#and another shout-out to emily for being a gem | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

big-girl-toaster · 5 years

Text

Emily Sonnett - player analysis

A compilation of Sonnett‘s strengths, weaknesses (cause everyone has them) and general observations from Portland and USWNT games (mostly from 2018 and 2019) ft. my irrelevant opinion.

Enjoy!

Before I’ll start a few notes:

I’m obviously not a professional soccer analyst person or whatever, so please don’t come for my ass. These are just patterns or reoccurring things in Sonnett’s game I observed while rewatching tons of PTFC and USWNT games.

I will focus on a few key points, that doesn’t mean that she has deficiencies in other aspects, sometimes it’s just hard to show them and I tried to avoid stating arguments without giving visual evidence. (All the links and credits are below the gifs)

I would love it if you gave additions, feedback or criticism to this post but all in all I just hope that you enjoy reading a bit about Sonnett’s more professional side and soccer tactics in general.

Please let me know if the format is weird, I’m still figuring out how to make big posts.

I sincerely apologize for the low quality of gifs, as I said, I’m figuring things out and I wasn’t able to upload proper clips.

And lastly, Sonnett is a precious little bean and I enjoyed making this more than I should have. Also, did I use this as an excuse to spend days on end rewatching old games? Yes I did.

I will start with three main strengths I think she brings to the pitch:

Communication / Leading the back line (this is in regards to her position with the Thorns, I will talk about the differences between PTFC/USWNT later on)

As a center back you naturally have a more responsible role in terms of shifting players that are in front of you and communicating things to them they can’t necessarily see. Sonnett embraces that role completely and at 25 years old she is at the level of world class CBs in that regard. A lot of players take on that role much later in their career. Her college coach Steve Swanson for the University of Virginia said about her:

"There is a standard of focus and intensity that Emily demands of the players that play around her. She’s not afraid to hold her teammates accountable in that regard. That was one of the unique aspects of our team dynamic this year, is that Emily's style of leadership is different than the team was used to. I think the team has recognized that the qualities Emily has, we need.“

http://www.espn.com/espnw/news-commentary/article/14100802/virginia-emily-sonnett

This clip I wanted to show you is from a situation that is very common for a defensive line but overlooked bc we as viewers naturally tend to look at the movement of the ball. It’s the intentional shifting of the back line in the exact right moment to let an opposing attacker run into offside. In the original video you can hear Sonnett shout “DROP THE LINE“ and Menges and Kling follow her movement which results in Alex being successfully caught offside at the side line.

((Tumblr won’t let me upload video clips, so here’s a crappy gif (look at Sonny and Menges), click the link to get to youtube, it’s at 21:30))

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2JGM6Nju0b4

A simple moment but a very crucial part of back line coordination.

2. Box positioning

A.k.a. one of the most important parts of good defending. Sonnett covers runs from attackers almost always with textbook precision. She anticipates passes and is able intercept balls which makes her a proactive rather than a reactive player. When she does have to go for a tackle she brings a feistiness that she probably learnt from a certain Kelley O’Hara I can imagine. She usually opts for slide tackles and that decision could be debatable if you’re the coach but it’s just so good to look at tbh

(credit to @geekmythologys for the last gif)

But anyway, her box positioning. Having watched a lot of games with my eyes glued to number 16, I can of course safely say that Sonnett knows what she’s doing. But I’ve been thinking more and more that she often has a sort of intuitive approach when it comes to box positioning in particular. For this next clip I’m gonna need your opinion. Normally I wouldn’t tell Sonnett to abandon her player in that moment, especially bc it creates a 3v2 situation on the attackers left side and also considering the angle in which Dunn is facing the goal. However, she steps in and is able to block the ball.

to see it properly: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Ev3SFCmbqQ at 15:40

What do you think?

Oh and this is just excellent clearance work. AD was certainly hyped about it:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cvcOuadyFu4

3. Offensive effort

Sonnett is one of the highest scoring CBs of the league but her offensive efforts aren’t measurable in just goals. For corner kicks she likes to do the near-post run Julie Ertz style and has been successful in the past, most notably the 2-0 in the semifinal 2017 against Orlando (which resulted in this gem of a gif):

She likes to stay up top for a bit when her position is covered by someone else and tbh I’m living for these moments.

Here she encourages quick playing and would have gotten through with it if the nwsl had good refs. She didn’t even touch her. (get it? haha)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GOIDLJ4ZL1A

Here she drives the ball after winning it, even if her teammates are pushing up late and then she stays up front to participate in the counter attack. Unfortunately nothing evolves out of this situation.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Ev3SFCmbqQ

Right. Those were the strengths, in terms of weaknesses, I don’t wanna pick apart the smallest things but this is what I found:

Misjudged midfield positioning

We’ve talked about her excellent positioning in the box, however, a huge part of modern soccer is having the Center Backs pushed up to the half-line (as well as inverted outside backs but that’s another point). And what I’ve noticed is that sometimes during turnovers Sonnett goes in to put pressure on the player and with that an even wider space opens up behind her that the opposing team could exploit. Like in this picture.

Blue is the ball movement, red (Sonnett) goes in when in my opinion green (Lindsey) should have been the one putting pressure on the ball bc now Daly can run into that open space.

Luckily Sonnett’s speed prevents Houston from getting anything out of it but Daly tried it several times during the game.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GOIDLJ4ZL1A

My second example is that iconic tactical foul against ARod that we all remember.

Her positioning isn’t optimal, Klings pass isn’t the best, ARod gets her off of the wrong foot, she can’t turn around fast enough and has to stop her with a professional foul which is (I’ll say it again) demanded by coaches in situations like that. But anyway, tumblr has talked enough about this game rip

2. Determining the biggest threat

This is a minor one, because Sonnett is usually really good at reading the game and making the right decisions. However in this game against Australia, she tries to cover the space behind Dahl which is technically reasonable but considering how wide open the Australian is, she should have closed her in earlier. That little hop inside the center of the field made the difference and the opposing player was able to score.

I think it’s safe to say that stuff like this comes with age and experience. And again, Sonnett is only 25!

(The whole game against Australia is awesome for spotting strengths and weaknesses, plus we get tons of Sonny close-ups thus I can recommend rewatching it) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mBNvE3owllY

Two more things I wanted to include are two risks that could be relevant in the future.

From time to time she doesn’t control her arm movement in the box.

This is obviously the natural thing you do when you make a move like that but with the new rules by Fifa, defenders are more and more limited and this would have been a penalty if it had hit her arm. Idk it could bite her in the ass at some point.

2. Intuitive positioning

We’ve talked about this and people might have different opinions on it. I personally think though that this might make the difference between a great and a world class defender. So I say go for it Sonny.

Phew, I’m almost done guys, congrats for getting this far, I hope it’s interesting at all.

The last thing I wanna mention is this: The difference between Portland Sonnett and National Team Sonnett, a.k.a. CB Sonnett and RB Sonnett.

Even though as a right back your role is more offensive, I feel like Sonnett has to be pushed to go for it. She rarely does those runs in behind the winger and towards the end line. When she does it it’s great but compared to Kelley she simply isn’t there yet. It also seems to me like for Portland she takes more liberties in pushing forward which maybe is a confidence thing as well. She is a given for the Thorns but had to fight to regain that roster spot for the NT in 2017 after not being called up for several months. Maybe the fear of making mistakes bc of being out of position hinders her a bit? (I’m saying this while being aware that I of course don’t know what the coaches want her to do and what the different game plans require of her.) Anyway, I love her 1v1 defending as RB. I think she is underrated and absolutely deserves a spot on the Olympic roster next year.

One last low quality gif because we gotta stay on brand.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mBNvE3owllY

Well that’s it, I hope you enjoyed it. Again, I’d be grateful for additions, opinions, feedback, whatever.

Thanks for reading :)

215 notes · View notes

cheemerthelizard · 4 years

Text

Crusader of Life 2: Chapter 14

After that encounter with Kira, Lily has to act like everything is completely fine, when she knows it’s definitely not. However, with her terrible lying skills and a manga who can look into her life, will she be able to keep the secret for long?

“Are you sure your neck is alright?” Kakyoin asked. The whole trip, Lily was rubbing it, as if something was there.

“I told you, I’m fine,” Lily answered. Right, if she was going to stay alive, she had to act inconspicuous. That meant no rubbing her neck. Because if she gave away the fact that she met him, then she would have no neck. Or any other body part. She’d be dead.

“If you say so,” Kakyoin sighed. Something had been off about Lily ever since she came back from her walk. He could tell that her saying the torn clothing was from falling into a bush was a lie, considering they were completely destroyed in some places and had been soaked in blood. Surely she would tell him after they got done with Rohan, though.

“Alright, here’s your stop,” the taxi man told them. “The Kishibe residence.”

“Thank you very much,” Lily said.

“My pleasure,” the taxi man smiled. “Oh, and if your neck is stiff, I find that massages always help loosen it up.”

How noticeable was she being? Even the man who kept his eyes on the road noticed her rubbing. “I’m sure that’ll help me, thank you again.”

“Of course,” he nodded, rolling up the window and driving off.

“Alright, let’s do this,” Lily said. If there was anything she could do to get her mind off of her encounter, it was the task she needed to do right now. As she and Kakyoin walked up to the doorbell, she noticed somebody walking out of the corner of her eye. Kira! Her entire body stiffened a little bit as they locked eyes, but nothing else happened, thankfully.

“Are you okay?” Kakyoin asked. “You suddenly got really tense.”

“I’m fine,” Lily lied. “Just a bit nervous about this guy.”

Kakyoin hummed in response. “Don’t be. If he tries to harm you, I’ll make him regret it.”

Lily smiled at Kakyoin’s words, almost blushing a little. There is one thing she was sure of: if she were to die, her death would certainly be avenged. She reached out to ring the doorbell, but just as she did, a hand came from the other side and grabbed her arm.

“Hey! Let go of her!” Kakyoin exclaimed.

“Who are you? What do you want?” the man behind the door, supposedly Rohan, asked. He let go of Lily and opened the door slightly more.

“We’re members of the Speedwagon Foundation!” Lily answered frantically. “We’ve come to your house because of something to do with an arrow!”

“An arrow?” Rohan questioned.

“Yes,” Kakyoin answered. It was amazing to Lily how he could keep his composure near a man like this. “We’ve received reports that you have been stabbed with a special arrow, and survived the attack. Have you been noticing a weird, ghost-like creature following you?”

Rohan tilted his head and furrowed his eyebrows. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. I was never stabbed with an arrow, nor do I have any weird creatures following me. Perhaps you have the wrong guy.”

The two looked at each other, then back at Rohan.

“Of course,” Lily bowed. “We’re sorry for taking your time.”

“Wait, you’ve come all this way,” Rohan said. “Why not rest a bit at my house? I could show you a tour of my studio. Even if you don’t know who I am, wouldn’t it be nice to brag to others that you saw a famous person’s house?”

Lily looked over at Kakyoin. They weren’t exactly booked for the rest of the day, but she could tell Kakyoin wanted to talk to her in private. Probably about the neck thing.

“We’d love to!” Lily exclaimed. Anything to avoid accidentally spilling her secret. “Come on, Noriaki, won’t it be nice?”

Oh, something was DEFINITELY up with Lily. Kakyoin hadn’t seen her so excited about something she really didn’t care about up until then. It seemed like she was avoiding his conversation.

As Rohan led the two of them into his house, Kakyoin gave Lily’s hand a reassuring squeeze.

