going and it takes a minute until it stops spinning until for him to see the cause of the argument. A guy who reminds him vaguely of Ronon save for the awesome hair, growling a woman who's smaller than Keller. Normally, he would back out quickly before the giant spots him because this is more John's forte than his, but fortified by several shots of cheap whiskey, Rodney puffs up his chest and opens his mouth before his brain catches up. "Hey!" The woman shrinks back, seemingly trying to disappear under the table as the guy turns, narrowing his eyes at Rodney. "The fuck is your problem?" The guy slurs. Rodney hasn't thought this far ahead but he tries for a defiant slouch and glares. "You're m'problem! Maybe you should jus'... jus' shut up and yell at someone your own size." Had John, Ronon, Teyla or even Zelenka been around, they would have reminded Rodney to take his own advice because how many times had he yelled at poor old Miko over the years? The guy laughs and rounds the table, but Rodney doesn't falter. If anything, he stands--tries to--a little straighter and rounds his broad shoulders. There's a very teeny tiny part of his brain, the part that's going to be pissed at him for potentially damaging valuable brain cells when he's not so drunk, that screams at him to run, but he just holds his ground. "You wanna say that to my face?" The guy asks, so close that Rodney can smell what he had for dinner. It's almost enough to make him throw up. "I said you should jus' shut up." The guy reaches out and shoves Rodney. The extra force is enough to knock him off his balance and he tumbles backwards into the coat rack. He's vaguely aware of the bartender yelling over to them, but he's annoyed now in a way that has nothing to do with idiot lab technicians. It's a struggle to get to his feet but he manages and this time when the guy swings, Rodney has enough foresight to duck. He'll thank Ronon later for teaching him to dodge the obvious blows and he'll thank Teyla for teaching him how to strike. His fist connects with the guy's nose and Rodney can feel the satisfying crunch under his fingers. "I did it!" He says, mildly surprised at actually landing a hit. The excitement doesn't last long though because he's only served to piss the guy off even more and this time when he swings, he doesn't miss. Rodney takes a couple of punches, but they're nothing compared to the beating he would have received before Atlantis, before Ronon

and Teyla, before John. They've taught him to use his bulk, his broad shoulders and big hands, to his advantage and while he doesn't escape completely unscathed, he's pleased to see that the other guy is no better off. Of course, he has exactly three point five seconds to celebrate before his arms are shoved behind his back roughly and held in place by the cool metal of handcuffs. A bar fight and an arrest all in one night? John would be so proud. And it's with that thought that Rodney doubles over and empties the contents of his stomach on the floor. --- There's nothing remotely exciting about being arrested, Rodney thinks mournfully as he shifts in the cracked plastic chair. He doesn't even get to go to real jail. Instead, he's being held in the processing room at the local police department, staring dumbly at the back of the officer's head. He's slouched down in a computer chair, playing Solitaire. Rodney wonders what it means about local law enforcement when they can't even win at that. He wisely keeps this thought to himself. "Don' I get a phone call?" He asks. His head is starting to ache and while he's sure he's already thrown up everything he's eaten in the last year and a half, he still feels like he's going to be sick. He really just wants Carter or hell, even Daniel Jackson to come get him so he can go home and sleep for a month. Or at least until John comes back. "Nope," the officer drawls and that's the end of that. Well okay then. He slumps miserably in his seat, handcuffs clinking the metal rail he's attached to. He really just wants to go home. Not home home but Atlantis home where everything was good and John wasn't being stupid and gallivanting off to another planet in the Milky Way with his brand new team. Without Rodney. Apparently, alcohol was counterproductive because while it was supposed to make him forget, it's all he can think about. He's pulled from his thoughts by the sound of a quiet click and when the door opens up, Rodney can hardly believe his eyes. "Hey buddy," John greets, smiling lazily like Rodney isn't handcuffed for a reason that doesn't involve kinky sex. "What are you doin' here?" "Bailing you out," John says easily. "And really? A bar fight? What were you thinking?" "I was amazing," Rodney says, smiling despite himself. He goes to stand and then remembers he can't exactly go anywhere, so he flops down into the chair and sighs loudly. "John?" "Yeah buddy?" "Can we go home now?" John just grins. --- By the time they make it to Rodney's apartment, Rodney's ready to seriously pass out. He's exhausted and his face is hurting from where that Neanderthal's fist connected with it, but mostly, he's just so happy John is back that he wants nothing more than to get upstairs, get naked and sleep for a month. This time with John. It's a chore to get out of the car and up the stairs, but when John finally shoves the apartment door open, Rodney stumbles in gratefully. "You left me," he accuses halfheartedly as he pulls his shirt over his head with clumsy hands, throwing it onto the back of the couch. "Big jerk. S'your fault, y'know." "It's my fault you got arrested?" "Yes," Rodney sighs. John doesn't argue; he grabs the shirt from the couch and then steers Rodney into the bedroom and Rodney is positive that he's stifling a laugh when he face plants onto the bed. "Turned me into a hardened crim'nal. S'all your fault," he mutters, muffled by the mattress. "A hardened criminal, huh?" "You make me crazy." "I feel the same way about you," John says fondly. The bed dips under John's weight and a second later, Rodney finds himself cuddled up against John's side. He presses his face against John's neck and breathes in his scent. "Don't go 'way anymore, 'kay?" "I'm not going anywhere," John promises. "Especially after this. Who knew a few hours apart would send you spiraling downward into a life of crime?" Rodney just nods solemnly and snuffles quietly against John's neck. "'M such a menace to society," Rodney mutters. John laughs his horrible donkey-laugh and

Rodney feels fond lips against the top of his head. "You're a menace alright. Get some sleep, McKay. I have a feeling you're gonna have one hell of a hangover in the morning." Rodney's already fast asleep.

#sga fic #fandom: sga #mcshep #ship: mcshep #john sheppard #rodney mckay #crack fic #this one always cracked me up

34 notes · View notes

inkandpen22 · 3 years

Text

Cuppa Tea, Cuppa Tea

Request: The first request is that the reader kinda is yawning a bit, but "oh, it's fine, I'm just studying a bit harder" but they're either lying and doing a bunch of work deep into the night (maybe translating old books or something) or it's insomnia, or actually studying til 4:00am or something (lots of "ors" I'm so sorry) and of course spike finds out and is like "I'm supposed to be the nocturnal one??" And I had a brief thought of somehow the reader being tricked to drink sleepy time tea or something that will make them sleep as much as they need, but idk if that would be weird 🤔 but anyway, I hope that made sense ^^;

Pairing: Spike x gender neutral reader

Warnings: swearing

Word Count: 1.3k

Summary: Y/N is at Spike’s studying for a chemistry exam when Spike starts to worry for them.

A/N: sorry for the delay!!! This was so easy to write because honestly it’s relatable. Enjoy X

Masterlist

The words on the page start to blend and nothing makes sense anymore. No matter how hard I try, I can't seem to process the words I'm staring at here. I have to pass this chemistry exam. I'm not even a chem major, stupid general education classes. I hear Spike move about behind me while his Passions episode comes to an end. Being one of the token full-fledge humans in the Scooby Gang means I'm sometimes dropped off at Spike's for safekeeping. Lately, there's a water demon terrorizing Sunnydale, so I've been instructed to come straight here after classes. Yet, Spike insists on meeting me right after the lecture. He went about finding out my course schedule so he can be thereafter my last class. Since I finish when the sun is still out, he has to use the tunnels on campus. He's the definition of smothering.

"Y/N, you need to go to bed," he advises, appearing beside the crypt I'm set upon.

My notes and textbook are laid perfectly on the crypt to study.

"Five more minutes," I yawn.

The candlelight is starting to radiate enough heat to feel it. They've been going all afternoon and well into the evening. Its light is starting to burn my eyes.

"You said that twenty minutes ago," Spike sighs, kneeling next to me.

"Oh bet, I thought it was only ten," I check my watch for the time.

Spike huffs in annoyance and snatches my textbook away.

"Hey!" I reach for the pages, but he moves it away.

"I'm so supposed to be the nocturnal one! Not you!" He reminds me with a fuss.

"Ever heard of insomnia?" I sass.

"It's not healthy," he preaches, setting my textbook down.

"Nor is being undead. That's a little pot calling the kettle black," I shrug while I reopen my book to the proper page.

"The more tired you get the more annoying you are," he grumbles, tossing his head back dramatically with a sigh.

"Dope," I nod with narrowed eyes.

"I hate you," Spike growls.

"Love to hear it," I mutter subconsciously as I continue reading.

