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yellowpsyduck · 3 months

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𝐅𝐨𝐫 𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐥𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐧 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐚 𝐒𝐡𝐞𝐥𝐛𝐲 𝐜𝐨𝐜𝐤

𝐈𝐧 𝐰𝐡𝐢𝐜𝐡 𝐓𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐲 𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐝𝐬 𝐡𝐢𝐦𝐬𝐞𝐥𝐟 𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐨𝐩𝐩𝐨𝐬𝐢𝐭𝐞 𝐞𝐧𝐝 𝐨𝐟 𝐚𝐧 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐫𝐨𝐠𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧, 𝐛𝐲 𝐚 𝐫𝐢𝐜𝐡 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐠 𝐠𝐢𝐫𝐥, 𝐧𝐨 𝐥𝐞𝐬𝐬.

Thomas Shelby x Carleton!Reader Warnings: Smut, slight size kink, Tommy attracting posh girls as always

“Are you fucking my sister-in-law?” were the very first words that came out of the young socialite’s mouth. They were directed to the man dressed in the grey suit with the flat cap, as he caressed the grey filly in front of him.

“Such crude words from such a lovely young lass, eh?” the man looked rather amused at her choice of words, much less, her more than direct approach of interrogating him.

The words she’d spoken weren’t quite what he had expected from a girl of her caliber, she seemed far too proper to opt for such language.

But she held her ground that girl, with her fashionably short bob and her velvet dress that would probably fetch enough pounds to feed a small family for a week in Small Heath. She didn’t waver under his icy stare, nor did she retreat her questioning glare. In fact, to his surprise, she arched her carefully sculpted eyebrow, as though prompting him to explain himself.

She must be a London girl, he noted, such brazenness could only mean that she must've lived a sheltered life, never having to put her guards up in fear of gangsters and certainly never having to do anything with filthy old Birmingham.

No, all she had to do was look pretty and polite and pop open bottles of champagne, dancing the night away to the Foxtrot and Charleston. She didn’t have a clue who he was, didn’t have a clue what he did and certainly didn’t have a clue as to why he always kept a Webley MK VI in his gun strap.

Tommy found it quite refreshing. He couldn’t remember the last time someone talked to him so incredibly audaciously, if it wasn’t to barrage him with threats to his life.

“I believed I asked you first, Mister” came the reply from her tinted red lips, looking rather displeased that her question was met with another.

“Well, a lady like you shouldn’t worry about adult matters.” he replied as he fished his pockets for the metal cigarette case. “Anyways, she's your sister-in-law you say?” he offered her a cigarette, a habit of his which he’d developed from constantly being surrounded by chain smokers.

“She is, or she was.” she took him up on his offer, as he lit it up for her, “Ian was my brother. His passing was hard on all of us; for her more than anyone else. So, I come up here any chance I get to keep her company, but now I see that’s no longer needed of me.” she said as she eyed him from head to toe, sizing him up almost.

“Don’t let me be a bone of contention now.” he replied, his couldn’t possibly add another trouble to his list, the Epsom and Major Campbell were already a handful, to say the very least.

“Actually, it’s quite the opposite.” A hint of surprise glazed over his eyes as he looked at her delicate features. “I’m quite relieved she isn’t shutting herself up." she trailed off, "And you’re certainly not the worst pick for a suitor.”

“Now don’t go sizing me up for a wedding suit, Miss.” he said taking another drag of his cigarette “May and I are just.... acquaintances. She’s training my horse for the Derby, this beauty over here, you see.” he motioned to the grey horse behind him.

“Oh.” She looked at him with an abashed humour in her eyes. “Then you must pardon my poor choice of words. I’m sure you won’t take the silly musings of a girl to heart.”

She flicked the cigarette bud to the ground, stomping it lightly with the heel of her dainty Mary Janes.

“I’m Y/N. Y/N Vera Carleton.” she extended her hand to him, her lips adorned with the most dazzling smile he’d ever seen in his entire existence. He took her hands in his, their sizes differing starkly. “I’m Thomas. Thomas Shelby.”

“Well then Mr. Shelby, now that the previous fiasco is behind us, I must be off. My friends will be waiting for me, I’m afraid. There's a new club in the city called the Babylon, you might’ve heard of it, they’ve invited this jazz band from the Colonies. My friends say it’s all the rage these days.” she explained to him.

Thomas knew she was one of those girls. The ones that never had to worry about a thing in their lives, except for what they’d wear to a social dinner or what diamonds to pair with what dress and he knew that a part of him wished he could be as carefree as them. But life had other plans for him, a runaway father, a suicidal mother and a fucking war to top it all off.

But now with the Shelby Company Ltd. and his copious side ventures, he hoped that one day, his children, if he ever found a woman that is, would have a life that mirrored that of the captivating girl in front of him.

“All right then, Miss Carleton, you have a good night now.” he bid the girl farewell as he watched her leave the stables. Her dress swaying with every step she took, she looked very frail, he noted, but not the kind that you’d see in the streets of Watery Lane, more so the kind of frail that was in vogue amongst the ladies of London.

As the night progressed, it became abundantly clear that May Fitz Carleton and Thomas Shelby weren’t just acquaintances, although, that should’ve been clear from the moment he accepted her proposal to stay the night in the manor, more like a fucking castle, he thought.

As night fell, Thomas found himself striding to the doors of his gracious host's, she’d left it unlocked, of course. Neither were novice adolescents; they knew what they wanted, and they certainly weren’t abashed about it. Their business was completed rather quickly though, she seemed unable to fully open her heart out to the deed and he had a myriad of thoughts occupying his mind.

Breakfast was a rather lovely affair. May chose not to bring up their late night discretions, for which he was rather thankful for. In fact, she seemed content with it being a passing liaison, finally someone that’s on the same page as him, he mused.

The lavish spread of food in front of him was overwhelming and he resigned himself to an Earl Grey and a toast. It seemed it was just May that occupied the house, seeing as though they were the only two to grace the table. Their conversations were pleasant, ranging from their shared love for horses to the ones they would be up against at the Derby, when lo and behold, the doors to the room sprung open to reveal a particularly chirpy Y/N, what she would be so cheery for, this early in the morning, he didn’t know.

“Morning, my dearest. Hope you had a lovely night.” The older of the two woman remarked as she kissed her cheeks. “I’ve told Louisa to prepare those Vienna rolls you so love. She should bring it out any minute.” she stated as the maids served the new occupant with a steaming cup of tea.

“That would be lovely, God knows I’m terribly famished.” she strutted into the room, smelling of daisies as she walked past him and kissed her sister-in-law. “Morning to you, my dearest Mayflower.”

She took the seat opposite to his, paying him no mind and absentmindedly blowing into her tea. “Y/N darling, this is Mr. Thomas Shelby, he’s my guest. I'm training his horse for Epsom. " She motioned to the gentleman. "Tommy, this is Y/N, she’s Ian’s sister and the youngest of the Carleton bunch.”

“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Mr. Shelby.” quipped the younger girl, pretending as though they were truly meeting for the first time.

“The pleasure’s all mine.” Tommy went along with her play, opting not to reveal their meeting the previous day.

“Madam, there’s a telephone for you. It's from Sir Ascot.” May was quickly ushered out of the room to attend to her business, leaving the unusual pair together.

“So, are you going to keep staring or will you tell me what’s on your mind?” Y/N remarked as she forfeited the staring game they’d had going on.

“I’m afraid I don’t know what you’re talking about.” the girl in front of him was intriguing for sure, and she wasn’t afraid to speak her mind. Tommy didn’t know other women besides Ada and Polly that would speak so nonchalantly with him, and he found himself quite enjoying this refreshing exchange.

“Well, you’ve basically been undressing me with your eyes, since yesterday. So, shall we do it in my room or yours?”

This. Tommy wasn’t expecting.

He'd expected a whole lot of other things but not this.

The girl didn’t bat an eye as she said those words, simply sipping on her tea, as though they’d only exchanged pleasantries with each other. Tommy was about to respond when a maid brought a plate of Vienna rolls to the table and diligently served her young Miss.

As soon as her departing figure left the room, Y/N’s eyes darted back up to his, sucking slowly on the gold cutlery as she did. She seemed to be waiting for his reply and Tommy wondered how she’d react if he told her 'No'. Surely, such a girl as lovely as her wouldn’t be used to hearing those words of refusal. All she’d have to do was bat her pretty lashes, pout her soft lips and no one would dare refuse such a divine creature.

And Tommy was by no means a saint. A posh girl like her asking him to fuck her wasn’t something that happened on the daily. And again, Tommy might be a man with great restraint, but he was a man after all.

He'd be lying if he said his pants hadn’t gotten the slightest bit tighter at the sight of her sucking and licking on the spoon, that when he was balls deep inside May the previous night, all he thought about was the girl in front of him. Even now, as she sat in front of him, in her lace dress, he could see the slightest imprint of her breasts against the fabric of the dress.

Tommy took in a deep breath, setting the teacup back on the porcelain saucer, when finally, he muttered “You don’t know who I am, do you, little girl?” For if she did, she wouldn’t have uttered those words, much less, even sip her tea so peacefully in his presence.

“Should I care?” she asked in mock concern, “All I know is that you’re a well dressed gentleman that’s got a nice deep voice.” Truly, that was all she looked for. If a man had a deep enough pocket and an ever deeper voice, she’d go weak in the knees, and she knew May wouldn’t associate herself with a man that didn’t have the former.

“Y/N Carleton, you’re truly a work of art, eh?” he chuckled, genuinely in awe of her intrepidity.

“Well, that amongst other things.” came her quick reply, flashing him a cheeky smile.

“Do you think she’ll notice? If were both absent from the table, that is.” he asked in reference to May, she sure as hell wouldn’t appreciate his advances towards her sister-in-law.

“Don’t you worry, Sir Ascot is a hard fellow to deal with, he’ll talk her ear off for hours.” she stated unconcerned as she took strode out of the room, glancing back at him.

“In fact, forget about the bedroom, there's a storeroom over there that’s unfrequented. God knows your staring is making me wild as it is.” She turned and left the room, the gentle sway of her hips beckoning him to follow her. And follow he did.

Thomas fucking Shelby following after a girl, his brothers would’ve had a field day had they learnt of it.

But he didn’t care. All he knew was that he wanted her.

He wanted to fuck her till she screamed his name.

He wanted to fuck her till she couldn’t walk.

He wanted to fuck her till she was a crying mess.

The storeroom was quite spacious, like most of the rooms of this manor. But he wasn’t here to admire this. No. He came here for her. As soon as the latch to the door was shut closed, their lips crashed together.

Oh! He could have had her then and there, her lips were so incredibly soft and moulded with his so fucking perfectly. Her hands found themselves in his hair and she tugged lightly, making him crazy at her touch, while his hands kneaded her supple buttocks. She might’ve been slim, but she was certainly well endowed in just the right areas.

She soon broke the kiss and quickly worked to unbutton her dress, looking at him as he did, and that smile. That fucking smile of hers. Thomas didn’t know anyone more lovely than her.

She stripped down to her chemise, her garter bands visible underneath. He couldn’t control himself at the sight of her lovely frame. His hands soon brought the straps of her flimsy cover down, exposing her delicate brassiere which was also discarded on the floor.

She looked glorious standing in front of him, in just her garter bands and stockings. He would fuck her with those on he decided. The sight of her thighs in those were making the tent in his pants so painfully obvious.

She undid his suspenders, kneeling down as she pulled his trousers down, freeing his throbbing red cock from it’s tight restraints. She blushed a little at the obscene sight, sure she’d seen her fair share of cocks, but none as majestic as his. Tommy Shelby had drawn him to her because of his deep voice, but his huge cock, now that was a brilliant surprise. The London chaps she’d been with just couldn’t compare.

She licked the precum that was dripping from his tip, making him shudder in anticipation and little by little she licked the length of his entire shaft, making sure to drag her tongue along every crevice. She held her cock in both hands, it’s sheer size making her marvel. As Tommy looked down, the sight below him was eliciting a dark reaction inside of him, her little dainty fingers wrapped around his manhood. God! She looked so very small.

She sucked his cock, trying her best to take in as much as she could. She was diligent, for sure, doing her best to make him happy, taking small breaths, accommodating her throat for his dick and working her hands constantly along his shaft or his balls.

“Fuck, you’re perfect.” he breathed out raspily. She was an angel.

An angel sent just to fuck him. He didn’t know any woman or whore that was doing the things she was. But here she was, a little thing like her milking his cock like a good girl.

He grabbed her hair, lightly bucking his hips inside of her mouth. She seemed to be suffocating almost, his big dick choking her. Almost.

“Just like that baby, just like that.”

Fuck! She was such a good girl, holding her cries till he released his load inside of her mouth. “Swallow.” he commanded. She was a glorious mess, doing as he commanded her.

Her eyes were watery, and her mouth was thoroughly abused, but she still looked at him with devotion laced in her beautiful eyes.

He lifted her off the ground and laid her on the table like surface. He spread her legs wide open with his hands and marveled at the sight. Her throbbing cunt, glistening in arousal looked so warm, so inviting. He kissed her on the lips once more and dove in to eat her out, but a small hand covered the entrance.

“She might be done soon, so, please just fuck me.” she cried, so obviously starved for him.

He wasted no time and rubbed her clit, making sure her entrance was slick enough, and she was, so incredibly wet for him. He lined his dick to the entrance of her pussy and thrusted lightly. Just the tip he moaned. Just the tip and she was already on the verge of tears.

“Just breathe, love. Just breathe for me, eh?” he cooed in her ear as his hips thrusted in small motions to enter her tight cave, rubbing her clit as he did. And then with a final thrust he entered her pussy.

God! She felt so good. Her tight walls caved around his cock, stimulating him in ways he didn’t think possible. His motions became faster as her cries became louder.

“Tommy!” she moaned over and over again, seemingly unable to formulate any coherent sentences, her brain clogged with the intense pleasure of his cock ramming into her.

“You fit me so well, Y/N. I’m never letting go of you or your tight fucking pussy after this.” he moaned in her ear.

The constant slapping of skin and unbridled moans didn’t leave much to the imagination of the maids and butlers that might’ve overheard, but they didn’t care. All they knew was that they were nearing their release and it just felt so fucking good.

“Tommy, I’m close.” she managed to stumble out the words.

“Wait for me, love. You’re gonna cum when I tell you to.” he groaned as he fastened his pace, evidently nearing his release.

And with a final thrust, he whispered in her ear and they let go. They were quite the pair to look at. Him, with his trousers on the floor, his hands gripping onto her waists and his eyes never leaving hers and she, with her damn naked body, her tear streaked cheeks and her smudged lipstick.

Tommy gave her a sweet kiss to her forehead and wrapped his arms around her naked body as they remained in the warm embrace. Their heartbeats were gradually returning to usual, and their panted breathing became steadier.