“I’ll go get some refreshments really quick,” Rohan told them. “You two stay here.”

As soon as Rohan left, Kakyoin spoke. “I know you’re hiding something from me.”

“Huh?” Lily asked. “Me?”

“Don’t play dumb,” Kakyoin said. “What happened when you were on your walk?”

“Now’s not the time to talk about that,” Lily whispered. “We’re at someone’s house, and I don’t want to ruin the mood.” Hopefully, if she acted normal the whole time while they were here, Noriaki will have forgotten that he even needed to talk. Luckily for her, Kakyoin took the bait, and they stayed quiet until Rohan came back with some food.

“Sorry to keep you waiting,” he said. “I hope you like cookies, I didn’t have much time to prepare.”

“That’s more than alright,” Lily reassured him. “They look delicious!”

“So,” Rohan began, “Speedwagon Foundation, huh? Must be exciting dealing with the supernatural every day.”

“You would think,” Kakyoin chuckled, “but after a couple of years it just becomes clockwork.”

“I’m sure any normal job would bore you to death, then!” Rohan laughed. “What sort of things have you dealt with before?”

“That’s a secret we can’t tell,” Lily smiled.

After the three of them had conversed for a couple of minutes, Kakyoin looked down at his watch. “Oh, would you look at the time,” he said. “We should probably be going soon. It was nice to meet you, Mr. Kishibe.”

“Ah, wait! Before you go,” Rohan ran to his studio and grabbed a closed envelope before running back to Lily and Kakyoin, “I want you to have the honors of looking through my transcript. Not many people get to see this, you know.”

Lily looked at Kakyoin, and Kakyoin Lily, and they both shrugged.

“No harm in it, right?” Lily replied.

Rohan opened up the envelope, and a strange energy emerged from the pages, blinding the two for a short moment with a bright light. When the light went away, however, something felt different, like their skin had pulled away, but instead of revealing their muscles underneath, it was a second layer of skin. Looking down at her hand, Lily saw that her hand was peeled back, revealing words underneath, similar to a book. Reading some of the words, she realized these were things she’s experienced.

Her first thoughts when she figured out her life was now open like a book was not worried about her privacy, but rather, if he would figure out about Kira. After all, if he was found out, her life was as good as gone.

“You…” Kakyoin growled. “What did you do to us?!”

“I made your life into a book, of course,” Rohan smirked. “As a mangaka, I’m constantly looking for inspiration, and this new ability of mine has let me look into people’s lives, and find the perfect characteristics for my characters.”

“You were struck by the arrow, you liar!” Lily yelled.

“I was, I’ll admit,” Rohan sneered. “But I couldn’t let you know that. You probably have abilities of your own. Now then, whose life should I read through first? How about yours, Kakyoin?”

Although Kakyoin was being approached by Rohan, he didn’t lose his scowl. “You’ll regret this, you know,” he said.

“Oh, I will?” Rohan taunted. “Just try to attack me. Either one of you.”

“Hierophant Green!” Kakyoin cried. His Stand appeared right beside him. “I’ll make sure you know the true power of my Emerald Splash!”

As a hundred green gems shot towards Rohan, he just stood there, standing confidently. When the emeralds had all hit something and disappeared, not a scratch was on him.

“But that’s impossible!” Kakyoin exclaimed. “I understand a few missing you, but not a single one hitting?”

“I already wrote on both of you that you can’t hurt me,” Rohan chuckled. “Whatever I write in there will become true, but I don’t want to write too much or your lives will be fake. Now then, if you don’t mind… actually, even if you do mind, I’ll be looking into your life now.”

Lily was relieved she wasn’t the first target for Rohan. That meant she had time to make an escape, and hopefully alert Jotaro. For some reason, walking while she was a book was practically impossible, so she had to crawl her way out.

“Hm, yes, I see,” Rohan nodded as he looked at Kakyoin’s book. “So, even as a child, you had this ability. Although, not much really happens, in fact, you’re pretty distant from everyone, so nothing happens at all. That is, until this trip to Egypt you took with your family. That’s when you met a… man? A vampire? A vampire named… Dio. That’s when you were forced by a flesh bud, whatever that is, to swear loyalty to him. Oh, and the next fifty days after this Jotaro man saved you are filled to the brim with excitement! Enemies left and right, bonding with friends, oh, and a love story. This is very exciting! You were almost to the brink of death, but your girlfriend, Lily, oh, I guess future wife, then, saved you. Oh, and now we get more to the present day! You marry, of course, then there’s a child, Emily, who later gains a Stand ability, right before a… a trip to Morioh! Well, isn’t this something. You discover that a Stand arrow can give people abilities like your own, and that someone has been using it to… hold on, what’s this? ‘Lily Kakyoin has been acting very weird ever since she went on a walk today, and I can’t seem to find out why. I think she’s avoiding talking about it.’”

Lily stopped dead in her tracks. That comment confirmed everything.

“Now, then, why don’t we take a look at your life and uncover your little secret? Also, don’t bother running and calling for help, you’ll forget this even happened as soon as you leave this house.”

“Y-y-you st-stay away from me!” Lily shouted. “That secret is a secret for a reason, you know! I can’t tell anyone, or I die!”

“Aw, what pitiful excuses to keep me from reading you,” Rohan chuckled.

“No, I’m serious!” Lily said as her breathing quickened. “If anyone finds out my secret, I’ll die! I’m telling the truth, I swear!”

“Lily Kakyoin,” Rohan began. “Original name was Lily Sullivan. Another born Stand user. Grew up in America, went to a less than ideal public school, where there were either fights or beatdowns, constantly. You always wanted to help stop the fights, but you could never do much, so you healed the wounds of the person most injured. That is, if they weren’t immediately sent to the principal. Blah, blah, blah, moved to Japan high school year, ooh, met Jotaro Kujo and got yourself tangled up in the fight with Dio entirely by fate, almost died, twice, three times, four, we’re not counting all of that. There’s a few years of boredom, then you also arrive in Morioh with your Stand user child. Oh, and here’s the secret!”

“I’m begging you, please,” Lily whimpered. “You can read whatever else you want, but please don’t read that part.”

“One day, while taking a fine walk in Morioh, you ran across a man by the name of-”

“And what do you think you’re doing?” Jotaro asked. He had suddenly appeared right behind Rohan, who jumped a little.

“I sure hope you weren’t going to expose Lily there after she specifically said that she would die if anyone figured out what she was hiding,” Jotaro said. He grabbed Rohan’s shirt collar and lifted him up, summoning Star Platinum. “She’s terrible at lying, even with exaggerations, so saying that she’ll die is probably true. And I don’t want her to die.”

“You must be Jotaro Kujo,” Rohan said, trying to maintain the smug grin on his face despite Jotaro’s threats. “I’ve heard a lot about you in their stories. I also know that you can stop time, and Star Platinum can punch stronger and faster than any human ever could.”

Lily was suspicious of Rohan. Surely he had to be stalling for something.

“I’ll tell you what,” Jotaro scowled. “You erase the memories of Lily having a secret from us and let her and Kakyoin go, and I’ll only beat you senseless.”

Then, when looking in Rohan’s hands, Lily saw it. His transcript!

Jotaro, don’t look at the transcript! she tried to shout, but her mouth wouldn’t even move. Of course, not hurting Rohan also includes giving his enemy an advantage.

“I have a different proposition,” Rohan smirked. “How about you take a look at this!”

Then, in, quite literally, the blink of an eye, Rohan flew back into his desk, injured in several places. His transcript had been tossed aside, and Jotaro was in a slightly different position.

“Now, then, I’ll ask again.” Before Rohan could get up again, Jotaro placed a foot on his chest. “Since you’ve already been hurt pretty bad, I suggest you erase Kakyoin and I’s memory of Lily having a secret, and let them go, or you just might need urgent care, and I won’t be calling the ambulance.”

“Okay, okay, I’ll write it in!” Rohan held his hands up in defense. “But I need to open up your memories in order to do it for you!”

“Then get done with everything else first, and let me write it on myself,” Jotaro ordered. “I don’t trust you in the slightest.”

Rohan cursed under his breath, then went over to Kakyoin to write in “Lily Kakyoin’s actions are completely normal, and I see nothing wrong with them. She is not keeping a secret from me.”

“Now, let them go,” Jotaro told Rohan. “Break them free from your Stand’s spell, and don’t do anything to me until they’re gone.”

“Y-yes, sir.”

Lily could feel her skin slowly close back from its opened form, and before she knew it, she was completely back to normal. One look at Kakyoin, and she could tell that he was back to normal, too.

“Are you sure you’ll be okay by yourself, Jotaro?” Kakyoin asked. “I mean, who knows what he’ll do to you once we leave?”

“I’ll be fine,” Jotaro reassured his friend. “Plus, even if you were to stay, what would you do? Attack him?”

Kakyoin laughed. “Good point. Well, I’ll see you later!”

As Lily and Kakyoin slowly walked out of the house, Kakyoin said, “Hey, I’m sorry about accusing you of hiding something from me. I should have known that you wouldn’t keep any secrets between us, even if it was life threatening.”

“It’s okay,” Lily replied. “It happens sometimes. I’m just glad you didn’t keep bickering me about it while Rohan was going to ‘get refreshments’” Or I would have spilled it all out.

“ORA! ORA!”

“Get back here you manga artist!”

The two looked over at Rohan’s house, then at each other. They couldn’t help but burst out into laughter.

“Looks like he got what was coming to him,” Kakyoin chuckled. “Hey, what time is it?”

“About 12:30,” Lily answered. “Looks like we still have some time to kill.”

“Then let’s kill that time together, shall we?” Kakyoin asked.

#crusader of life #oc #diamond is unbreakable #jojo's bizarre adventure #fanfction #my fanfiction

2 notes · View notes

ivedonestranger · 4 years

Link

Chapters: 8/? Fandom: Teen Titans (Animated Series) Rating: Mature Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Dick Grayson/Raven Characters: Raven (DCU), Robin (DCU), Victor Stone, Garfield Logan, Koriand'r (DCU) Additional Tags: Action/Adventure, Magic, robrae - Freeform, Angst, Humor Series: Part 2 of Candy Series Summary:

Who would have thought a choice could lead to so much pain?

----------------

Even after a week of healing and constant ministrations from her boyfriend, Rachel's face still showed a bit of the purple from the assault at the music hall. The swelling had shrunk to the point that it was only noticeable if you had stopped to study her face.

Rachel had spent that week, when she was able to move, decorating the dance studio for Halloween as Chet had always threw a big party for the students and opened the doors for the trick or treaters who would be coming down the street.

Ever since the phone call to the Justice League, the young woman tried to put the thoughts of Doctor Light out of her mind. The life that she knew him in was dead and gone. She had to focus on her new life with Chet and being normal. Though it still bothered her.

"Miss Adams!"

Rachel turned to see a young teenage girl running in her direction. Though only fifteen, Daphne Saunders was tall and could have quickly passed as seventeen or eighteen. She wore a big grin that was never far from her face, and she promptly spun in place, showing Rachel her clothes. She was wearing a blue shirt and skirt while holding two wooden rods under her arms.

"Whatcha think of my costume?"

"Who are you supposed to be?" Rachel laughed, getting off the step ladder and leaving the last part of the word 'Halloween' dangling in front of the door.

"I'm you! When you kicked those guy's ass! You know you're famous!"

Unfortunately, one of the kids had uploaded the video of her fight to a video sharing platform. Chet told her she had gone viral, of course, after he got over the shock of seeing the video.

