#if any all of y'all have wondered about my writer speak tag? | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

dizzydancingdreamer · 4 years

Text

Come Back | The Mikaelson Boys

Hey Lovelies! I decided to switch it up and try something a little more angsty! Lemme know what you think (and if I should do a part two?) It's a little short, I started it before receiving all the requests that y'all have been sending in! I was in a little bit of a writers block and a slump and wrote this while listening to/crying to "My Immortal" by Evanessence. Anyways, enjoy my loves! Keep sending in your ideas! I'm starting on them presently! <3

Description: Elijah dies and the reader is falling apart in the shower, Kol and Klaus rescue her. Really just a short little blurb.

Pairing: The Mikaelson Boys x Fem!Reader, Mainly Kol and Klaus, Mentions of Elijah

Warnings: The reader in this is grieving and trying to feel something in some self destructive ways. Not self harm but not nice either. Mentions of loss and grieving.

Word count: 1764

Tags: ANGST, tiny bit of fluff

Part Two

(Pics aren't mine but the mood board is :) )

The water pours over your head with a fury. How it’s still hot you don’t know. Hell, you don’t care. You can’t feel it anyway, every inch of you skin having gone numb an hour ago. Was it an hour? Your fingers are pruned but it only feels like it’s been seconds. It doesn’t even matter anymore. You turn the dial further to the left, not flinching when the scalding water hits your face. You only hope it burns away every last trace of him.

When you close your eyes you can feel strong hands slip around your waist. They draw across your skin, tracing every dip and curve of your hips. Thumbs massage into your skin, delicately kneading your sensitive flesh. You sag into the touch for a second, allowing yourself a moment to memorize the feeling. Your heart aches dangerously, threatening to split apart in your chest.

You slam your hand against the wall, your wrist jarring where it meets the tiles, “let me go!”

The sound tears itself from your body like a second entity, the scream perhaps a banshee living in the cavity where your heart should be rather than your own ruptured soul fighting to be released. Maybe it’s the same thing, though. Water rushes in your ears, mingling with the crushing bang of your pulse. You can feel it throb in every vein in your body, singing the same song of agony over and over again.

You scrub your hips furiously with a loofa, avoiding the bottle of pine soap on the rack at all costs. You can’t feel the scraping anymore. You lost all the feeling in your body an hour ago. Or five hours ago. Or five minutes ago. You still can’t remember. You continue to scrub at your hips. The shower continues to steam. If your eyes weren't open you would wonder if you even had any skin at all left. But they are open, and unfortunately the skin is still there.

Lips meet your shoulder blade, laying soft kisses down your spine. Now the hands reach lower, slipping down your thighs with feather light strokes. Your head finds the wall once more, supporting you when your knees buckle beneath you. The lips find the side of your neck, nipping with soft loving bites. It feels like acid against your skin. You peel your eyes open again, the taste of salt filling your mouth like sand, gritty and sharp against your tongue.

“Leave me alone,” you choke on your words, the scream mingling with tangy bile, “please!”

The sound that rips itself from you is in no way human but it doesn’t matter, you can barely hear it. Water pours into your mouth, rinsing the vomit back down your throat. Your throat feels like it's blistering. Like someone is reaching down and snipping each vocal cord one by one. You can feel the screams as they fight their way out of your body, each one a knife being shoved in your ear and down your lungs. You still can’t hear them.

“If you’re not going to come back then get out!”

Your body convulses with each word. You turn the dial again, forcing the water as hot as it can go. Maybe it can burn your skin off. At least that way it'll take the memories with it. You sink to your knees, pulling them into your chest. All you can feel are the gentle hands on your back, rubbing up and down. It lulls you, like a tiger waiting to strike, your body becoming limp before squeezing in agony.

You rake your hands down your arms violently, clawing the feeling of his touch off of your body. You’re angry at him. You don’t want to be and that makes you even more fucking angry. It wasn’t his fault what happened. He didn't want to leave. You have to keep repeating it to yourself. Every minute of every hour of every day. He didn’t want to leave you.

You curl into yourself tighter, threading your hands through your hair and pulling until you feel something, “you promised. You promised me! I need you!”

You slam your hands against the floor of the shower, over and over again. You can feel the crack but you keep going. You can’t feel nearly as much as you want to. As you need to. You need it to hurt more. Your stomach heaves again and you can smell the acid more than you can taste it. Fingers rake softly through your hair.

“Come back, Eli. Please! I’ll do anything.”

Hands wrap around your stomach, pulling you into a strong chest. You choke on the sobs as they come, not fighting it anymore. Not physically, at least.

“This is cruel, Elijah!”

“Darling it’s me,” Kol’s voice is strained and tired, “It’s Kol. I’ve got you.”

You can feel more of him when he speaks. Not just the traces of touch but all of him. Every part of him is wrapped around you, holding you on his lap. His arms cage you in tight. You’re clinging to his arms, your nails digging in hard. Everywhere that your skin meets his you can feel yourself shaking. The water pouring over you is now ice cold. How long have you been here?

“Kol,” your voice cracks sharply, ripping a pain that you cling to down your throat, “I- when did you come in?”

Your senses flood back to you slowly, like molasses, creeping over you with sticky disdain. The bathroom lights sting your eyes. Your hands feel broken, if not close to it. Your throat to your eardrums feel raw. It all hits you at once, in full force, like a punch to the chest. You cough hard when the wind is knocked from your lungs.

Kol’s hand smooths up and down your back carefully but he’s not the one who speaks, “we’ve been here the whole time, love. We couldn't leave you.”

Klaus isn’t in the shower with you and Kol but he’s as close as he can be, kneeling on the floor next to the base. His eyes are red, dark circles laced below them. Your heart cracks more at the look on his face. You shiver as the water continues to pour over you, mixing with the tears pouring down your face. You can feel each one as they trace over your skin and sink down the drain.

“Let’s get you out of here, darling,” Kol scoops you closer to his chest while Klaus turns the shower off.

The silence left in the wake of the water is overwhelming. It’s too quiet. You can hear all the space not being taken up. There are no footsteps anywhere else in the house. No doors opening and closing, no muffled voices, no noise whatsoever. There are only three people in a space that was supposed to always have four and it fucking hurts. It feels like your soul is trying to fill every space he isn't in by tearing itself apart. The problem is there isn’t enough of you to do that. He took his part of your soul with him.

Kol passes you to Klaus who wraps you in a towel that still smells too much like pine for your liking. It wraps around you completely, clinging to your raw skin and melding into your bones. Your chest screams with every breath of Elijah that you take. You just want it to stop. You want it all to stop. You can’t breathe but you can’t stop at the same time. Every part of your body screams in agony.

“I- I can’t,” you cling to Klaus with everything you have, digging into his shoulders and drawing blood, “it won’t stop. Why won’t it stop? I- I can’t do this! It hurts Klaus!”

He wraps his arms around you as tight as he can, pressing his forehead against yours. He rocks you gently back and forth. Warm droplets hit your burning skin, mixing with your own. You lose track of which tears are yours and which are his.

“I know love, I know. Us too, we can feel it all,” he lays his lips against your forehead, pulling more strangled sobs from your chest, “everything you feel, we feel it too. I wish I could take it away, my love. I would do anything to make it stop for you. We’re doing everything we can to bring him back to us. You have to trust us.”

Kol’s hands find their way back to your back when he steps out of the shower, his lips soft on your shoulder.

“You need to sleep, darling. Elijah would want you to rest.”

The thought of sleeping makes you nauseous. Everytime you close your eyes all you see is him. It’s almost unbearable. Almost. Part of you clings to him while you still can. Holding tight to his memory before his face begins to warp and his voice fades. It already is starting to fade, sounding a little different each night. It's agonizing, like losing him twice.

Klaus squeezes you tighter, nuzzling his face against your head. Kol rubs his hands down your back, soothing your burning skin. Together they calm you enough to slow your sobs. They can’t make the tears stop completely but they manage to stop the panic attack you've been having for the past few hours. You can feel the spots Elijah should be taking up with painful accuracy. You have to push yourself to focus on the two Mikaelson’s you have.

“I can’t,” even as you say it you can feel yourself fading out, as if the mere mention of sleep reminds your bones of how exhausted they were, “I can’t see Eli. I can’t keep losing him every night.”

“We’ll get him back, darling. We will not stop until we get him back, but you have to rest for us,” Kol’s voice is rough but determined.

Your chest aches, each beat of your heart a reminder that his is still. For days all you’ve been doing is thinking about Elijah. Every agonizing moment spent thinking of ways to bring him back. You know it can be done. Scratch that, it has to be done. If he doesn’t come back you don’t know what will happen to you. You have to trust them.

Your words are too quiet, “do you promise Eli will come back?”

“I promise.”

Both of your Mikaelson's speak together but you swear you hear the third, whispering alongside them. For just a moment you feel almost whole again.

#elijah mikaelson #elijah mikaelson imagine #elijah mikaelson x reader #Kol mikaelson #kol mikaelson x reader #Kol Mikaelson Imagine #klaus mikaelson #klaus mikaelson imagine #klaus mikaelson x reader #TVD #the vampire diaries #the originals #to #the vampire diaries imagine #the originals imagine #reader insert

398 notes · View notes

fyeahnix · 3 years

Text

Pathfinder's Quest — Bangalore/Wraith, Voidstrike Shipping Speculation? (7/7)

I'm going to talk about my thoughts on the Apex Legends lore book in a series of smaller posts. I have a LOT of fractured thoughts on this book and it would be unnecessarily long if I were to list them out in the same post. If you want to skip to some other post because the content in this one doesn't sound interesting, please do so! I will be numbering the posts and tagging them with "nix talks apex book lore" if you'd like to follow these specific posts and "apex book spoilers" if you'd like to avoid them.

This special post will strictly be about Voidstrike speculation. Keep in mind that this is speculation with a theory based on available lore. You don't have to take this seriously, but if you ship Voidstrike in any capacity, you might want to read this. Caution that this post will be very long and will contain quite a few images from the book as well as Broken Ghost and other supporting material. Let's go!

Book Content + Supporting Material

All right. I've been waiting an entire month to write up this post. You all know by now that Voidstrike is my OTP for Apex Legends. The unfortunate problem with this ship, like some other ships in Apex, is that they have the bare minimum of interaction with each other. Even in this book that proves to be true, except for one interesting little exchange through Pathfinder...

Do you see this comment? I asked Tom Casiello, Senior Writer of Apex Legends and Target of Internet Scorn (just poking fun at his twitter bio here), about it on Twitter and this is what he said:

Yes, that's right, y'all. These two have beef. I can imagine Wraith is little pissed about the whole "headcase" thing from Season 5's Broken Ghost quest:

I mean, can you blame Wraith? Anita’s kind of an asshole in canon, if we’re being honest, so Wraith wanting to get back at her in some way makes sense. She went the fuck off on Mirage when he made a similar comment about her in the Season 6 comic posted on Twitter. What's even weirder is Anita's response when Pathfinder tells her what Wraith said:

Now. I know what you’re thinking. “Nix, it’s not that deep, Anita’s just being a sarcastic dick.” And you would likely be correct, and I would not disagree with you. On the next page, however, this exchange happens:

First of all, why would Anita ask "why would Wraith tell me anything?" Has she tried talking to Wraith before and Wraith may have been closed off and/or hesitant? Or maybe she doesn't fully trust Anita because Anita has such strong feelings about the IMC? Is she... hurt by Wraith not telling her things? Did Wraith try to open up once before, get shot down by Anita's reaction to the IMC, and Anita's been a little salty about it since, henceforth, the shitty "headcase" comment? Maybe Wraith is being a little shit and getting back at her in a weird way. This comment initially sounded vaguely flirty but what do I know except the writers haven't been known to just write things for literally no reason...

Lots to think about here, but I'm hoping we'll get a follow-up to this in-game at some point.

And second of all, why would Pathfinder ask if they're best friends? I know he has an interesting view of who he considers friends...generally people who have talked to him for more than a minute:

But a “best friend”? What would give him that assumption about these two? Is it because they have some things in common? Or has he seen them interacting more than we (the players and lorehounds) know of? Is it because of their one exchange in Broken Ghost? I don’t think so at all. Granted, right on the next page Anita calls Wraith a lab rat (pretty shitty!), but as we learn later on, she is really sensitive and defensive about people who speak badly about the IMC (more on this in my post about Bangalore). I'm thinking Path mentioning Wraith being IMC pissed her off because Wraith, overall, blames them for what happened to her.

In any case, it's an interesting question to ask, and I do have to wonder if Wraith and Anita have been seen talking to one another for more than a minute lol. But Anita's answer is intriguing. She doesn't flat out say no. We know Anita to be very direct—sarcastic, sure—but generally you'd expect a straight fucking answer from her. Here, she doesn't even give one. She beats around the bush for an answer. What I think is happening here is about the same as her talking about Octane and Mirage. Remember that loading screen from Season 3? No? Well, let me refresh your memory...

Send in the Clowns (Season 3 Loading Screen)

Numbnuts! That’s what Mama used to call guys like that. You know the type. Big jokes, big trucks, big wallets...they need all that big to cover up what’s small. I got four brothers. Real gentlemen, raised with respect. They don’t have to woo-hoo their way through a battlefield like it’s a joke and they’re the punchline. Sorry, Laughtrack. The only punchline is you’re going home in a box.

Maybe Silva isn’t so bad. He’d take a bullet for anyone… mostly ‘cause he’s already fifty paces ahead, charging in with no game plan and even less strategy. Witt’s had my back more than once. And whatever, he’s gotten a chuckle out of me. Occasionally. Maybe they’re good. For morale, I mean. I mean… I just need them to stay out of my way.

She's just... like that. Anita is the type of person who won't openly admit that she actually likes or respects anyone. She's guarded, and she's probably been this way since her brother Jackson died. And that's where Loba comes in.

See, I think Loba has been making Anita rethink some things about opening up. Anita initially pegged Loba wrong, and in her chapter, Pathfinder basically figures out that she initially hated Loba because Loba reminds her of her older brother's shitty girlfriend:

I think Loba's purpose in her and Anita's budding friendship is to eventually lead Anita to opening up to others, especially Wraith, since Path mentioned they have a lot in common, which is something I've been saying for fucking months. Now, Wraith and Anita haven't really had any interaction that we know of outside of Broken Ghost and the book, but there have been some....very minor hints/foreshadowing. I'm going to preface this by saying you may think I'm being a little...out there with these points, but trust me, we'll touch on why these matter later. For now:

Back in Season 1, both Bangalore and Wraith were the first two Legends to get Legendary skins in the Legendary Hunt themed event. First occurence is an incident.

In the Season 3 opening trailer, Caustic throws a gas canister inside a room and you can vaguely see Bangalore and Wraith in the room on the same team:

In the Legend select screen, these two were right next to each other up until they were separated in Season 6. They were together. Five. Straight. Seasons. Was there another, more subtle reason they were separated? Common sense would say no, it's because we're getting more Legends and the UI needs to change to accommodate. Shipping and speculation sense would say maybe it's metaphorical and foreshadowing a story element. Maybe something happened between them that we aren't aware of yet and they've separated.

At the end of Season 6 for the Fight or Fright Halloween event, we got a bundle of skins called the Wicked Wraith bundle. Guess who's in it? Bangalore and Wraith plus some gun skins. But only these two Legends.. Hm.. Two's a coincidence.