He retrieved a handkerchief from his pockets and delicately cleaned her sore entrance. The evidence of their lovemaking spilled lewdly on the floor; it was to be someone else’s problem, not theirs. He slipped the stained handkerchief into his pockets and helped her dress. She seemed incredibly satiated as she stared at him with sheer fondness in her eyes.

Tommy knew that he couldn’t let go of her now. Not after this.

She was his, even if she didn’t know it yet.

“We best get going now, love.” he told her as he waited for her to gather herself together.

“Wait, silly, you’ve got lipstick on your nose.” she giggled as she rubbed the scarlet red lipstick off for him, standing on the tip of her toes.

She moved to open the door, but her steps felt awkward. He chuckled at her attempt to walk and offered his hand so she may lean on him. The walk back to the table was interesting, with her uncharacteristic gait and lipstick that seemed to have been smudged clean, and his hair that had been slightly disheveled and lips that held the faintest smile.

Both looked nothing like they had a few moments prior. If the maids noticed the obvious change, they didn’t comment on it as they dutifully carried out their tasks, making the most possible effort to not offend the pair as they walked through the halls.

May arrived a few minutes later rambling about how much she would’ve loved to cut the call halfway, had Sir Ascot not been an influential member of the Board. She had been so engrossed in her rant that perhaps, she didn’t notice the obvious change in the mood.

She also didn’t notice the fact that Thomas Shelby’s eyes never once left her sister-in-law who insouciantly continued drinking her tea that was far too cold by now.

“Well, May, my stay here has been lovely, but I best get going now.” he uttered at last, the business back at home didn’t wait for no one, especially not for him to fuck posh girls.

“Indeed, I assume you must have your work cut out for you and oh! I forgot to tell you this morning that I’ve had your car stocked up with engine oil, so, it’ll be a smooth ride home.”

“Thank you for that, May.” he put on his coat and thanked her for her gracious hosting.

“Tommy.” she called out as he stepped into his vehicle. “Will I see you again?”

“I’m sure we’ll cross paths again, Miss Carleton.”

Miss not Mrs. because his eyes, as he spoke those words weren’t on the woman in front of him, but rather they were on the girl that stood at the doorway, a mischievous smile dancing on her lips.

Ah! That smile.

The drive home was brisk, his mind occupied with the image of her and that darn smile. He may have been back in Birmingham, but he knew that apart of his mind had been left behind with a particularly charming girl in the Carleton Estate.

#tommy shelby x y/n #tommy shelby #tommy shelby smut #tommy shelby fanfic #thomas shelby fanfic #thomas shelby smut #thomas shelby x y/n #peaky blinders smut #peaky blinders imagine #cillian murphy smut #cillian murphy fanfiction

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an-idyllic-novelist · 7 months

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dark schneider with shinobu!reader headcanons - part two

Warnings: ooc, violence, KNY manga spoilers, Bastard!! anime season two spoilers, strong language, violence, mentions of PTSD.

If you are not comfortable reading this type of story, please push the back button and read something more pleasant.

Hey guys, welcome to part two the fluffier version of the yandere headcanons, featuring the handsome, arrogant wizard Dark Schneider of the Netflix's anime series Bastard!! Heavy Metal, Dark Fantasy and the character!reader who is Shinobi Kocho from the beloved world of Demon Slayer aka Kimetsu no Yaiba! The link to them will be here.

For those who just came here and haven’t read part one, please do so before proceeding. The link to part one is here.

As it is portrayed in the series, there will be multiple references to heavy metal bands. I claim no ownership over them, including the lyrics of Operation: Mindcrime, composed by the American heavy metal band Queensryche in 1988 under the album of the same name.

Special thanks to @ccruzmoon, @anniespostssworld, @enryegotrip, and @mitra555 for their feedback and help with making this one of the best sequels I’ve written for a headcanon series in a long while! :)

So, with that being said, sit back, relax, and let's dive back into a world of magic and musical mayhem!

Golems from the ancient world aren’t much different than the ones used today. They are sentient, programmed to perform certain tasks, and able to regenerate themselves should their bodies be destroyed by an enemy. In fact, they were deemed as prototypes of an ‘AI - Drone’. Yoko didn’t know much beyond what her father had shown her in the temple’s sacred texts, but she did emphasize just how lucky you were to have discovered one in a weapons’ storehouse belonging to the Dark Rebel Army, with its parts and programming still in excellent condition. You have had it for over a year, and you can certainly tell that it wasn’t used for thermal optics or firing weapons at opponents from great distances like the AI-Drones were originally designed to do in war.

For one, Led Zeppelin was made of metal dripped in gold, with stubby legs and a long feathery tail as well as wings. It could change its body’s mass from the size of a dumpling to a pillow in the blink of an eye, and had a mouth of razor-sharp teeth that served two purposes: storing items in its body, and showing recordings it took from its point of view. Oh, and biting people who came too close to you, its owner. Apparently, according to the technicians in the samurai residence, Led Zeppelin immediately bonded with you, the first person it saw once they had reactivated its factory settings.

Well…supposed it is still a tad bit rude to keep referring to Led Zeppelin as an ‘it’ when ‘he’ has always been by your side, acting as a personal assistant and a subsequent comfort pet because goldfish have been extinct for the last century. When the night terrors began occurring last month, however, your Zeppelin had been stuck in the mechanical shop for a month because a few of his corroding parts were getting more difficult to find, courtesy of the Dark Rebel’s Army growing power in the country.

But now the remaining safe haven in A-Ian-Maide was under attack by two Samurai Shoguns and a herd of sphinxes, your golem’s role would be more important than ever. He would keep Lucien Renlen safe, along with the women and children and the samurai who are stationed to look after them. When you gave this order, the golem shook his body rapidly - clearly he wanted to follow you into the battlefield outside.

You smiled sadly as you shook your head too, cradling the tiny Zeppelin in your hands. “You have to. If there is anyone in this world who is capable of defeating the Dark Rebel Army and preventing them from reviving the God of Destruction,” You looked up, seeing a raven-haired young man in standard leather armor and about to burst into tears as he looked at you with wide, dark blue eyes. “It is the boy you are protecting. This is my final command as your owner.” When you said this, Zeppelin started weeping. You were startled. Since when golems could cry?

“Ara, ara, come now.” You cooed, wiping away the golden, oily tears with your thumbs. “You must be brave for me, Led Zeppelin. Farewell, my dearest companion.” Pressing a kiss against his tiny horns, you reluctantly took a few steps forward and placed Led Zeppelin on top of Lucien’s head. Giving the golem one final pat on the head, you turned around, ready to sprint from the main lobby and toward what might become your tombstone when a pair of wiry arms wrapped around your waist, squeezing you tightly from behind.

“[First Name], please don’t go!” You couldn’t feel his tears through your leather armor, and yet his voice was cracked. Desperate to keep you here behind the safety of the castle’s walls….even when these walls may come crumbling down the longer you are here. Untangling Lucien’s arms from your body, you turned around and faced him, covering his quivering hands with your own.

“Lucien, I can’t. I need to be there for them, for Yoko. I can’t fail as I…as I had failed the two of you in Meta-llicana, the citizens. If I had only been quicker, stronger….none of this would have happened. And you wouldn’t have taken so long to recover. I’m so, so, sorry.” For a brief moment, you saw a glimmer of recognition in Lucien’s eyes. Perhaps you were already losing your mind?

Shaking your head, you released Lucien’s hands from your grasp….and pulled him into a tight embrace. “Remember this, Lucien. To be born is a blessing. Do not look back in remorse, because nothing good comes from it. And remember to smile, even when it seems like suffering is coming towards you like an avalanche and it’s hard to breathe. But above all else….never forget that you are loved. Yoko loves you, and I love you. You are strong, and even if something happens to me…I know you will keep moving forward.”

Leaning forward, you gently kissed Lucien. This is the same ritual Yoko had secretly been performing when she thought no one was around, oblivious to just how many times Led Zeppelin has caught her in action and you’ve seen it via the recordings. As the high priest’s daughter, she was the only other person left who could perform the Accept spell that would release Dark Schneider. Yet for the last two years, Lucien’s second identity never emerged.

But you had hope. You believe that he will return…because he is the handsome, unsaintly, powerful hero of this universe. The show wouldn’t be the same without its main star, and it’s already been five episodes into the second season.

Reluctantly, you took a step back from Lucien and Led Zeppelin, then another before you turned around and blitzed down the carpeted corridor towards the sound of battle cries, spell-casting, and the deafening roar of the sphinxes. A genocide opera almost fitting for an Insect Hashira ready to lay her life on the line….and bring her enemies down with her, no matter the cost.

“Let me out! Damn it you brat, I said let me out! Let me help [First Name] or else she’ll get killed out there! Do you want her to die, or do you want her to live with us as the queen of the world we’ll conquer?!” Dark Schneider screamed inside Lucien’s head, pouring more of his magic through the seal that has kept him imprisoned in this weak body. “I’m ready! I’m strong enough to destroy these bastards now! SO LET ME OUT ALREADY, GODDAMMIT!!”

The rain made the rocks slick, so blitzing from one area of the crumbling castle to another at your speed was almost impossible without slipping and spraining your ankle. Leaving yourself wide open isn’t an option either, especially when one of the Shoguns was using wire to incapacitate his enemies, just like what he had done with Jorg. Making yourself scarce wasn’t your fighting style, but you couldn’t always do what you wanted to do on a battlefield.

Still…the wires….

You carefully thumbed one of them, eyeing it carefully before recognition flashed through your mind. Ah, now you remember! It had been when that girl who fancied herself as redeemable even after she allowed her little brother to kill so many humans and make them his spider familiars! If that’s the case….

You unsheathed your sword, palming the leather handle for a moment before you swiftly swung the blade, cutting down the wires that kept you from reaching the other samurai, Vai leading them. As you walked towards them, it took all of your willpower to not look down and see the bloodied corpses of the men sprawled at your feet.

He was surprised, yelling how it was possible that you could see the threads. His statement made you blink in shock, pausing your treatment of an injured samurai. The wires were invisible, and yet you could see them? How odd. You were sure they could see it too.

Shaking your head, you quickly administered the necessary aid to your patient from the sewed pockets of your haori.

A full vial of Dragon’s Breath to cauterize the wound, dried vermillion petals soaked in alcohol for disinfection, followed by bandages. “Believe me, I wish I knew too, but this is neither the time nor the place, Vai.” You said, helping the patient onto his feet. “All right, let’s get him somewhere where he can lay low -“

That was when you all heard it: a roar that shook the earth, ripping across the air through the valley followed by warmth seeping down your neck. Fear coiled itself in your stomach as the low thudding of footsteps grew closer. Blinking slowly, you turned your head and saw it. A magnificent specimen of a male sphinx, it’s orange mane bristled and teeth baring.

Oh, dear. That is not good. It’s one thing to have a magical creature being controlled by a wizard, but an angry one? Definitely not good. You licked your cracked mouth.

“Vai?”

“Yeah?”

“Can you distract that sphinx?”

“What?”

“I said, can you distract this incredibly terrifying animal long enough so I can strike it from behind?” You said, patience wearing thin. “Can you do it or not?”

Vai faltered for a moment, glancing at the sphinx before he groaned. “F-Fine, but be quick! It’s resistant to magic!” He exclaimed, taking the injured samurai from you and passing him to another comrade.

You grinned. “Good thing what I have in mind does not involve using spells.” Bending your knees, you leaned back and blitzed forward. The sphinx unfurled its massive feathered wings, releasing strong gusts of wind that blew most of the samurai away, and high up in the air. Just where you needed to be. You inhaled sharply through your teeth, spinning your body so you were facing the sphinx, your dominant arm pulled back and holding your gleaming ninichrin blade.

“Insect Breathing: Butterfly Dance Caprice.”

You lunged forward, stabbing the sphinx in its backside and hind legs with the poison you had applied to the sword prior to the invasion as part of your weekly maintenance routine. You could have targeted the chest and behind the ears, but it would have taken longer for the poison to be absorbed into its body. The areas you struck in the male were much more vulnerable simply because they were used to attract potential females through an intricate dance, similar to what certain exotic birds did during mating season, at least that’s what you read in the encyclopedias back in your old world.

Landing on the fractured stones of a destroyed keep, you watched in sadistic satisfaction as the sphinx crumbled into a heap, struggling to stand up for just a brief moment before losing consciousness. Good. It’s working. You thought.

“I’m going ahead!” You yelled. “I’ll take down as many of these sphinxes as I can, and provide cover! If you see any threads blocking your path, tell me and I’ll cut them!”

“How are you even doing this?!”

“Strike first, ask questions later!”

And that was exactly what you did. You struck down the sphinxes who weren’t too high up in the air with your poison and sliced through the wires that weren’t coated with the heavy oil Yoko had released, flying across the battlefield like a butterfly just as you had done as a Demon Slayer.

Who would have thought that one of the people you had saved during an outbreak of purple fever had been a magician gifted in the art of reconstructing an entire object to its original condition, so long as she had a piece of it?

But there was no time for being sentimental, even for a second. The samurai were counting on you to even the odds that were in their favor.

Darting across the ruins of the castle, you heard a maniacal, grating laugh from amongst the sphinx’s roars. Skidding to a halt, you glanced up and saw a figure dressed in white and balancing himself in midair on a wire, holding Joshua captive in a web. Ah, that must be the Sorcerer Shogun responsible for killing Jorg.

Supposed….it’s time to also test that too, hm?

You inhaled a deep breath, closing your eyes as you crouched down towards with your sword by your side. Focus on opening the blood vessels in your legs, pumping oxygen through every muscle fiber and remaining absolutely still until you’re ready. You waited…and then you felt it. The muscles in your legs grew taunt, like a bowstring being pulled back and the faintest trace of thunder crackling beneath your feet. You smiled sadly. Forgive me for using your own Breathing Style, Zenitsu.

[Eye Color] irises snapped open. “Thunder Breathing: Thunderclap and Flash!”

You pushed on your back leg, catapulting through the air as blue-white bolts of lightning swept beneath your feet. You raised your sword, slicing through the threads and allowing Joshua to get free. Because you were ‘running’ at a high speed, you were not able to stop until you collided with the cliffside. You backflipped, using the momentum from your feet and the remainder of the Thunder Breathing technique to propel from the rocky terrain and propel towards the Sorcerer Shogun.

Dark brown hair matted down, half of it covering the right side, with a single red eye widening in surprise as you flew towards him, smiling and inhaling through the mouth again.

“Insect Breathing, Dance of the Centipede: Hundred Legged Zigzag. Thunder Breathing: Thunderclap and Flash!”

Using two separate Breathing Styles at once is almost impossible because of the strain it puts on the body and having complete control over both techniques without it faltering either of them. You zigzagged across the sky, and with the lightning under your feet, it allowed you to close the distance between you and the Sorcerer Shogun, sword aimed at his neck. But instead of putting the poor fool out of his misery, you just grazed his clavicle area.