"I didn't know you could fight like that!" he had exclaimed after admonishing himself for not being there.

Even Captain Eagle, the Traverse City superhero stopped by, and she insisted that she wanted no more publicity. The kind man had promised to keep everything to a minimum. He did to her relief.

"I did what I had to do, Daphne."

"Can you teach me to fight like that?"

She did not have a chance to answer as the first bunch of kids burst through the door, laughing and screaming at the decorations and candy. There were so many colorful costumes of so many designs. Rachel felt a strong arm wrap around her shoulder, and she turned to see Chet dressed up in a red denim shirt, overalls, and a fake axe on his shoulder.

"When are you going to get your costume on?" he asked.

Rachel raised an eyebrow and looked him over.

"What are you supposed to be?"

"Paul Bunyan."

"I don't think Paul Bunyan is supposed to be so scrawny." Rachel cracked.

He laughed and leaned in for a kiss. She only had a moment before a child groaned, and she quickly broke away.

"It's Halloween. No kissing, Miss Adams," the nine-year-old scolded.

Chet hurried them off towards the punch bowl as the families came in and greeted each other. Rachel swallowed the urge to run. She had promised to be more social in her new life, even though the anxiety of so many people was overwhelming at times. Knowing Chet was nearby helped.

Rachel was about to move towards the punch table herself when a bunch of children rushed passed her, and one little girl hid behind her peering around her legs. Rachel looked down with a smile, but it froze on her face. She recognized Emily, one of the dance students, but she was wearing a black unitard and a blue cape and hood over her shoulder. Rachel could see the little red, plastic gem stuck to her forehead.

"Come on, Raven! We need to beat the HIVE!"

The cold chills shot up her spine as the little girl darted to her brother and his friends. They stood there dressed in cheap Halloween costumes, but she recognized who they were.

"You can't beat the Teen Titans, HIVE!" George, dressed as Robin, shouted.

Trying not to allow her legs to shake, Rachel decided to move towards a seat as five other children dressed in the costumes of the HIVE stepped out. One girl with the cheap pink wig and black dressed pointed at the faux Robin with a laugh.

"You can't stop the mistress of bad luck, Bird brain. HIVE! Attack pattern Alpha!"

And then the candy started flying. Multi-colored plastic balls, darts, and foam flew at the two teams as they mocked battle, but it did not last long as the parents quickly broke them up.

'By Azar, that...that was too much.'

No matter what she did, there was no way to escape the past, was there? The little girl looked like Jinx and even sounded like Jinx. Rachel's breath caught in her throat. How did the girl know about the attack command? It was not like their battles were recorded.

As the girl came over, Rachel smiled weakly.

"Hey! I love your costume."

"Thank you!"

"Where did you learn that phrase, by the way?" Was the question nonchalant enough?

"Oh! The lady in the back who is filling the punch bowls. She taught it to me!"

It was like an ice dagger being shoved through her heart as the little girl skipped away with her mom. Rachel could not move, could not breathe, could not turn her head to look. She and Chet were the only ones working here today, and they did not get help. There was not supposed to be any woman filling punch bowls.

'No, no, no, no, no, NO! FUCK NO!'

Rachel looked at the door. If she started running now, it would take time for them to figure out where she was going. Maybe she could get out of the city and disappear again. Chet moved towards the door to let in more kids as a pang of worry and guilt coursed through her.

She would have to leave him at her mercy. Looking towards the backroom door, Rachel stood shakily and began to make her way to the door. She scooped up the baseball bat they kept in the corner. If she was quick enough, Rachel might get her before she knew it.

Rachel pushed the flimsy door open to the back room and paused as her eyes adjusted to the dark. The white folding tables with the extra punch making materials and bags of half drained candy piled around, but she did not see anybody. She took another step in when she caught the scent to her right. Blueberries.

The hand was like an iron grip on her wrist, and she let the bat go out of surprise. Rachel felt spun around, and the hot, familiar, smooth lips planted on her own. Rachel inhaled the delicious scent of the perfume and the scent of Jinx. It was so familiar yet so invasive. The woman released her, and Rachel stumbled back, trying to put distance between the two.

It was Jinx. There was no way of mistaking those pink eyes that looked at her like a predator cornering her prey. She wore a dark hoodie that covered her hair and jeans instead of her trademark dress and leggings.

"No, oh god, no," Rachel choked out, her eyes wide with terror.

"Hello, Raven," Jinx cooed softly.

Rachel's eyes went to the bat, and Jinx followed. A frown crossed Jinx's face.

"Rae, I'm not here to hurt you," Jinx said cautiously. "I'd thought you'd realize we're past that."

"I...I don't know what to think right now. And don't call me Raven. She died three years ago."

"She looks alive...and delicious to me."

Jinx took another step forward, and Rachel stepped back. The frown on the pinkette's face deepened.

"Raven...er...Rachel. I'm not here to give you away or drag you back."

"Why are you here?" the girl asked, trying not to lose her voice.

"Well, I was hoping to steal you for myself," Jinx joked. "But I see you've shacked up with someone. He's cute. Nice butt."

"Leave him alone!" Rachel squeaked.

Jinx stepped back and sat slowly into one of the folding chairs.

"This isn't how I expected this to go," Jinx murmured perplexed.

"Did you think I was going to run away with you or something?"

"No, but I didn't think you'd treat me like the enemy. Not after all that shit with Nocturnus."

Raven slowly lowered her own trembling body into a chair, and the two women stared across at each other.

"I...I had an accident," Rachel started.

"I know, Ibraham told me a bit of it," Jinx shrugged. "I didn't expect you to take off running, though. I'd have taken you in."

"I...had to go." Rachel's eyes dropped towards the floor.

"Ah. Well, I guess I can understand the need to flee. I can't say I wouldn't have done the same thing if I were in your situation."

Silence reigned again as only the din of the children, muffled by the walls, filled the room.

"Why are you here?" Rachel asked again, this time more steady with her voice.

"Well, two reasons. I wanted to see if I could recruit you as a HIVE specialist."

"What?" Rachel asked with a raised eyebrow.

"You might not have your magic anymore, but you still have all that knowledge and experience. I wanted to see if I could recruit you as a freelance specialist. Our teams send you data at times, and you give them your expert opinion. Pays pretty solid, and you don't have to be in the field."

"Me? Work for the HIVE?"

"It's better money than a cupcake cafe or whatever the hell you call it."

The HIVE. The lure of the supernatural, the world of the heroes and villains. She had stayed out of it for so long, but the siren song was calling to her.

"I don't know. I...I wanted all of that to die with the demon side of me."

"Um ...sorry to break it to you, gal, but your demon side didn't die."

Rachel's eyes grew wide. "What?"

"Yeah, bird brain trained her up and domesticated your demon half. She's now Raquelle of Skath, and she fights with the Titans."

So, she was replaced. Rachel's heart dropped a bit more. Robin did find a way to replace her. She could not even imagine how furious he would have been and how satisfying it was to replace Rachel completely.

"I see."

"That reminds me of the second thing."

"What?"

"The Titans know you're in Traverse City. They'll be here tomorrow."

The fear returned, the desire to run as far as possible. Rachel breathing began to come in short gasps as she stared at the ceiling, trying to think of what to do. She felt the soft hand on her knee and the presence in front of her. The girl's head shot down to see Jinx kneeling in front of her with a smile.

"Shhh, it'll be okay. I see you've been blessed with a full range of emotions now."

"They're shitty to have," Rachel choked out between the tears. The pinkette gently wiped them away.

"I'm here, sweetie, everything is going to be okay."

That was too much. Rachel burst into tears and threw her arms around the pinkette and sobbed into her shoulder.

"Listen, you come with me. I've got a safe house in Traverse city that's not on any of the goody-two-shoes' radar. You can lay low until they give up and leave. They're only here to investigate Doctor Light. Once he's defeated, they won't have any excuse to remain. Then we can talk about where to go from there."

Rachel pulled gently away as Jinx reluctantly let her go. The crying girl tried to rub the tears away.

"I can't leave Chet," Rachel said. "He's been the kindest man to me, and I can't just run away."

There was a small spark of iron in Jinx's eyes, but it faded.

"Well, we can find a use for the boy toy. How much does he know?"

"Nothing. All he knows is I was some runaway he found and rescued on the streets."

"Men are so easy to win over," Jinx chuckled. "Well, the big thing is to stay out of the reach of your ex-boyfriend."

"How...how is Robin?"

"He goes by Nightwing now," Jinx grunted, helping Rachel back to her chair.

"And it did not go so well. After he lost track of you in Los Angeles, he spent the next year and a half terrorizing any town he thought you were in. I have never seen such an enraged individual."

Jinx pulled back her collar to show a thin scar behind under hear ear gracing the side of that lovely neck.

"I had a run-in with him. Dude knows how to inflict pain."

Rachel's hand went instinctively to her mouth with eyes wide.

"Shhhh," Jinx said with a smile. "He was in a dark place. I survived, and the bat gave him a sound thrashing. He's made it up to me since then."

"Made it up to you?"

Jinx's eyes twinkled. "He might be a decent torturer, but I know how to humiliate. We're even now."

Jinx stood and looked towards the door.

"Your boyfriend is going to notice you're missing and come looking for you. What are you going to do?"

"I'm going to carry on with my life," Rachel said. "I'm going to pretend this encounter never happened."

A pang of hurt caressed Jinx's eyes, but Rachel gave a half-smile.

"but I might be able to advise someone once in a while. Chet and I are thinking of refurbishing the dance studio, and we'll need money. Don't earn much on our paychecks."

Jinx grinned.

"Deal. You keep your head down, and I'll make it my mission to keep the Titans away from you."

"Thanks, but why are you doing this?"

Rachel studied Jinx's eyes but saw the message written there. The loving look was all Rachel needed to know the motivation of protecting her and keeping Robin away.

"I may not be able to have you," Jinx whispered huskily. "but at least you're in my life again, and I only have to share with one other person."

With that, the pinkette disappeared out the back door and into the ally.

------

Like the chapter? Leave a comment on your favorite website!

AO3: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19022185/chapters/53121730

FF.net: https://www.fanfiction.net/s/13299019/8/Raven-s-Wish

#teen titans #fanfic #fanfiction #teen titans fanfic #robrae #raejinx #ivedonestranger fics

9 notes · View notes

ramblingshit · 5 years

Text

Some Video Game Ratings

> Heavy Rain - 2010 - 3.5/5

good enough gameplay, somewhat interesting story, nice twist, but the stupidest most unbelievable kids in all of history. Only a few emotional moments but otherwise pretty bland. Fun though.

>Horizon Zero Dawn - 2017 - 4.5/5

fuckin awesome concept and execution, love the clothes options, love the progress from outcast to basically a fuckin goddess, that she’s a clone of Elisabeth, her finding her body at the end fuckin made me cry, it was beautiful and so realistic and grounded, everything felt like it could have truly happened, the ruins of the city they have no concept of, just bits of strange metal. The whole gaia program and the enemies being manipulated by the dark side of it. Love alloy, love the gameplay – stealth and otherwise, love the story, love the visuals. Boyyyyyy. Love this game.

>Ratchet and Clank - 2016 - 2/5

nostalgic and pretty fun, clean but dull visuals, fine voice acting, but very much a children’s game with very little depth to story or characterisation. Meh.

