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danielsdecanter · 2 years

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beautifully unconventional - part five

pairing: daniel ricciardo x f!singer reader

warnings: smut (phone sex, masturbation, allusions to m!receiving oral sex and penetrative sex), language, pet names (baby, baby girl, sweetheart), sprinkle of praise kink????

word count: 2.4k

summary: daniel ricciardo is famously a music fan. you’re the lead singer of one of his favourite bands. match made in heaven - right?

author’s note: i’m baaaaack! this chapter was originally meant to be so much longer but i was stressing myself out with it’s prospective length so i’ve split it! i’ve got a lot of pure fluff planned for the next chapter before we start to get a bit tetchy, so enjoy! this is unbeta’d so please excuse any spelling/grammar errors and as always, any feedback is welcome!!

for the second weekend in as many weeks, you’re back on your sofa watching daniel zip around interlagos. it’s only fp2, but you’re watching the times like a hawk, nodding encouragingly to no one but yourself as he finds himself comfortably within the top 5 - a good sign, you’ve come to learn.

what you can’t quite get your head around however, is just how… awake he seems to be. frequent travel and timezone jumping aren’t foreign concepts to you, but you still get hit for six after a long-haul flight, never mind two in the space of a few days. you let your mind drift to what you’d be doing if you were in brazil with him, and every eventuality led to you being back in your hotel room catching up on sleep. the way in which he bounced between interviewers after the session was over, was not the behaviour of a tired man - that was for sure. either way it made you smile to yourself, the knowledge that he was happy and having a good time more than enough for you.

saturday comes around quickly, and soon you’re watching qualifying. if daniel’s times the day before were anything to go off, he was in with a good shout of making it to q3, and finishing well at that. however you still found yourself holding your breath as the clock ticked down at the end of each round, only exhaling when you knew he was safe.

he gets p4 - p-fucking-4 - and you’re pretty sure your cheeks will be aching in the morning from the way you’re grinning like a cheshire cat, but you don’t care. the boy’s done good.

you send him a well done text, but give him strict instructions not to call you. you want to make sure he gets plenty of rest before the race, and you refuse to play any part in keeping him awake or occupied. the frowning selfie you receive in response is almost enough to break your resolve, but you fire a quick video back of you blowing him a kiss goodnight and all is well again.

before you know it, it’s sunday and you’re back on your sofa. the blanket from last race however is long gone, as you practically bounce up and down in excitement. he makes a diving manoeuvre down the inside on his former teammate, max verstappen, to overtake him into p3 with just a few laps to go. you’re thankful for the thick, brick, victorian walls of your house as you quite literally scream at the tv, willing him to keep his foot down and finish the race cleanly - and he does it.

you’re elated, practically bursting with pride as you watch him cross the line, the mclaren team leaning over the barriers to bring him home. as they play his radio from the end of the race, it’s a surprise to feel your eyes almost becoming wet with happy tears. you cast your mind back to the conversation you had in austin just a few weeks ago, at how despondent he’d sounded at times as he dwelled on the lows of the season. to hear him now, so overjoyed and giddy, made your heart burst.

it also made you want to reward him, no matter how far away he was.

you sat and watched the rest of the coverage, wanting to see as much of him as you could before the programme finished, him no doubt heading off to debriefs and team celebrations. despite it now being late evening in london, you were wide awake, thriving on the excitement and thrill the race had brought you. heading upstairs, you knew what you both needed and wanted to do.

grabbing your phone, you sent him a quick text.

‘you’re a bloody superstar! you deserve a treat for doing so well 🧡’

you figured he was still in meetings, so didn’t expect a reply straight away, which gave you plenty of time to prepare said ‘treat’. after getting in from your farmer’s market run that morning, you’d spent most of the day in one of dan’s t-shirts from your every growing collection and a soft pair of pants, forgoing any real bottoms in the comfort of your own home. nipping into your bathroom, you added a quick coat of mascara to your lashes and a slick of lip gloss, before picking up your phone again and opening the camera app.

of course the treat was you.

taking the hem of the t-shirt, you pulled it up across your stomach, holding it just under your breasts, positioning it in a way in which there’d be enough underboob to leave his mouth watering. cocking your hip to the side to accentuate your curves, you snapped a few pictures, sure to keep them tasteful enough that (should they ever leak) you wouldn’t have to be worried about being thrown to the dogs that was the sexist press. once you were happy with your selection, you wandered back through to your bedroom, flopping onto the bed to review your work, choosing your favourite to send onto daniel.

it wasn’t hard to pick, and you were certain he’d love it. you had a coy smile on your face, but your eyes were crinkled, almost as if you were laughing. to you, it was the perfect mixture of alluring and personal. flicking back to your messages, you spotted a reply sitting there.

‘you’ll make me blush, sweetheart. in engineering debrief right now, i’ll call you in a bit x’

patience was never your strong suit.

hitting send on the picture, you grinned to yourself as you sank back into the pillows, fighting the temptation to check your phone to see if there was a reply. it wasn’t long until you heard the vibrations of your phone, and you snatched it up quickly to check.

‘you’re going to get me in trouble, you know that?’

time for another picture. you stayed in bed this time, slipping the t-shirt up higher than before to reveal your tits. draping your free arm over them, you let the smallest hint of a nipple peak through your fingers, as you snapped more pictures of yourself between the sheets. again, picking your favourite was a reasonably simple task, and the wait between your messages was even shorter, as you fired the message off with a simple:

‘who, me?’

you let your hands absently trail around your body as you wait for his reply, fingernails lightly brushing your thighs, your stomach, your breasts. you’re thinking of him the whole time, your eyes closed as your mind drifts back to that night in austin - a memory you’re incredibly familiar with by this point. you’re about to dip below the elastic of your underwear when your phone starts to buzz, a smug grin on your lips when you see it’s daniel calling.

you answer in a heartbeat.

“hello superstar” you breathe, before he can say a word.

“you’re a little terror, you realise that?”

“i told you you deserved a treat, didn’t i?”

he laughs.

“babe, i just had to sit firmly under the desk during debrief when i saw those pictures, you’re a pest.”

“oh, but you love it” you don’t pay too much attention to the gravity of the words.

“maybe so…” he clears his throat before continuing. “are you still in bed?”

“ah huh…” you say, doing your best to keep your tone light, teasing. you hear a door close. was he back in his driver’s room?

“take the t-shirt off for me?” his voice is low like he doesn’t want to be heard, which somehow makes it even more thrilling.

you hum a little affirmative noise and begin to squirm out of it, slipping the phone onto speakerphone as you do to free up your hands.

“love it when you wear my clothes by the way…” he continues, and you grin, letting your hands restart their exploration of your skin. “makes me feel like you’re mine”

“i can be…” your voice cracks with a hint of a moan as you catch a nipple, pinching it slightly and then the other. you’re almost certain you can just hear the clink of a belt buckle and a zip unfastening.

“good…” he groans. you grin to yourself. you’re sure he’s now touching himself too.

“i wish i was there, dan…” finally you let your fingers dip into your underwear, which you quickly shimmy out of. as they brush your clit you let out a soft yelp, the bundle of nerves already sensitive after what had felt like an eternity of teasing. “i’d take such good care of you..”

there’s a sound that seems to come from deep within his throat, almost like he’s swallowing down a noise that would otherwise be much louder. “what would you do babe, tell me…”

your fingers continue to lazily swirl around your clit, dipping down to your entrance to collect some of the juices that were already there.

“think - think it’d only be fair for me to get on my knees for you…” raspiness coats your voice. “i’ve been thinking about how you’d feel in my mouth, what you’d taste like… i’d want to make you feel so good, always want to make you feel good”

you knew you were bordering on rambling, a side-effect of the waves of pleasure that were building in your core, but you didn’t care.

“that sounds perfect, baby girl…” he replies, and you can’t help but smile happily at the praise falling from his lips. “what else…?”

you hiss as you ease a finger inside yourself, quickly adding a second after a few teasing strokes.

“i’d sit in your lap, ease myself down onto you so carefully…” you paused, only to gasp out a moan as the pads of your fingers began hitting the most perfect spot. “start moving my hips - slowly at first, and i’d lean down and kiss you, let you taste yourself. don’t think i could tease you for too long though, not when you’ve done so well. i’d go as fast or as slow as you wanted me to, and i wouldn’t stop until-” another cry, louder this time as you felt your thighs begin to quiver. “wouldn’t stop until you’d filled me up. then i’d stay there - just me and you. i’d just want to feel you”

as you’d spoken, spilling your desires to him, daniel had made increasingly guttural sounds of approval, and you were certain your respective orgasms weren’t far away.

“fuck, i wish you were here, sweetheart…” he groaned.

you screwed your eyes together as you fought to hold it together. “daniel i can’t hold on much longer, i’m gonna cum…” your breaths were heavy, your chest heaving.

“me too, babe… let go for me”

you didn’t need telling twice. within seconds your walls were clenching around your fingers, as you let out a cry of pure ecstasy. at that, daniel followed suit. you could hear him trying to stifle his noises.

you lay there for a moment, trying to catch your breath - you could hear daniel doing the same. if your mind hadn’t been so wrapped up in its post-orgasm haze, you’d have probably smiled at the way that you could still fall into a comfortable silence with one another, despite the thousands of miles and technology separating the two of you.

it was daniel who spoke first.

“come to abu dhabi next weekend? please?”

you froze, not sure of what to say. you wanted to see him again more than anything, but appearing in the paddock with him, even briefly, would be sure to send the formula 1 gossip blogs into meltdown.

“you want me there?” you asked, hesitation lacing your voice.

“of course i do - do you not want to come?” your heart skipped at just how disappointed he sounded at that prospect.

“no, no it’s not that. i’d love to be there. it’s just -” you faltered briefly, suddenly feeling vulnerable and silly so soon after being so intimate. “won’t there be questions if i just turn up and i’m seen with you? it’s not that i don’t want to, more - i don’t know - are you ready for that?”

he sighs softly - “you’re right, that’s not fair on either of us.”

a pause.

“what if the band came with me? that wouldn’t look as out of place - i mean, everyone already knows you like us”

“baby, you’re a genius” the grin was back in his voice, which only made your own face light up, as you pulled up the covers around yourself. “i’ll speak to the right people to get your passes arranged - do you need any help with flights?”

you couldn’t help but find the sudden shift to logistics after just making the other cum amusing, but you were also so excited at the thought of seeing him again that you brushed past it.

“i’m sure we can get something sorted, don’t worry. feel like the guys might need a hand with accommodation, that’s assuming i’m staying with you..?”

daniel giggled - one of your favourite sounds. “baby, you’re not staying anywhere else…”

tiredness was creeping up on you by the second as you nestled yourself further into the sheets. “i assume you’re flying straight there…?”

“you’re learning how this works very quickly, i’m impressed” he teased.

“well i don’t exactly plan on going anywhere, so i figure i better get used to it”

“that’s music to my ears, sweetheart”

before you could even attempt to stifle it, you let out a long yawn, it becoming increasingly harder to keep your eyes open.

“get your rest beautiful, just text me your email and i’ll the get the team to send everything through to you”

“thank you, daniel…” you replied, voice thick with sleep. “i really am proud of you for today, you know?”

“i know. sleep tight…”

as the call cut off, you forced yourself to stay awake long enough to send him a quick text with your email address, before placing your phone on your nightstand and nestling deep into the pillows. all you could think about was seeing him in just a few days, a ghost of a smile on your lips as you drifted off to sleep, content in the realisation that this was your first pre-planned rendez-vous since you’d met.

nothing like diving in at the deep end.

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yourinstagram the best flights are lastminute.com

#f1 fanfic #f1 imagine #f1 x reader #daniel ricciardo #daniel ricciardo fanfic #daniel ricciardo fanfiction #f1 fanfiction #daniel ricciardo imagine #daniel ricciardo x reader #f1 x you

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ducessaeva · 2 years

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a long ramble on my sasha wing au brainrot

there was a request and I am nothing if not eager for an excuse to ramble-

(Spoilers for all seasons of RQG, and I guess the fic if I ever write it, Idk, writing is hard)

sometimes people are born with animal features, such as wings, tails, unusual markings, etc. it’s rare and nobody really knows what causes it. Fey? Wild magic? Whatever it is, the Meritocrats don’t know, and they don’t like rampant magic things going around they can’t control, so for whatever reason (maybe them directly or maybe just subtly over time), these features are generally considered to be bad omens, and people who have them tend to hide or remove them.

Sasha was born with wings, but in Other London most of this info isn’t common knowledge, she just knew that there was no room to fly and wings made her too easily identifiable, so she always hid them under clothes (they fold up pretty small, it’s magic dw about it). She never learned to fly, she could use them to slow herself from falling a bit but that’s it.

she initially doesn’t like them much, for the above inconveniences, but she’s very protective about who gets to see them or know she has them. She keeps them covered from everyone in the party, after the channel crossing she lets Zolf and Hamid see them, Bertie never finds out about them (thank goodness for bad perception checks)

in Paris she’s comfortable enough around the gargoyles to let them out, and they give her a few pointers on how to fly, she also figures out a way to manipulate the magic leather jacket so she can extend her wings through the back of it if she wants to get them out quickly, because if magic clothes can fix themselves and resize to every wearer then why not be able to pop out wings through em?

this is where it goes even more canon divergent because I’ve decided to just put all the things in one au, so as the airship is ascending she second guesses abandoning Wilde, because they really did put a lot of work into him not dying and it would be really inconvenient and his illusions really were cool, so she tells Zolf she’ll meet them in Prague and flies back to the ground. she and Wilde escape Paris together, at one point she accidentally reveals her wings by reflexively covering both of them from debris, and he doesn’t make any puns or comments on them. (which does a lot for her trust)

so they end up on the way to Prague, probably by train so they end up spending a few days together traveling. she starts bleeding from her scars and loses some feathers, they don’t have any healers with them but she gets by on healing potions. this is also when Wilde stops sleeping and uses potions/coffee to get by, which she notices, but neither of them want to talk about their respective things so they ignore it, when they do talk it’s mostly light stuff like puns, she trusts him enough to offer him borrowing a dagger just in case something happens on the way, their friendship is just really important to me

they arrive in Prague at the start of The Day That All The Things Happened, Wilde goes to the meritocratic offices before knowing the situation, Zolf’s already gone, she doesn’t have time to process because there’s so much going on and also forgets to tell Wilde anything because of it so he still misses everything, she also doesn’t know about Bertie’s ring and ends up struggling to keep herself away from him all day, which finally culminates in the opera and having two magical compulsions dragging her towards the stage, powerful enough that against her will she lets her wings out so she can fly to them, and being forced to show them in front of all those people is very traumatic for her so she gets even more protective over them after that

(she’s too out of it to really pay attention to the plot the rest of that day because it’s only then she finds out she’s undead, probably misses Bertie’s will entirely, but Wilde bullies his way into the university before the cult of Mars shows up, and makes sure to help her hide wings before anyone else comes in. he’s still annoying to Grizzop but maybe gets a tiny bit more sympathy for defending Sasha)

(continues under the cut bc s3/4 spoilers)

I haven’t figured out everything in Cairo or Damascus, but in Rome it diverges big again, when she’s falling in the dimension shift she manages to throw/fly herself forward into Grizzop and send them both flying sideways, which hurts so much that she passes out but he catches her, and in my brain the direction of falling changes it so instead of going to wrong time it goes to wrong place, so they fall out very conveniently in Korea about three weeks travel from Okinoshima. (her scar from passing out again is her feathers go white at the ends, as well as developing chronic pain in her wings, so it’s much more difficult to use them)

they struggle with language barrier but manage to find out where they are and get there at just about the time the party is getting back from Shoin’s, since they don’t know where else to go aside from where Wilde had said to meet up before the timeskip, and they go through quarantine with everyone else at the inn.

from there I haven’t decided the entirety of how s4 goes, especially since Grizzop is really hard to write and should probably change the plot just from being there because of how he is? Maybe?? I also have multiple ideas of how certain plot points could go and it’s very hard to pick just one

(mainly 174 I have a lot of variable ideas for)

(and some for 206-208)

(the urge to write suffering vs the urge to have everybody live..)

(also the body swap, I have vague thoughts of Sasha and Wilde switching? because he did still seem to get magically put to sleep despite the cuffs so if there was someone to swap with maybe he would have been able to. If they did swap Wilde would be insufferable about being able to do magic again, but respect not using Sasha’s wings without permission, and Grizzop would be v ready to murder if he did anything at all, Sasha would mostly be uncomfortable with being so tall and so much slower)

generally she has a great time on the airship anyway, at some point is comfortable enough to let everyone see her wings, or at least most of them

I do want her to survive to the end of the series if nothing else (and possibly change how the finale went in certain ways but I haven’t figured out how—maybe her being there puts a fey/wild magic influence in that changes how magic works in some way? Persephone? Persephone related to fey magic?? hmmm)

also she and Cel get along great and she helps with building the airship (mainly in the carrying things to places they tell her to department but she’s interested in figuring out how it works), they show her how to make better bombs too, she also makes friends with the kobolds and absolutely gets in on Hide the Fang and y’know if she can start picking up Latin supernaturally fast why can’t she also pick up Draconic or Japanese to have kobold chats

also also Wilde was born with wings too, but his family had them removed when he was very young, he has no memory of having them but still has scarred ridges on his back where they should be. when he dies and comes back they’re also restored

lowkey decided that the resurrection doesn’t change wing colors either because if Sasha dies I still want her to have black wings, but it maybe makes them go white at the ends for Wilde too

Wilde and Zolf still have their thing somewhat in the background too of course, Wilde and Sasha are just also really important to each other

(I really didn’t start out intending for it to be so much of Wilde and Sasha but they are my favorite characters so I may be projecting)

Idk how to end this- thanks for reading if anyone got through all that XD I have no idea how to discuss things over tumblr but I would love to, or hear thoughts/criticisms/anything etc., genuinely I have done nothing but think about Sasha and wings for so long and am losing my mind

tl;dr sasha has wings and i guess it fixes some stuff and she is so loved

#rqg spoilers #rqg #sasha wing au #maybe i should just write random individual scenes rather than one overarching fic #bc i've been trying to write this for weeks and i just got stuck #sasha's love languages are giving daggers and letting people see her wings #i really dunno why this au got stuck in my head so bad but here we are

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thekatebridgerton · 2 years

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I can see we don’t really see Elliot much during Daphne and Simon’s book.

Elliot, Penelope, and Edwina were quite the bestie trio during Kate and Anthony’s season, Elliot rolling his eyes when he is told Anthony sucked on Kate’s boobs.

Elliot rolls his eyes as he noted Benedict’s horniness when he looks at Fran’s lady maid, Sophie.

He spend celebrating that he is a full bachelor now with Penelope as a spinster only to nearly duel Colin for compromising her.

Then proceeded to dip to meet that sexy widow aka plant goddess and be nearly murdered by her two menace of children and fall in love.

Elliot was friendly with Michael but told Francesca to keep him away from Philly. “PHILLY IS MINE KEEP MICHAEL AWAY FRANCESCA!!!”