In Season 7, we got the Black Friday event where we got both Airship Assassin and Outland Warrior back in the shop, two beloved Wraith and Bangalore skins respectively. Three's a pattern, and with this lovely banner:

In Season 8, for the Two-Year Anniversary Event, both Bangalore and Wraith received stat trackers of their concept art... We typically only get two Legends' trackers per each event with a prize track, and we got these two for this event? I predicted back in October 2020 that they would get stat trackers in the same event, but I didn't expect this event out of everything.

If one's an incident, two's a coincidence, and three's a pattern, then what's four very similar occurrences?

If you've read up to this point, you're either deprived for Voidstrike content like I am, or wondering just how much further I'm willing to dig for hints to support this ship. Trust me, I have a little more.

I am predicting that Anita and Wraith will start having some interaction starting Season 9 or 10. Why? Well, back at the start of Season 7, there was a Reddit AMA with the senior team members of Respawn. It was mostly to address the battlepass issue, but Manny Hagopian, the Lead Writer for Apex Legends, was also there answering questions, so I took a shot and asked him one:

You can totally chalk this up to typical “I can’t say anything right now” PR talk, sure, but I think he's hinting that this was in the plans. Tom has also said something:

Now, granted, this is Tom and mostly everyone takes whatever he says with a grain of salt, myself included, but it's worth keeping an eye on since what Manny says kind of lines up. We were supposed to get a follow-up to Broken Ghost, but that story, whatever it was, ended up being... let's say, "altered"? Tom has a thread on what actually happened on Twitter (that I did link here, but removed for fear of this post not appearing in the tags), but the follow-up was essentially "axed" and bits and pieces of it had to be kicked down the road in various different formats in the lore. What does this have to do with Season 9 and my theory?

Well, there's supposed to be some crazy stuff happening in Season 9 and I think we're going to start to see some elements pop up from what was supposed to happen in Broken Ghost. Why? Well another thing Tom said from that same Twitter thread:

I think whatever Tom was working on was related to IMC, Bangalore, and Wraith. And the reason I believe this is because of a now-deleted video from Chris Edgerly’s twitch stream from back around May 27th, 2020 or so where Tom was a guest. I unfortunately didn’t think to archive the page or video so I don’t have it, but I can say with confidence that I asked a question about Anita and Wraith having some future interaction about the IMC stuff, and the answer he gave was...suspiciously vague. He said something along the lines of:

"I just started writing something dealing with that and you should get to see it before the end of the year [2020]. And that’s all I’ll say on that :]"

I know that’s...well it doesn't say MUCH, but it is making me think that it's the same content he may have been working on. I have a feeling it may be in comic form, but who knows how the format may change. Season 9 is supposed to be fairly game-changing for Apex overall, according to the devs.

The last bit I wanted to mention was character development. I said earlier how I think Loba is helping Anita open up a bit more overall, and eventually that will turn towards others as well as Wraith. Anita, compared to other Legends, has seen character development through voice lines. And Wraith is kind of doing the same. Like sure Loba talks to Anita, but she hasn't really...progressed as a character much. She's remained fairly flat so far. We're actively seeing Anita's walls break down as she becomes more vulnerable as a person. And no one else is really doing this much except for, arguably, Wraith.

Wraith has had some very introspective voice lines to herself while on Olympus, basically wondering if the Rift explosion was a result of her experiments, wondering what type of person she was to have partnered with Singh. Wattson even mentions she looks more lost than usual, and Wraith responds that she needs to handle this on her own for now. We know from the end of Season 6's comics that she's learned she was apparently a shitty person in her past life with anger issues and a severe lack of empathy. She wonders about this and is actively working towards... not being like that lol. She's also fairly sarcastic as we've seen with her voice lines with Rampart, but she's developing as a character, albeit slowly and more subtly than Anita.

So now that that's all out of the way. Where do we go from here? Well, this brings me to a theory I've manifested due to the points in the post so far.

The Theory

What if Anita and Wraith were on pretty okay terms with each other previously and we just haven't heard about it yet? What if they’ve known each other for a while?

Anita has been in the Outlands with a small group of IMC soldiers, her brother Jackson and General Lewis included, for about 18 years. She's been in the Apex Games for about 3 years and the Hestia incident happened about 3 years ago:

That lines up. Since the start of the Apex Legends lore takes place in 2733 (as of Season 8 we are now in the year 2734 in lore), that would mean she had to have joined around 2730. What about Wraith?

Well... I think Anita and Wraith joined the Apex Games around the same time. In the book Wraith mentions that she took a few years to hone her skills before she ended up in a qualifying match:

She arrived at our Kings Canyon in 2727. If she took a few years, she had to have joined around 2730-2731. What if they met and actually were amicable? Closed-off on both ends, but mutually respectful towards each other as coworkers? And maybe this is what causes Pathfinder to assume they're "best friends" in the book.

...That is until the Repulsor incident happened and the IMC labs under Kings Canyon were eventually unearthed. Wraith learned her real name and what the IMC (ARES more specifically) did to her and so did the rest of the Legends she was somewhat close to—Mirage, Pathfinder, and...Anita.

What if Anita took the IMC disrespect personally, thought Wraith was placing blame on the IMC instead of taking responsibility for her own actions like Anita mentions in the book, and Anita blew up about it? Wraith would probably feel extremely hurt by this and withdraw from opening up even more. At this point, Anita would hold a bit of a grudge about the IMC bad-mouthing.

They continue to work as coworkers and on a team when necessary, but the mutual respect has been...lost. Wraith finds friendship elsewhere in Wattson. Fast forward to the events of Broken Ghost. Anita is stressed, annoyed, dealing with too much shit at leading the operation, and hurls an insult at Wraith, the infamous "headcase" comment. It's extremely shitty and uncalled for and while Wraith doesn't explode at her in the moment because of dire circumstances, she absolutely doesn't forget it. It hurts her deeply.

What if after the events of Broken Ghost, their connection is severed. There's some bad blood between them. Wraith's friendship grows with Wattson while Anita's friendship grows with Loba. That separation in the Legend Select screen starting from Season 6 onwards seems a lot more metaphorical...

So fast forward once again to Wraith's comment directed at Anita in the book. It was an opening Pathfinder inadvertently provided and it was an opportunity to take a jab at Anita. But instead of being overtly shitty, she makes a relatively teasing comment. Maybe an olive branch to squash what they have and move on? Anita's response is to thank Wraith when she sees her again. Sarcasm? Maybe. But what if she's being genuine? What if the comment was a joke reflective of the type of humor they shared when they were on better terms with each other?

Anita has been opening up more to Loba, and though shes's still sensitive about the IMC, what if she's more willing to...apologize for the initial shitty comment?

The Theory Continued

Anita has recently, in canon, mentioned Jackson to Loba. Jackson is a VERY sensitive topic for her, and so far, the only two people we know of who have heard her discuss Jackson are Loba and Pathfinder. An interesting thing about Jackson that can be tied back to Wraith is this:

Anita clearly does not accept the ARES Division as part of the IMC, but more than that...Jackson found out the ugly truth about the IMC overall and believed it. Wraith was part of ARES Division and it's why Anita doesn't consider her IMC. Here's where the connection can work:

Continuing the same theory, what if Wraith reminds Anita of Jackson in the worst way possible because of what he told her about the IMC and ARES? Wraith revealing her name and what happened to her conjured up old, painful memories and caused Anita to lash out and close herself off again. Now that Loba is bringing out discussions of Jackson in canon, what if this leads to Anita and Wraith coming back together and rekindling their friendship? There's a lovely quote from Jackson's letter in the book that I feel could foreshadow that happening, too:

"...But in all seriousness, I'm so proud of you. And always remember, what's broken can be fixed. What's shredded can be mended. And what's torn apart can always be put back together again. Love always, Jackson." (82)

What if eventually—slowly, but surely—rekindling this lost friendship leads to Anita opening up to Wraith again? What if it leads to Anita being open and vulnerable enough to learn more about the IMC and ARES Division with/through Wraith via the labs under Kings Canyon? That place is a goldmine of classified information and she very well can see and hear firsthand all the terrible shit they've done. It would be extremely hard to do this, of course. And that's where Manny's comment from the Reddit AMA comes into effect: "...There's much more for both characters to learn and when they do, it's very possible to experience a moment between them, but patience is important."

This is, of course, all just a theory based on what we know about the lore. Is it ridiculous? Possibly! But I also don't think it's entirely farfetched either.

In Conclusion...

I imagine once we get to Season 9—potentially 10 at the latest for quarantine padding and last-minute changes—maybe we'll start seeing them begin to acknowledge each other in some way, and I'm thinking mostly negatively at first. And I don't think it'll be a lot either. Maybe a snarky location voice line or two. Maybe a little mention in a comic or Twitter lore bit. But only a little.

I definitely do think we can expect to see them getting to the point of interacting in the future, but it'll be a slow ride and slow burn. And hey even if we don't... I'll have this post to keep me warm for the rest of my days playing Apex.

Anyway, that's all I have for you! Thanks for reading if you made it this far, I do appreciate it. I love this pairing a lot, and this was really fun to write! Remember, it's just speculation based on....stuff, haha. You don't have to take it or like it at all, but what else am I to do when I'm starved for interaction of my ship? :]

#Apex Legends #Bangalore #Wraith #Voidstrike #Bangawraith #Apex book spoilers #nix talks apex book lore

43 notes · View notes

aceofshitposts · 3 years

Note

I saw that you like CATS the musical. What are your thoughts on the movie?

AAAAH AHHAHA oh man oh boy y'all should BUCKLE IN cuz it's a ride

my simple thoughts? it's entertaining if only because it butchered the stage show so badly in an attempt to idk modernize it? Well, modernization is one part of it I think. The other part I'll go into below lol. I don't necessarily hate some of the more modern renditions of the songs (mostly the ensemble sets like Jellicle Song for Jellicle Cats) but then others are just... so poorly done it's insulting.

I've said this at the end of this whole rant too but I'm gonna put it up here in case people don't (justifiably) wanna see me go on and on about it:

The movie wasn't made for fans of the musical. It was made to make money and I believe they choose, at least partially, to do that through making it the weirdest and worst possible adaptation they could so that people would want to go see the train wreck. Which, really, worked! It was all people could talk about for a good while so like... Goal achieved, I guess.

A MUCH MORE COMPREHENSIVE ANALYSIS UNDER THE CUT cuz i don't wanna. flood your dash with... this

ALRIGHT SO. Most of my friends know I'm actually a huge fan of new adaptations of things. I love remakes (provided the people making it are coming at it with some form of heart and not just... cash grabbing which is more often the case) I love seeing other peoples interpretations of characters, or changing settings. It's one of the reasons I like American comics so much, getting to see different writers takes is fascinating.

I think musical movies can be wonderful ways to introduce people to a stage show that might have been unavailable to them otherwise! Chicago, for example, is one of the BEST musical to movie adaptations in my opinion. It kept the heart of the show, it's funny and the song numbers are done really well.

There are of course other famous examples, such as Grease or Bye Bye Birdie. Hairspray was also a wonderful take. These are simply off the top of my head, there are of course more.

CATS in particular has a history. If you go through my CATS tag you may see a few posts from @catsnonreplica which posts photos from non broadway productions of CATS! It's a fascinating read and I love, love, love looking at the other interpretations of the characters! CATS is a musical full of fun and wonderful characters if you take the time to see past the ridiculousness haha and the Korean and Japanese runs of CATS especially have some of my favourites.

How does this relate to the movie, I hear you say well. As you might has noticed the movie's interpretations of the characters is........ lackluster at best and downright uncanny valley at best.

CATS is, at its core, a ridiculous thing. I will fully admit that! But it's fun, it's entertaining and if you pay a little attention you can actually get the plot. (Honestly I don't understand when people complain it has no plot but that's a whole other rant for another day)

The movie was... obsessed with this idea of like... semi realism? Like obviously, as a fan, I think they should have leaned into the over the top character designs but instead we got...w ell:

Bombalurina:

Demeter left and Bomba right. Demeter was actually cut! From the movie which is. upsetting lmao.

Macavity is one of the worst offenders for me:

Macavity was... I wish I could know what the hell they were thinking there cuz it's even in his song? Ginger cat??? THAT IS NOT... A GINGER CAT...... but I digress. I would show more examples but I think you get the point.

So. We've butchered the characters appearances. Okay that's fine but what about their personalities?

ALSO BUTCHERED.

There's... there's a lot to unpack here. Just for context: the Jellicle Ball happens once a year and the Jellicle leader chooses a single cat to be reborn into a new life. In the stage play all the cats who are nominated for this honour are on the older side (Jenny-Any-Dots, Bustopher Jones, Skimbleshanks, Gus The Theatre Cat, and eventually Grizzabella) AND are always nominated by another cat. Not themself, unlike the movie where they all seem to nominate themselves.

Jenny-Any-Dots went from a doting grandmother figure who's celebrated for her selfless volunteering and tireless work into a conceited, vain younger cat who is obsessed with fame.

It's an incredibly strange dichotomy. I don't doubt some of it isn't the result of the uh people playing the characters honestly. I do think some of them did the best they could! I don't really blame Jason Derulo, for example, for Tugger. And honestly, Tugger was probably closest to his stage version (while being a trouble maker, he's shown to show Deuteronomy an immense amount of respect)

Speaking of Tugger! This will bring us to one of the biggest grievances with the movie and that is how they handled Mr Mistoffelees.

So... Ugh. So. We have Victoria as the pov character, which imo is like whatever in the grand scheme of things, and then we have Misto who they have decided will be get live interest cuz... Of course. Misto is shown throughout the musical to be awkward, unsure of himself and well. Really, kinda incompetent. Which is Wild cuz in the stage show he might be aloof but he's fairly confident in his powers.

So, Old Deuts gets kidnapped. In the stage show Tugger is the one to bring Misto forward! It's really quite sweet, imo, and I'm showing myself as a Tuggoffelees shipper here, but again Tugger is previously shown to be pretty conceited but then here he is boosting and hyping up Misto to bring Deuteronomy back. My friends and I have lovingly dubbed this the boyfriend hype song.

SOMEHOW. The movie manages to make this, easily, the MOST BORING number in the whole thing. Which, again, WILD. Misto awkwardly stumbles through his whole song, which again is... Boasting of his supreme magical powers which movie Misto clearly. Does not have or believe to have. The song, to me, feels super awkward and unnecessarily drawn out in the movie which sucks cuz it's one of my favourites in the show.

The declawing (heh) of Mr Mistoffelees actually reminds me strongly of how they changed Gaston in the live action Beauty and the Beast movie. He's gone from a beloved figure in the animated movie to someone so disliked in the town that Le Fou has to pay people off to say nice things about him. It's just. Wild character choices were made!!

Skimbleshanks the Railway Cat is probably my favourite in movie non ensemble number. It feels the most... Genuine? Compared to the other nomination songs.

Other problems include but are not limited to:

The inconsistent size scale of the CATS which throws me off constantly.

The weirdly overt sexual overtones added to MANY of the songs (Jenny and Bustopher being the worst)

This is just a personal gripe and opinion but I don't like that they used the UK version of Mungojerrie and Rumpleteazer. The American version is both better known and tbh way more fun. Teazer's giggle? Adds ten years to my life every time.

Victoria's added solo song, Beautiful Ghosts, while I like the song as a song it doesn't fit the style of message of the musical. In the movie she's singing directly to Grizzabella who's being an outcast for years that she should be grateful she even has memories of being part of the tribe?? What?? But I know they had to add an original song to be able to be nominated for awards in like the Grammys n shit (which is why all musical movies will have an original song, fun fact!!) kinda funny they went to the effort though considering........... I don't think anyone could have genuinely believed CATS 2019 was gonna win anything but golden rhaspberries.