>Until Dawn - 2015 - 4.5/5

fuck me another fantastic game, story was brilliant, twists and turns and people dying at any moment, visuals were great, acting was stellar, action and sneaky scenes were terrifying tryna hold that controller as still as possible, literally put it down at times to keep us from getting our jaw ripped off. Quick time events were fun and stressful. Was actually really fun to replay episodes to get achievements and all collectibles. Fkn love this game, Sam and Mike for the win, with Emily a close second, Matt and Chris are meh but Ashley can suck a fat one, like damn that chick was a fuck up.

>Rise of the Tomb Raider - 2015 - 2/5

good visuals, kinda fun gameplay, only interesting scene where Lara shows any kind of characterisation is where she meets Jacob in the cells and their chat there. Otherwise #notmylara. She’s not even stoic and cold, she’s just blank. Her voice actress is shit, the story is like, not even there who cares. But hair and clothing is pretty g, as is seeing the bow get better.

>Batman: the Telltale series - 2016 - 3.5/5

boy this was pretty g, chilling smashing out quick time events, batman looked a bit odd and had too many expressions and it was a bit slow at times, but some options were sick, like impaling that dude in front of a newscrew. All exploded uphill when suddenly wayne was locked in Arkham and he met fkn ‘John Doe’ who was nice if a little off and sincerely eager to be Wayne’s bestie. I decided at that moment that at all times I would go along with my dude John. Some other uninteresting stuff happened, I beat Cobblepot as Bruce and then some other stuff happened like honestly story was unmemorable as fuck. But it was a fun enough time, especially with mr pre-joker hanging around whoop whoop. Also no one cares about Selina Kyle, just scrap her honestly. Actually good twist with vale being Arkham or whatever and wayne getting shot in the ear instead of letting Alfred get hurt, shout out to my bby Alfred. But otherwise it was decent game.

>GoT: the Telltale series - 2014 - 2.5/5

only cared about Rodrick and whats her face in king’s landing. Other black cloak guy was forgettable, dude running around Dorne n meeting khaleesi even more so. Made kings landing girl good at the game, manipulating here and there, doing what she could to keep alive, keeping everyone at arms length. Had her accept whatshisface’s proposal and sacrifice her one loyal friend the coal boy to stay alive. Brutal, I loved it. Rodrick and getting him strong enough to fuck off the whitehills was sick, but tragically had him sacrifice himself for his dumbass little brother but tho I regret it I knew it was what the loyal family man would have done. But anyway visuals sucked ass, gameplay was telltale’s usual fuckery and there you go who gives a shit about the rest amirite.

>Amnesia: the dark descent - 2010 - 4/5

good atmosphere, ambient lighting and sounds make you tense AF, stories pretty good, finding out that you were a piece of shit helping alexander torture people for his whatevers to power them before he had to kill a kid or a woman or something and decided he felt like shit and didn’t wanna do it anymore so took a forget potion to reset himself and hopefully work to stop what he helped alexander start. Also I think alexander was an alien but whatevs. Bad guys were scary at first but you soon realise that the majority of them patrol for a bit but if you wait long enough they literally just fuck off and youre free to do what you want its fully wack. Had fun, mechanics were cool, visuals were good for its time. It was hella dark so keeping enough oil for the lantern was enough. Most of the story was told in letters, which were badly read by the actors but you could just skip em so no real worries. A few puzzles and collecting shit here and there. In a solidly well done game.

>Fallout: New Vegas - 2010 - 5/5

occasionally characters mention people/things that you didn’t or didn’t even have the option to, mention or ask about, had a lot of experiences with enemies warping through walls or getting stuck in the ground, crashes with fire effects, female models talking with male voices, game freezing on loading screens and having to restart entire system to get out of it. All of this is forgiven because fallout new vegas is a fucking gem – it is the epitome of a RPG, you can do and be almost anything you want. The customisation is awesome, the factions and faction clothes are fantastic. The karmas a bit iffy because my character is a kleptomaniac and stealing lowers your karma so I’m basically the Devil but everyone in the wasteland loves me? But again, I can forgive. I’ve played this multiple times and am still finding new quests or new ways to complete old quests; new places, new people to talk to etc etc. this game is beautiful, I love it. Closest thing to perfection you’re gonna find.

#video games #rating #reviews #review #games #fallout #fallout: new vegas #batman: the telltale series #game of thrones: the telltale series #heavy rain #horizon zero dawn #ratchet and clank #until dawn #rise of the tomb raider #amnesia: the dark descent

21 notes · View notes

laughingupfromhell · 6 years

Text

My Gillette Experience + Pre-Show M&G. 7.28.18 -- Extended Edition

I’m sorry this has taken so long to post, but it’s literally so hard to get my thoughts together because I’m still so overwhelmed by the fact that this even HAPPENED to me. I’d convinced myself it wasn’t in the cards, that Taylor didn’t know me, and that I needed to find a way to be okay with never meeting her. But then, IT HAPPENED. (I’m going to write the whole story from the time I got the DM and it’s going to be really long, so if you just want to read the Taylor part, I’ll write it in bold so you can skip to it easily. Just keep scrolling. I’m just posting the long version so I can look back on it whenever I want and never forget anything. I’ll post just the Taylor part individually too in case you don’t want to hunt for it.)

Friday, July 27th, I had the worst day at work. I work in a cafe, and the AC was out in the kitchen which made the entire place SO hot. Literally, it was 92 degrees in the building and we had the ovens on. I live in Florida, so it was disgusting and I felt so sick. We were shorthanded, I was stressed out about my flight, dealing with some pretty intense anxiety about meeting people I had never met before because I’m shy af, and just overall feeling kind of bleh despite being so excited for the concert the next day. I found out as I was on the way to the airport that my flight had been delayed nearly three hours and that set me into panic mode, because it would put me in Boston around 2 in the morning instead of 10pm. Eventually it got pushed back to only an hour delay, which made me feel a little better, and I passed the time in the airport just walking around the shops and scrolling tumblr. Jaime @cages-boxes-hunters-foxes texted me to tell me that one of my best friends Meredith @meredithswift had just met Taylor and I was SO excited for her because I’ve known how much she wanted this since we started talking in 2008. Jaime was like “you next!” and I was like “noooo, it’s not going to happen for me.” Taylor was intent on making me look like boo boo the fool.

Right before I boarded the plane, around 8pm, I took a selfie at the gate because I was bored and tagged Taylor in it on tumblr and said “I’m coming for you, Taylor!” I didn’t even know she was online, and she never liked the post, so I didn’t think anything of it after that.

I boarded the plane, but there was a RIDICULOUS thunderstorm going on so we sat on the tarmac for nearly two hours, and I had been DMing back and forth with Jeannine @it-feels-like-a-perfect-night all day, so when I saw a notification on tumblr, I thought it was her...until I opened it and it said taylornation. All of my internal organs came flooding out of my ass in that moment and landed on the plane floor beneath me, not clickbait. I literally didn’t believe it was real for a whole hot ass minute because things like this do not happen to me and I was LITERALLY sitting on a plane about to go to Boston so WHAT WAS HAPPENING??? I open it, and they asked for all my information, and when the best time to call was. I was like????!!!? I’m LITERALLY SITTING ON A PLANE LESS THAN 24 HOURS BEFORE MY SHOW AND YOU WANT TO KNOW WHEN THE BEST TIME CALL IS???? YESTERDAY???? I ALREADY HAVE MY BAG CHECKED, I DON’T HAVE TIME TO BUY ANOTHER OUTFIT, I LOOK LIKE A RAT!!!! So obviously I said “I don’t land until midnight but anytime after that, thank you so much!”

At this point I’m in such shock I literally have no reaction other than to stare unblinking at the seat in front of me and go into full body tremors. I’m pretty sure the girl next to be me on this flight thought I was scared of flying or something, because I was literally shaking so hard I could hear my teeth chattering together. My heart rate shot through the goddamn roof. If you don’t believe me, here is a helpful graph from my Fitbit. I hit 117 BPM from 58 BPM. I’m pretty sure that is indicative of an actual heart attack.

I didn’t know what to do, so I immediately texted my mom and I KNOW it says the message is confidential and you’re not supposed to tell anyone but I needed my mother to know that if her only child died mid-flight, it was taylor nation’s fault and to tell Taylor I loved her. It was VITAL. The southern jumped out -- I literally haven’t called her mama since I was 10, I don’t even know.

I also told my friend Lindsey @lskbe because I once promised her she’d be one of the first to know if it was ever going to happen and she was a GEM even though she DIDN’T ANSWER ME RIGHT AWAY BUT ANYWAY!!!! (screenshot provided by her). She made me a playlist titled 7.28.18 on spotify and everything for the occasion because she is extra and I love her.

I spent the next 2 1/2 hours literally trying not to pee myself with anxiety and excitement because then of course I start thinking WHAT IF THEY FORGET TO CALL? What if it’s just merch? What if I’m boo boo the fool? What if this isn’t real life? Then we hit turbulence and my thoughts turn darker like WHAT IF THE PLANE CRASHES AND I DIE BEFORE I MEET HER? I literally had to make Jaime reassure me multiple times that turbulence wouldn’t make the plane crash and that I would survive. We love her logical brain. So obviously now that I’ve stopped panicking it’s time to take selfies to post later.

I finally make it to Boston and at this point I think I’ve dissociated because I just can’t even think about it anymore. My brain was on overdrive and I didn’t even know how to process. It was either shut it down or shout it from a rooftop and I COULDN’T TAKE THAT RISK.

I got to meet my sweet honeys @straightlinedownx and @heypay FINALLY and it’s up there in my top ten best moments of life. They’d just gotten home from Night 2 so they were pretty spent and it was 1:30 in the morning, so we all headed to bed, but if you thought I was sleeping, you’re WRONG because I was literally peeing every half hour because I was so nervous and excited. I was like a chihuahua I swear to god. I was talking to Brittany @messthatuwanted for most of the night trying not to be suspicious and I guess I did a pretty good job because she NEVER FOUND OUT until I wanted her to. Which is what her snake ass deserves tbh. I literally didn’t get to sleep until 4:30 in the morning and then I woke up at 6:45 am and was like...well they said they’d call me in the morning, and technically it is morning, so I should stay up. Clearly logical. Obviously. We love anxiety. I couldn’t turn the ringer on for my phone because I was sharing a room with people and I didn’t want to wake anyone up so going back to sleep was a risk I wasn’t willing to take.

I spent most of the morning internally exploding, and I eventually told @heypay because I needed someone to tell me I was being crazy and that they would call and she did a very good job at this, so thank you Paige, you’re the love of my life. We were all laying around, relaxing, watching Lejla and Liana’s pet rabbit eat a salad, you know...typical things friends do, when I got a call from a NYC number and shit my pants. I got up from the floor so fast and ZOOMED to the kitchen and Paige followed after me and practically shoved me out of the apartment door so I could have some privacy lol. It was Sydney from Taylor Nation and she was a sweetie and asked how my flight was and and rambled on about delayed flights and I was like....I literally do not care, I’m so sorry, please tell me what I NEED TO KNOW WOMAN I AM DYING!!!! Eventually she cuts to the chase and is like “have you ever had an opportunity before?” And I was like um...hehe..it depends on what you mean by an opportunity because I REALLY JUST WANTED HER TO SAY THE WORDS and she was like “have you ever met taylor before?” and I was like NO!!! I HAVEN’T!!!! At this point I’m shaking so hard I had to lean against the wall for fear of falling down the stairs because THIS IS REALLY HAPPENING, HUH? Then she asks if I’m going to the show with anyone who hasn’t had an opportunity before and I said YES, my precious baby Emily @straightlinedownx. So she asks for Emily’s information and thank god I had checked her facebook to find out her birthday before just in case they asked (since they asked for mine) because IT WAS A STRESSFUL TIME. So she tells me I’ll get a DM within the hour letting us know when we’re verified and where we should pick up our envelope between 4 and 5 pm and I’m just saying thank you over and over and over again because WHAT ELSE AM I SUPPOSED TO DO LIKE WTF IS EVEN HAPPENING RIGHT NOW!!!!!!!