"Ugh, oh my g-"

Absentmindedly, I read the chapter on proper chemical mixing. I can't even read the periodic table, how am I supposed to remember all of this?

I start to sing a familiar tune under my breath without much thought. "Oh say can you see by the dawn's-"

"Stop!" Suddenly, Spike's hand is covering my mouth. "Stop while you're ahead!"

"I was just getting started." My voice is muffled by his hand.

Spike slips his hand around and brings up the other to make me stare into his eyes.

"You're getting delusional!" He accuses.

"What's life without a little bad trip? Adds some spice," I dismiss carelessly.

"You're psychotic," he determines

"Says the serial killer," I shrug.

"You're! Losing! It!" He emphasizes.

"You! Eat! People!" I fire back mockingly.

"I need to so I can exist. You don't need to study to exist," he takes my textbook away again and strolls away.

"I need to so I can get a good job," I reason.

"Industrial America is overrated," he declares monotonously.

"You're also an old English man," I grumble.

"Yeah, so I know a few things," he smirks proudly.

"You never took school seriously?" I climb down from the crypt to fetch my book from him.

"Well... I went if that's what you mean. I had a rather expensive education," Spike describes vaguely.

I reach for my textbook and take it back civilly. "A White, upper-middle-class, during the Victorian Era, given a well-to-do private education? Well, color me shocked!"

"I can hardly stand you when you get in this mood. You need sleep," he rolls his eyes annoyedly.

"I hardly tolerate you every moment of every day. I need coffee," I correct.

"I will kill you," he threatens as per usual.

"Oh yes, bring me the sweet release," I grumble as I head back to my spot.

"You sicken me, you know that?" Spike questions sarcastically.

"Glad to hear it," I laugh humorlessly.

"Normally, people aren't so keen on being threatened," he reminds.

"Fair enough, granted I'm not 'normal,'" I form quotation marks with my fingers.

"Clearly," he mumbles.

"'Clearly,'" I mock his voice. "You even sound old!"

"I'm only one hundred and twenty-six!" He states, yet again, this week.

"Oh my goodness! You're right! My bad! You're practically a new spring chicken! Now get out there young one, and seize the day!" I tease.

"I'm going to make you a cup of tea," Spike declares, heading over to his make-shift kitchen. In reality, it's an electric kettle he plugs into an extension cord that's connected to somewhere outside.

"Coffee," I request, returning to my reading.

"Tea! You don't need any more coffee," he ridicules.

"You're depressing," I insult under my breath.

After a short time, Spike returns with a mug. I've managed to get through the last paragraph I've been struggling with.

"Here," he hands the white porcelain object to me.

The warmth of the mug contrasts the cold of my hands.

"What kind," I ask as I go to sip it.

"Green," he nods.

"Oo, so you are giving me caffeine," I wiggle my brows right as the liquid hits my lips.

"Only to shut you up," he sighs.

"Always the charmer," I wink.

After a moment of consideration and pondering, I can determine that this is good tea. Spike stands around waiting for my approval.

"This is nice, what brand is it?" I go in for another sip.

"An old one my mother used to use, been around for a while," he stammers.

"Lovely, thank you."

I compliment and he grumbles some response. ______________________ The sound of a distant lawnmower wakes me up in a jolt. I gasp for air, having been so deeply asleep that I hardly felt alive. I must've been more exhausted than I originally comprehended. My blurry vision adjusts to my surroundings and I'm tucked into a bed, but not my own. No, I know this bed. I've seen it before. The bright red sheets are hard to forget. Spike.

"What the-" I scream, "Spike!"

The bleach blonde vampy appears from behind a pillar across the room.

"Yes, Pet?" He says slyly, as though it's just any other morning.

"You asshole!" I curse at him as I hurry to get up.

"Feel refreshed?" He smirks.

"Did you drug me?" I come to the realization as I stand up that I don't remember falling asleep or getting into Spike's bed.

"Eh, somewhat," he explains vaguely. "I gave you camomile tea and maybe crushed up some melatonin in it."

My jaw drops, "you're insane!"

"Knocked you out like a bloody babe," he snickers, taking a seat on the edge of the bed.

"What time is it?!" I shake my wrist to my watch.

"Noon," Spike answers before I have the chance to check.

My eyes go wide as the harsh reality that I'm late to my class sinks in.

"Shit! Shit!" I rush to gather my things. "Fuck me! I have my test in thirty minutes!"

Spike strolls about casually around me, not giving two shits.

"You'll be fine," he assures calmly. "The sleep will help."

"It better!" I growl at the vamp.

"I'll pick you up after your class. We'll get coffee," he suggests with a smug expression.

"You don't drink coffee," I glare as I pack up my backpack.

"Damn straight, but you do. My treat," he offers.

"Oh, so kind!" I remark sarcastically as I struggle to slip my arms through my backpack and get my shoes on at the same time.

"Have fun!" He waves as I head to the door. "Good luck!"

"Fuck you!" I bid farewell as I slam the tomb door behind me.

"Coffee!" He shouts from inside as I stroll away. "Four o'clock! I'll pick you up!"

"Okay! Fine! Fine!" I yell in agreement, despite everything that just happened.

God, I hate to love him.

__________________________

Masterlist

Tags: @mx-pibbles

#spuffy #spike x buffy #spike fanfic #spikexreader #spike #buffy summers #buffy the vampire slayer #buffy the vampire slayer imagine

92 notes · View notes

leam1983 · 2 years

Text

On Having Weird-Ass Headcanons

A looong ramble follows below.

I mean, I consider myself a mature enough person to understand that fandom doesn't imply ownership. When it comes to Star Wars, I know Anakin Skywalker succumbs to the Dark Side under Palpatine's influence, I know his arc is ultimately one of latecoming redemption, and I know that after Kylo Ren's own arc, it's not very likely we'll see Anakin in some form or another outside of flashbacks. I know that previous to encountering Luke, he'd effectively buried the man he used to be and owed his presence and gravitas to some pretty excruciating surgery and to a voicebox-slash-rebreather being part of his life-support systems.

I know that for much of the trilogy, he's unapologetically a bad guy. As in, someone you would not want to associate yourself with, ever.

Despite all that, some feral corner of my brain's taken his Received English Pronounciation enunciation, his ponderous movements and especially his given title as a Sith - Lord Vader - and transplanted him in something that's probably closer to a Late Victorian-Era courtroom drama than a grand showdown between Good and Evil.

There's just something to Vader that demands an induction port of sorts for biscuits and shortbread, for Earl Grey carefully sipped through his mask's grill, and for frightfully polite and precise casual discussion - at least, to my eyes. Tweak his helmet to allow for a seriously-placed gibus, give him a black morning coat and a steel-gray cravat, and mod his lightsaber so it doubles as a walking stick when not in active use, with a sort of telescoping extension. He's walking through a Steampunk-ish Death Star expy while occasionally checking shipboard time on his fob watch, and plies every rhetorical trick, every gentlemanly grace he knows, to learn where his stowaway sent the ship's plans.

He doesn't hurt Leia, gives her borderline-palatial quarters to be detained in, and instead comes calling at the same hour each day, patiently wiling hours away in a rhetorical game he's entirely convinced he can win. That Darth Vader doesn't Force-choke at the first offense, and neither at the fifth or sixth - he's a very patient man. Some people have crossed him, yes, but this is a universe where defines him less than cold pragmaticism does, as well as perceived airs of righteousness.

To be honest, that version of Vader abhors violence. He catches snippets of crewmen discussing their families waiting back portside, and he wishes he could rekindle something with his own children, unaware that his own daughter is only one lift ride away...

This particular Vader doesn't pay the ultimate sacrifice in defeating Palpatine. He survives, instead remaining as the quiet, contrite, somewhat emotionally castrated type that slowly, steadily rediscovers earnestness and the bonds a father should have with his children. He still walks like someone stuck a Tusken Raider's polearm where the sun never shone, but slows down around his children - bending down slightly while discussing further plans with an airship-piloting Luke. His lightsaber-cane's quick taps turn soft around him and his friends, equal parts out of fondness and because of how unsure he is about Han or even the droids' attitudes towards him.

One day, Leia manages to rip a laugh out of him, over tea. It startles him. After years of either silence or the occasional low, fanatical chuckle, finding a joke that actually tweaks his bruised sense of humor feels both slightly painful and liberating. Little by little, he starts to open up, occasionally landing a zinger about his physical status or showing enough maturity to mock who he used to be under Palpatine.

He and Obi-Wan make amends, their advanced age keeping the both of them where they're most comfortable - slightly out of sight, a teapot waiting between them. The Rebel Alliance is a youngster's game, and neither of them fit that descriptor anymore.

