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flowerpowell · 3 years

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The Royal Holiday Romance (Liam x MC)

PART ONE

A/N: ..... Okay but hear me out. I sat down to finish my two ongoing series and this is what came out instead. It’s not my fault really. This is going to be a short series (about 4 parts me thinks) and it’s going to be cheesy and fluffy, wintery, Christmassy and very Hallmark-y (I watched too many Hallmark romcoms and this is the result).

A/N 2: This has nothing to do with the canon but the characters belong to Pixelberry.

Rating: G

Word count: 1668

Tagging (perma + TRR + Liam tags): @twinkleallnight @kingliam-rys @sfb123 @gkittylove99 @texaskitten30 @iaminlovewithtrr @gardeningourmet @delightfullypinkglitter @hopefulmoonobject @blackcatkita @dcbbw @kingliam2019 @thequeenofcronuts @jared2612 @annekebbphotography @lodberg *

*my taglist is very old so if you no longer want to be tagged in my posts, just let me know and I’ll take you off.

“Wow.”

“Impressive, isn’t it?”

Victoria looked at the scenery in front of her, still not believing her eyes.

“It looks like I’ve just walked into a Hallmark movie set,” she admitted staring at the white wonderland. Her friend chuckled.

“It does look like that a bit. But Cordonia is always so mesmerizing this time of the year. Truly magical. You’ve never been here?”

“No. This is my first time here, and in Europe in general. And you?”

“A few times. I used to come here for winter holidays with my parents many years ago. The last time I visited Cordonia was three years ago when we were filming The Crown and the Flame. We spent a few months here and we were even invited to a dinner with the King and the Queen.”

“Seriously?!”

“Mhm.” Hana nodded slightly. “It was a very important movie for all Cordonians as it was about their beloved and legendary Queen Kenna Rys.”

Victoria sighed in admiration. Hana Lee was one of the most popular and talented actresses in the world. She was nominated to Oscars at least three times and ate dinner with the King and the Queen of Cordonia. And now she was standing next to Victoria Brooks, novice actress, in a snowy Cordonia and talking to her as if they were best friends, not just co-stars.

Victoria realized how lucky she was to be starring alongside someone like Hana. Great actress and even greater personality. No wonder she was so loved by many. And even though she was only playing Hana’s character’s sidekick, she was grateful for the opportunities that came with it.

~~~~

“Liam!!! You have to see this!”

Liam turned to see his friend Maxwell running into the office with a phone in his hand. “Look!”

“Maxwell, I can’t see anything if your phone is so close to my face. What’s happening?”

“Hana Lee is here! The Hana Lee! They’re filming a Christmas movie here, which she’s co-producing by the way, and I have to meet her. Please, please, Liam, use your kingly privileges and let me meet Hana!” Maxwell pouted and Liam bit his lip so he wouldn’t start laughing.

“I know you have a celebrity crush on her but isn’t it a bit too much?”

“You’re saying that just because you already met her and I wasn’t invited!”

“I barely had any chance to talk to her, it was mostly my father who did the talking but from what I remember she was truly a charming person.”

“Well, duh.” Maxwell rolled his eyes. “I just want to meet her. I’ve prepared a welcome dance just for her and I need to show it to her. She’ll love it!”

“And what do I have to do?”

“Come with me to the set and tell the security not to kick me out? You and Drake can hang out somewhere while I’ll be with Hana.”

Liam furrowed his eyebrows. “Drake is coming as well?” He asked.

“NO!” They heard Drake’s voice from the hall just as Maxwell opened his mouth to say ‘yes’. In a moment, their friend walked into the office and stopped right in front of them. “I already said no!”

“Come on, you guys! I have dreams too, you know?”

“And meeting an actress while bringing your friends with you is one of them?” Drake raised his eyebrow at Maxwell.

“I actually wanted to ask her something.” Maxwell blushed a little. “I wanted to ask her if she’d let me write her autobiography.”

“Err…” Liam started and looked at Drake for help.

“Maxwell, you can’t write her autobiography.”

“Why not? You doubt my writing talent?”

“No, actually, yes, but that’s not the point.” Drake shook his head.

“Only Hana can write her autobiography, you can write her biography,” Liam cut in. Maxwell shrugged.

“Same thing. Does it mean you’ll come? Pleaseeeeee. Pleaseeee, pleeeaase!”

Liam sighed as he looked at Drake who was shaking his head. “Yes, Maxwell. We’ll come.”

~~~~

“Where are you going?”

“Oh, I’ve just finished and I thought I’d go for a walk and explore a bit.” Victoria smiled at Hana who looked beautiful in a dress she was wearing for the opening scene.

“But we’ve just started rolling. How are you finished already?”

“Well… Your movie best friend doesn’t have that many scenes. I’m just a supporting character, remember?”

“Oh, okay.” Hana thought for a second. “Would you like to go through the tomorrow’s scenes later?”

“I think I’m okay. I only have a few lines and to be honest, I’m so used to playing background characters that I feel well prepared for shooting.” Victoria said it half-jokingly but Hana’s face fell a little.

“I’m sure if I talked to the—”

“No, Hana, no.” Victoria shook her head. “I didn’t mean it like that. I’m happy with my role. I just wanted to say I’m well prepared for this role because I always play best friends. No whining intended.”

“Okay then.” Hana smiled. “Just remember some of the best actors got their awards for playing supporting characters.”

~~~~

Liam was looking at the set, unsure why he agreed to help Maxwell.

“You’re the best, you know that, right?” Maxwell beamed as he was trying to spot Hana. The security let them in immediately after Liam introduced himself and his friends.

“Just remember we should—” Liam started but Maxwell ran off somewhere, half dancing. “—be going soon.”

“Yeah.” Drake nodded. “I’ll be with the food if you need me,” Drake said before leaving Liam alone.

He looked at the set; it was busy and Liam didn’t feel like socializing. He decided leave the set and go for a walk before he’d come again to take Maxwell and Drake back to the palace. The last thing he needed was people recognizing the King on their set.

~~~~

Victoria was wandering through the forest which was conveniently located near the movie set. She thought if she was to be in only a few scenes in the movie, she might as well use all the free time to explore Cordonia. And there was a lot to be explored.

Normally, Victoria would do a thorough research on the country she was going to but because her being in the movie was a last-minute decision, she had no time for anything except for packing.

She wasn’t complaining, though. There was something magical about exploring the country for the first time. She wanted to make the most of it.

What she told Hana was completely a lie. She wasn’t whining and she was truly happy to be playing Hana’s supporting character. Acting wasn’t the career of her choice. She was in love with cinema ever since she could remember. When she got into her dream film school she wanted to become a famous movie critic. Her plans were changed later when one of her professors told her she had a talent for acting and she should try it. Ever since, Victoria had small roles here and there. She loved seeing how the movie industry works from the inside but at the same time, the more she played, the more she longed for something more.

Not wanting to complain, she only silently wondered when she’d stop playing best friends and be a main character, at least once in her life. She wouldn’t admit it to anyone, but the longer she was acting, the more she believed she wasn’t a main character even in her own life. Maybe it was supposed to be this way, maybe some people were meant to be supporting characters even in their own lives. Maybe it—

“Ooooff” Victoria’s stream of consciousness was interrupted when she bumped into something. Someone. A man.

“I’m sorry, are you alright?”

“A local. Cordonian accent is really pretty,” she thought to herself as she nodded at the stranger.

“I’m sorry I bumped into you. I didn’t see you,” she admitted and the stranger laughed.

“From my point of view, you were looking directly at me. I assume you were lost in thought.”

“I was, sorry.”

“Oh, don’t be. I always lose the sense of reality when I’m in nature myself. You’re a tourist, I assume?”

“I am. Just came here and wanted to explore a little.”

The stranger nodded. “The forests are usually not the first thing the tourists are visiting but I must admit, we do have amazing forests.”

“They might not be for most people but I love going for walks here and forget about my job, my life, everything.”

“Then I think we’re very much alike. I do like to forget about my job as well.”

“Is your job that bad?” Victoria asked and noticed the stranger’s face expression changed.

“It… can be. It’s very demanding and I… sometimes like to take a break. And you?” He changed the subject. “What do you do?”

“Oh, I’m—” she stopped. If she told him she was an actress he’d ask her what movies she played in. Victoria wouldn’t bear seeing the disappointment on his face when she’d explain she plays minor roles. Not when she started to like him.

“Victoria, stop it, you can’t think every single person you meet and have at least one thing in common with is your soulmate. You’re not living in a movie.” She scolded herself and she realized the stranger was still waiting for the answer.

“I’m… in the movie industry,” she finally said. “A critic. Well, a beginner but you get the idea,” she lied, laughing nervously.

“That sounds intriguing, umm…” he stopped at looked at her expectantly.

“Victoria! Sorry, I forgot to introduce myself. And you are…?”

“Liam. Nice to meet you.” He extended her hand and to Victoria’s surprise, he kissed it, smiling at her. “And welcome to Cordonia. I hope you’ll have a great time in our beautiful country.”

Victoria felt a chill running through her body as Liam was touching her hand. She offered a small smile in return. “Yes… Me too.”

#choices #the royal romance #the royal heir #playchoices #king liam #liam x mc #king liam x mc #drake walker #maxwell beaumont #hana lee #trr #choices trr #I KNOW I WAS SUPPOSED TO LEAVE TUMBLR OKAY #but when the inspiration strikes you just gotta go with the flow

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mendesficsxbombay · 4 years

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loving you is the antidote | s.m

A/N: I wrote most of this with two badly injured fingers, but when creativity strikes, it strikes! his name hasn't been mentioned in this fic... at all. hope you like it!

requested fluff from this prompt list

17: mmm… you’re warm

18: you’re so cute when you’re sleepy like this

19: I’ve had a rough day and honestly all I want right now is a hot drink and someone to cuddle with

“And up next ladies and gentlemen is a very special guest, she’s starring in Golden - hailing from India and known over the world is a critically acclaimed actress with awards lining up longer than the line of fans waiting to see her, and let me just tell you that line wrapped around the block!” James Corden jokes. The audience goes wild as he announces her name and she walks out onstage, the cheers nearly deafening as she crosses the room, all smiles and poise in her red bottoms, taking a seat opposite the host’s desk.

“Can I just say something we start, you were the most requested guest on the show after BTS, and there was a damn near riot for the last two days for people who wanted to catch a seat here!” He exclaims motioning to the audience and a faint blush rises to your cheeks at the attention of the audience cheering and hooting for you again.

“Hey, can’t compete with BTS!” She grinned back at him, “I don’t know if everyone knew this already, but I love those guys! They’re taking over the world aren’t they? And, can I just say something, too? I’ve loved the Late Late Show since the first time One Direction were invited as guests and that was a long time ago…”

“Wow, a fan is amongst us, that’s so nice to know! But enough about bands, let’s talk acting,” He moves to hold up a poster of her upcoming film, the sole reason for her to be on the show, “Golden comes out in just a few weeks, and from what we’ve seen so far it’s going to be everyone’s new favourite romcom very soon! Tell us a bit about the film!”

