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#fact here that he killed those 30 people
thedevotionaltour · 1 month
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in terms of art alone im sorry. im a jrjr defender to my last breath you be fucking nice to him. i dont wanna hear shit❗️❗️❗️
#can someone also get him better inkers rn i am begging. pleading even. HE MAKES GOOD STUFF THEY JUST GIVE HIM SHIT INKERS WHO DONT GET IT.#MY FIRM BELIEF. im sorry. i like his stuff. there are certain things not quite my taste but i think he does good overall im a fan. BE NICE#static.soundz#sorry that last post was so directly inspired by seeing someone go can u guys be nice he is on a fucking nutbag schedule. which he is.#i dont think some people understand the insanity of comic production. and how much it takes a toll on you.#many have said and i will say it too: comics is a killing industry. it is a beautiful fun job. it is fulfilling. it will also destroy you.#the most common and easiest to use example is in fact the manga industry. they want chapters in a week. 20 page type chapters in a week.#A WEEK!!! and currently look at things like webtoon as well which also expect the same amount of pages. in a week. an issue in a week#is an insane demand. it is an unreasonable demand. it is scheduling that leads you to a crash and burnout and health issues#because it is fully finished polished pages. as much as i poke and complain about how some things look there#i am also highly aware of production schedules. even if some styles are not my taste that still doesnt mean it isnt insane work#and it's the same in american big industry comics too. it isnt weekly demand the way those are. but it's still an intense schedule#you are working on pages and can get behind years before those comics even hit shelves.#and as it becomes more individualized too as we lose the team element and work becomes more one person doing all pencils and inks#that schedule is a lot. it just is. it doesnt matter if theres more time in comparison to other parts of the industry#the point is that it is all very demanding and exploitative. there is a drive yourself to your grave mentality here and i've had ppl try#to shove that mindset onto my and my peers which is the worst thing possible to encourage. highly alarming and disheartening to encourage#impressionable students already so worried about making it to drive themselves to an early grave. abuse substances to get through work.#work excessive hours while you still can because when you hit your 30s youre gonna lose that ability#become bitter and prepared for rejection as opposed to success because this industry sucks!#it's just such an unhealthy depressing mindset. i've had more artists preach the exact opposite as that and more ppl have been trying to#shift over to valuing your time and health. but still a lot of people are in that other mentality. and it's very very very sad.#i am only a student doing very low stakes homework for classes. i have no industry experience. and i still get it taken out of me#to do fully fledged out pages in my style in one week. this is also just a thing for me bc certain personal factors just make it hard#but still. comics are fun. they are fun. they are fulfilling. they will lead you to so many fucking issues if you are not highly careful#there is a reason why so so so many fucking comic artists have very well known issues. why you hear about so many ppl with substance issues#artists with very poor mental health. when you are in comics this is how it is.#i am glad there has been a big shift in recent years towards taking care of yourself as an artist. and that more ppl try to value it so tha#things can hopefully change at large in a broader sense. but please remember. we are an exploited chew up spit out industry too.
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shrslair · 1 year
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late night, telephones ˖ ࣪
⋆ ᳝ ֺ alhaitham x gn!reader | modern high school!au
— in which Kaveh made it his life mission to find out who is his roommate’s secret lover. [ pt two here ]
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“Yes, goodnight darling. I’ll see you tomorrow. Yeah, love you too.”
Accidentally overhearing Alhaitham’s late night phone call was one thing Kaveh didn’t plan on. But hearing those words spur from his literally cold-as-ice tongue made him question his existence. Alhaitham?? Being affectionate with someone???? Saying ‘I love you’ back??? Was Kaveh about the be called up to celestia and live his remaining life with the primodial one??
Okay it’s not even about the fact that he called them darling. OR THE FACT THAT HE SAID I LOVE YOU BACK. Even though those facts alone were something he desperately need to talk about later. But one thing Kaveh was mostly surprised at was the fact that someone wanted to be affectionate with him.
That made him wonder. Like the green haired moron does literally nothing but sit and read. Without his pretty face, perfect brawns, and outstandingly smart brain, he would be nothing. No but seriously, did you ever see Alhaitham taking a step forward to start a conversation? No, exactly! In fact he’s the one that takes the initiative to stop them.
So from now on, Kaveh decided to make it his life mission to find out who exactly is willing to suffer for the sake of being with Alhaitham.
Going to his lists of candidates he has…uhm. He can’t really think of anyone right now rather than the librarian that spends 24/7 in the library. I mean he guessed they do have one thing in common. But no let’s cross that out.
Oh yeah! Alhaitham was in the student council. He was there as secretary! Okay that opened up a few spots for some people Alhaitham could be dating.
Okay so far here is his list:
1. Vice president of the student council, Cyno
Notes: possibility 40%. Seen them talk before but they hate each other sm. Honestly giving enemies to lovers vibe but didn’t Cyno had a thing w Tighnari? Idk need to check again.
2. Student council head of social media department, Nilou
Notes: possibility 60%. Very very pretty, single too (I think??) Seen them talk but I think only abt student council matters (or is it??). Kinda too good for Alhaitham. She doesn’t seem to be the type that likes cold guys. Does that cross her out??
3. Student council head of sports department, Dehya
Notes: possibility -100%. Definitely not. Rumour spreading around that she’s dating Dunyazard. Ship them sm ngl if she turned out to he dating Alhaitham I’ll kill him for ruining my ship. But overall definitely not.
4. Student council president, [ Name ]
Notes: possibility 25%. Nah bro they too good for him. They’re literally the definition of social butterfly and he’s likes the opposite. So many ppl chasing after them fr so if they turned out to be taken by Alhaitham, I’ll personally go back to celestia myself.
So far that was the list! It was okay so far but he needed more evidence. The one with most percentage on his list was Nilou. He’ll have to ask around to find more candidates too. But he was sure that the list of candidates wouldn’t be more than 5.
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Before you questioned Kaveh to why didn’t he just asked Alhaitham, it’s because he would just stare at him blatantly and said “It’s not your problem” ! Honestly, getting an answer from Alhaitham aside for calculus matters is extremely difficult.
He did his research and observations. Alhaitham goes to the library every day (literally). He spends his time there reading the same kind of shit he does at home, staying quietly at a remote corner, away from all the other students.
There was no way this man is taken. The problem is he doesn’t even try. Like at all. 0 efforts. If Kaveh was his lover, he would’ve dump his ass in public and let him suffer the embarrassment. The worst part about that is the fact that he probably won’t even care!
After what seemed like 30 minutes, Kaveh decided that all was hopeless and finally went his merry away. Ah, if only he stayed just a minute more. Then he wouldn’t have missed your approaching figure heading towards the man whose nose is stuck in a book.
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“Hi.” A small smile graced your lips, your eyes melt into those turquoise hues, one that reeked of fondness and admiration.
No words of greetings has yet to leaves his tongue, but the way he scooted over to the right, indicating you too sit by him was more than enough.
“So, when are we going to tell him?” Alhaitham averted his gaze from his book unto you. His eyes slightly squinted, showcasing evidence of him clearly thinking.
“Is it really equivalent for him to know?” Your boyfriend asked, earning a soft chuckle from you.
“Statically speaking, not really. But the way he’s searching for candidates is so hilarious and amusing to watch, don’t you think, darling?” Alhatham lifted his book up to eye level, covering the dust of pink that shimmered around his features.
He pondered awhile before replying “Ah you’re not wrong. It is quite the fun to see him run around chasing for some bit of evidence. A mastermind are you, my love?” Now it was your turn to flush shades of red. You can see the smile of adoration on his eyes cascading through the shades of his irises.
Times like these are where you love him most. Where the two of you sit in the presence of one another, quietly scheming and watching that friend of yours running around like a detective on a case. Seeing him desperately looking for the answer when it is right in front of him, sitting cross legged and maneuvering the most amusing smile.
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do not repost, share, or copy ! Reblogs and likes very much appreciated!! Thankyou for taking ur time to read this hope you enjoyed it! Follow me for more xx
©️ shrslair.
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modernsuperhero · 1 year
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Deity Influence in Limited Life
Be they Watchers or Listeners, here’s a list of things I either headcanon/theorize as direct deity intervention or are explicitly canon (at least to Martyn’s POV) as deity intervention in this season of Limited Life:
Grian never being Boogeyman. Grian is not supposed to be playing the game - why should he get to have what he wants? Of course they’re not going to allow him extra time when they’re actively trying to yank him out... and speaking of-
Grian’s AFK coma. While I like to interpret it in-universe as Grian being ill, or at least appearing to be gravely ill and as unconscious as a Watcher can be, it’s canon that his absent body was the result of the Watchers pulling him away from what ‘anchors’ him in the games, since they don’t want him there.
Jimmy’s perma-death. The canary curse is explicitly canon now - and as many of us know now, he was dead before he hit the ground. Jimmy was a dead man walking due to dying to Etho’s boogeyman kill with less than two hours. It should have perma-killed him then, but while Grian knew it was a boogey kill and gave Etho his extra 30 minutes, he did NOT remove Jimmy’s last hour. Jimmy was shifting on the sky bridge - in-universe, I believe the Watchers pushed him to make up for the death Grian was trying to avoid.
The border not protecting those outside of it. “Here’s the thing about being beyond the veil - we’re already dead.” Grian knows how this game works, since he both IRL and canonically made them. He also knows the rules are to stay WITHIN the border - he was breaking them for the protection they granted him and his allies (first the Bad Boys, then the Nosy Neighbors). But, it didn’t protect them! He broke a rule, and thus similarly to Jimmy’s death, I believed he and his allies were penalized for it.
BigB’s brief invisibility to Scott. Scott is HATED by the Watchers for bending the rules of the game as much as he can. He refused the Boogeyman Curse in Last Life, divorced and chose is own soulmate in Double Life, and rushed his Boogeyman kill in the first episode of Limited Life. On top of that, he’s managed to (technically) win 2/3 games. Of course they wouldn’t want him to win another - and while ultimately it meant nothing because Scott just permakilled BigB the moment the invisibility was gone, I think the fact that it was BigB, a former Evo member, was interesting.
Bdubs’ lack of recording. Whether he ends up posting a supercut or not, one thing is for sure - for the duration of this season, he was unwatched. In fact, the only way he could be observed was through other people... you could even phrase it as you could only find out was he was doing by hearing it through the grapevine...
And of course, whatever the FUCK happened at the end of Martyn’s last video. I have so many questions. Cherri and Martyn, I fucking applaud you.
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sumwan · 5 months
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I'm not sure how many people know about this, but the entire script for the Green Festival was actually shown in Tommy's DSMP tribute video from last year. It seems to have been written by Dream (it mentions "I" at some point when referring to Dream), and it's pretty interesting to see how they planned out the lore streams and what changed in the actual streams.
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Transcription can be found under the cut.
Transcription The festival is happening. Fundy, Tubbo, Quackity, Ranboo, Niki, and anyone else that is generally around lmanburg can attend. Everyone starts streaming early for the festival. Before the festival starts, Quackity Tubbo and Fundy (and ranboo? I'm not sure who was there originally), have a meeting about how they're going to kill Dream.
They talk about how Dream trusts Tubbo so Tubbo is going to have to be the one to do it. That they've become sort of friends since Tommy was exiled. Tubbo agrees, still slightly doubtful that it would work. Tubbo says that Dream agreed to show up with no armor to for the first time ever, honor lmanburgs laws.
The meeting ends and they start the festival, talking about how Dream said he would be a little late.
Tommy and Techno at this point have been planning how they're going to ruin the festival (and get back Tommy's disc from Dream). They know that Dream will show up, but they don't know how they'll fight him without him escaping. (Ranboo finds them on the outskirts of lmanburg and tells them that Dream agreed to show up in no armor? possibly?) That sparks that they can hide around lmanburg and ambush Dream when he's at the festival. Tommy and Techno improv and mess around while trying to build an "ambush spot" (all of this is sort of unimportant to the plot so can be adjusted to make funnier/better streams for those two).
Tommy and Techno start streaming about 30 minutes after the others.
After some festival activities have been done, Dream shows up in full armor, placing obsidian again in a wall formation. Everyone sees him and runs over confused about what's happening.
They hop in a call with dream (techno and tommy join too but tell eachother to be quiet before joining.) Dream starts screaming about what Tommy did and how he really screwed up this time (tommy is kind of afraid and is looking at techno for assurance), and everyone is confused about what Tommy did, especially tubbo. Dream yells about the fact that Tommy destroyed the community house, the longest standing structure on the server, and how he has to pay for it. Quackity and the others don't believe it and decide to go look with Dream. (Techno and Tommy follow stealthily behind (invis), no one should see them).
Sapnap and anyone else from the original Dream SMP can log on now or already be on and come over to see. (Awesam, Callahan, George(probably not), Sapnap, BadBoyHalo, Punz)
They stand in front of the shattered remains and everyone is shocked that Tommy would do this, and upset. Everyone is insisting that Tommy really screwed up and that it's horrible.
Tubbo agrees but insists that he and lmanburg had nothing to do with it. Dream says that as long as Tubbo has one of the discs, he has everything to do with Tommy. Tubbo seems shocked and thinks about what Dream said. All of the Dream SMP original members agree and are talking about how he should give it so they can burn it once and for all. Tubbo is reluctant but seems to agree that Tommy keeps doing things that would put lmanburg in danger, so he doesn't want association.
He seems like he is about to give the disc, so Tommy reveals himself (techno too) and gets into a screaming match with Tubbo about it.
--Tommy and tubbo fill in what happens here, but it's a big argument and fight probably mostly improv-
Eventually after both nearly dying, Tommy realizes that he's fighting his best friend and stops. Tubbo is angry and gives the disc quickly to Dream, saying that it's just a stupid disc. Tommy is hurt by that but realizes that he's been blinded and has lost friends because of it. Tommy realizes that Dream now has both of his discs, and that they're back at square one.
Dream has an evil speech about how Tubbo is an idiot and that he never should have given him the disc. That Tubbo was never the president of L'manburg, but that everyone else had more control than him of his own country, even Dream. That he's the worst president because he was no president at all. Expose Ranboo as a traitor that has been working with Techno and Tommy, and that he can't even keep control of his own people. Give Tubbo the book with proof. That l'manburg is weaker than it's ever been, and that the only thing stopping Dream from completely destroying l'manburg was the fact that Tubbo had the discs and so Dream had to befriend him.
Now there's nothing stopping Dream from completely obliterating l'manburg. Everyone seems shocked and tries to talk Dream down, but Dream screams and tells everyone to shut up. Everyone goes completely silent. Dream asks Techno if he has any withers left. Techno responds basically like "oh do III" because he has so many.