Slowly, Anakin realizes he needs to adapt to his son and daughter's continued sojourns in the Outer Rim. Sand being an obvious mechanical concern - it does certainly get everywhere - and dark colors not being suited to desert worlds or even summertime temperate climes, he shyly begins to make alterations to his suit, deflecting back to his black original whenever he feels an urge to act as a looming presence backing up his two developing diplomats. When casual matters need addressing, however? Charcoal tones start to creep in, slowly giving way to Hoth and Tattooine-appropriate white combinations, and to a wider array of color arrangements.

Eventually, House Skywalker gets its own mansion grounds somewhere quiet and pastoral, Old Anakin ending his days in a simplified suit designed to be slipped underneath slippers and a dress robe. He takes to retirement a little too well, requiring two suit resizings and alterations to his wardrobe, and soon becomes known as the local eccentric nobleman who spends his days reading on park benches or entertaining the local kids with "lightsaber" duels involving sticks or the broken-off broom handle one of the kids give him. He always loses, of course, and is always a good sport about it.

After several decades of well-deserved relative idleness, his lungs simply stop adequately responding to the suit's negative pressure. Adjustments buy him a year, maybe two. The park-side theatrical jousts stop - the kids are all grown up, now - and he simply reads and chats with whomever stops nearby. He's pleasant company, all things told - either lost in the past or using his newspaper to cover up a quick snooze. It helps that his helmet makes him difficult to read for the uninitiated; only Threepio seems to recognize normal breathing motions from the shorter, deeper shoulder rises that denote deep rest.

He's a good listener, whenever he snaps out of either modes, and you'd be hard-pressed to believe he used to be a Sith Lord. At best, he sometimes gets a little too expedient when discussing galactic politics, then catches himself and apologizes. Whatever glimpse of seething contempt for the latest Coruscant popinjay you might've caught is quickly reframed as part of a joke.

Some people still call him Lord Vader, Darth Vader or plain Vader. He doesn't correct them; he's had decades to come to terms with his exactions. He's both Darth Vader and Anakin Skywalker. Nothing will ever change that.

He falls asleep by his crackling fireplace one night, snores contentedly for a few minutes - breathing freely for the first time in ages - and simply doesn't wake up. His housekeeper finds him, first being horrified and then later noting how calm Lord Skywalker felt, feet propped up by the fire and an unfinished book laying in his lap.

#wall of text #star wars #headcanons #darth vader

3 notes · View notes

citylightsbooks · 3 years

Text

The Motor of the Essay: Rachel Kushner in Conversation

This is an excerpt of a free event we held in conjunction with Litquake for our virtual events series, City Lights LIVE. This event features Rachel Kushner in conversation with Dana Spiotta celebrating the launch of The Hard Crowd: Essays 2000-2020, published by Scribner. This event was originally broadcast live via Zoom and hosted by our events coordinator Peter Maravelis. You can listen to the entire event on our podcast. You can watch it in full as well on our Youtube channel.

*****

Dana Spiotta: I know that everyone's going to ask you these questions about writing fiction versus nonfiction. And I read somewhere that you said, with your novels, you begin with imagery more than an idea or a character. With the nonfiction, there is a range of pieces about writers and specific books to journalism--like the prison story and Palestine--and then there’s the ones that are personal essays, right, like the girl in a motorcycle. So I guess they might all have different origins. But where do you begin with that? And how is that different as a process from what you write in fiction?

Rachel Kushner: Yeah, so it is kind of a different process for me, although I sometimes feel guilty to try to make declarations about which is harder, or how one does one thing, because you know, for some people, the essay is what literature is.

For me, fiction is more difficult. And so in a certain way it's what I've signed on to do with my life, because the process can be so mysterious and fickle and unreliable. And I'm waiting to catch a wave, or get the drift and then try to figure out how to sustain it, and then how to change it in order to sustain it. Managing so many different things at once is a very curious hermeneutic, because you need to know where you're going.

But then you also need to let happenstance inform you. I think some of the ways that we are challenged, and how we learn in our lives and also as writers, are by having encounters that we did not anticipate or predict, and that happens in fiction. And then you're kind of in a "taking mode" and you know exactly what's for you and you go with it and you run.

Essays are a little different for me. I mean, obviously. Time is shorter. But usually the motor of the essay is a sprung sentence. I come up with one sentence that is doing something in the syntax and it's making something sort of declarative. And it's kind of a gambit. And it needs to be followed by another. And sometimes I'll have a whole paragraph like that. And those paragraphs will just be floating in the void of the potentiality of the essay that I haven't written yet. And I don't sweat, like, "How am I going to link this to that?" yet. Because I just know by instinct that they're both going in. And if I put them in the essay, then they are interrelated by virtue merely of their proximity to each other. Then I start to build links.

Some journalism is a very different process. Like you mentioned, for the piece that I wrote, originally for the New York Times Magazine, about prison abolition and the carceral geographer, Ruth Wilson Gilmore, they said it can be any length and made it long. So you know, it was like 20,000 words. And it was my version of that essay, and it probably was a pretty good essay. But I think the weakness in it was that I was not speaking to their audience. And they really--you have written for the New York Times Magazine--they want to be able to countenance everything you say, sentence by sentence. It's not like writing an op-ed, where you just say your thing and then people can fight it out in the comments. They want to be fully on board. And I wouldn't want to have to do that all the time.

It's extremely difficult, because you have to keep remembering how to bring in somebody who may have wildly different ideas about how society should be organized, and not seem polemical, not seem pushy. It's a kind of seduction I think that really benefits from collaboration with an editor. It's arduous, it takes time. That essay took two years to write, but because the subject matter was important to me, ultimately, I decided it was worth it.

Dana Spiotta: Yeah, it's such a great essay. And I learned so much from it.

Peter Maravelis: When you're writing about events and feelings from decades ago, how do you return to the experience? What takes you back?

Rachel Kushner: That's a really great question. So, you know, with some of these essays, like the first essay in the book called “Girl on a Motorcycle,” which is about the Cabo 1000--a no longer existent, illegal motorcycle road race where you span the Baja in the course of a day--was the first thing that I ever published and I wrote it 20 years ago. And after looking back over it, in order to put it in this book and to improve upon it, I opened it up; I wrote a new beginning and a new ending. There are so many details and scenes in that essay that I never, ever would have remembered had I not written them down when I was much closer to the meat of that experience.

But there are other essays like the title essay which I just wrote quite recently. I'd put the book together, and I knew it was going to be called “The Hard Crowd.” And then I just basically sat down and wrote this essay. And I think, you know, as maybe you're telling a story, or going through your life, sometimes things really do sort of trigger the release of a memory. And Proust has this conception of two different kinds of memory that he calls voluntary memory and involuntary memory. And voluntary memory is the kind of fixed story that you tell, you know, "Oh, he's telling that story again," meaning it's a kind of sclerotic, hardened account that, for Proust, doesn't really have any real artistic or intrinsic wealth to it. Whereas involuntary memory is maybe when you would smell a perfume that you haven't smelled in 30 years and it reminds you of this or that. And I think that writing itself can activate involuntary memory, because you start to see into spaces you haven't seen in a really long time.

Like when I was writing this essay, I somehow ended up talking about Terence McKenna, and remembered that I'd seen Terence McKenna give this lecture at the Palace of Fine Arts. And then I saw the Palace of Fine Arts and him on the stage and where I was sitting, and who was in the audience. And so then I mentioned in the essay that this noise musician who I don't know, but I knew who he was, was sitting right in front of me. And that was a funny thing because the New Yorker called him and asked, "Were you at a Terence McKenna lecture in 1991." “Yeah, I was.” I mean he probably thought like the FBI is after him or something. I can start to see things and details in pretty haunting detail, particularity once I'm starting to build the framework that will allow those kind of involuntary memories to come up to present themselves.

Peter Maravelis: Do you feel that maybe kids who grew up in a certain era share communal memories, like growing up in San Francisco in the 70s is full of shared moments and scenes?

Rachel Kushner: Yes, I do feel that, but I would maybe even particularize it to not just an era, but to kids who grew up in a certain world within San Francisco. And I'm going to just be blunt: it's the kids who went to public school in San Francisco in the 70s and 80s. We all traversed a world together, and the particularity of that world. I'm not saying that it's special or different. Everybody has a world that they traversed, and that stays inside of them as memory. And ours is ours. And those who experienced it do feel bonded, I think, for life, in a way. And it's something I've thought about a lot since that essay was published in the New Yorker because of the number of people who reached out to me and wanted to talk about their own memories of this same world that we shared.