Still, a graze will allow the poison to seep into his body. Won’t be long before he’s knocked out as well. You thought, landing on the ground on wobbly feet. You blinked, steadying yourself and trying very hard to ignore the black dots clouding your vision. Oh dear, methinks that was a bit too much. Well, can’t stop now. You thought, sheathing your sword just when you heard your name being called. Turning around, you saw Joshua running towards you, his mouth open and….saying something?

Darkness suddenly enveloped you from behind, yet before you could do anything you felt something heavy and furry collide against your back, knocking the air out of your lungs as you were suddenly planted face-first into the ground. You wheezed. You tried to push yourself up, but the pressure just increased. Damn it, you might have broken a rib. Maybe two of them. The deafening roar that pierced your ear told you what was pinning you down. A sphinx. Not the smaller males. This was a female, and it is the larger one of the aggressive species. More than that, she doesn’t play with her food.

If she’s hungry, she’ll swallow you in a single gulp.

Nausea clenched at your throat like a fist, making it difficult to breathe through your nose. Your vision was starting to grow blurry. No. No…I can’t…I need…to get…up!

“It’s okay.”

You froze, startled upon hearing a very familiar voice inside the recesses of your mind. Lucien? Is that…how did you…?!

“Everything will be okay, [First Name]. We’re here now. Just hang tight.”

That was when the smell of sulfur hit you. The sphinx’s paw that had you pinned down was suddenly off, allowing you to roll onto your back and let air enter your body, even as the flames were grazing the sleeves of your haori. You watched with blurry eyes as the magical creature was incinerated….along with the others that were in the sky…by vortexes of red flames that jutted…from the castle’s baileys and rooftops?

There’s only one person in the world who could perform magic on that scale. You smiled. It’s him. He’s back, after two long years.

Dark Schneider is more than a little annoyed right now.

He might have been able to take over after promising Lucien that he will keep [First Name] once he took possession of the body, but the badass comeback he had been planning to make in this series totally got screwed up by that weird-lookin’ peasant! Royal bodyguard? Sorry, no one gives orders to Dark Schneider, he’s the one that hands them out on a silver platter to his loyal servants.

And why the fuck did the Sorcerer Shogun with Yorazashi threads quickly recover from the poison that his queen had personally given him?! No one is supposed to have plot immunity except for him, the gorgeous and saintly protagonist!

He’s scripted to have a flashy battle with these clowns too, damn it! Macapine and Ba Thory are going down. He didn’t care if his salary was going to get cut in this episode, [First Name] needed him, right now.

Raising his hand, the mighty evil wizard summoned the Goa Cyclone spell, followed by Spears ‘o Stone. The last one impaled the Shogun that had bugs in his body. Macapine was sent flying somewhere, and Dark Schneider hoped he would never come back for the rest of the season. Closing his eyes, he began to channel magic into the next incantation; this was a tricky spell, since it required a considerable amount of concentration for him to be able to accurately track down the person he wishes to find.

Come, you know that you cannot refuse me

Let me into your mind,

So that we can watch the dragon burn

Beneath the moonlight and stars of Revolution!

Operation Mindcrime!

Purple smoke and sparks of lightning billowed around him, swirling like a rising mist before immediately sinking into the crumbled stones beneath his feet. Dark Schneider’s magic thrummed as it traveled beneath the earth, driven by his desire to seek out the Insect Hashira, looking for the tiniest spec of her own white magic. Once his magic found that thin tendril, he was able to find her.

She was being cradled by Kai’s arms while Yoko kneeled in front of her, the high priestess using her holy magic. Dark Schneider almost snarled at the sight of small lacerations on his queen’s face, the bruises on her hands and the sound of ribs being pushed back into place, eliciting a pained groan from her.

That’s enough. He thought, walking down the stairs, past the onlookers and Mifune, towards the battlefield with Lars tagging along behind him…and [First Name]’s golem. Yeah, the little bastard didn't like him one bit, not with how much he’s growling and snapping his teeth. He quickened his stride, almost blitzing through the carnage towards where the others were….wait, what is [First Name] doing?!

Yoko and Kai were yelling at her as she wobbled unsteadily towards a partially-eaten samurai, his lower half covered with what looked like the same creatures Ba Thory summoned to try to use on him, the greatest sorcerer in the world.

“I appreciate your concern Yoko, Kai, but please let me…see what these creatures are. If they are what I think they are….we still have a chance to save everyone!” She looked at them with wide eyes, tired and desperate. “Please.”

Dark Schneider quickened his pace, almost running towards them with a furrowed brow. “Idiot.” He muttered. What could [First Name] even do in her current condition. Moreover, why is she trying so hard to save nobodies who barely made an impact on the second season of this show? She needed to take care of herself before taking care of others. How many close-calls of collapsing from overworking and suffering from night-terrors is it going to take until she understands that she can’t do everything if she’s weak?

“Hey -” He called out, wanting to know what exactly is going on in this scenario when someone struck him in the back of the head with a fish. Glancing over his shoulder, the wizard felt annoyance and fear coil in his stomach simultaneously as he saw Yoko glowering down at him.

“Late, late, late! You are so late!” She screamed, relentless in her assault as she continued to hit his head. “What took you so long?! What have you been up to for the past two years?! Almost the entire new cast of characters and we’re at risk of getting canceled unless we do something!” Her fists were quickly replaced with a mace that seemingly appeared out of nowhere. “But on top of it all, [First Name] says she can save everyone but we don’t even know how or what she’s talking about!”

“And why should I care what happens to them?” Dark Schneider barked as he rubbed his sore skull, his eyes narrowed in annoyance. “I don’t care about anyone else except for [First Name].”

The high priestess shook her fist in the air. “What was that, you ungrateful little-!”

“That’s enough, Yoko!” [First Name] snapped, kneeling beside the fallen samurai next to Kai. Pulling out a scalpel, forceps and corked vial from her haori.

She made an incision on one of the worms, causing it to squeal and writhe. Kai immediately plunged the tip of her sword into the leech, keeping it still long enough for [First Name] quickly used the forceps, pulling out a slimy, translucent worm about an inch, two inches long, holding it up in the air.

“I knew it.” She whispered. “This is it.”

“What is it?” Kai asked.

“This, my dear friend, is a regeneration worm. Difficult to find due to its rarity, but it is capable of healing wounds that cannot be repaired by magic,” [First Name] shared a hopeful smile with the taller woman. “Maybe…bring back our comrades from the brink of death. Like Schen Karr here.”

“You’re serious?”

“Quite.” [First Name] said. “Yoko! I need him!”

“What?”

“Trust me! Darsh, could you come here please? You too, Yoko!” [First Name] asked, waving her hand up and down in the air as she looked at him, hope and determination dancing in her eyes.

Dark Schneider groaned. He knew that look. She wasn’t going to stop now until she collapses, so why does it turn him on so much? Well….he’ll just have to sweep her up in his arms like a princess and give some TLC later, right? Wait….did she just call him Darsh? He felt his face heat up a little. Damn it. Why does it sound so much better when she says than how Arshes called me that in the past?!

[First Name] quickly explained what he already knew about regeneration worms, and where Yoko’s healing magic comes into play. Kai was all for it and took off to inform the remaining samurai to gather what’s left of their fallen comrades. The high priestess went to work on Schen Karr, chanting blessed spells around Schen Karr while Dark Schneider and Led Zeppelin collected the worms. He had no problems finding the bastard Ba Thory and taking him apart piece by piece to get what his queen wanted, but how and why would a golem help out?

He knew about their storage capacity, nothing else beyond that.

When he saw its jaws open and devour the leeches on the samurai’s body in three bites and regurgitate the worms on the ground in a neat pile by his feet, Dark Schneider withdrew his previous statement.

While the handsome hero and his trusty sidekick Lars helped collect the worms, [First Name] would insert them inside her patients after she patched them up the wounds that Yoko's magic couldn’t reverse. The reddish-orange hues of dawn soon appeared over the mountainside as the heavy rain dissipated into a light sprinkle. The samurai crowded around, hugging each other or rushing around to help the citizens who got caught in the crossfire, bringing them to either Yoko or [First Name].

However, Dark Schneider could see that the healing process was taking its toll on his queen. She kept rubbing her eyes with the back of her hand, trying to keep them focused on her task. She needed to rest, and yet there was still a line of people who needed treatment. He commended [First Name] for being as patient as she had been, because he would’ve snapped the whiny warrior’s neck in half right now for refusing to lie still. No one wanted a weird-ass worm inside of them, but she would never deliberately endanger a patient. Yoko agreed, trying to coax the man that everything will be alright, yet he remained defiant.

Dark Schneider’s eyes narrowed when the idiot slapped his queen’s shaky hand, causing her to drop the forceps and the worm to fall onto the ground. Led Zeppelin gobbled up the little bugger so it wouldn’t go to waste, and [First Name] had the patient pinned down by the throat.

She needed to stop, now.

He pushed past the crowd, walking right behind Shinobu and carefully removing her hand from the bastard, pressing his chest against her back for a moment before he scooped her up in his arms.

“And you’re done! Hey asshole,” He glowered at the sniveling rat. “Show a little more compassion that it was my queen treating you second-rate servants and not me, or you’d be dead already. Actually,” The wizard turned to Yoko. “Let them die if they keep acting like this. The casting department should have more than enough money left in the budget to hire more actors for this season.”

Yoko shook her head, the corners of her mouth tugging into a small smile before someone else, one of the civilians, came forward and offered to take over. The high priestess nodded, with Led Zeppelin reluctantly staying behind as Dark Schneider walked away with [First Name].

“Thank you, Darsh. Although if my memory serves me correctly, I did not say that I am your queen.” The Insect Hashira said, looking up at him with an inquisitive frown.

“So you’re telling me there’s still a chance.” Dark Schenider responded with a grin.He watched in amusement as she just stared at him, wide-eyed before she sighed, closing them as she shook her head at him fondly. “You haven’t changed a bit. Still…I’m glad you and Lucien are all right.”

“Why wouldn’t we?”

“The last battle did take a toll on you, the both of you, Darsh, and if I-”

“That wasn’t your fault.”

“But -”

“You weren’t the one who summoned the Demon Mail and used it to attack Princess Sheila or me. That was Abigail. You did what you had to do to ensure everyone had a chance to survive. What happened to Meta-llicana was not your fault, so don’t you dare say it is or so help me I will drop you right now.” He hissed, halting in his trek to look down at her. “Do you understand?” [First Name] didn’t respond, instead she just blinked rapidly at him, face frozen with shock from the words he said before he scoffed, turning his attention to their surroundings.

It’s not exactly an ideal place to rest, but this area wasn’t too far from the others and didn’t have as much debris lying around. Using his magic, Dark Schneider levitated and transformed two of the largest rocks into a pillow and a small mattress. He remembered [First Name] referring to them as a ‘futon’. He remembered her telling him, as Lucien, the difference between a four poster bed and what she had been used to sleeping back in her old world. This was the closest thing he could create from how she described them

His queen was…well, she was in awe of his greatness. Her hands clenched, fisting and pulling on the fabric of his shirt before he set her down. Well, actually he kept her in his arms as he kneeled down and tucked her under the duvet. “There. All cozy, isn’t it?” He smirked, resting his chin with one hand as he laid on top of the futon while the other stroked the top of her head.

Laying on his side next to her, the wizard smiled as he saw [Eye Color] irises fluttering beneath his touch, trying to fight off the exhaustion when it was already a losing battle for [First Name]. Then all of a sudden, she sat up from the futon and he felt something warm and soft press against his cheek. Her lips. She just kissed him. Willingly. Holy fuck.

[First Name] smiled sleepily. “Thank you…Darsh.” Her serene voice muddled down to a soft, drowsy murmur before she laid flat on her back under the futon, her eyes closing. Five minutes later, her breathing slowed to soft inhaling and exhaling through the mouth. All Dark Schneider could do was stare down at her with a wide, goofy grin and pink cheeks while the dog ears on top of his head wiggled.

[First Name] loves me. She loves us, Lucien! He exclaimed in his mind, the bushy tail behind him wagging in excitement. If everything goes well, we might even hit third base before the second season is over! When all he heard was a disapproving silence in the background, Dark Schneider chuckled weakly, continuing to pet [First Name]’s head gently. Okay, okay, maybe that’s a little too soon, but c’mon, not even a kiss for the handsome hero who busted his ass to save this show from being canceled forever? We gotta give these viewers something!

[Next will be season 2’s famous bath scene 😉 who wants to get tagged?]

Taglist:

@sleep-all-day-everyday

@theanimekid

@saltyfruitbat

@ccruzmoon

@cassanderasblog

@technikerin23

@justamegafan

@harame

@mitra555

@nunezs-stuff

@xoxo-shy

@currentlyinhell

@swallowtailcherry

#an idyllic novelist #fem reader #dark schneider x reader #dark schneider #bastard anime #bastard 2022 #bastard!!#shinobu!reader #character!reader #bastard anime 2022 #dark schneider headcanons

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petermorwood · 7 months

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YA or not YA, that is the question...

This started out as a response to Diane’s post here about YA literature and its long history prior to what some people think inspired it, but got longer (Oh! What a surprise!) and wandered far enough from the initial subject that I decided to post separately.

So here it is.

*****

Many years ago my town library (in Northern Ireland, so following UK library practice, I suppose) had just two sections, Adult and Children. There was no YA section, and the Children’s section covered everything from large-format picture books through to hardback novels and the usual amount of non-fiction.

(Library books were almost always bought in hardback for better wear, and even the softback picture books were rebound with heavy card inserts.)

There were classics like “Treasure Island”, “Kidnapped”, “King Solomon’s Mines” “Under the Red Robe” and “The Jungle Books”.

There were standalone titles like “The Otterbury Incident”, “The Silver Sword”, “The Sword in the Stone” and “The Stone Cage”.

There were series about characters like William, Biggles, Jennings and his counterpart Molesworth, the Moomins, Narnia and Uncle.

There were authors like Alan Garner, Nicholas Stuart Grey, Rosemary Sutcliffe, Henry Treece, Ronald Welch… And of course there was J.R.R. Tolkien.

The first time I got "The Hobbit", "Farmer Giles of Ham" and "Smith of Wootton Major" they were shelved in the Children's section. This was about 1968-69.

In the early 1970s the library moved to larger premises, which allowed room for Very Young Children (where the picture books now lived) and Children (everything else), still with no YA section, though with more advanced picture books like “Tintin” and “Asterix” * in a sort of no-man’s-land between them.

( * These included editions in the original French, which turned out very useful for making language lessons at school a bit more fun and gaining extra marks in exams through judiciously enhanced vocabulary.)

“The Hobbit” et cetera were still on the Children shelves, but now that the library was larger and more open-plan, volumes of "The Lord of The Rings", normally in the Adult section, occasionally got shelved there as well by well-meaning non-staff people.