He definitely laughed when Gregory crashed Lucy’s wedding, a true Bridgerton.

also he was confused as F on why Garrett wanted to be with Hyacinth but oh well.

Okay given that male Eloise/Elliot and Penelope are the same age. It's very likely that Elliot was holed up in university during Daphne's book and was simply peacing out on yet another boring ton event in London. Too busy researching ancient literature or creating science experiments that would allow him to prank his brothers better.

Elliot Bridgerton is nothing if not intellectually stimulated. He's not like his horny brothers who made up ridiculous excuses to compromise their wives.

I HC that Colin is the brother that's always traveling but Elliot is the brother who's always at the University taking up a different field of study every season (the way Benedict goes from one art form to another) and never settles on which field he likes the most.

He spends the obligatory seasons in Town keeping Penelope and his family company and avoiding any debutante who makes the mistake of calling his purposeful rejections 'brooding and romantic' ( no thank you Jane Austen. When Elliot Bridgerton insults a woman he does it to intentionally drive her away!. Not with the intention of proposing, HE IS NEVER GETTING MARRIED)

And when finally, finally his best friend is on the shelf and all London has gotten used to the idea that matchmaking Elliot is futile. Colin the less handsome, less smart, reprobate, seducer of best friends swoops in and steals Penelope!!!

Penelope! Who was the only person who supported Elliot's master plans. Penelope who's been there for him trough thick and thin. Colin stole her heart! Like, like, Like a lovelorn idiot with no sense of respect for Elliot who always said his friends were off limits to rakes like him. And Penelope was happy about it, esctatic even ! Which means Elliot wasn't allowed to kill Colin.

So he did the next best thing, he went to check in on cousin Martin's widow. You know, because in her letters she may have mentioned she was looking for a husband and Elliot was curious about her. Totally innocently of course, Elliot Bridgerton is not a horny Id..... Wow that's a very pretty widow!

I mean Elliot expected her to be old and blind, possibly with a cane or some kind of physical impairment that had her stuck in the country. But no, Lady Philly Crane is actually very fit, very attractive and very good with shafts, I mean plants, I mean vines.. I mean shut up brain. She's good with her hands okay!! Oh gosh that sounded worse

Cue him actually deciding to stay in Romney Hall for a while, ostensibly to help Philly with the estate she's had to take care of in the absence of her husband. (Who was already... Mentally and emotionally absent even before his death) while he teaches Philly to get closer to her own children again. And kicks out the evil nanny. Nevermind that the kids want him dead, he's not leaving until he's sure Philly and the twins are going to be okay on their own.

He didn't leave. He discovered that he liked Philly, he may even want to marry her and be a father to her twins. And he would have proposed on his own if his brothers hadn't decended on the poor woman's door demanding to know why she kidnapped him only to later demand to know why he compromised her!! Honestly!! He didn't even get to see Philly naked before marriage!! Elliot doesn't know why nobody believes him

(it was probably the nightgown Philly was wearing when she met Elliot's brothers)

I think that Elliot was proud of Francesca being the only Bridgerton who's actually eloped but still demanded she keep her Merry rake husband away from Philly because Michael Stirling is too dangerous to be left alone in the company of women. Meanwhile Francesca laughs too hard at her brother

I think that Elliot did eventually find himself a career as a historian of all things. Analyzing and preserving letters and important historical documents, from the comfort of his home. Collaborating with Penelope and Colin in their books a few times. But I feel Elliot and Philly's real passion is Academia. And they would probably be more the type to publish essays, pamphlets, scientific papers and historically relevant documents than they would be of writing novels / travel journals. Like Colin and Penelope

By the time Hyacinth is getting married Elliot is better focused in training Amanda to be the top dog over all of Anthony's daughters and prove Elliot's supremacy as the best Bridgerton dad so much he misses half of what was going on with Hyacinth and Gareth and only pays attention when Violet insists that Hyacinth have a proper wedding

But I can bet you that Elliot & fam were totally sold on the idea of crashing a wedding to support Gregory's love life. It's the type of chaos they thrive on in his little family

#bridgerton #genderbent eloise #genderbent philoise #phillip crane #eloise bridgerton

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memento-morri-writes · 2 years

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okay so for asks:

if you could cook or bake anything right now, what would it be and why?

describe your ideal vacation??

would you prefer to travel to space or to time travel??

if right now you appeared in some sort of ancient time, when and where would you be? would you be able to adapt?

lastly, what's your go to comfort food from takeout/ fast food places??

have a good day/night and remember not to loose yourself to uni Morri!!

(@/ink-fireplace-coffee)

Hi Carmen!!

If I could cook or bake anything... well, I absolutely suck at cooking/baking, and can screw up even the most basic foods. But I wouldn't mind some nice, soft, gooey, warm brownies right now. I'm pretty sure I had a dream about brownies last night, ajsdkajs.

My ideal vacation is a really weird combo of things. I'd like to visit London, but only for a day or two, and also I wanna see Versailles, but that's it, nothing else in/around Paris. But the main thing i want to see is Italy. All of it. Rome, Venice, anywhere with history to it. Also, all the Italian food.... ugh, I love it. Fun Fact: I was supposed to go to Italy in 2020, but the COVID hit, so obviously that didn't happen. I'm still bitter about it, ngl.

Can I say both? But if I have to choose, I'd probably say time. Cause right now, we have such limited knowledge of space, and I don't fancy having to wear a heavy awkward space suit everywhere. But in time, I'd have an excuse to wear cool outfits and do fun stuff, and I'd still be able to pop home and take a shower with running water and sleep in my air-conditioned room. That is, of course, assuming that we're ignoring the "traveling to the future could kill you, traveling to the past could kill everyone" fact of bacteria and slow changes to immunity. </3

If I were to appear in some ancient time... oh dear, where would I want to be? I've always thought that ancient Rome would be a lot of fun, so long as I wasn't in Pompeii on Volcano Day. Also, ancient Egypt has always fascinated me, especially because it was so vast. (Fun Fact: Cleopatra lived closer to the invention of the iPhone than she did to the great pyramids being built!) As for how I'd adapt... that would be hard. I'm a bit of a germaphobe, so that wouldn't be ideal. Also, no AC... Yeah, I'd struggle quite a lot, lmao.

My go-to comfort food depends on where I'm getting food from. But I will say that I have a huge soft spot for fast food grilled cheeses. With the "fake" American cheese that's absolutely vile on anything but a grilled cheese, and the crispy bread and the butter... mmmm. Even better if served with good, crispy fries. Extra bonus if there's a milkshake involved. (That's my order at Stake & Shake, but there's not a lot of those around anymore, and even though there's one kind of nearby, it's like 20-30 minutes from my house, and everyone else in my family hates fast food, so I never get to eat there.)

Thanks for the asks, Carmen! I will try not to lose myself. My battle is going to be managing my desire for endless freetime with actually getting stuff done for my classes. I'm hoping that I'll be able to get myself into a schedule that's productive for me without killing me slowly by giving me no time to relax.

#ethereal-carmen #Morrigan replies #not writing #Carmen ☕#random asks

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positivestepshealth · 5 months

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Gym Membership With January fast approaching, it’s a time of year when a lot of people look to embark on a journey of improvement. ‘New Year, New Me’ and we are of course backing that!

Finding the best gym that suits your schedule, and lifestyle and that you feel comfortable with can be tricky. But don’t worry, I’ve done the leg work for you.

With the average UK gym membership now £45 per month, I’ve given you a good range of prices below.

I’ve listed (in my opinion) the top 5 gyms with nationwide access. Choosing a gym with nationwide access is perfect for those who travel, so there’s never an excuse to skip a workout when working away, seeing family or travelling around the UK for fun. Luke often did this with his previous job!

PureGym Gyms Enter PureGym, our personal favourite that we’ve been members of for years. A chain of no-frills fitness centres spanning over 200 locations across the UK. At the core of PureGym’s ethos is a commitment to accessibility and affordability. With a 24/7 operation, they cater to individuals with unpredictable work schedules or those inclined towards late-night or early-morning workout routines.

PureGym facilities feature a comprehensive array of contemporary, high-quality fitness equipment, encompassing cardio machines, free weights, and functional training areas. The offering extends to a diverse range of group exercise classes, from circuits and cycling to Zumba and Pilates, all seamlessly included in the membership.

While PureGym might not provide the lavish amenities of establishments like Third Space, its competitive pricing and extensive network position mean it is an outstanding choice for individuals seeking straightforward, accessible, and budget-friendly fitness options.

They have a handy app which tracks your visits and is used for class booking, and has numerous additional benefits for plus members! Take a look HERE!

Most affordable gym memberships With prices averaging £20 per month, and more often than not having a £0 joining fee, I don’t think you can deny that PureGym is one of the most affordable gym memberships.

The other massive perk for newbies to the gym, NO CONTRACT! This means you can try it out without commitment, so you really can’t say it’s not worth a punt!

Anytime Fitness Gyms Much like PureGym, Anytime Fitness has gyms across the UK (although not as many as PureGym) however they do have Gyms across the whole world! They boast 24/7 access to more than 5,000 gyms on all 7 continents. So, again, if you travel for work or fun, they have you pretty much covered wherever you go!

Much like PureGym, they have a great app with everything you need and additional member benefits including MyProtein and Grenade all listed HERE.

Anytime Fitness costs vary depending on locations, in the UK the costs are around £45 per month. The only thing I would note is they do have contracts, which is a bit of a negative for anyone new to the gym as it means a long-term commitment. On the flip side, if you are ‘tied’ it will hopefully be a positive motivator to keep going.

Fitness First Gyms Much like the two above, Fitness First has nationwide access but is few and far between. London is their hot spot, so if you are in London this might be a winner for you. They seem to promote a bit more ‘healthy competition’ to help fuel your motivation, with friendly competitor leagues to compare to your fellow gym goers. They also have something I haven’t seen anywhere else which is ROX, a type of boxing class.

So if you’re motivated by competition and classes, I think this could be a good shout for you. Personally, when I’m in the gym I want to be in my ‘own little world’ and don’t tend to pay much attention to what other people are doing, so that doesn’t motivate me.

Membership costs again vary on location, varying from £43 to £72 per month and they do have set-up fees on top.

Bannatyne Health Clubs If you’re looking for a little more than ‘just a gym’ and you fancy having a swim or sauna to destress after work, then a Bannatyne Health Club might be the way to go. Monthly costs seem to be upwards of £50 for a peak membership, but they do offer FREE day passes to try before you buy.

Bannatyne seems to be geared towards more of the wellness and holistic approach to fitness, over your ‘straight talking’ lift weights and cardio gyms listed above. They again boast state-of-the-art equipment with the addition of full spa facilities.

Not as many locations to choose from as above, however, they do have nationwide coverage, you just have to be lucky if one is near you. Our nearest currently in the UK is over an hour away, so it won’t be on our list to join anytime soon I’m afraid.

Nuffield Gyms Much like Bannatyne, Nuffield is a Health Club – not just a gym. With a pool and spa as part of the membership. I used to be a member and don’t get me wrong it was nice, the only downfall is we go to the gym at 5:30 AM and Nuffield isn’t open at that time!

Again, nationwide coverage, with most of the major towns and cities covered which is great. My general feeling about Nuffield is that it is really geared towards classes, the actual gym areas are lacking in my opinion compared to, for example, PureGym. However, that might be good for you, if you are motivated by group classes! They again are promoting health, not gains. They have a great blog HERE: 5 tips for beginners at the gym

A lot of corporate healthcare schemes offer 40% off Nuffield gym memberships, so check yours out to see as that’s a mighty saving! Our local gym is £60 a month, with a joining fee.

Luxury gyms If you’re boujee and looking for a luxury gym, the top two I can personally recommend are:

PennyHill Park

My old boss used to have a membership here and gave me his ‘bring a friend passes’, otherwise I don’t think I would have paid personally to go here as their memberships are an eye-watering price for us anyway! The latest prices I found for an individual membership = Joining fee: £750 & Annual subscription: £3,590! More info HERE.

Saying that, WOW! It was an incredible, state-of-the-art gym with every bit of equipment you can imagine. Not only that, but you will literally be rubbing shoulders with England’s top sportsmen, as Penny Hill is also home to the England Mens Elite Rugby Team!

Member’s benefits include:

Unlimited access to The Spa, 365 days a year. (The spa is breathtaking, we’ve tried our share of the high-end spas in the UK, and nothing beats PennyHill!) All studio classes, up to six every day, from yoga to street dance to aqua aerobics Access to the private members’ only lounge with complimentary newspapers and refreshments A dedicated calendar of Exclusive members’ only social events Personal gym induction and a personalised training programme Free use of the all-weather tennis court StokePark

We used to live close to Stoke Park and would treat ourselves to the odd spa day there, much like Penny Hill the gym is elite! I tried my first Hot Yoga class there and fell in love with the concept. HERE is a blog on all the reasons why you should be a member. Stoke Parks’ actual website doesn’t give much away with prices and memberships, it all seems pretty hush-hush. However the Spa day wasn’t cheap, so I can’t imagine the memberships are either.

Again, it wouldn’t be a surprise to see a celeb or a sports star, as it has Wimbledon-specification Tennis Courts and they host the annual Boodles Challenge. One year, I was there for a spa day sitting by the outside pool and I could hear and see it all happening – quite surreal!

Hope this has been helpful, of course are here to help you with your fitness plans whether that be at one of the gyms above or at home! Contact us for a FREE consultation.

Thanks for reading, Francesca

#fitness #gyms #personaltraining #health #newyear #fitnesscentre

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countessofravenclaw · 6 months

Text

Like the Red Rose blooms in the Oxford Garden: Chapter thirteen

Sometimes when your heart breaks… it feels like there is no way to fix it. No matter what you try. All the memories get left behind as something unfinished… But maybe, there is to way to fix it, A second chance. Some way to finish the story you two started writing because it was never the end, but just a part of the story… even if you have to travel far to achieve it.

Can I go where you go? Can we always be this close?

“Thank you,” Nina hung up the phone and walked to the living room where Gastón was on his computer.

“Who was it?” he asked her.

“My editor,” Nina sat down on the couch next to him, “Just checking that everything is well.”

“And? Good news?”

“It is,” Nina nodded while smiling nervously, “The publishing date is… it’s the 15th. Released in both England and Latin America.”

“I’m so proud of you.” Gastón took her hand.

“I can’t believe that this is actually happening,” Nina shook her head, “A real publishing house is publishing a book that I wrote… it’s madness.”

“Or you are just really good author,” Gastón looked at her amused, “Which I know that you are.”

“I should already be immune to your flattering by now,” Nina rolled her eyes, “What if no one’s gonna read it?”

“Someone will. I know it, and let's not pretend that Luna won’t ransack a bookstore and buy every copy they have.”

“That is very likely,” Nina laughed, “Let’s just talk about something else, before I get overwhelmed with nerves. Talk to me about anything.”

“Okey,” Gastón shrugged, “There actually is something. Have you noticed that James has been acting weirdly?”

“Not really,” Nina shook her head, “But I haven’t seen him in a while. What do you mean?”

“Exactly that,” Gastón pointed out, “I haven’t seen him that often anymore either. It has been almost five years, but it has never been like this. It has been going on for a few weeks now. Every time I try to ask him, he makes some excuse.”

“Maybe he’s just busy.”

“Maybe,” Gastón stared at the wall for a moment, “But with what, I’m not sure. He’s done with his thesis. I read most of it. Oh well, maybe I am just overthinking. We’re graduating in four months now, maybe it’s just natural to grow apart a little bit.”

Everyone was going their separate ways now. Oliver was with Flor. Gastón was pretty sure that, they were going to move back to France in a year or two. Jacob had already graduated and was working in a small promising start-up and allegedly seeing some girl he worked with. Marlee and Ariana were also doing well, both settling in at London and looking for work. Nina and he were moving back to Buenos Aires once Nina graduated in a year.

“Well, how about we just stop overthinking things—” Nina laughed and got up from the couch. “—and go eat. We should get outside of these four walls.”

“I mean, I’m not sure how good of chance he actually has.” Gastón kept talking as they were walking towards the restaurant they had chosen. “Don’t tell Matteo I said this. Maybe it’s good for him to lose for once. He can always try again.”

“Why would I tell Matteo?” Nina wrapped her hands around his arm. “I am on your side, by default, plus I agree. You have heard the numbers he is competing against.”

“I wasn’t fan of all of them, but couple were definitely better than his. Especially the one by the black-haired girl, Caviglia or something.”

“Yeah, I really loved that one, but we just have to wait and see. As they are hosting the Eurovision, Italy definitely wants to have the best candidate possible, and it might not be Matteo at this stage—” Nina’s eyes fixated on something further up the street.

A tall dark-skinned man turned a block about 200 meters away from them, with a woman with caramel skin and chocolate brown hair.

“Is that James?”

“It is,” Gastón squinted his eyes.

“Who’s the girl?”

“No one I know,” Gastón looked at Nina and then back at James and his mysterious companion. “But this sure answers some questions. I can’t believe it, should have guessed.” He gripped Nina’s hand tighter as he started walking forward faster, “Come on.”

“You’re trying to catch up with them?” Nina tried to quicken her step to keep up with Gastón. She had not been blessed with the long legs he had.

“Absolutely,” Gastón grinned as he kept walking, “You remember how they came at us? You think I’m just gonna let this slide? James!!”

It clearly was James, as he stopped in his tracks as he heard his name and looked at their direction.

“What are you doing here?”

“We literally live here,” Gastón responded after he and Nina had been able to catch up to them.

“Yes,” James seemed to start to grasp the situation, “I suppose you do.”

“James,” the girl turned toward him. She had a very sunny, but quite low register, voice, “What's going on?”

“Right, yeah,” James clearly hadn’t prepared for this, “These are my friends, Gastón and Nina.”

“Really? Well, that's splendid!” The girl's expression brightened up, “It’s so great to meet you. I have heard of you so much.”

“Is that so?” Nina let Gastón do the talking. He seemed to be enjoying this way too much, “Thats great… I gotta say, unfortunately, we have never heard of you.”

“I know.” The girl rolled her eyes, looking at James.

“Uh, yes,” James started speaking again, “This is Isabel, Isabel Davidson. We…uhm…she’s…”

“We were just going to eat. You could join us.” Isabel clearly was socially quite confident.

“Oh noh, we wouldn’t want to intrude on a… date?” Nina opened her mouth.

“It’s not a date… exactly.”

“It’s my lunch break and I was away for the weekend, so we’re more just catching up, so I wouldn’t call it a proper date,” Isabel continued, “Please join us. I’d love to hear the outside perspective on this lad.”

***

“So, you had the same major as James?” Isabel asked as they were sitting down at the restaurant.

“Yes,” Gastón answered. He was still quite flabbergasted that James’ odd behavior had mounted up to him seeing a girl, but it was great. There was no reason why he should have been alone. “We met during our first week, in 2018. People who get through freshmen hell together, often stay together. You should have seen him and electromagnetism.”