Peter Maravelis: In the New York Times review, Dwight Garner mentioned the phrase: “At the party, she was kindness in the hard crowd," from the Cream song "White Room." Is that in fact where your title came from?

Rachel Kushner: It is. I mentioned that in the title essay, it all becomes clear, or at least somewhat clear where I heard that song, and why I made it the title of this book. It's a good line.

youtube

To see upcoming events at City Lights bookstore in San Francisco, check out our complete calendar.

#Rachel Kushner #Dana Spiotta #City Lights Books #City Lights Publishers #City Lights Podcast #LIVE! From City Lights #The Hard Crowd #Youtube

8 notes · View notes

itsadamcole · 3 years

Text

all i want (for christmas)

fem!reader x roderick strong

it’s been four months since reader and roderick strong broke up. It’s been four months since they last talked, until they’re both invited to the same Christmas Eve party ... “all i want for christmas is for you and me to fix this”

word count: 3k+

warnings: angst, a little fluff, sad!reader, cheating accusations, mentions of cheating

— this is kinda based on liam payne’s “all i want (for christmas”. i love this christmas song so much —

masterlist || part 2 || request an imagine here

***

"Yeah, of course," you say, forcing a smile as you talk to Adam Cole. "I'll be there. I'm not going to let what happened get in the way of holiday celebrations."

Adam smiles, happy. "Yay," he says. "I'm sure the guys wouldn't mind see you there. It's been a very long time. Britt's even been saying how she misses hanging out with you and seeing you."

You give a little laugh and say, "Maybe I'll just steal her away from you for the night."

His smile fades and he jokes, "Don't you dare. I'd like to see my girlfriend at some point during the party."

"I'll think about it," you say. "See you in a few hours then."

Adam nods and walks off. The smile you've been managing to force drops immediately after he turns his back to you.

You would rather do anything else then attend a Christmas party that you know your ex-boyfriend will be attending. It's the Undisputed Era's annual Christmas party. They wear their green Undisputed Era sweaters and rent out a rental hall for the night from about seven until midnight the day before Christmas.

It's about three in the afternoon and there are four hours until the Christmas Eve party. You leave the Performance Center gym at four after you're done working out your anxiety about the party.

You head back to the house that you bought with said ex-boyfriend. You never found a place to move to after the breakup so you've been living here for the last four months.

After showering and blowdrying your Y/H/C colored hair, you curl your long locks and do your makeup. You do a dark red eye shadow with matching lipstick.

Once your hair and makeup are done, you walk to your closet. You look for anything that you could wear to a Christmas party. You find a dark red sequin dress.

The dress is short. ending about halfway down your thighs, with three-quarter sleeves. The sleeves cut off about halfway down your forearm, not quite reaching your wrists. The neck cuts right across your collarbone area, not showing a hint of cleavage. Usually, you'd wear something that shows off your chest but you decide against it tonight.

To complete the look, you put on a pair of dangly red diamond earrings and a silver bracelet. You wear a pair of dark red heels to match the sparkly dress.

As you finish getting ready, your phone begins to ring. You walk over to see that Kyle O'Reilly is calling. You sigh and answer the phone, saying, "Yes, Kyle. Relax. I'm about to leave to go to the party."

"Adam made me call," he says. "I told him to relax and that if you said that you would be there then you would. You're not one to back out on promises."

You close your eyes and sigh. Adam didn't make him call. You one-hundred percent knew that it was Roderick who made him call. You also knew that it was Roddy who made Adam ask you if you would come to the party.

"Tell Roderick that I'll be there," you say. "And don't tell me that it was actually Adam that made you call. I know it was Roddy."

Kyle stammers, "It definitely wasn't, uh, Roddy. He's, um, busy?"

You roll your eyes and say, "Sure. See you in a few, Kyle."

You hang up the phone and make sure you have everything you'll need. You take your car keys and leave the house.

The drive to the rental hall isn't that long. Well, it's close to forty five minutes that's not long enough to calm the anxiety you're feeling and the butterflies in your stomach.

It's been four months since you and Roddy broke up. You see each other at work all the time but something about an unprofessional atmosphere that is sending you into an anxiety attack as you drive.

Your hands are sweaty and your breathing is a little labored as your mind races. You have no idea what could happen tonight. You're terrified.

After you pull into a parking spot, you sit in the car watching several other wrestlers walk into the large building. It's close to seven before you get it together.

You form an objective as you click into the building. Find Britt Baker and don't leave her side.

Britt is your friend outside of WWE. You met her through Adam. You have several other friends that wrestle in AEW because of Britt introducing you since she wrestles for the brand. You hope that they're here too.

Christmas music blares from almost every direction of the room. You spot several pieces of mistletoe hanging on the ceiling as you look around at the decorations.

The boys definitely go all out but it's mostly Britt that makes them go all out. If it were up to the boys then there's be one tree and a few lights. But the room is full of decorations. A few trees are stationed throughout the room with bright bright lights. Gold garland is draped throughout the ceiling, almost hiding the green mistletoe.

The tables have red and green covers on them and each table has a little winter or Christmas themed figure in the middle.

"Ahh, Y/N!" you hear someone shout. You look to the left and see Britt Baker walking toward you with her arms out. She hugs you. "It's been too long, Y/N."

You smile and hug her back before you say, "It definitely has."

Britt pulls back and asks, "You holding up okay? I know how hard it must be to be here."

You nod and say, "I'm okay, I think. I'm just going to hope that I get through the night with no tears."

She smiles and says, "Well, you can stay by me. I was just hanging out over there with Reba and Brandi until I saw your cute ass walk through the door. That dress looks fabulous on you."

"Thank you," you say. "That dress looks good on you too."

Britt's wearing a strapless form-fitting red dress with a black belt around her waist. The top of the dress and the hem of the skirt is trimmed with white fluff. She's definitely dress as a more modern version of Mrs. Claus.

Your best friend smiles and says, "Thank you. Okay, lets go back to Reba and Brandi. We'll make sure you have fun tonight. No tears shall be shed while you're with us."

You laugh and walk over with Britt to Reba and Brandi Rhodes. Both Reba and Brandi both compliment your outfit. "It was a very last minute decision," you'd say when they compliment you, making both of them laugh.

As you're drinking and laughing with the girls, Adam walks over. He hugs his girlfriend from behind and kisses her cheek. "I hope that Y/N will let you come see me eventually," Adam says. "I'd like to spend some time with you."

Britt laughs and says, "Now now, Adam. She's having fun and that's our goal for tonight."

Adam nods and says, "It is." He looks at you as you take a sip of your egg nog. "He wants to see you at some point tonight, Y/N. He's sulking and staying away from you though. Please just go say hi to him and say thank you to him for inviting you."

You give a shaky sigh and glance around the room for your ex-boyfriend. You find him in a corner of the room as he talks to Kyle, Bobby, and one of the new girls that have started training at the Performance Center.

He's laughing at something the girl said and your heart wretches in your chest. "I think he's fine," you state. "And I think I'm gonna call it a night."

All the fun you were having for the past hour or so has washed away and now all you want to do is curl up on the couch with hot chocolate and watch Christmas movies on Netflix until you fall asleep. You don't want to be here anymore. No, you can't be here anymore.

As you start to get up, Adam says, "Y/N, I didn't mean to upset you."

You look at the leader of the Undisputed Era and say, "No, it's okay. I just promised myself no crying and if I stay then that's what's going to happen if I stay so I have to go."

Britt looks at you and says, "I'll come outside with you. Maybe I can convince you to stay."

The walls begin to close in on you and you shake your head. "No, that's okay," you say. "Enjoy the party."

You take once last glance at Roddy to see that he's looking at you before you start to walk toward door.

Your throat has closed up on you as you hold back tears. You walk to your car as you remember the laughter coming from Roddy as the girl said something.

"Y/N!" someone calls behind you as you reach the door.

The voice makes you almost lose it right then and there. You turn to see Roderick Strong walking behind you with a concerned look on his face. You shake your head and walk out onto the balcony area. On either side of this area are stairs that lead to the parking lot so technically you're just outside. The cool breeze whips through your hair and hits your face as you walk outside.

Roddy follows you. "Y/N, wait," he says. You sigh and look at your ex-boyfriend.

"What?" you ask, voice cracking. "Are you here just to walk out of my life again?"

Things didn't end very nicely between you and Roddy.

***

"Baby?" Roderick asks behind you.

You stand in your shared bedroom, holding his phone in your hands. Tears falling down your face as you look at the text notifications from his ex-wife on the lit up screen.