I never saw “The Hobbit” mis-shelved alongside “Lord of the Rings” among the Adults, but Farmer Giles” and “Smith” sometimes turned up there, courtesy of those same well-meaning hands.

It’s probably because the first, with its sometimes complex wordplay and mock-heroic plot, reads like a humorous parody of more serious works, while the second, if read in the right frame of mind, can seem quite adult in the style of Sylvia Townsend Warner’s “Kingdoms of Elfin” - which is in fact a good deal more adult than “Smith of Wootton Major”, even if you squint.

*****

This “Hobbit” / “Rings” confusion is a lightweight version of assuming a particular author writes every book for the same age-group. This is very much not the case.

Sometimes the thickness of the book is a giveaway. Compare, for instance, @neil-gaiman’s “American Gods” with “Coraline” or indeed “Fortunately, The Milk”.

Sometimes the cover is a hint, for example the difference between “Live and Let Die” by Ian Fleming...

...and “Chitty Chitty Bang Bang”, also by Ian Fleming...

...although the original James Bond novels are – apart from some extremely dated attitudes – a lot more weaksauce than many YA books nowadays.

(More weaksauce still now that Fleming, like Roald Dahl and Agatha Christie, has been censored to conceal the extent to which - let's call them Certain Attitudes - were a standard feature in British popular fiction. Apparently (I haven't read any Newspeak Bond so can't confirm) the redaction was done in a curiously slapdash way, removing some things while leaving others.

These novels have become, IMO anyway, period pieces as much as Kipling, Doyle, Dickens and Austen, and erasure probably has less to do with sensitivity - maybe with some "brush it under the rug and they'll forget about it" involved - than with keeping them marketable, so Fleming doesn't go the way of other once-bestselling writers like "Sapper" and Sydney Horler.)

It would also be a mistake, despite advisory wizards Tom and Carl, to think that @dduane’s “Young Wizards” books are meant for the same age-group as her “Middle Kingdoms” series – although, once again, the later YW books and all of the MK slot into what a modern YA audience expects from its fiction.

But sometimes there’s absolutely no doubt that This Book by This Author is not meant for the readership of That Book by The Same Author. I’m thinking of one example which caused a certain amount of amusement.

“Bee Hunter” by Robert Nye is a retelling of the Beowulf story for children, though IIRC occasional bloody episodes as Grendel takes Hrothgar’s housecarls apart make it more suited to older children.

I’d brought home a copy from the library when much younger, and borrowed it again years later in company with another Nye novel, “Falstaff”...

...which was poetic, historic, melancholic, often bawdy, frequently funny and at all times most emphatically NOT for children, as indicated by some of these chapter headings - I draw your attention to XX, XXII, XXXII and especially XL... ;->

Yes. Quite... :->

*****

I was familiar with card index systems from quite early in my life, because my grandfather’s grocer’s shop had a fairly simple one for keeping track of customers, suppliers, stock and so forth, and since the library’s index card system cross-referenced in the same way, I was already home and dry.

If I could remember a title, I'd find the author, and once found I could track down other titles by that author (which, as shown above, can be educational...) Even if I could only remember the subject - historical, adventure, comedy - I'd still have narrowed my search window more than somewhat.

(This from-here-to-there mindset later became virtual train travel by way of the electronic timetables which SBB – Swiss Railways – used to issue on CD, and which let me “travel” anywhere in Europe, complete with a map. Those CDs are long discontinued, but I can still do virtual travel courtesy of the SBB website. Complete with a map…)

This is the last one we got, kept for sentimental reasons and occasional outdated train-travel on an equally outdated XP netbook.

As you do.

Or as I do, anyway. :->

*****

I also knew about title request cards and interlibrary loans, and was a frequent user - never more so than when I started reading “The Lord of the Rings” for the first time.

The town library didn’t have all three volumes, just “The Fellowship of the Ring” and “The Two Towers”, so I checked them out on a Friday to read over the weekend.

You can already see where this is going… :->

I finished “Fellowship” late on Saturday afternoon, went straight into “Towers” and by Sunday evening was all of a twitter (no, not that one) or as my mum would have said, up to high Doh, as I fretted about Not Knowing What Happened Next.

Fortunately school was no more than a brisk bike ride from the library, so I devoted my Monday morning break to zooming down and filling in one of the most urgent title requests I’ve ever made, then spent the rest of the week on tenterhooks, looking in every lunchtime and each afternoon on my way home.

Just In Case.

Some kindly librarian must have pulled strings or stamped the request "Expedite Soonest", because when I went back to school after Thursday lunch, I had “The Return of the King” burning a hole in my saddlebag.

I wanted to start reading it at once, but good sense prevailed; imagine getting caught between chapters at the back of a boring Geography lesson and Having The Book Confiscated…

I didn’t pay much attention in class on Friday, due to being half-asleep after starting “Return” in the evening after prep and finishing it in the wee hours of the morning.

But being tired didn’t prevent me from starting with “Fellowship” again on Friday night, and this time being able to read right through to the end without needing to stop.

It Was Great…

#YA books #library age categories #library use #don't judge a book by its cover #don't judge an age group by author #anecdotage

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natlacentral · 2 months

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‘Avatar: The Last Airbender’ Renewed For Two Seasons At Netflix; Live-Action Series Will Conclude With Season 3

Avatar: The Last Airbender, the anime-inspired live-action series, will be able to tell the story of the four nations: Water. Earth. Fire. Air after Netflix renewed it for a further two seasons.

The streamer has handed the show a two-season renewal order to conclude the story of Aang’s journey to become the Avatar.

It comes after the show premiered on Netflix on February 22 and recorded 41.1M views in its first 11 days, topping its TV list for the last two weeks and being on track to enter its top ten most-watched list over its first three months.

The plan is to film these two seasons – seasons two and three – in close succession in order to mitigate the fact that child actors tend to grow up quickly.

The series comes from Rideback, whose boss Dan Lin, an exec producer on the series, was recently named Netflix’s new film chief, replacing Scott Stuber. Albert Kim is showrunner, having replaced original creators Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko in 2020.

Its three season run will mirror the structure of the animated series, which featured three books across three seasons to Aang’s story that premiered on Nickelodeon in 2005, and became a hit on Netflix during the early stages of the pandemic.

It’s not clear how many episodes will be produced for season two and three. Season one features eight episodes.

Avatar: The Last Airbender takes place in a world that is divided into four nations: the Water Tribes, the Earth Kingdom, the Fire Nation, and the Air Nomads. “Benders” are people that have the ability to telekinetically manipulate and control the element corresponding to their nation, using gestures based on Chinese martial arts. The “Avatar” is the only individual with the ability to bend all four elements.

The four nations once lived in harmony, with the Avatar, master of all four elements, keeping peace between them. But everything changed when the Fire Nation attacked and wiped out the Air Nomads, the first step taken by the firebenders towards conquering the world. With the current incarnation of the Avatar yet to emerge, the world has lost hope. But like a light in the darkness, hope springs forth when Aang (Gordon Cormier), a young Air Nomad — and the last of his kind — reawakens to take his rightful place as the next Avatar.

Alongside his newfound friends Sokka (Ian Ousley) and Katara (Kiawentiio), siblings and members of the Southern Water Tribe, Aang embarks on a quest to save the world and fight back against the onslaught of Fire Lord Ozai (Daniel Dae Kim). But with a driven Crown Prince Zuko (Dallas Liu) determined to capture them, it won’t be an easy task. They’ll need the help of the many allies and colorful characters they meet along the way. Ken Leung and Paul Sun-Hyung Lee also star.

Kim and Lin exec produce produce alongside Jabbar Raisani, Lindsey Liberatore and Michael Goi. Goi and Raisani directed episodes in season one alongside Roseanne Liang and Jet Wilkinson.

It is Netflix’s second anime-inspired live-action hit after One Piece, following a rocky start in the genre with Cowboy Bepop. The streamer highlighted it as one of its latest successful adaptations, coming on the back of other IP-driven series such as The Sandman, Wednesday, Arcane and Sweet Tooth.

The creative team behind the series is keen to expand the story. Avatar executive producer and director Jabbar Raisani told Deadline that there’s stuff that they filmed that didn’t make it into season one.

“If we get another season, then we will certainly have those things, because I know what we missed now and I know how to do better the second time around,” he said. “The animated series is a really good guide…for where the show can go.”

#natla #atla #article #deadline #netflix avatar #netflix atla #avatar the last airbender #avatar netflix #atla netflix

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sgiandubh · 10 months

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Jottings: Season 7, Episode 5. Dinna fash, we'll sort it out

The proof is in the pudding: we don't really need to see J&C/S&C all the time on screen, to know an episode is still consistently good, in an overall unexpectedly great season, so far.

Side note: just how hypnotic Bear McCreary's Dance of the Druids must be, to immediately cut all ties to the real world, as you settle on the couch, larva style, with your ice cream (yes! again! B&J's Karamel Sutra Core - more appropriate for last week, but nobody's perfect)?

It would seem this time speed gave precedence to density and even gravitas, because neither war, nor self-assertiveness are jokes. The main theme of the mysteriously named Singapore seems to be the obvious cause and effect relationship between prejudice and miscommunication, or even lack thereof. It doesn't really matter if the year is 1777 or 1979: men will be men, women will be women and idiots will be idiots, regardless of gender or nationality. Tonight, for instance, an accomplished French idiot, which is ironic and a tad unfair to watch, seconds after Bastille Day (this comes from a place of deep love, familiarity and appreciation). But almost all of them will face authoritarian idiocy in this episode: I will let you discover (remember: nothing but minimal spoilers).

Still embarrassed for SS, whose vital signs seem to be on display only when she is a) crying and b) pissed off because of someone or something. For the pub scene with the gang of morons from the plant, she could have borrowed a wealth of JAMMF's expression tricks (for which S is the absolute ace) and I suspect she tried but, yet again, failed to persuade: the only thing that she seems remotely acquainted with is the smirk. And I will not insist on the torturous rendering of maternal love or domestic bliss. I feel merciful tonight and sometimes mercy is just about the same as oblivion (not a word about that vanishing panties scene, do you hear me?). Maybe this is also why RR still seems more relaxed, but perhaps also totally resigned about a situation that must be dealt and be done with a stiff upper lip, for the cause.

Product placement alert, with the Barbour wax jackets and shirts (long time client, here) prominently featured at Lallybroch. Nothing magic. This is a long-term partnership, maybe also S's contribution. Yes, Mordor, that peasant did it again!

A propos of the plant inspection, the tunnel scene sent powerful The Man in the High Castle vibes, from the set to the running through well, something, for lack of a better word. For those who have not seen this excellent series, here's a good Droughtlander plan. It's all about Jude Law and the Japanese guy; and also Philip K. Dick, one of my beloved science-fiction writers, truly a genius.

Spoiler: "You can thank that rotten stew". Ohai, Vandervaart, sweet summer child. Too fleeting a presence on my screen, yet you nailed your scene with Rachel Hunter, which I proclaim my favorite of this episode. The scenery helps, that pre-dawn murky, metallic light is perfect and you found the right balance between disgust, horror, an adrenaline high, fear, uncertainty and yes, unspoken (maybe even unconscious) attraction. Also, a masterful use of voice, pitch and breathing techniques - what's not to like?

A close second but enthusiastic kudos for Young Ian. John Bell is wonderful in his scene with C. which, again, gave me life imitates art vibes. And even more moving is the dense moment with the Cherokee/Scottish son, for I believe that endearing boy with a Fraser smile is Young Ian's.

These jottings are unable and unwilling to ignore S, very busy shaping Jamie's hero stature in short, effective appearances. Something we will probably see in full force next week, when I shall be out of town and not watching. Still, rejoice: the Jottings will be making it a double in two weeks.

#jottings

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yukidragon · 3 months

Note

I love to hear more of your headcanons on Bo in Mafia AU! Also what would happen if Bo's puppy doesn't want to be his in that AU?

It's been a while since I touched on the Mafia AU hasn't it? And that was before I created my version of Bo's puppy, Barbie too. This ask does make me wonder how their interaction might go in this AU.

In the main universe, Barbie's attraction towards Bo, at least at the start, was pretty shallow, all things considered. He was more like a fun adult toy that she grew fond of until eventually that fondness grew into genuine love. It's hard to blame her though, since he quite literally is a toy. She pretty much treated him like many people treat AI bots - a fun diversion, but nothing to take seriously. It was only when he forced her to realize that his feelings are just as real as hers that she truly saw him as a person.

Barbie is a self-proclaimed misanthrope. She's not fond of humanity in general. She can't stand noisy places or being in crowds. It takes a while for her to warm up to people, which leaves her with few people she cares about outside of her immediate family. It's also why she's very fierce if someone hurts her family. Fictional relationships were the closest thing she was interested in when it came to romantic or sexual pursuits.

In the Mafia AU, Bo is an actual human being, even if he's got some pretty distinct canine features. More than that, he's a wise guy working for a mafia boss (Jack); not really someone who is safe for normal people to get involved with. Add in Barbie's default mistrust of people, and Bo in this universe is going to have a steep uphill battle to overcome in order to win his puppy's heart.

Since I've started fleshing out the King family more, it would be good to reexamine their roles in this Aphrodesia-influenced AU, don't you think? It'll be especially interesting to consider how they'll react to Alice being kidnapped by a human trafficking ring, and the scars that incident left behind on her when she finally sees them again.

Content warnings: this post will contain mentions of violence, torture, human trafficking, SA, drugs, and sex. Overall I'll try to keep any uncomfortable descriptions to a minimum, and ramp up the spice where I can. Remember, Something's Wrong with Sunny Day Jack, DachaBo, and Aphrodesia are all stories for Adults Only. NSFW elements will be touched on!

Traffic Stop

The broad strokes of the AU are basically the same as from the first post. Alice and her family originally lived a normal, happy life, far and away from the crime-invested city of St. Valen's. She and Ian grew up as childhood friends. Things seemed to be going down the same route it did in the regular universe, with puppy love developing between them that might turn into something more.

The divergence happened when they were both still in high school. There was a person going around their school, looking for acting talent. It was somewhat shady. Alice wasn't sure about going, but Ian wanted, no, needed to seize the opportunity to achieve his dream. The talent scout remarked that he had a nice face, both of them did. They would go far. They just had to audition.

It was flattery that Ian couldn't resist.

Of course Ian's mom wasn't going to let him do such a thing, so they had to sneak out. Ian didn't want to risk his mom finding out from her parents, so he convinced Alice to lie to her parents that they'd be out with friends.

As you might suspect already, this audition was a trap sprung by human traffickers. They pick young and vulnerable people who look like they can't fight back, lure them someplace isolated, nab them, and ship them off someplace to be sold for, well, less than savory purposes. While initially both of them were caught in the trap, Alice managed to help Ian escape.

Ian's greatest regret was that he ran away, that he didn't stay to rescue Alice like she did him. Even though she told him to run, to get help, Ian still felt like a coward. It was made worse when by the time he returned with authorities, the traffickers were already gone.