So in my head I had this beautiful thing planned for how I would tell Emily she’s meeting Taylor, but it turns out beautiful plans can’t happen when your brain is literally exploding, so instead of doing this elaborate thing where I filmed her reaction and everything, I just went over to where she was lying on the ground and kicked her. As friends do. She turns around and I’m like “Come. Here.” I was probably terrifying, I’m so sorry Emily, but I didn’t KNOW WHAT TO DO. So she follows me out to the kitchen and WHAT DO YOU SAY OTHER THAN WHAT IS HAPPENING???? SO I JUST SPIT IT OUT AND SAID “We’re meeting Taylor” and she deadass goes “No we’re not.” Just so casual. And I’m like “We are. We’re meeting Taylor tonight. I got a DM on the plane and they just called me. I’m bringing you. We’re meeting Taylor.” AND THIS DUMB BICTH GOES “ARE YOU SURE YOU WANT TO BRING ME????” AND I’M LIKE “BICTH YES????? OF COURSE I DO???” And then she just kept doing this the rest of the day and it was my favorite thing. Here she is in Starbucks ten minutes after finding out.

So we spent the rest of the day obsessing over make up and hair and we headed to the stadium around 2 PM because we wanted to make sure we had plenty of time to meet up with people and buy merch etc. Here’s us waiting for our ride (photo credit to angel @iknowplacesclean and a big thank you for letting me stay at your apartment spur of the moment!!!)

We met up with Steph ( @thesethingswillchange), Leyton, Jess ( @jtmaster13) , and Sammi (@slytherinraven13) and I got to tell them all what was happening and they were SO happy for us because they’re literal angels on earth.

Once we made it to will call and gave them our names, THEY DIDN’T KNOW WHAT WE WERE TALKING ABOUT so I started to panic, naturally, but it was chill because they found it eventually and we immediately started taking pictures with the paper. Some nice lady offered to take one for us, bless her, because the struggle was so real.

By this point I had told all of my friends but Jaime @cages-boxes-hunters-foxes and Brittany @messthatuwanted because I was planning on snaking them the way they snaked me when they met Taylor, and it brought me the greatest joy in life since they both thought I was incapable of it. Little did I know that Jaime was on her way to SURPRISE ME AT THE SHOW which was a MESS since I was in REP ROOM WHEN SHE WAS LOOKING FOR ME! But more on that later. So we met @ninetay89 at will call and we were all so excited for each other because honestly it’s what we all deserved and we just kind of hung out, waiting in line for the gates to open and that’s when Meredith @meredithswift came RUNNING towards me full force. Meredith and I met when we were 13 and 15. We were each others first online friends, and we became full blown stans together. She was the one that convinced me to make a taylor tumblr blog in the first place way back in 2010. We’d never, ever met before that moment and it was honestly one of the highlights of my entire life. I love her with my whole entire heart and it was one of the best hugs I’ve ever gotten. We didn’t let each other go for like 3 minutes. It was great.

The gates finally open and me and Emily ZOOM up to the 100 level bathrooms to fix our make up because the humidity was KILLER and we were legitimately melting. Then we had to run back down the stairs to meet at the bottom of 129/30 and met up with @sunflowershealing and she was SO sweet! I’m so glad we got to meet!

So a security guard comes up to us and tells us we’re actually supposed to meet at the TOP of 129, which isn’t what the paper said but it’s FINE, so we go up MORE stairs and it’s honestly beginning to feel like gym class now but it’s fine because I will do hours of cardio for Taylor Swift if need be. So we go up only to be told to go back down the stairs AGAIN because what is organization and they give us our wrist bands and we’re GOING TO REP ROOM BITCHES.

Let me just say that I was chill literally the entire day. I was excited, yeah, but I wasn’t nervous or anything. Even when we got to Rep Room, I was totally fine. But when I saw the Rep Room doorway, I was jumping up and down like a five year old because how was this REAL LIFE? I never in a million years thought when Taylor shared the fact about Rep Room and showed us the inside that I would ever see it in PERSON. And here I was, walking through the arch??? SOUNDS FAKE. So we get in there, and there are three polaroid cameras sitting on a table next to the throne, but I wasn’t sure if we were allowed to touch them since I’ve heard that a lot of pre-show meet and greets weren’t allowed to do much in rep room. So Emily and I just kind of hang out next to them and hope for the go ahead, which Steph from Taylor Nation eventually gives us and then she has to help our dumb asses put film in them because we’re USELESS. But it’s fine. We take pictures on the throne first, and they came out so iconic honestly I will never take a better picture.

Obviously I had to take a picture with the iconic rainbow dress.

My one singular complaint about the polaroid idea is that rep room is SO dark and it doesn’t really work well with the film.

There was water, coke, diet coke, and sprite available to us, but not the booze or the cookies that were in previous rep rooms. Probably because it’s pre-show or because there wasn’t media that night, I’m not sure. Anyway, we’re able to mingle for about 8-10 minutes maybe? Maybe shorter than that, but Steph tells us to put the cameras up and line up. We were third from last to go in of about 5-6 groups. I’d say there were about 10-12 people in there. I’m pretty short, so I couldn’t see Taylor when they opened the curtain to let the first group in, but I heard someone say “She’s wearing the purple Olivia shirt” and I was like...I literally hate her. Everyone keeps talking and I just wanted them all to shut UP so I could HEAR HER SPEAKING. Eventually, we’re a few groups from going in and I hear her laugh and that’s when it really started getting real. This was really happening. I was about to meet Taylor. Surprisingly, I managed to STILL hold it together. Right before we went in, “Type” by Todrick Hall comes on and I was screaming because I KNEW that would be her favorite song on Forbidden.

So they open the curtain and she’s standing RIGHT there and she opens her arms so wide and goes “oh my god hiiiiii” and without hesitation I just go right into her arms and wrap her up so tight and said “Hi, I’m Megan!” and she starts laughing and goes “I know! I picked you last night, I see your posts all the time, I saw your selfie like I’m coming for you...and I was like I’m coming for you, I sent your post to TN and was like I need her, bring me her.” Literally I wish I could describe in detail the noise that came out of my mouth when she said I know, because it definitely wasn’t human. I was like “YOU KNOWWWWW???” But i literally growled it like some kind of rabid animal, I’m SO sorry, Taylor. That was the first time I lost my chill, which surprisingly only happened twice.

As soon as she drops that bomb on me she turns to Emily to hug her which is what she DESERVES but I was so shook by what she said that I was leaning in for another hug but her back is to me now so I kind of halfway climbed her back I HATE MYSELF. Like my hand was gripping her shoulder and my other hand was pressed against her back and I had to physically talk myself off the ledge like BE COOL BITCH, BACK UP, DON’T BE WEIRD! So I just subtly slide my hands off of her and step back...only to embarrass myself further by stepping closer to Emily, aggressively rubbing her back and shouting “THIS IS EMILY! WE LOVE HER!!!!” Honestly what the fuck is wrong with me? She goes “Thank you guys so much for coming!” And I literally PANTED out “THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR INVITING ME!” Literally I was malfunctioning. I needed to be rebooted.

She turns back to both of us and shimmies her shoulders because she clearly wants me dead and goes “Sooooooooo....” and without hesitation I go “We need to talk about ‘Look What You Made Me Do’” and she’s like “okay, what do we need to talk about?” And then...I did it ladies. I literally told her I didn’t get the joke when it first came out, it flew right over my head and I thought she was being serious about the old taylor being dead and I was so worried about her that I threw up in a parking lot. She goes “Oh my god WHAT? That makes me so sad!” But she was laughing so hard, she threw her head back and covered her mouth, and for a split second I’m like DID I HURT HER FEELINGS??? DOES SHE THINK I HATE THE SONG??? So I was like “NO NO BUT I LOVED IT!” and she goes “You threw up!” And I’m like “BECAUSE I WAS WORRIED ABOUT YOU! I WAS LIKE IS SHE OKAY????” And she literally can’t stop laughing, she’s doing that stupid dolphin laugh she does and I literally wanted to smoosh her face between my hands because I adore her so much and she is so fucking cute and GOD I WANT TO DIE. So she goes “I was literally climbing out of a grave dressed as a zombie, you didn’t get how that was supposed to be funny???” And I was like “NO, I understood it was a joke when the video came out but for a whole week before I didn’t get the joke!” And she goes “Ohhhh, when the single dropped and you listened you were like WHAT IS WRONG WITH HER???” And she just kept laughing like honestly what the fuck is my life? I made Taylor Swift LAUGH? ME??? (Emily said everyone in the room was laughing, like the security at the door and everything I literally want to jump off a cliff.) So I was like “YES EXACTLY! I was like is she okay? I’m so worried about her, I need to know that she’s okay!” And she like...touched my arm and goes “But you’re okay now, right?” and made the most INTENSE eye contact like...if there is one thing I will say about meeting her, it’s that she keeps eye contact with you the WHOLE time and you know she’s hearing everything you say, she’s paying attention to every word and you KNOW she cares. And I’m like “yeah! I get the joke now, I get it, I swear!” And EMILY GOES “I don’t think she’s okay...” like honestly... drag me.

So I attempt to change the subject and the bitch CUTS ME OFF and leans in to me, looks down at me with this smirk on her face and goes “....do you need me to explain the joke to you?” like she was TEASING me, but I was being DRAGGED. I was like “NO, I get it now! I get it!” BUT SHE EXPLAINED IT ANYWAY. She explained that the whole concept of the line came from how people were saying Taylor Swift is over, she’s dead, and she was making fun of the whole cancellation culture that social media and media in general has, so she decided to just be like “Ohhhh, cause she’s deaaaaaad” (and she said it in the funniest, whiniest mocking voice I literally can’t stand her) to show them all how stupid they sounded when they said things like that. To paraphrase because I don’t remember exact wording, she said that’s really just the whole tone of the album, reputation, itself. That there are a lot of things that go into building a reputation, but that a reputation isn’t real, it’s a perception that can be formed by any number of things, true and false, but isn’t always based on what is actually happening. It’s fake, just like the old taylor being dead is fake, it’s a joke. I think the entire time she was saying this I kept repeating “No I get it, I get it” because I wanted to be sure she knew that I got it, but I think she really just wanted to explain it in general and I’m so glad she did, because I loved the insight. And then she goes “BUT IT’S SO FUNNY NOW because they’re like ‘What is she doing with the snakes? Why is she doing that? She’s so annoying!’ And I’m just like BECAUSE YOU TWEETED IT OVER AND OVER AND OVER AGAIN EVERY SINGLE DAY! YOU’RE JUST MAD BECAUSE IT DOESN’T BOTHER ME ANYMORE!” And I shit you not, she was literally screaming this in my face, and acting like she was scrolling through her phone and laughing like...I was scared lmao. I just kept saying “I’m so proud of you, you just took it back, it’s what you deserve!” God, she’s so pretty when she laughs I can’t stop picturing it and hearing it and I don’t know where I could possibly go from here, I’ve peaked.