Roderick says, "Y/N? What's wrong?"

You sigh softly and read, "Roddy, love, when are you coming over? We want to see you tonight. Please text me when you get these." When you're finished reading, you look at your boyfriend. "What the fuck, Roddy? You told me it was over with her."

Roddy says, "It has been, Y/N. For two years."

"'Love'?" you say. "It's over but she still calls you 'love'. Okay, Roderick."

He walks over to you and he says, "It's not what it looks like, Y/N."

You cry, "I don't believe you, Roddy. I don't. I've seen you around her. You're happier when you're around her then you are with me. You constantly flirt with her and you disappear for days on end right after you talk to her."

Roderick says, "That's to see my son. You know that, Y/N. Do you really think that I'd cheat on you?"

"I don't know," you say. "You never let your son come over here and you just go over to her house. I've never even met your son after close to two years of dating. What's your lie for that?"

He looks slightly hurt as he says, "Because he's only three-years-old and he doesn't understand that his parents aren't together anymore. Adding you in there will only confuse him more. I've been waiting for the right time to introduce you to him, Y/N."

Things start to come together in your mind. That's a perfectly valid excuse. Troy is only three. He would be confused if you suddenly appeared in his life. He wouldn't understand why his parents aren't together. Roddy and his wife split shortly after Troy's first birthday and they've been co-parenting for years.

"I can't believe that you'd actually think I'd cheat on you," Roddy scoffs. "After two years, I thought you knew me better than that."

You immediately jump into defense mode as you say, "I'm sorry. I just never thought about how me being in Troy's life would confuse him. You're just gone for days on end and I-"

"Apparently don't trust me," Roderick says. He walks to the closet and grabs a suitcase. He puts clothes in it. "You don't trust me when all I do is go see my son, who I rarely get to see in the first place."

You say, "Roddy, please, I'm sorry. Please stay, let's just talk it out." You walk up to him and wrap your arms around his waist, not wanting to let go.

Roderick looks at you and says, "You don't trust me so why would I stay?" You look up at him and stay quiet. "Exactly." He takes his phone from you and walks toward the door.

You stand in the middle of the room, tears falling down your face. He stops, with his back turned to you and for a moment, you think he'll stay.

Your hopes are diminished as he walks down the hallway and down the stairs. Once the front door opens and closes, you start to cry. He left. He's gone.

***

You and Roderick stand face-to-face, alone for the first time in months.

"I never left," Roderick says. "You didn't trust me when all I did was leave to see my son."

Guilt hits you instantly and you say, "You could have stayed and we could have talked. I could have explained why I thought that you were cheating."

Roddy crosses his arms and he says, "So explain."

You say, "It's been four months, Roddy. What's the point?"

"I want to know if there was a reason behind why you thought that I was cheating on you," he says. "So explain."

You lean against the railing and you sigh. "It's because it wouldn't be the first time," you say. "When I first started in NXT, I met this guy and he would leave for a few days every few weeks. He would tell me he was visiting family. I received a DM from a girl who told me that she just found out that he was dating me and told me that him and her were dating each other. She had no idea about me. That's why I freaked out like I did because all I could think about was that message. I'll admit, I freaked out more than I should have but I was scared that it was happening again."

Roderick's expression and posture has softened as you explain your reasoning behind your freak out a few months ago.

Your words hang in the air for a few moments and you avoid looking at Roderick as soon as you're done talking.

Roderick finally breaks the silence when he says, "Kyle told me that you knew it was me that put him up to calling you earlier and that it was me that sent Adam to ask you to come. I wanted you here tonight, Y/N."

You finally look over at Roddy and ask, "Why? I thought you wouldn't want me around anymore after what happened."

"Because all I want this Christmas is for you and me to fix this," he says, reaching out and taking your hand. You look up at him with tear filled eyes. "I've missed you, Y/N. These past four months have been hell for me. I haven't gone a day without thinking about you and what would happen if we fixed things."

The tears start to fall down your cheeks as you listen to Roddy talk. You wait until he's done talking before you ask, "Why did it take you so long to try and fix this? Why did it take you four months?"

A car door closes and Roderick looks at the car. I look to see Roddy's ex-wife holding her son's hand. Her and Roddy's son. Troy.

Roderick says, "I've spent the past four months talking to Troy with Marina. We've been trying to get him to understand that his parents aren't together but that we're still his parents. Marina was talking to him about you, Y/N. She's been trying to get him to understand that she's his mother but that I'm with someone else."

Marina and Troy walk up the stairs and you look at Roddy. He looks at you before walking over to Marina and Troy. You stand in the same spot as Troy is picked up by Roddy. You see Roderick say something to Marina as she hands him a bag that was on her shoulder. She walks away and Roddy walks over to you with Troy.

Troy is looking at you and Roderick says, "So, Y/N. This is Troy. My son. This is the reason I left for a few days every few weeks."

You look at Roddy and ask, "After everything, you still want me to meet your son?"

Roderick nods and says, "I'm hoping that we'll fix things and that the past four months wouldn't have been a huge waste."

Troy says, "Y/N."

You raise your eyebrows and look at Troy. He smiles and holds his arms out to you. Roderick hands the toddler to you and you look at Roddy as you hold Troy in your arms.

Roderick smiles at the sight in front of him. "So what do you say?" he asks. "Give me a chance to fix things with us?"

You glance at Troy before looking at Roderick, saying, "Yes."

#roderick strong imagine #roderick strong fluff #undisputed era imagine #wrestling imagine #wrestling fluff #wrestling angst #wwe imagine #wwe fluff #wwe angst #nxt imagine #nxt angst #nxt fluff #imagines #imagine #fluff #christmas #christmas imagine #christmas fluff #fluffmas

36 notes · View notes

himetoryu · 5 years

Text

Favorite Female Anime Characters, Part 1

It's inevitable to fall in love with certain characters especially when we can relate to their feelings and what they're going through or we just admire them for their kindness, strength, beauty, etc. Sometimes I feel like I'm seeing myself in those I watch and I just can't help it. I'm into anime ever since young (if I'm not mistaken I started watching when I was five) and I still recall everything like it only happened yesterday.

And for today's special post I'm gonna share with you these ladies who brought much impact to my life (in the order of when I watched them). Enjoy your read!

1. The Priestess

InuYasha: Higurashi Kagome

Kagome is one of those kind-hearted characters you'll ever encounter. Whenever she's compared with Kikyou especially about their archery skills, priestess powers and InuYasha I can feel so much her pain. I remember clearly her scene on the well with him admitting that she can't compare with Kikyou because she's not dead, but at the same time saying "my heart is my heart (kokoro wa watashi no kokoro)". It must be hard accepting you're someone's reincarnation and if that's the case, telling everyone you're still a different person. But Kagome endured and continued her journey to fight alongside InuYasha even though during that time he wants to protect Kikyou, too (two-timer hmp). In the end she was able to fulfill her task of destroying the jewel of the four souls (shikon no tama).

As a 15-year old it must be hard for her as well to fight demons in the feudal era and go back to modern day Tokyo to fulfill her duties as a daughter and a high school student but in the end still managed everything and even graduated! So you see, she's not only kind and strong but also eager to finish her studies haha!

2. The Karate Champion

Detective Conan / Case Closed: Mouri Ran

What I admire so much about Ran is her patience for Shinichi. You see, she's always wondering where and what he is doing even though he's only under her nose. And on those moments she and Shinichi are together but he has to leave because the antidote to APTX-4869 wore off, she's always left hanging. Remember when they were in the Beika Hotel? Ran cried and even covered her ears because she's tired already of his excuses. But of course we all know Shinichi is only doing that to protect her. I'm just curious though on how and when she'll be able to fully discover his secret hehe (a lot of times Ran made suspicions but our boy is just clever).

Ran is faithful and trusts Shinichi so much. Normally when we don't hear from someone for a long time we just give up on them and forget them. But in her case the love just grows stronger. We can learn from her how to not give up on the one you really love.

Ran is also a supportive friend, we can see that clearly to Sonoko and Kazuha. And she's positive about her parents, doing her best to set them up believing that someday they'll be together. Lastly, Ran is a karate champion but she's humble. She knows that being strong is to protect and help people and she has saved Conan, Haibara and the Detective Boys a lot of times. She's everything!

3. The Flame-Haired Fiery-Eyed Hunter

Shakugan no Shana: Shana

I can't say much about Shana but the reason I included her on the list was because I remember back in high school I was obsessing over her because of her red eyes and hair (favorite color hahaha)! And she is a tsundere so it felt like I was watching myself! She's also a sword wielder (I have a thing on that and if given the chance I want to learn) and it also hypes me every time she turns from being a cute melon bread eater to a serious flame haze! Who wouldn't fall in love with these burning eyes and hair?!