Needless to say, this incident still haunts Ian to the present day, crushing him under the weight of his guilt.

This incident replaces the cheating Ian does in the main universe, and Alice being trafficked replaces the SA incident she went through. While Alice mercifully didn't get SA'd during the trafficking, she was a victim of a "red room" after being taken and sold in St. Valen's. A "red room," for those unaware, is a type of livestream on the dark web, where innocent victims are tortured according to an audience's bids.

I won't go into detail about all the horrors Alice experienced, since the scars speak for themselves. Fortunately, she managed to be clever and lucky enough to escape. Luckier still, she managed to stumble into a member of the Sunny Family, and said family just happened to have a vendetta against the gang that was behind the trafficking.

St. Valens is full of people who showed up out of nowhere, and others who don't ask or care where they came from. There's plenty of corruption, people looking the other way, and shady deals going on. The Sunny Family might be relatively better than most crime families, but at the end of the day, they're pretty shady. They helped her out by rescuing her, even paying her hospital bills and taking her under their wing, so now she owed them.

Alice could contact her family, have them pay back her hefty debt... or she, now an 18 year old adult, could do some favors for the family. Her medical bills were insane - St. Valen's isn't exactly kind to the less fortunate when it comes to medical care - it would bankrupt her family.

It was a classic hustle, presenting a vulnerable person like Alice with potentially devastating consequences, or an out by someone who is wearing a kind and smiling face. I'm inclined to have that representative of kindness from the family be Mama Shine, who was so kind and empathetic, just wanting to help Alice after she went through so much. Working for them wouldn't be that big a deal, especially since they were the ones who rescued her and all the other trafficking victims...

That's the classic Sunny Family con. They smile, act kind, extend their gloved hands to help, offering salvation to poor souls down on their luck. They are then indebted to the family. They need the family. Alice needed a prescription of drugs that they could give to her regularly for all her pain, far cheaper than the healthcare system would.

Shine had taken an interest in Alice, helping her while she was rehabilitated in the hospital. She could've been the one who Alice ran into that night when bloody and desperate for help. Shine is so caring, just like Alice's mother, having that same warm motherly aura. So trustworthy and kind...

It was a far less violent trap that ensnared Alice a second time into this world of crime, but this time she didn't realize the cage was around her, or that she couldn't leave it, until she was in far, far too deep. Her vulnerability was exploited, and she signed a contract that she shouldn't.

The King family were so relieved when Alice finally contacted them... but confused when she told them she couldn't go home. She was receiving medical treatment and needed to stay in the city, and she had debts to pay...

Naturally, her family isn't going to take this without a fight. The King family immediately took a road trip to St. Valen's to see Alice at the hospital.

Lycoris is a fierce mama bear, and she was enraged when Alice was kidnapped, doing everything in her power to find her baby. So despite Shine acting kind and friendly, she was ready to throw down from the word go. Lycoris is a small lady, but she can be very scary, though, sadly, not as scary as an entire crime family.

None of the King family were happy with what had happened to Alice, the debt she had to repay, or that she had already signed a deceptively scary contract. However, the Sunny Family is the most dangerous crime family in the city for a reason, and the King family were in over their heads.

Not that the King family knew they were facing a crime family. The Sunny Family has a reputation to uphold after all. They're a family-run business. Many details were left out or unspoken, all to hide what was really going on behind their squeaky clean image.

The King family did involve the legal system, but that was a failure. The Sunny Family owns the police in St. Valen's. The police just informed them that everything was legal, Alice is an adult who can make her own choices, and there's no better family to work for than the Sunny Family. Plus, Alice was going to need the drug they provided for the rest of her life, so wasn't this a sweet deal anyway? They should just feel grateful that she was rescued. Not a lot of trafficked teens are...

In the end, the King family was powerless, and Alice became a member of the Sunny Family with a debt that seemed never ending.

Barbie vs the World

Needless to say, Barbie was pretty much spitting nails about the whole thing. Even if the Sunny Family was putting on a smiling face and rescued her older sister, so generously providing Alice with needed medical treatment for the foreseeable future, she raged against the entire situation. Unfortunately, being a teen younger than 18 at the time, she was left with a feeling helpless and frustrated. She raged at her parents for "giving up" on bringing Alice home safely even though they didn't have a choice.

Naturally, with Barbie not being the biggest fan of the Sunny Family, she's going to be wary of anyone working for them. Bo has quite the reputation in the city of St. Valens as their enforcer, so he's got quite a steep uphill climb to take if he wants to earn his puppy's love.

Barbie was already the type to play fast and loose with laws, and this entire affair killed all faith she had in the justice system. In the main universe, she's a programmer and hacker. In this universe, she focused more on the hacking aspect. She snuck behind her parents' back, doing very illegal things online to get more money to pay back the debt to the Sunny Family and free her big sister.

So, years later, while Alice gained experience in the Sunny Family as a sniper, Barbie became a skilled hacker, going by many aliases online. By her early/mid-twenties, she used a particular handle when making things difficult for the Sunny Family - Clown Killer. She became quite notorious among the Sunny Family, and a thorn in their side online.

Of course, Barbie had to prioritize not getting caught above any victory. If the Sunny Family knew that she was the one making things hard for them, it would put Alice in danger. Her primary focus with her hacking and other shady dealings online was to get money to repay the debt, but whenever they would just miss repaying the full amount, or something else tacked onto it to keep Alice in that debt, Barbie couldn't help but want to vent her frustrations as Clown Killer.

Barbie has learned quite a lot about the members of the Sunny Family, but could never quite gather enough evidence that would convict any of its bigger members. Their reputation was so squeaky clean. She especially had an axe to grind against Shine, who never once lost that "sweet and gentle" motherly aura while making it clear to her all those years ago that Alice wouldn't be coming home. She knew behind that sweet smile was a ruthless criminal, but she could never peel back that smiling mask to expose the truth.

The King parents are trying all they can to help Alice, saving up money on their side. They visit the city as often as they can to see her and offer support. If one of them could've taken her place, they would, but with Alice needing regular medical treatment from the city, and Shine taking a shine to her in particular... she was going to be stuck in the city no matter what.

Plus, there are other children in the King family who needed their parents too, Coraline especially. She also needed medical treatments... treatment that the Sunny Family offered to provide. In spite of the protests of her parents about adding to the debt, Alice wanted to help her little sister. Besides, the Sunny Family were treating her well... right?

Well, Alice insisted they did. Her family was already worried enough without knowing how how her job's "duties" slowly became a bit more involved over time, a bit more violent, and a lot more bloody.

Barbie did learn of some of the things Alice was hiding from them because of her hacking, and it infuriated her that her big sis was hiding secrets now too. Their parents told her to not worry about the debt, that it wasn't her responsibility, but fuck that! It's not Alice's responsibility either! She was the victim in all of this! The Sunny Family aren't a wholesome family running businesses, they're manipulative criminals, and Barbie is going to destroy them!

Although Barbie spends much of her time as a recluse, she does visit Alice in St. Valen's from time to time. It's how she crossed paths with a certain dog that the Sunny Family keeps on a tight leash.

The Sunny Family's Hunting Dog

As mentioned before, Bo is working for the Sunny Family as Jack's right hand man. He's an enforcer who enjoys his job. He especially enjoys the thrill of the chase, hunting down a target before brutalizing them up close and personal with his fists and fangs. Of course, he also knows how to handle a gun as well as a few other weapons. He also knows some unconventional means to torture someone if need be.

Bo has excellent hacking skills of his own, as a nod to his AI counterpart in the main universe, but he prefers to get hands on with his target whenever possible. He's aware of the hacker Clown Killer that's giving the Sunny Family some headaches, but they always evade his attempts to catch them in cyberspace, much to his frustration. They become something of a rival, his white whale that he's eager to conquer once and for all.

Not only does Bo have a lust for violence, he's also a very, very horny dog. He has slept around quite a lot, though his relationships never last. He never quite connects with anyone. He gets mistaken for only having a talent for senseless violence, the dumb muscle of the gang who is also is some good eye candy, when he's a lot smarter than his wild behavior might imply. There's a reason why he's Jack's second in command after all...

Alice intrigues Bo, simply because of how Jack is practically obsessed with her. In many ways, Jack is a rival of Bo's, being his "master" who he wants to one day be free of. Seeing Jack bend over backwards to win the heart of just some random sucker who got sweet talked into debt confuses the hell out of him. He wants to know what it is about Alice that draws Jack in... and if he can use that to his advantage.

Alice isn't a fan of Bo's constant teasing, and she hates the nickname of "squeaky toy" that he uses for her. It's in reference to how he loves to sneak up on her and startle her, causing her to squeak in surprise. Bo is really good at sneaking up on his prey, so her reaction is pretty fun.

Still, no matter how many times Bo pops in on Alice unexpectedly, he doesn't quite see what draws Jack in. Sure, she's surprisingly soft despite this hard life of crime, which is a novelty, but it's not something special. She's attractive, sure, but there's plenty just as attractive as her, if not more. He wants to dig deeper, interrogate her more, maybe even seduce her, but whenever he pushes just a little too far, Jack pulls on his metaphorical leash. Hard.

The intrigue keeps Bo coming back to ruffle Alice's feathers despite the risk. It's also why he suddenly pops up at Alice's place while Barbie is visiting one day.

Barbie is surprisingly tall compared to Alice, but Bo can see and smell the family blood between them. She's got these eyes that stand out - both of them blue and brown at the same time. She also has this cutting stare like she wants to carve open his guts. It's actually hilarious that a powderpuff from the suburbs could think she has a chance at even leaving a scratch on an alpha like him. It intrigues him enough to have a little fun teasing her as well.

Barbie shuts down Bo's flirting instantly. It trips him up a bit, as Bo knows he's a good looking guy. He's not used to being turned down in such a harsh manner, especially by someone as powerless as a puppy. He'd be offended if it wasn't so ridiculous.

When Barbie learns that Bo works with Alice, and as such is part of the Sunny Family, her dislike turns into outright hostility. She's not even hiding it either, though Alice rushes in to keep the conversation more or less civil.

After leaving the apartment, Bo decided to case the place until Barbie left. He wanted to tease her a little, scare this spoiled little pampered suburban pet before she barks at someone big and nasty who is more than ready to bite back. Despite his attempts to intimidate her, Barbie didn't even flinch, even when he made a subtle threat, just to see how she would react. Not even that shook her resolve. In fact, she warned him that if he hurt Alice, hell would feel like a sunny vacation spot compared to what she would do to Bo and the rest of the damned Sunny Family.

The threat tickled Bo instead of intimidating him, and Barbie fumed at the way he laughed her off.

It was in that exchange that Bo found himself a new toy to tease. He called Barbie puppy whenever he encountered her. She barked big, but she had no idea just how tiny and helpless she really was compared to him in his eyes. It was cute really, and he found great delight in teasing her.

However, though Bo was amused by their banter, Barbie was anything but. His teasing just made her hate him all the more.

A Hungry Dog

Over time Bo's attraction towards Barbie grows. He stops flirting with Alice, though he still teases her, mostly to learn more about Barbie and how he might win Barbie over. He feels less satisfied with the people he sleeps around with, thinking of Barbie more. He even starts imagining that it's her he's sleeping with, which kills the moment for him and leaves him feeling unfulfilled and horny.

At some point during this, Bo finds out the identity of the infamous Clown Killer. It's surprising, but so fitting that he can't help but laugh when he realizes it's none other than his puppy. My, my, such a naughty puppy too, getting up to so much mischief. It'd be a shame to let anyone else know. Then he wouldn't be able to play with her more.

It's that realization that his greatest rival is the woman who has been intriguing him that turns his attraction into downright obsession. Bo wants to conquer Barbie in every sense of the word, tame this wild puppy and make her whimper and beg for his loving touch.

Bo has obscene fantasies about the various ways he can conquer and tame Barbie. It's the more extreme side of the lines from the game, where he wants her on his leash, to be at his beck and call, ready for him whenever he wants her. (Which quickly becomes all the time, really. The man is so horny he makes Jack seem reserved.) He wants her always by his side, in his lap, hot and whining for him, begging him to take her in every one of her pretty little holes like the dirty puppy he knows that she really is. He wants to make her see that she's powerless before him and beg him to take her, to protect her. Only he can have her.

Unfortunately for Bo, Barbie isn't someone who is turned on by a self-proclaimed alpha asshole who teases her just because he's good looking and desires her. Every time he tries to proposition her or seduce her, he gets rejected, much to his increasing frustration.

It brings out Bo's yandere side more and more. He tries different schemes to win Barbie over. He would use his power and influence to impress her, make her see how much he can provide for her. He tries to show off how good looking he is, entice her to at least want his body if nothing else.

Barbie doesn't want any of it. She knows there are strings attached to anything Bo offers her. The only thing she wants is for the Sunny Family to let Alice go and never, ever bother her or the rest of their family ever again.

Sadly, that's the one thing Bo can't influence with his pull, even if he was willing to let Barbie go. Jack isn't ever going to let Alice go. Worse, he can't even pretend he's going to try and separate them, not when Alice starts dating Jack.

Barbie doesn't buy that Alice is happy with Jack. She doesn't buy Jack's super nice and generous millionaire sweetheart from a sappy romance novel schtick. After everything she's gone through to save her sister from that damn Sunny Family, there's no way Barbie is just letting Alice stay with them.

Jack is just another smiling liar, just like his mother Shine who talked Alice into signing that contract in the first place.

Bo can use this hatred for Jack though. He can try to show Barbie that he's on her side, that while he works for Jack, that doesn't mean he wants to stay a part of the Sunny Family.

In spite of Barbie's hatred, she did have encounters with Bo where he showed his softer side. St. Valen's is a dangerous place, especially for someone who has never killed before. Barbie resents being in Bo's debt even as she's grateful when he saves her life. Bo had Barbie squares away this debt with dates, which she very reluctantly accepted with the stipulation that he never touches her unless she explicitly gives him permission.

On these dates, Bo tries taking a play from Jack's book and acting more polite, more gentle with Barbie. It doesn't win her over, since she doesn't trust it, but she's not as openly hostile. Barbie also uses these dates as an attempt to sneak info on the sly that she could use against the family. It's kind of cute to Bo, that she thinks she's so slick, but she's a lot better at hiding her real motives online than she is in person. She has such a lousy poker face.

But it's cute too that she doesn't hide her real feelings. The more time Bo spends with Barbie, the more he wants her. Her scent is so appealing, so delicious. He wants to nibble on her skin, or at least get just a little lick. It's almost like she was made to drive him crazy. She's so fierce, so loyal to her family, and so in over his head. The small moments that he gets in past her walls where she softens to him, just a little, oh that makes his hope burn brighter, hotter.

Still, for every step closer he takes, something seems to pull them apart again. Usually that something is Bo and the criminal life he lives with the Sunny Family.

