#getting your love interest kicked out of her apartment & orchestrating her moving into your building so you can keep an eye on her | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

harrypotterbrainworms · 4 years

Text

Purebloods and Ballgowns

Summary: Pureblood royalty hold debut balls in high standing for young witches and wizards. You may fall in love for the rest of your life in this magical experience, but your perfect match doesn’t exist within the rules.

Pairing: Draco Malfoy x Male Reader

Key: (Y/N)- your name, (L/N)- last name, (H/C)- hair colour (E/C)- eye colour

Word count: 1558

Staring straight into the middle of the ballroom before him, he couldn't help thinking what it would be like to dance like all the men and women at the debut.

The beautiful ball gowns and tuxedos in the crowds swaying with the music as people laughed and smiled, the song coming to end with the rush they felt holding each other's hands.

No one had asked him to the debut, it stung even more so that it was his debut into the world of wizarding royalty. No one particularly liked him, only his family name. The music faded out, chatter and applause erupted as the green tinted candles dimmed. The orchestrator tapped his mark as he lifted his arms, the band standing ready on his command. It was time.

This was the song, the song is parents had told him about. The song they themselves had fallen in love to. The song that many of the young men and women would base their entire lives around.

His mother, who was seated behind him, told him to get up. It was finally time for the debutante ball to commence, the ultimate showing of pride and royalty.

He stood up, his palms clammy and slippery, his throat closing up, his stomach doing butterflies as he stood besides the line of men ready to dance. He spotted a familiar set of blue eyes from his peripherals, a spotless white suit with a small green rose on the chest, his cufflinks branded with the prized emblem of his family name, Malfoy.

He gulped in anticipation for the beginning of the song, scared for outcome of tonight. He had been practicing for months, the steps, the grace, the intent. Out of all outcomes he wished, he wished most for an uneventful night of royal courting.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, it is our pleasure to present the debutantes of this evening!" His father who was host of this festivity, proudly holding Lucius Malfoy's shoulder. Both raising their glasses in a toast. The rest of the room help up their glasses as the first note of tonight began.

Standing in front of the beautifully dressed ladies in front them, the young men bowed glancing up to receive a curtsy. A nod from both sides started the forward steps to the soft piano. All the hands receiving another, as the ballroom filled with swaying gowns and spinning.

He had been lucky enough to receive the familiar hand of his best friend who was dressed gracefully in her mother's old dress. The green and white lace textures weaving together perfectly. She spent the entire time teasing his footwork, her laughs being met with glares from audience members.

Soon being switched for Pansy Parkinson who was draped head to toe in silver silk, a familiar green rose resting in her hair. Her grip and death glare indicated to him, she was not fond of this switch. The dress and glances over showed her interest lay in dancing the final stretch with her date for the evening.

The time for the final switch came, lovers positioning themselves to seamlessly blend into their choices. As the blonde boy looked him in the eyes, there was a glint in it that he'd never seen before. Pansy slipped her hands out of his, ready to catch the next's hands. (Y/N) getting ready to catch the left over girl's with his, but without a moment's notice he realised the hands he caught weren't the girl's.

"Hello, (L/N)." The blue eyed boy in front of him said, as he continued to dance as though nothing had happened. He smirked as the crowd gasped, Malfoy taking the role as the lead.

They spun around faster as the music picked up, the shorter boy could barely breathe as he got dipped. He could see his father as he hung upside down, the disappointment immeasurable. He just smiled, the rush in his bones-as butterflies made him dizzy.

"What the hell are you doing, Malfoy?" He said as they came together again. His heart was beating out of his chest, the adrenaline felt like it was sparking lightning between them. Their every moved watched by the hoards of purebloods, whispering about the boys.

"What does it look I'm doing? I'm dancing." He said nonchalantly, shrugging his shoulders as he picked up the boy lifting him in the air. He watched as all the equally confused young women stared at him, their gowns dancing in the air.

"I can see that, you prat. I mean why." He blushed as Draco helped him land before bowing.

He grabbed the blonde's shoulder, swaying with him as Malfoy just stared at him not worrying about the slowly increasing whispers.

"Why not, huh? You only go to the debutante ball once." They were gracefully swaying faster as the climate of the song speed into their ears. Their breathe going heavier and heavier, the blush on both their cheeks growing.

"You know how much trouble we're gonna get into. You were suppose to dance with Pansy, isn't she upset?" He looked up at the smiling idiot, concern in his eyes.

Draco laughed a little, pointing to Pansy with his eyes. She was happily dancing with the girl he was suppose to dance with at the end. He looked confused at Draco as the glint in his eyes were still present.

"You think my father would've just let me end the Malfoy bloodline for a boy?" He held the other boys as the spread apart and back together.

"The answer is no. I couldn't just ask you the ball, not without being beaten by my dad's cane." He smiled widely, too widely for a sentence like that. His eyes held the same glint, but a little dulled now.

"But wouldn't this stunt just make it worse? What will he do to you now, surely he would just kick you out." The boy had a worried look all over his face, of course he loved this boy with his whole heart. He just couldn't just watch as he threw his life away for him.

"Don't worry, okay? I planned this out a lot more than you give me credit for." They now readied for the last part of the routine, they came close together facing almost touching. Only, but inches away from each other.

Heavy breathe blowing on each other's face, the smell of champagne and cigarettes winding together with their scents. They spun around one more time, coming together and giving each other a bow. The music dying down as they heard the clacks of a certain pair of heeled boots approaching them. Draco looked paler than before as he felt his father's hand on the back of his blazer.

"Draco Malfoy! Do you understand what you just did?!" Lucius gripping his son's coat as hard as he was gripping his cane. Draco shook him off turning to face him, he smiled evilly. His face almost morphing into a younger version of the tall man in front of him.

"I do, Father. In fact, I know very well what I did." He spat back, grabbing the other boy's hand in front of the crowd of people. He looked concerned for Malfoy.

"Now if you'd excuse me." He bowed at his father, giving him a smirk as he looked up. "I have a date to entertain" His father was about to the pull the wand out of his cane when Draco immediately drew his disarming his father.

(Y/N) looked over at his parents, who had more concerning looks than very disappointed ones. He gave them a soft smile before being dragged through the ballroom by the blonde.

"I can't stay here while it's like this for me, darling." He held (Y/N)'s hands outside in the large manor's garden, lit by small blue lanterns that made the white rose's look angelic. He could barely pay attention as he stared at the taller boy. The lighting making him look like a Greek statue in an art museum.

"Come with me."

"What."

"There's a car outside the manor waiting for us and a small apartment with a view of the London skyline just like you wanted, but we have to leave now." Draco barely had a minute to explain his plan before he could hear some wizards calling out for them, among them (Y/N)'s family.

"If you want to get out of this world of balls and scowls, come with me." He repeated one more time, the (H/C) boy could barely process what was happening.

Malfoy pulled him behind some bushes as a small group of young men passed them. He looked at Draco, back at the manor and then to his clothing. He wasn't much for this life, he only did it for his parents. Looking back at Draco, he build up as much of his courage as he could.

"Yes." He pulled the boy into a long held kiss before grabbing the blonde's hand, him now leading them to safety.

They both pulled off their coats and suit vest, bow ties falling in the air as they entered the car. Draco throwing it into gear as he turned on the invisibility. They both didn't look back as they rode away from the crowds of people who only moments ago didn't know they were watching an escape plan unfold...

(A/N): Hello! This is my first post here, so be brutal if you want to. I hope you enjoyed the little story. I love me a good ballroom tension scene. If you would like to leave a suggestion you are very welcome and I will try my best to grant your wish.

Have a good day!

,Corvus

#draco malfoy x male reader #draco malfoy #draco #harry potter #x male reader #x reader #malfoy #wizarding world #fanfiction #mlm #royal aesthetic #pureblood

242 notes · View notes

wittystiles · 5 years

Text

The Bluff || Part 16 || Mitch Rapp

Author: wittystiles

Word Count: 2k+

Relationship: Mitch Rapp x Reader

Warnings: Cursing (last time i’ll use this one fuckin’ expect cursing tbh)

Authors Note: Well fuck me, it’s back. After taking sixteen months off and deciding this story was dead seven times, I’m Goddamn back. And so is this hot-steaming pile of dog shit known as The Bluff. I hope to Goddamn hell y’all like it. If you don’t - well - shove it. Feedback is THE MOST IMPORTANT okay, thank you! (-: I love y’all, thanks for chillin’ with me. Read this if you will. Thanks. ((also thank you to my lovely @ellie-bee242 for never giving up on this fic!))

Irene stared at Stan, face expressionless. If anything, she looked tired. She leaned back in her chair and brought her hands together underneath her chest, head resting against the plush leather backing. “She’s moving in with him?” She repeated in a questioning tone.