“I’m so excited, I can’t put it into words - Golden was like, the movie of my dreams, it was a story that I always wanted to see on a screen but playing a part in a movie like that was really just unbelievable,” she dishes out, filled to the brim with love for her upcoming project, “It’s a story about new love, the whole process of falling for someone and the new feelings that come with it and how different people address it differently, I think there’s something everyone can take away something from it - there’s something for everyone.”

“You said it was your dream project! Really?”

“Yes it was! I think when it comes to love stories we tend to see most things in black and white, but it’s high time we told stories that address the grey areas, too, you know? Like there’s going to be insecurities, there’s going to be doubts and second thoughts but whoever you’re in love with, you need to fight through problems and you’ll only come out stronger. A great love story isn’t the one where things get hard and fall into place immediately after, it’s the one that’s seen it all, it’s the one that’s worn in and still stands as it was the day it started - so I think it was a really important project for all of us to be part of,” she replies sincerely, nothing but pure honesty and now a little coyness dripping from her words, “And I hope it’s an important film for you, too,” she shyly looks over to the audience, which, listening intently so far, now responds with more hooting and clapping.

“Is there anything from your personal life that made you feel closer to your character? I mean we all do have doubts here and there but I don’t think someone as like you would have to go through that” He adds, and while she knows this is just to butter her up the crowd’s reactions are varying affirmatives. When James sees her shake her head in disagreement he quickly speaks up, “It’s literally impossible, I mean, you’ve been titled most desirable woman in Europe and you’re not even European!” He’s exasperated in a way she’s seen before, but only through her television screen. A light spark is felt in her chest when she realises that this may only be one late night show of many, but she’s finally ticking off her childhood dreams.

“Alright I’m gonna be honest, I’ve never really had very serious long term relationships before so I thought I was pretty much immune to these feelings but there was this one incident that really stood out for me - and even if it did or didn’t help me while filming it taught me an important lesson so - would you guys wanna know? I don’t wanna bore you or anything…” she baited the audience, her eyes glinting with mischief. She didn’t plan on giving out any details if she were being honest, they’d been so good so far but this seemed appropriate. She found it to the correct time to show off how mature and amazing and sensitive he is, and how lucky she was to have fallen in love with him.

“Ah! Do tell!” The host leans forward, propping his chin on his hands as he was ready for story time.

“Well, this was in London last year. We had basically set up camp in the city for the movie for about… 7 months, I think. I had a few days off between schedules, but there was this one day that went really bad.”

She’d slipped and hurt her ankle right before leaving her apartment that morning. Her favourite jacket was nowhere to be found and she’d had a fight with her agent by mid day. The last few days of filming before she got a break were taxing, mentally and physically, but the exhaustion was now catching up to her. Whether she liked it or not, her day was nowhere near good and she hated to have to whine about it to anyone.

“This boy I really, really liked was also in London at the time, and he - well he,” is a multi platinum selling artist that tours the world and plays shows for tens of thousands of people every night, “travels a lot for his job and that would’ve been the last day I would have a chance to meet him. And our relationship was still fairly new, it was just the beginning and I mean - you know what it’s like at the start - you never want this person to see you in your worst condition, I knew he wanted to see me, but I told him I wasn’t really in the mood for it and there was no option but to put this off for another time.”

A meeting with her team had confirmed that she would be working on her birthday this year. There was a photoshoot with British Vogue lined up the same day that could not be moved to another date, and she had fought tooth and nail to free up the date, so far as requesting for them to just free up those 24 hours and she was willing to put in double the work through that week, but they wouldn’t budge. To anyone else this would look and feel like a diva meltdown, and she felt guilty, too. It’s just that - her birthday was always spent with her family. Every year without fail. Her family would free up their schedules to spend a good day together, and she already saw very less of them since her career had taken off, this just felt like she didn’t hold the reigns to her life anymore.

Getting out of the meeting, she texted him for a rain check. The words felt heavy to even type out, this really was the last chance they’d have of seeing each other for another two months until his Europe tour ended and she wrapped up her film. But there was no way she could let him see her in this condition. She needed to go home and curl up in a ball and cry a bit to just have an outlet - but she also needed him, his body pressed against hers and his strong arms wrapping her in, making her feel safe. Her fingers flew over the keypad for a second, pursing her lips to try and think of what could possibly soften the blow, not only for him but also herself.

hi my love, I hope you’re having a good day so far. I know we planned on you coming over today but I’ve had a rough day and honestly all I want right now is a hot drink and someone to cuddle with, and I think I’m in love with y- she tutted at herself, pull it together. She hit backspace, wiping out the text and typing again. hi my love, I hope you’re having a good day so far. I know we planned on you coming over today but I’ve had a rough day and I think it’s best if I spend some time alone, I’m really sorry for cancelling

“So you blew him off so you could go home and cry? That was your big plan?” James asked, clearly amused and you could only laugh at how silly it all was.

“Absolutely! That’s exactly what it was! I wanted to go home and wallow in peace. When I cry it’s not pretty at all and I didn’t want him to see that but he ruined all my great plans!”

She could see that he had opened the text within five minutes of her sending it, and didn’t reply. Was he mad at her? She would understand if he was. With the way the past few days had tested her emotions, this was the one thing she could take full responsibility for. She reached home soon after, washing herself up and changing into the fluffiest pair of pajamas she could find. She fixed her hair into a loose bun, scrubbed her face free of makeup and took her contact lens out to wear glasses. She’d given up on the week and now she looked like it, too.

She had only just found herself comfortable in front of the large flatscreen in her living room when she heard three sharp raps on her front door. Great. Now she would have to tell off the poor person who chose to come her way today of all days. When she swung the door open, her jaw fell open, too.

There was the boy who took up space in all her daydreams lately, with two big bags of what looked like food, dressed down in a baby pink hoodie and a pair of sweatpants. Grey sweatpants.

Seeing her unmoving for a few moments he welcomed himself in, and shut the door behind himself. He took off his sliders by the door, a habit he learned from her, and walked further into her apartment. He stopped for a second, only to place a soft kiss to the side of her head. He rounded off into her open plan kitchen, unpacking the two bags. He pulled out two large pizzas, and a crate of what looked like Nesquik chocolate milk.

“What, um, babe what are you doing here?”

He turned around, as if he was surprised she was talking to him, even with the two of them being alone in her apartment. “Hmm? Oh, don’t mind me, just dropping off some food for you, I’ll be out in a second.”

“Why?”

It’s his turn to stay quiet.

“You said… you said you didn’t have a good day, and I didn’t want you to be alone,” his voice was soft, keeping in mind the energy of the space between them. If she wanted she could just reach out and touch him, make herself believe he wasn’t a figment of her imagination, but not just yet. “I don’t really know what happened… and I don’t want you to tell me unless you feel comfortable and uh,” he ran a hand down his neck, slowly looking back up at her, “I got you your favourite food… it won’t make things better but… you can have it if you need. Got the toppings right as well.”

He opened the lid of the pizza box and slid it over to her on the counter. A large veggie supreme with no corn, extra olives and jalapeños. Just how she liked. The longer she looked between him and the food the longer he felt like he messed up.

“I - I just wanted to drop all this off and be on my way, sorry for bothering you I just needed you to know it’s okay to have bad days and I know you wanted to be alone but I jus-“

“Stay.”

His eyes snapped back up to read her face, catch any signs of discomfort or annoyance or anything that would let him know she didn’t actually want him to stay.

“Really?”

“Please stay,” she whispered, overwhelmed. She rounded around the kitchen island, pausing just for a moment to take a good look at his face and then pushing onto her tiptoes to hug him as tight as she could. If he felt the stray tears on his neck, he didn’t say anything.

She’d planned on camping out in her living room and binge Brooklyn 99 ’til she eventually passed out but now that he was here, she wanted nothing but him. Turns out he did, in fact, think she would ask him to stay, and the second pizza he got was for himself. Sneaky bastard. Also a really lovely, thoughtful bastard, she thought.

“And then we spent the rest of the evening just catching up, I drank like, four gallons of Nesquik, so I think I got high on that. But the one thing he taught me that day was that some things just aren’t in our control, and it’s not correct to punish ourselves for what could have been, y’all know what I mean?” She saw a few heads nodding in the crowd, proud of herself for sharing this story. “I think we’re all willing to forgive others no matter what, but we should learn forgiving ourselves, too. Also - crying is the best form of therapy - always!”

“And - so how did this night end?” James batted his lashes at her, causing her cheeks to flush even though there was nothing of the sort that he was implying.

“Nothing that you think - I ended up falling asleep before midnight and he had to leave soon because he was supposed to catch a flight the next day. That’s it! That’s my great story!”

“mmm… you’re warm,” she mumbled into his shoulder as he carried her up the stairs to her bedroom. Her voice was scratchy and worn out, she did cry a good amount, after all, and then they’d eaten, finished half the crate of the chocolate milk he brought after which she’d snuggled up to him, and slowly drifted to sleep. He’d made her comfortable on the couch while he cleaned up after them, deciding to tuck her in before he had to return to his hotel. “I’ll really miss you when you’re gone, you know that, don’t you?” She continued mumbling things into his neck that he couldn’t quite understand, and then pulled away.

Slowly blinking up at him, she bit her lips, hissing at how sore they felt because she’d forgotten how he had kissed her, slow and deep, after their meal. No wandering hands, no further moves. Just them, just kissing, as the 99th precinct continued to save the day in the background. This had quickly become her favourite day they had spent together and she was clutching onto the last fleeting moments.

“And I’ll miss you just as much,” he replied, laying her on the mattress, moving away to turn on her night lights, the room now lit in hazy gold from one corner. “You’re so cute when you’re sleepy like this.”

Her eyes followed him around the room, biting the inside of her cheek to keep any second thoughts at bay. “Can you keep a secret?” She whispered, mind suddenly more conscious than it had been all evening. What could she say, being this close to him caused cross connections sometimes.

He sat down on the edge of the bed next to her, taking her hand in his again. “Of course.”

“I think I’m in love with you, and it scared me to let you leave without you knowing.”

The biggest smile she had seen all day slowly broke out on his face, bringing their entwined hands up to his lips so he could kiss the back of her hand. “Can you keep my secret?”

When she hummed, he sighed out dreamily. “I know I’m in love with you. I have been for a long time.”

Tears gathered in her eyes for the third time that night, and soon he was gone.

“So this boy you say you liked, what’s he like? Do we know him? Does anyone here know him?” James perks up cheekily, and she knows exactly what and who he was aiming at. She can feel her cheeks heat up under the makeup, thank god for full coverage foundation.

“I think he might get by… maybe you know him, maybe you don’t…” she trails off but she knows James would want more. She knows most people who consider themselves her fans must’ve seen the few times she was spotted with him over the last year. There was a grainy video of the two of them standing very close at a small pub in Toronto, a few photos of the two of them walking hand in hand in Hyde Park while she was still filming in London, the one 35mm photo he posted of himself by the fireplace in her house, the same house that was the backdrop of many of her own photos. She knew they knew. But the two of them had never confirmed or denied anything, keep ‘em guessing and all. The sneaking around was half the fun. The other half was not having the media and the general public up their asses for every minuscule detail of their private lives.