Puppy Love

Before Bo realizes it, he is helplessly in love, completely obsessed. It's Jack who infuriatingly points out to him that Barbie has become his weakness. Despite Bo insistence on being a lone wolf that doesn't need anybody, he is desperate to make Barbie, that grumpy barking puppy, his mate.

Which works in Jack's favor. After all, if Alice's family gets closer to his family, then she won't ever want to leave. He can also have Bo indebted to him for helping Bo win over the untamed heart of Barbie.

Barbie isn't going to make it easy for Bo, even with Jack's help. Like Alice, Barbie is on the aroace spectrum. She has to trust Bo in order to start developing real feelings for him, and it's going to take a lot of effort to get her to trust him.

Also, Barbie is the type to take charge. In the main universe, she's the one who holds Bo's leash. He might be the alpha dog, but he bows down at her feet. I imagine until she can feel secure in her dominance over Bo and trust that his love for her is stronger than his allegiance to the Sunny Family, she's not going to feel anything remotely close to attraction when it comes to him.

Still, Barbie and Bo are one of my ships, and it'd be a shame if they didn't eventually sail, even in this darker AU. It's just going to be a very slow burn.

It'll burn even slower if Bo gives in to his frustration and yandere impulses to force his puppy to stay with him. Only by rolling over and showing his soft belly will he stand a chance of seeing Barbie's softer side as well.

A bad end to their storyline would no doubt be Bo forcing Barbie to be his, through blackmail, debt, or both. Even in that situation, she wouldn't simply just submit. Trying to overpower her isn't going to win Barbie's love. Instead it'll just make her bear her fangs and fight back even more. The harder he forces her, the more desperately she fights, and the closer he pushes them both to their mutual destruction.

Of course, I'm a sucker for happy endings. So while Barbie isn't going to make it easy for Bo, I do like the idea that in spite of everything, Bo manages to slowly show her there's more to him than a blood-thirsty, horny killer. He's someone who loves deeply, is loyal, and would do anything to please her. His love for her is more real and pure than anything else he found in the city of St. Valen's, and despite all his dreams of becoming top dog, there's nothing he wants more than to be loved by his puppy.

Bo might hate to be on a leash, but he'll find it's not so bad when Barbie is the one holding onto it instead of Jack. In fact, when she's confidently in charge, she'll be a lot more inclined to reward her big bad alpha dog with some treats.

Oh, and naturally, Bo wouldn't be Bo without his breeding/seeding fetish. Once he and Barbie finally get together, he's going to want to knock her up immediately with his pups. He never gave serious thought about having kids before, but that's only because he never found someone he wanted as his mate before. He really hopes the pups his puppy gives him will have her pretty heterochromatic eyes.

I think we can wrap things up there for now. I hope you enjoyed another visit to this multi-crossover mafia AU. Let me know if you want to hear even more about this AU or any of my other story ideas and characters.

@channydraws @earthgirlaesthetic @sai-of-the-7-stars @cheriihoney @illary-kore @okamiliqueur @kurokrisps

#Sunny Day Jack #Something's Wrong With Sunny Day Jack #SunnyDayJack #DachaBo #Aphrodesia #sdj #swwsdj #Headcanon Ramblings #My Art #Mafia AU

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romanceclub-lovers · 2 months

Text

Romance Club news recap

Kali: Flame of Samsara

Saraswati Basu

💎 Prototype : Juliana Herz

I won’t lie, Sara is one of those characters that I was excited to develop, and I love every scene with her. It somehow feels light and right, which is why I especially love it.

Sara is the very embodiment of all those qualities of the Basu family that we read about in KCD. She is immensely beautiful, as they often say about her, has bright gray eyes (which has a connection with Mahakali, we remember Ram’s eye and a reference to the same Basu). And even in her soft, at first glance, character, you can catch notes of hidden madness lurking inside, like in Pandora’s box.

It seems to me that the artist perfectly considered the vibe of the model Juliana Hertz, this wild, dangerous, sexy beauty that you are afraid to approach. A tenacious gaze, a smirk full of self-confidence. Well, really... she🥺

On the one hand, a strict and dominant mother, on the other hand, a sister who is preparing to replace her, but who is full of anxiety from this responsibility. We see that the family character is more Saraswati's than Radha's, but the roles are defined and Sara learns to live with her ambitions and her position. Having adjusted to the situation, the girl seems very flexible and gentle, which is also often mentioned by the men of the dozen. But rumors about the fate of those who somehow crossed Saraswati’s path are beginning to outweigh the first impression...

Art credit: hohohoibu Instagram

But even in such a girl there is a vulnerable part, affectionate and soft, in need of love and care. Saraswati hides her, securely so as not to be hurt. Her devotion is a great value that is almost impossible to earn. But it is precisely in this value that all its best qualities are hidden. She will tear and throw for those who are dear to her, and will not allow herself to be broken - she always fights to the last. Reminds me of someone, right? great great granddaughter.

She and Ram Doobay have a mutual friendly sympathy for each other, this relationship has not yet been fully revealed to you, but we could see a hint in the latest update. Someone considered the dialogue at the temple to be flirting, but it’s clearly just friendly jokes that slip through there.

Sara has a special relationship with Devi - the beloved and only daughter in the Sharma family, spoiled by the kindness of her brother and father, could afford to betray a variety of stupidities, and with her disobedience the Basu twins really liked her even in childhood. When three young rakshasis were united in friendship, the members of the dozen made fun of them and predicted that they would make a lot more noise in the future...

By the way, an interesting detail. I once read a theory that some human characteristics are passed on THROUGH generations. That is, for example: a cool talented actor, but his children will be good at something else, but his talent will manifest itself in his grandchildren.

Sorry, if for those who understand this, my words sound like fierce nonsense. I'm just talking out loud.

In general, if you look at it this way, then this is exactly what we see in the Basu family:

Vidya ( strong, dominant ) -> Radha ( softer, more sensitive ) -> Indira ( strong, powerful again ) -> Jyotsna ( and again softer, more gentle ) -> Amala ...

Christian de Clare

💎 Prototype: Volodymyr Testardi + Ian Somerhalder

Here everything is very clear and, probably, expected. The recipe is simple: classic cold beauty (playing on contrasts: fair skin, charcoal hair, bright eyes), which I softened a little with facial features. Christian's gaze is not prickly, like that of the prototype actor, but there is a sense of confidence and calm in him, without malice. The Lord does not push unnecessarily, he is respectful with everyone without exception.

Despite the fact that he speaks openly and directly about all his desires, de Clare creates the impression of a cunning and intelligent person who also pursues other, unspokengoals.

This can be read in his restrained facial expressions and manner of speech, in the tenacious and attentive gaze with which he looks at his interlocutor, studying him. Christian doesn’t need to do anything to make people listen to him - in his (often in any) environment he is an undisputed leader. And he achieved his respect far from brute force.

We don’t know much about the character yet, this post will need to be supplemented later, like, for example, the post about Set, due to the spoiler content of the information... but I will add that scenes with him are also written with special pleasure, although it often happens that they have to be rewrite - Christian is kind of uncharted territory for me, a new archetype that I haven't had to work with yet. That's why it's interesting to be with him.

*( I’ll make a reservation: it’s hard to call me a fan of The vampire diaries and this actor, I didn’t watch almost anything with him, but the fame of his beauty reached out to me😁 )

Source: A. Remy telegram

Love Sin & Evil

Alexander Tepish - screenwriter of "Love from Outer Space", "Love, Sin & Evil", " Sails in the Fog".

In his TG channel, said that in the future his stories will not be so varied. He wants to cut their variability in half.

Source: A. Tepish telegram

#romance club #romance club game #rc writers #rc kali flame of samsara #rc love sin and evil

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frenzyarts · 6 months

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hi!! I was recently at a book store and had absolutely no idea what to get. you seem to have impeccable taste in everything (homestuck, the locked tomb, ur whole aesthetic) so I was wondering if you had a list of books you'd recommend! have a good one (⁠｡⁠･⁠ω⁠･⁠｡⁠)⁠ﾉ⁠♡

This is very flattering, thank you 🥰 I like a lot of novels and comics so it would probably be easier for me to narrow it down if you gave me a genre you like but if you’re open to anything here are some of my favs!

Beauty by Hubert and Kerascoët

“When the repulsively ugly Coddie unintentionally saves a fairy from a spell, she does not understand the poisonous nature of the wish granted her by the fairy. The village folk no longer see her as repulsive and stinking of fish—they now perceive her as magnetically beautiful—which does not help her in her village. A young local lord saves her, but it soon becomes apparent that Coddie's destiny may be far greater than anyone ever imagined. Caustic and flamboyant, this fairy tale offers grownups an engrossing take on the nature and corrupting power of beauty, in our age of obsession with it.” (The art in this book is so so so gorgeous. Also I love dark fairytales)

Not Simple by Natsume Ono

“Ian, a young man with a fractured family history, travels from Australia to England to America in the hope of realizing his dreams and reuniting with his beloved sister. His story unfolds backwards through the framing narrative of Jim, a reporter driven to capture Ian’s experiences in a novel: not simple. A story within a story, a book within a book, a tale about the search for family, for an emotional home.” (This one has some really dark themes, highly recommended looking up content warnings before you read. It WILL make you cry, but it’s one of the most beautifully plotted novels I’ve ever read. Also the art style rules.)

Not even gonna bother to introduce this one cause it’s so famous but if you’ve never read the Hobbit, I highly recommend it. Especially because bookstores are always making pretty gilded versions of the book cause it’s so famous.

A short story but: Ligeia by Edgar Allen Poe (sorry I know he sucked) but that short story and the poem it features left a big impression on me. I feel like I can’t describe what the story is about without spoiling it, but if you like stories about mysterious and beautiful women who are involved with the supernatural and death, then you might like this short story!

Okay last one since I don’t want to make this list too long (I have a lot more recommendations if you’d like, these were the first that came to mind!)

Snotgirl by Bryan Lee O’Malley and Leslie Hung

I’m struggling to find a description for the series as a whole, probably because it’s still slowly being released and it comes out in monthly issues (you can usually find the issues compiled into graphic novel format in bookstores, which I still need to get, I only have the issues) But basically it’s about a social media influencer named Lottie Person. She gets wrapped up in a sapphic supernatural romance with a big mystery element. If you’re a fan of the famed “toxic yuri” then this is the series for you, 100%. I’ve actually been meaning to do a re-read 👀

#comic recommendations #book recommendations #book review #graphic novel #comic #frenzy post

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scotianostra · 4 months

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Happy Birthday Phyllis Logan, born 11th January 1956 in Paisley.

Phyllis was educated at Johnstone High School. She studied at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama in Glasgow and graduated with the top honour, the James Bridie gold medal in 1977, previous winners have included Ian Richardson and Hannah Gordon.

I suppose this is another one of those, depends on what era you grew up in, type posts, for me she will always be Lady Jane Felsham in Lovejoy in the 80’s and 90’s. Of course nowadays most know her as Elsie Hughes/ Carson housekeeper in all 6 series of Downton Abbey. Phyllis has also been in a host of TV shows, Shoestring, Scotch & Wry, Hannay, Holby City and Kavanagh QC to name a few, she also featured in the very last episode of A Touch of Frost as his love interest.

Logan met actor Kevin McNally in 1994, and they married on August 15, 2011.Their son David was born in 1996.

Last year Phyllis appeared in The Last Bus, with the versatile actor Timothy Spall, she was also in the second series of the excellent dark comedy, Guilt.

Phyllis shows no signs of slowing up fans of Downton will know ahe was in Downton Abbey: A New Era last year, she also turned up in Rocketry: The Nambi Effect the true story of Scientist Nambi Narayanan who was falsely accused of being a spy and arrested in 1994. Surprised by Oxford is a 2022 drama romance set in Oxford

Another one which will be of interest to us in Scotland is Banking on Mr. Toad, an animated biography about Edinburgh born writer Kenneth Grahame, the birth of his iconic story “The Wind In The Willows” and life with wife Elsie and Alastair, their troubled young son, no date for it's release as yet, but it has been completed.

Last year Phyllis appeared in season 8 of Shetland, and was in a movie called Surprised by Oxford, which gets a reasonable 6.5/10 on IMDb, I must look out for it.

#scotland #scottish #history #happy birthday #actrees #paisley

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rachelbethhines · 6 months

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Speed-running Doctor Who - The Eighth Doctor and Other Non-Series Doctors

A quick and dirty guide for those who want to get into the show, but don't want to watch everything from the beginning.

The Eighth Doctor

Plot Important Episodes

Entrances, Exits, Enemies, Lore Drops, and Character Development

The Enemy Within - The Doctor Who TV Movie (The Eighth Doctor's introduction)

The Night of the Doctor - Minisode (The Eighth Doctor regenerates)

Bonus

Not actual episodes but things you might want to watch anyways

Shada - Webcast (one of the many animated versions of Shada, but this one stars the Eighth Doctor instead of the Fourth)

The War Doctor

Plot Important Episodes

Entrances, Exits, Enemies, Lore Drops, and Character Development

Scream of the Shalka - Animated Mini-Series (this story features what may or may not be a young War Doctor. It also features Derek Jacobi as the Master for the first time)

Day of the Doctor - 50th Anniversary Special (The War Doctor's proper introduction and his only official episode)

Bonus

Not actual episodes but things you might want to watch anyways

The Curse of Fatal Death - Minisode (a Doctor Who parody made for charity that, at the time, was treated as an actual episode but is no longer considered canon. Worth a watch just to see how much the short predicted the New Series)

Alternate Universe Doctor

Back in the 60s, Doctor Who got two theatrical film adaptations staring Peter Cushing. There's much debate over where he fits in the continuity of the show, if at all, but he literally has more screen time than either McGann or Hurt so there's no reason not to include him.

My personal favorite fan theory is that he is a 10.2 Meta-Crisis Doctor grown old. It explains why he's human, why his last name is actually Who, why he had to build his tardis in his backyard, where his two granddaughters and niece come from, why they're named after past companions and family, why Ian and Wilf have alternate universe version of themselves, and why the Doctor is seemingly repeating his past adventures all over again.

Plot Important Episodes

Entrances, Exits, Enemies, Lore Drops, and Character Development

Dr. Who and the Daleks - Movie (first story featuring Peter Cushing's Doctor)

Daleks' Invasion Earth 2150 A.D. - Movie (Final story featuring Peter Cushing's Doctor)

Bonus

Not actual episodes but things you might want to watch anyways

At the Earth's Core - Movie (This has even less to do with the show than the Dalek movies, but Cushing's character here is basically the same as his portrayal of the Doctor and is even called 'Doctor' through out the film. So fans of his Doctor have considered this an unofficial third movie)

(NOTE: THE FUGITIVE DOCTOR WILL BE COVERED DURING THE 13TH ERA BECAUSE THAT'S WHERE ALL OF HER APPEARANCES ARE)

(disclaimer: no spin-offs or extended universe stuff were considered when making this list beyond filmed appearances)

Up Next: The Ninth Doctor

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thegroovywitch · 1 year

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Jimmy Page and the Rolling Stones: 60 years of musical flirtations

Certainly, not all blues enthusiasts of the early 1960’s can claim to have become some of the most influential musical artists of all time. But that’s one thing that Jimmy Page and the members of the Rolling Stones have in common.