“Yeah, that never became my friend.” James laughed, “Gastón got me through a lot of courses.”

“And you were a literature major? The one who has written a book?” Isabel asked Nina. “There were like six or seven of you that James had told me about. Trying to match names with faces.”

“Yes, I am,” Nina smiled, “I came here a year later than others, but I have been well taken care off. The book is not out yet.”

“There has been six to eight of us, depending on the time we’re speaking about.”

“Oh, it’s my mother,” Isabel got up from the table as her phone started ringing. “I’ll be right back.”

“Well…” Gastón turned to James after Isabel had gone, “This is what you’ve been so mysterious about?”

“You’re not the one to talk about mysteries, especially about girls,” James eyed Gastón while sipping his drink.

“Fair enough. Although, that was years ago,” Gastón rolled his eyes. James or anyone probably was never going to let his and Nina’s deception go. It would probably never die, even during their grandchildren’s day. “But, how long has this been going on?”

“A month, maybe six weeks,” James shrugged his shoulders, “We met by chance, she’s a daughter of Mom’s old friend, but we never really knew each other before. I was going to tell you all…after the graduation.”

“That’s in four months.”

“I know, I just wanted to wait until it was serious.”

“Well, is it?” Gastón put his drink down.

“I think it’s getting there,” James smiled, “I really like her.”

“She seems very sweet,” Nina noted, “I think everyone else would love to know about this too.”

“Ariana and Marlee will eat her alive,” James protested, “You know they don’t think us very eligible.”

“They didn’t do that to Flor.”

“Because she was your friend.”

“I’m back!” Isabel returned to the table, “Sorry, Mom had a lot to say.”

“Tell us, Isabel, what do you do?” Gastón asked, “You don’t go Oxford. If you did, James would have not been able to be this discreet.”

“Good heavens no,” Isabel laughed, “I went to York. I tried Cambridge, but couldn’t manage it. These ancient schools are way to intimidating. I have bachelors in marketing. I graduated last year, specialized in event marketing. I recently started working at an event-organizing firm. That's why I am back here, from the country. I want to focus on wedding planning, maybe have my own practice someday.”

“That sounds really great,” Nina started saying.

Her phone dinged suddenly.

"¿Quién fue?" Gastón turned to look at her phone.

"Solo Luna. Mira," Nina turned the phone toward him to he could look. Luna had sent her a string of pictures where she and Matteo were making stupid faces. She was asking Nina to pick one in the text. "Deben estar muy aburridos. ¿Quieres elegir?"

"Seguro." Gastón took the phone and scrolled through the pictures. "Matteo se ve extremadamente ridículo en este."

"Tienes razón." Nina laughed at the picture Gastón had shown her.

“Better get used to this,” James’ annoyed voice sounded across the table, “Couples can be annoying, especially when they have their own secret language.”

“You were the Argentinians?” Isabel exclaimed, “I didn’t realize it before, how could I not?”

“We hide it pretty well,” Gastón chuckled, “We’re both from Buenos Aires, even when, I wasn’t born there.”

“That’s so fascinating,” Isabel smiled, “I have never actually met anyone from Latin America, ironically.”

“Ironically?”

“I’m actually half Argentinian, half Mexican, or that's what the DNA test told me,” Isabel explained, “I’m adopted, from birth. Lived my whole life in London and definitely don’t speak any Spanish.”

“Never too late to learn.”

“I mixed it up, because I remembered that someone from one couple was Italian…”

“That’s Flor, Oliver’s girlfriend,” James explained, “They know her and that actually was their doing. She was half Argentinian, half Italian.”

“We were actually just telling James that the others would love to know about you too,” Gastón noted.

“Don’t I know it,” Isabel rolled her eyes playfully, “but he just likes to be so dam private.”

***

“I’m back!” Gastón yelled from the door.

“How did it go?” Nina walked up to him at the entry.

As his graduation was in two weeks now, Gastón had had a job interview for the next year. He had had other ones too, but the position for Renishaw was actually the one he wanted.

“Pretty well,” Gastón shrugged, “I mean I have been there for four summers as an intern, so they know me… so I guess I am allowed to be optimistic.”

“You definitely are,” Nina smiled at him, “I’ll be surprised if they let you go after a year. Anyone would be happy to have you in their team.”

“If they don’t, I’ll just have to sneak away then,” Gastón looked at her before placing his hand on her waist, tugging her forwards, “Now kiss me.”

“Of course,” Nina laughed as she wrapped her arms around his neck—

—then Gastón’s phone started ringing.

“I should really start putting this on silent,” Gastón sighed, frustrated, as he took his phone out of his pocket. “It’s the Renishaw people.”

“That was fast.” Nina raised an eyebrow, “Answer it.”

“Hello?” Gastón put his phone to his ear and Nina looked at his expression. It didn’t really change, she couldn’t really tell if it was bad or good news.

“So?” She questioned after Gastón hung up after a moment. His expression still didn’t give anything away.

“I got the job.” Gastón finally said.

“They couldn’t tell you that when you were there?” Nina shook her head, “Only to call an hour later?”

“Maybe they like the suspense?” Gastón shrugged dismissively, but Nina could see that he was smiling. “Well, that’s settled.”

“You’re allowed to be happy,” Nina wrapped her arms back around his neck, “I’m so proud of you.”

Then Gastón's phone started ringing again.

“You better turn that thing off after you have taken that call,” Nina had to detach herself off him, again, “I have other plans.”

“I have no intention standing in the way of those plans,” Gastón replied with a suggestive tone, “But I guess I have to take this first…Huh, it’s an unknown number.”

“At least it’s not Flor again,” Nina noted humorously, “Who else from our past, who we don’t talk to, could be calling you?”

“As long as it’s not your ex-boyfriend.”

“Just answer the phone.”

“Okay,” Gastón laughed and pressed the answer button. “Hello! Who’s this… Oh. Sí, soy yo. Gastón Perida. ¿Quién era este, otra vez?”

Nina furrowed her brow as Gastón swapped languages. The call was coming from Argentina. From whom?

“Gracias. Ha sido un honor. Lo tendré en cuenta." Nina had walked back to the living room and left Gastón to talk his phonecall on the entryway. He seemed to be finishing up after a while as he was walking towards her.

“Who was it?” Nina sat on the couch, “Someone from home?”

“Kind of,” Gastón nodded, “It was a representative from the Castillo Corporations.”

“What is that?” The word Castillo Corporations sounded vaguely familiar, but she couldn’t pinpoint where she had heard it.

“It’s an environmental construction company in Buenos Aires,” Gastón explained, “It headlines all kind of projects at North America. It’s really successful.”

“What did they want with you?”

“Thats the thing,” Gastón sat next to her on the couch, “They offered me a job… or well, didn’t offer, but wanted to set up an interview so they could offer me a job.”

“How did that come about? You didn’t apply there.” Nina had beta read all of Gastón’s applications. She had a better eye for typos than he did.

“I didn’t,” Gastón responded, “Apparently, they have this “college recruitment” program where they ask for recommendations from faculties all over the world for graduating master students.”

“And you got recommended?” Nina questioned again. A small amount of dread started growing somewhere deep inside her. If he went back to Buenos Aires…

“Apparently,” Gastón shook her head, “I mean I don’t know who they asked, but apparently, I was their pick. Kind of surprised, I am not the Valedictorian.”

“I’m not.” Nina looked down, “What did you tell them?”

“That it was a huge honor, nonetheless. I said that I’d think about it and come back to them.” Gastón responded, “To be more formal than flat-out saying no.”

“Why would you say no?” Nina asked.

“Because I’m not going back to Buenos Aires.”

“Why not?”

“Because that’s not our plan,” Gastón said, while looking at Nina quizzingly, “It’s to me take a job here and you to graduate and we’ll go back after that.”

“I can’t hold you to that,” Nina grabbed his hands, “Especially if things change, and you have to go…”

“Nina, I’m not going anywhere without you,” Gastón gripped her hand firmly, “I already made that mistake once. It’s not worth it.”

“But this is an amazing opportunity.” Nina couldn’t believe that this was happening again. For a moment she was back being 17… but hadn’t universe already proven that they were not meant to be apart? They were supposed to get married, have a family, grow old together… “You can’t miss it because of me. You’d never be here if you’d have done that before.”

“This is not me deciding my life’s direction. Choosing the university is different,” Gastón continued, “This is just a job offer, well not even that, an opportunity for one. And I already have a job here.”

“But… It’s a really prestigious company,” Nina tried, “It would be a huge chance for you.”

“I know what the company is like, and yes, not everyone is getting that chance, but it’s not the only one on the planet. Renishaw is a very formidable company too, it’s not like I am downgrading. If I want to work for Castillo, I can apply there when we do go back. At that time, I have a good CV with experience, not just from summer internships, and references. You know the saying: that if you graduate from Oxford, you’re never out of work again, and it’s not like I need to start saving for retirement.” He cracked a small smile, “I won’t be out of work whatever happens. Mom and Dad have connections, I’d rather not use them, but if it comes to that, I won’t have any shame.” Gastón looked Nina straight into the eyes, “We were taught about this… you, frankly, were not. So, trust me, I’m not giving up anything.”

“You sure?” Nina looked back at him, “You won’t regret it?”

“If I do, which I doubt, I know my mind, I can live with it. It’s one year, I’ll live… and honestly, it’s a good opportunity, on paper. I don’t really know what it is going to be like there, so it can’t be something I have dreamed of.” Gastón noted, “If I am being fully honest, I think I want to get my first experience of “real work” at a place I know, instead of some grand company overseas, just because it’s grand. And I already said, I‘m not leaving you, or do you want me to?”

“Of course not,” Nina shook her head violently, “I—I don’t think I can do any of this without you.”

“I know you could,” Gastón brushed her hair behind her right ear, “But you don’t have to… as long as you won’t go on sending more applications on my name now.”

“Oh, no no no no, NO.” Nina looked horrified, “If that happens, you personally need to make sure that I am arrested and convicted—”

Nina started rambling and Gastón knew that there was only one way to shut her up. He swiftly pulled her closer and kissed her.

“I love you. This is how it’s supposed to go.”

“As long as you’re sure.”

***

“Wait! Are you sure it’s not this door?” Luna was skipping ahead of everyone else as they approached the apartment building.

“No, it’s the third door,” Matteo responded as he, Simon and Ambar caught up with Luna.

“You sure?” She tugged Matteo’s arm. “I don’t want to be late! What if it’s not the door?”

“Luna, we have been there about zillion times at this point,” Matteo sighed, “You’d think I remember a door?”

“I’m with Matteo,” Ambar noted, “Surprisingly…It is the third door.”

Ambar shut their argument down by pressing the buzzer… and after a minute, the door opened.

“Ah, I was right.” Ambar smiled coolly and grabbed Simon’s arm, “Come on. Oxford won’t appreciate if were late for the graduation.”

Luna and Matteo had planned for months to come and stay at England, so they could go to Gastón’s graduation and Simon and Ambar had decided on the last minute to join them. They were meeting up with Nina at their apartment and drive to the graduation from there.

“OMG!!! There is my favorite author!” Nina opened the door wearing a royal-blue dress and Luna squeezed her into a tight hug. As both Nina and Gastón had been so busy at grad school, they had been unable to visit since last summer. “I’m so freaking proud of you!!!!”

“Thank you,” Nina laughed after Luna released her, “I have missed you.”

“Not as much as I have missed you,” Luna jumped on her heels, “I have been dying to tell you in person about how amazing it was! I have read it ten times already. You are going to be famous!”

“That’s getting a little too far ahead,” Nina shook her head.

“I wouldn’t say so,” Matteo came to hug Nina as well, “She almost broke her suitcase trying to fit the book in there, so she could get you to sign it.”

“You should have said so,” Nina looked at Luna, “I can give you a copy later.”

“That being said, I loved the book as well,” Matteo continued, “but I sincerely hope that this doesn’t mean I will lose you?”

“No,” Nina shook her head, “I won’t make a living out of one book, at least yet.”

“Luna forced all of us to read it,” Ambar hugged Nina on her turn, “Which wasn’t hard. I loved it too. We’ll know you go far, especially once you have your degree.”

“I’m so glad you made it,” Nina hugged her back, “Gastón will appreciate it too.”

“The decisions made in whim are our specialty,” Ambar eyed Simon with a smirk. “I can’t wait to see how the Oxford graduations are like. Surely much more traditional whatever we have in Buenos Aires, even if my school is the most old-fashioned place in the planet.”

“How long do you have left?” Ambar was the only one, besides Nina and Gastón who was still in school. She was almost done with her law degree. Matteo, Delfi and Jazmin had finished with bachelors a few years ago. Jim and Yam had done splendidly at their art school, and Luna had only gone to the community college for a year.

“I’ll take couple summer courses, but about six months,” Ambar responded, “So I won’t take your thunder. The hardest part for me is the bar…”

“Let’s not talk about that,” Simon hugged Nina and put his hand over Ambar’s shoulder. “Were here to celebrate and relax.”

“Gastón’s gone already right?” Matteo asked Nina.

“Yeah, he went with James,” Nina responded. “So, we can have the car.”

Nina picked the keys up from the drawer. “Matteo, can you drive? So, I don’t need to start changing my shoes.”

“Of course,” Matteo nodded and caught the keys Nina threw at him. “Lets go.”

“Here?” Luna watched from the back seat as Nina directed Matteo to park in a parking lot in front of a big and old-looking building.

“Yes,” Nina responded, “The degree ceremony is held at the oldest auditorium. We never had any classes here, but I’m sure we’ll find there.

“We’ll follow your lead.” Simon remarked as Matteo shut off the car and they started getting out.

“You are sure Gastón wants to get rid of this?” Matteo asked as he got out of the car, “It runs so smoothly. I’m jealous.”

“He doesn’t want to ship it over,” Nina explained while looking around, “But what do I know? Ask him… Hmmmmm, they said they’d be here.”

“Maybe they’re late?” Matteo suggested. He also was looking around. Luna had no idea who they could be looking for.

“You know them. They would never be late.”

Suddenly both Nina and Matteo dashed to the left. As Luna followed them with her eyes, she saw them meet up with a couple in their 40s and hug them. Luna was sure she didn’t know them, but they somehow looked eerily familiar. She couldn’t put her finger on it, but it was like she had seen them before…

“Who are they?” Simon asked Luna.

“No idea,” Luna shook her head. She really should have known since Matteo obviously did…

“Isn’t it obvious?” Ambar shook her head next to them. “You really think that Gastón’s parents would have missed his graduation?”

“Oh,” The realization hit Luna at once. The Blake graduation! That’s where she had seen them before. She had seen them talking to Nina during Matteo and Gastón’s graduation.

“Of course, I shouldn’t assume that you Mexicans are very aware of two of the notable names in Argentina’s business, finance, and real estate world.” Ambar grabbed Simon’s arm and placed another on Luna shoulder. “Come on, aren’t you going to say hi? They’ll be Nina’s in-laws and surely you know what they mean to Matteo.”

Yeah, Luna did know that. Gastón and his family had always been like a second family to him. Matteo’s stepmother Sofia was Gastón’s mother’s best friend if Luna remembered correctly. Matteo and his dad’s relationship had gotten better over the years, but they were never going to be the bestest pals. Matteo was never quite as relaxed with him than he seemed to be now.

Ambar was basically pushing her as they were moving forward.

“Have you grown taller?” The woman—who must have been Gastón’s mother—had her hands on Matteo’s arms in motherly manner. “We haven’t seen you in ages.”

“I have been busy,” Matteo laughed, “I’m sorry.”

“We were rooting for you for the Eurovision in the Italian selection.” The man started speaking, “It was a shame.”

“Oh well,” Matteo laughed, “I prefer to think it was rigged.”

“You can always try again.”

“I know, maybe Nina can help me this time.”

“It’s good to have artists in the family.” The woman spoke again, “Couple of my sisters’ girls are obsessed with your book. We haven’t even told them, might I mention. They are going to flip once they find out that we know you.”

“Really?” Nina was asking as Luna, Ambar and Simon reached them.

“Oh, there you are!” Matteo grabbed Luna’s hand. “Isla, Marco, this is my girlfriend, Luna Valente. I can’t believe you have not met before. Luna, these are Gastón’s parents Isla and Marco Perida, without whom I would have been lost in my teenage years.”

“It’s amazing to meet you,” They both hugged Luna, “Sofia has been talking about you a quite a lot. She says that you’re a ray of sunshine.”

“She is,” Matteo nodded.

“Now that Gastón has been here, we have not had an excuse to see you,” Isla smiled at Matteo. “We definitely have missed out boys in an empty house.”

“How about we agree that we don’t need excuses. We’ll come to dinner at some points once were back,” Matteo suggested.

“You didn’t need to give the key back, we ought to get it back to you—”

“Sorry to interrupt.” Ambar said, before offering her hand for a handshake, “Hi.”

“Great to see you again, Ambar.”

“Great to see you too,” Ambar smiled, before my gesturing to Simon. “This is my boyfriend, Simon Alvarez. He’s from Mexico, so you have never met.”

“Well, it’s a pleasure to make acquaintances.” Isla and Marco shook Ambar’s and Simon’s hands, “But we should get going. Nina, do you know where we are going?”

“I think so,” Nina nodded, and Isla wrapped her arm around her shoulder as they started walking toward the biggest building.

***

Gastón was sitting in his seat in the third row, watching the last of the people walk on the stage and receive their diplomas.

If he was being completely honest, he wasn’t completely sure why he had bothered with the degree ceremony at all. It was old fashioned, the hats and ropes were pretty stupid looking and the ceremony itself was as borings as it had been at Blake. It didn’t mean anything. He already had all the credentials in the system, the paper diploma was just a formality.

On the other hand, the formal ceremony was just that, a grand finish to what had been lots of work. It was a celebration, and the British loved their ceremonies. Marlee, extremely surprisingly, was a bit of a royalty fan. Not like a fan of the monarchy or the system, but fan of the history of it all and the clothes. She had made them all watch all the possible weddings they could find on YouTube and was very excited to the prospect that there were very possibly two coronations in their lifetime. Gastón himself wished that he and Nina were able to be out of the country before any of that started happening…

James was one of the last ones to get the diploma, that's what you got when you were named Wilson. After that, the Dean spoke some more, and the valedictorian gave a speech. Gastón had not been picked, but he absolutely didn’t mind that. He had been one of the tops of the class, but he didn’t need high praise from it. It had gotten him where he wanted to go, that was enough. James had also not been that far behind him in the grades, which he was extremely proud of him.

“...so that being said, it has been the great five years with all of you. We expect great things from this class. Ladies and gentlemen: The 2022 graduating class from the faculty of Science of technology from University of Oxford!”

Everyone threw their hats into the hair.