“So it probably wouldn’t be someone we’ve seen before right? You don’t happen to know this devilishly handsome Canadian singer - his face looks like it was carved from marble - has the voice of an angel?”

She tapped her fingers on her chin as if in deep thought, “Nope, sorry doesn’t ring a bell. But it sounds like you do know someone like that,” she smirks back at him, “What say, James, wanna set me up?”

“An opportunity to set up an Oscar winning actress? I wouldn’t dare pass up on that!” He seemed delighted, fully aware that his show was the first and only one to have had her spill any details about her personal life at all.

Soon, he thanked her for being on the show, reminding the viewers to grab tickets to her upcoming film before announcing the next guest. She was brought backstage to pack up and head home, but not before she had her promotional photos taken with James, and in their signature photobooth. By an absolute coincidence she pinned her photo next to her love’s, smiling at how pathetic and mushy it was.

Later that night as she got ready for bed, she saw herself tagged in a video by the Late Late Show’s Instagram account. It was the one of her talking about how “the boy she liked” taught her a life lesson and how she asked James to set her up with interested suitors.

She found herself smiling at the video, when she felt his presence behind her, wrapping his arm around her and pulling her into him. She let out a blissed sigh, and felt him nosing at her neck, dropping stray kisses as he liked. He cleared his throat lightly, sending chills down her spine due to the proximity.

“Heard you’re looking for handsome Canadian singers to be set up with, where do I apply, Miss Golden?”

taglist: @shawnwyr @mendesstories @lanallaa @sleepybesson @rulerofnocountry @luvluvxx @wholesomemendes

dm to be added or removed ♥️

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toxoiddiamond · 3 years

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RAFAEL CALEB ISSERLIS Are they close or distant with their family? Rafael is definitely close with his family, including much of his extended family. He enjoys going to family reunions when he can, and he talks to his siblings, parents, and maternal grandparents (his paternal grandparents have both passed away) on a regular basis. He’s been blessed with a very loving, accepting, and supportive family who are basically proud of him no matter what he does. He is probably closest with his younger sister, Eliana– she has come to visit him in Spain several times and they always have a blast together. Describe the most beautiful piece of art they’ve ever seen. Tell us how it made them feel. While on a trip to Austria with some friends, they visited the Belvedere museum, and Rafael saw the painting “The Kiss” for the first time. He stood there staring at it for a good ten minutes while one of his friends, who knew more about art than he did, stood with Rafael and talked about it with him, both giving him information about the painting and listening to Rafael’s opinion of it. Rafael was so taken with it that it led him to look up all of that artist’s other work, and that got him more interested in art in general. Are they indoorsy or outdoorsy? Night owl or morning lark? Outdoorsy for sure. Rafael loves the outdoors, he loves being in nature and going on hikes, biking, skating, etc. He also enjoys more leisurely walks and loves going camping– anything where he can be outside. He does tend toward being a night owl– he stays up very late and doesn’t usually wake up until 2 or 3 pm, but he also doesn’t mind getting up early if it’s for something fun. If they were a stranger meeting themselves, would they trust themselves based on first impressions? Rafael likes to think he would trust himself based on first impressions. People do usually find Rafael to be a trustworthy person– he’s the type of person who always gets approached on the street when someone needs directions or help, because he just has a kind face. Some people have told him that his natural resting face can make him look angry, but with how smily Rafael is, it quickly becomes clear that he’s not an angry or scary person in the slightest~ What is their relationship to religion? Devout or skeptical? Rafael has a slightly complicated relationship with religion. His mother is Jewish, and he and all his siblings were raised in the religion. His father is agnostic but totally supportive and always willing to celebrate/observe Jewish holidays. While Rafael does enjoy many of the cultural aspects of Judaism, he has never particularly believed in it, or any other religion. He still observes some of the holidays, including Hanukkah, just because it’s nostalgic for him, but he doesn’t keep kosher or go to temple or anything. What event in their past is most responsible for shaping who they are today? He went on a backpacking trip through Europe with a bunch of friends right before his second year of college. As corny as it sounds, that trip really did change his life– it got him interested in art and traveling, it made him want to leave the US and live in another country (something he’d already wanted to do for a while), and it inspired him to change his major from Computer Software Engineering to focus on Drawing and Painting. His parents were completely thrown off by the decision, but since it turned out he hadn’t gotten too far into the classes for his actual major, he didn’t lose any progress by changing his major and so they were very supportive of the change in direction. If they could change one thing about themself, what would it be? Although Rafael is comfortable with who he is, he does wish that he was better at navigating romantic relationships. He’s terrible at flirting– he gets super nervous and awkward, and has a hard time judging if the person is even flirting with him at all or just being friendly, so he tends to miss a lot of opportunities. He’s also had an issue with coming on too strong in the past and accidentally scaring partners away. He feels things very deeply and tends to fall hard and fast, but his expressions of love so soon in his relationships have been too much for previous partners to handle. This has led him to swing hard in the opposite direction and he is now extremely reluctant to express his feelings. Do they have a guilty pleasure show or movie, what is it and why? He has a love for romcoms, honestly. He wouldn’t say they’re his favorite genre or anything, but if he’s in a bad mood, or if he’s had a rough day, he loves just putting on a romcom and getting lost in a happy little world for a couple of hours. His absolute favorite romcom is Notting Hill. If they ever won the lottery, how would it change their life? His family is already quite well off, and honestly he has had a lot of monetary help from his family in the past. If he did win the lottery, he would probably donate a lot of it to various causes. He would also want to do nice things for people– family, friends, strangers, he’d just want to surprise them with nice things, maybe pay off some debts for people, etc. Other than that, he’d probably just get himself a fairly nice house, someplace where he could have a family, maybe a bit of property, and he’d put enough away in savings to remain comfortable and make sure his children (if he were to have any) would be comfortable as well~ Have they ever been in love? Many times, but sadly it has never worked out for him. Rafael is a hopeless romantic and just wants someone to love him as deeply as he loves them, but he’s starting to think maybe he should give up on ever finding someone that will really love him back. Part of him thinks that maybe he’s just been a little childish or foolish when it comes to romance, and maybe he just needs to settle for less than what he wants.

#character: rafael isserlis #ship: razio #questionnaire

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qqueenofhades · 4 years

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hello! it’s youngin anon once more in your inbox, i hope you’re staying safe rn! since quarantine has put a lot of free time in my hands all of a sudden, I’ve been reading more. so I was wondering if you have suggestions for books on medieval history (in general or ones good for beginners) I would also be open to any book recommendations in general. Hope you have a lovely day (or as lovely as they can get during quarantine) :D

My dear, please know that I am delighted to see you back and I hope that you are likewise taking care of yourself. I am... here, at any rate, though my mental health has really taken a beating recently and real life has been kicking my ass more than usual the last two weeks. So that’s that, but never mind. You are sweet to ask.

Anyway, as far as medieval history books go, I am (ironically!) not the best person to ask for recommendations, because I read almost nothing that is popular history, beginner level, or otherwise at all interesting to the average layman and/or woman. All my reading material on this subject is academic in nature, dense, highly footnoted and while you can take a hack at it, I have a feeling that it would quickly defeat the purpose. Chris Wickham’s Medieval Europe, published in 2016, was the core book for first-year undergraduates in my history survey courses a couple years ago; he is a decent writer as far as academics go, and it will give you a broad-picture sweep. I read it differently from how you will, but there’s that.

If you would like things that will actually entertain you during lockdown, here’s a list of the things that I have recently been reading, rereading, or otherwise had stacked on my bedside table for an inordinately long amount of time:

YA:

The Mediator (6-book series) by Meg Cabot, a blast from my teenage past that I was struck with an urge to revisit, don’t judge me, we need coping mechanisms. Teenage girl who can talk to ghosts moves to CA, meets hot boy ghost, tries to survive high school. There is also Remembrance, published in 2016, which is a book in that same universe for adults.

The Wrath and the Dawn by Renee Ahdieh, a retelling of Scheherazade from the Thousand and One Nights that I have not actually read yet. But mean to, since I really enjoy the webcomic based on it.

Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo, she has many highly regarded YA novels and I very much enjoyed her Ninth House.

The Amulet of Samarkand, The Golem’s Eye, Ptolemy’s Gate, aka the Bartimaeus Trilogy by Jonathan Stroud, another blast from my teenage past that I recently reread and was like “wow this explains so much about how I turned out.”

Fiction:

Crazy Rich Asians, China Rich Girlfriend, Rich People Problems by Kevin Kwan, a trilogy of soapy escapist high-society romcom novels set among the ultra-rich of Singapore and Asia (you may have seen the movie based on the first book).

The City of Brass, The Kingdom of Copper by S.A. Chakraborty, a trilogy based in a rich Middle Eastern fantasy world. The third book, The Empire of Gold, comes out I think at the end of June, which I am looking forward to.

Rodham by Curtis Sittenfeld, I have not actually read this as it is not yet released (also June I think) but it is a fictional version of Hillary Rodham Clinton’s life as imagined if she didn’t marry Bill and did become president. I have read American Wife by Sittenfeld, which is based on a fictional Laura Bush’s life, and enjoyed it.

Red, White, and Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston, speaking of fictional presidents, but do yourself a favor and read this if you haven’t already. The First Son of the United States falls in love with the Prince of England. So many shenanigans and Feelings abound. It reads like a fanfic. It’s great. I adore this book with my whole soul.

Reamde by Neal Stephenson. A giant, sprawling, techno-thriller/global crime caper/terrorist manhunt. I just finished rereading this book and I still find it to be one of my longtime favorites. If you attempt it, just settle down and accept that you’re in for a long and madcap ride. One of his other recent books that I very much enjoyed is The Rise and Fall of DODO, with Nicole Galland, which is about the triumphs and travails of a time travel organization secretly working for the US government.

Nonfiction:

Catch and Kill by Ronan Farrow, the true-life story of the investigation that ultimately brought down Harvey Weinstein and other major sexual predators. So you know, a light and fun read. But important.

The Spy and the Traitor by Ben MacIntyre, Cold War intrigue that tells the story of senior KGB agent and double agent for MI6 Oleg Gordievsky.

Thunderstruck by Erik Larson, the story of a famous 19th-century murderer and manhunt intertwined with the invention of wireless technology; Larson is known for his excellent narrative nonfiction so you can’t really go wrong with any of his books.

Due to the plague, I have been furloughed from my part-time job at my local bookstore, which has put a terrible crimp in my habit of acquiring stacks of new books at ill-advised speed. But hopefully some of that looks interesting, and I hope you enjoy!