The first encounter between Mick Jagger, Keith Richards and Jimmy Page occured in 1962, just a few months before the formation of the Stones. The three English boys travelled all the way from the South to attend UK’s first American Folk Blues Festival in the city of Manchester. They met at a blues collector’s house, and together they listened to Howlin’ Wolf’s masterpiece album commonly known as ‘Rocking Chair’—then newly released. For a blues fanatic back then, meeting someone with the same interest was something almost extraordinary. Most people weren’t interested in what was still a rather obscure music genre and preferred rocking and rolling to the songs on the radio. For this reason, if you liked the blues and met someone alike, you were going to remember them.

By the end of the same year, Jimmy was spotted during a gig at the Marquee Club in London and asked to play regularly on record sessions. This was the start of a short but prolific career as a session musician for the young man, who would soon encounter Mick and Keith again, this time with the rest of the Rolling Stones. He played on a number of demos for the band, three of which were officially released on Stones records:

These sessions were a great opportunity for Page to develop an understanding of how records were produced: he spent hours in the control room, and soon he was employed as house producer and arranger at Andrew Oldham’s Immediate Records. In 1968, the record company released Blues Anytime Vol 1-2-3, a series of records containing works by various British blues artists. Jimmy featured in two of these, producing a few songs on which Mick Jagger (harmonica), Bill Wyman (bass), Ian Stewart (piano) and Eric Clapton (guitar) were the musicians.

Around this time, Jimmy also gave a helping hand to Brian Jones on the soundtrack for the cult classic movie A Degree of Murder (recorded late 1966-early 1967), also using his now notorious trick of the violin bow. He recalls:

“Brian knew what he was doing. It was quite beautiful. Some of it was made up at the time; some of it was stuff I was augmenting with him. I was definitely playing with the violin bow. Brian had this guitar that had a volume pedal – he could get gunshots with it. There was a Mellotron there. He was moving forward with ideas.”

—Jimmy Page, from issue #1171 of Rolling Stone

Legend has it that the Stones had previously asked Page to join the band in order to throw Jones out, but he declined.

The group was again looking for a guitarist in late 1974, to fill the spot left by Mick Taylor’s sudden goodbye. Jimmy had recently jammed in the studio with them on a fun session which birthed the track Scarlet, but it was highly unlikely that he would leave the then biggest band in the world—even for the Rolling Stones. The track remained in the vaults for 46 years, and was finally released in 2020 as part of the expanded edition of Goats Heads Soup.

“I had completely forgotten about it. Someone told me it was Ginger Baker on drums. And I rang Jimmy Page up — I didn’t remember anything — and Jimmy Page remembered everything! This person played on it, it wasn’t Ginger Baker … he seemed so certain about it.”

— Mick Jagger on The Zoe Ball Breakfast Show, July 22, 2020

Jimmy Page and the Rolling Stones would cross paths again in September 1983 when both Jimmy and Bill Wyman played on the ARMS Charity Concert, later embarking on an American tour with the rest of the musicians involved.

As a result of this, several of said musicians were invited to take part of Wyman’s latest project, Willie and the Poor Boys. Inspired by the music of the early 1950’s, they congregated at Jimmy Page’s home studio, the Sol, and recorded numerous tracks, twelve of which were officially released on a 1985 self-titled album. Jimmy can be heard on two of them:

The Eighties were a time of turmoil for the Rolling Stones as its two principal songwriters, Richards and Jagger, had been feuding over the band’s direction for most of the decade. Nonetheless, right after the Willie and the Poor Boys sessions commenced the recording process for Dirty Work. Jimmy took part of another jam session with the band, immortalised on the hit single One Hit (To The Body).

In 1992, the 7th annual Rock and Roll Hall of Fame took place, and among the chosen legends to be honoured that year were the members of the Yardbirds. Keith Richards also attended the ceremony, being assigned the role to induct Leo Fender, one of his idols and legendary creator of the Fender Stratocaster. Later on, an All-Star Band was formed for a one-off performance and Keith and Jimmy found themselves merrily jamming together once again on classics such as ‘Green Onions’, ‘Soul Man’, ‘Big River’, ‘Dust My Broom’, ‘Shout’, ‘All Along the Watch Tower’, ‘Purple Haze’ and ‘Something Is Wrong With My Baby’.

After sharing much of their success over the past six decades, Jimmy Page and the members of the Stones remain close friends, now having earned a well deserved title as rock and roll legends.

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genav0s · 6 months

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❪ ⌕ . ❫ ' OO. ㅤ ﹕ ㅤAMNESIA ! [ . . . ]

i was bleeding with a september kind of longing; the type of longing that is both patient and unconditional.⠀–— from, “To The Tune ‘Soaring Clouds’”

✶ . CHARACTERS: sanghyuk & ian. (ft. ian's therapist!) ✶ . WORD COUNT: 2.5k ✶ . WARNINGS: childhood trauma & swearing. ✶ . NOTES: not proofread by anything but the google docs spell checker :)

Ian can’t remember the sound of his mother’s voice. He thinks he resolved to cut it out of his memory a long time ago— much like his father’s face. His therapists all told him it was a coping mechanism, a way for his brain to protect him from the pain of the memories they would bring. Ian never really thought about it much, it just was what it was. He couldn’t remember his mother’s voice or his father’s face and that was quite alright to him. It meant he never had to say much to his therapists when they all asked him the same annoying question: “Tell me about your childhood?” It was a lot easier to shake his head and purse his lips. A quiet “I don’t remember much,” went a long way in Ian Moon’s world.

Sanghyuk always scoffed when Ian used that excuse.

“I don’t remember much,” didn’t fly in Ahn Sanghyuk’s world.

In his world, everyone remembers, even if they don’t want to. Ian found it funny how invested the older male was in getting to the bottom of Ian’s angsty, subtly antisocial exterior. He questioned him when he disappeared in the early morning hours, threw away his haphazardly stored cigarettes, and took notice of his lack of short-sleeved shirts in his wardrobe.

It never bothered Ian as much as he was sure Sanghyuk wished it did. He would shrug when Sanghyuk brought up his near-obsessive usage of cigarettes at all hours of the day. He would stare blankly as Sanghyuk droned on about responsibility, risk, and repression. At times he would even roll his eyes at Sanghyuk’s concern for his notoriously hot showers. “You should see someone about that,” was met with a dismissive nod of Ian’s head as he turned to get back to whatever he was doing last.

Sanghyuk leaned against the wall, hovering over Ian’s shorter stature. He eyes Ian carefully as he watches the younger male take another drag from his cigarette.

“Smoking’s not good for you,” His voice laced with concern, though it never quite reached his expression. Without so much as a glance, Ian rolled his eyes. An exhale in the form of a cloud of smoke exited his pursed lips.

“Thanks for the lecture, dad.”

The quip promoted the darkening of Sanghyuk’s expression. A sudden seriousness settled over the two young idols, the silence drew Ian’s attention before Sanghyuk could respond. “I’m serious, Ian. You’re risking your health, fucking over your voice too. In case you forgot, you’re a singer.”

Ian scoffed. “My voice? Give me a break.”

Sanghyk shook her head, incredulous at the sudden switch in Ian’s tone. No longer indifferent to his leader’s concerns, it was as if he had grown tired of his pestering.

“You’re missing the point—”

“What point, Sanghyuk?” Ian snapped, he stubbed out his cigarette with a certain level of arrogance. His jaw clenched as he shoved his hands into his jacket, eyes set on a distant sign on the other side of the street.

“You can’t keep living like there are no consequences for anything you do.” His stance against the wall changed as he pushed himself to stand on his own without support. Ian scoffed, his face hardened as he had already chosen not to listen to a word of Sanghyuk’s advice or concern.

“My bad, I forgot the part where I’m a perfect little singing angel boy.” His voice deepened with sarcasm before he added, “I apologize.”

Sanghyuk crossed his arms, eyes narrowed as he tried to decide what course was best to take with the stubborn male in front of him. All the while, Ian paced back and forth, anger finding a home among his features. It was unlike his normally composed self. Never having seen Ian become this irate, Sanghyuk struggled to believe the same man in front of him was the group’s same suave visual.

“Whatever it is you’re avoiding, it’s gonna catch up with you.” His tone was firm.

“Avoiding what?” Ian snapped, his eyes flashing a level of vexation foreign to the group’s oldest member. “What am I avoiding, Sanghyuk?” His voice rose, its depth lower than Sanghyuk had ever heard prior.

With a raised eyebrow, Sanghyuk cautiously moved to end the conversation before it could escalate any further. “You know exactly what I’m talking about. Don’t play stupid. You’re running and you don’t know when to stop.”

Ian scoffed. “Sanghyuk, seriously, you don’t know shit about me.”

It was Sanghyuk’s turn to scoff, his head bowed as he turned to return to their apartment building. If Ian wanted to be stubborn that was fine with him, he would be able to live with himself knowing he tried to reason with the younger male.

“You’re right.” His hand reached for the door as he added, “Go see a fucking therapist or something.”

Ian preferred his minimally dangerous rebellion from the traditionally “good boy” image others in his position adopted early in their careers. In his eyes, the sooner he was caught doing something he shouldn’t be, the sooner people would get rid of their expectations of him. He would be able to get away with whatever he wanted. After their heated argument, however, Ian found himself unable to shake off Sanghyuk’s words. Days spent brooding over their conversation, the memory of the words exchanged by the two replaying over and over again in his mind. It hadn’t been the first time Sanghyuk had voiced his concern for Ian’s habits but it was the first time he had mentioned therapy, it stuck with him.

“Who are you told you resemble most? Your mother or your father?”

That threw Ian for a loop. Ian had been in and out of therapy offices for years, ever since he was a child— as mandated by the Child Protective Services agent that facilitated his adoption into his uncle’s home in suburban eastern Texas. Over time, he had grown used to the routine: he sat in a quiet room and talked to someone who was paid to listen.

From an early age he had learned that if he gave them enough information, they would leave him alone to report back to his agent. As he got older, he only found himself growing more frustrated with the system that failed him. He was tired of being probed and analyzed and dissected for the right answers and the right feelings. Eventually, he had shut down enough for them to leave him alone. He had long since left behind the days of shrugged shoulders and blank stares to avoid having to engage with any of his therapists on a deeper level.

The dreaded question about his family had come up enough times that by the time Ian had become an adult, he had a bank of responses to choose from. Though this question wasn’t much different, it sent his rehearsed conscious spiraling for an equivalent, unrehearsed response. His psyche spoke for him instead.

“My… father, mainly. I have his- nose- and his smile.”

She hummed lowly, her pen beginning to scribble across the pages embedded into the small folder in her lap. “And what did he do for a living?”

“He was a pediatric surgeon. I never saw him much.”

With a nod, she motioned for him to continue. Ian stared at her for a moment, his dark eyebrows furrowing in confusion. He felt a dull ache forming at the apex of his forehead.

“Uh— he worked at a hospital in Seoul when I was little… before we moved to the States.” He began to stutter, noticeably out of character for the usually intentionally composed vocalist. Out of guarded responses, he could no longer provide formulaic answers that satisfied his audience without so much as a second of contemplation.

“How old were you when you moved?”

Ian’s frustration grew apparent on his face as she continued to ask the simplest of questions. It jarred him to see her so calmly in control of their conversation. Without as much as a twinge of emotion on her face, she reversed Ian’s casual complacency against him— flipping his usual tricks onto him.

“S-seven years old.” His head tilted as she scribbled more words down in her notes.

As she paused, Ian observed her features curiously. It was as if she was unbothered by his being caught off-guard by her unorthodox methodology. She took a moment to consider her next question, Ian left ridden with anxiety as he attempted to determine what direction she would take next.

“You said ‘we’ earlier. Did you have siblings? Or was it just you and your parents? Maybe just one even?”

Just like that, she went in the complete opposite direction. Leaving Ian scrambling once more for an appropriate response. In a carefully calculated moment, he was forced to remember. Memories he had blocked out of his mind at least a decade before came rushing back to him in a flood.

“‘We’ was all four of us. My parents and my brother—”

“Brother?”

“Half-brother,” His voice quiet akin to the gentle hum of the air conditioner in the quaint office. His eyes were unable to meet hers as she observed him once more.

She waited for him to continue as if she had created a sense of self-direction for Ian, a chance for him to steer the conversation. He knew that wasn’t the case, but he took it regardless. The flood breaking through the barriers erected so long ago he could no longer recognize the materials used to build them.

“Wonjun— Nathan,” He rushed to correct himself, ever consciously aware of his surroundings even when he craved to be as oblivious as other guys his age.

“He goes by Nathan in the States.” His dark eyes darted about before landing on a spot on the cream-carpeted floor, comfort finding a hold over his senses.

“Same dad, uh- different mom. He’s four years older. From- from my father’s first marriage.” He blinked rapidly, his mind and heart struggling against each other as one fought to suppress the other’s hold over his words.

Unsure of which one had won him over, he continued, “I- uh, he wasn’t a huge part of my life until we moved. It was like all of a sudden… he was there- living with us all the time. Then he just- I don’t know, left one day.”

As he spoke, Ian rubbed at his temples. The tightening of his head extended past the point of his forehead to the edges of his eyebrows— the same eyebrows all three male members of his immediate family were famous for sharing.

“Left?” She leaned in, catching the last part of his recount. Her pen which had never left the page in front of her came to a halt. Her thought was left unfinished as she pried Ian for more detail.

Caught off-guard once more, Ian shifted uncomfortably. He hadn’t spoken about, or to, his estranged brother— half-brother, in years possibly. It wasn’t a sore subject, just one that was unimportant to the perception he valued within his little world. For all intents and purposes, Ian Moon was the sole child of his absent parents.

Ian rubbed at his wrist as he eyed the watch adorning his left arm.

“Boarding school.” He muttered, low under his breath as if he attempted to hide it from the therapist seated before him.

She nodded, eyes sweeping over his figure; closed off and intensely guarded.

“How did your mother treat him? It wouldn’t be unrealistic for her to hold some unpleasant feelings towards the son of her husband’s first wife.”

Steered away from his thoughts, Ian made a brief moment of eye contact with the woman in front of him.

“Fine,”

Quick to respond, she picked up the pen lying in the crease of her paper to scribble once again. After realizing he would refuse to continue on she conjured another question as his mind swirled to rebuild its defenses once more.

“What did she do?”