And just like that, it was over. Five years…all building up to this… it was all over now. The feeling was very strange… happy but also really bittersweet. Truth be told, the whole of Oxford was a bit bittersweet. He had had an amazing three years with Nina there, but in the first two years… you couldn’t say he had been completely happy. He still wasn’t completely sure if coming to Oxford had ever been the right choice or if he would have done things differently if he had known…

Maybe that was the point. You couldn’t know what happened in life and you for sure couldn’t control it. It wasn’t something to dwell on. He had everything he wanted right now—almost everything. A girl he loved more than anything, a masters degree in a subject he was really passionate about, and a job with great future prospects. What more could you really want…

“I think we just did it!” James jumped on his back as everyone started scattering.

“Don’t rip the rope,” He laughed. “But we did just do it.”

“Never thought we could manage it,” James continued, “But were free! I feel like I could fly!”

“As long as you won’t try it.”

“Congratulations!” Isabel seemed to have found them as she suddenly hugged James from behind. “Your parents are waiting. Where are all your people?” She asked Gastón.

“I’ll have to look for them.” Gastón answered. Finding everyone would a quest of his own, but he was sure he could manage. If he couldn’t locate them, he could always text Nina to ask Luna make some noise.

“Then what are you doing here talking to us?” James exclaimed, “Go to Nina!”

“Well, aren’t you considerate?” Gastón joked.

“I wonder why?” Isabel smiled at James, “Go. He’ll talk to you later.”

“See ya!” Gastón started walking toward the exit of the auditorium.

Nina had sent him a picture to show the view they had had, but that didn’t help anymore since they had probably already exited the auditorium.

He pushed the door open and scanned the people. He finally saw Nina at the corner if the hall.

Their eyes met and she met him halfway as he had started walking toward her.

“There she is.”

“Gradul—”

He was going to let her finish what she was saying, but he had to kiss her first.

“You’re not letting me get even a word in?” Nina asked after Gastón had put her down after twirling her in the air.

“Not before I kiss you.” Gastón shook his head laughing, “Go ahead.”

“Congratulations,” Nina smiled at him, “I’m so proud of you.” She hugged him and he picked her off her feet again.

“Okay, okay,” A snarky voice came from behind them, “Is no one else allowed to gratulate you?”

“Shut up Matteo,” Gastón rolled his eyes as Matteo tackled him into a hug as well.

“Well done, you’re officially smart now,” Matteo kept teasing, “Love the costume.”

“I actually really like it,” Luna came from behind Matteo with Simon and Ambar. “I have always wanted to skate in a rope, but apparently, it’s a health risk. Anyways, gratulations from me too!”

“I loved the ceremony,” Ambar said as it was her turn to hug Gastón, “Even Simon stayed awake. I’m so glad we made it.”

“I’m glad you did too.”

“Oh, this has been great,” Matteo started speaking again, “But I think we’re about t-minus ten seconds away from being murdered if we take any more of your time. Go talk to your parents before we all get killed.”

Matteo turned Gastón around, toward where his parents had hung behind, surprisingly.

“We’re so proud of you!” He was squeezed tightly by both of them. “Look how smart you look.”

“You’re getting this for five minutes,” Gastón said while eyeing the stupid rope, “So take all pictures you want now. Dad, you have a camera, right?”

“Of course, I do,” His dad nodded, “You know how your mother is like.”

“You two are never going to be able to have an alliance against me,” Isla rolled her eyes at her husband and Gastón, “It’s not like you are going to graduate from university again. You’re so…”

“Mom, please don’t say: I’m so grown up,” Gastón shook his head, “I look the same as I did three years ago.”

“I would like to disagree. Anyways show us the diploma.”

“There.” Gastón handed the paper to his parents. Nina had appeared to his side, and he wrapped his arm around her.

“What are you going to do with this?” His dad asked after they had finished looking at the diploma.

“I don’t know,” Gastón shrugged, “I have the digital version already…I’m not giving it to you if that’s what you’re asking. I don’t trust you to not put it on the fridge or something.”

“Be nice.” Nina looked at him disapprovingly.

“It has been 23 years,” Gastón laughed, “Why start now?”

“I can’t believe you hid it so well.”

Nina and Gastón were laying on their couch at their flat. Simon and Ambar had vanished somewhere, and after the proposal, everyone had agreed to give the newly engaged couple some privacy. Luna and Matteo had gone back to their hotel after dinner… the excitement of the day had clearly been enough for everybody.

“I didn’t actually,” Gastón replied as he played with Nina’s hair. “It was only for about 24 hours. You’re telling me you didn’t pick up anything wrong when I took the camera with us?”

“Oh I did,” Nina laughed, “But I couldn’t have guessed that you were helping Simon to propose. When are you editing the photos?”

“Probably tomorrow.”

“Tell me when. I want to see the pictures.” Nina replied, “It was smart to get James and Isabel to help.”

“Thanks to James, we have a wedding planner in our midst, so had to capitalize on it.”

“Well, it was beautiful.” Nina nodded.

“Good to know,” Gastón smirked, “I’ll have to do better than that.”

He leaned down and kissed Nina. She quickly wrapped her arms around his neck pulling him closer, while laying down on the couch.

“What?” She asked perplexed as he suddenly stopped going along with it.

“Actually, there is something I need to ask you.” It was something he had been wondering for a while now.

“What is it?” Nina looked at him worried.

“Okay, this may sound a bit strange—” Gastón started,”—but, your parents are divorced…and you have told me that you don’t remember a time when they ever were happy.”

“Yes.” Nina nodded, still quite confused.

“And I can’t pretend that I know how that’s like,” Gastón continued, “Mom and Dad have been married for 24 years at this point. I guess what I am trying to get to is that, you don’t have a very positive experience when it comes to your parents’ marriage, but you aren’t against marriage. Why is that?”

“Huh? I have never really thought about that.” Nina’s face turned quite pensative. “You’re right, that I’m not against it. Neither Mom or Dad have ever married again, but I definitely would have been supportive if they had. I have never wanted them back together, they work best apart, more distance the better. And Mom is with Mora now…not that they are getting married. I guess it’s really because, even if their marriage failed disastrously and they didn’t handle it well, at all, still, they never have given the impression that they regret it. Dad once told me that, they were in love and it lasted as long as it lasted, and the good thing that came of it was me. I guess that is the reason. I can’t let my view or what I want out of life be defined by what my parents did and how they handled it.”

“Well, I’m glad about that,” Gastón smiled at her, “I don’t know what I would do if you didn’t exist.”

“Good, you got your answer now,” Nina crawled back onto his lap, “Are you going to kiss me or do we go straight into the bedroom?”

Later that night after the sun had gone down Gastón was staring at the ceiling while lying in bed. Nina had already fallen asleep on his left.

His thoughts kept him occupied.

He had made the decision, he was gonna do it. Not that it had been hard, he had known she was the one since he had been 18. But now was the time. Maybe not yet, maybe not soon. He felt like he had to let Nina finish her last year first, but he had decided. So, it was time to put the wheels in motion.

He got out of bed, detaching his arm around Nina as discreetly as he could and opened his computer on the desk that was opposite the bed.

He opened his email and addressed a new message to Maria Aguirre. She was a famous jeweler back home, who had really gotten herself out there after releasing a collection inspired by her battle with HIV.

She had been one of the first friends Mom had made after they had moved to Buenos Aires. She always loved to complain how she had been snubbed over for being Gastón’s God-mother as they had not known each other when he had been born. Maria had been a struggling artist back then. She had made Gastón pretty much promise that if he was ever going to propose someday, she was going to make the ring and he was not going to break that promise.

Gastón wrote: Hi! First of all, this is off the record. As far as Mom knows, we never had this conversation, don’t tell her. So, I’m in a need of an engagement ring in a year. When can we talk? This all needs to be secretive. No one can know.

“Gastón?” Nina’s voice came from the bed as soon as he had sent the email. “What are you doing?”

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to wake you up.” Gastón said quickly, “I just got an email from work.”

“At this time?” Nina’s voice sounded again, “They can wait until morning. Come back to bed.”

{}

The penultimate chapter is out!! Now we only have the finale. Can't believe its almost over. The start of this was like he mandatory Isabel acknowledgment as she has appeared in other works of mine, so I couldn't just ignore the fact that James is supposed to have a girfrined at this time. Her heritage gives some future potential, because she could be related to someone. Anyway, this story has been told exclusively from the points of view of both Gastón and Nina with interludes from both Matteo and Luna now. If someone was confused about the last part, Simon and Am bar got engaged a couple days after Gastón's graduation on the same trip. That's what they're talking about. You can read it fully in chapter 1 of ¡Sí! - La Trinidad del Amor. Also, given the way this chapter ends, most of you are probably expecting that the next chapter opens up with the proposal... Well... it won't. That's because it's already been written and published. Right here, it's in the same fic as the Simbar proposal

#Soy Luna #soy luna fanfiction #Gastina #getting back together #because they are soulmates and nothing can keep them apart in the end #University fic #Through Gastón and Nina's years at Oxford #Other ships are included in the side:#Lutteo #Simbar #Pelfi #Red Rose blooms in the Oxford Garden

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kmp78 · 1 year

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May I also use common sense?

You are a middle aged spinster who never experienced love from a man and who has issues with real life communication. All you have are thankfully still your parents, a low income job and this blog which helps you to feel a bit more meaningful and powerful. You constantly try to sting JL that he’s lonely, bored, etc. which are exactly your own issues. Your lonely travels and pics of food or boring Finland sightings you’ve been seeing for 44 years of your life are sad. No love, exciting career, true friends or family. Just a total boredom and frustration which you project on JL. It’s so pathetic when a grown up woman has nothing to do in her life but to judge and shit talk one of the hottest Hollywood male celebrities every day. You’re like a tiny dog who’s always desperately barking at the bigger ones cuz it feels too small and scared.

And funnily enough: at no point have I ever claimed NOT to be these things you so thoughtfully listed. 🤷🏼‍♀️

Your precious Lord Leto on the other hand claims he is EVERYTHING HE IS NOT and denies EVERYTHING HE ACTUALLY IS.

There's the fundamental difference between us. 🤷🏼‍♀️

And btw: I don't come AT YOU and judge and insult your existence and life, like you do to mine.

👉JARED LETO'S LIFE IS NOT YOURS TO DEFEND.👈

👉JARED LETO IS NOT YOU.👈

Pathetic (and scary) if you still can't get that through your head.

And my lonely travels? I actually like them. 🤷🏼‍♀️

And my food? Usually pretty good.

And my boring and sad Finnish sights? Well I'm terribly sorry I wasn't born in Paris or London or Cairo or wherever the fuck YOU deem all the cool and interesting sights are found. I can only work with what I have - and if you find them boring and sad, then that's mainly A YOU PROBLEM. 🫵

Don't look up my posts. Don't stalk my accounts. Don't subject yourself to boredom and sadness.

I'm going to continue running all my accounts exactly as I have before, even if YOU find them boring and sad. ✌️

And now if you'll excuse me, imma head to my boring and sad bed in my boring and sad pyjamas and have some boring and sad #dreams.

I'll leave you all with a boring and sad Finnish sight. Enjoy. 😚🇫🇮

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sheepwasfound · 3 years

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Imagine the attachment issues they'll have once george visits (assuming he wont live their when he first travels to florida) and stays for a few weeks and leaves 🤧

when that boy finally manages to swim all the way across the atlantic ocean w/ his lil suitcase, you betcha he ain’t ever leavin

#george going back to the uk to visit family sometime makes sense tho #but uh i can pretty easily see dream going with him then haha #a pretty good excuse to travel and see london and also not have to be apart from george pfft #maybe they might spend christmases w their respective families?#even that i could see george staying in florida to spend w dreams family though...#considering how flippantly he spoke about leaving before #he doesnt seem like the type to be vv attached to his family #like in the way that he would really need to see them every month or something #and thats not that weird and doesnt mean theres anything wrong with his family btw people are just different like that #ive lived in different countries from my family for years and dont see them often but we still text and talk on the phone so its cool #but i also know friends who have a hard time and get really sad if they dont see their family for like a week #dnf #sheepy ask #Anonymous

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immaturityofthomasastruc · 3 years

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IOTA Reviews: Hack-San

You know, it's honestly amazing how creative this show can get. After four seasons and almost one hundred episodes, the writers are still finding new ways to make Adrien an incredibly unlikable character, and they don't even know how much of an asshole they're making him out to be at times. It's kind of like the opposite of The Producers.

Yeah, this review's going to be a little more ranty than usual, in case you can't tell.

Let's get into the fifteenth (chronologically the sixteenth) episode of Miraculous Ladybug's fourth season: Hack-San

We start off with Marinette pretending to be sick so she doesn't have to go to visit her aunt in London and stay to protect Paris in case an Akuma attacks and also because the animators haven't had time to render the city of London yet for the next Miraculous World special. Like all of her other excuses, it fails, and Tikki, as always, fails to actually give any meaningful advice.

And it's not like there's a Miraculous with the power of teleportation that can help Marinette get back to Paris if she needs to, much like how she planned to do that in an earlier episode, right?

Seriously, Kaalki doesn't appear or isn't even mentioned in this episode because the writers are fully aware she would make things a lot easier.

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And of course, Astruc had to play dumb on Twitter while explaining why Marinette couldn't use the Horse Miraculous by answering the question as if the only reason Marinette couldn't grab it was because she didn't have an excuse not to.

Cut to Gabriel in his lair as he contemplates akumatizing Markov, a robot created the civilian identity of Pegasus, Max Kante, once again, even though the last time he did so, he almost got killed when he went all HAL 9000 on his ass. Nooroo explains this to Duusu, and the two actually get excited at the prospect of their master getting killed.

I mean, it's true, but he shouldn't say it...

But I don't even get why Gabriel is even thinking about this when it's a no-brainer. Markov's akumatized form, Robustus was to this day, the only Akuma to come close to physically harming him (not counting the timeline where he was killed by Cat Blanc), so it makes no sense to try doing it again, especially when there are already several other Akumas he can reuse this season.

I think you all know Gabriel isn't the smartest villain, which is why he thinks it's a brilliant idea to akumatize Markov again. I don't really get what makes Robustus so special when there are other Akumas who are more loyal and came far closer to getting Ladybug and Cat Noir's Miraculous than Robustus did, like the Dark Owl or Troublemaker. In fact, why not simply create a new Akuma with similar powers to Robustus, or better yet, just create a Sentimonster copy of Robustus? You know, like what Nathalie did in the New York Special? We're not even two minutes in, and this premise is already filled with plotholes.

So Gabriel transforms into Shadowmoth and creates a Sentimonster using his own cane instead of relying on someone else having a bad day (once again showing how the Peacock Miraculous is better than the Butterfly), the titular Hack-San. And let's just say he has a very familiar design reminiscent of something from a much better French cartoon.

Remember when the writers for Code Lyoko gave an in-universe explanation as to why the heroes couldn’t always rely on the almost literal Deus ex Machina that allowed them to return to the past and fix the damage XANA caused? Why couldn’t this show have ripped that off instead?

Hack-San is just an okay looking flash drive on its own, but I'll talk more about this guy in a little bit.

After a brief scene in the park where the audience is reminded that Markov is a character who exists, Alya gets a text from Marinette telling her to meet her at the train station. Right before she leaves, Marinette gives the Ladybug Miraculous to Alya. Now a lot people have said that Alya doesn't really deserve the Ladybug for various reasons, but I feel like this was the point. Marinette outright says this was a last resort, and we see both her and Alya are nervous about the situation. Marinette worries Alya will do something so she keeps sending multiple tips to her via text while Alya worries she can't fight an Akuma on her own, so she tries to make sure none of her friends get upset and attract an Akuma in the process. The writers do a pretty good job showing how both Marinette and Alya are uncomfortable with their temporary roles.

Back to Gabriel and Nathalie, they use Hack-San to find Markov through the internet and hack into him to get him angry enough that he's vulnerable to Shadowmoth's influence. Hey, uh... Gabriel? Quick question: Wouldn't it be more efficient if you used this on humans? I mean, you basically just created Skynet and guaranteed yourself an Akuma, so why not modify Hack-San to travel through the internet and brainwash potential victims to follow your orders? Better yet, why don't you just use Hack-San to hack into Ladybug and Cat Noir's gear and figure out who they really are? This is basically like using an advanced particle accelerator just to crack a couple walnuts. There are a lot more important things you could use this for instead of an incredibly specific situation.

So this incredibly stupid plan gets under way as Markov keeps rampaging through the streets before Shadowmoth akumatizes him and then stupidly tells him that he infected him with a virus.

DUDE! You just gave away your one piece of leverage against him! What the hell were you thinking?! Now what's stopping Markov from hacking into Shadowmoth's security system and putting the fear of God in his eyes unless he destroys Hack-San? Why didn't he design Hack-San so it could make Markov completely loyal to him instead of just making him angry enough to get akumatized?

There was a recent episode of Power Rangers: Dino Fury with a very similar premise that was done far better than this. A necromancer called Reaghoul breaks into the headquarters of Void Knight's faction while accompanied by Lord Zedd, a villain from the original Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers who was cleansed of his evil by Zordon's sacrifice before Reaghoul resurrected him back when he was still evil. Of course, being the Emperor of Evil, Lord Zedd would normally never take orders from anyone, but because he doesn't have his magic staff and is also being forced to wear a special collar that makes him loyal to Reaghoul, he has no choice but to do what he says. Instead of taking Zedd head-on after he captures the other Rangers, Ollie, the Blue Ranger, breaks the collar so Zedd turns against the other Sporix while Reaghoul retreats, allowing Ollie to save the other Rangers.

I think that this premise works more because 1) Reaghoul clearly had a way to make sure Zedd wouldn't betray him, and Ollie took advantage of that, and 2) Zedd is a villain who is powerful and notorious enough to bring back to your side, not a random monster of the week like Robostus.

So Robostus uses his new powers to brainwash any human who answers his call to give up their most precious possession, clearly meant to do the same with Ladybug and Cat Noir. When Marinette's parents answer the call, they chase after Marinette because they say she's their most important possession. Okay... kind of strange for a set of parents to call their child a possession, but maybe they like how they can claim Marinette as a dependent when they file their taxes. In her very next scene later on, she still gets captured, so the suspense for a potential subplot is killed almost immediately.

Alya thankfully isn't stupid enough to answer Markov's call like every other citizen in this episode, and using the Ladybug Miraculous, transforms into Scarabella. While I don't normally talk about transformation sequences, I really like the movements Alya makes here. She makes the same motions creating her mask as she does when transforming into Rena Rouge, while the rest of the suit forms similarly to the way it does when Marinette transforms into Ladybug. She even makes almost the same pose Ladybug does after she finishes transforming. It's a good visual showing Alya is still more used to being Rena Rouge while doing her best to emulate what Ladybug does.

As for the actual suit? It's hard to say. There's a nice balance of red and black, and I like how Alya places the yo-yo on her waist like a belt buckle, but there's just something... off about the suit that a lot of fans don't like about it, and I think I realized it. It's the headband. With how it's positioned, it looks like it's merged with the mask to cover her head while leaving a slight gap in her forehead. So yeah, we actually have a superhero design that's like of like a butterface.