#book recs #anonymous #ask

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roguestarsailor · 4 years

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thoughts about emily in paris

pros:

- mindy (+she has her own storyline and gets her growth and conclusion) - fashion is cute lol im not particularly big fan of fashion nor would i ever wear what emily wears but i enjoy it! - love the girl in big city trope (living vicariously through it cuz covid) - dumping deadweight bf to live ur life - hot neighbor - “le vagin” post - even bringing up women’s trouble w sex as they get older ??? - cute as apartment (which realistically would cost ~4k a month??) - chance meeting w people and becoming friends/lovers - cute outdoor seatings - go getter career orientated woman who has expertise in their field to make everything work out!! like imagine a career that is so smooth. being able to find contacts so seamlessly i want that!!1 - seeing the france country side! that shit is ~beautiful~ - that fucken view from her apartment that she doesn’t complain about not being able to afford - gabriel’s apartment w the dark green wall color in his kitchen [chiefs kiss] - getting fired but she keeps showing up to work anyways and everyones like it takes years to be officially fired lol i love that - calling out capitalism when she explained merck and how they created a disease, found a solution for the disease and then marketed the shit out of the solution - its just fun and quirky and relaxing to watch

cons:

- crazy rich asians stereotype (which isnt necessarily bad but i wish i could have seen like a regular trying to get by asian character) - emily sleeps w a minor BIG PROBLEM. i feel like a lot of netflix romcom shows/movies will always feature a young boy falling in love w the main leading lady. im thinking about Desperados and how at one point she gets into the wrong hotel room and shes like in her bath towel and this greasy kid comes up and she of course falls and he sees her nude. like why????? please take minors out of this pls - very american savior complex (although but ive been to paris in HS and i had to have a few conversations where i really think some parian’s views are dated) - there were quite a few older men?? which isnt exactly bad but idk mind the age gaps - that weird relationship emily has w camille and gaberial???? she knows but she still kisses him?? he kisses her back?? they also fucked too??? but she knows?? but also why are camille and gabe together anyways when they clearly arent working out??? - lack of public transport scenes. europe has one of the best public transports in the world and u cannot NOT ride it. its always on time and that shit blows my stupid american brain and its a shame that its not talked about. (although it is truly disgusting sometimes but thats the quirks) - french men aren’t that greaT??? theyre just regular men like where you’ll find literally anywhere - where the pocs at?? are they sleeping?? i know in paris has signifcantly more people and more crowds and more pocs than u can imagine!! - marketing. please stop. theres plenty of careers out there. its either journalist or marketing or advertisement. like are there no other jobs women want?? - that bratty movie star that emily had to babysit - like i hate that trope so much and its so stupid. of course the kid actress is gonna drink and do a shit ton of drugs and run away and trick the handler and fuck around and of course the handler (emily) will run around trying to find the kid and at the same be like fuck it and party w the kid and forget to be the working professional. ugh i hate it - hyping social media. like i get it; influencer culture is changing marketing and is related to emily but i feel like why couldnt this be a story without pulling in the social media aspects?? i think its just annoying to watch influencers through a medium that is suppose to take me away from IRL social media. i dont have my thoughts together w this one yet but that part annoyed me. having the perfect social is such a stressful thing that to showcase it as this fun thing is off putting??

first thoughts i might come back and edit this page when more thoughts come. i did skim through the tags for EIP and both the good and bad comments for this show is correct! i love any media that romanticize living in another city and being this awesome career woman and finding love at every corner and making friends easily and living in the dream apartment and never complain about money but i can also be critical of it!

#amandathoughts #emily in paris #lily collins #netflix #emily in paris netflix #emily in paris spoilers #spoilers #eip

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beneaththetangles · 4 years

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Spy x Family x Random Thoughts

I had the pleasure of reading Spy x Family, vol. 1, thanks to the dynamic duo of VIZ and Twwk.

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At first blush, it’s a normal (?) family: a father, a mother, and a six-year-old girl. But one of them is a spy, one is an assassin, and one is a psychic, and two of the three don’t realize just how complicated their situation is. Spy x Family is a droll genre mashup with a lot of heart. It draws on classic spy thrillers like the James Bond and Mission: Impossible films, mistaken identity comedies, two-people-pretend-to-be-in-a-relationship-but-fall-in-love-for-real romcoms, and reluctant-adult-suddenly-becomes-parent-to-cute-kid-and-family-ensues stories. Volume 1 details the start of this peculiar relationship dynamic.

Twilight is a covert intelligence operative in a world roughly modeled after Cold War-era Europe. He’s assigned to investigate a reclusive politician whose only known public appearances are at events as his son’s school. So Twilight has a week to find a wife and kid and enroll said child at the same elite private academy. This will, theoretically, grant Twilight a chance to get closer to his target. Under the alias Loid Forger, he finds an apartment, then visits a rundown orphanage that’s undoubtedly in violation of multiple laws and adopts a seemingly clever little girl named Anya. Of course, Twilight expects to ditch the girl and send her back to an orphanage as soon as his mission is over.

Anya truly is a gifted child, but not in the way Twilight hopes. Unbeknownst to him, this six-year-old girl escaped from some creepy mad science project after they did something that turned her into telepath, which has utterly hilarious results! For one, Anya easily learns her new papa is a spy, and thinks it’s super cool. Moreover, as a spy, Twilight often doesn’t want to share what he’s thinking…except Anya knows it anyway and often responds unpredictably to words he didn’t actually speak. She quickly gets attached to her cool new spy papa, and determines not to let him go. The next major hurdle arises when the super elite private school’s admissions process requires a family interview…which both of a child’s parents must attend. So Twilight needs to recruit an accomplice a wife within forty-eight hours.

Separate and apart, a clerk at city hall named Yor Briar faces pressure from coworkers and her younger brother to get a boyfriend. She ends up telling her brother she already has one…and quickly winds up in a situation where she’ll need to provide an actual human being to prove it to him. Also, Yor is an assassin known as the Thorn Princess. After she rips her nicest dress while slaughtering a bunch of dudes at a hotel, she goes to a clothing store, and chances upon Twilight and Anya out shopping for nicer clothes to the replace the ones Anya received at the orphanage. Despite their unwitting mutual interest (Twilight needs a shame wife, Yor needs a sham boyfriend), nothing happens…almost.

Fortunately, Anya is a telepath. She quickly learns that Yor is a super cool assassin and decides wants Yor for a mother. Anya also realizes that Yor and Twilight need each other for their respective situations. Thus the six-year-old cleverly plays matchmaker between the spy and the assassin. Initially, Twilight agrees to accompany Yor to a party to uphold her lie to her brother, and Yor agrees to pose as Anya’s mother for the family interview. After a bit of a violent sidequest the same evening as the party, Twilight arrives late, bloody, and battered…and he mixes up his roles, claiming to be Yor’s husband instead of her boyfriend. But Yor is actually on board with this – a marriage will better provide cover for her work as an assassin than remaining single. Stuff happens, as they end up legally married.

The resulting family contains three members, each trying to keep a huge secret to keep from the others, allthough Anya already knows their big secrets because, hey, telepathy. Both Twilight and Yor expect this to be a temporary arrangement in which they use the other to provide cover for their real work. Anya, meanwhile, is doing her best to make them a real family. And there are some cute hints that Twilight and Yor are starting to actually like each other.

Lots of other stuff happens in vol. 1, but that summarizes the main cast and how they wind up together. But you didn’t come here to read my scintillating summary, did you, dear reader? Of course not. Fortunately, while it seems this manga probably won’t be taking itself too terribly seriously, there were a couple of thought-provoking moments on which I shall pontificate further.

The story opens with this declaration: “Everyone has a secret they don’t show to other people.” Certainly secrets are a defining force in the lives of Twilight, Anya, and Yor. Those of us who aren’t spies or assassins don’t tend to find quite so much need for secrecy. Yet even we plebes can have secrets, both trivial and terrible. Secrets sometimes arise for positive reasons, but often they seem to stem from less healthy sources: shame and fear at best, or outright evil motives at worst. Secrets of this sort tend to be burdens. Of course, in the manga, someone does know the secrets of both Twilight and Yor: their adoptive daughter Anya (who knows thanks to her own secret!).

Anya brings to mind the one who knows all our secrets. Or, perhaps, it would be better to say that when it comes to God, we have no secrets. Long before we existed, God already knew everything about us. He knew every sin we’d ever commit. He knew exactly how flawed and broken and foolish and weak we’d be. Knowing all of that didn’t stop him from taking on human form, sacrificing himself for us, and creating us. I find this reminder especially relevant when it comes to prayer. There’s nothing so trivial or embarrassing that we can’t talk to God about it. Indeed, considering how much the Bible says about prayer, it seems God actually very much wants us to talk to him about our lives.

Another interesting moment in the manga was a realization Twilight has. He had remarked earlier about how he can’t stand to be around crying children. Later, he recognizes why: suffering children (like Anya) remind him of his own difficult childhood. Twilight acknowledges that trying to avoid these painful memories was warping his attitude toward children. In this, Twilight illustrates the reality that our childhood experiences have profound, dramatic, and often unexpected effects on us.

When I was a kid, my emotionally abusive dad was always right about everything. His authority was absolute, and anything other than instant compliance with his commands was sinful disobedience. As an adult, I learned that my dad was anything but always right, that parental authority is not absolute, and that my dad wasn’t remotely deserving of the extreme reverence I’d been raised to have for him. This has affected my attitude toward all authorities and is something I still wrestle with. After all, the central authority of my childhood, toward whom I had this warped sense of veneration, turned out to be wrong and untrustworthy in some really big ways. I can’t help but project that experience onto most other human authorities, leaving me leery of giving any of them too much trust, too much respect, too much obedience.

Whether those around Twilight will help him develop a healthy relationship with authority matches my own life: a progression that remains to be seen. Putting aside my own transformation, though, I’m eager to see how Twilight grows throughout the course of Spy x Family, and the same for the rest of his makeshift family. And so, I recommend volume one of Spy x Family—a most oddly cute and romantic comedy-action-spy-manga.

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Spy x Family is updated regularly on VIZ, where the most recent chapters are always free. Volume one can be purchased on Amazon.

#Manga #Christianity #SPY X FAMILY #Family #Secrets #Prayer #Authority #Articles #Author: JeskaiAngel

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mikkock · 4 years

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Uhm??????? Unacceptable?? Please tell me more about your OCs in that last art? I demand it? I want a full report on my desk before morning? Cite your sources please?

Oh no,, you’re asking,,, about my own faves,,, sorry to everyone, but I guess im never going to shut up ever now. (i already don’t shut up ever, what have u done, im now going to speak so much that society will collapse AT LEAST)

But for real. I enjoy pretending I don’t have faves, I love all my kids the same, buT WE ALL KNO THAT’S A LIE, those two my fave bitches (they snatched that title from the last two faves, rip to them, and they also snatched, n I must really make that clear, the title of “the bitches with the most AUs from the previous previous faves. Their power.)