In an instant Ian’s jaw hardened, eyes set upon the spot he had chosen earlier once more. The question had touched then strangled a nerve, one that had never been touched in all of Ian’s years of “not remembering” the sound of his mother’s voice. With a bated breath, he hunched over with his hands folded between his spread legs.

“Cured kids with cancer.”

The silence between the two kept Ian’s mind swirling. He picked at the skin of his fingers, jaw set just the same as his deep eyes. With his flared nostrils, the therapist allowed him a moment to collect his thoughts, granting him a moment to sit with thoughts he had kept out of reach for far too long. The weight of the moment lay heavy on his chest as his head throbbed against his skull, his composure no longer under his control. Once his fists clenched with frustration, the therapist saw his emotions finally spill over.

“She cured kids that had cancer while I walked to and from school on my own with holes in my shoes and clothes that were sizes too small for me.”

The anger in his eyes extended to the clenching of his jaw, switching from discomfort to an embracing of his memories.

“She never spoke to me, I was shy so I couldn’t make any friends, and my father was off screwing some other intern like he had done with my mom. Then, Nathan was sent away and the only person I could talk to… was gone.”

He continued releasing the frustration that he had hidden years ago in favor of the silver-tongued adolescence that granted him the social status to match the looks he had inherited from his father.

“I would go days without a real meal and the only time she gave a shit was when she wanted to guilt-trip my father about his sex addiction.” He scoffed, his head bowing at the memory.

“He ended up having to resign from the hospital because he caused a chlamydia outbreak.”

“Piece of shit, I’m glad he’s dead,” He muttered with a casual chuckle, the smile not quite reaching his eyes.

“It’s ironic, isn’t it?” He spoke with a turn towards the therapist seated across from him.

“She was so busy caring for other kids that she didn’t have time to care about her own kid.”

She allowed another moment of silence once more. Ian bit at his lip, enough to come close to drawing blood from the power of the pressure. Seated in the silence, his mind raced to piece together the realization from the memories Ian had long buried away.

He had never been able to shake off that feeling of being unwanted and unimportant. It was a wound that he had never given a chance to heal; for fear it would destroy what little of himself he had left. As much as his parents resented his hindrance in their lives, he resented their role in the emotional scarring of the little boy he could never quite grow rid of. In Ian’s little world, his mother’s voice and his father’s face were the hurt and abandonment that left him unwanted at such a young age. The unwantedness haunted him, shattering the rationality that escaped him so long ago.

That wasn't something worth remembering.

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fatehbaz · 2 years

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Australia’s Tanami desert is one of the most isolated and arid places on Earth. It’s a hard place to access [...].

But sprinkled across this vast expanse of desert, sweeping for thousands of kilometres across the Northern Territory and Western Australia, are some of the oldest and most incredible stories of human life [...].

It takes the shape of art in the bark of iconic and bountiful boab trees.

Our newly published research looks at 12 examples of these carved trees across the Tanami desert. This artwork tells the incredible story of the Indigenous Traditional Owners who have long called the Tanami home.

Sadly, after lasting centuries if not millennia, this incredible artwork is now in danger of being lost.

We are in a race against time to document and preserve this invaluable art.

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The Australian boab or bottle tree (Adansonia gregorii) is an iconic tree naturally found only in a restricted area of northwestern Australia.

Boabs are an important economic species for First Nations Australians. The pith, seeds and young roots are all eaten, and the inner bark of the roots used to make string. First Nations Australians also used parts of the boab for medicine.

While the culinary and health attributes of boabs are well known, less well known is that many of these trees are culturally significant, carved with images and symbols hundreds, and perhaps even thousands, of years ago. Australian boabs have never been successfully dated. They are often said to live for more than a thousand years, but this is based on the ages obtained from baobab trees in South Africa.

Some hint of the great age of the boabs can be gleaned from the heritage-listed “Mermaid tree” on the Kimberley coast at Careening Bay. “HMC Mermaid 1820” was carved into the tree during Phillip Parker King’s second voyage.

At the time of carving, the girth of the Mermaid tree was measured at 8.8 metres. Today, more than 200 years on, the inscription is still clear and the trunk circumference has increased to about 12 metres.

Now, modern pastoral land clearance and bushfires are having a toll on the oldest of the boabs. There is some urgency to record this cultural and artistic archive before the ancient trees die. [...]

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Despite this early [settler] interest, little more was documented about carved boab trees until Ian Crawford wrote The Art of the Wandjina in 1968. [...] Almost 20 years later, historian Darrell Lewis stumbled across the Tanami Indigenous carved boabs while searching for a boab tree engraved with the letter “L” marked by the explorer Ludwig Leichhardt [...].

In July last year [2021], academics and Traditional Owners began to record the boab trees with carvings in the remote northern Tanami Desert. [...]

Most of the carved boabs recorded on the Tanami trip feature snakes. Indigenous oral tradition describes a major Dreaming track, King Brown Snake Dreaming (Lingka), which begins near Broome and travels east across the Kimberley region of WA before passing into the Northern Territory. Our survey area was located along this track. [...]

These remarkable Australian trees help tell the story of First Nations Australians [...].

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Headline, images, captions, and text published by: Sue O’Connor, Brenda Garstone, and Jane Balme. “The boab trees of the remote Tanami desert are carved with centuries of Indigenous history - and they’re under threat.” The Conversation. 11 October 2022.

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james5-doe · 14 days

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The New Tori Article

From DoE Database. Info on her parents, Ian and Janet, has been added as well. Thank you to all creators of Tori for the contributions. This is their presentation. Like the artists, I'm taking a little break now.

PLATINUM Race: Human Skills: Genius-level intellect, strategy, mechanics, supernatural abilities

Family: Gordons

Victoria "Tori" Gordon (née Elisonne) is a character created by AmandaDoE, featured in tales set on Earth S and Earth N.

A brilliant girl born into a family of adventurers, she is initially undecided with regard to her path in life. When two of her relatives are victimized by an alien tyrant, Tori lends her aid in battle, deals with other personal matters, and unravels certain mysteries concerning her past and her future.

The Original Defenders

Accounts of Tori's history vary, with different tales told across different worlds.

In at least one dimension, Victoria was born to Ian and Janet Elisonne while both were working as secret agents in America. Two years later, Earth made its first contact with a planet called Mongo, and Janet's brother Flash Gordon, alongside his fiancé Dale, discovered that Mongo's ruler Ming was planning to invade.

As a result, Tori's uncle Flash and aunt Dale fought to sabotage Ming's plans in space, while Tori's parents, Ian and Janet, provided backup at a defense agency on the ground.

This team remained intact for a couple of years, during which time Dale took a break to birth twins, April and Rick.

The Day That Changed Everything

Weary of conflict, Janet concluded — without proof — that the famed magician Mandrake and other mystical beings were making Earth a target for Ming. Against the wishes of teammates, she donned a soldier's uniform, collected a rifle, and snuck off to assassinate Mandrake — all while Dale and the Defenders rushed to stop her.

Mandrake was saved from harm when Ian arrived at the last moment and took the shot for him. Moments later, Ian bled in the arms of a remorseful Janet — who grew highly resentful toward all aliens and supernatural humans, blaming them for her mistake.

Ultimately, this event changed several things. It left Janet incarcerated, ended Ian's career, and weakened Earth's most successful defense team. It also rendered Ian unfit mentally to care for his child, costing them several moments that they would have shared.

An enraged Dale confronted Janet in captivity and had to be restrained from beating her to death. Dale filed for custody of Tori immediately, gaining the right to raise her with Flash and their children for several years. However, she made it clear that the situation wasn't motivated by hatred for Janet, but by love for Tori, whom she wanted to ensure would be brought up properly. She allowed the girl's surname to remain Elisonne, in honor of Ian.

Following her release from jail, an ostracized Janet became an operative for the Intergalactic Union Agency (IUA), an alliance dedicated to interplanetary law enforcement.

Tori's Upbringing

In the midst of all of these conflicts around her, young Victoria Elisonne was beginning to display prodigy-like intelligence, excelling at all subjects in school. During a visit to the IUA, she surprised her mother by proposing a successful solution for a unit engaged in a training mission. She also took an interest in mechanics, gaining extensive knowledge of aircrafts, computer assembly, and computer science. Additionally, upon being taken in by Flash and Dale, she learned that her new home was protected by laser-proof glass, armored door frames, and video cameras that overlooked traps, all of which increased her fascination with security and gadgetry.

A key moment of Tori's upbringing occurred when her aunt Dale revealed that not all members of Mongo's royal family were like Ming, and that people should not be judged prematurely. Dale also explained that while Tori's intelligence was admirable, humility was important, because no one, no matter how wise, could be right all the time.

Janet tried to regain custody of Tori twice, but was denied by law. Following the second occasion, Dale vowed that Janet wouldn't be getting Tori back, and told the woman calmly to cease her efforts.

As was promised, Tori essentially grew up with Dale, Flash, April, and Rick. She also bonded with another cousin, Sara, the daughter of Flash's other sister, Abigail. While she visited Ian and Janet occasionally, she was not given the details of their separation, and remained closest to her household family members.

Though Dale and Flash never intended to relinquish custody, their busy schedules would eventually prompt a court to return Tori to her mother, who later became head of the IUA.

As she grew, Tori developed a fondness for surfing, which she used as a means of escape on occasion to avoid friction with Janet, issues with her crushes, and other personal matters. Though her friends commended her surf ability, they always stated that she was meant for something more, and suggested that she find a true calling in life.

With numerous avenues available to her, Tori was, at first, undecided about what she would do. Being a member of the Gordon family, she had often considered joining her relatives in interplanetary law enforcement. She ultimately opted not to following the Great Rebellion — a battle on Mongo that left Ming devastated — believing that victory for Earth was near. Upon learning that her cousin Rick and her aunt Dale had been captured and victimized by Ming, however, Tori chose to become a researcher and an occasional combatant with the Intergalactic Union Agency. In recognition of her family's legacy, she changed her last name from Elisonne to Gordon.

Within this dimension, she used research to learn the truth about what happened to her father, leading to a temporary rift between herself and Janet. She later replaced her mother, took control of the IUA, and engaged in diplomacy with alien worlds.

Earth S

Tori is featured in the Earth S story Sailor Moon Defenders and its related works. She is introduced as a compassionate and athletic researcher who has gained prominence at the Intergalactic Union Agency. Unlike her mother, she believes that not all supernatural beings deserve to be persecuted, and should instead be judged as individuals.

Earth N

Tori has a prominent role in the tales of Earth N, separate from those of Earth S, created by AmandaDoE. This series features characters appearing in DC Comics and related media, along with players from the Highlander works.

During this narrative, Tori ends up involved in a supernatural struggle, and uses her talents to unravel various mysteries — some concerning herself. As events unfold, she gains paranormal abilities, and develops unexpected bonds.

Skills and Demeanor

"That girl could rule this world, and probably will. She just doesn't know it yet."

— Abigail Gordon on her niece, Tori

Possibly the smartest girl on the planet, Victoria is a prodigy who possesses genius-level intelligence in numerous fields. Her mother, Janet, once compared her potential to that of the Necklace of Oros.

Tori has multiple certificates in psychology, and has earned the IUA Gold Medal in strategy. As a tactician who monitors combat teams, she is widely renowned for finding weaknesses in powerful opponents while devising clever ways of subduing them. She will typically use every psychological and technological technique available to her, from researching a target's personality and baiting them into draining their strength, to setting physical traps that negate an enemy's abilities. Her tactics enabled the IUA to capture a pre-heroic Veena Dark in Veena's earliest appearance, and she has also proven capable of outsmarting other magicians, along with units of soldiers. Tori's mind is so potent that government leaders of the highest rank, outside of the IUA, have expressed interest in recruiting her, though she has usually declined in order to keep an eye on the agency and her mother.

Like her cousins, she is a talented mechanic who knows a great deal about the assembly and functionality of weapons and vehicles, particularly combat vehicles. In addition, she has created advanced gadgetry that has been used both in and out of battle, including remote-controlled weaponry, observance devices, and tools to protect her mind from telepathic influence.

Though she has not engaged in combat as often as some of the other Gordons, she maintains an above-average level of skill as a fighter. Her creators, AmandaDoE and Neldorwen, introduced her as a kickboxer who appears to have basic Muay Thai training. In unarmed clashes, she typically uses her feet to attack an opponent, along with light grappling. Among her preferred strikes are outside crescent kicks, midsection kicks, axe kicks, and high side kicks. On most occasions, if her swings connect directly, she can subdue an enemy with one blow.

Rick, having trained with both women, once concluded that Jedda Walker kicked a tad faster than Tori, but that Tori's strikes were more powerful. He attributed this to the fact that Jedda was a sprinter during her childhood (as revealed in Sailor Moon Defenders), while Tori's training, handled by Dale and others, was focused more on strength.

In armed battle, notably on Earth N, Tori sometimes employs a sword for self-defense. This Tori also gains mystical abilities that heighten her physical potency. In addition, she has created powerful suits of armor, equipped with laser weaponry and other tools.

Tori is an expert in the field of computer science. She is particularly skilled at creating defensive programs, and at bypassing others, allowing her to gain the information that she needs on opponents and on additional subjects of interest. Some of the finest programmers employed by national governments have been outfoxed by her abilities. She is rumored to have viewed surveillance feeds — clandestinely — in several federal buildings across the world, obtaining knowledge of strengths and weaknesses.

Tori is fluent in multiple languages, including Mandarin, English, German, and Spanish. She was one of the first people on Earth to learn the language of an alien world, and has made several visits to other planets as a diplomat.

Tori's achievements have brought her recognition on a global scale. She also maintains a following among those who admire her allure. Because she is used to success, she tends to be hard on herself when she makes mistakes, though she tries to remember her aunt Dale's teachings with regard to humility. At other times, her dedication to work can affect her relationships.

While Tori is generally humble when it comes to her accomplishments and beauty, during a visit to Hadea's kingdom, she once noticed an admirer kneeling before her out of respect, and did not ask the young man to rise. Though she is sometimes compared to certain members of nobility, she ultimately avoids being vain, and simply considers herself proud.

Creation

AmandaDoE was looking to create one of the most memorable original characters in DoE storytelling. She wanted Tori to be alluring on the outside, but troubled within — a girl with a somewhat difficult home life, possessing sensibilities that divided her and her mother. She also envisioned Tori as very knowledgeable, with value similar to that of the computers Dynak and Octon, but with more versatility and actual reasoning ability. The character was to have a romantic life, and, ultimately, great potential.

In designing Tori, artist Neldorwen created a somewhat innocent and positive look, but made her appear confident and capable at times. Plustina, the second illustrator to draw her, maintained the same basic concepts.

Art:

Neldorwen and Plustina -- Images 1, 2, 3, 5, and 10

Neldorwen -- Images 4, 6, 7, 8, 9, and 11

Plustina, Neldorwen, Katzueki, and Zetarok -- Image 12

#defenders of the earth #tori gordon #doe database

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