Movie Mr Mistoffelees has made repeated appearances as my sleep paralysis demon

The various cut characters, shout outs to Jemima, Demeter and Jellylorum especially

Bombalurina being a henchman to Macavity rubs me the wrong way

God I've written... So much. You probably get it by now haha. Like I said at the beginning, I try to go into any adaptation with an open mind but... Let's be honest, this movie wasn't marketed to people who are fans of the musical.

It was marketed, and made, to make money. And they choose to do that through, I think, intentionally making the worst possible version ever. Bad press is still press and the more outrageous people said the movie was the more people wanted to go see exactly what kind of train wreck it was.

Which is a disservice to the stage show, honestly, and all the people who've worked on it over the years.

But what can we do, right?

And besides all that, I do... Still own the movie version and I do still rewatch it on occasion. It is entertaining even if it's in a train wreck kind of way. I usually end up watching the 1998 version, then 2019 and then various tour runs that are on YouTube. (I highly recommend the 2016 tour, it's very good)

So in conclusion. It's fun (?) to watch. I enjoy picking things apart and doing analysis (if you couldn't tell!) so like... I don't hate it?

It did what it set out to do, I guess, and I can't fault it for that but. It's not a fair metre with which to judge the stage show imo. But I know it's not everyone's cup of tea, haha.

Jazz hands. I'm more than happy to elaborate or just chat about CATS if anyone wants! I grew up listening to the Broadway CD since I was a toddler so it's been! A very long standing obsession haha. Probably the only other thing on par with CATS is my obsession with Jurassic Park which I've also been a fan of since I was 3 (but that's a whole story in and of itself)

#astrix thoughts #cats the musical #Thanks for the opportunity to talk about one of my hyperfixations anon!#And to anyone who reads this whole mess lmao

7 notes · View notes

who-talks-first · 4 years

Text

Okay I'm having trouble finding everyone's posts from Friday. But I just watched chapter 9 and I have some thoughts.

Opening the episode with Din saying he doesn't gamble then ending it with him making a massive gamble was interesting. Although I genuinely don't think he ever does anything he doesn't believe he can do.

The fights in this episode are amazing. Just stunning:

The fight at the arena. The Child ducking when he sees the Birds activate. "I'm not." Really. Din, stop being so goddamn fucking hot, I'm trying to watch the damn show! The whole dangling the gangster part. "You won't die by my hand." (one of the best parts of the character Din Djarin is he is both viciously ruthless and honorable to a fault. I love it!)

The fighting at the end. Both men flying in sync to kill the beast. The Raiders and townsfolk grudgingly working together. But it would have worked better just leaving the loaded bantha in the valley, luring the best out, and detonating it. Fewer civilian deaths but what do I know, I wasn't raised in the fighting corps. And god at the end when Din soars out of the monster's mouth! I that was how the episode would end as soon as I saw the explosives. But still so fucking cool! Is there a name for that trope? I call it the Hercules.

Can we talk for a second about how Din looks in this ep? The strides, the poses and posture. He exudes so much bde that it physically hurts me. Clearly a lot of that is Mandalorian in nature, if those images of Boba Fett from the comics tell us anything (Fett sitting spread in his ship and Din doing it on the wagon at Sorgan have p much the same energy). Just looking fine as hell through the whole thing, even covered in deadly dragon stomach acid.

And can we talk about how much he says this episode? He explains the Tuskens' behavior, translates, plans, barters, smooches doggies, etc. He talks a lot. And I think that's interesting. Din has this reputation as being awkward in social situations and quiet. And like, it's one thing feeling shy around the beautiful widow who's hitting on you. But he says what he means clearly and more or less concisely, including some one-liners and sarcasm. I think he could be described as "laconic" (my character does describe him as such in the thing I'm writing), which means they use as few words as possible to get their point across. Din has no hesitation in speaking, he just prefers to only speak when he has something to say, if that makes sense.

So happy to see Aunt Peli! And Din being like "eh let them work" That's what we call growth.

The casting. I nearly lost my shit when Timothy Olyphant was under the helmet, looking like a whole ass meal. Like that is the most flattering haircut and beard combo I've ever seen on him. Don't @me but he could get it. And poor typecast Leguizamo. Still great tho. He was fun little asshole.

I love when this show doubles down on the western themes:

Vanth's name, accent, role, and general appearance all line up with a small town wild west sheriff. Just showing up and saving the town, so they're like, you're the Lone Ranger now! Olyphant has played western roles before, including voicing The Spirit of the West (an avatar of the legends and ideals of the wild west modeled on Clint Eastwood's western characters) in the animated film Rango (a lot of the Mandalorian's aesthetic comes from Eastwood's movies).

The Mandalorian theme but softly strummed on a Spanish (nylon string) guitar is very evocative of a border town.

The tuskens represent an Indian tribe. The abandoned mining town. The mysterious stranger who comes to town and saves it. Vanth and Din nearly have a quickdraw shootout! The child is hiding in a spittoon for chrissakes!

It really echoes the 7 Samurai theme of chapter 4. I know it's an overlapping, repeating theme in western film. I guess I was surprised to see it again so quickly.

I don't know how I feel about Din speaking Tusken. Signing was one thing. But I just giggled uncomfortably the whole time feeling it was kinda silly (and I had assumed the reason he signed was because humans couldn't speak Tusken). Was that our big hero, heartthrob, and favorite actor Mr. Pascal sitting in the studio making those noises? Rrrhehh rheh rrhehh! I dunno I'm just. Reeling.

Isn't interesting that Din would annihilate the entire populace of Jawas without batting an eye, but he would do almost anything to protect the Sand People? I know there's something to that, about marginalized/eugenicized groups versus like colonialism and whatever vulture like construct you would attribute to the Jawas. But I'm not smart enough to articulate it.

Okay, so the obvious: Boba Fett. Really shocked to see his armor on someone else. I'd already seen the casting of Morrison, so I wasn't like, "is he dead?" and I knew right away this hick didn't take it off him. I wonder if the Jawas stunned him and removed it. Either way, there's going to be hell to pay. I can't wait to see Din and Boba interact; I wonder how they'll respond to each other. And even though Fett should be in his early 40s (I think) he really looks like hell. I mean, I know he's seen some shit. But I wonder what's been up with him in the last decade or so.

Some stuff I thought I noticed, but I need y'all to help me confirm:

Was that Anakin's podracer engine?

Was that C-3PO graffitied on the wall in the dirty city?

Were we supposed to recognize R5?

There's a couple others but I forgot em. I gotta watch it again.

Some questions:

What was the spherical thing the Tusken Raiders recovered from the beast's remains? The scene mirrored the Jawas and the mudhorn's TSUGA! Tsuga tsuga! Tsuuuga! But that didn't look like an egg. If I didn't know better I would swear it was a pearl. (which almost makes sense if you take into account that this guy eats dirt for a living and could have an organ or extra stomach in there like those gross hard balls they used to pull out of ox bellies) Or was it mentioned earlier and I didn't catch it? There was a lot going on.

What are the sand doggies? They're so cute! And that totally establishes our mans as a dog person. Writers, start your fics!

I'm a bit confused about the town's history. How have the people survived for so long with the beast there? Was it the Krayt dragon that wiped it literally off the map? How does the slaving mining guild fit in there?

It really looks in chapter 4 that those krill are native (it's not explicitly stated tho). If no one even knows where Sorgan is and it doesn't have a big export economy, how do these people in the middle of buttfuck nowhere have spotchka?

On that note, how did that city gangster hear about Fett/Vanth? I mean, I dig that he's a collector of beskar'gam, but like, that's still way out there.

The jingling spurs sound in chapter 5 is deliberately obvious when that mysterious figure comes upon Fennec Shand. Can we assume that's Cobb Vanth there? Because clearly, Fett has been without his armor for a while. If it was Vanth, what did he do with her? I don't believe for a second that she's dead. He's not a bounty hunter and he wouldn't have any idea she was valuable since the Guild had abandoned Tatooine. Barter for help/transportation /goods/labor /etc? Also, if it was Vanth, did he witness the whole thing? If so, he knows who Din is. Maybe knows Toro. I dunno. Lots of thoughts. Did he just stumble upon her while traveling back to his village? I forgot the name already lol Mos Pelegrino?

Okay it's nearly 4 am. I genuinely can't remember if I had anything else to say. Please continue to tag your spoilers cuz I will again not get to view the episode until after y'all do next week. But until then, please come yell at me about our favorite show and space boyfriend. I like crazy theories too.

Love y'all. 😘😘😘

#cobb vanth #The mandalorian #The mandalorian spoilers #Mandalorian season 2 spoilers #The mandalorian season 2 spoilers #Mandalorian spoilers #The child #boba fett #Fennec Shand #pedro pascal #timothy olyphant #temuera morrison

74 notes · View notes

mysticgoblinwriter · 3 years

Text

Okay I've been wanting to say this for quite a while now

For Fic Writers, Readers, and Everyone-

Tumblr is bad for your mental health. And not in the "expect bullies-yaddayadda" way.

Oh and - a person disagreeing with you or calling you out for bad behavior (done nicely) is not bullying. So lets just drop that right now.

It sneaks up on you and suddenly you start to care about notes and "famous people" who are the most followed within your fandom

Tumblr is a great place, but only in small doses. Its human nature to want to go with the flow and check what other people think/have been doing. But within doing that you drag yourself deeper into a whirlpool of always wanting to follow this unwritten code of bullshit. Because you don't want to offend anybody, because you don't want to be rude.

You know the rules.-

Reblog/Comment on a fic

Respond to tag games

If you haven't read the latest popular works you're a terrible person

If you don't read your friends fics you're an even worse person

That's all bullshit. If I was writing a book irl every month I would not say to my friends "you must read this or I will not think highly of you anymore"

I do have this to say- cross tagging isn't nice or cool. Its a jerk move. Stop it. That was not said nicely and I am aware of that.

If your friends are true ones, then they know they do not have to reblog your work. If you guilt them into reading it then its not being a real friend. I love my mutuals works! But I don't read them all because tbh I do not read fanfic daily or even weekly. And they understand!!

There's room within this fandom for the readers who read once a week, once a month. Once a year even.

There should never be any guilt about not reading the latest fic, or not wanting to read your fave's work or anything pertaining to the matter.

There's also the tumblr effect which shortens your attention span to about 10 seconds. Are you wondering why you can't watch TV or read a real book anymore? Because you have adapted to the tumblr span and your brain cannot/will not allow you to concentrate because you've been spending all your time getting new exciting info every 10 seconds.

Then there's the authors guilt on which I am directly calling you out on. A lot of authors now want instant response to their published fics and they guilt people into reading them and commenting.

Just maybe they don't want to read your latest fic. Which is FINE. Yes it hurts because you put effort and emotions into it. Also I'm not blaming you fully, its the habitat of this place to expect instant snappy results. Which does not work.

Social Media Habits Do Not Work In Real Life.

Authors in this fandom 'Marvel' have gotten pushy. And its gotten ridiculous. We as authors owe nothing to anybody, and readers also owe us nothing, not even likes. But I think its time to stop making this place harsh for the average reader. That does not mean bend to rude anons wills and the mean readers.

Likes count. Y'all don't want to hear that because you don't want to hear opinions different than yours. Fine. Its your dash and curate it how you want.

But likes are good because it shows me a person read my work, and took an action to show me they did. Reblogs/comments are great.

But guilting people into giving them is not. That's not cool.

There's a serious problem of equating reblogs with self worth on this site and I get that. But finding self worth in others is not the way to go. I get it. I love getting notifs and whatnot. But,,,, its not where its at folks.

When is the last time you wrote for yourself? The last time you didn't have any pressure writing a fic? I see so many authors stressed out about something that should be fun. We've done wrote the fun out writing. This mindset is bad both for the author and the reader.

The emotion that goes into fics is real. I am not discrediting that at all.

Just admit you want validation and attention and work from there. but its never going to be enough. You got 500 followers. Then you want 1,000. Then 2,000. It'll never stop unless you stop it.

I am seriously worried for y'all. So much stress and everyone is treating fic writing like a second job.

Ending notes- My fucks have flown away, look, there's a flock of them flying away as we speak. This isn't to attack anybody or be mean, its just to bring to attention some serious things.

(Incase anybody was thinking this- I do not think myself higher than you just bc I have lost my give a shit. There's days where i get frazzled and expect instant results too. I'm working on that and will always be.)

tl;dr- i dont even know

#marvel #mcu #marvel opinions #hot take #mcu opinion #opinion #fandom #marvel fandom #fandom problems #marvel authors #some ppl need to chill #marvel hot takes #yeah I want people to see this #tumblr #writers #writing #fanfic #fanfiction #marvel writing

9 notes · View notes

sugarandspice-games · 3 years

Text

Okay, so I finally got through Saeran's good ending, I might go back and play the normal and other bad endings later if I feel like it, but as that was an emotional rollercoaster, I need some time to recover. But I'm going to put my full review under the cut.

Will I be releasing my rewrite outline at this point (though not really a rewrite, since I made it before the AE was ever released when I was drunk and salty at the lack of news)? I'm not sure. I wasn't 100% satisfied, but we'll call it a good 65% as I feel like there was more I liked than I hated. I'll leave that decision up to my dear readers, whether or not they want to see it. (Though there are only like... 8 of you here and I know you're probably here for Obey Me content and not MysMess)

I do plan on playing the Jumin Bad End DLC, but I may not liveblog it as I haven't really heard good things. This seems like another ploy for fanservice, but I do want to get more lore about Jumin's backstory, and honestly... I'm gay and want to see those sexy CGs. That being said... this is the last I will discuss the canon material on this blog, and it may be the last time I engage with the canon material (as I believe cheritz has announced that this is the finale anyway, and will no longer update the game). I will most likely continue to create fan content for it, as Sugar and I have our own sort of... fanfic thing going on with the characters and our OCs. But this is a personal and huge special interest of mine, and rather than go through everything and pick it apart for the rest of my days... I want to leave the game and the characters I love so much with only my happiest memories. They'll live on in my heart.

But I digress... here is my semi-condensed review. Sugar may talk about it as well, though I do not speak for them. THIS SHOULDN'T NEED TO BE SAID BUT HERE THERE BE SPOILERS. DO NOT READ IF YOU DID NOT COMPLETE THE GOOD END OF RAY'S AE.

The Good:

Saeran. Saeran was the best thing about this route. His character development was beautiful, and every time I saw him, I felt my heart swell with pride and love. His new sprites are so adorable as well as his beautiful CGs, and he looks healthier and happier in a lot of them. He's grown to be such a loving, gorgeous, wonderful man despite everything that happened in his painful life, and his story is nothing short of inspirational. I have a lot of love for Saeran, I have from the moment I saw him but this route really drove it home for me. He will have a special place in my heart among my fictional loves that can never be replaced.

Jumin Jumin Jumin! Jumin was one of the absolute MVPs this route, he was doing the most and boy... I just want to hug him. Even though he was in horrendous pain he was doing the absolute best he could to help everyone. He's been a love of mine for a long time, and that love only grew in this route. I was also glad to meet Driver Kim and see the interaction between him and Daddy Han Sr. (Because obviously Juju is the junior Daddy Han lol)-- even though I have mixed feelings about the Chairman, it makes me happy to see Jumin getting the caring he deserves from his father. And the fact that he even turned his back to let Jumin express his emotions without feeling embarrassed... Fucking killed me.