--Techno should add more here so he has more of a role-
Dream announces that tonight is the final night of l'manburg forever. That he and Techno will finish the job that Wilbur started, and that l'manburg will be blown all the way to bedrock at (TIME, the next day). He tells everyone to say their last goodbyes, and to not try and stop him because Techno and him will kill every last one of them.
Dream leaves.
Everyone is left in shock, (maybe techno has some funny monologue here like it's awkward that I just left him there with everyone or something)
No one knows what to say. They realize that Dream has gone completely insane and that he has to be stopped. (techno is gone by now) They realize that Dream made a mistake by telling them the time, and they decide that they will all plan to work together and stop them. If all of the server fights together they can beat Techno and Dream. They get hyped about it and Tommy and Tubbo agree to fight together, despite having 1 canon life, that they're willing to put their lives on the line for l'manburg. They kind of have a reunion.
--Possibly Tommy leaves or ends here?-
Quackity seems blood thirsty and wants to punish Ranboo for conspiring with them and being a traitor. Tubbo disagrees and Quackity and tubbo get into an argument, Quackity insists that he HAS to execute him because he was a traitor. Tubbo gets mad and flips out on Quackity insisting that he's not going to be like Schlatt and execute him next to his own festival decorations (call back), that they need to ALL be together, ALL of them, otherwise they will lose to Techno and Dream. As long as he agrees to fight, he will fight with them. Quackity still seems to disagree, Tubbo puts his foot down and mentions what Dream said. That everyone else always pushed him around, but no HE'S the president, and his word is final, anyone who goes against it is committing treason. Quackity reluctantly agrees, but says that what Tubbo said doesn't mean they can't deal with the traitors after they stop Techno and Dream.
-End of this stream-
Bullet points for Tommy-
Starts Stream a little after Tubbo and the others start.
Plan to go to l'manburg to ruin the festival
Show up at l'manburg, with lots of invis potions, investigate what's happening
Dream shows up, join VC secretly Hear Dream freak out about the community house, seem confused, follow them.
Once Tubbo seems like he's going to give up the disc, tommy interjects
Fight tubbo
Give up on fighting tubbo and realize that you're fighting your best friend
Listen to Dream evil speech
After Dream/Techno leaves, convince everyone to work together. Talk about putting your life on the line for l'manburg.
Bullet points for Techno-
Start Stream a little after Tubbo and the others start.
Plan to go to l'manburg to ruin the festival
Show up at l'manburg, with lots of invis potions, investigate what's happening
Dream shows up, join VC secretly Hear Dream freak out about the community house, seem confused, follow them.
Once Tubbo seems like he's going to give up the disc, tommy interjects
Fight tubbo
Give up on fighting tubbo and realize that you're fighting your best friend
Listen to Dream evil speech
Join in when Dream asks if you have withers, *whatever else you want here*
After Dream leaves, awkwardly leave and head back to your house
Dream is there and Techno & Dream briefly talk about what they're going to do, Techno shows Dream the wither room
Bullet points for l'manburg-
Start Stream a little before the festival
Have meeting with cabinet about killing Dream, how Tubbo should be the one to do it because he's trusted.
Start the festival, Dream said he would show up a little later.
Dream shows up in full armor and is building an obsidian wall.
Realize and run over pissed off. Join his VC (don't see tommy / techno)
Listen to Dream, then go see the community house
Be mad at Tommy
Tubbo fights with Tommy after almost giving up his disc
Fight ends, Tubbo gives the disc to Dream to end war
Listen to Dream evil speech
Ranboo was a traitor for Techno/Tommy
After Dream/Techno leaves, Tubbo and Tommy convince people to work together. They talk about putting their lives on the line for l'manburg.
Quackity wants Ranboo executed
Tubbo puts his foot down and insists that he will not be doing that, that he's president.
Bullet Points for original DreamSMP members:
After l'manburg and dream show up at the community house(it's blown up), show up and seem upset and distressed that it was blown up. That it was the oldest artifact on the server and it had a lot of memories.
Follow Dream's lead, mostly agreeing with what he says.
Once Dream brings up the disc that Tubbo has, insist that it be burned and turned over by Tubbo.
Once Tubbo turns over the disc, Dream gives and evil speech
Realize that Dream is taking it too far and l'manburg's a part of history and is a free country
Follow Tommy/Tubbo's lead, talk about how you guys can stop Dream and Techno if you all work together
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echo-bleu · 6 months
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Day 21: Some post-Angband Maedhros research. Most fics/art set during his recovery have him recover physically quite fast, missing hand notwithstanding, but I want to explore other options.
Disabled characters series
Rambling under the cut, ID in alt.
[Discussion of his canon torture and injuries, going a tiny bit more in depth]
So aside from the previous torture, for which we can invent basically anything, he was hanging from the wrist for 30 years. I'm pretty sure that would kill a human in a matter of hours, but since he survived, in my mind he's got some serious shoulder and spine issues. Those stay for the rest of his life, but with a combination of support garments, elf-PT and just sheer force of will, he does manage to walk again and fight. I don't think he ever gets a great range of motion or much feeling back in his right arm.
This is me making use of one of my weirdest special interests (medical immobilization devices). I have a bunch of different design ideas for braces at other stages of his recovery, and this is just basic research for now. Here he still needs his arm in slight abduction and full support for his spine, and the big metal arm thing is correcting the angle of his shoulder (otherwise it is very dissymmetrical with the other).
In my mind, this is maybe a year after his rescue. 30 years of torture aside, I also headcanon that elves might heal more (as in, they can survive a lot more) than men but they also heal slower in the same way they grow up slower. Not pictured here is the fact that he's still mostly using a wheelchair.
This is a wild mix of pre-50 spine braces, modern shoulder and back braces and pure fantasy, and it's probably the simplest of the designs I have in mind 😅 Design-wise, I was thinking about the fact that it was probably made by Curufin people used to making armour, so it's the same materials (steel and leather) and similar kind of shapes. It would perhaps be more decorated because Noldor but I didn't have time for that today.
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anarcoqueer1994 · 1 year
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"Go to prom with me?" He says softly, contently holding Steve, their bodies tangled together on his bed. His voice almost sounds shy, uncharacteristically anxious to even be asking.
Steve, head on Eddie’s chest, as he traced invisible lines on his torso, stiffened slightly. God, he would love to go to Eddie’s prom as his date. His own prom, he brought some girl he never spoke to again after that night. He would love to go with someone he loves, like half the straight couples. But he knew they couldn't. Boys like them didn't get to go to school dances together in small town, Indiana. "Eds... we can't." He says sadly, like he knew he would be disappointing Eddie. He tries to lighten the mood. "Besides, didn't peg you as someone that would want to go to prom."
"Honestly..." Eddie sighs, "You're right. A few months ago, you wouldn't catch me dead at prom, other than to sit outside and make a few quick sales. Never had anyone I really wanted to dance the night away and shit, with. But now," Steve can hear a smile in Eddie's voice. "I have someone that I want to do things like that with, princess. You know, do all the cheesy things, flowers and corsages, dancing together under those stupid crepe paper decorations hanging from the ceiling, kissing you softly as we slow dance to a song I hate. " There is a l giddiness in Eddie's voice as he talks, wanting to go with Steve so badly. And the fact that Steve knows they could never really go together, kills him. Sure they could go with Nancy and Robin, and everyone could use each other as beards, but they still couldn't be open like other people.
Eddie seemed to sense the tension in Steve’s shoulders and could practically read his mind. "Don't worry, Stevie. I'm happy just being with you, I know we couldn't really go together. Wouldn't be safe, I'm not that naive. Just thinking out loud..." He squeezes Steve tighter, seemingly leaving the conversation there.
But Steve couldn't stop thinking about how excited Eddie got talking about going to something like prom. And he knew he couldn’t give Eddie that. But he was determined to figure something out that was better.
--
It was the Saturday night of prom. Steve was supposed to pick Eddie up for a movie. Eddie was waiting in the livingroom with Wayne. About 6:30, there is a pound on the door before it just flies open. Eddie assumes it's just Steve letting himself in. He is confused instead by the sight of Nancy, hair and makeup done, wearing a poofy light pink dress. She is carrying a garment bag with her.
"Nance? What are you..." He starts, completely unsure of what to make of what is happening.
"Come on, Eddie. Steve and Robin will be here soon and you don't even have your tux on." She says, not doing anything to alleviate the confusion. Nancy simply makes her way down the hall to Eddie’s room. Wayne smiles from his chair, obviously in on whatever is going on. When Eddie looks to him for clarification, he just shrugs his shoulders and goes back to his newspaper.
"Eddie! Come on!" Nancy yells from his room, prompting Eddie to run down the hall to meet her.
When he gets in there, she is already pulling out a fancy looking suit.. but he doesn’t hate it. It had black pants and a black shirt, but the bow tie was red and so was the velvet jacket. She can feel him staring so Nancy just says, "Don't laugh, Steve picked it out for you when he went to rent his tux too."
Eddie can't help but smile. Steve saw this and thought of him. "I wouldn't. I'm kind if into it. But... I still am confused on what's happening." He puts his hand on the back of his neck.
"It's prom night, Eddie. Steve and Robin are getting ready and then they are picking us up." She sounds exasperated, like it should be obvious.
"Okay, Wheeler, I get that. But in case you forgot, I'm dating a dude. Also, you're dating a girl. We can't really walk into Hawkins's gym with them on our arms, can we?" He says sarcastically.
Nancy shakes her head, trying to hide her amused smile. "Don't worry about it, okay? Just get ready." She hands him the suit before leaving to give him privacy before he can press anymore.
Eddie reluctantly listens to her, slipping on the tux that seems to fit him perfectly. He looks in the mirror, feeling a little out of his element but still liking it. He does decide to add a chain to his pants and ditches the bow tie when he can't get it tied. He doesn't really own dress shoes, so he opts for black boots instead. Finally he ties his hair up in a lose bun with few stray pieces framing his face. He doesn't know what Steve has planned but he wants to look good.
He makes his way to the front room to find, to his "horror, " that Wayne had dug out the old camera, aiming it at him when he walks in. "Come on, man. What are you doing?"
"You think I'm not going to take pictures of my kid going to prom?" Wayne shoots back. And Eddie can't argue with that, can't help but smile when Wayne snaps a picture.
He sits by Nancy on the couch, but it isn't long until there is knocking at the door. Wayne opens it to let Steve and Robin in. Robin looks beautiful in a little one sholder blue dress with a poof on the shoulder, hair teased, and make up done. She instantly makes her way to Nancy, smiling as she does.
But Eddie can't focus on them, not when Steve Harrington is standing in front of him, pulling him up from the couch. He is wearing a very traditional black and white tux, with a red bow tie. As usual, his hair is perfect. He has a rose boutonniere pinned to his jacket and is holding another in his hand. He is staring at Eddie with the biggest smile.
"You look beautiful, Eds..." He says softly like they were the only two in the room. The girls were too wrapped up in their own conversation to even care. Eddie feels his cheeks turning red. It does not matter they have been dating for two months, he still gets butterflies whenever Steve stares at him like that.
"Thanks, princess. So do you. You look really hot, actually." He smirks, wrapping his arms around Steve's waist, careful not to crush the boutonniere in Steve’s hands as he does.
Steve is blushing as he starts to pin the almost matching rose to Eddie’s jacket, except with one small difference. On the stem is a tiny black bat lapel pin. "Do you like it?"
"Yea, I love it, baby." Eddie smiles before leaning in, pressing a soft kiss to Steve's lips. As he pulls away, he says, "But can you tell me what is going on? Nancy wouldn't tell me anything."
"Good, she wasn't supposed to. " Steve just smiles before pulling away, lacing his fingers with Eddie’s before pulling to the door, obviously not answering either. Before they can leave, Wayne stops them. He makes all of them take a million pictures, all posing in those silly prom couple poses... and Eddie is beaming through each and every one.
When they finally leave, everyone refuses to tell Eddie what is going on. Steve had made them promise not to ruin the surprise until they got to where they were going.
What Eddie does not expect was to pull up at Steve's house or to see so many cars there. Before Eddie can get out, Steve is out and goes to the other side of the door, opening it for him, Nancy doing the same for Robin. Nobody mentions that it's Steve's house, leaving Eddie even more confused as they walk to the door.
Everything clicks when they step inside. Eddie can feel his mouth drop open. All the furniture from the open living room/dining room had been pushed away into another room, except for the table, where there were some pizza, chips and punch. The room was dark, but in the corner sat one of those plastic disco light balls flashing colors throughout the room. Hanging from the ceiling were crepe paper decorations. The stereo was play generic pop songs that Eddie "hates." On the wall read a poster Hawkins's "Gay" Prom '86
But that wasn't the most shocking part. The room was filled with at least 35 people. Jonathan(brown suit and his camera) and Argle(in a powder blue tux) were there , talking, as Jonathan pushed Argyle's hair behind his ear, standing way closer than they would in public. Corroded Coffin was there. Gareth and Jeff were there with their girlfriends, obviously preferring to be with their friends, than regular prom anyway. Plus, technically Gareth wasn't a senior. Jared brought his boyfriend, who, to Steve's surprise, was a swimmer that used to be on the team with him.
More than that, the kids were there since they were high schoolers now too. Dustin is dateless, so he is manning the fruit punch/DJing. Max, El, and Lucas are all dancing together, while Mike and Will awkwardly try to not look like huge doofuses dancing together. Eddie thinks it's cute to see.
The biggest surprise, though, were a few random people from school and their dates. Being queer in a small town, you tend to know the others. There was, of course, Vickie and some girl she was dancing with from Eddie’s first period math class. There were also a few random juniors, sophomores, and freshmen, all here being unapologetically queer.
Eddie didn't realize he had been staring until Steve grabbed his hand and stepped in front of him. "What so you think?" He says shyly.
"I...I...love it." Eddie stutters, still dumb founded. "How did you do this?"
"Just had the kids and Nancy and Robin reach out to anyone at school they knew were... you know. I figured there had to be other people who wanted to go to prom but couldn't, not really. Not with the people they want to." Steve smiles and Eddie swears he has fallen even more in love with Steve. Nancy and Robin have made their way to the "dance floor."
"You're amazing, sweetheart. Thank you. " Eddie's eyes are glowing as he leans in to give Steve a little kiss. No one around them bats an eye.
They spend the night dancing together and just enjoying themselves with the others. Steve "requests" I'd Die for You by Bon Jovi and sings it at Eddie as they dance. They all slow dance to "True Colors" by Cyndi Lauper (Robin's song to Nancy). Robin and Nancy "win" prom queens. It's honestly one of the best nights of Eddie’s life, and he is so grateful for Steve.
And the next year, they keep it going, opening up a secret queer prom for kids at the high school. It's a tradition. And now, in 2022, 36 years later, it doesn’t have to be a secret anymore. Hawkins's still has a queer prom, and the Hawkins's High guidance consoler and his rock star husband still chaperone it(grant it, in a much bigger venue than Steve's living room).