4. The Celestial Mage

Fairy Tail: Lucy Heartfilia

I know a lot of fans call her useless and it really makes me sad because many don't understand that Lucy is a work-in-progress. Born from a rich family wanting the attention of her father after her mother died, meeting Natsu and being introduced to her dream guild, seeing her friends being tortured by a dark guild because her father wants her back, and bravely forgoing her luxurious life and choosing the path of being a wizard, she has been through a lot. Lucy may not come off strong like Erza and Mira Jane but we should realize that strength is not only measured in combat. Lucy is actually smart and loves to read books and don't that make someone interesting?

Lucy may not be the strongest but she's getting better and I'm convinced it's because Natsu supports and believes in her so much. Also she values everyone in the guild, even her celestial spirits, to the point that she won't give up even if beaten to death (remember what Minerva did on Grand Magic Games). Fans call her weak because she wasn't able to fight back but on the other side, she risked her life for her friends and if it's not courage for you then I don't know what is.

5. The Gangster Teacher

Gokusen: Yamaguchi Kumiko / Yankumi

Tentenenen! Tenten! Hahaha!

One of those few that I've read the manga, watched the anime and the live action because I got hyped! I've seen this back in high school but didn't finish and thought I should finally spend some time on it last year and it didn't disappoint!

So why do I love Yankumi? Because she's a silent killer until everyone found out that she's from a yakuza family lol and that always catches my attention. Also she's an understanding teacher who is always there for her students. She has been ignored and rejected a lot of times but she didn't give up. She was focused on making her students graduate on time and did everything to win their trust on finding again school a fun place to be and making memories with their classmates. It's the reason she has changed other teachers' perspectives, too, and made an impact on everyone around her.

It may be old but you should give it a try, though I highly recommend the manga and the live action because Yukie Nakama is cool (and also, don't forget your tissues).

So that's it everyone! Do we have the same favorite female characters? Share them with me, too, and I hope you enjoyed my special post for today!

04.28.2019

ctto

24 notes · View notes

watching-pictures-move · 3 years

Text

Put On Your Raincoats #21 | Double Chinn Double (Double) Feature (with Hyapatia Lee)

By the time the '80s rolled around, Bob Chinn, best known for his collaborations with John Holmes (the inspiration for Boogie Nights), had been directing movies for over a decade. For much of that time, he'd been making them for peanuts (in an interview with the Rialto Report, he recounts being once asked to make a movie for five thousand dollars, which was handed to him in fifties on the spot), but in the early '80s, he was directing for Harry Mohney's Caribbean Films, working with respectable budgets (by porn standards). Some of these films starred Hyapatia Lee, one of the most popular porn stars of the era and one of the first contract girls. Now, I suspect these aren't necessarily the defining works of Chinn's career, and I do intend to get to some of his movies with Holmes. But Vinegar Syndrome had a sale and there were two double features of their collaborations going for dirt cheap, and because I am weak and foolish with money, they ended up in my cart and a few weeks later in my grubby little paws. How did this happen? Through the magic of Canada Post, of course! Anyway, what I found was that these didn't represents any extremes of artistic ambition. They were neither seeking to elevate the genre, nor were they hackwork. Rather, they represent a happy medium, movies that seek to deliver the genre's goods in a polished, diverting package. Slick cinematography, courtesy of Jack Remy. Catchy theme songs that wouldn't sound out of place if you caught them on the radio. Flashy titles. Lee recounted the atmosphere on set as one of professionalism and engagement, where everyone present wanted to do as good a job as possible. Chinn claims to have been losing interest in his work at this point, but the results onscreen are the result of confident execution by somebody who had been doing this kind of thing for years and knew how to put the production's resources to good use.

The first one I watched was The Young Like it Hot, where the operators at a phone company worry about being replaced by computers. To keep their jobs, they scheme to go the extra mile in helping their callers. As this is a porno, most of this help is sexual in nature, as when Rosa Lee Kimball stays on the line while an obscene phone caller played by Bill Margold finishes. (In an interview on the DVD, Margold says after shooting his scene, he was invited to record additional dialogue. Being the method actor that he was, he insisted on whipping it out during the recording session despite the lack of cameras.) Sometimes they are informative, as when Bud Lee (real life husband of Hyapatia at the time) explains why the perineum is referred to as taint ("cuz it taint cunt and it taint ass"). But the highlight of their efforts are Shauna Grant's increasingly life threatening home improvement advice to one poor sap played by Joey Silvera. Hyapatia Lee is ostensibly the star, and has a certain charisma, playing the supervisor, but this is really an ensemble piece, and she's joined by more experienced actors like Kay Parker and Eric Edwards. The latter I've occasionally found bland elsewhere, but he has a nice obnoxious quality that serves him well as the villainous manager whose idea it is the automate the operators' jobs. The movie reflects a very real concern (that's very much still an issue in the modern workplace), but overall this is a breezy, affable comedy.

A bit more serious in tone is Sweet Young Foxes, a coming of age story whose dramatic parts are more sensitively realized than I expected. The screenplay was written by Deborah Sullivan, Bob Chinn's wife at the time, and this is a case where a movie definitely benefited from having been written by a woman, and it seems like an earnest effort to capture the anxieties and yearnings of its young women protagonists. Lee moves closer to a real starring role, and is joined by Cara Lott and Cindy Carver as her friends, who aren't quite as strong actors as her but do have decent chemistry. I can believe they're friends even if their line delivery can be stilted. (That the movie has a good ear for genuine sounding dialogue also helps.) Kay Parker is especially good as Lee's mother, hitting some of the same notes as Taboo, and has a credibly emotional masturbation scene in front of a mirror that did not leave me unmoved. (In what way? That's none of your damn business.) This was shot by Jack Remy, the same cinematographer who worked on The Young Like it Hot. That movie looked nice and slick, but this one is a little more stylish, with the solo sex scenes in particular resembling magazine centerfolds. There's also some nice new-wave-ish music that shows up on the soundtrack, which I certainly didn't mind. I do wish some of the sex scenes didn't run quite as long (the previous movie kept them refreshingly concise) as I'd prefer more of the runtime was dedicated to the dramatic elements, but what's there is still good.

Body Girls goes back firmly to comedy territory, where Hyapatia Lee and the members of her gym are trying to win a bodybuilding contest despite a rival gym's attempts to undermine them. This comes in the form of a pair of schlubs in yellow tank tops who break into the gym after hours to sabotage their equipment, only to be foiled by Hyapatia and her girls who just happened to be having sex in the locker room as people do. Of course, despite Lee's attempts to teach them a lesson (which depending on your proclivities, may have the opposite effect), they don't give up, and during the contest threaten the judge at gunpoint. Not one to take things lying down (okay, poor choice of words here), Lee finds a way to influence the judge back in her favour. (The judge is played by Francois Papillon, bringing a dopey charm to the character as he fumbles through his lines in his French accent.) Her method is pretty ridiculous and certainly in service of genre requirements, but I did laugh.

Now, there's probably a dilemma in audience sympathy here as both Lee and her rivals are cheating, but Lee's methods are more agreeable and directed at the judge instead of her rivals so I guess we ought to root for her. She's also buoyant, charismatic and has a real star quality, and is joined by such fan favourites as Shanna McCullough and Erica Boyer, all of whom sport wildly different hairstyles. As can be expected given the exercise theme, most of the ladies have toned, athletic bodies (and given the decade, voluminous coiffures), with the exception of Tigr, who brings a wiry punkish energy that stood out to me despite her limited screentime, and she also performs the miraculous feat of making a mullet look cute. (I'd previously been moved by her work in Kamikaze Hearts, the great mockumentary about a porn production and her relationship with Sharon Mitchell. She didn't stay in the industry for too long, but I'd be interested in seeing more of her work.) The screenplay was written by Lee with her husband Bud (who plays the judge's assistant with an agreeable presence that's neither too alpha nor too schlubby) and is full of exercise-related dialogue. Most of this is pretty clunky and calling it wordplay might be a bit generous ("sexercise" features at one point), but I did appreciate the effort. Also as is requisite for the premise, the longest set piece in the movie is an orgy in Lee's gym with the various participants snaked around different pieces of equipment. I must note that one of the male actors resembles Barry Gibb and that Francois Papillon is shown to wear a tiger-striped speedo. Did I enjoy the movie? Yes, but not for reasons cited in that sentence.