“Yes,” Stan said in a sigh. “What part of that was unclear? I said exactly what you just repeated, without the inflection you had, but same meaning nonetheless. She’s moving in with him. He’s going to live with her. They’re going to share a place. Their addresses will be the same. They’re cohabiting. I am running out of ways to rephrase this.”

Irene rolled her eyes, “when will their union take place?”

“I don’t know their moving schedule. And ‘union’, come on Irene, no one talks like that.”

Ignoring the latter part of his response, Irene continued. “Could you find out?”

“No.”

Her dark eyes narrowed at the older man and contemplated the various ways that she could attempt to kill him with the pen sitting on her desk. She knew most would be thwarted the moment she tried them, however, and decided against any actual action. “So, while you had some information, you’re actually nearly entirely useless to me?”

“I wouldn’t call myself useless, ever.”

She shrugged, “do you have any idea where the two of them will be staying?”

“Together,” Stan answered immediately. “That is what cohabiting means, after all.”

“You’re fired,” she blurted without thought. “I’ll figure out how to get this shit done without you. Mitch can have a new mentor, if that’s what you are at this point, Stan.” She stood from her desk then, grabbing a file off of it’s edge fast enough to knock over a cup of pens that was stationed near it. “You have given me enough headaches for a lifetime.”

Stan stared at her in confusion, eyes trained on her face. “What?” He asked, finally processing her little blow up. “Knock it off,” he finally decided, reaching out to snatch the folder from her hands. She made no efforts to stop him, her breathing becoming long and deep. He didn’t think she’d gotten as angry as she had, but was clearly wrong, as he watched her calm herself down. “What is this?”

He opened the folder, thumbing through the contents with little interest, eyes darting quickly over each page. “You’re sending him out?” Stan wondered, looking up from the pages in his hand to the woman who was now busying herself tidying up her pens. “You know he’s not going to go.”

“He knows he won’t have a choice.”

He took in a deep breath and let it out slowly, closing the folder. “Irene, give him some more time.”

“He’s had over a month.”

“Let me remind you,” he leaned forward, holding the folder loosely between his legs, elbows resting on his knees. “He thought he was on assignment that entire month. (Y/N) was supposed to be his mission. He invested all of that time on her because he thought that’s what this big dumb organization was having him do. He even went and got those arms dealers, and his ass kicked, while in France. Give the kid some time with his new girlfriend.”

The chuckle that left Irene’s throat startled Stan, made him sit up straight again in his chair. She slowly made her way around her desk, taking her seat in her chair without another sound. When she made eye contact with Stan he leaned back, cocking his head ever so slightly to the side in calculation of her. “She isn’t his girlfriend,” she finally said in a cool and even tone. “She is his handler. And when the time comes, I will remove her from his life. Is that understood? Don’t make this something that it isn’t Stanley. Don’t give some deeper meaning to the two of them. Mitch is a pain-in-my-ass agent who thinks he writes the rules, and (Y/N) is there to rein him in. Nothing more, nothing less.”

She held no emotion behind her words. She could have been filling him in on the weather for the week in the same tone she used to remind him that they were manipulating Mitch’s life like he was a puppet on their string. He swallowed hard, suppressing the guilt that was gnawing at him like heartburn. “Irene,” Stan tried, using a voice he’d take with his own children. “Don’t be so cold. The kid’s falling for her.”

“Which was the plan,” she nodded her head like she was proud of herself. Another hard swallow from Stan. “Didn’t you so sinisterly say that he was going to? We wanted this remember? We dealt this hand for him at the beginning of the game. Sure, we didn’t think he’d play into it so well, but hell, Stan. This whole charade couldn’t be going better for us if we wanted it to.” She smiled then, “lest you forget that everything that we’ve done, every little move we’ve orchestrated? They’ve all been your ideas. You know how to play Mitch like an instrument and he’s really performing beautifully for you. You should have some pride.��

“Yeah,” he nodded his agreement, unsure what else to say to the woman before him.

“Now stop with this nonsense, and go give him that file. Lets see how having (Y/N) around affects the way he handles another task. We saw that he was quick to finish the one in Paris to rush back to her. I wonder if the same will hold true now that they’re cohabitating.”

Stan stood from the chair, deciding not to share parting words with Irene. He checked the file a final time while walking out of the office, headed for the elevator.

Mitch turned the corner to his apartment building sharply, seeing the older brick building come into view as his phone began singing loudly in the cupholder at his side. He blindly reached for it, answering it without hesitation as he pulled into the residential parking garage that wound underneath. “Going underground, I’m going to lose you.” He told the person on the other end of the phone, hanging it up without giving its signal a chance to be lost. He shoved the device into his pocket and searched around for a moment for a parking spot, stealing the one nearest the elevator. The older man that usually parked there was out of town visiting someone or doing something for the month, and he’d be damned if he let another one of the tenants get that spot.

He killed the engine, pocketed his keys, and got out slamming the door behind him with a metal clang. The noise echoed off the walls of the garage and for a moment he remembered being in France and finding a car to steal. He wondered if the owner had ever recovered it. He’d been so kind as to leave it relatively undamaged at the mouth of a tunnel near the river. He figured if junkies or the homeless hadn’t absolutely dismantled it, the owner could probably still even use it. Baring they didn’t mind it missing at least the windshield, to Mitch’s fault.

He walked the few steps to the elevator and jabbed impatiently at the button, waiting for it to light up. “Broke yesterday,” he heard a voice from his side say and he reached around his back reflexively for his gun. “Stairs are working though.”

A brunette woman was approaching him, carrying two overfilled brown grocery bags in her arms. “Leasing office said they’d send someone down within the week to take a look at it. Wouldn’t hold my breath though.” The woman made to pass Mitch and he processed her as a non-threat.

“That so?” He wondered, motioning towards the bags in her arms. “Let me help you,” he offered. She eyed him for a quick second before handing a bag over, wrapping both of her arms around the one she still held. “Mitch,” he introduced, opening the door to the stairs with his foot. She gave him a smile as he let her head through the door first.

She started up, her footfalls heavy on each of the metal stairs. “I’m Fiona,” she called over her shoulder as he followed her. “Moved in about a year ago. Met damn near every neighbor in this place, ‘cept you I guess. You new?”

“Lived here four years.”

She chuckled, continuing up. “You’ve lived here four years and this is the first we’re seeing of each other? What, you a recluse or somethin’?”

“Or somethin’.”

He heard her chuckle over the sound of her repositioning her arms around the bag. “Not much of a talker?”

His shoulders shrugged before he’d even processed the action, slowing his speed on the stairs to keep a relatively normal distance between her and himself. He wished absently that he’d not offered to help her, he could already be in his apartment by now. He needed to shower in a desperate way, and needed to still head out to the store to get something for (Y/N) to eat.

He frowned a little at the thought of her, of how she was so eager to thank him for cleaning. How small she had looked to him every time he’d peaked in to check on her. He wondered if she’d look that small in his place, too. If she’d still have the same soft light around her that she had in France and in her own apartment. Wondered if perhaps he couldn’t do her immediate harm after all.

“Earth to Mitch,” Fiona called with a laugh. “Boy, you really must be somethin’ else, gettin’ lost like that. You okay?”

He nodded, “tired.”

“You work the graveyard or somethin’? That's why you’re just gettin’ home at what -” she thought for a second. “Must be just after nine in the morning.”

Mitch waited until they reached the landing at the top of the stairs to acknowledge her question with furrowed brows. “I was out, doesn’t matter. I’m tired now though.” He handed her her grocery bag, stuffing his hands into the pockets of his jacket. “Have a good morning, Fiona. It was nice meeting you.”

He pushed open the door to the lobby of the apartment building and made a hasty retreat as she called a “yeah, you too” from behind him. He took the stairs up to the top floor two and three at a time, striding quickly for his apartment door. He withdrew his keys as he rounded a corner, freezing dead in his tracks.

His eyes narrowed and his jaw set, fist clenching tightly around the keys. He closed the distance between himself and his apartment door, not further acknowledging the man leaning against the wall beside it. He let himself in and made to shut the door behind him, being thwarted by a boot wedged against the door jam.

“Now,” said the owner of the boot, pushing on the door until Mitch relented and opened it. “Is that any way to greet me?”

“This is my home, Stan.” Mitch sounded defeated. “You’re not supposed to just show up here. Remember? We’d agreed on that.”

Stan laughed mockingly, shutting and bolting Mitchs’ door behind himself once inside the apartment. “No. You told me not to show up here, and I chose to ignore that. There was no agreement ever reached.”

Mitch stopped himself from rolling his eyes as he crossed the living room to his couch where he sat down heavily, busying himself with unlacing his own boots. “Why are you here?”

“Came to give you this,” he dropped a folder down onto the counter in the kitchen, opening the fridge to look through its contents. “Jesus, it’s more barren in there than Irene.” Stan joked, shutting the fridge after. “You don’t even have a beer?”