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mhsdatgo · 1 month
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Alicent crowing aegon exposing her children to more risk than just letting rhaenyra became queen. Rhaenyra wanted that throne, there is no way she would have accepted those "terms", and alicent is 100% aware of this in the book and in the show as well. By crowning aegon she start a war and put her children DIRECTLY on the battlefield against people who were more experienced in war like daemon or ride dragon longer like rhaenyra and rhaenys amd consequently may control their dragon better. If you didn't want to consider a crash between two or more dragons, even if they were on a dragon against an army the danger is very high, look at rhaenys the conqueror or aemon the first son of jaehaerys, they were on dragon's back and yet both of them were killed by arrow. Not to mention that both in the book and in the show alicent spend years creating animosity with rhaenyra, If you TRULY believe that someone may hurt your children you do everything you can to maintain at least a civil relationship, and not constantly provoke them and then cry about how your children may be hurt by your stupidity. Because that what alicent has done in the book starting hating rhaenyra, pray viserys to name Aegon as heir and constantly share gossip to damage rhaenyra's image (with a 10 years old girl, meanwhile Alicent was a GROWN woman), and in the show the situation is not different. The truth is that alicent’s action were based on her own ambitious in the book and on her resentment to rhaenyra in the show, but NEVER in the interest of her children. In fact aegon never wanted to be king, he was forced by her and has to endure all the consequences while watching all of his family die
Ladies and gentlemen, here we have someone who quite literally didn't get a single thing about Fire and Blood.
See, anons like these are what makes my blood boil at the writers of HotD for making Rhaenyra appear like a saint which not only made most of the decisions she'll take from this moment onward out of (show) character (as far as character building and development goes) but also fucking boring.
I'm always one to listen to different points of view and interpretations of books as complicated as these, but something that has always bugged me is the way this fandom CANNOT DIGEST the type of tragedy that is just inevitable.
It was never about picking sides, it was never about sexism, it was always about kin torn apart by kin and their own flaws dragging them down. There was no way to ever avoid that and I cannot have a proper discussion about F&B with anyone who doesn't understand this first.
Moreover, just what do you think Alicent should've done? Shut up, be quiet, sit still and look pretty while Daemon's spies turned her children into bloody shreds? Allow them to be assassinated because of the threat they pose to Rhaenyra's claim? Does everything revolve around her? Is she some kind of Twilight Sparkle?
Let me tell you this: no woman would willingly step back and leave their children to their own devices when their own lives pose a threat to someone else's interests.
I have respect for Rhaenyra and her will to fight for what she believed was her birthright (although let's be honest, it was a feeling born out of nothing but the entitlement of a spoiled brat, it turned into a war of parents after one of each faction's children was killed) but I also have so much more respect for Alicent and her courage to bare teeth and claws and plan a coup to be allowed the upper hand and more possibilities of looking after her children if one of them is ruling. It's not "stupidity" it's awareness. And acting according to it.
It's true that Alicent has her own ambitions, but to say that they started growing in her when she was nothing but an 18 year old girl marrying a 30 year old man... Do you hear yourself? That's a girl getting graduated from high school. Oh shiver me timbers, we're scared of young adults here.
Everyone likes and loves and adores to talk about the way ALICENT was having beef with Rhaenyra as a 10 year old but nevermind Rhaenyra placing a bounty on two toddlers and one of them getting ripped apart because of it. Nevermind her refusing that bastard Corlys' advice to take Daeron as a hostage and demanding that he be killed instead. (Because this bitch was the #1 threat to her rule, but y'all aren't ready for that conversation)
She never "prayed" for Aegon to be named as heir, what she DID pray for was for him and Rhaenyra to be betrothed to one another. I hate Rhaegon personally, (no hate to any Rhaegon stan that reads this ♥️) but honestly this is the only marriage that could've MAYBE prevented the Dance. It started because there were two claimants to the throne. Just marry them to each other and the issue was solved. Both of them get crowned, no Dance, peace.
But noooooo, Viserys, the incompetent twat, as always had to act like an incompetent twat and be like "lol but they don't get along". IT WAS HIM WHO DOOMED HIS CHILDREN, EACH AND EVERY ONE OF HIS SONS AND DAUGHTERS. ALL. OF. THEM.
Everyone else acted as a consequence to the cluterfuck that the sick old man created. Namely, chaos. What else did you expect?
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Let's Talk About Lincoln And His Dads, Okay?
I think people claiming that Lincoln and Grant "aren't so different after all" because, like everyone else in the show, they both have blood on their hands, have mostly missed the mark on where the core of Lincoln's issues with his dad(s) lie in the first place.
Moreover, I'm tired of people insinuating that Lincoln's troubles pale in comparison to Normal's or Scary's or Hermie's, and I'm tired of people saying that Lincoln is overreacting, or that Lincoln is a hypocrite for calling out his dad's behavior, or that he is in the wrong for setting boundaries, or that he's ungrateful, or that he's responsible for ensuring his dad's emotional wellbeing and not the other way around!
*breathes* So let's. Let's finally talk about Lincoln and Grant (and Marco also him).
[WOAH THERE! Hey you, yeah you, this is a long-ass post, mhm, it's one of those, so please keep that in mind before venturing below the cut. Maybe grab yourself a drink or a bite to eat first, yeah? Additionally, sorry the transcript stuff is a bit messy in this one, tumblr has a 30 image limit and well, I had to find workarounds. Also, I haven't yet added alt text for the transcript screenshots- I plan to when I have a bit more energy for it, but I apologize for any inconvenience this may cause in the meantime!]
Part 1/4: "Honesty is hardly ever heard, and mostly what I need from you"
Lincoln is certainly a pacifist at heart (in more recent times important examples of this include Lincoln's refusal to harm Scary in the Swallows household, as well as Lincoln being the only one of the teens to successfully avoid using violence in front of d00d during their most recent standoff with Willy), and in good paladin fashion functions as the group's moral compass the majority of the time.
Despite this, Lincoln's morals are not so simplistic and idealistic as to not differentiate between different motives for violence, nor does he view acts of violence in and of themselves as signs that a person is "evil" or "irredeemable". He can for example, see the difference between the acts of Willy and those of the kiddads, as he tries to explain when confronted by the other teens on the matter:
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In fact, even after Grant tells Linc all of this during the incursion:
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Lincoln's primary goal is still to save his dad first and foremost, then offer him the room to explain himself, without immediately chalking him up as a bad person because of what he has done.
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Lincoln certainly doesn't approve of Grant and his violence, though he can understand that things are seldom black and white. But the killing is far from the only issue here. In fact, it's not even the main issue.
Grant creates a foundation based on trust and accountability whose importance in the Li-Wilson household is hammered in from the very first episode.
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And we see throughout the early episodes of the season just how strongly Lincoln believes that Grant would never lie to him.
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Then of course the incursion point encounter happens. There are several elements of this encounter that we will gloss over for now and go back to later, but of immediate importance is the fact that this interaction serves as direct confirmation for Lincoln that his dad has in fact been lying to him his entire life.
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Additionally, he learns that Grant possesses a deep hatred of himself, wants to die, perceives himself as "broken beyond repair", and fears that Lincoln will somehow wind up just like him. That's a lot for one kid to have dropped on them, let alone all at once and without warning!
So- Lincoln wants to confront his dad after this both because he wants his dad to explain himself and take accountability for his dishonesty and for his actions more generally, and because he is concerned for his dad's wellbeing.
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Now let's look at how Grant has, over the course of the season, responded to Lincoln's attempts to get him to take responsibility for his actions, and talk about his mental health:
The first thing Grant does is pull a classic Wilson "we'll talk about it later". Then the very next thing he does is lie to Lincoln again, now pretending that his plan is to fix things with Erin by offering her a gift (when of course he's actually set out to steal the sun)
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Then as a deflection when Lincoln further tries to confront him about the lying, he indirectly equates everything he has kept secret from Lincoln (see the incursion point stuff) to "little white lies" and, contrary to the philosophy he so heavily instilled in Lincoln, argues that sometimes lying can protect the people one cares about:
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Which as a point of interest I would like to compare and contrast to something Lincoln says in an earlier episode:
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"lies can protect" vs "protecting is also trusting"- anyways moving on,
From there Grant's plan to steal the sun eventually comes to light (heh) and gets foiled, forcing the teens to be the mature ones in the situation and try to negotiate something with Erin. While he is certainly disappointed by everything going on, however, Lincoln's priorities vis-à-vis Grant are still, first and foremost, to ensure that he is safe, and when time allows for it get an apology from him and get him to talk openly about everything he has withheld. At this point in time Lincoln, while obviously angry at his dad, still very clearly cares about his dad and just wants to be able to talk with him without all the lies or deflection or excuses.
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Then the teens are backed into a corner when their attempts at negotiation go sour, and ultimately wind up helping Grant steal the sun. Once that is over, Lincoln tries to confront his dad again, now with regards to some of the things he said about himself:
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(Do note that last bit especially as it will be of relevance in the next section)
Then after Grant ignores the other teens when they try to talk to him, Lincoln calls him out and once again asks him to apologize, in part for having told Lincoln previously that they were dangerous and that he was not to hang out with them:
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(as you might have guessed, Grant does not apologize).
Then it is established that the "zone of truth" in the Li-Wilson household isn't actually a spell but an agreed upon promise between Marco, Grant, and Lincoln to tell only the truth when someone calls upon the zone of truth, further cementing the degree to which honesty is an important Li-Wilson family value. Whilst in the zone of truth, however, Grant beats around the bush with regards to his intentions, and the teens ultimately decide that they do not want him to come along with them to the church of the doodler, as he is untrustworthy, in addition to Lincoln saying that he needs some space for his own sake. Grant then pretends to respect this decision, though he is in fact once again lying through his teeth, and sneaks back on later.
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Before exiting the bus for the first time, however, Lincoln tries to get his dad to open up a bit about his feelings. Grant's response?
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Time after time after time, Grant refuses to confront himself and address anything from what occurred at the incursion, and in fact adds on to everything with a whole new slew of lies, and with each failed attempt at connection the rift between Lincoln and Grant increases. And Lincoln, true to his values and how he was raised, is not a hypocrite in wanting openness and accountability from his dad. Lincoln is not and has never acted like he is perfect and beyond making mistakes, but Lincoln takes responsibility for his actions, even when the degree to which he is actually complicit in the crime at hand is questionable. He writes a letter to the families of the firemen because he feels responsible for their deaths. He apologizes to Taylor for lying to him about the bracelets and helps not only Taylor but also Nicky escape the clutches of the FBI, even though the consequence of doing so could easily have been his own death. When he thinks he may have inadvertently lead Hero on, his immediate decision is to take accountability for it and clear things up. All of this in addition to consistently apologizing to his friends when he thinks he may have hurt them for one reason or another.
This is also an important thing to consider when we talk about the place of violence in the show. Yes all the characters, including Lincoln himself, have had to kill at some point or another for the sake of survival and protecting the ones they love. But Lincoln does not use the blood on his hands to justify violence in future decisions. Despite the fact that he has had to kill before, Lincoln, as mentioned in the beginning of this essay, continues to try incredibly hard to act as pacifist whenever he can, choosing to protect those around him with as little collateral damage as possible. Does he have a perfect track record? No! Does he still try his damned hardest to choose kindness and mercy? Absolutely! And this is an important distinction especially between Lincoln and Grant.
And then Grant kills Terry. Now Lincoln must shift his priorities towards protecting his friends from his dad, but in running after Scary still finds himself forced to confront him. So what does Grant have to say regarding his actions?
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Both Lincoln and Scary are right to be furious with this response, Terry Jr. is dead and all Grant can offer in response is what is essentially another excuse. Grant's mental state does not absolve him of responsibility or accountability for his actions, which as Lincoln points out (and repeats later) consist not only of the singular choice of shooting Terry, but of every choice he has made before and after that. "I'm sorry your dad is broken" obviously doesn't bring Terry Jr. back, but perhaps more importantly demonstrates that Grant is still not willing to reflect on his actions any further than that and work on himself moving forward.
So Lincoln does what is perhaps the most difficult thing he has done in his life, and disowns his father. This is not a rash, impulsive decision. As established, Lincoln has given Grant many chances throughout the season to address his behavior and at least fucking *talk* with Lincoln about his mental state, but he refused. He refused, not because he means harm, but because Grant truly believes himself to be fundamentally broken and irreparable, and doesn’t see the effect that his own suffering is having on his son. This, in addition to continuously failing to take Lincoln seriously and treat him as more than a little kid, both in failing to listen to Lincoln's voices of concern as well as in disregarding any of his proposals to go about things differently (whether that means avoiding violence, trusting rather than lying, or both).
So when Lincoln says:
"It's not about what you just did now, Dad. It's all your choices. You chose me. There wasn't some passion, or, or just a kid. You chose me as your kid, knowing you were broken. You can't take that back. And… I love you, and I hate that you made me love you, when… you are who you are and you knew it."
This isn't Lincoln saying that Grant should not have had a kid because he is mentally unwell or has trauma, it is Lincoln saying that Grant continues to make choices without acknowledging his agency in those choices and the effect they have on those around him, instead choosing to pin his mistakes on his perceived brokenness without any resolution to do something about that.
And before you say, "but Grant didn't have a choice in becoming Lincoln's parent since he saved him from the Titanic":
This simply isn't true, as strictly speaking there was nothing stopping Grant and Marco from putting Lincoln up for adoption if one or both of them did not feel themselves to be ready or capable of taking care of a child and
Ignoring Lincoln's exact phrasing, "choosing to be a parent" is not just about the literal choice to have a child, it's about every choice you make before and after that. It's choosing not to express your concerns over parenthood with your spouse, which based on Grant's track record:
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-Is definitely in-character for him. Conversely, in Marco's case, it may be choosing not to ask your partner about their feelings on the matter (because, really, asking Grant on the spot while literally on a sinking ship if he's okay with adopting the baby they just found is kinda rough). It's choosing not to go to therapy (not that we know whether Grant specifically did/does or not but all the same). It's choosing not to apologize when your child is upset with you because of something you did. It's choosing not to take them or their friends seriously. It's choosing to lie instead of trust. It's an endless amount of choices that Grant (and Marco) made every step of the way!
As a final note for this section, what's particularly unfortunate is that even with Lincoln's disownment, Grant still has failed to show any major signs of change. Note this telling exchange (from episode 40):
Grant: I-I understand that. I just thought. Just something that just occurred to me. Hey Dood.
Dood: Yeah?
Grant: Why did you kill those two guys?
Dood: Because I love you so much and I wanted to protect you.
Grant: Okay. That's all I wanted to know.