At the end of Body Girls, Bud Lee suggests to Hyapatia, "Let's get physical", which is the title of the next movie. (Body Girls also features a character looking at dirty magazine with stills from Sweet Young Foxes and ends with a plug for some of these other movies, anticipating the MCU's narrative and marketing strategies by a few decades.) Now, all of these movies have had decent theme songs, but the one in Let's Get Physical has lyrics that are plagiaristically close to those of Olivia Newton-John's 1983 hit. (The delivery however is more shrill but not unpleasing.) This movie is a drama where Lee plays a dance instructor trying to put together a ballet performance despite her strained relationship with her impotent husband played by Paul Thomas. (In the interview I listened to, Lee speaks well of almost everyone she worked with on these films, with the pointed exception of Paul Thomas. If there was bitterness behind the scenes, it arguably helps their performances.)

Lee wrote the screenplay for this one, and unlike Body Girls with its surface level references to bodybuilding and exercise, the dialogue here feels packed with knowledge of the real thing, which is understandable given Lee's real life interest in dance going back to her childhood. (I looked up "Luigi jazz dancing" after finishing the movie and was pleasantly surprised to learn it was a real thing.) This movie goes all in on her star power, and features a number of dance numbers that seem genuinely interested in the form rather than just leering at the performers. (There is one scene where the song Lee dances to sounds suspiciously like "Beat It".) I did appreciate that the sex scenes were kept relatively concise and tied into the dramatic aspects, although in some cases, the choices made could be goofy, like the scene where Lee makes love to her student Shanna McCullough while Thomas, in a dramatically justified but still awkward gesture, watches from another room and jacks off. (I assume he's playing the audience in this scene. Also, McCullough's character remarks "I've never done this before" when going down on Lee, and yeah, okay Shanna.) Other highlights include a car stunt that may or may not have been lifted from elsewhere but still looks decently executed, as well as a dream sequence where Thomas (or his character at least) plays the piano and sings a song. This is held back a bit by the genre's demands, like when it places a completely superfluous sex scene at the end after Lee's reconciliation with Thomas, but on the whole this is probably the best one of the lot.

#film #put on your raincoats #movie review #the young like it hot #sweet young foxes #body girls #let's get physical #bob chinn #hyapatia lee

27 notes · View notes

horror-vampire · 5 years

Text

Homophobia, caring for your friends and a wholesome evening. Short storytime.

So I'm not the newest but I'm kinda new to a group of friends at school, and they're all really cool and fun to hang with. They're the group of friends I never had in this school for the first two years, when I used to hang out (at school, I mean) with a few girls that I had nothing in common with and from last year on I'm finally happy to go to school (if you count out tests and stuff of course).

Now, I've realised that I'm bisexual at the start of last year (school year, it was the end of 2017) and I wasn't really that friends with them but I managed to get close to them enough at that point that I came out to them when I discovered about it.

They are in a bigger group of friends, a couple of them are at our school but in other classes. In Italy it's not like American schools - where lots of people here on tumblr go to - where you change classmates 'cause you change classrooms, here you have the same classmates for all 5 years of high school, with the exception of those kids who don't pass the year and stuff. You also may change from half to every one of your classmates at the start of the third year if you go to a school that specialises you in a certain field, 'cause you get put in a class where everyone aims to the same specialisation- it's weird. So yeah, in my class there's three girls - out of four of them that are in my school - and there's one guy (in another class this year, since he didn't pass last year, but last year he also was in the same as me).

Alright. Let's get to the TEA. This guy whom I'll call Alex since his name is kind of the Italian version, is really fun and nice. He's a good person, a good friend, he's nice overall. But, he's quite homophobic. Literally, he's so fucking scared. He's not scared or actually that prejudicial of lesbians of course, being the stereotypical straight dude he is, but he really often cracks up terrible outdated gay jokes, the ones that kinda go like 'better back away with my front to that guy...'. Which. Is fucking terrible and so superficial.

Italy is weird. Baby boomers that never got a full (up to uni, many are high school dropouts) education, mostly (and I mean, almost everyone of them) think the same way about homosexuality. Usually women are more accepting, I know some, but men are another thing. So many are scared to death that they'd be considered gay in any way, or that they'd be molested by men. It's a terrible situation. My dad was like that too. He knew many gay men, he's worked for them, he was friends with a couple and stuff. But sometimes he went all like 'Sara you're not gay, right? I mean you like boys..?'. He'd see a guy walk or talk a certain way and go 'oh he's a real man' and just laugh like he'd told the best joke ever.

This, is what stereotyped 'representation' in media does to you. This, is what your own parents - brought up in a fascist era when beign homosexual could cause you certain death - telling you that beign gay doesn't make you a 'real man' does to you. This is an entire life of being told that God doesn't want homosexuality and being afraid of having your gender and masculinity degraded to something that society doesn't accept does to you. Oh and what even are lesbians fo these people? They're probably ugly women that dress like men or absolutely girly women that can be converted back.

To get to the actual point, this guy I know is starting to get on my nerves. Enough is enough, I've already scolded him times and times before but I've always been condescending at the end of it because 'I knew he was joking and didn't really mean it' and yadda yadda yadda. So tomorrow he's coming back to school after being sick for a couple of days and I'm going to talk to him, and I know I'll do it since I already talked kinda the same way to a girl I know the other day. So my other friends at school have listened to what I said to the girl and listened to me rant about what I'm going to tell Alex and they were like 'he does it cuz he doesn't know any better' no he's smart enough to know better by himself, 'but it's the result of being brought up a certain way that goes back centuries' yes but yet again he's smart and also it's not an excuse, it's 2019 and if he doesn't change after I've talked to him I'm gonna punch him.

But the good part about this whole thing is that a friend of these was arguing with me today with things like 'you're right but-' and 'I understand, I know a few gay people' and 'I have relatives who are gay so I know what you're saying is right, but-'. Tonight she texted me with "I'm telling you the same speech you want to tell Alex", but she has dyslexia, sometimes she mixes up words or makes weird typos so the autocorrect corrects them with other words. And I'm like "What, why, what did I do??" and she's like "What, no-" and we go on like this for a bit, and then she goes on to tell me one of the two best things someone could've said to me:

"I'm telling you that I have nothing against you telling him off.

And that I'm on your side and with you, completely."

And there I am, ready for the worst and I go, "Is there a 'but' now?"

And she's like "No. Just this."

And I'm literally about to fucking cry, then she continues,

"Because you're always there for me" and

And you never judge me."

Which is the second best thing you can say to someone. Or at least to someone like me, and when it's coming from a person (I mean this girl) who has struggled with a lot of judging (because of her weight I guess, and her intelligence which she doesn't actually lack, I don't even believe that intelligence as a concept can lack in any way, but people think she does, and problems she has, in general) and people saying things behind her back. These few short things she said melted my heart. I could feel how much was behind them.

This, my dudes, was a wholesome night. Thank you for reading this. I'll add a small update on how the talk with Alex goes.

#txt post #2019 #personal

6 notes · View notes

yiangchen · 6 years

Note

If there was one aspect (a certain character, a relationship, the plot of a season, etc.) of the 100 that you had control over (aside from Blarke), what would you choose and why? It can be something that's already happened in a previous season that you would change and replace with something else. Like, if you didn't like a certain storyline from a previous season or something. You can also pick a dead character and make it so they're alive. (yes im asking you your own question, i gotta know)

When I asked you this, I had a straight answer: the Blake sibling relationship. That relationship in seasons 1-2 means so much to me and I’ll forever be bitter with the gross direction it took in season 3 (and on).

Once I had more time to think about it though, I was considering picking season 3 in general (like you did), but since I’m in the process of rewriting season 3 already, I don’t wanna spoil any of my ideas for that fic (even though let’s be honest, I’ll probably never finish it. I’m at about 10,000 words rn and the plan is for it to be like 100,000.)

BUT ANYWAYS, since I’ve been so indecisive and can’t get any of my thoughts together, I figured I’d pick kind of a combination of the two in the form of a fic.

I’m working on one right now that would be perfect as an answer to this ask. I’m rewriting all of the Bellarke scenes (from 3x13 through s5 era) where they talk about Octavia but the abuse is addressed because Clarke knows about the beating in this AU.

However, I’m only halfway done with that one, so I decided on a fic I wrote a while back before I had tumblr. It diverges from canon in episode 3x09, specifically at the start of the Bellamy and Octavia scene where he meets her in the woods with a plan to save Lincoln (spoiler alert: she doesn’t drug him, and therefore, none of the other shitty stuff happens).