They did Rika right this go around. Yes, she got off to a really rough start, but she was very human and bearable here... and complete with her realizing her wrongdoings and working to right them in the end. It was a gorgeous arc, I'm so happy for her. I have a love hate relationship with her character, as she used to be a very badly written villain IMO... but one of the good things about Another Story in general is that it gave her depth that she didn't have before. And if they wanted to redeem her, they 100% did it right here, even if she had a rough beginning and had to make mistakes to get to where she was. I thought it was very human. Good on you, cheritz.

Vanderwood got a lot of good interactions here, and I'm really happy they gave us more Van content. Even if we're not getting a route for him, it's enough to me to finally see him expressing the affection we all know that he holds for Saeyoung, and working to help him.

The twins finally get to be happy! Need I say more?

Everyone doing well in their lives made me really happy too... most of the other routes had this problem where if one person got to be happy, someone else would have to suffer in exchange. I'm so glad that everyone got a happy ending.

The new chats made me extra emotional... I'm not sure why, to be honest, I think I'm just happy to see everyone again. It had been such a long time since I played Mystic Messenger, and talking to everyone again just like old times felt like returning to a childhood home (though I was 19 when I discovered this game initially, haha). I cried a lot, which is extra weird for me since I don't tend to cry in general.

Yoosung loves Saeran soooo much... in fact, everyone does. It made me happy, bc I was initially worried that he wouldn't have made friends with the RFA or that it would be awkward, but seeing everyone loving him and him being sweet back to them was adorable. Jumin also loves him and you can't change my mind (though maybe that's my wishful thinking of being in a Jumin & Saeran sandwich talking...)

So many good messages in this AE, and they hit very personally. I came to the same realization last year, that in the end, nothing in life matters except love, since you can't take anything else with you when you die. I shan't elaborate more!

Everyone's voice acting was so good! It was so beautiful and emotional, I could feel it through their voices. I usually skip the voice lines since I read so fast, but I'm happy I didn't.

The Bad:

Oh Jihyun... what have they done to you? I know I said he wasn't OOC and I stand by that, but it really feels like the writers hated him this AE. Even his sprite looked so awful and blurry. And he didn't get any good realization that he deserved better or anything, the literal cult leader and prime fucking minister got to be redeemed when he didn't. What the actual fuck. Sugar will definitely have more to say about it, and probably in a more articulate way, but let it be known that I don't like it either.

Furthermore, even if it's not OOC, it's structurally sloppy for him to come to some realization only to stay the exact same as he's always been. And same with Rika too. As I said in a previous post, having them both go through these realizations only to make them the villains again really felt like beating a dead horse. What can I say except AAAAAAAAA. WHAT THE FUCK?

Again, I must reiterate... why'd they make it so you have to be a bitch to Rika to get the good ending? I get that it's probably wish fulfillment for some people in the fandom, but it isn't for me. I really don't have any desire to berate or insult her bc in the end she needs serious help (even if I wanted to throw hands with her sometimes), and if the point was to call her on her misbehavior... some of it went too far (looking @ the "Don't stab Saeran's eyes out!" choice. I didn't like that at all, especially since it felt like you were making fun of Jihyun's trauma.) It especially made the end of her arc fall flat when she's like "Thank you for being kind and trying to understand me..." like, gurl... the game didn't let me do that without making me bad end! Jeez.

Also, literally why was it necessary to redeem the prime minister? He's a monster who tried to murder his own children. It's okay if they needed that scene where Saeran and you tried to understand him, but having him actually come around made no sense... why would he want to listen to you or Saeran when we've seen time and time again that there isn't really any good in him? He's just not a good person. And no, I'm not saying this because I wanted him to die or anything! ...Okay, maybe I did. Fuck that guy. I hate him. (Also the whole "you're only this way because you're lonely!" was so corny, I didn't choose those options but gjkgkgkfk)

The Ugly:

Have y'all heard about how much I hate the agency Boss? I hate him so much... I want to drown him in the toilet. I want to feed him taco bell laced with laxatives. I want to-- anyway, I digress. Not classifying this under bad because cheritz did their job by making him hateable and oh boy, did I hate him. He made me want to barf. I also commend his voice actor for somehow making me feel greasy through the screen. Seriously, dude, hats off to you. You are a genius.

That's about all I have to say for now... you can peruse my talk tag if you want to see any of my other thoughts on this game, but they don't tie into the good and bad. Despite the flaws, I enjoyed myself this route and I'm happy I played it. Even though there will always be things to improve upon in this game... I'm happy I picked it up, and I'm happy I met everyone. I would write them all letters or something but that'd be kinda corny since they're just game characters and won't see it anyway, and I know I'm not the only nor am I the most attractive MC out there... so this is Spice, signing out! Byebye, Mystic Messenger. You'll always have a special place in my heart.

All of the... weird horniness between Rika and Saeran made me feel grossed out. Her having him in a collar with a leash, and the game options that insinuate she has a thing for him... ew ew ew. Please stop it. That shit is so disgusting and I'm going to puke.

@ Both Saeyoung and Saeran: stop fucking trying to die all the time! Seriously! Let me love you and want to save you, when will you get it through your thick skulls that one gay ass MC who loves you very very dearly would NEVER be happy if you died? AAAAAAAA

#ray ae spoilers #mysmess #mystic messenger #ray after ending #spice talks #mysme salt

16 notes · View notes

kmomof4 · 4 years

Text

The Moon... Tells the Sea

Oh y'all!!! I can’t tell you how excited I am to finally share this fic inspired by @allons-y-to-hogwarts-713 were-mermaid aesthetic for the @cssns!!!! When she showed me what she was working on back in February, an entire outline of a story just spilled out of me. And with her blessing and tremendous excitement, I wrote it! I truly hope you enjoy it! Please make sure and give Kayla lots of love!!!

Muchos love and thanks to @searchingwardrobes for her outstanding beta services. I am truly embarrassed at how all over the place my tenses were before she got ahold of them 🤦🏻‍♀️. Also to @hollyethecurious for her help in brainstorming early on, and last but not least to Kayla herself for making this GORGEOUS and PERFECT aesthetic that inspired the entire fic!!!!

Fic Summary: Nearly a century has passed since she became what she is when a new figure enters her lonely world. Who is he? And more importantly, WHAT is he?

Rating: M (Violence and smut)

Words: Nearly 7100

Tags: Werewolves, Mermaids, Kidnapping, Smut

Find it on ao3 here

Tag list: @hollyethecurious @winterbaby89 @snowbellewells @stahlop @resident-of-storybrooke @jennjenn615 @kingofmyheart14 @profdanglaisstuff @branlovestowrite @thisonesatellite @ultraluckycatnd @flslp87 @whimsicallyenchantedrose @let-it-raines @shireness-says @kymbersmith-90 @darkcolinodonorgasm @bethacaciakay @searchingwardrobes @ilovemesomekillianjones @teamhook @aprilqueen84 @qualitycoffeethings @superchocovian @artistic-writer @donteattheappleshook @doodlelolly0910 @seriouslyhooked @tiganasummertree @lfh1226-linda @nikkiemms @xsajx @klynn-stormz

Please let me know if you’d like to be added or removed.

Under the cut unless Tumblr ate it.

He appeared for the first time just after the full moon. The pale moonlight shone down on his face, turning the dark hair on his head to almost a silver. He was tall and lean, and the scruff on his face lined a perfectly sharp jawline. The melancholy on his countenance was achingly familiar and somehow soothed the restlessness and agitation in her soul. She felt a drawing to him that she couldn’t explain, a kinship, a connection. He walked back and forth along the beach of the lagoon where she made her home, sometimes keeping his eyes on the white sand beneath his bare feet, other times gazing out at the water. She hoped that he saw her beneath the gentle waves, a flash of gold from her hair or the moonlight reflecting off the sea green scales on her tail. Alas, after several circuits on her beach, he turned back into the woods in the direction of the village that she once, long ago, called home.

It was nigh on a century ago when Emma walked this beach and splashed in this lagoon as a sixteen year old girl. There wasn’t much time allowed for leisure in her life, but she and some of the other girls were able to come down to the beach on occasion for a modicum of recreation. They would remove their shoes and wiggle their toes in the sand and splash in the surf which would inevitably devolve into a water fight, competing to see who could get who the wettest before they inevitably had to return to the tavern of their employ.

It was on one of these excursions that the most lovely music reached her ears. Music from across the water. When she walked further out into the lagoon seeking the source of the tune, she was suddenly pulled under. Her companions stared in shock, too far from her to even attempt a rescue. The water closed over her head, turning her screams into a gurgle, as she reached out for anything that would keep her from being carried away. Once underwater, she became aware of what exactly had pulled her under. The orange arm of an octopus was all she could see wrapped around her ankles and working its way up her body, pulling her away from everything that she had ever known, further and further away from the sunlight on the surface of the lagoon and closer and closer to the dropoff marking the boundary and the open ocean beyond. The sense of flying under the water intensified as the melody continued on, and even became louder the deeper she went. It was working its way into her heart and mind, telling her to not resist, that she was safe, that she would live forever. The assurances did nothing to assuage her fear and anger, even as a creeping lethargy enveloped her limbs, halting her struggles against the iron grip of the tentacle. Finally arriving at the bottom of the ocean, the tentacle released her to join its brothers as part of the most horrifying sight she had ever beheld. A green skinned man from the waist up, while below, a multitude of orange tentacles waved lazily in the deep water currents.

Neal had taken advantage of her passivity, brought about by the melody that apparently he had sent to lure her into deep enough water that he could take her and make her his own. Upon her arrival in his underwater home, he immediately gave her fins instead of legs. He spoke words of love and tenderness to her, thinking to woo her to his side, but when he was unsuccessful after several weeks, his supposed love descended into a violent possessiveness, making her his by force. It was at this time that the full moon rose high in the sky and even though its light didn’t reach the depths, she still nearly drowned in her wolf form. If she hadn’t been fighting for her life, Neal’s surprise would have been comical. His surveillance had obviously been incomplete as he had no idea that he had kidnapped a werewolf. His magic placed her back on land where she’d be safe from drowning, but he warned her when the sun rose and she reverted back to human form, that she belonged to him and that his eyes would always be watching her when she was on land. He would not hesitate to kill anyone that tried to take what was his, including her, should she try to escape from him. Resigned to her fate, she endured the transformation each month and returned to the lagoon from whence Neal had taken her when the cycle came to an end. At least he allowed her that, only summoning her to his side when he wanted to remind her who she belonged to, which was, thankfully, relatively seldom all these years later.

She shuddered as the memories washed over her. Pushing them back down where they belonged, she looked back in the direction that the man had gone. She could only hope that he might come back.

The next night, he did come back. And the night after that, and the night after that. Every night, about an hour after sunset, he arrived at her beach. Some nights he would simply walk. Back and forth. Back and forth. She wished that she could speak to him, bring him some comfort in his distress. Other nights, he would sit on her beach and stare out at the sea for hours, tears tracking down his cheeks. It was those nights that the desire to reveal herself to him nearly overwhelmed her. But then she remembered Neal’s threats. She would not put this man in danger.

The next night was the first night of the full moon. She swam to the shallows as the sun set and she could feel the first stirrings of her change coming upon her. It was one thing to endure the pain of the transformation as a human, but as a mermaid, it was so much worse. She first had to face the agony of becoming human before she became the wolf.

Once the transformation was complete, her wolf still trembling with the aftereffects of the torment that had lately seized her, she ran for the shelter of the woods, desperate to hide herself among the foliage before he came for his evening constitutional. Tonight, being on the land instead of the sea and possessing the enhanced acuity of a wolf, she became aware of his presence before he was even beyond the borders of the town, about a mile away.

His steps were a bit slower this evening, and she was able to perceive details of his appearance that had been hidden in the previous weeks. The scruff that lined his jaw was tinged with ginger and his eyes were the blue of the lagoon that she now called home. He was dressed in the garb of a laborer and his hands were filthy. She wondered if he worked in the blacksmith shop.

He made the cover of the trees and her nose twitched with the scent she perceived on the night air coming off of him in waves. It couldn’t be. He turned from the path and disappeared from her sight. She was still over half a mile away from him. She ran to him, desperate to see if what she could smell was correct. Jumping over the detritus and long fallen, rotting trees that lay along the unseen paths used by the inhabitants of the forest, she raced toward her goal, her salvation. Arriving at her target, she came to a sudden stop. There, nestled in the bracken of the forest floor, was a wolf. A wolf dark as midnight under a new moon. His transformation was complete, but he had not yet recovered enough to make any sort of move against her.

She trod gingerly over to him. A low growl, full of menace reached her from deep in his chest. He may not be quite recuperated from the transformation, but he was far from defenseless, if the strength of that growl was anything to go by. He lifted his head and stared into her eyes. Electric blue met verdant green in a dance as old as time. He rose from his forest bed and nosed along her muzzle. She held as still as she could while he nosed along the length of her, pausing below her tail to scent her. His tongue flicked out and the vibrating tension that had held her still since their eyes met broke. Emma spun away from him and mouthed gently at his muzzle before taking off through the woods. She didn’t need her heightened hearing to know that he was following her lead. The blood sang in her veins as she unleashed a howl at the full moon up above. He joined her in a chilling duet that carried both to the village and to the lagoon. She made to jump over a huge decaying log across their path when her back leg was caught in the rotting bark. A surprised and pain-filled whine was torn from her as she landed on top of the log. Mere seconds passed before the other wolf was by her side and ripping at the disintegrating log. Finally free, she jumped off the log, landing gingerly on the injured leg. The pain speared through her with each step she took, so she walked with a slight limp. He was by her side in an instant, bumping into her, supporting her as she tried to walk off the pain.

It took a few minutes, but the supernatural healing did its work and she resumed the chase through the woods until they burst through the foliage onto her beach. Suddenly mindful that Neal would have a much easier time seeing her and her companion when they were this exposed, she ran back for the cover of the forest. She came to a stop and turned back towards him, just as he burst through and tackled her. They rolled a few times until Emma laid on her back. The black wolf hovered over her before he lowered his face to hers and stretched himself out, half on top of her, half along her side. A wolfish sigh left her as she tentatively licked his muzzle. The crystal blue eyes half shut in pleasure and a pleased low growl left him.

She was still coming to terms with the fact that this man she had watched all month was also a werewolf like her, but as she snuggled closer into his solid bulk and her eyes fell shut, she knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that she had found her true mate. Now she just needed to figure out how to get away from Neal.

~*~*~

The sun was just breaking over the horizon when Emma woke, back in her human form. She was naked and the huge black wolf stretched out next to her was keeping her warm in the chill of the dawn. She looked around and found that they collapsed under a small copse of trees that the morning light was just barely able to penetrate. She wet her lips as her attention was drawn back to the creature next to her. She couldn’t help but reach out to touch his fur to see if it was as soft as it looked.

She buried her hand in the scruff of his neck, eyes rolling in the back of her head as the softness enveloped her. She came back to herself and studied him again. In the light of the morning, she could see that his fur wasn’t as dark as she thought last night. There was some white mixed in on his head, making it more of a dark grey rather than solid black. His underside was also more grey than black. He stretched beside her and she snatched her hand away, not wanting to wake him. With his back legs stretched out, she could clearly see that he was taller than she was.