In which Grant is still making excuses rather than owning up to or apologizing for anything or striving to change his behavior in the future. What's great about Grant's "point" here too is that the two guards that d00d killed were absolutely unnecessary deaths, so this example does anything but work in Grant's favor.
Part 2/4: "My mother hates her body, we share the same outline"
But this is only part of the problem. As aforementioned, we learn early on and see repeated on multiple occasions that Grant thinks ill of himself to the point of believing that he deserves death, and does not want Lincoln to be anything like him.
This affects Lincoln in two major ways. Perhaps most obviously, it leaves Lincoln greatly concerned for his dad's wellbeing, which in turn acts as his main motivation for trying (and failing) to get Grant to explore and explain those feelings. Additionally, however, Grant's self-loathing also has a passive but deeply damaging effect on Lincoln's self-worth. The most important indication of this is when Lincoln says:
"Okay. Look, Scary, I just... You know what? I don't even care. I just needed a friend and I don't know… I don’t know what you're going through, but… no, my dad always said you can't love somebody unless you love yourself, right? Well, last time I asked him if he loved himself, he… He doesn't. So… I don't know, so maybe he doesn't love me either. And you seem to know what that's like, and, you're my friend! You're dealing with these things and I'm just here. I just, I don't know! I don't love myself either! I don't know! But I know that more people will die if we can't do this together, and you're the only person, like, in this group— I mean you guys are, I mean— [sighs] Look, you can go. I'm not going to stop you. You go if you want to go. I'm done."
Also classic Lincoln move to say he doesn't care then proceed to hug Scary through an Eldritch Blast. In this essay, on why people misuse the word "apathy" in applying it to Lincoln,
Though the issue comes up again in a less obvious but very interesting way when Lincoln says that:
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Which I assume probably seems pretty out of left field. To explain a bit what I'm trying to get at here, consider the following scenario:
Your parent, who you care about immensely, possesses certain qualities (say, idk, intrusive thoughts or mood swings or delusional thoughts or *something*) that they possess great shame over, and truly, wholeheartedly believe makes them "evil" or unlovable or even outright deserving of death. Of course, you do not believe that your parent is any of these things, it hurts to see that they feel this way about them-self, so you try your best to support them, even if you know deep down that you are their child and this should not be your responsibility. Your parent does not see the effect that their mental state is having on yours, does not take your voices of concern seriously, and mostly leaves you feeling like you are talking to a wall.
This hurts already, but it gets worse. You are your parent's child, and you are human, and so you inevitably find yourself with some of the characteristics that your parent loathes so much in them-self. Maybe you have similar thought patterns. Maybe you've made similar mistakes. Your parent doesn't love them-self because of these qualities that you now see in yourself, so how can you be sure that they do not hate you for them too? Do they believe that you deserve to die for these things as well? Your parent obviously assures you to the contrary, after all, they love you more than anything. But your parent fails to offer any meaningful line of distinction between their flaws and yours (after all, there isn't one, not really), and continues to assert that, unlike you, they really do deserve to die. Your parent is a hypocrite, and their reassurance does little to convince you.
Hopefully that makes some sense. With regards to the "dreams about killing my dads" part, mostly what I'm trying to say is that these dreams, while certainly very different from Grant's conscious thoughts about violence, still tread the line of mimicking them to some degree, and Grant's "I deserve to die because of how my brain works, don't be anything like me because that's bad!" really doesn't leave Lincoln with a healthy way to process and interpret this fact about himself, even if these dreams don't actually say anything about who he is as a person.
Anyways all that to say, on multiple levels Grant's unwillingness to even try to love himself and treat himself better has been having effects on his son that he can't even begin to realize, in addition to everything discussed in the first bit.
"But baba," I hear you say, "what about Marco? Why has Lincoln seemingly disowned both of his dads?"
Part 3/4: Three is the loneliest number
Well, I think there's a couple things going on here. For one thing, I think in a sense Lincoln sees his dads as kind of a "package deal", which is to say that from his pov disowning Grant means Marco would have to pick a side, and though it pains him immensely (as we see evidence of on several occasions), Lincoln would ultimately rather give up Marco than have Grant be left alone without either of them, because he will always love and care about Grant, and because he's selfless that way.
Additionally, for a good long while, Lincoln doesn't actually appear to harbor any resentment towards Marco:
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However, this later part of the season has brought with it a new wave of disillusionment, and in its wake Lincoln has finally come to question the last major issue characterizing his relationship with his parents: social isolation.
We have known from basically the first episode of the season that Lincoln has lived a very isolated, lonely life, and that the only reason he's even going to public high school now is because he finally convinced Grant to let him:
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As a side note, I have seen discussion of the fact that since Lincoln was rescued from the Titanic, it's possible that he was homeschooled solely because he did not legally exist. The above statement from Matt seems to work against this theory, in addition to the fact that if Lincoln was missing legal papers to get into elementary school... That would also prevent him from going to high school. Also, I mean. If you actually were to find an abandoned baby there's a whole legal process you're supposed to go through, and since Lincoln surely wouldn't have any close blood relatives around, that would still leave the possibility for Grant and Marco to adopt him legally if they wanted to (and if they chose not to go through said process, that's kind of on them?). Which isn't to say that this theory is out of the question, but in any case being homeschooled is one thing, whereas the actual degree of social isolation Lincoln goes through growing up is way more than just that, as we will delve into.
Now, we know that Grant eventually puts an end to Lincoln and Normal seeing each other on the basis that Lark and Sparrow are dangerous, which... Itself is actually fair tbh, in particular given what we now know about Hero. Not fair to Lincoln or Normal, obviously, but understandable. Much less acceptable, is the fact that Lincoln actually grows up without any friends his age whatsoever:
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We understand of course that the motives behind this extreme social isolation are not malicious or otherwise done with ill-intent, but that doesn't make this even remotely okay! Of course then Lincoln is very clingy and perhaps even territorial over his dads, to the point where one of his biggest fears is his parents having another child who would take some of their attention away from him- they've created an environment in which they are basically all he has!
As a direct result of this, Lincoln gets lonely very easily, and when he finally does make some friends of his own, he will do anything and everything for them, even if it means risking his own life (at least then he isn't alive and lonely!)
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This is also why Lincoln is so especially distraught after the loss of Mr. Kicks, a digital avatar whom he considered his best (and only) friend.
Additionally, Lincoln's fear of returning to his lonesome childhood creates an unfortunate scenario in which he cannot be honest with his dads about the fact that he is being bullied at school
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Even though that is definitely the case (and in fact we see it first-hand on many occasions), because to do so would run the risk of his dads taking him out of public school, and that, to him, is worse.
Lincoln beginning to view this aspect of his childhood (the isolation but also the over-protectiveness and overbearing attitude more generally) for what it is is why Matt's intros have recently shifted from "schooled at home" to "schooled in prison", in addition to pretty directly saying that high school was like heaven compared to his home life (in episode 40), and I don't think Lincoln is even remotely in the wrong for looking back at his isolation and thinking "hey, even if you had good intentions, that was kind of fucked up actually, and I need to distance myself from you for my own sake."
Not that Lincoln wanting freedom from his overbearing dads is a new thing! I mean apart from what one can logically infer from Lincoln convincing Grant to let him go to public school, Matt does drop a bunch of telling details here and there such as Lincoln's favorite sound being "the silence of being home alone and free". It's just that now is when these feelings are finally starting to come to the surface.
It is also something that Lincoln naturally would hold against both Grant and Marco, because they are both aware of and responsible for this aspect of his upbringing (whether Marco acted actively or as an enabler in the matter notwithstanding- though I would look no further than both Grant and Marco getting red cards the one time they tried letting Lincoln play soccer with other kids to observe how that family dynamic plays out), hence feeling the need to cut himself off from the both of them in order to set a long-overdue boundary. That said, to be honest with you, I really don't think he's actually all that upset with Marco, and would mostly just like to see him again.
If the events of the Titanic help to ease any aspect of Lincoln's frustration, it would be this one. Not in the sense that it magically makes what Lincoln went through growing up okay, but it does still recontextualize Grant and Marco's degree of overbearingness and (part of) why they are how they are, and I absolutely think that Lincoln would have sympathy for that.
So, where does that leave us?
Part 4/4: What remains (+ the case study of Scary)
"But baba," you say, "Grant and Marco are not just their mistakes! They've both done so many things right as parents, and they love Lincoln more than anything!"
I turn to you, tears in my eyes. "I know," I say, "I know, but that does not contradict or erase the fact that they have inadvertently hurt Lincoln in many, many ways, and he has a right to be upset with them, and express that, and set boundaries if he feels the need to."
You sigh. "So do you think Grant is a good dad or a bad one?" you ask.
I shake my head. "He's just... He's just a dad. A dad who's had a rough swing of things from the beginning. He never meant to hurt Lincoln, and I truly believe he's got a good heart, but I want to see him try harder. I need to see him try harder than he currently is to better himself, for Lincoln's sake as much as his own."
Is... More or less how I feel. I absolutely agree that as a parent Grant obviously gives a shit, and my intention here is absolutely not to say "hey actually, Grant is awful!"
As I mentioned at the very beginning of this essay, however, collectively I have found over the course of the season that Lincoln's trauma and struggles have gone severely understated and undermined, sometimes to the point of even turning him into the bad guy or depicting him as acting dramatic for a decision that I think was very brave of him, actually. So... It does feel necessary to me to point out that, as much as I care about Grant and recognize that he's suffered immensely too, he's still made a lot of mistakes over the course of the season, and still has a lot of room to grow as a person.
As things currently are, I would not blame Lincoln if he did not forgive Grant by the end of the season. Do I think that's what's gonna happen? No lol.
If you'll excuse a mini side-tangent, because for now I don't really want to make this a separate post, the mid-season evolution of Lincoln and Scary's relationship is actually a great case study for Lincoln's capacity for forgiveness, in addition to his inability to give up on people:
Tony Pepperoni's murder is, I would argue, an attack against Lincoln most personally (relative to the other teens). Aside from Lincoln having the strongest pacifistic tendencies of the group, it's in his home, it's in front of Marco, as established in the 3rd section Tony Pepperoni, by virtue of having been over for dinners at the Li-Wilson household before, is someone Lincoln knows more personally than the other teens and one of the only people in his life he could have possibly approximated to a friend. Most importantly though, Scary goes behind Lincoln's back in letting Willy out and disclosing the location of the party, and that is a significant breach of trust.
So Lincoln kicks Scary out of the house (and more or less out of the group by extension) because protecting the others from her is the most important thing at that point in time (sound familiar?). For the next bit, Lincoln's behavior towards Scary becomes a juggling act of keeping a close eye on her to make sure she doesn't cause more harm (and yes, it's also when they are meanest with each other), but also keeping a close eye on her to look after her (a notable example of this being that he doesn't leave her behind in the hall of mirrors, even when it would have been easier and perhaps even "beneficial" to do so in the context of the anchor quest).
And yet despite all the mutual hostility, Lincoln without question also fights the hardest to get Scary back. He breaks the pick as a sign of trust (and as Freddie put it: "that's love babeeey") and to show her she's welcome back in the group, follows through on this decision despite the fact that it creates a temporary rift between him and the others (Normal and Taylor) who oppose her return (perhaps a good time to also say as a reminder that Lincoln was the most against letting Willy out in the first place), breaks a door down to protect her from Willy even when everyone else in the house treats him as crazy for doing so, refuses to fight Scary when she goes on the offense, and hugs her through a god damn eldritch blast because he can't let her leave and hurt more people but still cares about her to the point that he would literally choose to die before hurting her or giving up on fighting for her. Like, if that's not love and forgiveness, I don't fucking know what is. This in addition to him encouraging the others to go easy on her and otherwise looking out for her past that point.
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So do I think Lincoln Li-Wilson has it in him to forgive Grant in spite of it all? That is a resounding yes from me. Will the events of the Titanic facilitate this if only by painting Grant's situation in a more sympathetic light and showcasing some of his virtues? Totally, I mean, there's a reason Anthony decided to make the arc go this way. But will I be a bit disappointed if this forgiveness comes without any major growth on Grant's part? Also. Also yes yeah.
MM. I DON'T REALLY KNOW HOW TO END THIS ONE TBH. Heh. Well, thank you for one thing, for taking the time to read a post this long. If you're reading this not too long after I posted it I am most definitely pacing around rn going "oh god they hate it!" but uh. Well that's a me problem lol. Anyways, I hope this proves to be at least somewhat insightful? ...Yeah no apart from that I really am struggling to end this properly and honestly I'm real sleepy lol so I'll just say again (whether you agree with the points listed here or not) THANKS FOR HEARING ME OUT Y'ALL AND TAKE CARE.
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wandamaximoffsbadgirl · 2 months
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Let's Talk About That Chapter 4
Warnings: talks of mental health (PTSD, anxiety, panic attacks), mentions of death/dying, anger issues, angst and fluff
Word count: 1,969
A/N: listen I love rewatching Marvel movies but having to watch civil war and pause every 5 seconds for the accords scenes killed me, but it would have bothered me if the lines weren't accurate so here you go.
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May 19th 2016
You were in your office when Natasha came round telling you that you had to go to the meeting room. The secretary of state was here to talk with the Avengers. You knew this couldn't be good, but you got up with your laptop in hand just in case you needed it. 
All of you sat around the meeting room while Secretary Ross spoke, "The world owes the Avengers an unpayable debt. You have fought for us, protected us, risked your lives, but while a great many people see you as heroes there are some who would prefer the word 'Vigilantes'." Your grip on Wanda's thigh tightens and her hand goes over yours. Trying not to cause a scene, but you must have squeezed a little too tightly. You release it completely, balling and unballing your fist.
"And what word would you use, Mr. Secretary?" Natasha asks.
"How about dangerous?" He replies. "What would you call a group of U.S. based enhanced individuals who routinely ignore sovereign borders and inflict their will wherever they choose and who frankly seem unconcerned with what they leave behind." Ross speaks freely, but you interject.
"Excuse me Sir, but if you'd have gone over my notes thoroughly about everyone's after mission session when things go good and when things go not great there is in fact a difference in their psyches. This team though we are enhanced individuals still have emotions and feelings. We still care about others and it's the exact reason we do what we do. Just because the world doesn't see them break down. I do." You stand up. "Tony has severe anxiety and suffers from panic attacks when things go wrong. Steve and Natasha have PTSD. Wanda," you look at her and she nods, " thinks every goddamn day about how she could have done better in Lagos. If she had been able to hold on a second longer than no one would have gotten hurt that day. Those lives every one of them rests on her mind." You tell him though he doesn't seem to care much as he shows a video, you sit back down, moving closer to Wanda and she holds your hand, your fingers intertwining. 