SO. Get ready for a ride, table of content: them, their respective character, their story, and the pLETHORA OF ALTERNATE STORIES I GAVE THEM because i must yell about all the versions of my kids i have (non-exhaustive cause its that serious bro, but ill take extra time for the universe depicted in that art just for u bby). (tbh if clamp is allowed to sprinkle their fave gays in all their universes so am i, except they aint secondary characters there, every story is just theirs. love that concept.)(itll be so long you’re getting a whole novel even if i have to post it in two posts)

So~ Em twos. Dari n Wei-wei as I call em, or Dumbass n Egg if you wanna get friendly.

They’re my proudest instance of “oops i made a squad of characters, and two of them just accidentally were so perfectly compatible and complementary oh no I guess they’re in love now.” And then they became my favourite. Cause I guess their potential was too much (jk its bc they hot)

cuties.

I spent ten minutes wondering which to introduce first cause dang son, I want to talk bout them both so much shefjgfdg

First, as I technically designed him first (like ten minutes before the other), my man weiwei. if u ever saw my art its impossible that you havent seen him at least once. cause i’m legit always drawing him. cause im in love bro.

Demonstration : here are my computer scribbled weiweis of 2020 so far (with a few daris there n there they’re a package deal), that i could find, and they do not include all the paper sketches that i’m too lazy to take pics of. (i just been drawing him with so much hair these days that’s illegal, his brand is baldness)

But anyway, he’s CHEN Chia-Wei, he’s 21, he’s Taiwanese n I love him. Two very important facets of his character when you meet him: he doesn’t talk, and is absolutely, in every single dimension, built to make you fall head over heels for him.

He’s (in the “canon” storyline if i may call it that since it’s def not my most developed one but oh well) an art student, mostly paints but is also great at photography and videography (his vibe is busy hectic pieces with strong bold colours, lots of harsh edges, and very people focused).

Aside from that, he’s also super into fashion, and because he’s part of the rich boy squad (the “im broke so im giving half my characters wealth in compensation) he Can and Does exhibit some quite funky fits when he feels like it. (maybe a reason I draw him a lot, since my fave thing is pretty boys in weird ass clothes)(and then i also draw him in just casual shit cuz tittiful men in plain white tees you know. there’s just something about it.)

Small compilation of outfits. ft me and my band handwriting roasting outfits that id also kill to own but ok u know.

He digs music. (i make playlists for my OCs and i gotta say, his is the best one, i spent so many hours researching it, “arranging” it etc n its still a work in progress but dude. she got many moods my fave part is when it suddenly turns into so many cheesy ballads also she’s enormous cause im as wordy in playlists as I am in writing.) listens to a lot, n also he can play piano n guitar. cause you know. heartthrobs got to win your heart with a song (and if he’s alone he can even mumble some songs, who knows maybe even sing em softly, definitly a sight to stumble on accidentally). Big main artists that have his vibes are Hello Nico, No Party for Cao Dong, n Circa Waves’s “what’s it like over there” album.

He does a lot of sports. He ain’t fit through magic, rip to him. He’s got a serious routine, and it’s a time he likes to use alone, cause nothing like running at the break of dawn, alone with your thoughts, which you can just easily forget through the exhaustion of a workout session afterwards.

he also eats. A lot. Food is just good, bro. (the canon story is def happening some place europe aka his biggest struggle is how expensive food is here. outrageous.)

He secretly loves super cheesy movies. the dramatic romcoms??? the cute shows that are just so cute and worriless?? anything involving soulmates??? yeh dude. he watches it, he reads it, he listens to it, and he may cry about it, but no one will know. That’s the one true guilty pleasure. (and he definitly has a collection of romance dvds, books n manhuas in his old room back at the family home. where no one can see it. perks of studying abroad. no one can see ur hoarding of material that clashes your image. “yes i watch edgy experimental things haha yes i love those smart people movies of course wow the philosophy…” and then immediatly goes to watch the trashiest predictable but oh so sweet dramas all night)

While he doesn’t speak (as in with the mouth) he can communicate in a bunch of language, due to having moved around quite a bit. On top of his native mandarin and hokkien, he’s fluent in English, so he can use those to write, and is also fluent in TSL, and pretty good in HKSL (and from that, other close-in-syntax sign languages). So he doesn’t have trouble getting around, but then he is also overall quiet in public (with close friends and over text though, that’s another story, that’s where he gets chattier, and also where you may get more of his true personality). Also, he can speak with his sister. That’s pretty cool bro.

I was going to say he’s a very “hides his true colours under a shell” type of character but you know, for an egg character, that’s pretty ironic. We love poetic cinema.

He presents himself as a very laid back, chill detached dude, going with the flow and all that great stuff, and masterfully mixes just the right doses of mysterious, flirty and calm to just go around vibing. But ain’t that jUST THE MILLENIAL’S ILLNESS, those dANG KIDS, going around, gettin relationships but never intimacy 👏😢 (there’s more to it dont leave)

First of all, before you see the Drama, the Turmoil, the first thing you notice when you really do befriend him is that he’s c h i l d i s h, he gets sulky when things dont go following the plan, he gets whiny n jealous for not getting attention , he gets competitive over stupid challenges, and way too playful if you start teasing, and when he gets flustered too…you think you get cool stoic dude but actually you get a dude who’s reacting to things with way too much intensity, and boi i thought u were gon be mature what’s that why have you been pouting for three days over losing a bet come on- That’s mostly coming up when he interacts with his sister, but the closest you are to him to more of it you get to see.

He’s also an affectionate dude actually. Like physically. As in you’ll get spontaneous hugs. He’s come nap on your shoulder. That’s a perk of befriending him if you ask me.

Also he tries to look so cool, so tough haha. He’s actually a lil sensitiv boi. he gets fluffy, he gets flustered, he heart eyes. you turn around and he’s gazing at ya as if you were the whole universe. he gets a mini crisis for holding hands with his crush. ya know. he’s secretly a softie.

nerd.

Then in the “what he doesn’t show” (my fave part), where you stock all the anxieties, all the trauma… Obviously there’s a lot of anxiety here (selective muteness being a symptom of it, he hides the other ones very well) mostly fear of inadequacy, of abandonement and of loneliness. mmmmmmmaybe that’s why he was v reticent to continue pursuing that one guy he was into when he realised he was just a tad too into him oh no is that some,, like?? some lovey-love?? cant have that im afraid of gettin heartbroken bro. Aint that sad for a someone who’s one true goal is just findin someone to love and to be with forever, the struggles of yearnin for a soulmate when there’s nothing you fear more than getting attached to a person and letting them see you and your flaws.., delicious.

Now tho (because its so alone speaking about a character on their own and i just wanna get to the part where i can speak bout em together and how they bring out bits of each others ya kno, the good kush….), Dari…

He’s pretty, i must say, and got the funniest hair to draw, and comes from the most opposite background to weiwei’s.

Darian Andriev PARVANOV, also 21, comes from the remote Bulgarian countryside, but i still love him (this makes it sound as if i wouldnt normally love someone from the bulgarian countryside. its not what i meant. by default ud remind me of my son so you’d start being liked if u came from the bulgarian countryside) Now for the first instance of “wow, the complementarity”. The first thing i thought making Dari was that he looked too cool, and that he obviously was a dumbass, and mostly that he was physically unable to shut up. (o fuck he’s me)

best picture i could find of him. He’s got the dilemma of “wow he looked so pretty n cool until he opened his mouth”

He’s ALSO an art student (cause they were initially created for the purpose of filling the gap of “i have ocs in every field except the one i sorta know that’s so stupid”), painting major (def vibes differently than weiwei though, he’s doing those soft pretty landscapes n flowers, everything real pretty and peaceful, we got some impressionism nerd in here folks).

He was/is a real country boy, farm family, he helped tend the fields, he worked in plantations for pocket money, he knows how to take care of cattle and chicken and goats and all the cool babies you can take care of, he can tell whether the soil is good or not, he can drive a tractor, and doesnt fear dirt.

but then also he’s kind of a neat freak, he hates getting paint on himself, so the duality of man, dirt ok but paint? disgostin. his spaces are real neat and spotless, he likes cleaning (its relaxing) and does it nearly too often.

his dumbassery comes from lack of common sense and impulsiveness, aside from that he’s actually what you’d call “mad smart”, dude had em good grades, he can memorise pages upon pages of the most trivial information, he has an accumulation of knowledge beyond limits, and is good at problem solving. so he can recite all the words of the F letter of the dictionnary, but would also put a curling iron in his mouth to see if it would curl his tongue. (side note, he does have a problem with heat n fire, most his “oopsie how i wound up hurting myself on acccident” story involve burning -that stove was just too tempting…)

while he doesnt feel very attached to his home country, he does feel strongly for his family. he’d do anything for his mum (and actually does everything to make her proud already, that’s his one main goal), and he’s ready to sacrifice a lot for her (as in, spend years working non-stop a really uncomfortable job so his mother wouldnt have to pay a cent of his expenses even though she said she could by doing some sacrifices herself,and then being ready to come back as soon as needed if anything happened, and potentially drop his career and dream n go back to the farm life to provide for mama)(also he still does hold onto some parts of his home country’s traditions, and does sometimes feel homesick but more in a ‘i left the most beautiful landscapes n the city feels cramped and claustrophobic and i dont know people and i dont feel in the right place cuz im a forreigner with a thicc accent who doesnt master the language of this place and straight up have different body language communicators due to cultural difference oh lord i wanna be home where a nod means no and a head shake is yes i keep misunderstanding everything”)

if you want background noise he’s the perfect pal to call over, he’s just so chatty, he got hours and hours of non stop speech ready for you. you can shut him up once you’re done listening with the offering of food. works everytime.

he’s definitly not shy. neither in terms of talking to people, nor when it comes to making decisions. he’s quite bold, and rarely hesitates to go towards something he wants. he’s direct in his approach to most everything.

he likes partying. mostly the socialising part, talkin to people is just fun ya feel. and being in the crowd, doing whatever, pressure free? ya can dance n enjoy yourself, and people wont notice? yeah that’s nice. but doesnt do it super often cause broke bitches aint got the party time n budget.

he likes arm. (just an excuse for me to drop this thing here cuz i like it)

While he’s an overall bubbly looking character, with a cheery loud personnality, he does carry some youth trauma that has him more reticent to engage in happiness, he comes from what you could call “not the wokest background” and he may have fallen victim of it : he’s kind of a flashy noticeable character, both physically and in his personnality, and doesnt exactly matches the expectations of dudes in the area he comes from (delicate, emotional and sweet guy? that doesnt exist bro). He went through it, and it has definitly had some impact on his confidence in many aspects. But he’s 100% the type of guy to put on the fake happy front because if feeling bad is sad, making the people you care about sad for you too is Unacceptable Right??? relying on friends?? what???

But then what are we supposed to be doing with such charming characters huh,,,

Make them fall in love obviously.