“I don’t drink much,” Mitch supplied, tossing his shoes to the side. “As much as I don’t appreciate unannounced visits, I have to get showered. So. If you wouldn’t mind seeing yourself out, I’ll look at whatever that is when I get a chance.”

Stan shook his head, leaning back against the counter. “You’ll look at it now, Mitch.”

There was a moment where Mitch contemplated not even acknowledging Stan. His bathroom was feet away and he could easily make it there before Stan could stop him. His foot twitched a little, ready for him to move. He rose to his feet, his brain willing him to head for the bathroom, but his body made its way to the kitchen where he picked up the folder. “What is this?”

“Christ, can’t you read?”

Mitch glared down at the pages, figuring it better than glaring at Stan, and read over everything carefully. “Spain?”

“Yes.”

“In two days?”

“Yes, fuck. It says all of this shit in black and white right there, Mitch. Why do you keep fuckin’ asking me?”

“No thanks,” Mitch decided, tossing the folder to the counter.

Stan boomed a laugh, picked the folder up, and smacked Mitch with it on the side of the head. “You don’t have a fuckin’ choice in this, runt.”

Mitch’s jaw clenched, his eyes trained on the pages of the folder, his chest rising and falling with strain. He didn’t want to leave yet. Didn’t want a mission this soon. He had things to do, things to take care of. He had other pressing matters that needed tending to before anything for Stan and Irene. He closed the folder with the loud sound of pages slamming and tossed it to the counter. “I’ll be ready to ship out then.”

I’m not kidding. Feedback would be fuckin’ sick, thanks y’all. I love you. Hope you enjoyed this!

Tags: @ellie-bee242 , @cathobs , @redstringlovers , @lovefilledtragedy , @sumcp, @teamwolf2411, @confidentrose, @daddyxraeken, @iloveteenwolf24-blog, @kalista-rankins, @stilinski-stydia-obrien, @rumoured-whispers, @omgimafuckingmermaid, @cuillere, @dylan-void, @kaelyn-lobrutto24, @fuckwhateverfuck, @maxytwombly, @itsamberh, @haveyoumetmeyet, @kal-pal, @infinitstydia, @thenovarose, @anamcg317, @terriblewife, @thelonesoul, @rebeccaannex3, @behind-my-hazeleyes27, @girlwiththerubyslippers, @x-mitch-rapp-x, @mainlymieczyslawstilinski, @veronicarapp, @kaylinfayezink, @a–1–1–3, @rxppmxtch, @lietomeat3am, @xxxxdelenaxxxx, @mentalc0re, @gendryia, @ashotofblues, @dancingalone21, @16wiishes, @a--1--1--3, @assholeofthanos, @gothcryptid-gf, @yuslut,

Message me if you’d like to be added to the taglist!!

100 notes · View notes

diveronarpg · 4 years

Photo

Congratulations, JULIE! You’ve been accepted for the role of OBERON with an approved FC change to Oscar Isaac. Admin Rosey: I don't know how many times I said I was possessed when I wrote Oberon but I very much was. I think you have to be a little bit possessed to write him because that's the kind of person he is; you have to be all in with him or perish. I don't know what it is about these types of enigmatic, almost ethereal characters that you understand - they have one foot in heaven and one foot in hell - but you get them at their core, Julie. Thank you for bringing my most beautiful son to the dash. Please read over the checklist and send in your blog within 24 hours.

WELCOME TO THE MOB.

OUT OF CHARACTER

Alias | Julie

Age | 20

Preferred Pronouns | She/her

Activity Level | I mean, y’all know how it is. One draft a day usually does it for me, and at the bare minimum, I shoot for a few replies a week.

Timezone | MST

How did you find the rp? | I was perusing the ‘lsrpg’ tag, and the rest was history.

Current/Past RP Accounts | Lucien!

IN CHARACTER

Character | Oberon / Olivio Rivera -- with a fc change to Oscar Isaac, if it’s okay with you guys.

What drew you to this character? | There’s something about Olivio that makes him half-man half-hell, and that’s fascinating to me. I think, to a degree, he’s as human as the rest of us, with good parts and bad, but most people don’t show those parts so brazenly and manage to be half as discreet while doing it. This charm is pretty different from a character like Lucien’s, because it’s not a necessary charm. It’s not something he learned to do. It’s something he's always had in him for as long as he’s been -- it’s essential to the core of who he is as a person. There’s a dream-like quality to him that pulls you in and a nightmare-like quality that makes you take a step back when you get too close. He’s brutal in the way he orchestrates his own downfall just to get away from work he no longer has an interest in. He’s gentle with Theo, still grieving, because he knows they’re still working through something and it’s not entirely his place to poke and prod. Walking the thin line involved in this dichotomy is something that immediately caught my attention, and I’d love to explore both sides to him in the way Oberon deserves.

What is a future plot idea you have in mind for the character? |

1. I’d like to explore what Olivio has to sacrifice in order to ascend in the Capulets. He’s already lived a fair bit of his life without any of it really being impacted by the mobs of Verona, so his priorities and goals are likely pretty different from characters that have been here their entire lives. It’ll probably take a while before he builds relationships strongly enough in Verona that he has anything worth sacrificing, but as soon as he does, I’d like to yank them from under him, see how he fares -- if he’s worth becoming a soldier or an emissary in the way that Theodora thinks he can be. He’s strangely comfortable as an initiate, sitting at the bottom of the barrel, but how long is that comfort going to last him?

2. With Olivio, there’s definitely a two-faced element to him, in much the same way there’s a two-faced element to Oberon in A Midsummer Night’s Dream. He’s brutal and gentle all in one, and I’d like to explore what dictates in him which part comes out where. He gets his work done and ties it off in a neat bow, but that doesn’t necessarily mean he shies away from the ugliest parts of himself. How does he fare in comparison to someone like Orpheus, a dead man, who had similar goals and aspirations as the Robin Hood of Verona but didn’t set out to become that sort of figurehead -- everyone remembers Orpheus. No one knows Olivio. I also think it’s entirely possible his two-faced nature could undermine his reputation and his overall climb towards a more concrete place in the Capulets, if he isn’t careful, and I’d love to see what the consequences are. It worked for him in Spain. It might not work for him here.

3. In the para sample, I allude a little to Olivio’s dream in the same way it’s alluded to in his biography -- this borderline fantastical dream of a better place, a better world, where the underdogs and the fantastical alike can come together and live in harmony. A place where he can taste honey in his mouth where there might have been blood. I’d like to explore Olivio’s past in reflection to his present. He’s had the same dream his entire life, worked towards it slowly but surely in his youth, and then he ended up sitting on top of an empire he didn’t expect to have and didn’t really want. He gets caught up in his own flaws, and it all crumbles apart right from underneath him, and I’d love to see if he’s doomed to repeat that in Verona or if things are really going to be different this time around.

Are you comfortable with killing off your character? | I think so! As long as it serves a purpose, I’m happy to dip my hands in angst.

IN DEPTH

TW: VIOLENCE, DEATH

Cesar’s face is so heavily caked with blood that Olivio doesn’t think he could see through the red if he wanted to. His right eye is swollen. He’s missing some teeth. His breath is coming out in wheezes from a few broken ribs, and Olivio -- in spite of his shape, in spite of being three years Cesar’s junior -- is out of breath. They’d grappled for the pistol for some time only for it to go flying under a table somewhere when Cesar kicked it up. Now, staring each other down in an empty backroom in El Valenciano, they’re catching their breath. They’re both drenched in the vibrant pink of overhead lights. It could be a painting, he thinks. Something right out of sleep. He’s had dreams like this before, and they usually don’t end quite so badly.

It makes sense in Olivio’s head that Cesar wouldn’t go down without a fight. That’s fine. He never has. But Cesar knows that Olivio’s never liked losing. Even in drills and races and training exercises, even in the field, neck-to-neck, rifle-to-rifle, Olivio never gave him the chance to get ahead. So those few months where Olivio was falling from grace, slipping from his throne? They must have felt like winning to Cesar. He must have not even realized that the game was rigged from the start.

That’s fine, too. Olivio was always the brain of the operation. Cesar served his purpose as the brawn, the Lancelot to his Arthur.

“You should’ve let me leave, a year ago. Otherwise we wouldn’t be here.” There’s a headache building at the back of his head. Stress or exhaustion. Both? He takes his own trembling hands and grapples for a glass of what looks like bourbon from one of the still-standing tables. Cesar watches him, licks his lips when Olivio swallows.

“No one leaves. You’ve never let anyone leave. You shouldn’t get the same luxury, Olivio.” Cesar spits the words out so angrily that Olivio’s almost convinced he believes them, but it’s still hard to hear him over the thrumming reverb of the music. Sweet dreams are made of this, who am I to disagree? Catchy. In this moment, in spite of the gore, Olivio thinks Cesar looks young again. Fuzzy around the edges, purple-pink-crimson, young. No more grey at the temples, crow’s feet around the edges. Just blood on his teeth, shifting from pink to blue in a moment’s notice.