"New York, Washington D.C." He's showing the group's past failures as you look over at Steve and Natasha, watching their faces pale as both try to stay in the moment. "Sokovia." The battle for Sokovia from Ultron, the one you missed. You feel her hand squeeze yours as you move your other hand to her thigh to try and soothe her, "Lagos." The footage starts playing of the building that got caught in the blast Wanda had tried to contain. The close up of a dead girl in the ruble is shown and you can feel her shift as you pull her against your chest and whisper, 
"Don't look. I've got you."
"Alright that's enough." Steve calls out. I mouth a thank you to him as I let Wanda go once the footage stops. 
"Good to know we'll need a group therapy session after this." You say flatly. As you turn back to the front of the room.
"For the past four years you've operated with unlimited power and no supervision. That's an arrangement the governments of the world can no longer tolerate, but I think we have a solution." He hands over a binder to you. 
"The Sokovia Accords?" You ask, thumbing through it with Wanda.
"Approved by 117 Countries. It states that the Avengers shall no longer be a private organization. Instead you'll operate under the supervision of the United Nations panel. Only when and if that panel deems it necessary." Ross informs you all. 
"The Avengers were formed to make the world a safer place. I feel we've done that." Steve interjects.
"Tell me Captain, do you know where Thor and Banner are right now? If I misplaced a couple of mega 30 ton nukes you can bet there would be consequences. Compromise, reassurance, that's how the world works. Believe me, this is the middle ground." Ross states. 
"So," Rhodey starts. "There are contingencies?" 
"Three days from now the U.N. meets in Vienna to ratify the accords." Ross tells us and you see Steve finally acknowledge Tony sitting in the corner away from the rest of us. "Talk it over."
"And if we come to a decision you don't like?" Natasha asks. Ross stops his exit from the room. 
"Then you retire." Ross answers.
"Sir. I'm 19." You remind him
"Good thing you went to college already. Whole life ahead of you unlike the rest of your team." He says and you've never wanted to break someone's neck more and once he and his men leave the room, you hand your laptop to Wanda and have everyone back up from the table as you slam my fist into it, reducing it to rubble. 
"You're paying for that." Tony mentions.
"You pay me. So you're paying for that." You remind him and you're lucky it wasn't his face." You say taking your laptop back from Wanda. "Thank you sweet girl."
As the tension in the room simmered and Secretary Ross exited, leaving the group to grapple with the weight of his ultimatum, a heavy silence settled over you. You could feel the collective unease radiating from your teammates, each grappling with their own thoughts and emotions in the wake of his proposition. The mix of all the feelings makes you nauseous.
Turning to face your fellow Avengers, you could see the turmoil etched on their faces, the weight of Ross's words bearing down upon us like a crushing weight. But amidst the uncertainty and fear, there was also a glimmer of determination in their eyes, a silent vow to stand together in the face of adversity.
"We need to talk," Steve's voice cut through the silence, his gaze sweeping across the room as he addressed each of you in turn. "This isn't a decision to be made lightly. We need to weigh the consequences, consider our options, and come to a consensus as a team."
You nodded in agreement, your mind already racing with the implications of Ross's proposal. The Sokovia Accords represented a fundamental shift in the way the Avengers would operate, a relinquishing of your autonomy in exchange for the illusion of oversight. But at what cost? Would you be forced to compromise your principles, to bend to the will of bureaucrats and politicians who viewed you as nothing more than tools to be wielded at their whim?
As the group dispersed from the meeting room, each lost in your own thoughts, you felt Wanda's hand slip into yours, her touch a comforting anchor amidst the storm of uncertainty that raged within you currently. With her by your side, you knew that whatever decision we ultimately made, you would face it together, united in your commitment to stand up for what you believed in, no matter the consequences. And as you retreated to the solace of our shared quarters, you knew that your journey was far from over, that the road ahead would be fraught with challenges and trials, but that so long as you faced them together, you would emerge stronger, more resilient, than ever before.
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As the team goes back and forth arguing sides of right and wrong and if things are better in your hands or in the U.N. Wanda speaks up, "You're saying they'll come for me." Before you can speak, Vision does beside you after you had nudged your way in when he tried to sit next to Wanda, "We would protect you." 
"They'll come for me too. Wanda was given powers by the mind stone." You flick it on Vision's forehead, he flinches a bit, but you know it doesn't hurt, not like your own, "But this stone in my chest is a ticking time bomb. Something I've never told you guys is I have never once used 100% of my power. I had talked with Thor who knew about the stones." You gently touch your purple stone, reacting to your touch with a soft glow. "This stone in the past was held and wielded by Celestials, Gods in their own rights, used to decimate worlds." You look around the room. Faces of various degrees of worried or scared or nervous. "If I were to lose control...there's a possibility there won't be an Earth anymore. I know how dangerous I am with this stone, but much like Tony's arc reactor, If we extract this from me. I'm going to die. Last time Bruce did a check up for me...the stone...the stone is wrapped around my heart and lungs. Bruce and I did some tests of moving the stone around and we came to the conclusion it's more than likely to make my lungs collapse and my heart stop if it's pulled out." You look down, unable to look at any of them. "If they take me it might be for the better, but no matter what. I want to keep fighting and keep helping. If I sign that...I'm signing over to my own arrest basically." 
"Well it sounds like that might be a good thing." Tony states. 
"Fuck you Tony! I've only ever wanted to help people! I never want to hurt or kill people! I'd rather just go live my life as a psychiatrist! Work a normal day and come home to a nice home cooked meal, but I can't just do that! You brought me into this world. Now if you want me to stand down, I guess you'll have to take me out." You state before leaving. You hear Wanda follow behind you, catching up as she holds your hand and arm. 
"That is probably the scariest couple with the powers they possess." You hear Tony say just before the two of you get out of hearing range.
As you two left the heated discussion behind, Wanda's hand in yours providing a grounding reassurance, a silent acknowledgment of the challenges you faced together. The weight of the impending decision pressed down on your shoulders, each step echoing the tumultuous thoughts swirling in your mind.
The two of you found solace in a quiet corner of the compound, away from the prying eyes and the cacophony of conflicting opinions. The moon cast a gentle glow over you as you turned to face Wanda, her eyes reflecting a mix of concern and determination.
"I can't believe they'd even suggest something like this," Wanda murmured, her voice barely above a whisper. "To turn against our own, to put us in a position where we have to choose between our principles and our freedom."
"They're scared," you replied, gently squeezing her hand. "Scared of what we can do, scared of the power we wield. But we can't let fear dictate our choices. We need to stand up for what we believe is right, even if it means going against those we once called allies."
Wanda nodded, a quiet resolve settling over her features. "I won't let them take you, Y/N. No matter what they decide. We'll find a way to navigate through this mess together."
A mixture of gratitude and warmth enveloped you as you leaned in, pressing a soft kiss to her forehead. "And I won't let them take you either. We'll face whatever comes our way, side by side."
As the night stretched before you, uncertainty lingering in the air, the two of you stood united against the challenges that awaited you. The Avengers, once a symbol of unity, found themselves at a crossroads, and the choices we made in the days to come would shape the course of our future, both as individuals and as a team.
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zombie-bait · 4 months
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Omg i just realized I have something tiny to add to the whole James Somerton debacle. I'm currently watching the hbombguy vid (as you do when procrastinating assignments) and I remembered something that stood out to me in James' old videos.
So I used to be a fan of his stuff. I am also a fan of Hannibal and IWTV. He made a video covering both so naturally I was very hyped. It was called 'The Gay Appeal of Toxic Love.' The vid itself was fine (I don't remember having any super strong opinions of it besides being excited to hear ppl mention Interview cuz I had recently become obsessed) but one thing did stand out to me. In the IWTV section he mentions Nicki and, naturally, his death:
"After becoming a vampire, Nicky becomes nearly catatonic, and eventually slips away from Lestat entirely. And after centuries of dealing with depression and severe mental illness, Nicky kills himself."
(sourced from this transcript: https://github.com/TerraJRiley/James_Somerton_Transcripts/blob/main/Transcripts/The%20Gay%20Appeal%20of%20Toxic%20Love.txt)
To anyone who's read TVL, I don't think I need to explain that Nicki had not, in fact, been around for centuries. "Nicki had lived to be 30" has been rattling around in my head since I first read it.
And like, obviously I don't expect every youtube essayist to read several long-ish novels to have a full grasp of the series' deep lore, especially when the focus was largely on IWTV and Loustat rather than the entire Vampire Chronicles. Still, it makes you wonder a bit about the quality of the research being done here. You can find the proper info in like, 5 seconds by just going on the fan wiki so I'm not sure what his sources were. And that's the issue at hand, isn't it?
At the time I felt a tiny bit smug recognizing the error but in light of everything that's been revealed, it's kind of telling. I'm not saying this part was plagiarized (I haven't found anything but others on reddit have found issues with different sections of the same video) but rereading the transcript it comes off as someone who clearly doesn't know much about Interview.... It feels like he's reading through a loose summary of plot points rather than analyzing a piece of media that actually means anything to him. It's very much Interview for people who don't know Interview which, one could argue is fair. Especially beyond book one, VC is a niche series and a lot of elements that are important to certain characters or plot lines cannot be summarized quickly for an audience unfamiliar with it. A good writer, who's done a lot of research about the specific topic they have chosen to make a video on, would be able to balance this. There is a LOT to analyze about queerness in VC and its a shame to see one of the more popular queer media channels half-assing it just to churn out videos heavily made up of other people's work. In retrospect he had several videos like that, where he would discuss things like manga/manhua communities while clearly having little knowledge on the nuance of those subjects. He was an outsider who presented himself with a strange amount of authority.
This was content created with the sole intention of propping up queer stories and history, yet it's built off stolen work from queer authors and doesn't actually care that much about exploring the communities it features. Vids like the IWTV one weren't really fact checked because it's only people like me who would might give a shit or even notice anything is off in the first place. There's a bit of a similar vibe in some of his other vids where he undermines the experiences of queer women because he clearly has not taken the time to learn about the nuances of representing queer women in media. These are things that irritated me when I first started to notice them but I put those concerns in the back of my mind because I cared about the topics he was covering and was excited to see these discussions becoming more mainstream.
The revelations of this evening have been disappointing to say the least.
(also for the record I know he made other more recent vids about IWTV but I haven't seen those and even if his account was still up I don't think I would lol
BUT
I did look at the transcript for his 'Vampires and the Gays Who Love Them' video (found from the same link I included above) and this quote about the IWTV AMC show is sending me: "Daniel has never grappled with the complexities of being gay"
Shoutout to straight, uncomplicated icon Daniel Molloy. Devil's Minion was a mass hallucination, spread the word)
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zaradress · 1 month
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Driver
pairing: George Russel x Toto Wolffs daughter warnings: age gap, sexual themes, fingering, pain kink, forbidden trope. prompt: Cami Wolff is the daughter of the mercedes team principle. She goes out of her way to not meet George Russel just because she finds him so attractive. One night she goes to a party and it turns out that the party on the yacht is hosted by none other than George Russel.
I had noticed him from the day I first saw him. It wasn't a crush or some infatuation. Instead it was some kind of admiring from a far type of thing. Dad tried to introduce me a couple of times but I refused. 
The young driver was the only driver I had not talked to out of all the mercedes drivers I had ever met. Which weren't a lot but still. I didn't know back then why I refused to talk to him but I know now. Like I said it wasn't some kind of crush or infatuation. No, it was an attraction that I did not want to feed into with being introduced to him.
I just knew he must be good in bed and every time I caught his eyes I thought about that fact. Which is why I decided it was for the better to just not meet him.
xxx
In Monaco, after Lewis had won the race, everyone decided to go celebrate on someones yacht. I didn't know who's yacht nor did I care. If there is a party I will be there. So I got ready with my friend, Chelsea, and as soon as we were done we left. 
From what I had gathered it would mostly just consist of only workers for mercedes, with some exceptions. My dad, thank god, wasn't going to be there. He'd honestly kill me if he knew that I even attended. 
We walked on to the yacht and went to the bar immediately. "What you getting?" I ask Chelsea. Whilst thinking about my own order. 
"Something that I can get hammered on, this week has been rough", Chelsea works as a PR manager for McLaren so her statement makes sense. 
"Let's just get eight shots, divid them by two and then down them all, one after the other", I tell her. She couldn't have agreed faster. What the hell are those McLaren drivers doing to my poor friend? I laugh whilst she orders the drinks. 
Whilst our drinks are getting prepared Lewis walks up to us and says hey. "Didn't think you'd show up", he comments.
"Why do you say that?" I laugh confused.
He looks around. "Well this is Georges yacht after all, didn't think you'd show up with how you are clearly going out of your way to not talk to George", I stopped smiling, shocked.
I knew that George was going to be here but not that this was his yacht.
"I'm not! Just haven't got to talk to him yet", I tell him, lying through my teeth. 
"So you could just walk over to him and talk to him right now, right?" he asks me smirking. 
I laugh nervously. "Of course I could", I say to him. "Don't be silly Lewis".
"If that's so, go talk to him right now", he challenges. "Or even better come play a game with us in like an hour or two, bring Chelsea with you". 
What have I gotten myself into. "Alright, we'll be there", with that he says goodbye for now and leaves. I had 1-2 hours to get as wasted as possible. 
I turn back to Chelsea. "Order another eight shots", I tell her as I start to down shot after shot. 
"Slow down Cami", she laughs. 
I chose to not listen to her and drank the remaining four from the second round. At first I din't feel anything but after 30 minutes I knew it was over. So was Chelsea but not nearly as much as me. She was perfectly drunk. Enough to think clearly but also enough to have fun. 
Me on the other hand was more than ready to start playing. If it was going to be truth or dare I was going to be up for anything. 
Chelsea and I danced away on the dance floor. She turned to some guy, dancing with him, and I decided to do the same. Not thinking about who it was. The guy put one of his hands on my hips as I was swaying them against him. 
Maneater playing in the back ground whilst my eyes were closed. I turn around just to be face to face with George. Out of all people, George. Thankfully I was so drunk that I didn't care and just put my hands around his neck. 
I doubted that he at that moment knew that I was the daughter of his team principal or he simply did not care. He took a hold of my hand and spun me around. Dancing with me until my friend dragged me to the toilet. 
Chelsea has always had a fear of bathrooms. She was scared that someone might hide in them. So whenever we had a night out it was not uncommon for me or someone else to go with her. 
By the time she was done. George was gone from the dance floor and Chelsea and I just continued to dance with one another. 
After the two hours had passed the party had died down. It was more or less a gathering now. Which was the whole point. A few other drivers arrived and we were maybe 15 or 20 people sitting on the four couches. That's probably why Lewis said one to two hours, so there'd be a little peace and quiet for us to play.
I was still drunk off my ass and was going to be for another few hours. The others were pretty much sober. I'm ashamed to be even saying that I even kept on drinking just a lot less. 