She looked around, trying to find a place to hide from him. He’d be awake soon and she didn’t want him to see her like this. Not for a first meeting, anyway. His eyes were starting to open, the deep blue shining through his still half closed eyelids. She stood and suppressed a shiver brought on by the sudden loss of his body heat, and moved to hide herself behind a tall tree just at the edge of their sanctuary.

She hunkered down, trying to conserve her own body heat when she heard him stand in the loam where they made their bed. Peeking out from behind her tree, she was captivated by the full effect of the vivid blue eyes as they met hers. She couldn’t look away as a full body shudder ripped through him and he crouched there without moving as his own transformation overtook him. Once it was complete, he stood before her, in all his glory. He was beautiful. Tall and lean, with a dusting of chest hair leading down to where his hands covered himself. He obviously felt the same way she did about their initial meeting. His arms and legs were strong, perfectly toned muscles that she’d love to feel under her fingers. She knew that he saw her, his blush and heavy swallow testimony to that. Her eyes widened and fell away from him as she felt her own blush spreading over her cheeks.

He moved a few feet away and hid himself behind another tree. Moments later his voice reached her.

“Are you alright, lass? No worse for wear from our romp last night?”

His accent seemed to wrap around her and draw her to him. She peeked around her hiding place once again to answer him.

“Oh, my leg?” She moved it just to make sure. “Yes, it’s fine. Thank you.”

“I’m glad to hear it.” Silence reigned for a long moment. “I’m Killian. Killian Jones.”

“I’m Emma,” she replied.

“How have I never seen you in the village, Emma?”

“I’m not from the village. Not now, anyway.”

“What do you mean, lass?”

“I’m originally from the village, but I haven’t been there in many years.”

“I see.” He obviously did not see. She knew for a fact that he hadn’t been aware of her presence in the lagoon all month, and without that essential piece of the puzzle, there was no way that he could understand exactly what she meant. “Do you need anything? Since you’re hiding yourself from me, I can only assume that you’re also nude. Do you have clothes to put on?”

She blushed even harder at his perceptiveness. “Uh, no. I don’t.”

“May I bring you some from the village? My clothes are where I left them last night and I have some time before I’m expected in the blacksmith’s shop.”

“That would be lovely,” she breathed, utterly flabbergasted that he’d want to help her in this way. “Thank you.”

“No problem at all, Emma. I’ll return shortly.”

It was only about thirty minutes before he returned to her hiding place, bearing a white shift in his arms.

“I’m sorry I couldn’t bring you anything more substantial, but I didn’t have much money with me.” He reached behind her tree, where she was still hidden, and held it out to her. She took it and let the soft cotton slide through her fingers. She hadn’t felt anything like it in so long, she couldn’t wait to feel it against her skin.

She slipped it on and came out from behind her tree. She swallowed heavily before looking up at him from beneath her lashes, feeling very exposed and bashful now that she was face to face with him. He reached up and drew his knuckles down her cheek as he looked into her eyes. He smiled gently at her.

“It’s very nice to meet you face to face, Emma.”

“You too, Killian.” She couldn’t help but smile back at him.

“Will I see you tonight? The blacksmith doesn’t close down until the sun sets, and I’d assume that since you were already a wolf before I was last night and were human again before I was this morning, that you’ll be in your wolf form before I return to the woods tonight?”

She nodded. “Yes, I turn with the sunset and rise.”

“I can control my turning,” he shared with her.

“So that’s why you didn’t turn until you were in the woods, and were still a wolf when I woke?”

“Aye,” he acknowledged. “So will I see you again tonight?”

“Yes,” she answered, looking back up into his incredibly blue eyes.

He looked back over his shoulder in the direction of the town. “I have to get to work. Until tonight, Emma.” He turned back toward her and placed a tender kiss on her cheek.

Her hand raised to where the place he had kissed her still tingled as he walked away. “Until tonight, Killian,” she murmured.

~*~*~

Emma was never far from his thoughts the entire day. It’s a wonder he didn’t lose a hand, given the work he was doing and the level of distraction he was dealing with.

He may have only just met her, but the connection he felt with her last night and then this morning could not be denied.

A connection that made the wolf inside of him howl with delight and filled him with a joy that he hadn’t felt in ages. Not since long before he’d wandered into this small village about a month before.

Killian had been traveling from kingdom to kingdom, village to village after losing his brother almost three years before when he was only 15. He and his brother had been raised on the ship where their father had taken work after their mother had died when Killian was only a toddler. Today, he couldn’t imagine how hard it had to have been for his father to lose his wife and having to take work anywhere he could find it while raising two boys on his own. Two boys that were destined to become wolves when puberty hit. By the time his own time came, their father had passed and Liam was the one to help Killian through the transition and teach him how to control his shift.

It was the following year when Liam had been lost at sea during a storm and Killian had gone ashore. Life on the sea was in his blood, but with the painful memories that came with it, he decided to forge his own path on land.

Since then he’d drifted. Never staying in one place for more than a few months. Never long enough to form a connection with anyone, never long enough to put down roots. But meeting Emma last night changed everything.

She was the most beautiful wolf he’d ever laid eyes on. Fur as white as the freshly fallen snow. Green eyes that glittered under the full moon. He remembered the scent that had flooded him as he still lay recovering from his shift. The scent of were. He knew when he finally gazed upon her that she was not just a wolf. She was also a werewolf like him. He knew as they ran through the forest under the light of the moon that she was his and he was hers. His true mate.

Beholding her beauty in the flesh this morning, it was no wonder that even now, thoughts of her had his blood running south. Blonde hair that looked kissed by the sun, green eyes that had so captivated him the night before, firm muscles still supple with youth. She looked to be about a year younger than he was, or no more than two. She had said that she was from this village originally, but hadn’t been there in many years. How many years? Where had she been in the meantime? And why didn’t she have any clothes? The mysteries surrounding this woman swirled around in his brain until the sun finally set and he was free to leave.

Reaching the edge of the village, he looked up to the tree line. There she was. Mostly concealed, but the large pupils flashed under the light of the full moon allowing him to see her. He quickened his pace until he joined her under the canopy of the forest.

“Emma?” he asked. He knew it was her, but he just wanted that little bit more. Confirmation that she was what he thought she was. Her expression softened before she turned her back to him and moved forward. A grin broke out on his face as he followed her deeper into the woods.

She led him back to the same copse of trees that they slept in the night before. She turned in a circle a couple of times before curling up on the ground. Even with the white of her fur, he could barely see her in their safe haven. The light of the moon didn’t reach this deep into the forest, much less through the intertwined boughs of their shelter. It was more that he heard her settling and the pants of her breathing that told him where she was.

He settled down next to her and reached out to try and touch her. His hand found the deep, thick fur of her scruff. Never had he felt anything so soft. He moved his hand until it reached her ears and he could feel her raise her head, seeking more attention in that spot. He chuckled and proceeded to scratch at the sensitive area. After a few moments of the activity, Emma giving a contented low whine as he continued his ministrations, she stood from her spot, moved in front of him, and jumped up on him, placing her paws on his shoulders, pushing him backward into the earth. A laugh broke out of him as he lay still and waited to see what she would do next. This close, he could finally get a good look at her face. Her green eyes sparkled in the low light as she brought her muzzle close to his face and nuzzled into his cheek before she surprised him with a slow lick. He grabbed her scruff and nuzzled his own face into the softness that he found there. Pulling away from him, she turned around right above his head before she laid down again, scooching as close to his head as she could. When he raised up, trying to catch her eyes, she slid herself underneath his head, so that when he lay his head back down, it was the softness of her fur and underbelly that met him rather than the hard ground.

“Is this comfortable for you, Emma?” he murmured. His position allowed her to reach his face with another lick. She continued licking, as if she tasted something good along his skin. Laughing, he finally pushed her away when he’d had enough of her affection. “I’ll take that as a yes.”

Laying there in their own safe place, he gazed up through the branches trying to see the night sky above. There was one area off to his left that was completely unobscured both by their little den and by the forest at large. He looked that way, seeing just a sliver of the full moon. He was pretty sure that he had time to tell her about himself before the whole of the full moon flooded their hideaway. Once it did, he wanted to turn and run with his mate.

He told Emma of his earliest memories aboard the ship and how he didn’t remember his mother at all. He told her about his father and brother, how they taught him about his wolf nature, and how he lost both of them. By the time he got to the current time, the full moon lit up their retreat. He raised himself up and looked at the beautiful wolf beside him.

“Are you ready to run, darling?”

She lifted her muzzle to the sky and let out a ringing howl. He raised his own face to the moon and joined her in her wolf song as he gave his shift full rein over his body. Short minutes later, his wolf senses much more attuned to the exquisite creature by his side, he tore through the underbrush of their oasis into the forest, Emma right on his heels.

They ran like the wind, indulging in their delight at being together. The scent of a rabbit crossed their trail causing them to run back toward the village that was Killian’s temporary home. Catching up to the terrified creature, they made short work of their meal before engaging in a game of tag that ended when Killian was so caught up in the presence of her that he lost track of where he was and instead of jumping to sidestep the edge of the ravine they were running along, lost his footing and fell to the bottom of it. Landing on his feet, he looked up at where Emma stood watching him, tongue lolling, her green eyes filled with mirth. Running back up the side of the ravine to her, he pounced, his front legs laying across her shoulders and neck, mouthing gently at her snout in a sign of affection. Her head turned toward his as she accepted his overtures before he got off her and she turned back toward their secret hideaway.

Once they arrived safely, they snuggled together and slept.

~*~*~

Emma was awakened by a hand rubbing up and down her naked back. She was snuggled into Killians side, head on his shoulder and the rest of her body flush with his side. She buried her face into his neck and let out a distressed moan.

“What is it, Emma?” he asked, gently, never halting his light touch.

“I should have awakened and hidden before you woke up. Like I did yesterday.”

Killian chuckled. “Why? I don’t know about you, but as far as I’m concerned, I’m yours. All of me.” He took her hand in his other one and brought it up to his lips where he kissed each finger tip before looking deeply into her eyes. “I’ve never met a female werewolf, darling. How could I possibly be with anyone else?”

“But you don’t know anything about me,” she protested. “You only met me yesterday! At least I had the benefit of hearing your story last night and watching you all month when you walked along the beach. I knew that there was just something about you. When I watched you walk along the beach or sit and stare out at the water, I wanted nothing more than to reveal myself to you. Comfort you. Be with you.” The last part was a whisper as she looked away from his piercing gaze, only to be met with his naked body.

“So tell me,” he encouraged her. “When I felt you turn with the sunrise, I allowed myself to turn as well. I thought it might be comforting for you and I to have a few minutes together as humans before I had to go back to the village.”

She looked up into the azure blue of his eyes that she thought she would surely drown in. Seeing nothing but honest sincerity in his gaze, she began her own tale.

“I was born in the village, but abandoned as a baby. I was raised by Granny along with her own granddaughter, Ruby.” Killian’s brow furrowed at the mention of the names. “They were werewolves and owned the Red Wolf tavern. Granny somehow knew that I was were and took me in because of it. Granny taught me everything I needed to know about being a werewolf. How to live as a wolf during the full moon, how to keep my secret the rest of the month. Ruby, the other girls employed at the tavern, and I would come to the beach on occasion for some fun. Just a chance to relax, play, forget our troubles. Just for a little while…” her voice trailed away into a whisper.

Killian had gone very still. “Yes, Emma?” he questioned, “Keep going. I’m listening.”

“I was 16. I had apparently attracted the attention of a merman, Neal. The girls and I were just doing what we always did when I heard the most beautiful music. Music that he sent to lure me to deeper water so that he could take me. When I was far enough away from Ruby and the others, he kidnapped me. Brought me to his underwater home, turned me into a mermaid, and tried to win my affections. When I refused him, he forced me to remain with him. When he realized that I was a werewolf, he allowed me to spend those days and nights on the shore, after making sure that I knew that he wouldn’t hesitate to kill anyone that tried to take me from him. Including myself, if I tried to escape from him.”

Emma could feel Killian’s fury rolling off of him. “I’ll kill him, Emma. I’ll kill the bastard. When was this? How long ago were you kidnapped?”

She buried her face into his neck again, not wanting to see his face when she told him. “It’s been nearly one hundred years.”

Killian grabbed her shoulders and lifted her away from him. It was all she could do to meet his eyes as he scrutinized her. “I knew that it’d have to have been many years, because the Red Wolf tavern and most of the village burned down 70 years ago. By that time, Granny was long gone, and Ruby was killed in the fire. The old timers still talk about it like it was yesterday. But I had no idea how long it had been for you.” He pulled her to him and held her gently as the tears that had gathered in her eyes started to fall.

Once her tears were spent, she looked back up to him. Raising her with him, he sat up, tenderly cupped her face within his hands and lowered his mouth to hers. A soft moan worked its way out of her mouth as she opened beneath the cautious questing of his tongue. He was so gentle and loving that she never wanted this to end. Her arms wrapped around him, her hands plunging into his raven locks as they rocked together. He lay back down with Emma atop him, never releasing her lips as his hands began to roam her naked body. Her nerve endings fired wherever he touched, leaving anticipatory shivers in their wake.

When air became necessary, they broke apart, both panting heavily. “As much as I’d like to continue this, Emma, I’m expected in the village soon.”

“I know,” she murmured into the space between them. She was loathe to let him go, but knew she must.

“We’ll continue this tomorrow morning,” he assured her.

“But I’ll be a mermaid again with the sunrise!”

“Then we’ll wait until next month.” He pushed back on her shoulders until his fierce blue eyes bored into hers. “We will be together, Emma. I swear it. I will always find you.”

“I will always find you,” she whispered back to him. She pressed another kiss to his lips and rose from their makeshift bed. Donning her shift, she turned back to where he was pulling his own clothes on.

“Until tonight, Emma,” he whispered, pressing his lips to hers and running his fingers down her face.

“Until tonight, Killian.”

~*~*~

That night passed in much the same way as the previous night did. Killian arrived shortly after the sun set and joined Emma in their wolf form. They ran together under the full moon, played a game of hide and seek (Emma could only stand playing one round, her white fur making it very difficult to hide from another were), and hunted for their meal before they finally collapsed together in a fluffy pile in their temporary home.

It was about an hour before sunrise when she felt Killian change beside her. Still mostly asleep, she barely remembered him whispering to her that he’d be back in a bit before pressing a kiss into her scruff and leaving the copse. She had gotten so used to having Killian beside her the last two nights that she couldn’t fall back into the sleep that beckoned her. She finally gave up and rose to go look for him.

His scent led her to the beach. Was he walking along the beach waiting for the sunrise as he had been doing all month after darkness fell? She came to a sudden stop at the edge of the forest, just before it met the beach when she heard two voices raised in anger. One beloved, the other a voice that she would have been quite happy to never hear again as long as she lived. In the gray morning before the sun rose, she could see Killian, as a man, standing before Neal, his tentacles undulating on the surface of the lagoon. She could hear Neal’s laughter as Killian’s voice rose in a shout demanding her freedom.

Several things happened at once. Neal’s face morphed from taunting mirth into a sneer as one of his tentacles surged forward and wrapped securely around Killian’s middle, squeezing tightly and dragging him toward the water. Emma could no longer remain hidden. She knew that Neal meant to drown Killian and she couldn’t let that happen to her love. To her mate. She burst from the trees and raced to the shore where Killian was being dragged. He was transforming within Neal’s grasp, perhaps thinking that Neal would lose his grip on a wolf instead of a man.