“Where are you going to go?” Cesar asks, as he moves a few steps closer. He’s still holding the glass in a white-knuckled grip. His heart is going a million miles a minute. It’s not easy to kill a man with your bare hands, but he’s done it before. He’ll do it again. It feels right to do it this way, with his fists, rather than the barrel of a gun. He wraps his fingers in Cesar’s collar with his free hand and Cesar barely even jerks to meet the movement. He’s all dead weight. Olivio considers the question.

“I’ll go to Verona.”

“In Italy? Bah.” Cesar laughs, throat hoarse. Spittle paints Olivio’s face, but the disgust barely registers. “You always hated Italy -- shot down any business there every time.”

“I hear it’s nice this time of year.”

“You’re burning every bridge you have in Spain. When winter comes around there won’t be any coming back. This is it. You kill me and we’re done.” This feels right out of the pages of the novel. He wonders if maybe he should deliver some sort of dramatic monologue. Something about being brothers from the very beginning. Hold your head up! Moving on! “You’re going to regret it, and you won’t get to crawl back and apologize to me this time.”

Even Olivio’s two divorces weren’t this messy. Still, he leans in close. “It’s not my dream anymore. I’m just making sure it won’t be yours, either.” He searches Cesar’s face for something. Anything. An apology. An indication of guilt. A plea for mercy. The animal-like terror that comes into men moments before they die. They’d seen it a thousand times before, together, and they’d laughed about it over drinks. A shifting green light passes slowly over his eyes. The world goes seafoam.

Nothing. Just their shared breaths. Not even a do it. Olivio sighs. He lifts his hand holding the glass and brings it down. Cesar, to his credit, doesn’t scream. He just takes what he’s given and dies quietly, in the club they bought back when they thought they’d go somewhere bigger than Barcelona. Or maybe that was just him. It doesn’t take more than two minutes.

Olivio stands back, checks Cesar’s pulse, and then wipes his hands on his slacks, chest heaving.

The ‘ludes start to kick in just as he leaves the club, bloodied jacket in hand, a little later than he would have liked. The cleaners sweep in to wipe evidence away as soon as he’s stepped out of the room and towards the exit. Not a single employee looks at him as he leaves, and the people dancing on the floor hardly notice him. The doorman nods at him on his way out. The car waiting for Olivio at the curb takes him straight to the airport, and he barely has time to settle in his seat before he’s asleep. When he wakes, it’s to the sight of Verona and the river that runs right through it, the sun cresting overhead. He descends onto the tarmac cotton-mouthed, changed into clean clothes, and satisfied.

Cesar had been the last loose end. With his death everything in Spain has tied itself up into a neat bow. The ashes of whatever vision he and Cesar might have shared at some point would be gathered up and put into someone else’s hands. Marta’s, he hopes. She’d always been the most capable, in his mind. She’d been the one to tell him of Verona, originally, when she caught wind of what he was doing: razing everything he’d built. She’d been smart enough to stay loyal in the face of his personally orchestrated coup, and he let her live.

He just hopes she doesn’t take it for granted like he had. That she’ll lay out her own path and stick to it, instead of watching it build by itself and grow restless. Verona won’t be like that -- he’s sure of it. It has to be a new start, one he’ll be happy to die by.

In two days’ time --- and he doesn’t know this now, but he will look back at it and laugh --- he’ll kill an enemy of the Capulets in much the same way he killed Cesar, hooked on the sheer euphoria of his newfound love for the city, just outside a place achingly close to El Valenciano, and it won’t even get him in trouble. The Capulets will sweep him up before he has the time to come down from the high, and they’ll bring him into the fold without even knowing his name. He’ll start from the very bottom, and he’ll relish in it, because it’s been a long time since he had nothing.

What he does know: the Capulets are the key to this newfound dream of his, this new-and-shiny-glossy illusion, and Olivio Rivera will take whatever he can get in a city like this, so long as it means he doesn’t have to raze it to the ground.

Extras: [glass him] PLAYLIST / PINTEREST [cesar won’t remember this.]

#accepted #accepted: oberon

3 notes · View notes

villainever · 5 years

Text

God, We're All Tired: Female Conflict in Killing Eve's Season One Finale

So I'm sure 1x08 has been analysed to death, but seeing as we're winding up to the end of Killing Eve's second season (sad face), I thought I'd jump in with a completely unsolicited reflection on the ultimate culmination of Villanelle and Eve's mutual obsession and pursuit. I'll kick off by saying that from the start, we knew this moment would be interesting, for a whole slew of reasons: Firstly, from the get-go, we were shown that Killing Eve was here to subvert and reconstruct; it's deeply oriented within its genre, but it's irreverent, and even what I would describe as a reclamation of spy-fi. Specifically, it's a female-led narrative taking ownership of a set of texts and tropes that have consistently objectified and excluded women by turns. From its inception, the psychological thriller genre has delighted in a) withholding women's agency, and killing/torturing/assaulting them, both to shock viewers and to lend pathos to the motivations of male characters, and b) revelling in their "expiration" from sexual desirability, and casting the "ailing crone" as the villain orchestrating events. Killing Eve has absolutely no interest in ever reducing its women to their component parts. There are no pedestals, and there are no pitchforks. As a show, it hits all the golden points of suspense television, and completely reimagines the rest; it's a masterpiece balacing act of keeping the classic cat-and-mouse recogniseable, while allowing Eve and Villanelle to each be both the predator and the prey.

Secondly, our two protagonists are women. Highly unusual and exceptional women -- that's inarguable -- but nevertheless, they've been socialised in particular ways. What's so fascinating here is that both have been injected with a comfort in and enjoyment of theatrical violence that's usually reserved for male villains. However, even at their most ruthless, there's an innate intimacy to both of them -- unlike, say, for example, the Joker, Villanelle's flamboyance and love affair with destruction never manifest as mass-killings or the eradication of infrastructure (like blowing up a hospital). Villanelle exacts each murder with the creativity of the truly engaged and passionate, but it's always personal and unique, usually one-on-one. She doesn't have a vendetta against the world, either; she finds beauty in it -- in ice-cream and movies and nice architecture or fun clothes. Similarly, Eve is enthralled by Villanelle's flair for the deadly and the dramatic, but it's not born out of a spite for humanity, but a sense of artistry and a consuming need for some adrenaline in her otherwise numb and mundane life. These complexities muddle their emotions and motivations, and make it difficult for even the most television-literate to semi-accurately predict their storylines.