Their story obviously has to do with falling in love and workin a relationship cause if I dont write romance i literally die, but I make the center pivot of all of it communication, and barriers in communications. Most obvious being them coming from wildly different cultures, having different native languages, and also the ways you adapt to muteness (what i love most bout that part is even then they fucked up given the easiest quickest small body language things to communicate are head nods n then i managed to make one come from the one country that reverses those like iconic how do they even understand each other -through a lot of work and love bro) but also on more “introspective” points, how to say things that you are even afraid to think about, how to open up and share your burdens and trauma with someone, how to say words you’ve been convinced you weren’t allowed to, the inner turmoil of communication in short. And then also communication through art, and through alternative unusual ways. If i were snobbish i could call it something like “a thinkpieces on how humans overcome obstacles in communication, and adapt, all for the sake of pursuing love” but fact is its mostly boys being in love n learning how to speak, figuratively and also quite literally. And also its me having fun with making characters evolve from each other, be able to influence each other for the better, helping each other be more comfortable with themselves and express the true things of their personnality, and discover new aspects. I just wanna write intense and soulful love bro.

So in less concept and more facts, weiwei meets dari, dari being his puppy self just immediatly strikes a conversation and weiwei gets interested cause “oho nice pretty boy? very good. i want some of that”. they get closer because you cant fight off the Power of friendship (and also the power of “what your friend is bestie with my friend?? guess we hanging out”) and then friendship and interest turns into pining, held back by respective dread of what romance with the other would mean (as in “romance?? cant have that we cant feel” and “with him?? cant do that, convince yourself he’s just a friend immediatly what would the family think”) but eventually they do have to just crash into one another cause that’s just the gravitational pull bro, its physics bro. and from then on its all unlearning destructive behaviours, bettering oneself with the help of the other, and getting over trauma to finally live ur best life. and gettin fckin married bro they’re both cheeseballs theyll wanna wed

BUT MAKING EM FALL IN LOVE ONCE ISNT ENOUGH time to make 3894853 alternate universes about em.

Lets speak bout my fave of those for a hot second.

First of all, the one of the art that brought this ask, guess i could call it “Pretty Tribes” AU, bunch of tribes live and do their things, having nature and energy powers. Dari n Weiwei’s tribes are bros, the latter’s powers needing them to move around to get energy from different places, enabling them different abilities. So basically they get to hang at the other’s place while the regenerate energy from there, and in exchange they help them out with various tasks (dari’s tribe is a rly farmer oriented one, with plant magic, while weiwei’s got more poyvalent powers, and have very good healers notably, so it comes in handy). The two boys were born a few months apart in their respective tribes, so naturally, anything the two clans meet, they’re put together to play and all, and from that they became besties, and each time they meet, after the gaps of time separating the two groups, they feel more and more of a little something else~ story is themed round growing up, friendship between clans, their traditions and cultures, and pretty boys in pretty clothes in pretty landscapes interacting with nature.

The superpower AU, i fuckin love it bro. Its an old one, made for other characters, but i just love it so much that i had to inject my faves in it. Its got a grimy ugly setting, bad government, propaganda, and fights between super-people (heavily mediatised for entertainment and reinforcing the idea that “look at these evil villains thank god us the good government protects you from them”), with a side of bad ethics in science. In all that, those two have the role of “those two young enemy warrior and villain, they were so powerful and fought so hard”, public figures, legendary and admired by both sides, everyone followed their fights, til one day they presumably died in one of their showdowns. (haha sike they actually found themselves talking for 5 seconds and realised they lived in a society, n built a plan to run away). The main characters get to find they’re alive because one of em had history with super-warrior-golden-boy and go to seek their help to overthrow the Big Bads. (stealing them from their nice gay cottage hermit life smh so rude)

Mermaids. I like those. Sailor weiwei sees merman dari, they both save each other in different occasions, they grow fascinated with each other, they’re at sea, water romance. Amazing. AU made half cuz i just like water n fish. and shirtless sailors.

(i couldnt find art of it in five minutes so have a link to that lil animatic piece i made of it once)

Indie band AU, where i was listening to songs that vibe so well with those two in general n then my brain was like “what if they’re the ones playing”. They’re (along with the rest of the art squad) a nice little alternative rock band, doing their thing, then one of their songs blows up, and they get quite the attention, to the dismay of dari who wrote that song in a moment of “oh no im so in love with my bandmate but i cant tell him what if i ruin everything we have going on ill just have to love from afar and deal with that” and now has way too many people interested in who he wrote it about and theorising from his every move when performing it (a mix of music, secret crushes and social media) (ft a picture of neither of them but its the least ugly art i found of this AU cuz its old and instruments are the bane of my existence)(also kelana is so pretty i gotta flaunt her around)

in kind of the same vibe, as in we’re in a music world overexposed to social media, i also integrated em to an AU i did for fun, “boyband AU” as its called aka idol based band system cuz you kno, i got a hobby, lets apply it. Band boy Dari and bodyguard Weiwei got a thing going on, but can’t really act on it in any way, because they’d just destroy the whole band if it ever came public. Featuring annoying bandmates, catchy pop songs and people making fanaccounts of that one hot Mr.Bodyguard cause dang he hot.

(all the art of this one so ugly im sorry)

SPY AU, one of my fave brand. They spies, they get assigned on the same mission, they work real nice with each other. spies hot. fights. strategy. i just like the concept. Gays taking down the worst traffics imaginable??? I love that song.(i actually have so much on this cause s p i e s are fuckin great)

Fashion. U kNOW i have an AU for fashion. Supermodel and his private stylist, trying to maintain the line of professionalism. And failing to do so. Lets make out in unpractical designer clothes.

Have an highschool AU for a bunch of characters, injected them as “spinoff”, start chatting online being art buddies, fall in love without meeting (ft. all the iconics of internet friendship like knowing tiny details of their personnalities but not the fact that they have a sister or “waIT ur a GUY i thought u were a girl wow wild good news for my gay ass”)

n those are my faves as far as i remember, i got a fuckton of small other ones that arent fleshed out enough, or some that are more of a guilty pleasure universe, and some that are more like “projects that i can expend on as soon as i run out of daydream material” (like u kno those hospital drama shows with super innacurate medicine n shit like idk scrubs or whatever, yeh i want some of that but im keeping it for later)

#thats way less talk than i thought id do #prolly bc i wrote half of it when it was between midnight and one AM #wait no it was 2 am #but ye #sry if shit messy af #those two are my faves tho n talkin bout em on the spot is hard cuz my brain is screaming about everything bout em at once #if u wanna get more info on em do ask i love them so much n i feel i didnt do em justice here cuz speaking is a fraud words dont exist #im glad they caught ur interest tho #nothin more gratifyin than not being the only bitch who likes his own children

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twiststreet · 4 years

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Working late tonight, plus I wanted to start this year of watching movies off on the right foot, so I put on a Netflix Christmas teen rom-com that I’d been meaning to watch... it’s called Let It Snow (2019)? Because it’s about a town where it snowed. Or I guess there’s a speech at the beginning of the movie about how snow’s helpful for teens to realize they want to ram their parts? Or I guess I’m not really 100% sure what the title is about, actually, because no one’s like “I gotta stop it from snowing!” The snow is largely unobstructed throughout the movie. Everyone’s pretty accepting of the snow. Let it snow, don’t let it snow, you really don’t have a choice in the matter either way... I guess the teens think they get to vote on it, just because we gave them too many participation trophies. Sad.

Anyways, this was 2019′s other big Magical Snowplow Driver movie besides Liam Neeson’s Cold Pursuit, except instead of starring Liam Neeson, it stars America’s answer to Liam Neeson, Joan Cusack. Who is, of course, fucking great, as she always is, 100% of the time. Joan Cusack is so fucking good at being a Joan Cusack character in movies, just as consistent as ebola, except delightful... Joan Cusack: an ebola of delight.

The big strike-mark against it is it’s based on a book co-written by that guy who got driven off Tumblr, John Green? That’s the only thing I know about him, is he was like too lame for tumblr, or something, which is pretty wild because I mean. I mean. Respectfully. How is that even possible...? But it turns out it was co-written by Kay Cannon who did Pitch Perfect and a bunch of 30 Rock and the New Girl. And it’s her and someone who wrote Finding Dory, so a Pixar writer, and a British comedienne, and like a lot of British people behind the scenes. So I think they just make tasteful choices on this one, even if they’re not reinventing the wheel, and they’re delivering something obviously algorithmic...

At least, they lucked out on the cast. The only people I could identify was Spiderman’s sidekick from the Spiderman Goes to Europe movies (who’s in the movie to remind Asian boys that they don’t get to fall in love and they better get used to that... cool storyline!), and that Kiernan Shipwreck girl from Mad Men and Sabrina-- she hasn’t really found a thing that’s 100% worth her yet, like I think she should be in real shit, I think she’s pretty engaging when she’s in shit... but that being said, I like seeing her in teen stuff because she just looks like she’s having a great time being in corny shit after having to be all sad and fucked up for Mad Men. She gets to be the girl that a boy is horny for in this movie, and do a musical number, and her character’s called The Duke? I 100% get why she’s in this movie. I hope she had a great time and got her money. (Of which there was apparently a lot on this one because they were licensing Stones songs!).

Anyways, it’s based on some anthology book (it sounds like they changed it a LOT though, and all for the better-- the wikipedia entry for the book sounds pretty dire), so it’s like a teen Christmas romcom Magnolia, where a bunch of stories are going on and they only kinda barely intersect, and people have cancer and a lot of love to give but they just don’t know where to put it-- yeah, that movie was pretty much exactly teen-Magnolia. I hope they make a teen There Will Be Blood nexgt, just about horny teens finding oil, drinking milkshakes, abandoning their boys except in a fun way, “I abandoned my boy... to spend a crazy night bowling and learning about french kissing”, something like that...

But I just found it really pleasant to have on while I did other stuff. It doesn’t really make sense that a bunch of teens are just partying on Christmas eve instead of spending time with family, and it doesn’t really make sense that the teens are super-excited about one whole little-tiny keg that a kid steals. (”That teen movie needed harder liquor” -- me, a person of interest in many local crimes...)(I was the inspiration of that movie Ma!). And all the storylines are pretty well-worn (one’s just a retread of the Rashida Jones episode of Black Mirror, of all things, except in a teen holiday romcom...??)(It’s not very holiday-y). But they just created a nice atmosphere, I thought. It just overall felt good, just in how they executed the pieces of it, even if those pieces were maybe nothing dramatically original, at least as a thing I had on in the background while I did other, more stressful shit. It’s not a To All the Boys I Loved Before, if that’s your question. But is it better than the teen version of Uncut Gems I’ve been imagining while writing this paragraph, starring the cast of Stranger Things taking turns playing the Adam Sandler character? Also no.

#movies i saw in 2020 #let it snow

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trashfirephoenix · 4 years

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Steve was currently drunk and rambling to a complete stranger 35,000 feet in the air.

Nancy had left him for Jonathan and now Steve was flying to Europe, to Paris exactly, to try to get her back. She had tearfully and very drunkenly confessed how they had started sleeping together. She told Steve that she 'hadn't ever felt love like this before' for that rat bastard then told him that what they had together, the relationship and life he had worked and saved up for was 'bullshit'. Nancy had ended their engagement in under a minute so he had dropped everything and bought a ticket for a stupid amount of money to sit in this flying death trap for twelve hours next to this horrible man to try to win her back.