She could see the fury in Neal’s eyes as she arrived at Killian’s side. His turn halted as his arms reached around her, resulting in a tug of war between herself and Neal. Killian’s arms grasped desperately and she pulled back with all her might, trying to get him away first from Neal and second from the dangerous waves that seemed to nearly be an extension of Neal himself. Perhaps it was only her imagination, but they seemed to be grabbing at Killian as well, trying to drown him within their depths. She was able to get close enough to one of Neal’s arms that she clamped down on it, biting all the way through, a clean amputation in between the adversaries. Neal roared, releasing Killian to fall to the beach, gasping for air. She leapt at her captor, heedless of his other tentacles writhing in agony and the waves where he could easily drown her.

Neal was unprepared for her leap, and though he caught her in his arms, her bulk pushed him beneath the waves as she clamped her teeth down on his throat and ripped it out. His blood painted her muzzle bright red as the water closed over them. His arms loosened from catching her and she watched as the light dimmed and was extinguished from his eyes. Blood continued to pour from the gaping wound into the water that surrounded them. Swimming as best she could for the surface, her head broke through just as the sun peeked over the horizon. Helpless to stop her change from coming over her, she nearly whimpered in relief as strong arms wrapped around her body and carried her to shore. Never had she been held in someone’s arms as she turned. Never had she felt so safe, so protected, so loved as she did at that moment. Killian gently lay her on the white sand of the beach, staring into her eyes so reverently as she recovered from her transformation.

When she came back to herself, cradled in her mate’s arms, staring into eyes the exact same shade of her lagoon, she reached up and pulled him down into a desperate kiss. It was when his hands began caressing her hip that realization dawned. She was human! The sunrise should have brought her mermaid form with it, but with Neal’s death, his curse on her was broken as well. She pulled away and stared down at her body before meeting Killian’s amazed and joyful gaze with her own.

“I’m human.”

“Aye,” he agreed, “That you are, lass.”

Her mouth opened and shut several times before she found her voice again. “I’m not a mermaid anymore.”

“No, you’re not.”

“I’m free,” she breathed, “Neal is dead and I’m free!”

Killian gathered her in his arms and held her close, their heartbeats synchronizing in their elation.

It wasn’t long, however, before they both became aware of Emma’s nude state. Drawing back from her, Killian raised a salacious eyebrow at his beloved. “We need to get you dressed, my love, before my desire overrides my good sense.”

“No one comes to this lagoon, Killian. No one,” she asserted, vehemently. Her green eyes were filled her own desire and her hands were busy opening his shirt and then pushing his trousers over his hips. “Please make love to me, Killian. Make me yours.”

A groan worked its way out of his throat as he acquiesced to her demand and crashed his lips to hers. With nothing but the light of the sun touching her skin, he drew back and drank in her beauty. Her pupils were blown wide in desire, the green only a thin ring around them. Her golden tresses shone in the light of the rising sun. If he was struck blind in that moment, he’d never forget the sight of the sun in her hair as his hands roamed her succulent body, memorizing her contours and all the places he touched that made her gasp, moan, and sigh.

She was not idle as he set about worshipping his love, his mate. Her fingers trailed through his chest hair, sending shivers throughout his body, before following the trail down to where he was hard and aching for her. He thrust his hips into her hands as they began stroking him from root to tip.

He nuzzled into her neck, placing open mouth kisses before sucking hard at her pulse point, drawing heat to the surface of her skin, and causing her to cry out in pleasure. One hand caressed the fullness of her breasts as the other sought out her most intimate place. When he found his treasure, he found her folds drenched in her want of him.

Pulling back from her, he looked into her eyes. “Are you ready for me, my darling?”

“Yes, Killian,” she cried, “Yes, please!”

He lined himself up and slowly pushed into her heat. Twin sighs of relief escaped them both as they were now joined in every way possible. He rolled his hips into her until her gasp told him that he had found that spot inside her. He determined to hit that spot every time until he watched her fall apart. He began measured thrusts into her, seeking the place inside her that would bring her the most pleasure. She wrapped her legs around his waist, drawing him deeper, meeting him thrust for thrust until he was helpless in her embrace. He drove himself into her, staving off the tingling in his spine as he felt her walls begin to flutter along his length. He reached between them and caressed the swollen nub just above where they were joined until she shattered in his arms.

Murmuring praise into her ear as she shuddered with the strength of her climax, he began to chase his own release. Moments later, his climax rolled through him, joining his mate in the ultimate bliss of their union.

The drift back to earth seemed to take forever. He slipped out of her and rolled to the side, not wanting to crush her with his weight. He drew her back into his arms and placed a kiss on the tip of her nose.

“Still with me, Emma?” he murmured.

“Mmmmmmm,” she hummed, still blissed out from their lovemaking.

Killian chuckled and drew her closer until they were flush from shoulders to feet. “So what now?” she asked, “What do I do now?”

“Anything you want, my love,” he replied. “We can go anywhere you like or we can stay here. The blacksmith is getting on in years and doesn’t have children to take over when he is gone. I think that’s why he was so eager to hire me. He seems to be about ready to hand over his hammer. We could make a life here. Raise children here.” He blushed, scratching behind his ear in an adorably nervous gesture. “If you’d rather leave, I do hope that you realize that I’m coming too. I can’t live without you, darling. Please don’t ask me to.”

She closed the distance between them and found his lips with her own. “Of course, I wouldn’t. I can’t live without you, either. Don’t you know that? You saved me.”

“You are the one who did the saving, darling.” The sincerity in his eyes had her pulling him to her again in a kiss that threatened to spin out of control before she broke it.

“I’d be happy to stay here, if you are,” she asserted.

Killian let out a whoop of pure happiness as he hugged her to him. “Then let's go, Emma. We have time to get to the village and get you settled in my lodgings before I have to be at work.”

They rose and made it back to their copse where they dressed quickly and departed for the village. Killian was correct in his speculations about the blacksmith. When they got into town, Killian introduced Emma as his betrothed to his boss, Marco, who was absolutely delighted to hear the news. As soon as they celebrated their nuptials, just before the full moon the very next month, Marco indeed handed the hammer over to Killian in order to adequately provide for his bride and any little ones that God would see fit to grant them.

And so, Killian and Emma Jones built a life in the small village, enjoying their children, and eventually grandchildren in their own happily ever after.

The End

Thanks for reading and sharing!

#cssns20 #krystal writes #the moon... tells the sea #art by allons y to hogwarts 713 #were mermaid aesthetic

71 notes · View notes

just-a-writing-fan · 4 years

Text

Y'all have been so supportive, generally speaking and for my writing and so patient and I love that, thankyou so much. I know I haven't been writing as much as I would like to, and when I have it honestly hasn't met my own standards, I mean I haven't been feeling it. What I have written as of late I felt has been rushed or half assed or genuinely just not too great, in my opinion, and when I've started what I wanted and intended to be series I get a little ways in like barely started and I stop because it isn't working. I have been writing fanfics since highschool so y'know, years, I have some on Wattpad and I've had several tumblrs throughout the years. On Wattpad some of my work has gotten a lot of feedback be it likes or votes over there and comments, but, I haven't written anything there in gracious at least I don't know 8 months? Longer I believe. Here on this Tumblr what I have written has gotten more likes than any other tumblr I've written on in the past.

I don't want to lie, why don't I write more? I'll have to say it's several reasons.

Even though writing is one of my several hobbies and favorite things to do, I don't do it often because I work so much and after work and on days off I'm either too tired or not feeling it

Why "not feeling it"? The best way I can describe it is well I have a lot on my mind, mentally, I don't know, that always seems to happen. Be it writing, or playing games, or reading, or singing, or crafting, or art, I love all those things but I always end up giving up after a while, especially the past several years. It's like I'll start and do it a while then I fall back into feeling depressed. So there is that

Another reason is because like I said, lately I haven't been pleased with my own work.

Then, this one sounds shallow and ungrateful and I am sorry, but, lack of motivation. Like I said my work on this Tumblr has gotten more likes than on any other one I've had and I'm so happy about that but it is hard to keep going, keep writing when noone is commenting or reblogging or anything except hitting like and moving on. I only have 64 followers, it's hard to keep writing when only 5 or 6 of them want to be tagged or give a crap. When even less respond when I try to get feedback like if I ask "hey want to be tagged" "hey anything you want to read?" Etc etc. Then I see all of these other blogs and writers where they have a plethora of followers sending asks, sending requests, reblogging, so on and so forth and the admins are so closed off; in their profile it will say Requests Closed or something similar. I start thinking, what am I doing wrong? It can't be a it takes time thing because I've been trying for years

Lately, I have had a lot on my mind, I won't rant too much into that but I've been dealing with a lot within myself and in my life, be it work or otherwise; lately it's been mostly stemming from work except for like one thing

Final reason is because this is a themed blog, Tom Holland/Arvin Russell/TDATT and I love that theme, thus why I made it, but,there is such limited content. The reason I made a themed account was because my random personal blogs were never successful. Maybe if I could expand just a little and maybe make it multifandom?

So yeah, I'm trying to write and stay on it and I'm trying to get back into my other pleasures as well as I need to start trying to get back to being better myself because I've felt depressed, like a failure,a lot of mixed emotions really, lonely, angry, bitter, anxious, honestly in some moments bipolar. Anxiety I know I have and have been diagnosed, and I can safely self diagnose depression but I'm not going to say I'm bipolar but one minute I can be fine then I can be pissed, yesterday was a rare perfectly nice day at work and I cried out of nowhere all day, if I think I get down, I haven't been able to listen to any kind of music in months without bursting to tears. I'm happy and stable in life and happy in my relationship, that has nothing to do with it; it's been feelings because of people at work and my mom and I've been comparing myself--I'm rambling and ranting, I'm sorry

So yeah, I will do my best, and be back at it when I can.....

Thankyou for the love, support, patience, interest, and time

Also, I know a ton of times I just hit like but I want to reblog so badly, I've just been trying so hard to stick to the theme; and if I enjoy someone's work I at least follow them

Quite honestly, I think I might feel just a smidge better if I got some sexual healing, physical attention like cuddling the way we used to but that won't happen lol (don't take that the wrong way, he truly loves me and has been super sweet and has done nothing but care for me the past five years; believe it or not I was worse before and don't take that wrong because y'know it's life and shit happens and everyone has ups and downs it is never perfect), and if I could stop comparing myself to others and I don't know why I do that. Maybe socializing and having more of a life would help as well but I am "introverted as fuck", his words, so really this is as good as I can do especially when I'm not able to actually go out like most people; being social online has not been easy for me either. I try to be outgoing online and otherwise and sometimes I succeed but after a while those relationships fail for one reason or another; yet some reason I keep trying? I'm at a point where I want to give up thinking/knowing I'll be better off shutting myself off completely from as much of the world as I can and not wanting to quit and hanging onto hope that there may be a way....with a lot of my issues coming from work now, I don't know what good it would do.....

Y'all have seen that I do try because I'm still putting myself out there on the line and talking to yall; I honestly think I am the one that eventually screws up things everytime not knowing how-----no, that's another topic Jess

So yeah

I try to be a people person and I guess I'm not???

So far y'all have been exceedingly wonderful to me, thankyou for that too. I only hope I don't mess up somehow

So yeah, I will work on some things and write when I can (I have made this post so many times on so many blogs but this is as detailed and open as I've been)