Thirdly, Eve and Villanelle are never positioned as diametrically opposed. This in itself is not exactly out of the left field -- a lot of media with a dark focal point or mature subjects introduce heroes and villains who share key traits (e.g. Sherlock and Irene, in CBS's Elementary), or even comparable goals (e.g. Black Panther's Killmonger and Nadia both want to open Wakanda's borders). In most cases, though, the antagonist will represent some kind of seduction to the 'other side', that the protagonist inevitably resists the allure of (e.g. Andy realising Miranda isn't who she wants to grow up to be -- successful but alienated -- and goes back to her excuse of a boyfriend in TDWP). But while Eve and Villanelle are very much established as one another's temptations, we also see that they'll grant the other access to a part of the world that is, for now, barred from them: Villanelle and Eve will stop each other from being bored. They "resist the allure" not because they fear moral wrongdoing, but because they cling to their respective images of themselves -- Eve, as someone "nice and normal", who happens to have a grey area for a hobby, and Villanelle, as someone independent, in control, with no lines she wouldn't cross. Way back in the pilot, we're shown that they don't actually WANT to destroy each other. Villanelle is too interesting to Eve, Eve is too attractive to Villanelle. Yes, they pose a significant threat to their respective lifestyles, but as we've had proven, they're becoming willing to risk that if it means gaining something more. They don't reflect a sinister alternative timeline of "look what you could've been" (which is inherently hero-centric, and Killing Eve pays as much attention to Villanelle as Eve), they offer each other a "look what you could still be", that is at once dark and hopeful -- something that they've really elaborated on in this second season. But 1x08, even though it is very much the symbolic collision that is the centrepiece of all chase stories, is not their first meeting. Villanelle goes to Eve's house in the (iconic) 1x05. So why not save that for the finale? Why not build and build and have that tension released right at the end? Because, crucially, 1x05 generated more tension. The show's writing is so substantial that it doesn't worry about losing its audience after the moment they've been waiting for happens. It's one of the reasons you could have the entire plot of Killing Eve spoiled, and then still enjoy every episode when you watch it yourself: it's the How that we love as much as the What. Killing Eve takes the time and space to revel in its style, characters, and setting -- but that's another essay. In 1x05, their meeting is high-octane, and crucially, it's brief. We get a snapshot of how their infatuation and fixation translates into chemistry. And they both become real to one another. Eve's last reservations begin to fade as she realises that she can survive an encounter with Villanelle, and her sense of self -- most importantly, the subconscious idea that she's somehow special -- is vindicated (Eve's slight narcissism, and how the show makes it compelling and intoxicating, is yet another thing I could go on about). For Villanelle, Eve is allowed to be more than just great hair and a worthy threat. She's someone challenging and entertaining. What's so incredible about that first meeting is that it's proof that this dynamic isn't running on mystery and fumes. It's sustainable. They continue to appeal to one another once they're in the same room together. They appeal even more. Their sexual tension skyrockets, and the whole dance becomes extremely personal. They can't write one another off as playthings, although they largely continue to attempt that, at least for a short while. With this in mind, let's move on to that finale. Not only is Eve trashing Villanelle's apartment hilarious, and a perfect articulation of the humour/danger cantilever that makes Killing Eve awesome, but it provides a critical catharsis for the audience before the actual confrontation. By this point, the price for Eve's obsession is starting to rack up -- her job is circling the drain, Niko's dodging her calls, her self-image is blurring. Eve has a whole lot of feelings, but she's allowed to express them on her own, symbolically taking them out on Villanelle by ruining her things, which become a vehicle for venting her frustrations without actually affecting their relationship. When Villanelle does arrive, Eve's ready. This scene would've worked if it was some sexy wall-leaning, banter, and Eve surprise-stabbing Villanelle in the middle of a conversation. I think that's probably how a lot of screenwriters today would've done it, scrawling it off by rote and relying on Villaneve's chemistry and Comer and Oh's excellent acting to nail the bit. Instead, we get this civil conversation, and then they lie down together, first relaxing, and then gravitating towards one another. I don't believe that Eve knew until the millisecond she decided to do it that she would actually try and stab Villanelle. I actually gave this mini-essay a title, and it's "female conflict". That's because I think that this entire sequence wouldn't have happened in a show created by men, or featuring male characters. In violent shows, we get violent conflict. Killing Eve is unquestionably a violent show, but it's distinct from its contemporaries in that the characters aren't there to prop up the violence; the violence is there to reveal and develop the characters. But after a whole season of elaborate murder and tyre-squealing pursuit, we get this stillness. Yet, it doesn't feel for even a beat like bathos. It's absolutely a climax, and it's both suspenseful and arresting. It really illustrates that the show is about fascination: they're hungry to know everything, like Eve says. There's no performative combat. We can't guess what's going to happen because neither can they. Their obsession isn't a "this town ain’t big enough for the both of us" situation. It's a "this town is only the both of us". Their worlds are reduced to each other and they don't want to squander it with fighting, because fundamentally, Eve and Villanelle are so much more similar than they are different. Again, I say this is so fitting for female characters because they see this co-existence as an option. It's so simple, but the idea of your protagonist and antagonist sighing, "Fuck, can't we just have a lie down after all this?" and making it satisfying is incredibly radical. Because it's so personal, and intimate, and human. At every interval, the writing asks, What would we actually do at this moment? Not, What precedent has popular culture set for this moment? Too often, I think we give characters responses that we've seen before in texts, because we watched/read it, accepted it, and just filed it into our own work, knowing it's what the audience expects. But this scene with Eve and Villanelle is so heart-wrenchingly in-character. It's two people charging at each other full speed, not to hit each other but to be close to one another. And like so many other tiny beats over the course of the season, Killing Eve luxuriates in this proximity. We get to breathe. It's gentle. It's a gentle pause between two people who could utterly eradicate one another, but choose not to. It's ladden as well with such a specific but familiar kind of exhaustion, and it's an act of defiance, too. Killing Eve rejects the hegemonic (and predominantly masculine) cultural assertion that conflict (or even sometimes, in the less typical texts, debate and negotiation) is the way to resolve difference, and indeed, that difference must be resolved. That one must overpower the other. That your enemy is an alien and cannot be connected with, related to. The fact is, a lot of even this first season isn't spent chasing, it's spent running. Eve and Villanelle take an interest in each other early on, and it quickly escalates from intellectual to sexual to emotional (insofar as either of them are capable of that). By 1x05, they've caught up to each other. The rest of the time, though, they're fleeing from how much they want each other, how alike they might be. And in Villanelle's Paris apartment, they concede: I love you more than I hate you. I need you more than I should. And it's with that concession that we as an audience can experience their relaxation, too. It's what we've -- consciously or not -- been waiting for. That acknowledgement. But Margot, you say, you've been talking about how this isn't about violence -- have your forgotten that Eve STABS Villanelle, literally three seconds after this? I have not, The Only Follower Who Read This Far. So why engineer all this, and then have Eve knife Villanelle straight in the gut? Because even though they have this liminal second together, their story isn't resolved. Killing Eve goes absolutely wild with power dynamics, and I could discuss that for hours, too -- Eve is older, but Villanelle is more experienced; Eve is more stable, but Villanelle is more adaptable, etc. But generally speaking -- partially because Eve is, at the beginning, something of an audience surrogate -- the scales are in Villanelle's favour. She's dangerous, clever, has no fear of legal consequences, and has more freedom and greater resources. Killing Eve is allergic to any pedestrian predictability, so it shakes up this arrangement. In stabbing Villanelle, Eve proves to both of them what she's capable of. Prior to this, they had an impression of their similarities, but this throws into sharp relief exactly how deep those run. Eve immediately regrets the stabbing, because it wasn't about getting rid of Villanelle. She doesn't want to hurt her so much as show her that Eve has power too, has recklessness too, can keep up. This interaction isn't the product of an inability to relate, but a desperation to connect. This joins them together, affirms their relationship. Eve isn't trying to dominate her, to win, not really. She's telling Villanelle what she's capable of, and equating them. We get this confirmed in how Villanelle perceives in the stab wound as a symbol of affection (2x02, 2x05), and how Eve says she continues to think about it constantly (2x05). I believe that while Villanelle always respected Eve, if Eve hadn't stabbed her, Villanelle would've remained confident that she, quietly, had the upper hand. That if ever need be, she could be more cunning and cruel and decisive than Eve. But Eve's put them in the same ring, and also removed one major wall between them -- Villanelle's murderous side is a key part of her character, and after this, she knows that Eve isn't intruiged by her despite this, but because of it, and because it’s at least partially common ground. Eve isn't Anna (another comparison I could go off on a tangent about, but I'll spare you). In sum, I think that the season one finale was beautifully rendered, and reflected Killing Eve's appreciation of itself. It let the characters interact genuinely, it refreshed their dynamic, and allowed them development separately (Eve's new understanding of her own capacity for harm; Villanelle's new experience with vulnerability, and not being able to predict others) and together (intertwining them irrevocably, further aligning them). It's one of those rare scenes where it's completely surprising at the time of viewing, but in hindsight, seems inevitable, and you can't imagine it any different. I can't make any predictions for the season two final episode other than I expect something equally unexpected, something just as loyal to the characters and their relationship, and their capacity to embrace and antagonise each other. This essay is probably borderline incoherent. It really got away from me. I set a timer for half an hour and told myself that whatever I got written in that time, I'd post. Thanks so much for your kind comments on my rant yesterday, and I hope this is at least vaguely what you were looking for, @ the people who said they'd read another. You're my favs. If you've got something else Killing Eve-related you'd like me to yell about, let me know! Or if you want to come chat, I promise I'm friendly! I’m using the tag “#villainever writes” for this rambly stuff atm, so if I ever write another of these I’ll have a digital drawer to put it in hahah

#villainever writes #villaneve #killing eve #killing eve essay #ke analysis #killing eve analysis #villanelle #eve polastri #eve x villanelle #eve x oksana #villanelle x eve #villainever #villanevest writes

132 notes · View notes

grimelords · 6 years

Photo

My July playlist is here, just in time for September! Four hours of hits from Lana Del Rey, Iannis Xenakis, KISS, Cameo and everyone in between. Please enjoy.

This Is What Makes Us Girls - Lana Del Rey: This is a really underrated Lana song I think. It's such a beautiful song and it's so heartbreaking the way she sings "they were the only friends I ever had". It's like an origin story for her whole thing detailing how she got bitten by a radioactive pabst, I love it.

Walking Into Sunshine (Larry Levan 12" Mix) - Central Line: A powerful good mood song that quickly takes on a vibe shift near the end when he says I've got to do it now, I've got to walk into the sun' which carries a different meaning than 'walk into the sunshine' to me. Embracing positivity versus self immolation in a nuclear furnace.

Fine di Cobb - Stelvio Cipriani: This is the most jamming harpsichord I think I have ever heard. This is from the soundtrack to an italian cop film called Mark il Poliziotto (Mark The Narc) that I found in a spotify playlist called Best Of Eurocrime that I cannot recommend enough. https://open.spotify.com/user/cinevox/playlist/1o3c0Con0ormlKc9r1gqxgSince

Last Wednesday - Highasakite: Highasakite might be the worst band name I've ever heard and they're so lucky this song is as good as it is that it cancels that out.