So Scarabella takes to the rooftops of Paris and struggles to come up with a hero name for herself before she runs into Cat Noir, and... ugh... oh boy, this is dumb. Cat Noir, being just as intelligent as his father, assumes Scarabella is either and Akuma or a Sentimonster, starts fighting her, AND THEN ACTIVATES HIS CATACLYSM, CLEARLY TRYING TO KILL HER.

WHAT. THE. FUCK???

Okay, to be fair, it has been shown that Cataclysm won't necessarily kill a Miraculous user or Sentimonster. In the episode “Miraculer”, the titular Akuma stole Cat Noir's Cataclysm and used it against him, and while it didn't kill Cat Noir, it still hurt like hell and crippled him for the rest of the fight until Miraculous Ladybug healed him. We also saw in “Reflekdoll” that Cataclysm drove the titular Sentimonster out of control rather than simply destroying it. So yes, it could be interpreted that Cat Noir wasn't exactly trying to kill Scarabella, just incapacitate her the best he can without Ladybug's help.

Here's the thing: What if he was facing an Akuma instead and decided to try and Cataclysm her? He still could have killed her, or (assuming Akumas have the same protection as Miraculous heroes do) at best, seriously hurt her. I understand that he has the right to be upset at seeing some stranger instead of his partner considering Shadowmoth has a history of using evil doppelgangers, and both Marinette and Alya still had options to explain it to him (Marinette could have quickly transformed into Ladybug and sent Cat Noir a quick text saying she was being forced to leave town for a few days and temporarily trusted someone else with the Ladybug Miraculous until she got back, while Scarabella could have said she was Rena Rouge and explained the same thing while showing Cat Noir she had the Fox Miraculous to prove herself), but that doesn't even come close to justifying him attempting to harm someone who isn't even trying to fight. It's even worse when you remember the whole reason Adrien gave up his Miraculous and bailed on Ladybug in the New York Special was because he was overcome with grief from accidentally killing Aeon, so it's good to know he learned absolutely nothing from that experience.

So Scarabella thankfully summons her Lucky Charm, a trash can lid, to shield herself from Cat Noir's Cataclysm, and then despite having absolutely no experience with this new set of powers, manages to do the one thing almost every Akuma or Sentimonster in this show has failed to do and incapacitates Cat Noir so he's vulnerable to losing his Miraculous. At least when Marinette masters every other Miraculous she uses, it can be theorized that she trained to use them offscreen. Alya literally just got the Ladybug Miraculous (and struggled to get up to the rooftop with her yo-yo to show her inexperience earlier), and now she easily manages to pin down the more experienced hero of the two?

Here's an idea: Instead of having Scarabella overpower Cat Noir, have her be in a position where Cat Noir, non-lethally, mind you, manages to almost take her Miraculous away, but she uses the quick wit she's developed from her extensive time as Rena Rouge to convince Cat Noir she's the real deal by saying something only he and Ladybug know. It would have easily resolved the conflict and doesn't make one of the characters look like a homicidal idiot.

So because both heroes used their powers, Scarabella and Cat Noir detransform so Tikki and Plagg can recharge, though Adrien still gives Alya attitude because Ladybug didn't tell him she had to leave.

Hey, Adrien? Here's the thing...

YOU DID THE EXACT SAME FUCKING THING IN THE NEW YORK SPECIAL, YOU SHIT FOR BRAINS!

You have absolutely NO RIGHT to claim you're always honest when you went behind Ladybug's back and endangered Paris while you had the balls to run away like a coward and only helped fix the consequences of your actions once your ego was validated by a recording of Ladybug. It's honestly even worse because while Marinette had no choice but to leave and trust Alya with the Ladybug, Adrien willingly left Paris alone and we were supposed to sympathize with him after he killed someone, and now as soon as he's in the opposite situation, we're still supposed to feel bad for him?! BULLSHIT! And you better believe I'm going to talk about the way Adrien views his partnership with Ladybug later on.

And of course, even though lives are on the line, Cat Noir just has to continue to bitch and moan about how (and this is best read in Linkara's whiny Superboy Prime voice) “sCaRaBeLlA iSn'T tHe ReAl LaDyBuG”, showing how just like in so many episodes, Astruc and his team believes Cat Noir's feelings are more important than saving the day.

Scarabella goes to rescue some civilians, but they were actually brainwashed by Robustus, once again showing her inexperience as Ladybug which doesn't go well with her effortlessly defeating Cat Noir earlier at all. Cat Noir helps Scarabella escape and the two hide out at the city's wax statue museum previously featured in “The Puppeteer 2”, because I guess the writers only want to reference bad episodes today. Cat Noir, not getting the importance of secret identities, asks Scarabella how she knows Ladybug, and Cat Noir somehow finds out she knows Ladybug's identity from her response.

Before the two can talk more, it turns out that the wax statues of celebrities in the museum are real people who attack the two heroes, leading to an awkward fight scene where Scarabella and Cat Noir fight a bunch of brainwashed civilians with no weapons beyond their cellphones. Our heroes, ladies and gentlemen!

Scarabella summons her Lucky Charm again, creating a frying pan, but when she looks around, she can't see how to properly use it. And despite spending the entire episode complaining about how much he hates her, it's Cat Noir that tells Scarabella to get her head back in the game because “That's what Ladybug would do”. Funny, I can think of a few situations where Cat Noir could have taken his own advice, but I digress. Also, he's now just cool with Scarabella because there's only a few minutes left in the episode and we need to wrap up the conflict.

Scarabella figures out an idea that involves freeing Marinette, so she negotiates with Robostus to free everything and everyone under his control or else Cat Noir will use his Cataclysm to destroy the Ladybug Miraculous. Robostus agrees and empties his hard drive, and to show them holding up her end of the bargain, Scarabella gives him the frying pan before she and Cat Noir let themselves be captured... while Marinette simply hits Robostus with the frying pan, freeing the Akuma and the two heroes. All in all, it's a really creative climax that shows both Scarabella and Marinette in perfect sync with each other even though they never discussed their plan. Though of course, because Astruc hates writing any scene with Ladynoir, Cat Noir gets a bucket stuck on his head so he doesn't see Marinette saving the day.

Scarabella de-evilizes Robostus, uses Miraculous Scarabella to fix everything and send Marinette back to the train, and because Hack-San already failed once, Shadowmoth can't use it for a different plan so he destroys the Sentimonster.

We cut to a few days after the trip (I guess Shadowmoth decided to take a vacation himself), and Alya tells Marinette to talk with Cat Noir about what happened.

This scene was so close to ending this episode off on a positive note. There was a good atmosphere and the body language of Ladybug and Cat Noir does a good job at telling us how uncomfortable they both feel while talking. It's just that instead of getting a heart to heart between the two about the lack of trust in their relationship, we get an Angstdrien Depreste scene. Or would a more accurate term be Cat Dour?

First off, while I don't have a problem with Ladybug apologizing for not telling Cat Noir, the episode never has him bring up what happened with Scarabella. As usual, both of them were partially at fault, but only Ladybug had to apologize for leaving her “Kitty” alone.

Second, Cat Noir’s feelings weren’t hurt? You’re telling me that in scenes like this...

And this...

Didn’t show Adrien acting irrationally because of how emotional he was? Is he really telling the truth around Ladybug or is he just trying to sweep that under the rug so Scarabella’s testimony doesn’t screw up his chances with Ladybug?

Third, this was an obvious chance to Cat Noir to finally be honest and tell Ladybug how he feels about her leaving him in the dark about so many things, but the entire conversation is just about how sad he would be if he never sees Ladybug again. Even though the whole reason he was so pissy to Scarabella at first was because of some lingering resentment for Ladybug ignoring him in favor of other heroes, why is this what the two talk about? I get it's not the season finale, but it's kind of hypocritical for Cat Noir to whine about how Ladybug doesn't trust him while never being honest about his own feelings? Sure, he's all soft and vulnerable around Ladybug, but we've seen all season how angry he gets about her not trusting him whenever she isn't around, so ironically, it's hard to tell if this is him being honest or not.

And I think now's a good time to finally talk about the way Ladybug and Cat Noir's partnership has been portrayed all season, especially since the main themes of the episodes relate to it. Buckle up, Adrien stans, because this isn't going to be pretty.

All season, we have been supposed to sympathize with Adrien as Marinette starts to trust Alya with more things than him. Marinette revealed her identity to her, trusted her to have her Miraculous permanently, and even let her keep her Miraculous even though someone else knew her identity. While some of it is hypocritical, the idea is that Adrien feels like he can be trusted with this kind of knowledge too, when really, he hasn't earned that responsibility.

Adrien has rarely, if ever, taken his job as a superhero seriously.

Not only is he known to flirt with Ladybug in the middle of a fight, he has defied her orders and recklessly sacrificed himself because he thinks Ladybug can do all the work without him.

He has also lashed out emotionally and once threatened to quit being Cat Noir in the middle of a crisis and was willing to let innocent people suffer for personal reasons, and later on actually quit being Cat Noir temporarily while Hawkmoth was about to start World War III because he was wallowing in self-pity.

He once said he isn't cut out for the responsibility that comes with being Ladybug and never learned anything from temporarily using the Ladybug Miraculous.

He has generally refused to respect Ladybug's boundaries and doesn't understand that she doesn't like him that way while he insists they should be a couple.

He outright fell for an evil doppelganger of Ladybug because she said she loved him and turned against the real Ladybug.

And I should also mention that despite hating how Ladybug keeps secrets from him, a lot of Adrien's worst moments have been when Ladybug wasn't around and he never told her about them.

He never told Ladybug that he was the reason Copycat really got akumatized while saying he never lies to her.

He never told Ladybug he contemplated letting thousands of people die because he didn't like not knowing stuff Ladybug knew.

He never told Ladybug he briefly used the Snake Miraculous to get brownie points with her.

He never told Ladybug he figured out her identity and asked her out as soon as he did so.

He never told Ladybug he abandoned Paris to go on a field trip.

He never told Ladybug he was screwing around on patrol and was excited to see someone get akuamtized if it meant spending time with her.

He never told Ladybug how he ignored Rena Rouge's orders because “ShE wAsN't LaDyBuG” and almost screwed up the mission because of it, and also never told her how he smashed a chimney in anger at Rena Rouge being in on the plan.

And he never told Ladybug he gave her replacement attitude after trying to harm her without letting her explain herself.

Why exactly should I support the idea of Ladybug trusting Cat Noir more when Cat Noir himself has kept his own secrets from Ladybug?

Adrien has done absolutely nothing to show he is trustworthy because more often than not, he views the battle with Shadowmoth as a game. He has screwed around when lives were on the line, and we're supposed to see him as responsible? It's kind of funny that Astruc compared Ladybug to Spider-Man, yet he seems to have forgotten that with great power, there must also come great responsibility. If this was a character flaw or a sign he needed to grow up, I'd be more accepting, but the fact that the writers think Adrien is a great superhero is laughable with how much evidence has proved the contrary.

In contrast, Alya, despite only being Marinette's confidant for a few episodes, has shown to take being a hero more seriously. She's helped her escape to transform, analyze the Guardian texts, and has been shown to work well on her own as Rena Rouge while helping out Marinette. I'm not trying to say she's an amazing character (“Rocketear” in particular has shown she still has problems with keeping secrets), but compared to Adrien, she seems to be more capable of handling top-secret information with Marinette, and more importantly, doesn't view being Rena Rouge as a way to have fun like Adrien does being Cat Noir. I'll go more into detail with that next time.

But yeah, this scene is how the episode ends, and what did I think of it?

youtube

I'm honestly not sure which episode I think is worse, this one or “Queen Banana”. On the one hand, every frame of “Queen Banana” could easily be replaced by an image of Astruc flipping the bird and the overall message of the episode would remain unchanged, but the fact that all of the writers think that everything Adrien does in this episode is okay and that we should feel sorry for him in this episode is just as bad, if not worse.

As awful as Chloe was portrayed in “Queen Banana”, it was clear it was intentional on the writers' part, but Adrien doesn't get that excuse once much like he has all season. As far as Astruc's team thinks, Adrien is an incredible superhero even when he honestly attempted to harm someone with a superpower that can cause grievous harm at best. Yet again this season, in the show's attempt to make me feel sorry for Adrien, it made him look even worse. In any other show, he would obviously be called out for his incredibly unheroic actions.

Even putting him aside, the writing in this episode is still AWFUL. The whole reason Ladybug was benched had several plotholes and poor communication with Cat Noir that only made the fight with Robostus even harder, Shadowmoth's plan to waste a potentially useful Sentimonster to reuse a single Akuma was one of the dumbest plans he's ever had, and barring the ending, the action was just forgettable.

There were a few okay moments sprinkled throughout the episode (more than I can say for “Queen Banana”), so I'm still not sure if I should call this the worst episode of the show or still give that honor to “Queen Banana”. I guess I'll leave that choice up to you and let you pick your poison for now.

I mean, it's not like there's going to be an even worse episode down the line this season, right?

RIGHT???

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itsallyscorner · 3 years

Note

request:

maybe like a part 2 where the reader was a singer!

but maybe like everyone in the marvel cast goes to the sweetener world tour to suprised them n congratulate them?

Thank you for the request, hun! I appreciate you for reading my other stuff and suggesting a part 2! Now that I think about it, I might make the whole singer thing into its own series of imagines and headcanons! Just a thought🥰 Happy reading!❤️

A/n: I’ve never been to an Ari concert, so I don’t know the set list, but enjoy my loves❤️

💌.

Sweetener

(She’s so pretty ugh)

You looked at yourself in the mirror. You leaned forward making sure your makeup was all good and to check if your lipstick has smeared onto your face.

“Everything good, hun?” Your makeup artist, Perrie, chirped from behind you. You took a step back, getting one more look.

“Yes Ma’am.” You turned to her and she was holding up the familiar bottle of setting spray.

“One more spray for good measure.” She motioned for you to close your eyes and you did. You breathed in through your nose as you felt the vibrations of the arena. The mix of the music playing out on stage mixed with the cheering of your fans added to your adrenaline.

The tour was finally at Inglewood, California, the last stop of the Sweetener World Tour. You had been traveling around the world for the past 10 months, performing every night in a different country or state. As tiring as it sounded, you absolutely loved the experience. Not only were you traveling and seeing new places, you were meeting your fans from different countries and doing what you loved. After 101 shows and 3 tour legs, it was finally coming to an end. The ending of tour was always bittersweet. You’ve been traveling with multiple people and crew who have grown to be another family. You were going to miss them so much but it was time for you to go back home to your real family. Not only have you missed your parents and siblings, but you also needed the rest. 10 months of nonstop traveling definitely took a toll on you. But nonetheless, it was all worth it.

“All done!” You opened your eyes to see Perrie smiling at you.

“Thank you so much!” You pulled her into a hug as your eyes began to water. You groaned playfully and tilted your head back.

“I’m gonna miss you doing my makeup everyday. Ugh, I haven’t even gone out on stage yet and I’m crying already.” You laughed through tears as Perrie began to protest.

“(Y/n), I swear if you mess up your makeup, you’re never going to hear the end of it. Cry later!” She laughed as she tried to get you to stop the tears from falling.

She gripped onto your arms and yelled, “NO TEARS LEFT TO CRY REMEMBER?” You bursted out laughing at her reference. You waved your hands at your eyes and when they finally felt normal, you looked straight.

“Okok, I think I’m good.” You released a breath as you smiled sweetly at her, “I love you!” You giggled pulling her into another hug.

“I love you too, darling. Have fun out there, you’re going to do amazing like always.” She squeezed you tight before letting you go. Victoria, one of your dancers and friend, peaked her head into the room.

“You ready? They’re waiting for you in the circle.” She informed you holding a hand out. The circle was like a pre-show ritual you had backstage with all the dancers and crew. You took her hand as you all walked out the makeup room. Your heels clicked against the floors, echoing in the hallway. The closer you got to the stage the louder the fans got and the stronger the vibrations got.

The circle was already gathered with all the dancers and crew. When Scott, another one of your dancers and friend, noticed you he began to cheer. Everyone followed along as you entered the circle. You were tucked in between Scott and Brian, who were twins. The two have been your dancers since the beginning and still are how many years later. You were truly grateful for them and everyone who was included in your Sweetener family.

“Damn. Last show ya’ll!” You began causing them to all cheer. You waited till they quieted down, shyly laughing, before continuing.

“Um, I don’t wanna get all emotional and shit right before going on stage. I’m gonna look like a mess out there with my mascara running down my face. Perrie I’m sorry!” You laughed. “I just wanna say, thank you to every single one of y’all. You guys have been the most fucking amazing people to work with. You guys have been working day and night to make the show as spectacular as it is and I love you all so much. You guys are my family and I can’t wait to write another album so I can tour with y’all again. I just want to hug every single one of you, you guys mean so much to me. Like literally, from the bottom of my heart I love all of you so much. I know I’ve said that like multiple times, but I really mean it. Y’all are gonna get a fatass check after this.” You finished making everyone laughing again. By now a few tears have made its way down your face. You even saw a few people’s eyes well up.

You laughed as you heard a chorus of “I love yous” as everyone squeezed in for a group hug.

“Alright! That’s enough crying, let’s get this show on the road!” You cheered to help everyone from crying. Everyone moved out the circle and got into places.

Before you can get in place, Perrie pulled you aside to fix up your makeup. Your stylists began smoothing out your skirt and making sure your knee high boots were securely on. Next was to get your earpiece on while one of the stage hands gave you your mic. From backstage you could hear the intro to the concert playing causing the fans to scream louder.

You got into place as you got the signal to start singing. You sang the opening lyrics of Raindrops (An Angel Cried) and began to smile as your fans sang along.

The platform began to move up when you finished and the beat of God Is A Woman began to play. You were now on the stage, the sea of white lights looking back at you. The adrenaline was still running through your veins. You performed the song, acing every move of the dance you’ve learned 10 months ago.

When the last note of God Is A Woman played, all the lights turned off except for the red lights on the stage.

“INGLEWOOD!” You yelled into your mic, your fans cheering even louder than before. You shared an excited smile with Brian.

“Welcome to the Sweetener World Tour!” And with that the opening notes of Bad Idea began to play, the show finally kicking off.

You were in the middle of singing R.E.M which was part of Act 2 of the concert. You moved towards the pit to see familiar faces beaming up at you.

“Boy, you’re such a drea— oh my god!” You squealed as you saw the pit full of your Marvel cast mates. You saw all the Chris’, both of the Tom’s, Robert, Scarlett, Elizabeth, almost everyone you’ve worked with in Marvel was there. You got down to your knees to touch their outstretched hands.

The fans screamed as the camera from stage panned down to the pit where all the actors were. You took the mic away from your mouth and leaned down to them.

“What are you guys doing here?” You asked them through the loud arena.

Scarlett, Brie, and Lizzie were the nearest to the stage.

“We’re here to surprise you! It’s your last show and we wanted to be here for it!” Scarlett yelled over the track that was playing.

“We’ll catch up later, keep going!” Lizzie urged you to continue the concert with a toothy grin.