She turned to Emily then, and I’m not going to share what happened there because it’s Emily’s story to tell, but I’m literally so happy that she gave her the love she deserves. The moment they shared touched me so much.

When she looked like she was stepping into position for a photo, I suddenly flashed back to everything my friends who had met her already told me -- that if you stop talking, the M&G will end, but if you keep talking, so will she, so I sort of side stepped and started talking to her about how I’ve dealt with some pretty toxic relationships in the past couple years, and how it breaks my heart to think she’s ever felt the same way as I have in those moments of vulnerability and hurt, but that I was so thankful for songs like Dear John and Better Man because it made me feel less alone. And she goes “it’s always nice to know that you’re not alone in feeling the way you do, I totally get it. But that’s why we’re all here, isn’t it? That’s why we come to a stadium and we sing and dance and cry (we said cry at the same time, what kind of shared brain bullshit?) with each other, because we understand each other. We have that connection.”

From there it got a little personal for me, and I want to keep that for myself, but she gave me the biggest, tightest hug and said some of the sweetest things anyone has ever said to me and I’ve never felt more loved in my entire life than I did in those few minutes in a room with her. She said “I love you sooo much” and I said I loved her too, and then she asked what we wanted to do for a picture and Emily goes “I wanna do a smoosh...” because she’s the cutest person that has ever BREATHED and Taylor looked so confused so we both said at the same time (at the suggestion of Paige) “Can we do a Taylor face sandwich?” and she got so excited and was like “YEAH, I’ll smoosh your faces to mine!” So we got in position for that I knew I grabbed onto her, but I didn’t actually know what part of her I grabbed, I think I was reaching for her hand forgetting that her hand was on my face LOL.

Anyway, we got our picture, she told us she loves us and hopes we have fun at the show and that she was so happy we were there and Emily manages AT THE LAST SECOND to go “CAN YOU PLAY COME BACK BE HERE.....please” and I’m like “Yeah, like....tonight.” And I felt so bad because I know I sounded so forceful and I DIDN’T MEAN TO. And she goes “Well, I can’t tonight because I promised someone else I’d play a different song, but I promise I will play it at a show soon, I know how much you guys want that one, I promise.” And we thanked her and told her we loved her and took our autograph and our dignity and got the hell out.

I remember I was shaking when I came out of rep room, but I wasn’t freaking out really. I was still pretty chill. Chiller than I expected to be. We got about halfway back to her seats and I screamed “WHAT DID SHE SAY???” because for about five minutes, I blacked out completely. It was such a whirlwind of emotion that I don’t think I’ll ever be able to feel again. When we got back to our seats, the sweet angel that is Steph came over to me and asked how it went and I managed to get out “I said Hi, I’m Megan and...and....and...” and then I completely LOST MY SHIT and started SOBBING in Steph’s arms. I literally could not process that she KNEW WHO I WAS! I’M A LITERAL GARBAGE CAN! WHY DID SHE KNOW ME??? WHY DID SHE LOOK AT ME LIKE THAT? WHY DID SHE LAUGH SO MUCH? I COULDN’T PROCESS!

Steph: Meg, Taylor wanted to meet you, how do you feel?

The sobbing didn’t last long and I recovered just in time to meet my sweet baby Lauren @iknowplaces13 which I was SO EXCITED FOR! She was so happy for me and such an angel BUT THIS WASNT THE END OF THE ANGELS because JAIME APPEARS OUT OF THIN AIR TO SURPRISE ME (even though Dani @screamedsooloud ruined the surprise by accident but it’s FINE) and at this point, I still haven’t told Jaime that I met Taylor and I’m squirming trying to get out of the vice like hug she’s giving me so i can pull up my sleeve and show her my wristband LOL. Eventually she lets me BREATHE and I yank my sleeve up and go “SURPRISE, Snake!” and she literally is the blinking man gif, just no actually expression, raises her eyebrows, looks down at it and back at me and just goes “....when?” and then LAUNCHES herself at me because she is the sweetest, purest bean on the planet and was so genuinely happy for me. She’s listened to me cry about how I was sure this would never happen for so long and she kept telling me she was sure it would happen in Tampa and it was SO fun to outsnake her for once. I started telling her the story and every time I’d tell her something new, she’d tackle me again, it was so PURE. I love her with my entire heart. Here’s a picture after I’ve cried all my eyeliner off.

And then I snaked Brittany @messthatuwanted for snaking me because it’s what she deserved:

The show was obviously amazing and we had great seats near the B stage and were able to make it to barricade, which was such a highlight to an already amazing night. I danced so much and sang at the top of my lungs and had a full on breakdown during long live that Emily the angel had to hold me through because I literally could not cope. Just full on sobbing for half the song. I had so much fun with Emily, Steph, Jess, Sammi, Leyton, Lejla, Sarah, Paige, and everyone else I spent time with this weekend. I’m forever grateful to Taylor for bringing so many amazing people into my life, I don’t deserve any of you and I can’t wait to reunite with 99 percent of the people I met at Gillette in Nashville.

I quite literally had the time of my life with you, @taylorswift. Thank you so much for loving me like I love you, thank you for loving my friends and for bringing them into my life. I’ll never forget you as long as I live.

#7.28 #rep room #rep room story

425 notes · View notes

nicolerosegelormino · 5 years

Photo

Saturday June 22, 12noon-4pm

1 painting pop-up

766 Valencia, Falling From Glory, Exhibition June 11 - July 12

The site at which the painting sits directly shapes the viewer’s encounter: how long they look, how close they get, their perception of its inherent or ascribed value, and the extent to which they express their perception/experience.

I sit the Chicken Legs painting directly next to the door leading to our pop-up gallery at 766 Valencia. I carry a tall stump outside that had belonged to Sean. I move it to various locations throughout the session to sit and enjoy different vantage points of the passerby experience. Sometimes I sit near the painting, and sometimes I hide in full view so that I appear to be another passerby or loiterer.

For the first 15 minutes, no one enters the gallery. I wonder if my sitting out front on a log, eating a large homemade salad is the deterrent, or if it's the ugliness (and beauty) of the painting.

I move into hiding.

A youngish straight white couple pass by. The woman seems startled by the painting. “Eeeeeuuuu!” she exclaims gritting her teeth in a frown, as though the painting has assaulted her. “Someone should graffiti it.”

A white tween amongst her family shudders and says, “That scares me!”

Slowly at first, and then quickly, plenty of passerby sight the painting and follow right in. At times, the painting becomes an advertisement, a billboard, an awning announcing the content of the show even better than our hand-made sandwich sign could do.

The music is loud inside. My poor hearing can’t reach their comments inside. I consider turning the music down, but realized they may talk less or less audibly.

The father strolls about, pointing out “colors” in various paintings, to his family.

It becomes more difficult for me to staff both the inside and outside of the exhibition as more passerby flow in and around.

Outside I enjoy a full spectrum of responses:

Furrowed brows… eyes popped wide open… cameras snapping… cooing… pointed questions…

A couple of mixed friends:

“THAT is weird.”

“What is it?”

THAT is REALLY weird."

I’m still trying to understand how the Instagram phenomena changes experiences with artworks. Lots of viewers try to snap photos and videos. They post on social media like a 17th century European explorer, “Look what I found!” I start directing “photographers” to our Instagram names. Some are delighted to direct their own followers to the original artists, others do so begrudgingly or mumble they’re not posting.

A white straight couple in their 40s, mid-discussion, holding hands enter the gallery. The woman breaks hands and turns away immediately, “Oh no! This is too weird!”

The sidewalk is a corridor, so this location does not allow long encounters with the painting itself, even if it does lure passerby to approach the paintings inside.

Because of the particular circumstances of this site, today’s pop-up is probably the most difficult for me. The abundance of negative responses is exciting, but they still leaves a bad taste in my mouth.

But there are some gems too.

A white trio that appear to have come from a fraternity/sorority stop and joyfully gaze together:

One dude, “What is going on here?!”

Another dude, “Chicken legs.”

Dudette, “That’s not chicken.”

Other dude, “But just the bottom half of them.”

First dude, “Exploding sausages!!!”

They all laugh. Dudette, “Ok we have to keep moving…"

A young woman in an elbow-to-floor burgundy flowing dress with wild pink and powder blue lines all over formed like butterflies marches up to my painting, nearly falls into it and saunters inside the gallery. She pops out again to motion a friend to follow. I am curious and follow as well. After circling and enthusiastically gesticulating, they introduce themselves as Emily and Forest, hosts of the wildly funny podcast Radio Free Multiverse. She brings a beautiful passionate empathy to my work. The work speaks and she can hear it—or it feel it. She is very young and vivacious and I am glad that feelings the that overwhelm my being and spill into the palette resonate so strongly with someone else. She buys a few stickers and I find a way to give her an extra and we promise to keep in touch.

Tanya, a Chinese-American woman is very excited about the paintings. Her husband is a mail carrier by day and a painter by night. She asks to take a picture of me standing in front of the painting. So she can show her husband. I grin. That might be better than an Insta shout-out.

#1ppu #freeart #uglyart #paintingsinpublic #happenings

1 note · View note

littleredroseonthevalley · 6 years

Text

Wildest Dreams

Summary: A New Year’s. A wedding reception. Two parties, set apart in time, spell a begining and an end in Emily’s life.

Rating: M - Not suitable for children or teens below the age of 16 with non-explicit suggestive adult themes, references to some violence, or coarse language.

Notes: Hello, everyone! I wanted to do a Nathan piece for weeks now, especially after The Big Reveal on TJ. My first attempt was ‘An Opera on Separation’, but Zig ended up worming his way there and it turned out to be less about Nathan and more about Emily getting over Nathan and ending up on the arms of Ziggy-Pop himself.

Then, last Thursday, I heard ‘Wildest Dreams’ by Taylor Swift while trying to come up for a new number for my dance crew and it really inspired me!

Oh, and a fair warning, this is NOT a part of ‘An Opera on Separation’ universe. This is a completely separate one-shot. Perhaps I ought to take a page from my fellow authors and change the MC’s name, but I tend to prefer the default name for reasons.

And I used the ‘An Opera on Separation’ taglist. Sue me.

Emily was leaning against a wall and wishing she was dead.

Who the Hell decides to break with someone just outside a Starbucks? On the day before Christmas Eve, no less?

Emily’s ex does.

She sighed once more. Her holidays were miserable over it, as her family expected her to bring her significant other to the feast. Showing up alone was right depressive.

Returning to work on the 26th hadn’t been any easier, as somehow the entire office building where she worked as a secretary ended up figuring out about her shameful break-up before lunch hour. That certainly thwarted her hopes of having at least half a day of peace.

Consequentially, all her colleagues insisted terribly for her to attend the building’s New Year’s Eve party, as a way to ‘get back on the horse’, so to speak.

She pushed back as hard as she could, but she ended up caving. She supposed she could hang around until ten or so, have some cheap liquor and leave to spend midnight the way God intended.

Drunk and alone on her bed.

What the young woman did not count on was the fact that the hours between eight and ten would be Chinese torture in form of a company gathering.

Everyone around her seemed to be drunk on the sad excuse for champagne the company had provided, and the friskier were coupling up in bizarre pairings, like Crystal, the sour receptionist, and Dan, the Porno King from accounting.

Those scenes of moral decadence only served to further Emily’s depression. Despite attending a prestigious university and having academic honours, she was stuck at the same dead-end job as the woman who seemingly collected chocolate wrappings on her desk drawer.

Corporate America was a soul-sucking monster and that girl was out of soul to give.