"Let's play then, everyone know how it goes?" Lewis asked. We were going to play truth or dare. A very simple yet exciting game. No one said anything so Hamilton bent over to the table to spin the bottle. "Oh and if you decide to not do it or answer it you have to take a piece of your clothing off", by the time he said that the bottle landed on me. 
The only problem: I have a dress and underwear on. Nothing else. "Truth", with that information in the back of my mind I chose to play it safe. I could feel a pair of eyes staring at me. George. Which made me push my thighs together. It was like he was undressing me with his eyes even though he sat two meters away from me. 
"What's your body count", Lewis asks, genuinely interested. 
"Don't have one, virgin", I answer which was the truth. Sure I had had boyfriends and situation-ships but never had I ever gone the whole way. Only close to it. Somehow I just never felt the desperation for it, so until I found someone I couldn't keep my hands off I wasn't going to do it. 
Everyone looked at me in disbelief. Georges eyes turned a darker shade of blue, looking at me even more intensely. "She's telling the truth and I have known her for a couple of years", Chelsea confirms. She leans into me whispering something in my ear. "George is practically staring at you", she tells me which I ignore. I spin the bottle and so we continued to play. 
As time went on more and more people left only the six of us remaining. Lewis, Chelsea, George, Alex, Lily and me. Three guys against three girls. All of us still had cloths on. But at this point I probably was so drunk I wouldn't have cared if I did. 
The bottle lands on Lily. Chelsea had spun it so she had to choose. "Dare, of course because I'm not boring", she laughs.
Lily just smirks to that. "Remove a piece of clothing of off the guy closest to you but without using you hands", she giggles knowing it was Lewis and how she is going to enjoy this show.
"Okay easy", she sits down beside Lewis and starts to take off Lewis's shirt but he helps her a little because he saw that she was finding it difficult. The rest of us were chanting her name.
When she was done we all started clapping, to which she just turns red and returns to her seat. She spins the bottle and it lands on me. After seeing how tame her dare was I felt like I could choose dare as well. "Dare, why not?" I say unknowing of what was about to come.
"Show us one of your kinks with another player", well fuck Lewis is taken by Chelsea right now and Alex and Lily are both in a relationship with one another. That only leaves Chelsea as an option. As I was about to say her name, she adds on something. "The player has to be male", she smirks.
I knew what she was doing and she knew too because that only leaves George as an option. It was noticeable how he was waiting me to pick anyone but him.
So when I walked drunkenly over to him and tried to sit beside him, it came to him as a shock. He even had to help me sit down because of how drunk I was. Throughout the game we hadn't talked and now I was supposed to show him one of my kinks. 
"So, what's your kink?", he says putting a hair behind my ear. 
I bite my lip which he sees. "Wait if I take off a piece of clothing I can skip this dare, right?" I turn around and ask. 
"Sure but then you wouldn't have anything on you, would you now? So what's worse?", George says looking me up and down. 
"Come on Cami, we've all done worse than whatever your kinks are", Chelsea says to which everyone laughs. 
I turn back to George and get closer to him. So close that if I whisper only he could hear. "I have a pain kink. So if you chock me and than slap me hard I will get turned on immediately, especially if it's from you", I whisper.
"Little Virgin Mary not so pure in actuality, huh?", he laughs. Everyone was confused about what I could have said.
His eyes didn't leave mine as he put one hand on my thigh and the other one started going up from my chest. He just had to take full advantage of this situation didn't he. His hand finally comes to my neck and he starts applying pressure.
The pressure felt so fucking good and it made me close my eyes. His hand leaves my neck and I open my eyes again just to look him in the eyes. That's when his hand slapped me, hard enough for a little moan to escape my lips that only he could hear. 
I return to my seat, drunk and now horney as well. "Fuck me that was hot", Chelsea was the first to say anything and everyone else just started giggling. George on the other hand didn't leave my eyes. 
"Didn't think you had that in you, Cami", Lewis says shocked. I just ignore the fact that I just showed everyone here that I like pain. 
As I spin the bottle I reach for the vodka bottle and take two more shots. George shakes his head in disbelief. 
The bottle landed on George and he chose truth. "What sexual acts arouse you most?" I asked him downing another shot. Not expecting anything interesting.
"Chocking and slapping", everyone was in disbelief. He had not just said that. "Giving not receiving, of course". 
My mouth hung a gap not able to utter a single word. "You two should get a room", Alex laughed. 
The round kept on going and the alcohol was starting to hit again. I had taken off my shoes and left just to go to the speaker and sync my phone to it. I put some music on and started dancing a little. George looked over to what I was doing too which I gestured for him to come to me. 
"What is it?" he asks with a smile on his lips.
I had gone over my drinking limit a while ago. "Dance with me", I tell him. He smiles and looks away.
"How much have you had to drink?" he asked concerned.
"Only like half a bottle of vodka", I say oblivious to how much that actually was. 
"Fuck Cami, this is going to hit you hard when you wake up", he tells me.
"Why don't you hit me hard instead?" I said to him. Looking into his blue eyes. 
He clears his voice. "Let's get back to the game", he leads me to the couch and sits beside me. There was no way I was walking to the couch on my own. 
I rested my head on Georges shoulder as Lewis spun the bottle and of course the bottle had to have landed on me. "Truth", honestly I couldn't move even if I wanted to so it was the obvious choice. 
"I can't come up with a good question, can someone take over for me?" Lewis said to which George takes over.
"Have you ever fantasised about an F1 driver?" he asks.
"That's a good one", Lewis said and everyone agrees.
I don't even have to think about it. "Of course", by the looks of it they weren't expecting me to answer it. 
"Who?" George asked. 
There was no way I was admitting to who I fantasised about. "That's another question and there is no way I'm saying it", I laugh and go to spin the bottle. 
It lands on Alex and he chooses dare. To which I told him to seduce Lily. "I am going to find out eventually who it is", George whispers into my ear. As I was about to respond everyone starts to clap and shout. 
George and I joined in. Alex than spun the bottle and it landed on George. "Truth".
"How long was your longest session, if you know what I mean?" if you know what I mean. 
He thinks about it for a little. "I think it was an hour long", he laughs embarrassed.
George spins the bottle. "You lasted for an hour? No fucking way", Lewis laughs. 
The bottle yet again lands on me and before I can even think I chose truth immediately regretting it. "Who Cami?", he said seductively.
"Well I guess I will have to strip then", I stand up looking him directly in the eyes a teasing smile on my lips. My hands go to my straps and pull one after the other off. 
It was almost as if he didn't believe I would do it. Only when I was about to pull my dress off he stood up and stopped me. Pulling my straps up for me. "I think that's enough for tonight, let's get you sobered up, wouldn't want Toto to get mad at me now would we", he says as he starts leading me inside the yacht. "I'm going to let her sleep here and call Toto probably, is that alright with you Chelsea?", he asks.
"Yeah that's fine by me, with how much she has consumed I don't think I would be able to get her home anyway", she says.
"Perfect than, Cami stays here and I'll take Chelsea home", Lewis says.
They start to pick all their stuff up and George carefully holds me leading me inside the yacht. 
He brings me to the bed and lays me down. He takes a shirt out of his closet and when he turns to give it to me he looks away just as quick. Because he saw how I was starting to take my dress off. 
"George?" I said.
"Yeah what's up?" he still didn't look at me.
I struggled with my bra and couldn't get it off. "I need you to help me take my bra off", I tell him.
"Fuck", he said very quietly as he turned around. 
I still had my dress on but only from the waist down. So my chest was very much on display. He went to my back and slowly unclasped my bra and immediately looked away. 
"Thanks", I said and put the shirt on, shimmying the dress of and fold it with my bra on the bed side table. 
George disappears into the kitchen probably getting some water. He returns with some water. Which I downed in a matter of minutes. He just stood across the bed with his arms crossed looking at me. 
"You just going to stare at me from over there?" I ask him slightly sobering up.
He smiled at that comment. "Yes", he said. "Well, until you tell me who you fantasis about at least", he smirked.
"Come here and I'll tell you", I said to which he walked to the bed and sat beside me whilst I was sitting on my knees. 
"So tell me", he was so eager to know. 
I thought about it for a second. Should I tell the truth or lie? "Let's talk about something else", I giggle. 
"Like I said earlier I will get the answer sooner or later but fine let me ask something else than", he starts saying. "What's the reason behind you going out of your way just to not meet me?".
My smile vanished a little. "Its the same reason I don't want to tell you who I fantasise about", I boldly say. 
He looks me in the eye leaning one hand on the mattress whilst being a bit turned to me. "So you are attracted to me and fantasise about me?" he said almost cocky and not even a bit shocked.
"Can't fall for one of my dads workers now can I?" I said.
"I guess not", his other hand is on my naked thigh, caressing it. "What do you think your dad would say about how you danced with me at the beginning of the party?" his hand traveled further up.
"Not much. What do you think my dad would say about you chocking and slapping me earlier?" I asked him teasingly, acting as though his hand didn't do things to me. 
"Don't think he'd be so happy with me. What do you think he would say about me fingering his pure virgin daughter?" My heart was in my feet. Did he just really say that. 
I gulped slightly. "Well he'd definitely not be too happy about that, but that hasn't happened so we don't need to think about that", his hand traveled even further.
"Yet".
With that our lips met. He put me down on the bed and I put my thighs around his waist. My crotch meeting his, a moan escaping from my lips. One of his hands held my thigh whilst the other one was aggressively traveling over my body until it got to my neck and chocked me. 
I didn't think it was possible for me to become even wetter. His crotch was hard against me and I could feel how he started getting hard. He was actively pushing against me hard. Only making me more horny. 
His hand travled to my sex painfully slow. "Your so fucking wet, so fucking perfect", he pushed my underwear to the side going straight inside me with two fingers.
"George", I moan overwhelmed by the feeling I was experiencing. His thumb went over my clit.
"Your taking my fingers so well, like a good virgin", he tells me.
George started going faster bringing me close to finishing. "George I'm going to cum", I told him.
All the built up tension from all the weeks I had been refusing to meet him were finally going to be released.
"Go on than", he tells me. "Be a good girl for me and cum", he says which takes me over the edge and I hit my climax . He gets a towel and cleans me up a bit.
I have never been fingered better. Even though I didn't do anything I still was more than exhausted. I didn't want to leave him hanging but he assured me that he was happier over having made me cum than anything else. "Come here", he said to me making room for me to snuggle into him.
We than fell asleep and sometime around six AM we woke up again and continued on talking until we fell asleep again.
This was going to be the beginning of something good.
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writing-the-stars · 2 years
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Forgotten
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Pairing: Elijah Mikaelson x Fem!Reader, Elena Gilbert x Fem!Reader (Platonic)
Summary: After seemingly being forgotten by your childhood friends, you seek comfort in a mysterious stranger
Warnings: Angst (Because I’m an Angsty Bitch Who Needs Angst to Survive), Hurt/Comfort, Elena (Because I Know How Most of Y’all Feel About Her). Let Me Know If I Forgot Something
Word Count: 2.4k
A/N: Hey guys! I’m finally getting around to showing some love to Elijah. I’m debating on whether or not I should turn this into a series or not. Let me know if that is something you all might be interested in! As always, thank you guys so much for reading!!! Please feel free to leave a comment or send in an ask. I love interacting with you all. Have a wonderful day!!!
Masterlist | TVDU Masterlist
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4:30 p.m.
An hour and a half past the time Elena was supposed to come home for your girls' day. A despondent feeling washes over you as you finally accept the fact that Elena has blown you off once again. You can’t even say you’re surprised as this behavior has become expected of her as of late. Your heart is just broken. 
Ever since the Salvatore brothers moved into town, it’s been made clear you are no longer a priority in her life. Hell, you’re no longer even a priority in the group’s life— your presence slowly being diminished as they whisper in secret behind your back, conveniently have plans or forget to show up to your scheduled hangouts, or just not invite you to theirs at all. It kills you to watch the people you’ve grown up with— Elena since diapers—  push you out of their lives. The four of you experienced your entire lives together, witnessing and supporting each other through every milestone— first kisses, first relationships, first school dance, first heartbreaks, first times of the month. Seeing how all of those memories— your lifelong friendships— can be so effortlessly rendered worthless with the arrival of two boys tears through your heart, leaving you with the ragged pieces. 
Unbeknownst to you, however, the gang’s intentions were never to hurt you. Instead, they have been trying so laboriously to do the opposite. You, by some miracle, have been one of the few residents of Mystic Falls who has not been affected by the supernatural presence that thrives there. You have remained blissfully unaware of the vampires, witches, and werewolves that coexist with you in the small Virginian town. As far as your friends are concerned, that is exactly how they will keep you safe, even if it’s unknowingly the catalyst of your emotional anguish. 
Hot tears dampening the rounded apples of your cheeks, you gather your things, tired of looking foolish and desperate in front of the people you have shared your life with. You are done fighting for your previous place in their lives which they have clearly refilled. 
Storming out of Elena’s home, you are surprised to see a tall gentleman— arm raised as if he were about to knock— rather than the neighborhood you spent the majority of your childhood riding your bike around. Instinctively, you take a step back, placing distance between you and the stranger at Elena’s door.
“My apologies, I did not mean to startle you,” the tall brunet speaks— his voice calm and carefully crafted.
You take in the man’s appearance, noticing the tailored suit hugging his frame and your heart begins to race as you start imagining the worse. Surely a man with such obvious distinction did not happen to stumble across the Gilbert residence, he has to have been brought here. Given the recent calamities that have intercepted your best friend’s life, your mind can’t help but conjure the possibilities of trouble Elena or Jeremy could have gotten themselves into. You wonder if you will have to tell Jenna and what would you say given the outcome of the situation.
“Are you alright?” the gentleman at the door inquires, interrupting your racing thoughts and bringing you back to the present moment. You blink, realizing you never answered the man, and begin to laugh— your nervous tick. 
“Yes, I’m sorry. I just wasn’t expecting anyone to be at the door.”
You clear your throat, “Has something happened? Is everything okay?” He tilts his head, eyes narrowing, a visual indicator of his analysis of your words. “That’s what I came here to find out. I had an engagement scheduled with Elena,” he reveals, hoping you could provide him with the reason behind her absence.
A dry laugh escapes your lips— your annoyance with the brunette pushing through the growing concern you had for her seconds before. “Well, join the club. She was supposed to meet me here at 3. If you really want to find her, look for Damon and Stefan Salvatore. Wherever they are, she is,” you tell the well-dressed gentleman— your disdain for the two brothers made quite evident through the bitterness soaking your voice. 