They were in love damn it, they loved each other, and it wasn't 'bullshit'. His goals, his hopes, his life wasn't bullshit. Especially when compared to some brooding socially inept photographer, no matter how 'artistically sensitive' he was. That's bullshit.

Steve had been explaining all of this to the metalhead asshole sitting beside him, trying to distract himself from the fact that he was hurtling through the air at 575 mph, trapped in a steel cage overnight to try to win his life back.

The Asshole pours another tiny vodka into his coke, seriously how did he get so many did he steal them he has like twelve, and asks, 'Alright Stevie stop it, how do you plan to win her back? You must have some sort of plan, some sort of stragedy, maybe some bullshit to fall back on.'

"Fuck you Asshole, what we had wasn't bullshit, it wad true love. I would remind her of our life together, we had a wonderful perfect life together, we were happy, I've never been so happy."

Mr. Asshole, Bill maybe, no Billy, rolls his eyes at Steve and says, "Ugh whatever man, you know when people tell me they are happy my ass begins to twitch."

... Yeah I'm not a good writer but I can't get this au out of my head, it's from a 90s romcom called French Kiss, it's silly and cute. I'm never going top actually write this so here's the plot yay.

Billy starts an argument with Steve to distract him from his fear of flying and super bad heartbreak courtesy of Nancy. He also gets him drunk so he can smuggle stuff in Steve's bag, but loses Steve in the Paris airport. Steve gets mugged, then Billy says he'll try to help him win back Nancy because he feels bad, but he's really trying to get back the stolen diamond necklace and Californian grape vine he smuggled in to France. They track down Nancy and Jonathan and kinda play them a bit thanks to some advice from Billy boy. Steve finds out about the snuggled stuff and plays along so he can gasp help the French police catch Billy stealing and smuggling but SPOILER ALERT he totally ends up in love with the bad boy with a heart of gold and they end up making out in a vineyard. THE END.

#the French kiss au nobody asked for #also I'm a terrible writer and am the worst at grammar I'm sorry #had anyone seen that movie besides me??#it's the perfect harringrove au

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vitosscaletta · 5 years

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5, 10, 15, 20, 25, 30, + laura and nicholas! & 6, 12, 18, 24, 30 + peggy & bobby! ✨

:~) THANK YOU!

Nic(h)olas (i’m not sure if his name is spelled with or without the h but copyright @queennymeria)/Laura

5. Who says ‘I love you’ first?

I’m pretty sure this was established once but I can’t remember what it was.. I think Laura? she’s more straightforward and just blurts out things sometimes.. in the wrong situation

Nicolas: *hot-wiring a peggie truck*Laura: I love you :^) Nicolas: about to say “I love you too” but he tries to sit up and hits his head on the steering wheel

sorry I’m skipping 10 because it’s a stupid question and I don’t know what to say

15. When they watch a film what do they choose and why? Who gets the final vote?

since Hoe County has no wifi.. no Netflix so they have to use good old fashioned dvd’s and VHS… or y’know just regular tv. They probably switch, I dunno what Nicolas likes to watch (he strikes me as a thriller/crime movie kinda person) but when it’s Laura’s turn she ether chooses shitty romcoms from the early 2000′s or Thrillers :^)

when they’re in the bunker they’re left with whatever bad movies they have down there… I think at this point they just watch whatever they can find.

20. Where do they go on holiday?

doesn’t really apply but if they met earlier they’d probably visit europe.. maybe paris lol they seem like they’d enjoy it there.. also maybe camping. they’re both city people, they might try that once and immediately regret it lol.

I think Laura might also try to visit her dad’s side of the family in Lebanon.

25. Why do they fight?

I can’t imagine them having a lot of big fights tbh (I mean. everyone has them so they’re out there but not that much).. I think in the beginning Laura would be a little suspicious about the whole ~secretive attitude he has before they get closer.. I think there was one scenario where he tries to flirt with her and says something like “if I told you I’d have to kill you” and she thinks he really means it and is like “dont try, demon!”.. I don’t think they have a lot of big fights though I mean there are disagreements sometimes but not that much..

30. Why does it work (or not work) between them?

OWO it works very well, they’re from a similar background (good ol’ suburban upper middle class family, privileged but lonely childhood) and ended up choosing paths that seem to be complete opposites - he’s with the secret service which is about.. protecting the orange clown & being.. well… secretive I guess (I’m not american idk), meanwhile Laura is a television reporter and very dedicated to uncovering the truth because she believes that it’s the right thing to do.. but they have a common goal - f*cking up those peggies and saving the people they lost to them. They’re a great team and that develops into something more - he’s resourceful, skilled in a fight and so loyal to his family.. and she genuinely enjoys his presence a lot, he’s fun and also the only one from a city around njsdkjkfs.. Laura can’t help but fall for him even though she didn’t want to (after a messy breakup).. I can’t speak for Nicolas since he’s not my oc but. [Todd Howard voice] it just works!

Bobby/Peggy

6. Who would they ask if they ever had a threesome?

Mothman. No, I won’t elaborate on that.

JK.. I don’t think they’re the type for threesomes tbh?

12. What first changes when it starts getting serious?

I mean obviously.. they’re not enemies and are nicer to each other?? It’s a little rocky at the beginning & it doesn’t come easy to them because they’ve been on bad terms for so long but they find out that they’re a great team and genuinely have fun with one another & enjoy each other’s presence? idk this is not a good answer but i tried

18. When they fight, how do they make up?

I’d say it depends on what kind of fight it was… if it was small they just apologize and the other makes fun of them and that’s it.. If it’s a big fight it’s probably silent treatment & avoiding each other until they calmed down and are ready to talk lol..

24. Where do they first have sex?

I think…. a little abandoned house or some other place with something like that :~)… it’s a few months into their relationship, the romance thing is still a little strange for them so they wait lol..

30. Why does it work (or not work) between them?

They’ve been enemies since they were children, probably because of some dumb fight that started when they were like.. 5… They’re both stubborn and very different from each other but they compliment each other surprisingly well?? It’s difficult but they discover that they’re a great team and that they’re actually having a lot of fun.. hunting cryptids together. It eventually develops into something more as they discover more about the other person and realize they’re not how they pictured them? It’s strange but it works!!!

#is it Nicolas or Nicholas?? who knows.#but ty!#otp: do not blow this for us #laura x nicolas #they need a tag #chuckhansen #ask

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crispsevans · 5 years

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Films in 2019

It’s been a while again. Maybe I should make this review-thing a monthly thing LOL. My current count is at 33/150 for 2019, 18 out of 33 seen in theatre.

filmpage - filmlist - suggest a film

CAN CONTAIN SPOILERS. ( I review Endgame in this post, there are Endgame spoilers in this so don’t read, if you haven’t seen it yet.)

Hidden Figures (2016)

streamed on Amazon Prime Germany production country: USA OV: english seen version: OV Starring: Taraji B. Henson, Octavia Spencer, Janelle Monáe Director: Theodore Melfi Plot summary: The story of a team of female African-American mathematicians who served a vital role in NASA during the early years of the U.S. space program.

Review: 99ct Prime Deal movie. So glad it was on the list of the deals, because I’ve been dying to see this one ever since it came out. But as always I had no one to watch it with and I waited a little too long.

Finally saw it and what can I say - I loved it very much. What a great and important movie.

My favourite part is probably where Janelle Monáe’s character fights for her right in court aspiring to be the first african-american woman to attend a white school in order to get higher education to qualify for a better position. LOVED IT. She slayed. Rating: 4/5

The Big Short (2015)

streamed on Amazon Prime Germany production country: USA OV: english seen version: german Starring: Christian Bale, Ryan Gosling, Steve Carell Director: Adam McKay Plot summary: In 2006-7 a group of investors bet against the US mortgage market. In their research they discover how flawed and corrupt the market is.

Review: 99ct Prime Deal movie number 3. I was a huge fan of Vice so I really needed to see this one.

To be honest this one was a bit harder to understand, because you have to have a little knowledge about economics and how they work - esp. on Wall Street. I mean, I took an A-Level class in Social Sciences and Economics so it was okay for me, even though I didn’t fully understand everything, but I just put it into context. They try to explain it in an easy way, but just make sure to pay attention :)

Shocking reveal of the real estate market and how things went downhill in 2007 causing the global financial crisis that affected my family in a really bad way.

Though I have to say it didn’t involve me as much as Vice, I felt like it was a little bit like chewing gum in between the scenes. Maybe I had to watch it in theatre to love it as much as I love Vice. Rating: 3,5/5

Spotlight (2015)

streamed on Amazon Prime Germany production country: USA OV: english seen version: german Starring: Mark Ruffalo, Michael Keaton, Rachel McAdams Director: Tom McCarthy Plot summary: The true story of how the Boston Globe uncovered the massive scandal of child molestation and cover-up within the local Catholic Archdiocese, shaking the entire Catholic Church to its core.

Review: 99ct Prime Deal movie number 4. Hands down - THE BEST out of all of them.

What a movie. Very emotional, very dramatic, very captivating, very important.

I have nothing more to say except for: WATCH IT IF YOU HAVEN’T ALREADY. What a shame that it took me so long to actually see it. Outstanding cast, Mark Ruffalo and Rachel McAdams are killing it! Rating: 5/5

Serenity (2019)

seen in theatre production country: USA OV: english seen version: german Starring: Matthew McConaughey, Anne Hathaway, Jason Clarke Director: Steven Knight Plot summary: A fishing boat captain (McConaughey) juggles facing his mysterious past and finding himself ensnared in a reality where nothing is what it seems.

Review: #sneakmonday movie. I was hoping they’d sneak it and I was so happy when they did, even though this movie kinda was a let down considering the cast of the movie.

It was a decent movie with decent acting, liked McConaughey and Clarke in it, Hathaway (even though I love her very much) didn’t deliver her best performance here.

I liked the plot twist mid-through the movie that made you rethink the entire thing. It was a little too surreal for me though. I’ve seen worse but I’ve also seen a lot better than this. Rating: 2,5/5

Independence Day: Resurgence (2016)

streamed on Netflix Germany production country: USA OV: english seen version: OV Starring: Liam Hemsworth, Jeff Goldblum, Bill Pullman Director: Roland Emmerich Plot summary: Two decades after the first Independence Day invasion, Earth is faced with a new extra-Solar threat. But will mankind's new space defenses be enough?

Review: This never happened to me before. In one of my previous review post I reviewed ‘Independence Day’ and I didn’t like it that much. Now THIS ONE, the sequel, IS SOOOOOOOO MUCH BETTER! I freaking LOVED it.

I really don’t know if it’s the new CGI (which is obviously 10000 times better than in the 1996 version) or the storyline or whatever it is - it’s way better than the first one. It really caught my attention and I just love Jeff Goldblum - he’s such a class act. Rating: 4/5

Greta (2019)

seen in theatre production country: USA / Ireland OV: english seen version: german Starring: Isabelle Huppert, Chloë Grace Moretz, Maika Monroe Director: Neil Jordan Plot summary: A young woman (Moretz) befriends a lonely widow (Huppert) who's harboring a dark and deadly agenda toward her.