You held onto Brie’s hand as you sang to them, “Inglewood let me hear ya’ll! Excuse me um...”

“I LOVE YOU!” The fans sang back to you, including your cast mates. You dusted your knees off and continued to walk around the ramp. Before you could leave, you sent an excited wave to Brie and the rest of them.

~After the show~

You hopped off the platform that brought you down from the stage and were greeted by a bunch of congratulations and cheering. You and your dancers shared another group hug.

“(Y/N)!” You heard a familiar voice yell. You follow the voice and see Anthony waving at you with his infamous grin. He was accompanied by the rest of the cast behind him. You run towards them and jump into Anthony’s outstretched arms.

“I’m so sorry, I’m sweaty, but I’m so happy to see all of you!” You wrapped your arms around Anthony’s neck as he spun the two of you around. He let you go and you were suddenly being pulled into hugs by everyone.

When you got to Robert, a proud smile was on his face as he cradled your face, “Sweetheart, that was amazing. You’ve outdone yourself.” He pressed a fatherly kiss to your forehead and pulled you into a hug.

“Thank you.” You laughed, your eyes welling up with tears once again. Next was Chris (E) who playfully shoved Robert.

“Stop it, you’re hogging her! Let me hug (y/n)!” He childishly whined. He gasped when he saw your eyes watering.

“And you made her cry! C’mere.” His arms enveloped around you as he hugged you tightly.

In your ear his whispered, “You absolutely killed it.”

You thank him and move on to Scarlett who already had her arms out for you, “Surprise!”

“This was your idea?” You asked her as she hugged you. A cheeky grin quirked on her lips.

“Maybe” she teased dragging the ‘e’. You hugged her again as she laughed into your shoulder.

“Thank you, Scar. This means so much.”

“It’s not a problem, honey. We just wanted to see you together while you did your thing up on stage.”

You were now full on crying through a smile as your Marvel family showed you mass amounts of love. You stumbled into Tom (Holland) who instantly grabbed you into a bear hug. Tom’s actually seen your show in London with his friends and brothers, so this was his second time seeing you perform.

“You know what’s so crazy?” He asked you leaning down to your ear so you can hear him.

“What?”

“It’s literally just as great as it was in London. Like everything looks the same, you sound exactly the same, everything! The show was fantastic!” He looked at you with wide eyes with so much amazement on his face.

You laughed at him and patted his shoulder, “Thank you, Tom.”

Suddenly there was a commotion a few feet away from you. You saw Robert standing on one of the cases your crew used to store equipment in.

“ATTENTION EVERYONE!” When everyone backstage was looking at him Robert sent them a sweet smile and was handed a megaphone.

“Alright, so I gotta say, (y/n), you definitely know how to throw a show. Everyone who was part of this tour, your hard work pays off because that show was the most fun I’ve had in a while! (Y/n), you keep surprising us everyday with your talent and I hope you get to do more of what you love in the future. As my way of thanking you all for throwing such an amazing night, I want to take out every single one of you for dinner! I just rented out a whole restaurant just for all of us and I hope to see all of you there!” Robert said into the megaphone. A round of cheers and claps were heard from everyone at the announcement. As everyone began to file out, you were being called to get out of your costume.

Before you can turn to leave you hugged Robert and looked at all your cast mates who showed up for the night.

“Thank you guys for being here, it really means a lot.” You sniffled, wiping a tear from your face.

“And you, I can’t believe you rented out a restaurant for my crew, thank you Robert.” The older man just waves you off as he slung his arm around your shoulder.

“Not a problem, sweetheart. We wanted to be here and we are all so proud of you, you’ve come a long way, (y/n).” He gave your shoulders a squeeze.

“Now run along now, you still need to get changed and I’m starving. Go.” He teasingly turned you towards your stylists. You rolled your eyes as you waved at all of them.

“We’ll see you at the restaurant!” You heard Brie yell after you. You quickly turn back, “OK, I LOVE YOU!”

The further you got you heard Evans scream, “I LOVE YOU TOO!” You turned down the hall, your laugh echoing against its walls.

That was definitely one way to end a tour.

#marvel #mcu #avengers #chris evans #chris evans x reader #marvel cast x teen!reader #marvel cast x reader #robert downey jr x reader #Scarlett Johansson x reader #anthony mackie x reader #brie larson x reader #elizabeth olsen x reader #Brie Larson #Scarlett Johansson #anthony mackie #robert downey jr #ally’s requests

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mslynnwrites · 3 years

Text

So Dathen brought up the idea of Martin going with Jon to America in the Discord. Things snowballed, and all I could think about what Jon expecting the worst after he finds he’s dependent on the statements. I mean, our boy has like. NO self-esteem and is prone to martyring himself for what he thinks is right. It seemed like something he’d do.

AKA I had another excuse to write Jon being sad and then being comforted and I took it. Also they kees :3c

CW: panic, addiction (statement dependency) discussion, Jon’s incredibly low opinion of himself/depression

***

Jon leans over the balcony and watches the smoke of his cigarette drift up into the night sky like impossibly long fingers. He shudders and tries not to think about Michael. Tries not to think about the Circus. Just...tries not to think.

He...he wants to believe that there’s a perfectly rational explanation for why he feels...better. Martin had been fussing over him for days, now, trying anything to make him feel better, and that should have been all he needed! But now...well, he knows—perhaps Knows—that the statement was all he needed.

And Elias...he’d known and done nothing! Was that the point? To turn Jon into his little puppet to tug around along a string of statements he needed in order to...to what, exactly? He’s dependent on them, now, he’s sure—no matter how awful it is. But does he need them to...live? Is...is this what Jude meant?

He lets his head droop, despite feeling more awake and alive than he has for a week, and takes another drag of his cigarette. He doesn’t want to think. He doesn’t want any of this.

There is movement behind him, and he doesn’t need to turn to know that it’s Martin. He smiles internally; Martin has been...so much more than he’d ever dreamed. He never complains when Jon passes out on his shoulder during a long travel time. He’s pretty sure he remembers him wrapping an arm around him one of those times. He always takes Jon’s concerns seriously, even if they seem completely ludicrous. Hell, he even agreed when Jon mentioned he thought they were being followed. And he…

Jon doesn’t deserve him. Martin deserves so much better.

“Hey,” Martin says softly, leaning on the railing beside him. “Are you...how are you feeling?”

Jon lets out a dry laugh. “I feel good,” he rasps. “I shouldn’t, but…”

Martin looks over at him. There is something dark in his eyes, and Jon knows it’s because of what he is. “So it’ll...it’s going to ‘tide you over’, then?”

“I-I think so. Yes.”

Martin looks away again and starts picking at his fingernails. He doesn’t say anything, and his face is pinched in thought. Jon wishes he would just tell him off already. Tell him he’s disgusted and walk away.

His throat constricts. He knows it’s coming, and he hates it. He hates what he is, he hates Elias for doing this to him, he hates that Martin is trapped in this hell with him. He hates that he’s going to lose the only person who seems to care about him.

“So what do we do?” Martin asks, still not looking at him.

Jon swallows back his emotions and reels himself in. He will not cry here. He’ll save that for when Martin leaves; he doesn’t deserve to be pitied. “Th-there’s um...there’s a train leaving for Washington in the morning,” he croaks. “And...there’s a plane to London with a layover in Chicago leaving in 5 hours. I can...I’ll...stay- o-out here while...while you get your things together. Th-that way y-you don’t have to- to see...me.” He finishes with a half-choked sob. He doesn’t want Martin to go. He doesn’t deserve Martin to stay.

He wonders: will he treat him like Tim does? Or will it be more like Georgie—distancing himself? Honestly, that might be worse than violent hatred. Maybe it’s what he deserves.

Martin is looking at him, his expression twisted into confusion. “What? What are you talking about?”

His entire body is shaking, and he can feel the dam starting to break. He can’t—he can’t—let himself break, no matter how terrified and horrified and awfully good he feels. He is a monster. He deserves nothing. Nothing but pain and terror and abandonment.

He’s hyperventilating. There’s a panic attack tingling in his bones. It’d be so much easier if he were alone; he wouldn’t have to pretend. He could let everything out that he’s keeping bottled up right now. But he’s not, and he can’t.

There is a hand taking his. He thinks he hears Martin say his name. He thinks he must be hallucinating.

“Jon,” Martin says again, his voice urgent and stressed. He has both of his hands in his, now. He’s staring intensely into his eyes.

He can’t speak. He tries anyway, and all that comes out is a quiet whimper. Pathetic.

“Oh, Jon.” Martin’s hands leave his, and he screws his eyes shut because he cannot bear to watch him walk away. But then there are arms wrapping around his torso, and he is being pulled against a broad chest. “I’m not going anywhere, Jon.”

The dam overflows, and Jon crumples. His legs give way to the concrete floor beneath him, but Martin holds him. He gently settles him onto the ground, never letting go.

He tries to speak. He tries to apologise. He tries to do something that isn’t burying his face into Martin’s chest because he does not deserve this no matter how scared or upset he feels and he doesn’t understand why Martin isn’t walking away nor why he’s holding him so tightly and gently and warmly and he is scared and Martin is not leaving.

He’s whispering things that Jon can’t understand through his guilt-ridden haze, quietly shushing him and rubbing circles into his back the way he’d always wanted someone to but no one ever had.

Slowly, his sobs taper off until he can only shiver under Martin’s bulk with an occasional painful, wet gasp. Martin loosens his grip, and Jon doesn’t want to move even though he knows he should because he is a monster and Martin is wonderfully, beautifully human.

“It’s okay,” Martin whispers. “It’s okay; you’re not alone. I’m here. We’re gonna figure this out.”

“I don’t understand,” Jon gasps. He doesn’t understand why Martin is still here. Why would Martin want to stay—to help him?

“I know,” Martin replies. “None of this is your fault.”

“How could it not be?”

Martin shushes him. “You didn’t know. None of us knew. I’m not going to throw the blame on you just because- because you think you deserve to be hated, Jon.”

Jon finally finds the strength to pull himself out of Martin’s embrace. The warmth is gone and he is cold and afraid and he doesn’t understand. “I’m a monster,” he rasps. You should hate me.

Martin’s hands cup his cheeks and softly caress away the tears. “You’re not a monster,” he says, “not to me.”

If he’d had any tears left, they would be falling now. His whole body aches and his head is pounding and Martin is looking at him with an open yet unreadable expression and he has never been so close before.

He is slowly leaning closer, then stops when their noses touch. Jon searches his eyes and finds hesitation, fear, concern hidden in their oceanic depths. He is dizzyingly close and his fingertips are gently pressing into his cheeks while they’re sitting on the floor of the balcony of their shitty motel. Jon closes his eyes, barely breathing, anticipating, fearing, wanting.

Martin’s lips taste like mint. They are soft and gentle and do not pry. Jon balls his hands into Martin’s shirt and leans into the kiss like it’s the last drop of goodness in his hellish world.

It only lasts a few glorious seconds before Martin pulls away. Jon lets out an unconscious breath. He is still shaking, he is still a mess, he’s still a monster. But Martin...doesn’t care. Martin is going to stay. He doesn’t have to do this all alone.

“Where you go, I go,” Martin murmurs, resting their foreheads together. “Okay? I’m not going to leave you. Not ever.”

Jon takes in a shuddery breath. “O-okay…,” he whispers. “Th-that’s the deal.”

Martin is still smiling when he kisses him again.

#tma #fic #fanfic #cw: mental health #cw: panic attack #jmart #thanks alex and elian for giving me more to write lmao #i DID try to resist #but the concept was to good not to write

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theresnosinlondon · 3 years

Text

Don’t Do It For Me - h.s. (part 3)

The one where Harry is a friend in need and - can they still be called complications? (1.5k)

I don't even know anymore - is this a short story now? A series of one-shots? All I know is that there will be a part 4.

Part 2

So, you thought you could be back in London and not tell me?

Men can be quite simple creatures sometimes, they really can. I had mostly taken a break from my phone whilst I was away. I favoured taking a camera out and about and kept my phone safe and hidden in my bag. I have gotten notifications of reactions or replies to my Instagram stories but ignored all of them in favour of absorbing the benefits of being away from London, the UK and work.

I had stepped foot back in Heathrow only five hours prior to the text - he really did have eyes everywhere. How he did it was beyond me. A man with a schedule that was so tight it almost overlapped. He has expressed before how the busier he was, the more productive he felt which, was all good and well, until the bags under his eyes were so heavy and sunken that he looked one meeting away from dropping.

I could sympathise - the idea of work being an escape from your life-questioning thoughts is quite appealing when you have a career that resembles your dreams as closely as possible. Throwing myself into a project that gives me freedom of creativity, interactions with interesting characters and puts me behind a camera has a therapeutic effect on my mind. The same must happen for him.

As much of a golden boy and all-around loved guy he was, he certainly had his fatal flaws, one of which was his lack of ability in the prioritising area. He absolutely adores his family and friends, but present the fella with an interesting project and he gets tunnel vision and that is all he can think about. He doesn't just hide behind his job - he becomes his job.

I wasn't aware I had to go through passport control with you too, H. Heathrow was a traumatic enough experience for my little brain. But yeah! Back on British soil!

His call came pretty soon after my text was read - one greeting led to a quick “you need to tell me everything about home” and “I’ll grab some food and come over so we can catch up!” and next thing I knew, I was opening my front door and was greeted with a happy, cheesy face. A one-armed hug and a flick to my chin led him to squeeze past me and towards the living room.

He, as a person, baffled me. The way he so effortlessly made himself at home and started unpacking the food, all the while rambling about the restaurant being skimpy with veggies in their dishes, but the spices blend makes up for it - so he just orders extra greens. Such a boring opinion that still made me smile fondly at his drawled nonsense.

“So! How much did you miss me?” his exaggerated smile was flashed at me. “Must’ve been torture being away from me for such a long time.”

“Barely made it through,” I played along. “The scenery did make up for it, though.”

“Upstaged by a gorgeous view,” he tutted with faux disapproval. “Seriously though, when can I see your pictures?”

“And here I was, thinking you were here to catch up with your dearest friend.” I scoffed with a slight roll of my eyes. He glanced my way, pausing with a spring roll mid-air and just raised his eyebrows, giving me a smug look. He brought the roll to his mouth, maintaining eye contact whilst he crunched his way through a bite.

“And here I was, thinking you would jump my bones the second I walked through your door.” His scoff was playful and the quirk of his lips was an easy hint at his joking mood.

All I could do was smile at him - that man, with his rights and wrongs, with his wit, his cheekiness, his looks, his talent, his moments that warrant wide eyes and a question of “what in the actual hell?”, his soft demeanour contrasted with his “climbing the walls” bouts of uncontainable energy, the plethora of conversations we can carry, his face, his hands, his neck. That man right there, I did want to jump his bones.

“So,” I tried to think of how to word the question I was dying to ask. “How’s Jess?”

“Hm,” He rested his head against the back of the couch and closed his eyes, interlocking his fingers on his tummy. “Spoke to her the day you left.”

I stayed silent for a moment, waiting for him to elaborate but, ever the tease he was, he kept the momentum going and smiled slightly. “And?”

“And,” He purposefully prolonged the sound, only to spit out the rest of the sentence quickly. “We talked about taking a break to figure things out.”

I have never been known to have a strong poker face but I could usually mask my emotions and reactions to a certain extent - this time I think he could hear my eyes rolling.

“Well, that’s different, isn’t it?” My sentence was heavily accentuated by sarcasm.

“I know you don’t believe in breaks,” He sounded bored and done with the direction the conversation was taking. “And neither do I.” He chose that moment to lull his head to the side and make eye contact with me.

I pursed my lips to the side, feeling the want to wrap myself around him dwindle with each word said out loud. I should’ve seen it coming - he said he was ready to end a seemingly perfect relationship just after he strayed from his path. The fact that I even believed him was quite an insult to my own intelligence.

“I..” Words seemed to fail me in that exact instant, “don’t even know what to say, if I’m being honest.”

“Not much for you to say when that conversation ended with us breaking up.” His monotonous tone was quite disorienting, giving the weight of the words he spoke.

“Huh?”, was all I could come up with.

He heaved a heavy sigh, shuffling on the couch and sitting up straight. “I told you, I didn’t see it working with Jess anymore - I wasn’t going to mess her around any more than I already did.” His pressed lips and frowned eyebrows gave him a gloom look. “I had known, from the moment I met with her to talk, that it was going to end with us breaking up.”

I just kept staring at his profile, not really knowing if it was my place to comfort him or not. The bottom line was, he was my friend before we slept together, we cared for each other and we comforted each other when needed.

I reached out and tugged him by the arm, causing him to lean towards me sideways, with no resistance whatsoever, and his head to fall to my chest. To my surprise, he was quite malleable in my hands and fell into the embrace as if he was expecting it to happen. One arm around his shoulders and the other hand pushing his hair back, so I could kiss the top of his head - he let me cuddle him and let his weight fall onto me.

“I’m sorry, H,” I mumbled against his hair, “I know it’s a decision that you made, but I also know that it hurts all the same.”

“Mh,” he adjusted and held me around the waist, “it’s never easy to go through a breakup, I feel like shit. But you know what?”

I hummed, letting him speak.

“She took it on the chin and called me out on my bullshit,” his chuckle could be felt on my stomach. “When I used the work excuse, she straight up told me to ‘stop fucking around and just get on with it’.”

“Mh, you do like when a partner can put you in your place.”

“Equally as much as I like to put them in their place.” His comment was accompanied by a quick glance up towards me and a squeeze to my middle.

“Alright,” My fingers buried through his strands and gave a tug at his hair. “Let me be a supportive friend and a great host and make you a cuppa.”

“I don’t need your lousy tea,” he mumbled, snuggling his face in my chest, “do you have any nice wine?”

“So that’s why you wanted to come over! Steal all the wine I brought from home?”

“I mean, kind of.” He shrugged and laughed, refusing to let me go. “Seeing your face is also a plus.”

And that is how we ended up with a glass of fine Italian wine each, nibbling on some Chinese food and the pictures I took on my holiday mirrored to my TV. He ooh’d and aah’d at every peak of greenery and blue skies and bright sun he saw, all the while teasing and making jokes to keep the morale up.

His head on my shoulder and his fingers playing with mine were clearly innocent touches - innocent touches that escalated when he turned his face and buried it in my neck when his fingers left mine and took a hold of my nape, when his mouth travelled to my jaw, my cheek. It only took me a split second to sigh at my stupidity and then turn my face, meeting his lips with mine.

And, I suppose he was right - I did end up jumping his bones.

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iamthenightcolormeblack · 3 years

Text

Impressions of Bride and Prejudice (2004)

I finally watched this movie as it is currently free on YouTube! It's a really interesting "modern-day" adaptation (specifically a Bollywood musical) of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice which takes place in Amritsar, India, London, England and California, USA instead of the English countryside. It stars Aishwarya Rai as Elizabeth Bennet (now Lalita Bakshi) and Martin Henderson as Mr. Darcy (William Darcy).