He smiles down at you, beginning to see why you’re the only friend of the doppelgänger he had yet to formally meet, "I guess it’s safe to assume you're not a fan of the Salvatores." You roll your eyes at his massive understatement— your irritation beginning to reach its breaking point. “Don’t even get me started,” you state, knowing you could rant about your semi-undeserved hatred for the two brothers for hours. 
Stewing in your vexation, you miss the way the Original Vampire studies you. He has seen you from afar, of course, when he was gathering the information he needed to procure Elena. But now that he is seeing you up close, there is a curiosity about you— an otherness that separates you from the rest of the group. You seem leaden, burdened by the weight of the world. He wonders how someone so young could be so harrowed— the vampire being out of touch with the trials of tribulations of mortal existence. 
“Well, if you don’t mind, I would be happy to listen,” he offers, his intrigue winning him over. Your eyes widen as you look him over, shocked by his proposition. You can’t remember the last time anyone offered to listen to you talk. Silently, you question the man, wondering why he would waste any of his time listening to you, but the rational part of you is overruled by the intense desire to finally have somebody’s attention— even if it is a stranger’s. 
Walking over to the swing that hangs off the Gilberts’ porch, you begin opening up to Elena’s mysterious visitor and it feels orgasmic to finally have someone listen to you— to acknowledge you and be attentive. For you to not feel discarded, but seen for all you are. That feeling is so intoxicating that you end up sharing far more with the gentleman than you had ever intended— far more than he had expected. You tell him everything— how your mother died when you were 3 and your dad is hardly ever home because of his job as a truck driver, how you spent most of your childhood with the Gilberts because there was no one else around to care for you, how you grew up inseparable from Elena and eventually the rest of the gang. You enlighten him on your hatred for the Salvatores because one by one they robbed you of the only family you ever really had without even possessing the bonds you had built with them. You share with him how you once again feel abandoned by the people you love and how devastated you are by their betrayal. You tell him how you can’t even begin to comprehend how everything you all have been through together can just suddenly not matter, how it feels like they’re telling you that you don’t matter. You tell him so much that you run out of things to say— only able to sob out all of the pent-up emotions that had been brewing inside of you for months. 
And through it all, the vampire stays by your side, intently listening to every word that spills from your lips. When speaking became too much, he pulled you into his side, letting you cry onto him. The more he listened to you, the deeper his affinity for you grew. He saw the young woman broken by the sway of the universe, the lost little girl longing for her place in the world. He saw that flicker of hope for the good of humanity and how quickly it was being snuffed out. As he watched you cry, he knew he had to protect it— protect you. He understood the decisions your friends were making knowing the true cause of them, but that didn’t mean he liked the results. 
You break away from the warmth of the man’s comforting embrace suddenly aware of the embarrassing predicament you have placed yourself in. With a flush to your cheeks, you apologize to the kind stranger for your unhampered display of emotions, but he swiftly dismisses it, reassuring you he was more than happy to provide you some solace.
You smile at the man, marveling at his beauty and compassion. He is so gentle with you— a complete stranger. His warmth and affection towards you is something you know you will be chasing for the rest of your life. He is magnificent and angelic. 
As you look him over, your revere for the man twists into horror as you take note of the stain your running makeup left behind— permanently marring the expensive fabric of his suit. “I am so sorry,” you sincerely apologize, guilt eating at you for the damage you’ve caused. “I’ll help you pay for it. Shifts at the Grill don’t pay much, but I’m sure if I take on enough extra ones, I will eventually have enough money to pay you,” you offer, trying to find a solution to the mess you created, knowing full well you will probably never earn enough to cover even a fraction of the cost of the suit. The Original smiles down at you, amused by your concern over his suit— such a trivial matter.
“I own plenty of suits. Please, don’t worry about this one.”
You stare back at him incredulously, once again baffled by the gentleman’s generosity. You want to protest against his easy forgiveness and kindness, but the arrival of a vintage red Porsche Coupe steals your attention. Elena emerges from the vehicle— confusion coloring her expression. 
“Y/N, what are you doing in here?” the brunette inquires as she ascends the steps to her porch. A scoff escapes your lips as another piece of your heart is ripped to shreds by her negligence of your friendship. 
“Elijah,” the brunette questions, noticing the vampire standing behind you for the first time, “What’s going on?”
“Well, we’ve been sitting here waiting for you because apparently you couldn’t be bothered to show up to any of the events you planned. Remember our Girls Day of Fun?” you question your childhood friend— your anger with her behavior as of late reaching its boiling point. 
Elena’s eyes widen in realization before her face quickly contorts into one of guilt, feeling mortified she’s forgotten about your plans once again. 
"Y/N, I am so sorry. I—"
"Let me guess, you were too busy hanging out with Damon and Stefan to remember that you had plans with your best friend. Which, might I remind you, was set in place to make up for all the other times you abandoned me," you say, cutting her off, venom lacing your voice.
The brunette visible winces at the sting of your words, but you are far too gone in your outrage to care about her wounded feelings. After all, it’s not like she hasn’t been killing yours this entire time. “Y/N, please, you have to understand-” Elena begins, but you are quick to cut her off. “No, Elena, I don’t have to understand. You can not possibly have one valid reason for why you consistently keep blowing me off. You are supposed to be my best friend. I have known you since we were in diapers, so I can not even begin to comprehend why you, and everyone else for that matter, have been pushing me off for the freaking Salvatore brothers. I have been here for you way longer than they have and I have helped you through more than they possibly ever could. I expect this from Caroline, but from you, Elena..." you trail off, the lump swelling in your throat. “I just don’t understand why I’m being replaced,” you finally breathe out, your voice cracking under the weight of your emotions. 
The Original Vampire inches closer to you, feeling an impulsive need to shelter you from the source of your anguish. He remains quiet, however, understanding the importance of you two having this conversation. But his presence remains nearby waiting to swoop in whenever he is needed. 
Elena’s eyes mirror the same tears decorating your cheeks as she encloses her arms around you. The doppelgänger hates that her actions have been hurting you, but with a supernatural development seemingly emerging every five minutes, it has been hard for her to ensure your safety and spend time with you. “I’m not replacing you. You’re still my best friend. It’s just… things are complicated,” she tells you, hoping that you’ll understand the inexpedient dilemma she’s been placed in. 
Unfortunately, you can’t understand what you don’t know and you find yourself wondering about the possible meaning behind her vague words. But exhausted from the emotionally taxing day, you let the subject drop, opting to accept her cryptic explanation. You want nothing more than to go home and curl into bed. Elijah, whose presence you had completely forgotten in the midst of your confrontation, seems to sense your desire as he places a comforting hand on your shoulder and offers to escort you home. 
Over your shoulder, Elena throws a glare at the Original, not liking the idea of leaving you alone with the vampire. But since Elijah has given her his word that he would not harm her friends, she allows you to leave with him, telling you that she will check on you in the morning. Nodding, you accept the distinguished gentleman’s outstretched hand and allow him to accompany you home. 
Upon your arrival, you turn towards the man who has acted as more of a friend to you in the past hour than your friends have in months and envelop him in a hug of your own. The Mikaelson is caught off guard by the sudden contact but is quick to wrap you in his arms— pleased to be having such an affectionate moment with the girl who has quickly whittled a place for her in his heart. 
“Thank you. So much. For everything. And I’m so sorry you had to see that,” you thank Elijah for his abundant kindness to you, pulling out of the comfort of his embrace. 
“I would happily do it again,” he informs you— a smile lighting up your features. 
“Bye, Elijah,” you part, entering your house and leaving a shocked Mikaelson in your wake. He hadn’t realized you caught his name. 
"Goodbye, Y/N," he whispers, smiling down at his new favorite suit jacket.
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Part 2
Taglist: @catmikaelson20​
If you want to be a part of my taglist, please submit an ask and I will happily add you!
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So it may just be me and my personal interpretation, but one thing that absolutely infuriates me is the "Cardan is a genius for his banishment plan and Jude did a dumb dumb by not returning" idea that some readers have.
Because that plan, as it was, would only work if, and only if, Jude was fae.
In fact, Jude even thinks about pardoning herself, and how that would not work (given the current situation as she knows it).
(I will illustrate my points with extracts of Queen of Nothing (QoN), and The Wicked King (TWK) of the Folk of the Air series by Holly Black)
recap: the plan was to exile Jude, and have her return via her pardoning herself a bit later when the coast was clear (lol unintentional sea pun) of the wrath of the Undersea disturbing negotiations.
"I exile Jude Duarte to the mortal world. Until and unless she is pardoned by the crown. (...) Meaning by the King of Faerie. Or it's queen. You could have returned anytime you wanted." (QoN chap 18)
Here is where the issue lies. Jude is High Queen of Elfhame, but has literally no way to prove it. She doesn't have the powers conferred to her as queen yet, she doesn't have the trust of the people, and she doesn't have the magical inability to lie that the fae have.
Now if Cardan had proclaimed her queen, she could, but he didn't. In fact, when he first exiles her, she proclaims that he can't do that on account of her being queen, which no one believes:
"But I am the Queen of Faerie," I shout, and for a moment, there is silence. Then everyone around me begins the laugh. (...) "Deny it, then," I yell. "Deny me!" He cannot, of course, so he does not. (TWK chap 30)
Which leads to Jude seeing through the plan and pushing it away because she could not trust Cardan to do what would be needed for it:
It occurs to me that maybe he made a mistake with that phrasing. Maybe I can pardon myself. But then I remember when I insisted I was the Queen of Faerie, and the guards laughed. Cardan didn't need to deny me. He only had to say nothing. And if I pardoned myself, he would only have to say nothing again. (QoN chap 6)
Meaning for her to actually pardon herself, she would have needed to illegally enter Faerie, not get caught, get into presence of Cadan so he could confirm the claim she is rightful queen, and then pardon herself publicly. Of course many of those steps are dangerous, and she has no reason trust Cardan.
If at any point she was caught in Faerie before being pardoned and confirmed queen by Cardan, well, it pretty much almost happens in the book.
"Clap her in chains," says Randalin. Never have I so wished there was a way for me to show I was telling the truth. But there isn't. No oath of mine carries any weight. (QoN chap 16)
The only thing that stops them from trying to arrest or kill her?
"Whatever do you mean?" Randalin says. "She's-" "She is my wife," Cardan says, his voice carrying over the crowd. "The rightful High Queen of Elfhame. And most definitely not in exile." (QoN chap 16)
Cardan even seems to be aware of it at one point (a couple hours before he names her queen in fact):
"Since you're mortal, Jude, I cannot hold you to your promises . But you can hold me to mine: I guarantee you safe passage. Come back to Elfhame with me and I will give you the means to end your exile." (QoN chap 13)
Okay, so the plan was flawed, but why make it then?
"Let me remind you that I didn't know you'd murdered my brother, the ambassador to the Undersea, until that very morning," he says. "My plans were made in haste. And perhaps I was a little annoyed. I thought it would pacify Queen Orlagh, at least until all promises were finalized in the treaty. By the time you guessed the answer, the negotiations would be over." (QoN chap 18)
So we get the entire picture: the entire thing was a hastily made plan with expected flaws (Cardan's lack of undertanding of the treatment of mortals and the consequences thereof on Jude's decisions), born from the miscommunication and lack of communication between them, that ultimately worked, only with a couple hiccups.
It makes sense to their characters, to where they are in their character growth, individually and as a couple, to their understanding of each other.
Jude, who has figured out, manipulated, and maneuvered entire coups to take the throne and subsequently took one of the highest political positions did not suddenly become an idiot ignorant of political maneuvering. And Cardan, who did not expect, want, or even took over the functions of the throne if he didn't absolutely have to, did not suddenly become a political genius.
Instead, Jude, who often works alone, trusts only herself, and consequently does not report everything to Cardan, accidentally put him in a difficult position, and Candan, who has yet to really work with Jude and take into account her limitations and differences, did not take them into consideration in the plan he had to come up with on the fly. And then the complete lack of communication (and trust) aggravated the problem.
Lo and behold, what happens after their reunion? They start working together, communicating better, and developing trust.
Character development stemming from an incident caused and aggravated from their flaws. Aka good storytelling.
I.e. when the political fantasy book with a sprinkle of romance in the background actually brings the romance to the foreground and starts working on the couple.
This is of course, my own interpretation at the end of the day.
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pleasantangelpaper · 5 months
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Video Killed The Radio Star (Stu Macher x Reader)
WOOOO I love the scream boys, I really do. So, here is the first part of my Stu Macher x reader!!! Let me know below if you want to be on the tag list for any future parts!
Pairing: Stu Macher x Female! Reader
Warnings: Mentions of a bad relationship with a sibling, slight allusions to sex, but not really
Word Count: 1.3k
The video store: a world of fun and amusement, a place where horror junkies get their fix and young lovers find some background noise. It is also my personal hell. Ever since I got this job at Blockbuster video, I have experienced nothing but boring work shifts. The whole gig is so routine. Checking out horror movies, rom-coms, and pornos all day gets to be a blur, and there’s only so many times that you can try to mop the stickiness off of the floor before you start to lose your mind. The store I work at is a quaint one. It’s small in size, but it has a rather large number of customers. Most of the customers are regulars, the ones who show up every Friday afternoon to get their fix for the week, but sometimes I meet a straggler who got bored enough to finally use their vhs. Today was not one of those days. 
As I stocked the romance shelf with the newest chick-flicks and romantic comedies, I heard a strange sound, like a movie had fallen off of one of the shelves. I raised an eyebrow in curiosity as I looked around. No one seemed to be in the store. It was 9:30 PM on a Wednesday. Only thirty minutes until closing, and someone was in the store? A thought popped into my head, “Randy… I know you’re here… come out, what are you doing?” I questioned the open room with a tone of annoyance. Randy Meeks was my co-worker, and I guess he could be a friend. He was funny, but sometimes he just was downright weird. Not a word of response was sent back my way. “Randy, really, it’s not funny,”. Suddenly I felt arms grab my face and cover my eyes. “It’s not Randy,” a familiar voice sang. “STU!” I yelled the man’s name angrily, “You can’t sneak up on people like that, it's terrifying!”. He lowered his arms in defense, “Hey, it was just a joke, it’s not like I’m gonna hurt you or something,” he stated. I let out a sigh, “What do you need, Stu, I gotta get home, we have school tomorrow,”. “Ah-ah, the store doesn’t close for another thirty minutes,” the man tutted. I groaned, Stu is a great friend, but he can be annoying when he wants to. “Of course you would know that,”. I began to look back at the shelf I was stocking, unloading the last of the box of new rentals onto the cold metal, and making sure they were in alphabetical order, though I knew that wouldn’t last long. I knew exactly where Stu would be headed, as it was the same row that almost every teen in Woodsboro frequented: the horror section. 