Hilary $wank - Joey Bada$$: I was originally just going to post the instrumental of this because the beat it just so, so good. So busy without being cluttered and nicely melodic without clouding the space for the vocals. I also like this song a lot because just by virtue of being so upbeat it escapes the worst parts of a lot of other Joey Bada$$ 'real hip hop' type songs that are going for a throwback vibe but end up just sounding dated.

Girls - Royal Headache: Girls! Think they're too fine for me! Oh Girls! And I'm inclined to agree!

Something To Tell You - Haim: I'm slowly coming around to Haim's second album and I've finally decided it's good actually. I just hope they do a live album or something soon because their songs are so tightly structured that I think it's almost to their detriment, and every live video I've seen of them they really pull them apart and expand them in a nice organic way that just doesn't come through on the album.

Lavender - BadBadNotGood & Kaytranada: I can't tell whether I like this orginal version or the Nightfall remix with Snoop Dogg better, the verses are just regular Snoop but the vocals they put on the chorus are so good I sort of wish there was a third version that was just them with some other rapper.

New Seeds - Boards Of Canada: Realising that the sound at the start of this is extrapolated from mobile phone interference was a shocking moment for me.

Alligator Engine - Hunters & Collectors: Hunters And Collectors early albums where they sounded like the Talking Heads of the Mad Max universe don't get enough respect because of their huge regular sounding hits a few albums later and it's areal shame because this song is pure primal funk.

Fly Like An Eagle - Seal: This is the song that plays on the little muzak speakers in the cryogenic chamber for the four minutes you're still conscious while your body cools to absolute zero. Then you wake up in 400 years still humming it.

Come To Dust - Boards Of Canada: I was having such a huge moment with this album this month and lamenting the imminent end of our favourite earth The Earth, and this is really such a peaceful sort of resolute song right near the end of the album before the real ending of Semena Mertvykh makes you feel like a body dumped in the desert for scientific research into the nature of decomposition.

Kiss You All Over - Millie Jackson: I'm still not sure how I feel about this new Millie Jackson album that's old multitracks re-mixed by Steve Levine. The whole thing sounds kind of whack. What's good however, is when she adlibs "I wanna bite you on the ankles baby" out of nowhere near the end, and then says "on the ankles.. on the kneecaps.." as the song's fading out.

The Sorcerer - Twain: My girlfriend sent me this song and I have no idea where she found it but I love it. As soon as I heard the opening line I was completely hooked. It's such a beautiful and foreboding song that I really can't get a proper read on, I love it.

Men Today - Health: I'm looking for a chrome extension that makes this song play at maximum volume whenever anyone makes a post containing the phrase 'men today'. Huge wall of noise. Bloodthirsty drums. All the dirt owns us now, what we were ends in the ground.

Where Love Lives - Frankie Knuckles: I'm eagerly awaiting the day coming soon that 90s piano house goes from naff to revered and rockets back up the charts.

Nein König Nein - DJ Koze: This is the B side to Seeing Aliens off of DJ Koze's new album and I really love it, mostly for the groove it get into about halfway through, it reminds me of High Fidelity by Daft Punk where it's just chopped to hell and builds these sort of disparate rhythmic cuts into a really melodic frankenstein.

Blush - Leon Vynehall: I think I found this song and the next one by Spotify Radio off of the DJ Koze song above. I got into a real groove at work one day and these two were the best two to come out of it. The bassline/strings melody that centres this whole song is so good and so circular it could feasibly play for two hours and I wouldn't notice.

Last Land - John Talabot: The way the vocal sample just keeps bleeding into itself is hypnotising here, and it's also maybe the best and most unique kick sound I've heard in a long time.

Suzinak - Ross From Friends: I almost feel bad for Ross From Friends because he's making some really amazing music but he's stuck with this dogshit soundcloud name. The Durutti Column sample that forms the basis of this song is really nicely placed without just feeling like a rip-off, but where this song really shines is in the last minute or so where it magically transitions into a crunching guitar driven thing that sounds like it's playing next door.

Canary Yellow - Deafheaven: The most incredible thing about this album is the sense of optimism that pervades it. This isn't a genre that really lends itself to hope or beauty but somehow Deafheaven have captured it in a way I didn't really think possible. It feels like they've expanded the emotional palette of the whole genre with this album, without sacrificing any of what makes it great.

Strutter - Kiss: I had this song stuck in my head the other day, but I'd remembered it wrong and had it mixed up with the chorus of Lovers And Sinners by Dallas Crane. In my version he's saying 'strutter' the way they say 'lovers'. There's an incredible song in there somewhere, but the original is pretty good too.

Lovers And Sinners - Dallas Crane: See above I guess. It's interesting listening to Dallas Crane now as a new generation is reappraising and being inspired by pub rock all over again and somehow the difference between Dallas Crane and Jet versus Bad//Dreems and Peep Tempel couldn't be more pronounced despite their shared roots. Where the former idolises the glamour of a bygone age of rock and roll the latter are reapprorating it in a more directly emotional, less flashy way.

Evryali - Iannis Xenakis: From what I understand from reading the wiki article on this piece this was generated by doing about five different kinds of extreme nerd graph maths and then turning that into music via more maths and when he finally turned up with the completed score it was so fucking stupid it had notes that don't physically exist on a standard piano in it. Now that's rock and roll. It's hard to make sense of this without the context of its composition because it feels incredibly random, but this performance by Stephnos Thomopoulos really brings meaning to the total chaos of it. I think solo piano is such a good medium for generative-type works like this because it feels like the simplest way to see everything happening without the tonal clutter of synthesised or orchestral sounds muddying the already extremely muddy waters.

Easy Way Out - Money For Rope: I love bands with two drummers and Money For Rope really know how to use two drummers, which is simply use them exactly like you would one drummer but pan them left and right so I can hear when they do different fills at the same time and get a thrill. A really good song about killing yourself when you're old(?)

Sophisticated Lady - Art Tatum: I've been having a big Art Tatum phase recently and it's hard to overstate just how much I believe Art Tatum came from another planet to teach us about the piano. He is really and truly from another dimension. So off the charts insanely good at making a whole universe from a simple tune. It's like every single note gets its own full trip around the block before he moves on.

Stay As Sweet As You Are - Art Tatum: This is an absolute odyssey in five minutes. Without ever losing focus, or losing track of the central theme, it's like he takes it apart piece by piece and reassembles it anew every single bar right before your eyes.

No Line On The Horizon - U2: 2000s U2 gets a bad rap, and it's mostly deserved but there's still some very good stuff in there. This song is so good, and so nicely produced it's a real shame that it opens the album that eventually contains Get On Your Boots.

Tools Down - The Presets: Not only is this song great, but they use the exact same synth sound as the one they used for Madeline's voice in Celeste, which has the nice side effect of making it seem like Madeline is singing along to this great song.

Open Sesame (12" Version) - Kool & The Gang: I've definitely put this on my list before but this is probably the best song ever recorded. It's incredible top to bottom for all 9 minutes and never fails to put me in a great mood.

Peril - Martin O'Donnell: I was thinking about the Halo 2 soundtrack and was shocked to remember correctly that this strange Enya knock-off made it into the highest selling game of 2004.

Drumgasm - Weiss/Cameron/Hill: I cannot belive I haven't heard of this album before now. It's Janet Weiss from Sleater-Kinney, Matt Cameron from Pearl Jam and Zach Hill all playing drums for 40 minutes and it's incredible. I would never have expected Weiss and Cameron to be the sort of drummers to do something like this, but they absolutely nail it. The different styles of the three really meld well and they all seem to lead at different times. This album is the sort of thing that seems like it would be extremely exhausting, and probably would be in most circumstances but somehow they pulled it off. It's engaging and for the most part, driven, purposeful music with direction; which is saying a lot for an album of three drummers just going absolutely hard as motherfuckers for most of an hour.

Apollo - St Paul & The Broken Bones: I love this song but the way he sings the first line makes me laugh because it sounds almost exactly like Drew Tarver's Donny Gary character. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U9ArjvUUptw and I'm blessed to have this song about reusing mcdonalds cups play in my head every single time I'm in a mcdonalds.

Million Times Alone - Bad//Dreems: This is maybe the best song about working night shift and having depression I've ever heard. The part about sleeping in the day in the bright sun in a boiling hot house is an especially vicious sense memory for me.

Slow Mover - Angie McMahon: My girlfriend showed me this and I absolutely love it. I also feel extremely old because I just googled it and apparently it's an Unearthed song that made the Hottest 100 this year and I didn't even notice. The best approximation I can make of how I feel about this song is the google autocomplete when you google it that goes 'angie mcmagon slow mover meaning?' and the top comment on the Genius page for it that says 'I cried my eyes out when I first heard this song.’