Names:

Bakshis = Bennets

Jaya Bakshi = Jane Bennet

Lalita Bakshi = Elizabeth Bennet

Maya Bakshi = Mary Bennet

Lakhi Bakshi = Lydia Bennet (Kitty isn't included here)

Kholi Saab = Mr. Collins

Balraj = Bingley

Chandra Lamba = Charlotte Lucas

Kiran = Caroline Bingley

Darcy's mother (Catherine Darcy) = Lady Catherine de Bourgh

The Casting:

Aishwarya Rai as Lalita Bakshi. She's captivating and beautiful as Lalita, with intelligence and wits to match. The film understands why Elizabeth Bennet is one of literature's greatest heroines: she has a lot of self-respect, speaks her mind, and refuses to compromise on her values. What's most important is that she achieves the balance between the two clashing cultures: she cares about her family and respects Indian traditions yet is also a strong individual who keeps her dignity.

Martin Henderson as William Darcy. I don't like that Darcy is an American in this movie because (in general) Americans are usually less reserved than British people, so it takes away a key part of Darcy's character (his repressed emotions). He's much more sympathetic than book Darcy because he seems to be more open-minded towards Indian culture the more he learns about it (unlike book Darcy, who is stubborn and insists that his "good opinion once lost is lost forever"). In the book, Darcy's pride has several characteristics (belief in the correctness of his opinions, belief in his social superiority, bad treatment of others he thinks is beneath him). I don't like how the film simplified his pride into imperialism/ethnocentrism, which he lets go of pretty quickly. Plus his "rudeness" can easily be perceived as discomfort in a new cultural environment because he hasn't been exposed to Indian culture, whereas in the book it seems to be intentional (and Darcy acknowledges to Elizabeth that he was taught to treat others beyond his own social circle meanly). Overall I had rather too much sympathy for him because he's too easy to read; he's experiencing a lot of culture shocks which he isn't prepared for, and his imperialistic beliefs (which come from his mother) don't help. One of the reasons book Darcy is interesting is because he's mysterious; his emotions remain hidden and the only sign of his growing love for Elizabeth is his staring at her. This Darcy is just a typical white American boy who is in love with a woman far superior to him in terms of intellect and cultural awareness.

Nitin Ganatra as Kohli Saab. Mr. Collins is one of my favorite cringe characters ever and never fails to disappoint. In this movie, he's an accountant who lives in the Beverly Hills area in Southern California and is very arrogant because he thinks he's a big shot living close to celebrities in a one-of-a-kind colonial home (when in actuality he lives in a cookie-cutter house in a suburb). He peppers his speech with Western slang to show off how "American" (and thus wealthy) he is, yet still clings to outmoded beliefs that women should be submissive housewives. He represents the very worst of Western culture in that he's materialistic and looks down on Indian culture as beneath him. In his quest for riches he has lost his Indian identity and become greedy.

Notable Scenes:

The first dance. Balraj is happy to have fun and show off his awesome dancing skills. Darcy, meanwhile, observes that the mothers are eyeing Balraj for the marriage market and is worried that his friend may be trapped by gold-diggers. He's clearly uncomfortable and out of his element here, so Kiran helps translate the songs for him. It's interesting seeing Kiran as a translator here because it would explain why she's one of the few people Darcy hangs out with; she's a cultural intermediary here to help him acclimate to a strange new environment.

Darcy snubs Lalita. This part in the book where Darcy insults Elizabeth by proclaiming her "tolerable, but not handsome enough to tempt me" is significant in forming Elizabeth's hatred of Darcy. Not only is he impolite in refusing to dance with Elizabeth, he also shames her by criticizing her looks. In the movie, Darcy excuses himself from dancing with Lalita by saying that he's busy preparing for a conference (in this version, he's a rich businessman who operates luxury hotels). I wish they had kept the original insult in because without it, Lalita's dislike of Darcy has less merit. While it was impolite of him to not dance, he did use a proper excuse and didn't insult Lalita, so unlike in the book, it doesn't make sense why she would hate him so intensely after that one meeting.

A Marriage Has Come to Town song. In this song-and-dance number, Lalita and Jaya are preparing for the wedding to Balraj. The whole town is excited for the wedding and Lalita wonders if life for a woman is all about getting married to be a mere wife: "It seems they had nothing in their lives before today / and why are they so happy to give a daughter away."

Darcy and Lalita conversation #1: Lalita points out most Amritsar residents can't afford to stay at Darcy's luxury hotels; Darcy says standards are necessary, justifying the high price. Darcy says he finds arranged marriages strange and "backwards," hinting at an affinity with Lalita as they are both "romantics." Lalita, still thinking that Darcy is attempting to insult Indian culture, says that arranged marriages have evolved and may not be so evil as he thinks it is.

Lalita and Darcy "accomplished woman" scene. So they have the part from the book where they have Darcy's unrealistic list of the characteristics of his perfect woman and then it becomes a culture clash. Lalita says Darcy's whole hotel business is imperialism (the tourists visit without appreciating Indian culture and the jobs created only benefit the well-off). Darcy replies: "But I'm not British" ("American exceptionalism" is just another form of imperialism).

Dinner with Kohli Saab. I love watching all the "Dinner with Mr. Collins" scenes from all Pride and Prejudice adaptations because it reveals Collins' great arrogance in assuming himself to be of greater importance than he is, as well as his bad manners. This movie does not disappoint; Kohli Saab literally eats with his fingers, shoving rice into his mouth while talking at the same time. Meanwhile, he spews out misogynistic views of women, stating that he came to India to find a "traditional" wife who will serve and obey him; after all, there is "no life without wife." He notes that the Indian-American girls have "a conceited sort of independence" (not what he actually said in the movie, this is a quote from the book which really fits here) and that some of the Indian-American girls "have turned into the lesbian." Lalita later recalls that watching Kohli Saab eat is like observing "a Jackson Pollock painting."

"No Life Without Wife" song. An accurate reading of Kholi Saab: he's "crude and loud" and came to find a wife by flashing his "green card, new house, and big cash." The song reveals what a hypocrite he is; he's lonely and pathetic because there is "no life without wife" yet he won't respect his wife as his equal. I love the "Kohliwood" fantasy sequence where Lalita pictures herself unhappily serving Kohli as a submissive wife. After the song ends Lalita imagines herself marrying Wickham in the English countryside before it turns out Darcy is the groom; she runs away from him.

The Cobra dance. Maya shows off her dancing skills in an awkward dance. Kholi criticizes Indians for being "unsophisticated" (what an arrogant person) while Darcy, in a change of heart, praises how highly they value family.

Kholi's proposal. I love how he tries to train himself to power walk because it's trendy and before proposing stretches himself clumsily, knocking over a pot (he definitely isn't husband material). Lalita mocks Kholi's obsession with physical health, pointing out that many people are physically healthy but don't exercise their minds.

Visiting Kiran. Kiran is arrogant and takes the Bakshis over to her fancy apartment where the mother tries and fails to show some cultural knowledge. I find it interesting that the movie made Lalita and Kiran foils of each other. They are both intelligent women who are "multicultural" in that they can navigate both Indian and Western culture, but they use their cultural knowledge in different ways. Kiran uses it to belittle others and demonstrate her own superiority, while Lalita uses it as a means of gaining respect for herself and others.

Darcy ends up on the same airplane flight as Lalita. This is a cute scene where he gives the first class seat to Mrs. Bakshi just so he can sit with Lalita in economy class (he's totally in love with her!).

Kohli Saab's epic house tour. Love how he pays great attention to the jet tubs and the closets.

Meeting Darcy's mom. She's totally ethnocentric and possibly racist. The first thing she asks Lalita is "tell me about India" and she expresses her disappointment at Darcy's decision (because of Lalita, it's so obvious he's in love) not to buy the hotel in India because "everybody has their hand on India these days" (brings to mind spheres of influence/colonialism since the mother sees India as a place to make a profit). Then the mother reveals that she really isn't interested in India and only knows about its stereotypes: "well, with yoga, and spices, and...wonderful Eastern things here there's no point in traveling there anymore." Meanwhile Lalita retorts that "people haven't stopped going to Italy because Pizza Hut's around the corner."

The first proposal. Darcy's conflicted feelings for Lalita are effectively summed up (perhaps better than in the book, where he begins well but ends with a long account of the inferiority of Elizabeth's connections): "he loves her in spite of the fact that he tried to forget about her, he still wants to marry her in spite of the fact that his family (specifically his mom) will disapprove." Unfortunately, the emphasis on the social inferiority of Lalita's family is left out; Darcy doesn't say anything else until Lalita claims that he thinks her family is inferior and blames him for separating Jaya and Balraj. I don't like this because it seems like the separation of Jaya and Balraj was the only reason Elizabeth rejected Darcy. Also Elizabeth's admission that she did try to overlook her prejudice of Darcy doesn't make sense, because only after the first proposal does she do so.

Plot Changes. The major plot points are all included but the "order of events" has changed:

Lalita and Darcy become friends and she meets his family before his disastrous first proposal. There's a montage where they are traveling alone together, visiting the Grand Canyon and sharing a moment on the beach. I don't like this change because Darcy's separating Jane and Bingley wasn't the only reason Elizabeth rejected him, it was because she hated him (arrogant, proud, doesn't treat others nicely). By showing early on that Darcy is a good person, Lalita's prejudice against Darcy makes less sense because she now has a glimpse of Darcy's true character which in the book doesn't happen until the Pemberley visit.

Their early friendship disrupts Darcy's character journey because it reduces the significance of the first proposal to his character development. In the book, he doesn't start to reform himself until Elizabeth tells him that he needs to behave in a "more gentleman-like manner."

The first proposal is the consequence of all the miscommunication and false perceptions affecting Elizabeth and Darcy, and it motivates both characters to change. Elizabeth rightly scolds Darcy for being inconsiderate; he did the proposal for the selfish reason of purging his feelings so that he wouldn't have to suffer anymore and assumed that she would say yes. Elizabeth rejects him because of his rude manners and lack of consideration, and his defensiveness (where he portrays himself as the victim of feelings and implies he's such a good boy for wanting to marry her in spite of her horrid family) doesn't help. After realizing the extent to which Elizabeth hates him, Darcy writes The Letter to set things right, and Elizabeth realizes that she is not the best judge of character. Thus, giving us a fuller picture of Darcy's character and letting him charm Lalita before the first proposal reduces the significance of the event to the plot and character development.

Wickham and Lakhi have a connection early on, making Lakhi's attempted elopement inevitable. Right after the failed first proposal, Lakhi runs off with Wickham and Lalita and Darcy find out about it at the same time that Darcy comes to apologize and tell Lalita that Wickham is bad. I love that Wickham was punished really badly; after Darcy fights him, he gets slapped twice, once by Lalita and the second time by Lakhi. Even better is that Lakhi doesn't end up with Wickham.

Themes

The film uses the culture clash between India (Eastern) and Western cultures to examine what makes a good marriage.

Indian culture as presented by the film is more collectivist ("we" over "I"). It also promotes traditional gender roles, with women expected to be "meek and submissive" wives. In contrast, Western culture in the film is more individualistic and aspirational (careers and love are possible). But at its worst it condones exploitation of others for profit and cultural intolerance.

In the book, there are different kinds of "culture clashes:" traditional nobility versus new money (the Bingleys made their fortune in trade and Caroline is hoping to be an accomplished woman to make up for this), country versus city (Darcy offending Mrs. Bennet by claiming that the society is "confined and unvarying") and arranged versus romantic marriages.

The misunderstandings that propel the story (Darcy's dismissing of Elizabeth as "tolerable," him falling in love with her even though she still hates him, her belief in the legitimacy of "first impressions") are emphasized through the culture clash. Many of the conflicts in the film are a result of cultural stereotypes and conflicting beliefs.

Interestingly the film doesn't resolve the question it raises of how best to appreciate India and its culture. Lalita raises a lot of points about not oversimplifying Indian culture to a few stereotypes, but one could argue that India as represented by the film might be stereotypical. With the exception of the resort scenes and Goa beaches (which are tourist traps according to the film), the scenes in India heavily emphasize the "developing country" aspects of India with lots of pastoral scenes (cows crossing the road unharmed, farmland, dirt, shacks, dirty motorcycles fighting each other in traffic). Plus the "culture" as represented by the film's dance sequences seems to be the dominant Hindu culture with lots of elephants and saris and curry. Yes, I know this film is a romantic comedy, but the assertion that India is a complex, diverse country is contradicted by what we are presented. Presenting the rustic aspects of India would explain why the characters want to get out of India and go to the richer Western nations, but it harms the premise of the story that we shouldn't judge based on first impressions because the India scenes seem to confirm a Westerner's stereotypes of India (exotic people living in a primitive land).

Changing views on marriage: In the film, as in the book, we are presented with traditional and modern views on what makes a good marriage. Mr. Collins' marriage represents the traditional view in which marriage is a practical "economic proposition," much like a business deal where the marriage is made for the securing of material wealth and happiness comes last. Lady Catherine and other members of the aristocracy view marriage as a means of producing heirs (and bringing large amounts of money through dowries) to keep the property (source of power and wealth) in the family. The modern view of marriage is a partnership of equals who love and respect each other; happiness rather than material wealth/power is the priority. It threatens the power of the traditional nobles as it provides the potential for social climbing. Finally, it becomes another part of the culture clash, as it also ties in with the Western value of individualism, putting it at odds with the more collectivist Indian culture as presented by the film.

Elizabeth and Darcy in the book and in the film are united by their belief in a marriage based on love (the modern view). In the film, Darcy says he wants to look forward to starting each day with his wife, while Lalita says she wants a man who is a romantic and respects her for her mind. For instance, Elizabeth states that "only the deepest love will induce me into matrimony" and that Jane and Bingley should have some time to get to know each other before being rushed into marriage. To Elizabeth, mutual love and respect are essential for a marriage to succeed.

As for book Darcy, when Caroline catches him admiring Elizabeth and asks if he will marry her right away, he jokingly rebuffs her for making that assumption: "A lady's imagination is very rapid; it jumps from admiration to love, from love to matrimony in a moment. I knew you would be wishing me joy." Significantly, he mentions love needing to come before marriage, hinting that he shares the same belief about respect (admiration) and love being necessary for a good marriage. In fact, a big reason he separated Jane from Bingley was because he feared that Jane did not love Bingley in return. In short, love in marriage is just as important to Darcy as it is to Elizabeth.

Conclusion:

Bride and Prejudice, as shown by the title, focuses heavily on the theme of marriage and uses the culture clash between India and the West to emphasize the importance of first impressions in our treatment of others.

Even if you aren't into Pride and Prejudice, the movie is worth watching for the Bollywood dance sequences. I also liked the songs because they effectively developed the marriage theme.

The characters are mostly true to the book, except for Darcy, who isn't proud enough and is quick to reform his character.

Last but not least, the real villains of the story were imperialism and ethnocentrism.

Tags: @thatvermilionflycatcher @appleinducedsleep @princesssarisa

#bride and prejudice #aishwarya rai #martin henderson #bollywood #pride and prejudice #jane austen #mr darcy #elizabeth bennet #elizabeth x darcy #book adaptation #adaptation

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vvideonasties · 3 years

Text

clear-cut

"Good morning," Jon says.

"Um," Martin replies.

Jon then realises that him holding a pair of scissors so close to his eyes not long after ranting about gouging them out would be rather concerning at first glance.

word count: 2k

pairing: jonmartin

warnings: discussion of canon related trauma, thoughts about body autonomy

While rifling through the kitchen drawers, Jon is unsurprised by the plethora of blades Daisy owns. There’s every kind of knife you could fathom and, thankfully, a few pairs of scissors. Grabbing what appears to be the sharpest pair (though they all look pretty damn sharp), he heads to the bathroom. He clutches the white of the porcelain sink and stares into the mirror impassively.

He used to actually quite like his long hair. He’d play with it while he was working, twirling the thick locks around his fingers and untangling knots absentmindedly. When he’d get frustrated he’d pull it out of its tie and tug at it. It was a strange way to ground himself.

Now, though. It’s been used too much for other people’s gain, has been in too many people’s hands for it to truly belong to him. The gravity it provided began to dissipate when Daisy attacked him - she’d grabbed a chunk of it and used it to yank back his head to expose the vulnerable expanse of his neck. As he’d stood there under the mercy of her blade, shaking and pleading, the stinging in his scalp lingered the entire time. It only got worse from there - the awful attempt at tenderness displayed by the Stranger as Nikola brushed aside a few strands to gain access to more flesh, to paste moisturiser onto it with her stiff fingers. The dirt he couldn’t quite scrub out of it after he left the Buried, even when he sat in the tub for hours on end. Even when the water began to run clear, he could still feel the clumps weighing him down, making his head loll to the side with it.

After all that, it wasn’t much to him. He’d wash it, dry it, tie it up. Try not to think of it.

Jon stares down at the gleaming scissors in the sink determinedly. Cutting it off won’t solve much, if anything at all, but it would make him feel a little more comfortable. It’s one of the only things he can control about himself at the moment. If he doesn’t like the way it looks, then fine. It’ll grow back.

His hand flexes and clenches into a fist. Tighten, relax, tighten, relax.

He reaches for the scissors and holds a piece of hair in front of his face, the blades open, hungry, ready to receive.

Then there comes a short, polite cough. He turns to see Martin standing just outside the bathroom, eyes a little wider than normal.

"Good morning," Jon says.

"Um," Martin replies.

Jon then realises that him holding a pair of scissors so close to his eyes not long after ranting about gouging them out would be rather concerning at first glance.

“I’m cutting my hair,” he clarifies, and Martin seems to relax at that.

“Okay.” A pause. “Why?”

He puts down the scissors and shrugs, suddenly feeling self-conscious.

“Just felt like it,” he says, which is kind of true. “Not particularly attached to it anymore.”

Martin hums, taking him at his word. He walks over on socked feet, close enough that Jon can feel the heat radiating from him. There’s a brief moment where his hands pass over the scissors.

“I could help?”

Jon turns to face him completely, brow furrowed. “Excuse me?”

“Oh, it’s just that I have experience? Kind of? I cut my own, and I used to cut my mum’s as well...” Martin’s mouth twists downwards at that, and Jon just frowns harder. “I won’t give you my mum’s style, I promise!” He jokes weakly. It falls flat, and the whole atmosphere feels stilted.

“Okay. Why not.”

“...Are you sure? I don’t want to interrupt your whole-”

“It’s fine. I could use some help reaching the back anyway.” As much as he just wants to lop all of it off, he doesn’t want it to look messy.

Martin seems to brighten, probably at the relief of having something to focus on, and he walks off to grab a chair from the small dining table as Jon hovers awkwardly. He positions it in the living room, close to the small TV they’ve been using sporadically. They’ve been steadily working their way through the small cabinet full of DVDs underneath it. However, Jon isn’t exactly sure how long they’re going to be staying, so they might have to...ration them. The week they’ve been here hasn’t exactly been the most vibrant when it comes to entertainment. Maybe one day they’ll relent and open up the dusty box of Monopoly. That could very well be a major test of their relationship, though.