Feeling claustrophobic, the woman unlatched herself from her spot on the wall and walked over to the balcony for some air. The place was thankfully devoid of people, except for a blond guy who was smoking and leaning against the railing.

She considered leaving, but the idea of returning to the crowd was enough for giving her a small anxiety attack. No, if she hung out on the opposite end as him, perhaps he wouldn’t notice, or would pick up the cue and leave her be.

And it worked for a while, she could sit down on the dirty floor and stretch her aching legs. The man finishes his cigarette and picks another one from his suit jacket and tries to light it, to no avail.

He sighed loudly and seemed to curse under his breath. He, then, turned to her and said, amicably: “Hi-ya.”

She looks over to him and takes a moment to realize he’s talking to her. Then, she responds with a lazy: “Hey.”

“Do you have some fire?” He asks, rather supplicant. “My lighter seems to have given up on me.”

“No, sorry. Non-smoker.” The woman answers, still wishing for the man to go away.

“Such is my luck. Perhaps it’s a sign that I smoked way too much today. It’s a nasty habit, but I never had it in me to stop.” He snorts, anxious. “What brings you to the smoking area?”

She looked at him, confused. “This is the smoking area?”

“Yep.” He popped the p and pointed to the ash dispensers around the balcony. “I’ll go ahead and say you wanted a break from all that inside.”

The young woman sported a small side smile over the comment. “Pretty much. And to stay out of Crystal line of sight. After she’s done with Dan, she’ll have nothing else to lose.”

“Dan still works here?” The blond asks, more to himself, surprised. “I was sure he’d be fired after all the data leaking.”

“You and me both, pal.” She says, while sipping her beverage. “ The virus got into the system through one of his porn movies, after all.”

“I think whom you really should look out for is Marcia from HR. I saw her pulling a busboy into a closet some half an hour ago. That woman is insatiable!” The guy bemoans, well-humored.

Emily raises a well-kept eyebrow, throws a smirk and says: “You speak out of experience?”

He laughs. “Jesus, no. It wasn’t over her lack of interest, though.”

“How conceited!” She accused, smiling. “I’m Emily, by the way.”

He also smiled, charmingly. “Nathan. Nice to meet you.”

“Nathan? Like the boss?” She asks, curious.

“You know the CEO?” He responds, surprised.

She nods. “Well, yeah, I’m one of his secretaries.”

“Ah, cool.” He shakes his fair head. “Life-long dream of being a secretary?”

The statement was ridiculous enough to drag a loud laughter out of the girl. “No way. I’m a writer. Well, I was a writer.”

“What happened?” He asks, taking a seat next to her.

“It happened no one wanted to pick up my manuscript. Then I tried to self-publish, but that fell through pretty quickly.” She sighed. “After that, I decided to cut my losses and had a friend wire me with this gig. So here I am.”

He grimaces. “I’m sorry for that. If it makes you feel better, I always wanted to be an anthropologist, but my dad thought going on field studies resembled too much a vagabond lifestyle and argued that corporate law would be much more my speed. And so, here I am, and guess what?”

“What?”

“Corporate law sucks.” They laugh.

“It does make me feel a little better.” She pokes.

“Well, I’m glad my misery is amusing to you.” The man smirks with his shiny pearly teeth.

“What brings you to this disgrace of a party?” Emily asks, blunt.

“It was a pretty good excuse not to attend my parents’ disgrace of a party.” He responds with a shrug. “You?”

“Some of the girls at the desk thought it’d be depressing for me to spend New Year’s alone, so they nagged me until I agreed to come.” She throws back an offending lock of hair.

He hummed. “That may be the reasoning of most of the people in here tonight.”

“Damn year ending on a Wednesday.” She huffs. “I suppose it’s fitting. A mediocre year ending on a mediocre day.”

“I’d drink to that.” The blond echoes.

“Cheers!” She raises her lonely red cup.

Emily was going all out for that party later tonight. She had only just left the hairdresser’s and was ready for putting on the dress, which hung at her closet door for over a week in anticipation for tonight.

The piece had been handpicked. She’d much prefer a Paco Rabane, but the evening required some demure, and so she went with a blue-and-gold, slit on the leg, Gucci ball gown and a matching clutch. The also blue high heels disguised her short stature and highlighted her lean legs.

Finally, the jewellery. She was covered in diamonds, from his earrings, neck and hands, everything was adorned with pieces which sported the precious gem. Even her hair was held up with an encrusted pin.

She put on the luxurious outfit and sat down to do her makeup. Supposedly, she could have had it done at the beauty parlour, but she rarely liked the results when she let others do it for her. Not to mention, she was rather disgusted with the shared brushes and products.

No, she was a dextrous woman. She could do it herself.

First, the base on her cheeks, to disguise small acne scars, some sun damage and the insistent swelling from the past few days. Then, a smidge of blush, for a healthy colouring. Emily was way too pale for her own good.

Next, the eyes. Eyeliner and mascara would make her eyes pop against the white, and now unmarred, skin. Then the mandatory red lipstick, carefully applied to her full lips.

It was a night event, she could humour herself and splurge a little with the products and not look like a clown.

When she was finally done, she picked up the clutch and checked her money, phone and documents. Then, fetching the car keys, left for the party.

“Have these naval charts approved by Tuesday, and have my car picked up from the shop first thing in the morning.” The greying-haired man ordered with little as much as a look to the young woman standing by his desk.

“Yes, Mr. Sterling, sir.” She nods and writes down his commands at her planner.

“You may go now, Emily.” He dismisses, and the girl excuses herself.

Closing the door with care, she returns to her seat at the desk she shares with two other secretaries, Kate and Jess.

“I don’t know how you can deal with that dick and keep that stupid smile on your face.” Jess mentions with a sneer.

Emily shrugged. “I’m happy these days. It won’t be Mr. Sterling who’ll pop my bubble.”

Kate scoffs, her sixth sense for a good piece of gossip tingling hard. “Happy, right. Just the other day you’re lamenting on the corners because of what’s-their-name. When we’ll know the name of this ‘happiness’ of yours?”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about.” The other responds but couldn’t contain the smirk.

“Yeah, sure!” Kate shouts and points accusingly. “You totally smiled. Come on! Please, please, please!”

“No! Just drop it.” Emily said, good-naturedly.

“Kate, Emily’s entitled to her secrets.” Jess said, not as much to defend her as to get the other girl to sit quiet. Emily never could understand why, but Jess was never much of her fan.

“Fine.” She huffed in response. “Meanie.”

The three women finished their shift and parted ways at the company’s doorstep. Emily walked over to the subway station with a skip on her step. She did not lie when she said she was very happy to be brought down these days.

Life was much too good when you’re in love.

Reaching her modest one-bedroom apartment, she quickly changed her clothes and put herself to work. Her boyfriend would be stopping by later tonight, and would stay for dinner, so Emily had to whip out a first-class meal and clean up the place by nine.

Dating her boss’ son was something that the redhaired did not planned for, it just happened, and it certainly took some adapting. Their relationship had to be kept under wraps, lest Jess and the other employees think she’d receive preferential treatment.

But it was worth it. When Nathan said he was actually Nathan Sterling, III, it shocked her. She felt rather betrayed, as he kept that slight detail for over a month of going out, and the ‘no-telling rule’ was rather uncomfortable.

But Nathan was also a caring, loving boyfriend. He makes her feel like a princess every day he’s with her. He called or texted three times a day, just to check on her and talk about their day. He showered with gifts, ranging from the romantic, like flowers, to the lavish, like diamonds, to the thoughtful, like a first-edition of her favourite childhood book, ‘Charlie and the Chocolate Factory’.

In the end, forfeiting bragging rights to Kate was a too small of a sacrifice. She loved Nathan, she wanted to be with him. Waiting until such time she could quit her miserable job for ‘coming out’ to her friends was absolutely worth it.

At exactly nine o’clock, a knock on the door jump-start Emily from the oven to skip over to the living room. She opens the door with a wide smile and says: “Hello!”

Nathan doesn’t say a thing, he prefers to let down the bags he’d been holding, picking up the woman by her waist and twirl her over the cramped living room, eliciting giggles from the redhead.

Reaching the middle of the room, he smiled broadly, kissed her nose and said: “Good evening, Emily. How you’re doing?”

“I’m fine. Better now.” She unwrapped herself from his arms. “Just sit down, I’ll finish dinner in a moment.”

“Great, I’m famished!” He says, boisterous. “By the way, I brought some wine.”

“I’ll grab the bottle opener.” She shouts from the kitchen.

Soon enough, Emily emerges with a carbonara, two glasses and a bottle opener and sets them on the table.

“And I brought another thing, as well.” The blond says, a wicked smile on his face.

The redhaired couldn’t help but smile over the man’s childish antics. “What is it?”

“Well, remember you said Tuesday you wanted to go out dancing?” He asks, but before she could answer, he continues. “I felt really guilty I couldn’t take you, BUT, I could bring an iPod and a sound box. So get ready, Em, ‘cause tonight we’re dancing on the hottest and most exclusive club in the city!”

Emily beamed at the surprise. She walks over to him and kisses him deeply, until them both are out of air. After they break apart, she says: “I love you.”

“I love you more.” He smirks and bends down to kiss her again.

She was up in the sky, and no-one would bring her down.

The party venue was a good two-hour drive from her place, across state lines. But it did not matter, Emily enjoyed driving on the highway, with the high speed cleansing her frustrations and the hustle-bustle of people driving across the land engaging her mind.

She enjoyed looking at the vehicles passing by, looking at the faraway license plates and conjecturing stories about its passengers, where they were going and from where they came.

The ferry that took her to Martha’s Vineyard was no less of an enjoyable experience, feeling the salty wind hitting her face and observing the great reddish-blue expanse of the ocean beyond the sound.

Once at the wealthy suburb, she drove to a small, wooded area near the country club. She decided to walk to the venue, her old, rusty and noisy Kia would certainly be too much of a difference from the imported, luxury cars that filled the valet service.

No, she was aiming a low profile that night, and that sky-blue old machine would not do.

The fifteen-minute walk from the gates to the main salon was harder than she expected, given the heels were less for movement and more for show. Her feet would remember this night tomorrow morning.

Emily reaches the ostentatious French doors at the club entrance and gives her invitation to the usher. The young man greets her with a smile and walks her over to her seat.

A server comes and offers her champagne, which she gracefully accepts a flute and made herself comfortable.

The party was about to start.

“Emily, please, say something.” Nathan pleaded, looking hurt at her while she just shrunk further within the couch. The woman was silently looking at the void for over fifteen minutes now.

“I think you should leave.” Emily complied, letting out the phrase in a hoarse voice.

He really wanted to fight, to scream, to stay and have her react. Even if it meant she would throw something pointy and hard at him.

But, in the end, the whole thing was breaking his heart as well and he was never one with high threshold for pain, so he complied to her wish and walked over to the door. Before stepping out, he turns back one last time and says: “Call me if you want to talk. Anytime.”

Emily did not respond. After Nathan shuts the door on his way out, she did not make a sound. She enjoyed the silence of the house, she noted the tiny steps of bugs in the kitchen, the dripping of raindrops on the windows and the leakage on the sink.

The first thought that hit her with some reasoning came who knows how later in the day, and it was a simple phrase.

Nathan’s engaged.

An arranged match, he said. Kassidy Marquez’s family controlled port infrastructure around the Gulf of Mexico, and it was a big move for a shipping company, as large as it was, still confined within the Northeastern Seaboard.