Drop The Bomb (feat. MF DOOM) - YOTA: Youth Of The Apocalypse: This is the new band from the non-Clash guitarist and bassist from Gorillaz, as well as Jamie Reynolds from Klaxons and I'm so glad it exists because the new Gorillaz album was such a snore and this really feels like what it should have been. Somehow it seems Damon Albarn is not the thing that makes Gorillaz great, it's the other guys which is very very strange.

Word Up - Cameo: Mostly thinking about this song because of Carl Tart's extremely good episode of Comedy Bang Bang where he spoke in the cadence of this and the other Cameo song for the whole episode https://www.earwolf.com/episode/word-down/

Lee - Tenacious D: I don't know what's going on but I got into a real Tenacious D thing this month. Thinking deeply about comedy music for some reason. Anyway this song is so much fun and it reminds me of Tony's Theme by Pixies.

Tony's Theme - Pixies: I love the idea of writing a nonsense song about your friend Tony, who you love, to put right in the middle of your otherwise pretty serious alt rock album. If you know any other songs in the genre of Lee and Tony's Theme please reply and tell me them because I think it's really funny genre.

Burning Down The House - Tom Jones & The Cardigans: I woke up one morning with the sound of Tom Jones singing 'strange but not a stranger' in my head and it took me so much googling to find out it was this version of Burning Down The House that I was thinking of, without having heard it in probably ten years. I like that this song is ostensibly a duet but Nina Persson has such a thin voice and Tom Jones is the most powerful man to have ever lived that she's sort of just automatically relegated to backing vocals by default.

Horseshoe Crabs - Hop Along: I heard about this from the Jason Mantzoukas What's In My Bag video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ecfWVhz-wyc. I cannot believe how her voice sounds, it's just incredible. The way she sings "baby's heading home" at the start shocked me, it sounds like recordings of three different people cut together. It's just amazing. I already loved this song a lot and then when I looked into it I found out it's about Jackson C. Frank and it made me cry.

Long Wat - Khun Narin: This is another one I got from the Jason Mantzoukas What's In My Bag video, it's a Thai pschedelic street band and it's quite simply the jam of a lifetime.

listen here

#playlists

44 notes · View notes

nighthowlers8795 · 6 years

Text

You Have Never Loved Me (AU) Liam x MC Part 4

Paring: Liam x Annie Williams

Warning: Major angst and not your TYPICAL Liam and not your TYPICAL MC

Catch up here : You Have Never Loved Me masterlist

Summary: After Liam saw Annie outside of her apartment building, will he have the courage to face her?

Tag list: @indicater @drakelover78 @captainkingliam @pens-girl-87 @madaraism @boneandfur @laniquelove @hhiggs @madaraism @blackcatkita @never-ending-choices @trianiasti @viktoriapetit @alicars @apluschoices @youwontlikewherewewillgo @hopefulmoonobject @mfackenthal @zilch3 @darley1101 @queencatherynerhys @lizeboredom @xxrainbowprincessxx

The assassination attempt orchestrated by Regina infuriated Liam. After he went back to Cordonia, Liam took the throne and stopped the turmoil from happening. Constantine passed away shortly after the coronation.

To set an example, Liam sentenced the former queen life in prison for treason. The Noble families once helped her all offering their sincere loyalty in fear of their new king. Cordonia has been thriving as a nation since The King’s reign. Liam brought fresh blood into the crippling system, focusing on economical development and making sure every children in the country have access to free education. The call for support of the Monarchy has never been louder in centuries.

Three years has passed since the last time Liam set foot in New York City. He has been quiet since he came back from the trip to Annie’s apartment building , a Scotch in his hand, overlooking the concrete forest of the city that never sleeps.

He is deep in his thoughts that he didn’t hear Maxwell walks in. Maxwell shoots a questioning look at Bastien, Bastien just shakes his head.

“So, I take it as that you have visited the address I gave you.” Maxwell sits down in the couch,” Did you talk to her?”

Maxwell came to collect Liam and Drake three years ago, he knows that Liam had an ex-girlfriend he left behind. When Liam insisted on coming to an UN meeting he doesn’t necessary has to attend in person, Maxwell helped to track her down.

“I’m not sure if I should even show up again.” Three years is not a short time, Liam thought he’d forget about Annie, but her figure, her smile, lingering around in his life. He is no longer afraid of anyone anymore, if he wanted, he could take Annie back to Cordonia long time ago. Yet the idea of another man has become the center of Annie’s life helped him to cope, helped him to feel less guilty about everything.

“I have another address you might be interested.” Maxwell put a piece of paper on the coffee table.”Don’t be too hard on yourself.”

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

“Annie, he is here again.” Hana points at a booth next to the window. The man puts on a big smile and waves to her.

Annie smiled back a little, doesn’t know what to do with him anymore. His name is Eddie or Ed? She didn’t pay attention. He started pursuing Annie about two weeks ago after he saw her at the restaurant. He’d always come around closing time, tries to talk to her and stay as long as possible. Annie sighs and walks over to the table.

“So what do you say? We can go see that movie together and maybe grab a bite after?” An unwanted date request for maybe the 30th times.

“I’m sorry, Hana and I have plans.” Ed works as a defense lawyer for the neighbourhood gang. The restaurant’s boss has warned her not to be rude to him to get the business in trouble. “Maybe another time, have a goodnight.”

Annie took out the trash and Hana is ready to go. She has switched to a different restaurant after she moved, she wanted a fresh start. Sweet Hana followed her to the new job.

To both girls’ surprise, Ed is waiting outside. “Annie, maybe I can walk you home?”“It’s okay, Hana will walk with me. You take care.” They try to be polite and walk around him, praying he will give up.

Apparently Ed doesn’t want to take no for answer today. He grabs Annie by her arm and pulls her close to him.”Do you think you are too good for me? What do you want, bitch. I have money and I can make you scream in bed.”

Next thing Annie knows is the force on her is gone, Ed was punched in the face and pinned on the wall by Liam. Ed is not a big guy, Liam’s shadow clouds over him with his feet patheticly dangling, trying to reach the ground.

He has been sitting in the car for nearly two hours, when he saw another man’s hand on Annie he couldn’t sit still anymore. Despite Maxwell and Bastien’s yelling, he rushed to her.

“Do not touch her. She is my girlfriend, do you hear me?” His eyes are filled wih rage and flame. “Do not let me see you sticking around again, you understand?” His hand on Ed’s throat.

Ed grasping for air and nods his head weakly. They have drawn a small crowed, people take out their phones, snapping photos and recording videos.

”Get out of my sight.” Liam is trying hard not to kill him on the spot.

And so he runs, like he is running for his life.

Annie stands there, without a word. She doesn’t even give Liam another look. She turns to Hana suggesting they should get going.

Hana tugs at the corner of Annie’s uniform,” Hey, that’s Liam.”

“My car is right there, let me give you a ride home.” Hana looks at both of them, Annie still stands there without a word.

“It might be safer to let them drive us home tonight. Who knows if that guy is waiting a couple blocks away” Hana whispers her concern.

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

It’s awfully quiet in the car.

“Thank you for saving us today.” Hana tries to stir up the awkward air. It’s choking her.

“You are so welcome.” Liam looks toward Annie, she is calm, scanning the street views without a word.

Everyone senses helplessness radiated from Liam, she acted like she didn’t even know him. Maxwell fusses his eyebrows and gives Hana a pleading look in the mirror. Hana shrugs, she had tried.

Annie’s place isn’t far away from the restaurant. She gets out the car showing no emotion.

“Annie, wait. I want to talk to you.” It feels like a slap across the face, she wants nothing to do with him.

“It won’t be necessary.” Annie says in a cold voice, walks away without looking back. Hana nods her head, quickly catches up with her friend.

Liam has thought about a hundred scenarios of their reunion, he’d rather she kicking and screaming. He has no clue about how to deal with her indifferent.

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

Annie woke up with a phone call. She didn’t sleep well last night.

“Hey, Hana.” She has a bad migraine.”What? Slow down, Liam what?”

“It’s all over the news.” Hana almost screams out. “Liam is a king.”

Confused, Annie quickly checks her news app. Her heart sinks into her stomach.Videos and pictures of last night’s incidents are all over social medias.Titles like「Who is King Liam and Where is Cordonia?」in bold with a picture of Liam and a video from last night.

She keeps scrolling down,「King’s True Love? America’s next Cinderella???」attached to a picture of her blurry face from the previous night.

Following muffled noises from outside of the window, Annie finds that there are at least two dozen of paparazzi gathered downstairs of her apartment building.

Crap, she is gonna be sick.