#jess rants

6 notes · View notes

mfackenthal · 5 years

Text

The MFackenthal Show with Birthday Girl @lilyofchoices

banner by @whenyourheartskipsabeat

~~~~~

Megs: Hello hello hello! Today is a very very very special day and I am so excited to announce my next guest. Please give an extra special welcome to our birthday girl, Lily!

The crowd stands up and cheers as Lily comes from off stage, waves to the crowd and gives Megs a big hug! When Lily sits down, the audience get quiet.

Megs: Wow! Look at how you command this crowd, Lily. This group loves you! I cannot believe you have only been here since March.

Lily: I know! It feels like it has been so much longer.

Megs: So, how did you come up with your tumblr handle?

Lily: I hate coming up with names and titles. They are the bane of my existence. Just ask any of my friends on tumblr I’m constantly asking them for help or whining at them. Thank the gods I have help. So my tumblr handle is super boring and unoriginal. It is my name (well one of my middle names) and I’m “of the choices fandom” so...of choices. Yeah, you can groan. It’s bad. I know.

Megs: Are you really telling me, MFackenthal, that your handle is unoriginal?

Lily: laughs

Megs: Anyways, tell me, what brought you to the fandom?

Lily: Well, I live for crazy and this site definitely delivers on that. Joking, kinda. In all honesty, I created that tumblr on a whim after I went looking for more fanfic to read. I found @perriewinklenerdie @hopelessromantic1352 and @ahumanmishap and loved their writing. Their writing inspired me to just go for it! I created this blog just to post shit and geek out with myself about the newest chapter releases and share whatever fics I discovered. I never in a million years expected to find so many friends and awesome people.

Megs: But find so many friends you did!

Lily: Yes, I did! They’re all amazing. Well … takes calming breath I’ve had my fair share of disagreements in this fandom and while the haters are hard to deal with and they can get exhausting, they are far, FAR outnumbered by those in this fandom that are here to have fun and be crazy and silly and don’t care if your opinions differ from their own. I live for those types of beautiful people that make this fandom amazing! Plus have you seen the level of talent from the writers and artists in this fandom? I’m constantly in awe of them all.

Megs: The talent amazes me every day! Speaking of talent - what’s your favorite work that you have created?

Lily: Damn girl. You are asking all the tough questions. Why ya gotta do that to me?

Megs: laughs and shrugs her shoulders It’s kinda my job, girl!

Lily: smirks I guess I'd have to say that I love the first chapter of my Merida fic. I wrote it as a distraction, a break if you will, from my real life writing which is dry and boring. We had all just made our way through the Open Heart chapter where Ethan tells mc that Naveen is dying and then Pb won’t let us even hug Ethan. I desperately wanted that so I decided to write it. I’m going on chapter 32 of that fic now. I need help. Oh, but my favorite as far as fandom reactions goes was definitely the chapter where that dirty rat stabs Merida. Y'all lost your minds and it was hilarious.

The audience gasps. “Oh yeah, I remember that chapter.” “Landry is the worst.” Members of the audience whisper.

Megs: I remember that chapter. I feared you’d go the way of @laniquelovewrites and kill Merida!

Lily: winks

Megs: shakes her head Do you have any advice for other writers or artists? Especially those from within the fandom?

Lily: Well, talking to all you not-yet-writers out there - take the ducking leap lovelies! Do it! Don’t worry about language, grammar, flow, tempo, timing, editing, just write it. I rarely edit mine beyond a cursory review. And ya know what? This fandom loves whatever you give us. And I’m at the front of that line waiting to read it. Seriously! Tag me in anything you write!

Also, don’t be concerned about likes and reblogs. My first fic only got like 15 likes when I first released it. It��s hard not to get caught up in wanting likes and reblogs and comments. Hell, I live for them. And ya want to think that a lack of those means no one likes it, but trust me, there are plenty of people enjoying your work that don’t like, comment, or reblog. Try not to focus on the likes but on your fic and know that there are those out there enjoying the hell out of it!

And I’m always willing to review anything and everything. If you want someone to look it over first, I am here for you. But I warn you now, I will encourage you to share it with everyone.

By the end of this little speech, the entire audience is up and clapping. Standing ovation.

Megs: Look at that crowd, Lily. It’s obvious that you speak the truth.

Lily: Whispers to Megs: Don’t worry - I can get them all to sit down. Ask me about the choices books.

Megs: So Lily, have you read all of the choices books?

Lily: I feel like I’m going to have to duck behind this couch as soon as I say what I’m about to say. No, I’ve not played them all. I’ve played most. I tried to play The Freshman, Big Sky Country, Sunkissed, and America’s Most Eligible but I couldn’t. I have replayed countless books. Thomas, Ethan, Sonia, the entire Perfect Match crew, the entire Nightbound crew, and Jake - I’ve played all of their options.

Now Megs, I have only admitted this once and after this we will never speak of it again hangs head in shame I am a sucker for one particularly hated Choices book. Want to take a guess? I've, no joke, replayed this more times than I should admit. No one will follow me after this. I...I, love Home for the Holidays.

Lily gets up and ducks behind couch while many in the crowd sit down.

Lily: This is now my home. I will live back here so no one can see me in my shame.

Megs: walks around the couch to sit with Lily loudly saying: Well, as I enjoyed that book a lot and very much miss Nick, if you live back here then I will have to live back here with you … but this is kinda a crappy place to continue this interview so I’m gonna move back to front of the couch, okay?

Megs walks back around the couch and sits down.

Well, you did get people to sit down, Lily. Gives her audience the stink eyes. Where were we? Oh yes, which book is your favorite?

Lily: stands up behind the couch Well, I’m going to stay behind the couch at this point because I'm not going to say Open Heart and I know I'm going to hear about it. Hero is my favorite book. It was the first I played and I absolutely loved it! The art! The characters! The story! It had it all! If Pb doesn't give me Hero 2 in 2020 I’m not sure what I’ll do now that they’ve teased me. But I’ve also learned that they like to tease me. Lily jumps over the couch in a superhero type move and lands sitting down next to Megs.

Megs: Nice moves! So who is your favorite OTP?

Lily: I will always say Detective Jason Shaw and my mc Ashtyn Stark to this question. I loved the book RoD until the end when our option of which side to help disappeared and we had to help MPC. I was so excited to see a book that allowed you to pick which side to help, Police/Brotherhood, MPC, or both. You should know by now that I love the villains and all I wanted was for my mc to side with Shaw.

Bryce and Harper are another OTP for me. I found a few others out there that ship this but @tallulahshh is a godsend when it comes to this ship. Her fics on these two are so amazing! For reals, you should all check them out. She will convince you that this is the ship to be on.

Megs: Gasps! I should kick you off this couch for loving a Bryce ship over an Ethan ship. YOU WRITE FOR ETHAN!

Lily: What can I say? The heart wants who it wants.

Megs: Yeah, yeah. What do you do when you’re not producing work for the fandom? What else do you do for fun?

Lily: I teach Latin and Formal Logic and I also write (journalism and academic pieces). My fanfics are my break from my dry writings. I know y'all are dying to read about how Latin could revitalize the modern American educational system. I love to cook, read, hike, and spend time with my family. I live in the city now but I'm a country girl at heart. Give me open fields to run through, dense forests to explore, water to kayak on and I'm a happy one.

Megs: That sounds wonderful. Lily, one last question - do you have any questions for me?

Lily: Ah, you should not give me this power. What non-LI would you make a LI if you could and why? I must know, please tell me!

Megs: Oh, that’s easy - Bastien! The drama is already built in because of his part in the Tariq plot and damn @stopforamoment, @bobasheebaby, and @lolablackwrites have made that man irresistible.

A second and more strange one is actually Emerald Phan from High School Story: A Class Act Chapter 2. She’s technically an adult when I’m (MC) technically a high schooler … but I would date this gal. She’s gorgeous!

Before you leave, Lily, I need to ask one last thing of you. Please close your eyes.

Lily closes her eyes

@msjpuddleduck, @anxious-arliah, @meindraws, @keepcreative, @brightpinkpeppercorn, @tallulahshh, @twin-skltns all come on stage, pushing a large cart with a beautiful cake that says “Happy Birthday Lily!” They all start singing Happy Birthday. The entire audience joins in.

As soon as people start singing, Lily opens her eyes and smiles really big.

Lily: Oh my gosh, you guys, I love it!

Megs: Happy Birthday, Lily! We’re all sooooo glad that you’re here. Blow out your candles, beautiful!

Lily: Takes a deep breath and blows out the candles in one puff.

The audience cheers!

Megs: It’s cake for everyone!

Those on stages start cutting and plating the cake. Others start handing a slice to everyone in the audience.

Megs: And that’s today’s show everyone! Thanks for coming! Join me next time when @hopelessromantic1532 will be the guest star. Have a GREAT week and please, join me in wishing @lilyofchoices a wonderful birthday!

~~~~~

I’m guessing @lilyofchoices will get this when she wakes up - but it should be officially her birthday right now!

And now for the tags. If you want to be added to the tag list for these or removed, please let me know!

@hopefulmoonobject @queen-among-writers, @hopelessromantic1352, @lilyofchoices, @msjpuddleduck, @theroyalweisme, @lady-kato

#The MFackenthal Show #Guest Start lilyofchoices #Happy Birthday Lily!#Happy Birthday Lilyofchoices!#Episode 11 #Behind the couch is a safe space #I miss Nick from Home for the Holidays

32 notes · View notes

dear-vista · 5 years

Text

her shadow [t.h.]

[ prince!tom x reader ]

summary: when the princess of france is arraigned to marry the prince of england to help the financial front, zendaya and her sister come to stay at the castle. you make an odd first impression with the royal family, causing the prince to take a certain interest in you. with a heart of gold, you put up with being in your sister’s shadow. but with newfound interest in the prince, how far can you take your curiosities?

word count: 2.8k

warnings: none ( maybe a swear word? )

author’s note: imma be real homies, this was a trek. i worked on this chapter for a long time and i changed it a lot and it took a while for me to be comfortable with it, and i also dealt with some major writer's block. in my personal, i moved to a new city and it's been really hard for me. my mental health hasn't been and still isn't the greatest, but maybe this can be my crutch. i know you guys waited for this and let me just say, a BIG FUCKIN THANK YOU. Y'all were supportive and patient and it's really wonderful to have that in times like this :) but we hit over 100 followers and i never thought i would do that. so again, thank you. and i promise i'll try not to make the next update two months from now. anyway, enjoy chapter three :) also, if i forgot to add you to the tag list or you would like to be added, either comment or send an ask :)

part 1 part 2 part 3

For the next hour of your time, Anastasia had you sat in a bathtub as she desperately tried to scrub the scent of liquor and what could only be called ‘desperation’ off your skin. Sure, your arms and legs looked like cherry tomatoes that had grown in awkward ways, but thank the gods it was normal to wear long sleeves. Anastasia humored you, asking about your time in the city, asking what the pub was like, what the people were like. When asked if she had even left the castle gates, she got quiet and it made your heart ache.

She pulled you from the tub, drying you off as you shivered from the water that had all but turned to ice. You pulled on your undergarments yourself, hating even entertaining the idea of anyone dressing her. You had two hands and thought yourself perfectly capable of pulling fabric on. Anastasia busied herself with looking through your dresses until a knock rang through the room. The copper-haired maid scuttled to open the door but was immediately pushed back by the person you wanted to see probably the least.

“You’re insufferable. Insisting on going into town and drinking your heart out. We’re not in France where you can spend your life as a peasant. We are guests of the King and Queen and you will act as such.” Zendaya scolded you as you sat back, eye looking bored. All she could do was glare at you and you truly questioned if the corset around her waist was so tight that it could cause mental defects. The thought made you snicker, causing the princess to huff.

“You will not embarrass me tonight, our first meal with the King, the entire family. So I went and picked out a dress for you.” What she held up made you want to vomit. A sickly colour that looked like a mix of green and purple with bright white lacing up the front. “You will wear this and you will not speak tonight unless spoken to. Your spot will be next to the twins. Maybe, if you clean up your act, you can pick a Holland of your own.” She smirked.

The way she spoke of the family like objects put you in perspective once again. You were not in the friendly village you called home, not in the city that welcomed you with laughter and drinks. You were in the London palace, surrounded by cold royalty who thought everyone who wasn’t them, wasn’t worth the air they breathed.

“Maybe I don’t want a ‘Holland of my own’” You quoted, “Maybe I think of them as people and would also like to marry as far away from you as possible.” You sneered. She couldn’t help but smirk, because she just loved to get under your skin. You guessed you could blame your mother, though this was something so purely aggravating that just she possessed. With that all being said, she turned on her heel and walked out of the room.

You stood for a second, trying to mask your heaving chest from the immense anger you felt as you played with the small necklace that sat around your neck. It was a circle, representing the moon that a blacksmith had given you after showing you the countryside just outside of France. You clicked your tongue as you pushed yourself off the chair you had been leaning on, going over to the closet where all your clothing was hanging.

Fabric began to fly as you dug through the clothes, of course, there was quite a bit. But you knew what you were looking for. The moment your hand brushed against it, you pulled it from the closet. A smile formed on your features as you turned towards Ana.

“The people here do talk, don’t they?”

When it was time for the dinner, there was a guard at your door. And lucky for you, you had met this one before. Ana had just finished your make-up as Harrison knocked on your door. She hurried over as you stood, dusting off your dress as you looked in a mirror. A whistle was heard behind you as you turned with a raised brow.

“Well, well, well (Y/N). Looks as if you clean up quite nicely.” He teased as you walked over to him and took his extended arm. You scoffed as you waved goodbye to Ana. “Please, do tell me your secret to sobriety.” He said in a joking manner.

“An hour in an ice bath would wake anyone up.” You admitted as you walked through the halls. You could hear small bits of chatter, soft music as you raised a brow. They had a band just for a simple dinner? Though, you guessed it wouldn’t be considered ‘just a dinner’. The coming of the Princess who was to marry the heir to the throne, the uniting of the kingdoms, that could be a cause for some kind of celebration. It was as if Harrison could feel your hesitance, quickly offering you a soft smile, patting your arm.

“You took on the pubs of London. Some small dinner should be no cause for concern.” He encouraged you, making a breathless laugh leave your lips.

“The streets of London and France are one thing. If I get in trouble, throwing a punch is on the table. But in a dinner with one of the strongest monarchies in Europe, I don’t think that’s necessarily acceptable.” You chuckled along, drawing ever closer to the source of your fear. At the door, Harrison stopped you. He turned you towards him, hands resting on each shoulder lightly.

“Now (Y/N), do excuse my speaking outright but they are nothing to fear. Just sit there with a fake smile like the rest, and don’t speak unless you’re spoken to if you’re truly that frightened. But as your friend, yes I consider you a friend by now, I encourage you to just try and enjoy yourself. Tom will be there, look to him for guidance if need be. You’re going to do great.” He flashed a smile as you took a breath, nodding and dusting your dress off.

“Into the pit then.”

You entered fairly unnoticed. You could feel a few pairs of eyes on you as Harrison walked you in, linked by the arms to your seat. You were sat in the middle of your sister and one of the twins. At both heads sat the King and Queen. Zendaya to her right, Tom to her left. Next to Tom was the youngest Holland, playing with his food. The other twin, Harry or Sam you couldn’t be sure, sat across from the other. In all honesty, you weren’t really paying enough attention to be able to decipher them apart.

You could feel Zendaya’s gaze as you sat in the deep emerald green dress that adorned your form, along with what you could only assume was Tom’s eyes locked onto you. You smiled as you sat, mouthing a ‘thank you’ to Harrison subtly before looking across the table to Tom, who offered you a grin. Zendaya grabbed your arm with tight lips and you could feel her sneer without even having to look at her.

“I told you to wear the grey dress. Where did you even get this?” She hissed, pulling at the silk fabric as you swatted her hand away. With the small burst of confidence that Harrison gave you from his pep talk, you grinned at your dear sister.

“To be honest with you Z,” Your voice was filled with the type of spite that you only harbored when you were sure you had an upper hand, something you seemed to be very unsure of at that moment. “I really don’t give a damn what you told me to do. Because you may be my big sister, but that doesn’t make you any less of a pain in my ass.” You said with a smile as you looked back up across the table, hearing one of the twins snicker from beside you.

“Zendaya, you look wonderful tonight.” The queen chimed before your sister could get a word in edgewise. “Tom,” the older woman purred to her eldest, gesturing to her, “doesn’t she look stunning?” She asked with the intent of helping her son, only to make his smile falter.

“Of course.” He chimed with an uncomfortable look in his eye. “Though, I’ve never really been a fan of yellow.” He said, making you want to howl with laughter from the look of pure and utter horror that tried to escape Zendaya’s face. “But (Y/N), the green looks wonderful.” You were practically wheezing.

The dinner went through smoothly after that. You were actually mildly enjoying yourself. You decided that maybe, just maybe, you should steer away from any kind of alcohol for the night, sticking with water throughout the meal. You could hear the twins snickering from across the table to each other, Tom playing with Paddy, earning the occasional scowl or scolding from their mother. Dom and Nikki conversed with Zendaya, occasionally including you in a question or two. It was a bit of a change but you didn’t really mind it. Though, you were sure this is one of the first dinners with any kind of royalty where you actually felt anything at all besides pure exasperation.

“(Y/N)” You felt a nudge from beside you, catching your attention and making you turn to the twins. You couldn’t help but raise a brow at the look of mischief on their faces. Maybe it wasn’t so much externally, but you knew that glint in their eyes from a mile away. After all, you were usually the one who held it. You watched for a moment as the two exchanged a glance, a silent thought shared as if it was telepathically.

“We want to go beyond the wall.” The twin closest to you said, who throughout the night you figured out was Harry, Sam nodding after he said it. The hall was noisy enough that you hoped no one could hear your conversation. Of course, they would come to you because of course, they knew. Your little outing had only gone over the head of the king and queen. And for as long as you were a resident of their home, you’d like to keep it that way.

“What do you mean you want to go ‘beyond the wall’? Why are you telling me? You’ve got full power over yourselves, can’t you just go?” You asked with furrowed brows. At home, being the younger sister of the heir didn’t mean much. You were just another person with some nobility. No one cared when you came and went, hell, you were once gone for two weeks and when you returned, your mother gave you no more than a nod. You couldn’t see what the big deal about leaving the gates was. But your confusion just increased as the twins shook their heads.

“We don’t really leave the castle unless its for some war preparation that our father has planned. We don’t greet the public, we don’t go into the city. Mother says it’s wrong for royalty to be in those kinds of conditions.” Another thing you could add to the growing list of things you disliked about the king and the queen. They were your sister’s type of royalty, your father’s type of royalty. But even then, Zendaya and your father made appearances in the lower city, to show they ‘cared’ about their citizens.

“Well I don’t know what you want me to do about it.” You said, mind already knowing where they wanted to go with their statement, mentally forbidding yourself from accepting. It was bad enough that you had your sister on your tail the entire time, but the last thing you needed was to be on the foul side of the King and Queen of England. Especially staying at their home, it was really not preferable.

“We want you to take us-”

“No.” You wouldn’t even let Sam, the one sitting across from the two of you, finish his sentence. “Absolutely not. If you’re not allowed out then there’s no way in the seven circles of hell that I would even attempt to get you out. Ask one of the guards or the golden child. But you won’t be coming out with me.” You didn’t need their lives in your hand just to have your head on a plate. It wasn’t worth it.