He came by that afternoon to tell her of his father’s decision, to have him wed the young girl. He confessed to know Kassidy from college, and to have casually dated her in the past, but assured Emily of his ‘undying love and devotion’.

Nathan also expressed his intentions to maintain a relationship between them, even on the event of his marriage.

She didn’t want to think about it. She couldn’t think about it now. She was out of breath, like she was drowning in dry land.

She just wanted to draw the drapes and pretend she was dead.

“Oh my, Emily, you’re such a delight!” The older woman says, laughing of something the girl had said.

“You’re too kind, Mrs. Franklin.” The redhead smiled politely.

“What’s your relation to the couple, again?” The other wonders, remembering she had not been told.

“Oh, I’m a working colleague of the groom’s.” She responded. “Speaking of which, it seems they’re ready to have their first dance. Would you care to accompany me?”

“I’m much too old!” The woman complains, good-naturedly. “Go along! I’ll see them from over here.”

“Please, Mrs. Franklin, you’re much too youthful to call yourself old. But if you excuse me, I love this part of weddings.” Emily stood up and walks over to the dancefloor, blending in with the crowd watching the newlywed couple.

The bride was a looker, with her long black hair and tanned skin, a shine on her eyes like a blushing virgin, that freshness of going on to a new life. Her luxurious and pristine Vera Wang dress highlighted the posture of a young aristocrat and flew through the room like a curtain dancing on the wind.

But if we’re judging by appearance, the groom was the pretty one. He looked every bit like a fairy tale prince, with his tall and lean frame, white skin as if he had never met the sun in his life, and the blond hair combed backwards. The suit was midnight black, perfectly tailored overseas, and with sapphire cufflinks to give a finishing shine of upper crust.

They twirled through the room the whole fifteen minutes of Blue Danube in flawless grace, and without breaking a sweat. Soon after, they started the rounds through the guest tables, to receive the congratulations from the various guests.

A good hour later, when Nathan and Kassidy reach table 13, which contained the looser relatives on the Sterling family, they are greeted by the recently-widowed Great-Aunt Susett Franklin.

“Oh, my darlings!” She kisses each of their kisses, much to the displeasure of Kassidy. “Congratulations on the nuptials! It is such a wonderful adventure, and I hope yours to be filled with bliss and bounty.”

“Thank you, Aunt Susett.” Nathan says, politely. “How do you like the party? I hope you’re not feeling too alone out here.”

She laughs, dismissively. “Not at all! Emily has been keeping me in good company the entire party. Lovely girl, that one.”

Kassidy made a face. “Emily? I don’t remember an Emily at the guest list.”

“I don’t think you’ve met her, honey. She says she’s Nathan’s colleague, from work.” The older woman comments, in passing. “A shame you’ve come by just when she left to freshen up. She seemed so eager to congratulate you!”

A cold shiver shot through Nathan’s back. It couldn’t be, could it? After months of silence, she wouldn’t come to great lengths to attend the reception. However, he certainly did not know any other Emily, lest one who worked for him.

His ocean-blue eyes run through the venue, looking for that unmistakeable red hair.

And, then, he sees her.

She looked as beautiful as ever, with the dress and the accessories he had gifted her over the months of their relationship. But her eyes were different, they seemed dead and filled with tears.

She set her sights on him and seemed to pierce his soul with it and all he wanted to do was scream.

But it did not last long, as on the next second she turns around and leaves the party.

The blond muster some stupid excuse and dashes after her, not caring what anyone would think or say. He underestimates a seasoned woman on heels with a very good reason to run, as he couldn’t find her on the hallway by the salon, nor at the entrance hall to the country club.

Nathan would only be able to catch up under a willow, a short walk from the main gateway of the club. “Emily! Emily, wait!” He says, and reaches for her arm, pulling her close and forcing her to face him. “What are you doing here?”

“I came for the free booze. What do you think I was doing?!” The redhead shouts to his face. “I was torturing myself like the idiot I am.”

“You’re not an idiot.” He responded, severe. “Why didn’t you call me? I’d come to you.”

The woman scoffed, incredulous. “And drop your wedding?”

“I dropped it now, didn’t I?” He shoots her a side smirk, trying to dispel her hostility, to no avail.

“Don’t do that!” She shouts. “Don’t try to charm your way out of this. It won’t work.”

He sighed. “Okay. But I can honestly say I really missed you.”

“It. Won’t. Work.” She repeated.

The blue-eyed man shrugged. “It’s no trick, but believe what you want. Why you’re here?”

“I thought I needed to see it for myself.” She declared, her voice wavering. “Shock therapy, I guess. To force myself to let go.”

“You know you don’t have to if you don’t want it.” He looked pleadingly at the woman, who stood tense and straight like the willow next to them. “I love you. I want you. We can make this work if we really want to.”

“Look, Nathan, I get why you did what you did. I get that you left me for Kassidy, and that what we had wouldn’t have a future. But don’t ask me to be a part of your Boston Brahmin fantasy.” She shot him a look. “If you can’t be in it for the whole thing, at least let me find someone who is.”

The reality of things start to catch up to the young aristocrat. “So you’re just gonna leave? You’re abandoning me?”

“You left first, Nathan.” She coldly accuses. “You left me all those months ago when you said you’d be marrying Kassidy. And I’m not going down with the ship, I’m sorry.”

The blond start taking steps backwards, trying to focus his eyesight, blurred by the pain he felt on every muscle of his body.

Seizing the opportunity to leave, Emily looks back at him and says: “I really loved you, you know?”

“I know.” He manages to respond. “I love you, too.”

“I truly hope Kassidy makes you happy.” She said with a melancholic smile on her face.

“She won’t.” He responded, but the redhead had already left.

Emily ran the rest of the distance to her car, where she hastily took off every piece of jewellery and tried to clean off the make-up, ruined by the tears.

When she calmed herself minimally, she started the engine and drove away.

Taglist: @alicars; @boneandfur; @choicesfannatalie; @diamond-dreamland; @emerald-bijou; @kennaxval; @liamxs-world; @lizeboredom; @mfackenthal; @mrsdrakewalkerblog; @radiantrosemary; @topsyturvy-dream

#the freshman #nathan sterling

12 notes · View notes

bingespammy · 6 years

Text

Crossing the Burnt Bridges

Emilie Agreste sat hunched up in her husband's office, facing away from him, trying to process what she had been told. A few minutes had passed by when she sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose.

"Okay, fine... You used some forbidden ancient Magic to bring me here despite the fact that I made it awfully clear that I was not coming back. We'll address that in a few. Now, please tell me, what in the world did you do to my son?"

"Nothing to worry about, my dear. I can bring him back whenever I need him as long as I have the miraculous. You see I found a way around the equivalent exchange of the wish, it took a long time but it certainly was worth the effort. He should be wherever you were before I swapped your places.

If that is all, I think this calls for a celebration. I already ordered Natalie to make a reservation for the 58 Tour Eiffel, your clothes have been kept up-to-date so you'll have no trouble finding something suitable for the evening."

Astounded, her jaw was very close from a painful dislocation. Her whole existence shied away from such nonsensical words...

"Gabriel, do you remember what I said the last time we met?"

"Why, yes. You said I was a narcissistic bastard and that you could not wait idly another day for me to get some psychological assistance.”

His poise was unmoved by the words he was currently recalling. Hands behind his back, chin held up high and not a single wrinkle in his clothes.

"And do you remember what I did that day?" She prompted.

"Certainly, you threw my sketchbook into the chimney, presented your letter of resignation at the company, moved all of your savings into an account overseas, packed your suitcases and shouted 'Good riddance' at the doorway. I must say that it was quite a display of terrible manners, but all is forgiven. Now, you're dismissed, Natalie will help you to choose a dress."

At this, Emilie's face completely lost all emotion... I can't blame her, the guy is a dumbass. She stood up with such hurry that the chair complained loudly, then she slammed her hands widely on the desk.

"Gabriel, I won't go to your stupid dinner. In fact, I won't go anywhere with you ever again, and, if I have to make a scandal in court for you to understand that our relationship is over then I gladly will do so. I was having the freedom and the happiness I so sorely needed after spending more than a decade with a cold-hearted man like you and I would rather be back there than having to waste spit on this madness!"

A minute went by since her initial outburst, then two... Ten whole minutes of pregnant silence occurred before something seemed to click in the designer's mind.

"Oh... Oh! I see! Well... This whole business was quite an unfortunate waste of resources. If you give me your current address I'll gladly send the required paperwork your way." She started writing as soon as he said it, so it was evidently clear that it was no bluff on her part. "Right... So I guess this is goodbye?" He quickly folded the piece of paper and put it in his suit's breast pocket.

"I sure hope so." Gabriel was raising the jewelry when she stopped him with her hands. "Wait! Let me leave a message for Adrien, I've been missing him like crazy!"

"Right, right... Uh, carry on..."

"I'm not doing it here where you could easily keep it away from him, just give me 5 minutes and then you can swap us back."

Without even waiting for an answer, Emilie ran out of the room taking the pen and paper with her.

Adrien was having the time of his life. Sure, he was still worried about what happened at lunch, he had lost his miraculous, found out the identity of his partner and after the big drama that unfolded in front of him, his father for once in his life had decided to keep him company during the meal. Naturally, he had exploded and screamed at him about everything that he hated about life under his control.

One moment he had gone to the bathroom to transform but then remembered that Plagg was no longer with him, so he wept silently beside the sink. The next, he was in a Buddhist Temple in some forgotten region of Tibet and enjoying some nice calming tea with a dozen of new friends.

His Chinese was good enough to keep some wonderful conversation going, that is, until someone started asking if he had seen Madame Emilie since no one seemed to know where she was.

Having learned his lesson from having a classmate and his superhero partner being conveniently the same person he immediately asked for her last name... Turns out this was the place his mother was using to hide away from the lifeless grip of his father, and honestly he couldn't blame her. The place was the greatest thing ever! Sadly it had no satellite signal so she couldn't reach out to him even if she wanted. He was pleased to finally know the truth anyways, and every problem waiting at home could still wait a day longer, right? He breathed deeply and took another sip of his tea.

In a flash he was back in his room, he whined... Loudly.

"Ah, Adrien... There you are, I decided to enroll you in an etiquette class, God knows your mother was in terrible need of that. Now, your driver is waiting outside."

The young boy nodded absently and dragged his feet away from the room.

And so, Gabriel Agreste was left alone once again.

"Not quite what you were expecting, isn't it?" Said Nooro, from under his clip-on tie.

"I can't say it wasn't a possibility... Of course I'll sue her now that I know where she is."

"That sound like something a bad loser would do."

"It does not. For the record, this is your fault... You and those annoying, gluttonous fairies you call your friends. Nothing would have happened if you didn't exist. Not the travel to Tibet, not the magical terrorism, none of it!"

"Well, you could always wish for us to not exist?"

"Ha! Not this time, I am not foolish enough to think that you'd suggest something that would be to my benefit in any way. Take this cursed thing away from me, you are nothing but trouble." As quickly as the words left his mouth, the butterfly kwami had left the room with an armful of miraculous gems. "Would it hurt you to act like you didn't want to leave me!?"

With a defeated sigh, he went back to work, not before telling Natalie to cancel the reservation through the intercom.

roflmao, ao3 auto tagged mama Agreste as mama Murphy

#miraculous ladybug #ml spoilers #fanfic #my fics #mine

5 notes · View notes

cheemers-writing-archive · 3 years