As Long As I’m With You, I’m Home

When Bellamy catches a glimpse of the dropship through the trees, he tugs on the reins, and his horse comes to a stop. Night has fallen, but moonlight filters in between the branches above his head, illuminating the place he used to call home.

Home.

The word flits through his mind. Being back here has the tension in his shoulders easing. His lips part, the space before him filling with light, and suddenly, the abandoned camp is alive once again.

Alive with the people who became his family.

Before landing on the ground, Octavia was the only family he ever knew. The decisions he made—the facade of the asshole he played—was all to keep her safe. Slowly though, he came to care for the rest of them too. Before he knew it, those kids were the steady beat of his heart. A family to fight for.

When Trikru threatened them, he worked alongside Clarke to do the best he could to keep everyone alive. For the most part, the 100 worked together, all in fear of the people who had speared one of them the very day they landed. Octavia though, she always had one foot in, one foot out, and Bellamy gets it. Because even though he sacrificed so much to protect her, he’d made mistakes. Mistakes she blamed him for.

He had never held any of it against her, and when the time came to let go, he had.

It had been the hardest decision he ever had to make, but they came out of it stronger. By giving her her freedom, it gave her the choice to come back when she was ready. And she did. For probably the first time in their relationship, she sacrificed something for him. Sacrificed being Indra’s second so that she could help him get out of Mount Weather.

It took some time apart, but they finally discovered what it truly meant to be brother and sister. Their relationship was healthier than ever.

That all changed when the Ice Nation killed 44 of their people.

Bellamy was tired. So tired of losing his people to the grounders, and just like that, it was like his relationship with Octavia regressed back to how it had been in the dropship days.

As if on cue, Octavia appears from across the camp riding in on Helios, effectively replacing the once thriving camp with dilapidated tents and charred earth.

Bellamy finds her eyes in the dark, and he feels his heart thump against his ribs. The last time he saw her, she was warning him of the ambush at Semet’s village, and even during the last few weeks before that, she had been understandably angry with him. At least from her side of things, that is.

He’s still not sure if he agrees with the things he’s done either, but he knows he’ll be damned if he lets Pike kill Lincoln, Sinclair and Kane. Through all this, all he wanted was to protect his people. He believed supporting Pike would do just that. However, if he’d known some of his own people would be sentenced to death, he can say without a doubt that he never would have followed Pike.

“I’m glad you came,” Bellamy says as Octavia dismounts from her horse and he does the same. She eyes him warily, glancing around a bit and searching the trees. “I’m alone, O,” he assures, shoulders sagging. “I’m here to help.”

Octavia finds his eyes again and lets out a breath. She almost smiles, crossing the space between them and tugging him into her arms. Bellamy is ready for her and he huffs out a breath of relief into her shoulder.

“I’m still mad at you,” she says, but she tightens her hold him.

Bellamy’s eyes close. “I’m sorry.”

Octavia pulls back, hands on his shoulders. “We can talk later.” She arches an eyebrow at him. “You have a plan, right?”

Bellamy nods. Octavia gives him a nod back and starts to head over to her horse before pulling him into another quick hug. Bellamy breathes out a laugh. “I missed you too, O.”

…

With the help of Monty, they create a diversion in Arkadia. He shouts into the radio, informing Pike and his guards that the prisoners have escaped. It’s not a lie exactly. Just the part concerning the exit they’re planning to use.

Meanwhile, Bryan runs alongside Pike, playing along and making sure he leads him and his guards astray. Miller and Harper keep an eye out for people who may stumble across the path Bellamy and the prisoners are taking to freedom, throwing in a few more frantic false leads into the radio every so often to keep Pike distracted.

Bryan takes the opportunity to duck away down a dimly lit corridor where he nearly runs into Monty on his way out of the control room. They meet up with Miller and Harper further down, and the four make a run for it, right behind Bellamy and the others.

Octavia is waiting for them outside the gates. The number of horses she’s got with her would be quite amusing if they weren’t running for their lives.

She lets out a breath of relief the second she makes brief contact with her brother, and then Lincoln. There isn’t time to waste though. The horses go to the sick Trikru first, and Lincoln snags the last one, wanting to lead his people out of there as soon as possible.

Kane, Sinclair, Miller, Bryan, Harper and Monty hurry off after them on foot. Octavia is turning to leave when she realizes Bellamy isn’t making a move to come with them.

“Bellamy, we have to go. Now.”

He shakes his head and swallows. “I have an idea.” Octavia opens her mouth to say something, but he beats her to it. “If I go back, he’ll think I’m still on his side, but if I leave now, there’s no way I’m getting back into this camp.”

“Or,” Octavia cuts in, “you come with me now and we get the hell out of here.”

“O, you said it yourself. We need to take him out. I couldn’t see it before, but this only ends one way.”

“No.”

“O—”

“I may be angry with you, but I’m not gonna let you risk your life like that. The second he figures you out, he’ll kill you.”

“I know, but I have to try. You gotta let me do this, O.”

Octavia gives him a look and arches an eyebrow, like you have got to be kidding me.

Bellamy sighs. I’m not.

Octavia purses her lips and swallows, finally relenting with a nod.

Bellamy nods back. “I’ll lead a search party at first light.” Octavia opens her mouth to say something, then closes it. Bellamy’s lips part as she turns to leave. “Octavia.”

She finds his eyes.

“Thank you,” he breathes. Octavia furrows her eyebrows. “For still caring if I live or die.” It’s the lamest attempt at a joke, and Octavia’s lips part. “Even after everything…” Bellamy purses his lips to keep them from trembling, eyes watery. Maybe he still believes that what he had to do was necessary, but it doesn’t mean he’s not beating himself up over it every day.

Octavia crosses the space between them and pulls him into a tight hug. “The day I don’t,” she says, voice wavering, “you can assume I’m no longer breathing.”

…

Bellamy’s plan works. He would have prefered to spare the lives of Pike’s guards, but the grounders enforcing the blockade took them all out during the ambush in the woods.

The more impertinent problem is that Arkadia has been taken over, so Octavia’s relief at seeing her brother unharmed is short-lived. They wouldn’t have known had it not been for Jasper and Clarke showing up in the rover, an unconscious, chipped Raven in the back seat.

Bellamy and Clarke barely have the chance to stop and stare at each other for a moment, lips parted, before Jasper is yelling at them to all get in the damn rover. They’d nearly been caught the first time, and he’s sure ALIE’s minions are already on their way, in pursuit of Raven because she knows too much. Given the look on Jasper’s face, Bellamy thinks twice about making a comment about how unsafe it is to cram nine people into the rover.

Clarke asks about Lincoln, needing him to take her to Luna once they save Raven. By now though, he and the sick Trikru are long gone, probably halfway to the sea on their way to hide out with Luna’s people.

Clarke swears and leans her head back against the headrest of her seat. Bellamy tracks the movement with a quick glance her away. He looks away before she notices, returning his eyes to the makeshift path through the woods.

…

Raven wakes suddenly and thrashes around several times as they drive, nearly managing to kick and punch her way out the window at one point. Bellamy drives relatively aimlessly, heading in the general opposite direction of Arkadia until they discover they need a wristband to save Raven.

By the time they arrive at Niylah’s trading post, everyone is quite relieved. It’s no secret that Jasper still blames Clarke for what happened at Mount Weather, and Bellamy had to cut in a few times to stop him from ripping on her.

Jasper questions him about this later, wondering how he’s cool with her coming back after all this time. His answer is plain and simple: that she’s trying to save Raven. Really, he just doesn’t want to think about it.

So he doesn’t. And neither does Clarke.

It seems all they’ve done recently is hurt each other, so they don’t talk about what happened the last time they were in the same room together. Instead, he does the best he can to shelter her from Jasper’s harsh words, gently tends to her wounds when Raven gets to her, and offers to take a turn with Raven.

Later, Clarke’s there to wrap his hand even though he’d already bandaged it himself. Really, it’s just an excuse to tend to him the way he had her. When he expresses doubt in his decisions lately, eyes watery, she tells him maybe there are no good guys.

They save Raven that same night, and are off again in the morning, heading towards the sea. This time when Bellamy glances over at Clarke, she manages a small, closed-lip smile. It’s still going to take them a little bit to heal, but he finds himself giving her one back.

Even though these last two days have been crazy, for the first time, he feels something loosen in his chest, and when he catches sight of his friends smiling and laughing in the back of the rover, that something in his chest feels a lot like hope.

#ask games #3x09 era canon divergent #canonverse #s3 #my writing #the blakes #bellarke #fanfiction #the 100

21 notes · View notes