“But you can get out! You just left with one of the guards!” Harry complained, his voice was in a whining tone, making you roll your eyes.

“Yes, I can get out. Because everyone here is so invested in the fact that my sister is here that they’re going to look right over my head. But that’s because I’m not one of England’s star princes or one of France’s prize citizens. At home, I come and go as I please. I’m sure they expected no different from me here. I don’t believe it would be in my favor that, after I arrived, the twin princes decided it would be a good idea to go off an explore.” You said with a huff. “Now, if you excuse me.” You said as you slowly motioned over to Harrison. Frankly, you had been done eating for a good amount of time, and no longer wished to socialize.

Harrison walked over to you without making eye contact with any of the other royals, bending down to whisper to you, you could feel the smirk that crawled over his lips.

“Now what’s got your feathers in a ruse, princess?” He asked as he extended his arm, helping you raise from your seat. You felt a gaze on your back, and with a look over your shoulder, you spotted Tom. He was smiling, and it wasn’t overly obvious that he was staring at you. Just enough so you could tell. It caused you to offer a small smile of your own before you walked out of the dining hall on Harrison’s arm.

“Just the twins. I’m not really sure if they know my name, but they know I can leave the castle and they want me to get them out.” You sighed once you were out of earshot. The day had been long, and yet strangely you weren’t tired, at all.

“It’s just like them, they’ve been asking me for months now.” You laughed slightly, shaking your head. You would want to escape too if you were them. Being trapped in confined spaces, though under normal circumstances you would never call the walls of this grand castle confined, next to the Kind and Queen had to be painful.

“Harrison, what do you after nightfall? I mean, when there’s no training or guarding to do, what do you do?” You asked curiously, looking up to the blonde. He looked back down at you with a raised brow, already knowing where you were going. And disliking it.

“I go into the guards quarters, and we have a few drinks, we play a few games. Even the kind’s men get a bit of time off. Especially now that you and your sister are here. The king isn’t planning any wars or requiring any kind of extra training so, we actually get some time off to do what we want to do.” Harrison said, actually sounding happy about the fact. Sure, you had only known him for a day, but you could only guess that the serving class around here wasn’t treated the greatest.

“Take me with you. Please.” You asked, in your own way, with hopeful eyes. Harrison’s own blue ones looked down at you with some kind of mix of concern and nervousness. Before he could say anything, you spoke up again. “Please. It would save me temporarily from Zendaya’s wrath. You have no idea what something like wearing the wrong dress entails.” You said with a small chuckle, hoping to persuade him.

“I don't know (Y/N). The boys are kind of tough people to get used to.” He tried to sway you, and you gave him a blank look.

“Harrison, for a good chunk of the day I was in a pud. And there were several fights and I still got myself home unscathed. Sir, I think I can handle myself quite well.” You reasoned, a slight smirk on your lips as Harrison paused. He had to admit, he saw your point. He stayed silent for a few more seconds before sighing.

“Fine. Go change. It would be a shame for this dress to smell like liquor.” He said, causing you to smile brightly. Yes, this would be a good night.

tags: @greenarrowhead @voidtrixie @racewife2004 @technolilly @andreuskystuff @jadav5 @aelin-firehearts-court @spideybitey18 @choke-me-sweet-pea @loxbbg @thebadassbitchqueen @notes-from-my-journal @jubaydahk @carolyns14 @supernatural-strangerthings-1980 @heimdoodle @httpmcrvel @deranged-sewer-rat @justanotherfangirl2015 @shortbty14

#tom holland x reader #tom holland imagine #prince!tom au #prince!tom #princessdiariesau #royal!au #royal!tom #tom holland series #tom holland x reader smut #tom holland x reader fluff #tom holland x reader angst #tom holland fluff #tom holland angst #marvel #her shadow #trying my best #THANK YOU!!!#like and heart!

155 notes · View notes

akria23 · 5 years

Note

Yes, what Lucas did to Chloe was wrong, and she has every right to be angry. But she has no right to out someone.

Anon…I wonder if you and some others are so caught up on holding this argument that you’re missing the point in my argument or if I just went off kilter in the explanation. I’ve already said my piece on that perspective (putting gays being the end all) as much as I’m gonna say. But to clarify the issue my elongated post calls out is the hypocrisy that the tag (and many other audiences) waddles through when it comes to homosexual male characters and female characters (def those that stand as any form of antagonistic against them).

Two people were in that conversation - yet only one is being being vilified. Lucas in facts does more talking in the scene and yet despite how terrible he was being even right there only one getting dragged is Chloe and then y'all justify the nasty stuff y'all say about her (like she deserves to die) by pretending to be social warriors for gay people 👀.

I’ve seen people claim how pitiful he is how he was begging her in this moment - no he wasn’t. He was being manipulative again - he was lying again. He didn’t beg anything. He told her that he don’t know why she said what she said to him at the party - why she thinks that but he don’t want people thinking the wrong thing. Yes there’s a subtext of don’t tell anyone anything - but it def does not come in the form of a beg. Her reply is a direct to what he says to her. He’s so uncomfortable with his truth that he don’t even want her to think he’s gay.

And that’s the thing - in the need to woobify him the tag ignores the story. The scene isn’t about a threat or anything like that. It’s about how deep Lucas own internal prejudices run. He’s seeking to erase even the smallest hint - and that’s not because of the other narrative la the tag is trying to create (like saying being gay is a death warrant - as though the show doesn’t already frame homosexuality through an out and proud gay character and in the reactions of those around Lucas). The framing of the show is important how they present other gay characters and the treatment is important. Lucas actually speaks the worse than those hes worried about judging him ( this is because the writer is speaking on Lucas’s on issues with his homosexuality).

But I guess that’s another conversation. Like I said the point of my post is to point out the clear imbalance in treatment. Even if I pretend with you guys that that’s was the intent (her making this evil plan weaponizing his sexuality) that does not mean she deserves to die nor does it erase the bad being done against her right there in that moment. The fact that y'all are playing emotional damage gymnastics- what he’s doing is wrong but her implication is sooo much worst. There seems to be a need to scale their ‘badness’ which thus leads many to finding her lacking and worthless.

I would have no problems if the same people who say she’s wrong for xyz in this conversation was in turn saying Lucas is wrong for xyz in this conversation. But I don’t see that anon. If we’re dissecting a scene why are we only analyzing a portion of it? I don’t believe in playing gymnastics in these situations. There’s clearly an imbalance and I don’t know why that can’t be discussed without distractions or hoop jumping.

Thank you for the message anon. I’m not trying to set the tag aflame I’m just trying to engage a conversation. Maybe I didn’t articulate my issue in the post the way I thought - hopefully this broke it down more.

#skam france #Chloe #elliott x lucas #Lucas #ask #answered #discussion

13 notes · View notes

nightqueendany · 6 years

Text

Another submission today:

No one is saying that you should think that they’re the best writers. I think that their work pretty much speaks for itself. Y'all called 7x06 trash and it won an award for best direction. Same with season 7. Won the biggest Emmy for the year. People who claim Emilia can’t act were bitter because she won some prestigious award for acting. Not saying you do these things, but the same people who shit on D&D also shit on the actors.

You can criticize without being nasty. The “Dumb and Dumber” thing is juvenile or calling them hacks or whatever vitriolic shit that people feel the need to spew. Fyi, Benioff is a great writer. He’s written critically acclaimed shit. Google it.

They are the middle men between the HBO execs and the fans. HBO wanted to extend the show to 10 seasons, but D&D stopped that because they know that quality is better than quantity. So many of the things that they’re criticised for are actually shitty because people like to focus on pendatic shit. For example the so called time travel has been there since day one. Catelyn travelled from KL to the Vale in one episode. A raven was sent to Stannis and it got to him in the next scene. Their biggest crime is overestimating some of their audience and thinking that they’ll appreciate the “show don’t tell” approach.

So they made some changes. So what? It’s only the book readers who care about that shit and considering that many of those book readers swore with all their heart and Daenerys isn’t Jon’s type, they’re not the type of company that you should be proud of keeping. They’re clueless fucks who circlejerk to uncovering the mysteries of a fictional story and then end up being wrong years later. They’re the same people who claim that Jon is stealing Stannis’ plot.

David and Dan have the same bugdet that friends had almost two decades ago and look what they’re delivering to our screens.

Fyi, they’ve been criticized since the very beginning of the show for not sticking to George’s vision only for George to come out this year and say that most of what happened in S7 was what he planned. Some so called mistakes and plotholes aren’t that at all. Like the chains for Viserion. If people weren’t blind with nerd rage, they would have seen that the Night King shot him down close to a dock that was buried in snow and that dock had chains. The time it took Dany to arrive was ambiguous. They put in a lot of time and effort to make it as close to perfect as possible. It’s not their fault that GRRM couldn’t keep his word and finish the books on time.

There’s no difference between some of y'all and the star wars fans who shit on Kathleen Kennedy for making some changes on the movies. Entitled, bratty, ungrateful fans. Thank God it’s almost over. Unfortunately, the prequels are here and the pretentious book readers are already complaining because of the casting descriptions.

Also, being a woman doesn’t excuse you from being a decent human being. Most of Daenerys’ thoughts are in her head in the book. Unless you wanted a voice over, there’s no way that they would have been able to convey her thoughts. Even with her thoughts, pov and other POVs of her character where people see how great she is, she was one of the most hated characters amongst book readers so you can’t blame D&D for that. Watching reaction videos should tell you all you need to know about how people see her. Even without reading about her compassion, viewers are drawn to her.

Finally, Daenerys is a fictional character no matter how wonderful and amazing she is, she’s not real. The people who work on the show are. It is messed up to focus on what you perceive to be their fuck ups. If people did that to you, you’d never grow

I’m so confused, Dan Weiss, is that you?? I’m half convinced this is Dan Weiss.

1) I’m not a pedantic book reader. I’ve said many times I started with Season 1 of the show, then read the books, then continued with the show as it aired. I’ve never pretended to be a book-expert. There are many of them here and on Reddit and Westeros.org and in the comments sections of Geroge’s Not a Blog but I’ve always admitted my knowledge of the entire WOIAF is limited to a once through read of the books and the show. I’ve certainly never pretended to know the series any better than anyone else.

2) I’ve stuck up for decisions made by D&D PLENTY of times. I got a lot of shit in inbox from anons when I wrote a post defending (or suspending judgement) on their choice to have Sansa replace Jeyne Poole in the Ramsay-Winterfell-rape plot which is decidedly their most controversial decision that was not a matter that wasn’t out of their hands, like network things.

And I’ve defended other storylines from them as well - the wight hunt mission, I’ve talked extensively about how it would have happened any way you slice the story so it wasn’t a “dumb” D&D idea, I’ve talked about their filming & casting limitations and how it’s a result of location and availability and not anything to do with the actual race of the extras in scenes, I’ve talked about how I definitely think Dany will burn the Khals in the books, just as she did in the show, defending that plot, I’ve talked about things I love in terms of book vs show - Battle of Blackwater, Robb&Talisa, how Season 6 is unarguably the best season of Game of Thrones and it’s the one that had to go completely off books because they had surpassed what George had already written, I’ve talked about how I’m glad they left Lady Stoneheart out of the story because I thought it would have cheapened Catelyn’s death and the impact of Jon’s resurrection, I’ve talked about how I like that they changed scenes like Dany’s wedding night and the Jaime/Cersei sex scene next to Joffrey’s body in the Sept because in the books the nature of the ambiguity of “consent” is ridiculous and D&D choosing to present those scenes as rape made it easier for the audience to see what was actually going on vs the books which leave it open to question whether the victims are actually victims, I’ve talked about how I like they aged Missandei up so that Daenerys could have an actual friend as opposed to young Missandei in the books who’s dependent on her and sees her as a mother figure, I’ve praised the show for making Dany more mature when it comes to her relationship with Daario, I’ve talked about how I love Shae and Sansa’s relationship in the show and how they humanized Shae and made her a more lovable character, I’ve praised the show for setting Tyrion and Dany together sooner than in the books because the Tyrion ruling Meereen in Dany’s absence plot worked really well, I’ve defended their depiction of the Jonerys romance to Jonsa and Jonerys shippers alike who say it was rushed or poorly done and praised the way they so closely stuck to both Jon and Dany’s character....so many others, I forget them all.

3) I’ve never called D&D “Dumb and Dumber” or any other rude names and I usually refrain from using insults like that on my entire blog. I also usually refrain from reblogging posts that contain language like that because it’s childish and really insulting.

4) Just because someone’s writing or something is “critically acclaimed” doesn’t mean really anything. Critics nowadays are widely acknowledged as being “out of touch” with the times and the nature of story-telling as a whole and many industry people also admit this - Why do you think the Oscars wanted to include that “Outstanding Popular Film” category for the coming year? So not sure what David Benioff’s critically acclaimed other work has to do with anything.

5) I’ve never really criticized D&D for their plot lines or storytelling as a whole. I think I’ve only pointed out plot holes only twice - once about Jon receiving Tyrion’s raven before Sam’s even though Sam’s was sent an entire episode before Tyrion’s and once about Jon telling Tormund Dany would only fight beside them if he bent the knee when the entire Wight Hunt mission was so Dany could fight beside them and he hadn’t bent the knee.

Aside from that, I’ve never criticized their story choices as they deviate from GRRM.

I’ve criticized their portrayal of women - especially Dany but really women as a whole - throughout the story and I don’t think I need to defend my criticism for that. It’s a HUGE deal.

Because here’s the thing - story changes made by D&D...don’t really matter. They’ve said plenty of times the show will end just as the books will end so I’m happy to tag along with their journey because I know they’ll stay faithful to George’s vision in that respect and I’ve defended them to other fans in this regards.

But when they CONTINUALLY make decisions that cast female characters in a much harsher light than their book counterparts and cast male characters in much better light than their book counterparts, I’m not going to defend that! I’m not going to sit idly by and just pretend I’m okay with that.

If it were one or two isolated incidences, it would be nothing. But that’s not the case. This is a pattern repeated time and time again throughout the entire series. This isn’t a network thing, this isn’t even about “you can’t please everyone.” This is blatant sexism, regardless of whether that was their intention or not.

Just now looking at the IMDB page for GOT, I noticed they’ve only had TWO women work in writing aspects for the show for a total of 4 episodes. The rest were written exclusively by men. Also, only ONE female director has directed a total of 4 episodes throughout the series.

Now I know, as someone who is a film minor and one day wants to work in the industry, that the film and television industry as a whole, is very lacking when it comes to representing women and that’s unfortunate. So it’s not entirely their fault. They just fell into the pattern of the industry.

But again, when it comes to sticking to George’s original dialogue or creating their own, the times they’ve opted to create their own frequently results negatively for female characters...or when a female character’s lines are given to a male character making the man appear the brilliant one in the scene.

I’m really curious to know if this anon is a man or woman...or Dan Weiss. Not that it changes anything but perhaps it’s the reason you’ve yet to either notice the sexism in the writing or just don’t see it as such a big deal.

Yes, these are all fictional characters and the people behind the show are real people.

But the people who watch the show are real people too. And while again, I know there is no possible way for D&D to please every single member of their audience, the least they could do is approach their writing from a more neutral standpoint or, you know, just fucking hire a full-time woman to co-write episodes with.

However, it’s too late for that. The show is finished. There’s no changing what’s already been made.

So I will be here, continuing to defend a female character that wouldn’t need nearly as much defending, had she been translated onto the screen properly and not through a biased lens.

6 notes · View notes