To Be Continued

#trr #trr fanfic #trr liam #king liam #liam x mc #the royal romance #choices fanfiction

80 notes · View notes

nightmareonfilmstreet · 7 years

Text

[Exclusive] Interview with Lindsay Schoolcraft of Cradle of Filth and 10/31 Soundtrack

New Post has been published on https://nofspodcast.com/exclusive-interview-lindsay-schoolcraft-cradle-filth-contributor-horror-anthology-1031/

[Exclusive] Interview with Lindsay Schoolcraft of Cradle of Filth and 10/31 Soundtrack

When I learned Lindsay Schoolcraft would be contributing to the soundtrack of Rocky Gray’s upcoming Horror Anthology, 10/31, I had to reach out.

Lindsay and I share mutual friends, growing up only towns apart. And, also being among the few gothic persuasion in our neighbourhood, I followed Lindsay and her rising solo career under the name Schoolcraft, and silently cheered her on in 2013 when she joined iconic dark metal band, Cradle of Filth. Lindsay continued on with the band, serving as live keys and back-up vocals, as well as contributing the female vocals, keyboard, and harp on the bands’ most recent albums; Hammer of the Witches (2015), and Cryptoriana – The Seductiveness of Decay (2017).

And, with the recent release of Cradle of Filth’s Cryptoriana, her work on a highly anticipated solo album, as well as contributing to the soundtrack of an upcoming horror movie, we had much to discuss! Read on for our exclusive interview with Lindsay Schoolcraft.

Photo by Melissa Matheson.

Nightmare on Film Street: This interview all came about because I stumbled across your involvement in the soundtrack for Rocky Gray’s upcoming Horror Anthology, 10/31. Anything you can tell us about the project?

Lindsay Schoolcraft: Rocky and I have been in talks about collaborating together for quite some time now. We were just waiting for the right opportunity and project to come up. Earlier this year he asked me if I would be interested in doing a song with him on his horror anthology soundtrack. Of course I agreed to it because Rocky and his work with Evanescence has been a huge influence on me since my teens. So far the writing process has gone smoothly. He is easy to work with and trusts my abilities as a writer, which is a huge compliment coming from him.

NOFS: Is this your first forray into Horror? Any interest in contributing to future soundtracks or scores?

LS: This definitely is. It’s also my first contribution to an original track that will be exclusively for a movie. I was trying to pick Rocky’s brain for theme ideas on how to approach the lyrics for this song. I want the listener to fall into a story and give them a sense of storytelling and finding their own perception or take on the story they are hearing. I was asking for what the stories were like in the flick, he said “just make it spooky and open to your own idea”. At first it was difficult, but then the ideas started coming. I am just completing the lyrics over the next few days.

I am slowly getting into the horror world. I’ve never been massively into slasher flicks, I’m more of a sci-fi and fantasy fan. I am looking forward to seeing what Rocky has created with 10/31.

Depending on how well this song is received I would be interested in doing more soundtrack contributions in the future. I find there is less pressure with one track verses doing a whole album and making a group of songs cohesive to one another. There is more freedom in one track.

NOFS: So much of the tone and mood in Horror is set by the particular film’s score a music choices. Do you have any personal favorite scores or soundtracks that inspire you?

LS: Thanks to Dani Filth the Dracula soundtrack has really grown on me. I would have to say the soundtrack that has had the biggest influence on me is from The Queen of The Damned. It’s influenced a lot of my work and never grows old for me.

NOFS: The latest album from Cradle of Filth; Cryptoriana- The Seductiveness of Decay, just dropped last week. What can we expect from the new album?

LS: It’s different then what we’ve done before in many ways. The guys really pushed themselves to compose their best on it. The addition of the choirs is what really ties it together. Also it is one of our more thrash driven albums too. So far the feedback has been great, I’m happy everyone is enjoying it!

NOFS: The recently released Music Video for your single Heartbreak and Seance is a beautiful, moving vignette of classic Victorian, Gothic imagery; soft snow falling among dead trees, wax dripping from the candles of a silent altar. Can you tell us a little bit about the process of creating that video? What was the experience like bringing the single to life?

LS: Oh thank you! It was a magical time and full of great memories. We flew out to Riga, Latvia to work with Arthur Berzinsh, which had done the album artwork for our past two albums. We love his work and he really understands us and what we need visually to match our music. This was definitely the biggest music video production I had been a part of since joining the band. Dani had also mentioned that it was one of the biggest video production that band has had in a long time. The crew and makeup artists were a treat to work with and we made it happen in just two days. I believe after we left there was more filming happening for two days after we left. It shows in the results. I’m really happy I could be a part of it.

vimeo

NOFS: Both in the music video and during your stage performances, you always wear such amazing headpieces and unique, gothic inspired fashion. Can you tell us a little bit about your fashion influences?

LS: Oh thank you! The lot of my headdresses are made by Hysteria Machine, but for the new music video I got Morgan Lander of Kittie to design my crystal deer skull headpiece under her line Thelema Crystal Skulls.

My influence and ideas change every few months. I have definitely been on a long black evening gown kick the past few years, I have a feeling that will change starting mid next year. My dress designs come about with whatever I’m feeling at the time and the influence of the time of year. I find I get more inspiration in the autumn in winter months for my image as apposed to spring in summer where I get more of my musical creativity from.

I usually carry a small sketch book with me on tour and sketch all my ideas into them as they come up. They aren’t the best doodles in the world, but they are passable until I can bring the headdress or the dress to the designers.

NOFS: Your previous album with Cradle of Filth, Hammer of the Witches, was inspired by the infamous persecution of suspected witchcraft. Were there any specific real-life or fictional stories/films that inspired you when creating the album?

LS: Usually the theme of the music doesn’t come until later and it’s decided by Dani. With Hammer of The Witches we just started writing and picked the best of what came about. Of course there was a theme of darkness with anger and sadness when we wrote that album. In the beginning we never know just what Dani will make the theme. He often needs the music first because he can start getting creative.

NOFS: The Female audience tends to be under-represented in both the Metal and Horror communities, though we make up a growing, significant (and badass) chunk of their fan-bases. Is there any advice you have for those macabre and creative gals who are interested in exploring a darker career-path?

LS: It’s a learn-as-you-go experience so I don’t really know what advice I can offer. You just have to be you and find out what is is that you can uniquely offer with your own little added flair. If you told me 6 years ago that I would be the creepy woman in Cradle of Filth to sing backings and play the keyboard I would have never believed you. But it happened and here we are. I was slowly moving away from the dark fashion and look that I loved so much just before I got the offer to join and then I just got sucked right back into it. It’s definitely been fun to experiment and find my look with makeup though!

NOFS: Speaking of which- what’s it like being the only Female in a Dark Metal band?

LS: It’s nothing different really. Sure, I am a nurturing person and I get sucked into the role of being the “tour mom” with handing out band-aids and being thoughtful and caring when others break themselves. But it’s nice to be a part of something and represent the feminine aspect, which is something I take very seriously considering some people consider me a role model.

NOFS: Do you have any personal favorite Horror Movie Go-To’s on the road?

LS: Would Repo! The Genetic Opera count? It’s pretty much my favourite movie ever!

NOFS: It totally counts. In addition to Cradle of Filth, you are also half of Black Metal duo Antiqva, and release music solo under Schoolcraft. Do you have any projects in the near future you can tease? Also, do you ever find downtime?

LS: Downtime? What’s that? Haha.

Antiqva is coming together, but very slowly. Which isn’t a bad thing because we get to take our time and make sure we are happy with everything we are constructing. I’m honestly very excited about this project. There is a lot of freedom to take my time and experiment and build the orchestral sections as one of the main composers.

As a solo artist my main debut is almost done being recorded and should be out sometime next year. I think people will freak when they find out who I wrote the album with and who the guest singers are. This has been my biggest accomplishment as a song writer so far. It’s the music I have always wanted to make and I think the fans will really dig it. I did my best to be as honest and humble as possible when creating this album. I wanted to tell stories and really pull the listener into the songs. It’s been a long journey and we are finally starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel.

As for free time though: I mainly just play around on my harp or watch cartoons. Of course I’m still slowly self teaching myself the wonderful world of makeup artistry. I’ve also been slowly piecing together new song for my next solo release. It’s a never ending process.

NOFS: Where can readers of Nightmare on Film Street find and follow more from you?

LS: You can find me on Instagram, Twitter, and Tumblr. My Facebook page is www.facebook.com/Schoolcraftofficial And don’t forget to check out 10/31’s indiegogo campaign at http://igg.me/at/1031movie

Cradle of Filth’s latest album, Cryptoriana: The Seductiveness of Decay is available now. The band will be kicking off their European Tour in the Late Fall. Tour details can be found here. Horror Anthology 10/31 is currently funding on Indiegogo with a little over a week remaining.

#cradle of filth #gothic fashion #gothic metal #gothic style #lindsay schoolcraft #lindsay schoolcraft of cradle of filth #metal #repo the genetic opera #rocky gray 10/31 #rocky gray evanescence

0 notes