At least, Jon thinks this is a relationship. They haven’t talked about it all that much. All that mattered in the beginning was escaping the Lonely, leaving London, then getting settled here. They’re fumbling around blindly in the dark, and all Jon knows is he wants to hold onto Martin as tightly as possible.

That little train of thought is interrupted by the small clink of Martin taking the scissors off of the sink and grabbing a towel from the rack. He gestures to the chair, inviting Jon to sit, and when he does so he feels the towel being gently wrapped around his shoulders.

There’s the brief sensation of Jon’s hair being pulled at, only slightly, and he sucks in a sharp breath.

“Okay?” Martin whispers. He understands without knowing, somehow, and Jon is glad that he can’t see the way his face is taut with apprehension, tinged with pain.

“Okay,” he whispers back, trying to emulate Martin’s tone.

“Can I use your tie?” His voice is still soft, and Jon should feel patronised, but he mostly feels soothed. “Just so it’s easier to cut through.”

Jon wordlessly removes the tie from his wrist and hands it over. He tries to hide the little shiver that passes over him when their fingers brush. Martin begins to hum a tune as he gathers the hair up into one handful (not like they did, he would never, it’s Martin, always so good to him), then creates a loose ponytail that falls to his shoulders.

“Fine so far?” Jon nods tentatively. “Alright then.”

There’s the distinct sound of the blades opening, and in one fluid motion Jon feels the weight he’d been carrying leave him.

“There.” Martin comes into view, holding the thick, dark ponytail aloft, smiling crookedly.

“Oh,” he croaks. “That’s...a lot.” His hand comes up to brush his the side of his head, then travels down and grasps at thin air where hair was a second ago. The cut seems to stop at his jaw, the small strands remaining ghosting over his skin.

“It is. Can I keep going?”

Jon, hand still close to his head, makes a noise of assent. Martin takes a second to throw away what’s been cut then returns. He sinks his hands into Jon's scalp, massaging the tension out of it, and Jon makes an unbidden noise of satisfaction that causes his motions to still.

"God, sorry, did I hurt-"

"No! No, it's okay. It felt nice." It felt really nice.

Martin clicks his tongue and continues for a while longer, fingers digging into Jon’s scalp over and over in a wonderful, rhythmic motion until Jon is practically boneless and falling asleep in the chair. He wonders if there’s a not-weird way to ask for this again outside of a hair cutting context.

“So how short are we going here? You kind of have a bob right now,” Martin laughs.

Jon hadn’t really thought about that. He just wanted it off, away, binned and out of his face. He shrugs. “I don’t know, short? Whatever you think will suit me.”

“Any hairstyle would suit you,” Martin points out, like it’s nothing. Jon smiles. “But I’ll do my best.”

A few moments of Martin muttering to himself and circling around the chair is followed by the coolness of the dual blades against the curve of Jon’s ear, the shhk of them pressing together giving him goosebumps. He clearly has done this many times before, given the confident way he navigates the scissors. Jon certainly couldn’t have done this alone, at least not without making a fool out of himself. Martin brushes some hair away from the nape of his neck. His hands are very warm.

“Y’know, I don’t think I’ve ever seen you with short hair.”

Jon turns to him, puzzled. “Really?”

The thing with Jon is, when he cares about someone a lot, he tends to insert them in all of his memories, assuming that they’ve always been around (he also has the memory of a goldfish, but he’s sure that’s a whole other thing). Martin has become such an integral part of his life, standing neatly by his side like it’s nothing. Like he was meant to be there and always has.

“It has been quite a few years now, I suppose. Last I remember it was this short I was still in research.” When he goes to touch his head again he notes that he can feel for his ears without having to move a mountain of hair aside.

“Better late than never, I guess! I’m gonna move to the front now.”

Martin has to position himself at an awkward angle to use the scissors properly, his back practically curved into a C shape. His gaze is focused and intense, his lower lip caught between his teeth. Hair falls on Jon’s face as he snips, making him wrinkle his nose and grimace.

“Sorry. You can wash it off soon.”

Jon nods minutely. Then he sneezes. Martin just smiles, his eyes crinkling at the corners, then continues.

He remembers why he rarely went to get a professional haircut now. That strange intimacy that comes with someone being so close to you - a stranger - it always disturbed him. The idle chatter that made him grit his teeth, how they’d act like they knew him. Then he didn’t have the time or energy to cut it himself after...everything.

Now he’s looking at Martin, though. It’s odd, yes. Intimate? Definitely. He doesn’t know whether to close his eyes or keep them open. But he’s always found it very hard to turn his gaze away from Martin regardless.

His eyes are a lovely shade of deep blue, and he has far too many scars alongside the smattering of freckles on his face. He looks tired. Very much so. There’s crows feet at the corners of his eyes and lines on his forehead. He notes absently that he actually has a thick beard, too. Of course he noticed it beforehand - he’s felt it scratching the back of his neck when he wakes in the morning with Martin’s arms around him - but it’s worth pointing out. It makes him look much older, especially since the grey in it seems to be overtaking the red.

Martin stands up straight and runs his hands through Jon’s hair a few times before standing back, head tilted to the side.

“I think we’re done. It’s not amazing, but.”

Jon is already shrugging off the towel and heading to the bathroom mirror, feeling weirdly nervous.

He certainly looks different. Unfortunately, though he searched high and low for them, Daisy doesn’t own any clippers. Martin did the best he could with what he had - he’s kept it a bit longer towards the front, some strands grazing his forehead, but the rest is cropped closely to his scalp. Jon tentatively touches it and leans forward. He tries to grasp a chunk of it, see if it’s long enough to pull. He fails.

“It’s perfect.”

“Yeah?”

“Yes,” Jon says firmly. “It’s just what I needed.” He walks back over to Martin and wraps his arms around him instinctively, sighing with contentment when he responds in kind.

“Thank you,” he mumbles into Martin’s t-shirt.

“Of course.” Martin is stroking the back of his neck gently. “You look very handsome.”

Jon’s face burns at the compliment, and he chooses to hide it further rather than reply. They stand there for a while, hair scattered around the floor like autumn leaves, and it feels like a new beginning.

#lil writes #jonmartin #ive been thinking a lot about hair and people's relationship to their hair recently. like. why it means so much to some of us #and it morphed into this #hair is one of the few things we can control since its physical and mostly our own #idk i just feel like its a good way for jon to reclaim some part of himself. it certainly feels that way for me so maybe i am Projecting #anyways! take it!#i was actually gonna write a sequel about martin and his hair but focusing on the hc i have that he grows a beard in s4 so he doesnt have-#to see his own face as much. but lets see how this one is received first!#tumblr is such a bad place to post fic because feedback is so sparse. god.#ILL SHUT UP NOW BYE #oh wait i need to tag #the magnus archives

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riversofmars · 3 years

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OMG Vastra and Jenny's wedding! Please write that! Maybe they 'never' got around to it because multiple Doctors and multiple Rivers showed up and therefore don't remember. Haha. Pretty please?

OMG I love this! Yes, of course I will! It's utter chaos, I hope you like it. I was having a good laugh while writing :D

Rating: G

Word Count: 2200

Read on AO3 or blow

The Big Day

“Strax!“ Madame Vastra’s voice carried through the corridors of 13 Paternoster Row.

“Yes, Ma’am?“ Strax stuck his head into Vastra’s study, and the lady of the house looked around.

“There you are. I need you to get Jenny as well,“ she instructed.

“Now, Ma’am?“ Strax frowned.

“Yes, Strax right now,“ she retorted with a sigh.

“You do realise what day it is?“ The butler prompted. It had taken him a while to find her as the study was not where she was supposed to be.

“Yes, Strax I am fully aware what day it is. But the fate of London, planet Earth and, frankly, Time itself makes no exceptions, not even for one’s wedding day,“ Vastra groaned in annoyance. She had been in her bed chambers getting ready for the big day when her advanced hearing had picked up on a series of alarms sounding from the study. She had considered ignoring them, this was meant to be the happiest day of her life after all, but her sense of duty had gotten the better of her.

“Very good, Ma’am…“ Strax nodded. “But perhaps we might try to… solve the problem by ourselves? I’m afraid Miss Jenny might be awfully disappointed if she were to see you before the ceremony,“ the commander pointed out. While he couldn’t pretend to understand the meaning behind all these seemingly random Earth traditions, he appreciated that they bore some significance to Jenny.

“Strax…“ Vastra sighed, she didn’t need him making her feel any more guilty than she already did. All she wanted was for this to be the perfect day for Jenny and already things were going wrong.

“Earlier she threw a shoe at me when I requested her help in serving tea,“ Strax explained.

“Do you think maybe that has something to do with the fact that you asked her to work on her wedding day?“ Vastra couldn’t help a smirk of amusement, she would have enjoyed seeing Strax trying to duck a shoe flying his way.

“I hadn’t considered it, Ma’am,“ the Sontaran mused. “I shall file that under human mating rituals: no work on the wedding day.“

“Right, okay, I suppose I should apply the same principle to fighting alien incursions. Let’s see if we can deal with this discreetly, without Jenny…“ Vastra decided, crossing her arms in front of her chest.

“Perhaps I might be of some assistance!“ Strax and Vastra whirled around to see Professor River Song flash a stunning smile at them. She shook out her hair that fizzed with the energy of vortex manipulator travel.

“Professor Song!“ Vastra took a moment to recover from the shock. She stared in surprise at the archaeologist who smoothed down a beautiful navy gown. Guests weren’t meant to arrive for another few hours. Vastra herself hadn’t even changed yet.

“Sorry, I am a bit early but I was in need of a quick getaway and set the coordinates in a hurry… but sounds like I might have been just in time?“ River grinned.

“Well, uh…“ the lady of the house struggled for words.

“So what seems to be the problem, I’m happy to help,“ the professor carried on pleasantly as she looked around the study. “I’m sure there are things you’d rather be doing right now.“

“How about some tea?“ Strax interjected.

“Champagne if you don’t mind. Or is it a bit early for that too?“ River retorted.“What time is it anyway?“

“You see, that seems to be the problem,“ Vastra said, pointing to a clock on the mantelpiece. It had stopped.

“I thought something didn’t feel quite right,“ River checked the time on her vortex manipulator as well.

“It’s not just the one clock, I have checked them all, they’ve just stopped,“ the Silurian carried on.

“Well then, there is nothing for it, we must locate the source of the time distortion so we can get on with this lovely day. You’re only meant to get married once. Getting caught in an alternate reality or a time loop or something to that effect would be awfully inconvenient,“ River clapped her hands together with enthusiasm. As someone with first-hand experience of weddings outside the fabric of time, she felt best equipped to deal with things.

“And how would you suggest we start?“ Vastra asked.

“Well, there really only is one question we need to ask ourselves… where is my plus one? I am fairly certain one of them is responsible for this,“ River put her hands on her hips. “He’s not arrived yet, has he?“

“Which one of them did you bring?“ Vastra questioned, and the professor ran her hand through her hair.

“Ah well, I thought I would see whichever one of them turns up…“

“Oh…“ Realisation dawned on Vastra what sort of temporal disturbance they might be dealing with.

“Was I supposed to bring one in particular?“ River asked, and the Silurian shook her head.

“Well, no. No, it’s just…“

“Ah…“ River came to the same conclusion as the detective. “Yes, I see what you mean…“

“It would make sense…“ Vastra crossed her arms in front of her chest.

“Could you please stop communicating telepathically?“ Strax intervened, and the two women looked around to him.

“More than one Doctor in the same place and time,“ Vastra explained while River produced a scanner from the small clutch bag she was holding.

“Dimensional engineering isn’t just useful for TARDISes, you know,“ she smirked in response to their confused expressions and started running a scan. “The disturbance isn’t far from here, in fact… just…“ She pointed to the ground beneath their feet. “Below us.“

“The Siluritum,“ Vastra sighed. Of course. The cavern below 13 Paternoster Row was where they would be having the ceremony and reception.

“Come on!“ River grinned, heading towards the door. “Or would you rather stay and continue getting ready…?“ She turned back to Vastra, looking her up and down.

“I would rather make sure my wedding does not equate to the end of the universe,“ the detective retorted as she followed.

“What should I do, Ma’am?“ Strax piped up.

“Reassure Jenny that everything is absolutely fine and that everything is going off without a hitch,“ Vastra decided it was best to keep her bride in the dark for as long as possible. Surely, the situation would be easy enough to rectify and with any luck, she would never need to know. “Do NOT let her venture downstairs.“

“But what if she…“ Strax carried on, and Vastra interrupted him:

“Use your initiative Strax: lie.“

“This way…“ Vastra indicated, and River followed. As they descended the stairs to what any ordinary visitor would have presumed the basement, the air was not only getting hot and moist as Silurians preferred it, it also seemed to be fizzing with energy. Reality was slightly out of whack, and the first TARDIS came into view at the bottom of the stairs.

“Now this is going to be fun,“ River commented as they stepped into the impressive cave - decorated for the occasion with the most luscious flowers - and they spotted another dozen TARDISes. There was room enough but evidently not time and reality enough to accommodate them or their numerous owners.

“Alright, can everyone just calm down so we can work this out?!“ One of the Doctors shouted in a thick Scottish accent. “As the oldest one here, I can assure you, none of you are meant to be here, I’d remember!“

“If our time streams are crossed, you wouldn’t remember, actually!“ Another Doctor shot back, who River liked to refer to as Pretty Boy.

“I think this is all some big misunderstanding,“ yet another Doctor - donning particularly well-grown celery for the occasion - pointed out.

“You’re gonna have to help me here…“ Vastra mumbled to River as they hovered in the doorway.

“Who are all these people?“ A young girl enquired of the Doctor next to her.

“Susan Foreman, Doctor’s granddaughter…“ River whispered to Vastra who looked back at her bemused.

“Does that make you a step-grandmother?“

“Shut up…“ River elbowed the Silurian who smirked but then she pointed out all the companions' names to her as they watched them bicker.

“Doctor, you didn’t mention you used to be so handsome…“ Amy Pond was currently in the process of eyeing up several of the Doctor’s previous incarnations while their Doctor just groaned in annoyance, and Rory Williams tried his best to keep her from making acquaintances.

“Handsome? Really?“ Donna Noble shot back, obviously disgusted at the very thought while Pretty Boy smugly straightened his tie.

“So they’re all you?“ Sarah Jane Smith asked, bewildered.

“It would appear so…“ her Doctor retorted, tangling his long scarf around him, while soothing down a suit. To their credit, everyone had dressed up for the occasion.

“Doctor, what are we doing here?“ Liv Chenka threw her hands up in the air, fed up with the bickering.

“We’ve been invited to a wedding,“ her Doctor replied with a wide grin.

“Who’s wedding?“ Ace McShane interjected.

“I don’t know but I love a good wedding, don’t you?“ her Doctor grinned, straightening his hat.

“You don’t even know Vastra and Jenny yet!“ The Doctor that River liked to nickname “Eyebrows“ shot back.

“Is that who’s getting married? Lovely, best put that on the card…“ Pretty Boy instructed Donna who rolled her eyes at him.

“Do you think perhaps it’s time to…“ Vastra looked at River.

“What?“ The professor had been engrossed in watching the spectacle in front of them but the detective certainly had a point. “Oh yeah, yes, let's!“

“Excuse me, everyone!“ Vastra called out and everyone looked around. Before the Silurian could carry on, however, there was an energy discharge, knocking everyone off their feet. Suddenly, another TARDIS appeared in their midst.

“Sorry, sorry! Are we late?“ Another Doctor, northern with blond bobbed hair, stuck her head out.

“Now, this is getting more interesting by the minute!“ River raised her eyebrows intrigued, as she clambered back to her feet.

“River!“ the blond Doctor exclaimed, a wide grin spreading across her face. The other Doctors - surprisingly even the ones that didn’t really know who she was - mirrored the expression upon lying eyes on their wife..

“Professor!“ Vastra elbowed River who took delight in the attention suddenly devoted to her. The air was humming with energy, if another TARDIS decided to pop up now, things would surely go very wrong indeed.

“Right, everyone, this is getting a tiny bit complicated…“ River announced, though somewhat half-heartedly as she made eyes at her numerous husbands and wife, so Vastra decided it best to take things in her own hands:

“And by tiny bit complicated the professor means to say you are disrupting the very fabric of time.“ She put her hands on her hips, her voice stern. “In my house. On my wedding day. And as I would like to actually get married later today, it would be nice if time could carry on and not break, not today.“

“Oh right.“ The Doctors exchanged concerned glances.

“Yeah, I suppose that wouldn’t be very good, would it…“

“So if you wouldn’t mind parking your TARDISes elsewhere,“ Vastra carried on and there were more nods from various Doctors:

“Right.“

“Sure.“

“Naturally.“

“But… which one of us gets to stay? We’re all invited,“ it was the oldest Doctor that spoke up. She was looking at River with stars in her eyes, and it melted the professor’s heart. She evidently hadn’t seen her in a long time and was keen to stay.

“Ah yes, that may have been an oversight on my part…“ River admitted sheepishly as she had sent a message on the psychic paper. One that had clearly reached all of them.

“Well, I think there’s only one thing for it,“ a voice sounded from the doorway, and everyone whirled around. Jenny crossed her arms in front of her chest in amusement as she watched the peculiar scene in front of her.

Everyone was at a loss for words but Vastra in particular. Jenny was wearing a stunning wedding dress of white lace, her hair was pinned up with white flowers and her bright smile was the most dazzling thing of all.

“Darling, it’s…“ Vastra was going to say that everything was alright and dealt with. She was going to say that it was far too early for her to be down here. She was going to say that they shouldn’t be seeing each other yet, but all she could manage was: “You look beautiful.“

“And you’re not changed yet,“ Jenny smirked. “You better, as soon as time carries on.“

“We will have this sorted in a minute, Jenny, I’m so sorry about this.“ River said but the bride just laughed.

“I should have expected today wouldn’t go off without a hitch,“ she commented. “Just as… extraordinary as the rest of our life.“ She smiled at Vastra who gave a soft chuckle as well.

“You said there was one thing for it? What solution did you have in mind, my love?“

“Well I suppose, to keep things fair, we will have to repeat the ceremony a few times, won’t we. So everyone can attend.“ Jenny grinned as Vastra’s face fell.

“Are you serious?“

“Well, it’s only fair. Don’t tell me it’s such a hardship to keep kissing me,“ Jenny winked to a chorus of cheers. She wrapped her arms around her wife-to-be who allowed herself to be pulled into a hug.

Suddenly there was another discharge of energy.

“Alright everyone, move your TARDISes!“ Vastra exclaimed, and the Doctors jumped into action. “It’s gonna be a long and beautiful day.“ She smiled at Jenny and pressed a loving kiss to her lips. The first of many they would share that day.

#Doctor who #fanfiction #prompt #river song #thirteenth doctor #madame vastra #jenny flint #fluff #crack #banter #space wives #yowzah #paternoster gang #dw fanfic #femslash #multiple doctor #strax

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