“Do you have Halloween: the Curse of Michael Myers yet?” Stu questioned, flipping through the titles meticulously. The man scanned each movie with a sense of precision. There was always something he was looking for. I didn’t know exactly what his favorite horror genre was, because it seemed to me that he liked them all, and yet, he still scanned every movie’s cover as if he were picking a job to apply to. “Actually, Stu, we may or may not have just gotten our first copy, and I may or may not have rented it out already…” I started with a sense of anxiety, fearing that Stu would be upset by the fact that I had already rented the movie. I don’t know why I felt that I had to forfeit my rental, but something about Stu always made me give in. “But, you can gladly have it, uh just, uh, let me check it back in, so that you can check it out,” I started hastily walking to my bag, but not before my arm was caught by Stu. “You don’t have to do that,” his voice sounded concerned as he pulled me back by my arm. “We could just watch it together,” he said. I blushed in embarrassment as the man still had my arm in a strong grip, and because I could watch a movie with Stu Macher… alone. I’ve never been one to succumb to crushes, but… okay yeah… that’s a lie… I’m like totally infatuated with Stu Macher, but can you blame me. We’ve been friends since elementary school. Billy Loomis, Stu, and I have always been a tight-knit group. Of course, we’ve strayed apart a bit now that I have friends that are girls, but we’re still relatively close, and something about him just always pulls me in, and the cologne he wears is just divine, and his eyes, oh his- “Y/N, Y/N… you alive in there,” “ OH Uh sorry I zoned out for a bit there,” I internally screamed as my cheeks turned blood red. “So what do you say?” the taller asked as he looked at me with puppy-dog eyes. “Oh uh yeah! Of course! We could watch it tomorrow if you’d like, whose house?” I internally begged him to say he could watch it tomorrow. We hadn’t watched a movie alone together… ever. We usually always end up hanging out with Billy, and occasionally, the rest of the gang, but this could be different. “How about I pick you up and we swing by the store to get some snacks, and then we watch it at mine. My parents are gone, so we can take over the living room,” he smirked a little which made me blush a bit more. I brushed any thoughts of romance out of my head, he’s just saying that we don’t have to worry about noise…right…? I nodded my head, “Okay, Stu,” I said with a smile. “You wanna ride home, babe?” Stu asked genuinely. Even though he called almost everyone babe, my heart still did a flutter. “Well if you’re offering…” I trailed off. “Let me close everything up and get my stuff,” I yelled as I was already halfway across the store from him as I went to close down the register.
I grabbed my bag and slung it over my shoulder as I braced myself to experience the chilly Autumn air. Stu opened the door for me as we walked to his car. His car was nice, but rather banged up. He’s quite the chaotic driver. I fastened my seatbelt and sat back staring through the windshield at the town streets as Stu drove. We made light conversation and talked about everything and anything. We brought up stories of past movie nights, and joked about the stupid things we’ve done at parties. As we finally pulled up to my house, I noticed a car parked in the driveway. “Fuck,” I muttered under my breath. “What’s wrong?” Stu faced me now, his previous happy look changing to one of concern. “My sister’s home,” I stated simply. Stu knew all about my sister and everything she had done to me. He instantly put the car back in drive and started to drive away from my house. “Stu, what the fuck are you doing?” I asked, confused. “You’re not going back there with her, I won’t let you,” he said with a grave face. I huffed and sit back in my seat, “So you’re just going to kidnap me instead,” I half-giggled. “Yep, you’re staying at mine, and you’ve got no way out of this,” he proudly exclaimed. “Oh yeah? What if I tuck and roll?”. Stu took that as a personal challenge as he began driving faster, his tires making a loud screeching sound. “STU STU STOP DOING THAT!” I screamed as the man laughed proudly at the fear he made me exhibit. “It’s just a joke babe, chill out,” He giggled. We continued driving until we finally reached the Macher residence.
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matan4il · 5 months
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Daily update post:
Yesterday, there were a lot of unofficial initiatives and ceremonies across Israel to commemorate one month since the massacre. It wasn't official, because the state is still in the middle of a war, but regular people felt the need to connect with the Jewish custom of marking 30 days since the death of a loved one. In many places, people stood, wherever they happened to be, for a minute of silence at 11 in the morning (myself included), or held up posters or yellow balloons in honor of the hostages and the missing persons:
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This girl is absolutely awesome:
instagram
Rashida Tlaib has been rebuked for using the hateful chant "From the River to the sea, Palestine will be free." Here's a link to explanations on why it is indeed a call for, at the very least, the ethnic cleansing of Jews from the Jewish ancestral homeland.
On a personal note, I just discovered that another colleague of mine has a sister and BIL held hostage in Gaza. I said before that every Israeli has a "list" of those they know and love affected by this, and it just keep getting longer as we find out more about people's fate on Oct 7, and as the list of fallen soldiers in this war gets longer, too.
I saw a new lie being pushed, that the majority of people in Israel who were killed during Hamas' massacre were soldiers (implying the civilians were never specifically targeted, that they were collateral damage). But the numbers are very different. Out of over 1,400 people murdered on that day, only 348 were soldiers. That's before we get to the confiscated documents showing instructions that clearly stated the goal was civilians, the Hamas terrorists who were captured alive and confirmed this, or the fact that if those terrorists weren't interested in abducting and killing civilians, why take over entire civilian communities? There were no military bases in kibbutz Be'eri, kibbutz Nir Oz, or kibbutz Kfar Azza, there was no army outpost at the Nova music festival. Hamas' terrorists set up blockades on the only road leaving that festival and gunned down anyone trying to escape. Over 260 young people. Not one was in army uniform, driving an army car, or even just... armed. That's targeting civilians intentionally. A baby being placed in the oven, or being beheaded, or tied with wires to an adult and then both being burned alive, or a 14 year old girl being raped and then shot in the head in her bedroom, or firing thousands of rockets into cities, that's not "collateral damage."
The UN general secretary said it's clear something's wrong with Israel's military activity, based on the number of civilians killed in Gaza. Based on the numbers released by the highly unreliable terrorist organization Hamas, the perpetrator of a massacre, an actual crime against humanity, which doesn't allow any external inspectors come into Gaza to verify the numbers.
After Israel has been asking for European countries to send hospital ships, Italy is sending one. Israel is also working with the United Arab Emirates on the UAE being a field hospital next to the Gaza border. As many Gazans have been heeding Israel's call to evacuate from the north, Israel has prolonged the route it's securing against Hamas, to allow them an even safer passage.
Manor Salomon, a successful Israeli soccer player, was criticizing UEFA (the European soccer federation) for their refusal to denounce Hamas. For this, his IG account was closed. Prominent Israeli voices ARE being silenced.
This is 19 years old Yoav Mellev, who on Oct 7 was fighting on the Zikim beach, where Hamas terrorists landed in boats, and were massacring civilians. After he got badly wounded, he left a note, in which he said (as conveyed by his mom) that it was the best 20 minutes of his life, because he got to defend people. He died of his wounds. May his memory be a blessing.
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david-talks-sw · 7 months
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At what point do you ask yourself if the Prequels did this to itself.
Sure having Gen X creatives probably doesn’t help. But I still see a lot of younger folks and prequel kids have a “the Jedi we’re wrong” narrative. We can argue whether or not it’s because of those Gen X creators sure.
But a film or film needs to speak for itself and convey the ideas of the creative and not have people research what he or she says. It can be fun sure but at some point the film needs to do the work.
Course if you think the film does the work that also is a debate worth having. But the fact that we still have this debate at all must say something and I don’t it’s simple as “older fans don’t get it” maybe that’s part of it but I still think there is something about the prequel’s execution to be desired.
Guessing you're the same anon from this post.
It's not as simple as "older fans don't get it", but that is the starting point of the issue, because the older fans are the ones who generated the content that the Prequel kids would go on consuming.
And you can see a trend in all Star Wars merchandise. Around 1999 to 2005? The marketing, the books, the comics, all tend to frame the Jedi in a positive light, but more importantly focus on the intended narrative, that Anakin brought this down on himself.
And the haters, well, they're arguing that the Jedi are a bunch of idiots and incompetents, that Anakin is whiny and changes his mind and joins the Dark Side to kill the Jedi on a whim.
These are very uncharitable reads but at least they track with the intended narrative.
The Jedi are always playing catch-up, calling them "incompetent" is tough but fair.
Anakin is whiny, arrogant and petulant but he's a teenager. That's how they are. That's the point: he's a teenager and he's trying to get married and settle down and have a family, etc, "because i love her and she loves me" when even the woman he's in love with tells him "that's not how things work, buddy, there's other factors, this will spell out destruction for everyone". Eventually she gives in, but that doesn't make it any less destructive.
Anakin does turn to the Dark Side immediately. That's how scared he is. That's how traumatized he is. He hasn't slept in days and he's not thinking straight, he's scared shitless and he's panicking and here's this space sorcerer who says he can stop people from fucking dying?? Of course he'll join.
But the other thing is... those are criticisms coming from an adult perspective. AKA not the intended viewer. Cuz I sure wasn't thinking any of that when I was a kid. I was deep in the story and going along with it. I have a friend whose kid watched the films first, same deal, he's not asking that.
These are movies meant for kids. Is the plot slightly more complex than your average fairy tale? It is. But it remains a fairy tale in, especially considering its target demographic.
And this fairy tale was made by an experimental indie filmmaker from the Baby Boomer generation with a background in anthropology (hence why there's so many mythological callbacks in the films), cinema vérité documentary filmmaking (explaining the cinematography of the Prequels) and editing.
It reflects who he is and what his values are. He's ahead of the curb in his way of thinking, but some of his values reflect the generation he was a part of.
Finally, the films reflect a particular style he's emulating, the 30s matinee serial. Everyone speaks a certain way, sometimes it's bland, sometimes it's straight up corny, but it's all on purpose.
These films kept being scrutinized by people who saw them as "blockbuster scifi films" and reviewed/analyzed them as such.
They're not. They're indie movies with a big budget. They're fairy tales in space.
They're this weird little niche thing that this funny weirdo from Modesto with a fascination for pyschological motifs in mythology came up with. Remember: the first Star Wars movie was released with an expectation from everyone, including Lucas himself, that it'd be panned and despised.
As they years go on, a lot of the adults who hated the Prequels try to do the decent thing and find a way to like them... but the story seems so stupid to them, as it is.
But then they either think or come across an interpretation, a prism through which to see the Prequels... that - holy shit - actually makes them better, and have more depth. The theory is... 
What if Jar Jar is secretly a Sith Lord?
What if the Prequel Jedi are meant to come across as dispassionate? I mean, isn’t that what being a Jedi is, apparently? You purge yourself of attachments aka emotions, and act only logically. 
Wow, that… that actually makes the Prequels sound better. Like, think of the implications: 
The Jedi are too systemic, they’re more prone to violence than they’re supposed to be, they’re meddling with politics, and if you read the EU, they’re essentially kidnapping babies, brainwashing them, indoctrinating them, and if they don’t pass the tests then they become farmers or get kicked out. They’re high and mighty assholes who preach peace but also frequently get into fights. Also, to become a Jedi, you need to have a high enough midi-chlorian count which shows how overly-organized they’ve become, rather than allowing themselves to ‘feel’. 
Qui-Gon is not just a maverick: he’s ahead of the curb. I mean, he’s the first guy to become a Force Ghost, he’s gotta be doing something right that the others aren’t, right? Also, he’s got a love interest, he gets angry when she gets killed. Y’know, a human reaction? Like the one Anakin has and tells himself he needs to repress, like a Jedi apparently would? 
And you know what? Maybe that’s the problem that makes Anakin go to the Dark Side: these guys took a 9-year-old slave and forced him to repress his emotions until he finally cracked. He just wouldn’t fit in the mold, they kept pushing, until he finally broke. Sure, Palpatine leverages Padmé’s life, but Anakin would never have been in that situation if the Jedi had been compassionate enough to notice he was in pain and distress. Yoda literally tells him to “rejoice” at the thought of someone dying. What kind of idiotic advice is that? It’s clear, the Jedi are no better than the Sith, they’re just two sides of a different coin. One feels too much, the other doesn’t feel at all. 
Holy shit… this is all making so much sense…! The Prequels might actually be secretly good! Or if not good, at least more coherent, now! 
And oh! Oh! That’s what makes Luke special! Cuz yes, Luke is special again, thanks to this interpretation! 
He finds a middle ground between the unfeeling Jedi and the Sith, who have become slaves to their emotions. He uses the Dark Side to beat Vader, but uses it like a tool, keeps himself in control (like some sort of Jedi in the middle... like… a gray… Jedi). Like, sure, Anakin can be the Chosen One, whatever, but Luke? Luke has found the balance, he succeeded where Obi-Wan, Yoda (who wanted Vader dead instead of believing he could be redeemed) and the other Prequel Jedi failed. And the EU books that follow Return of the Jedi seem to confirm this, as you can get married within the New Jedi Order, and Luke can use Force Lightning and he can take on an army of Yuhzan Vong by himself!
Wow. You know what? For all their faults, the Prequels make sense. Maybe Lucas is a genius after all.
Some of the people are in a position where they can create new Star Wars content. So they set out to fix something that, in their view, was broken... but that from Lucas' POV, wasn't. Some of them think they're setting out to clarify a narrative (but are actually focusing on an aspect that wasn't meant to be scrutinized and challenged that deeply in the intended narrative).
And they crank out this content, because Lucas didn't particularly give a fuck about the EU. When they have the chance, they push the new narrative, and nobody stops it because, hey, at least they're engaging with the material, and the original narrative was stupid anyway.
What happens? The Prequel kids grow up with this content being pushed on them more and more.
And they're immersed, right? So when a new book makes Obi-Wan come across as an asshole, they don't think "Obi-Wan would never say that" they go "oh shit, turns out Obi-Wan's an asshole!"
So now THAT generation, that's just going by the canon that was put out post-movies, is slowly but surely growing up with the same interpretation (me included).
There's also a more psychology-aware culture, and more and more Anakin comes across as someone who's being mentally abused by the Jedi. He's got some sort of mental disorder, he's socially anxious. He's not whiny, he's crying out for help. Those values of the Jedi (that Lucas shares)? They're actually weird and archaic!
So that whole aspect gets thrown into the mix.
Fast-forward to today, and the newest generation of fans grows up with "the Prequels show the Fall of the Jedi" as common knowledge, and the High Republic, New Jedi Order and Dawn of the Jedi is where it's at. Those Prequel Jedi are real dogmatic, tight-assed fuck-ups, wow, amirite?
TLDR:
No, I don't think the Prequel Trilogy did it to itself. I think it accomplished exactly what it wanted to for the people it was meant to do it for (kids).
It's just that a bunch of people came right after it and retconned the fuck out of it, then proceeded to say "yeah, it was always this way, even the original author said so" when he didn't.
My stance, as usual, is best summarized by this metaphor:
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