Review: #sneakmonday movie.

Can I just say I really love obsessive lover/stalker movies?! I know I’m weird and it’s nothing you should fancy, but the movies about this topic always get me. They keep me on the edge and sunken in my seat until the movie’s over.

I was pleasantly surprised by this movie, I thought it was really good most of the time - also something I haven’t seen before. The performances by Huppert and Moretz are really convincing.

It just really lacks in some of the decisions Moretz character makes. Sometimes it drifts off into a B-Lister movie, which this clearly shouldn’t be, but the lines and decisions of the character make it seem like a weird thriller horror thing. No one is really that stupid, but they wrote her character that naive. I didn’t like that.

But all in all it’s a good one, I enjoyed it very much. Rating: 3,5/5

The Collini Case / Der Fall Collini (2019)

seen in theatre production country: Germany OV: german / italian seen version: OV Starring: Elyas M’Barek, Alexandra Maria Lara, Franco Nero Director: Marco Kreuzpaintner Plot summary: A young lawyer (M’Barek) stumbles upon a vast conspiracy while investigating a brutal murder case.

Review: #sneakmonday movie. This is a german movie.

Elyas M’Barek is usually a comedy-actor. A little bit like Jennifer Aniston but as a male and in german. I never saw him as a guy who’d play a serious role. But here we go and I was pleasantly surprised by his performance. Never thought he’d do this good.

Interesting story, very captivating and not too revealing. It takes quite a while until the movie really lifts off and the storyline begins to paint a picture and you understand what’s going on, but the reveal is very tragic and very emotional. I loved the screenplay and also the cinematography in certain points.

But whoever directed the music in this movie, please reconsider your job. It was a disaster, really. The score itself was good, but the usage was so out of place most of the times, it bothered me SO MUCH.

German produced movies try to be so much like Hollywood Blockbusters, but they’re not and this is another example for it. But it’s one of the better ones. Rating: 4/5

The Perfect Date (2019)

streamed on Netflix Germany production country: USA OV: english seen version: OV Starring: Noah Centineo, Laura Marano Director: Chris Nelson Plot summary: To save up for college, Brooks Rattigan (Centineo) creates an app where anyone can pay him to play the perfect stand-in boyfriend for any occasion.

Review: I don’t know what I was expecting from a Netflix RomCom, but this kinda let me down yet again (just like ‘Isn’t it romantic?’).

It was okay and kinda cute in some places, but nothing fancy and a lack of entertainment for me. Overall it was okay and it’s a movie to watch before you go to sleep or when you’re sick. Rating: 3/5

Overdrive (2017)

streamed on Sky Cinema Germany production country: France / Belgium / USA OV: english / french seen version: OV Starring: Scott Eastwood, Freddie Thorp, Ana de Armas Director: Antonio Negret Plot summary: Two car thief brothers (Eastwood, Thorp), who journey to the south of France for new opportunities, wind up in the cross hairs of the local crime boss.

Review: I literally just watched this for Scott Eastwood LOL. It’s such a cringe movie, I just couldn’t.

I know Scott can do better than this. The character-writing was so damn flat and so was the entire screenplay. I’m not a huge Fast & Furious Fan, maybe this movie is for people who love those movies - at least you get to see some really nice cars.

But really, this is such a cringe movie. My rating is for Scott (because DAMN) and the beautiful (!!!!!!) landscape cinematography of South France! Rating: 2,5/5

Avengers: Endgame (2019)

seen in theatre (soon thrice) production country: USA OV: english seen version: german (soon OV) Starring: Robert Downey Jr., Chris Evans, Chris Hemsworth, Mark Ruffalo, Scarlett Johansson, Jeremy Renner, Josh Brolin AND SO MANY MORE. Director: Joe and Anthony Russo Plot summary: After the devastating events of Avengers: Infinity War (2018), the universe is in ruins. With the help of remaining allies, the Avengers assemble once more in order to undo Thanos' actions and restore order to the universe.

Review: ... here we go.

I went to see it on the first screening of the day when it came out over here in Germany. I know Europe was blessed with being two days ahead of the US. I literally cried for 3 hours. The entire 3 hours OKAY. Sitting through the credits because I couldn’t believe what I just saw.

It took me a few days to completely understand what I had watched.

There are so many things wrong with this movie, but also so many good things about this movie I JUST DON’T KNOW.

When I went to see it the second time I liked it a LOT better and with every day and every clip I see and listening to the score more and more I grow to love this movie more.

And against the mainly common opinion in disliking the ending of this movie, I loved it - even though it may makes no sense in a scientific way. Hate me all you want, but you can read HERE why I loved Steve’s ending, Becka wrote a beautiful piece.

Also Tony Stark. Let’s talk about Tony Stark. What is there left to say though? His actions speak louder than words. He basically did ALL OF IT for PETER FREAKING PARKER. How beautiful. He did it for him, because he missed him, because he couldn’t live with the thought of losing him. And sacrificing himself for Peter, for the rest of the Avengers, for the entire universe, WHAT A MOVE.

Now let’s move on to Natasha Romanoff, because she doesn’t get enough credit. First female Avenger, the glue, heart and soul of the Avengers, the mom that held everything together, that kept the world a safe place after the snap and Thanos being dead in 2023 like. She still cared, she cared about her family (the original 6 more than anyone else really) and she kept looking for Clint (DON’T GET ME STARTED ON CLINTASHA) and.. I just.. and then she sacrificed herself and her life, for her family. FOR THEM. FOR LOVE. FOR CLINT. SO THEY COULD SEE THE SUN AGAIN (to put it in Loki’s words). I JUST....

It started with Tony and Nat and it ended with Tony and Nat and I just... I just can’t. Literally I CAN’T. Still not over it.

P.S. America’s ass. Rating: 4/5

Fighting With My Family (2019)

seen in theatre production country: UK / USA OV: english seen version: german Starring: Dwayne Johnson, Florence Pugh, Vince Vaughn Director: Stephen Merchant Plot summary: A former wrestler and his family make a living performing at small venues around the country while his kids dream of joining World Wrestling Entertainment.

Review: #sneakmonday movie. Based on a true story. I had no expectations, really. I gotta say, I’m not into Wrestling AT ALL. And I don’t really want to be. So this was a bummer for me.

But nonetheless this is a cute family movie. The bond between the siblings and the entire family is really beautiful to see and so is the character development of Paige’s brother Zak.

Also the interaction with all these kids learning how to wrestle is really just beautiful. Kids from all ages, different backgrounds, different identities, sizes and also a blind kid - they all come together and become friends through Wrestling. That’s really beautiful.

It’s just not my cup of tea, because of the Wrestling topic. It’s a decent movie though. Rating: 2,5/5

Journal 64 (2019)

seen in theatre production country: Denmark / Germany OV: danish / arabic / spanish / german seen version: german Starring: Nikolaj Lie Kaas, Fares Fares, Johanne Louise Schmidt Director: Christoffer Boe Plot summary: A series of mysterious disappearances in 2006 are eerily connected to the same institution.

Review: #sneakmonday movie. Based on a crime thriller by Jussi Adler-Olson.

Scandinavian films are so good, really. They are SO DAMN GOOD. Especially crime thrillers - they’re just really good at not only writing them as books but also making them into movies and TV shows. I don’t know how they do it. Norwegian/Swedish/Danish crime thrillers are kinda dark most of the times, this one had a nice comedic effect, though, because the main character is a blatantly honest person and drops a lot of bricks, but is still a very charismatic character.

Really liked this one. Very dramatic story, there should be a trigger warning though (tw: rape / tw: abuse / tw: abortion). So keep that in mind, if you decide to watch it.

Rating: 4/5

#films2019 #reviews

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modernlcve · 5 years

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* — stats — veronica ortiz !

* — basics !

full name: veronica simone ortiz. nickname(s): v. hates any type of that ronnie bullshit. age: twenty - seven. date of birth: january twenty - ninth. place of birth: new york city, new york. gender: female. pronouns: she / her. sexual orientation: pansexual. level of education: high school graduate. recipient of a certificate in cosmetology.

* — physical !

tattoos: three large roses on her rib cage piercings: ears pierced twice. notable features: she’s just beautiful. weakness(es): none, probably. scar(s): none notable.

* — domestic !

occupation: hairdresser. residence: a little apartment just her n mila. social class: lower middle class. parents: rosa ortiz, age 49, a high school teacher. she raised veronica on her own, her father left the picture before she was born. they’ve never met. siblings: none. children: mila ortiz, age 3. veronica’s top priority. extended family: her mother has a large family, she’s not particularly close with any of them, but they’re scattered throughout the city.

* — personality !

positive traits: sociable. sympathetic. authentic. negative traits: insecure. temperamental. bit crybaby. myers-briggs ( x ): enfp; the campaigner. temperament: sanguine. moral alignment: neutral good. horoscope: aquarius; the water-bearer. hogwarts house: hufflepuff.

* — favorites !

movie: the notebook. tv show: the bachelor. book: forever... by judy blume. drink: lime sherbet punch with vodka. food: chocolate chip cookie dough. animal: peacocks. color: magenta. song: i wanna dance with somebody. artist: jennifer lopez. celebrity crush: ryan gosling.

* — impressions !

first impression: she tries Very hard to present as very likable and it probably shows. she comes off as a little annoying maybe because of it but generally she’s just chipper and trying to be your friend so cut her some slack. self impression: she thinks she’s a person who’s always trying to be a better version of herself, and that’s admirable. that being said, she doesn’t think she’s at that best version of herself by any means, she second guesses herself a lot. lover impression: she’s currently in a place where she gets into relationships for the wrong reasons: namely, validation. she’s a little clingy and expects that to just be Okay.

* — et cetera !

turn ons: taking risks, pda, nice hair. turn offs: bossy people, judgy people. drink/drugs/smoke: yes/no/vapes. dominant hand: right. clean or messy: messy. early bird or night owl: night owl. attempting to convert. hobbies or special talents: she used to do roller derby for the Community of it all.

* — QUESTIONNAIRE !

01. where was your character born? what brought them to new york? what do they like most about the town?

veronica is a new york native. she’s thought about leaving a few times, sometimes it is a little exhausting, but overall, new york is where her family is. it’s where her life is and, regardless of how she feels about it now, she has great memories of growing up here and she wants that for mila. she’s sticking it out for now.

02. who are your character’s friends and family? who do they surround themselves with? who are the people your character is closest to?

for most of veronica’s life, her only discernible family was her mom. her parents weren’t married when her mom got pregnant, and her dad split that fucking scene. she and her mom have always been close, at the end of the day, she’s one of those “my mom is my best friend” people. outside of her, she used to roll with a bunch of people who liked to party ( keely and gen included if im remembering right ), but she’s fallen out of that crowd since mila was born. she mostly hangs out with her coworkers or people she meets at the gym. i picture her hanging around kaleb and jacob’s place more than one would expect in their situation, because they’re her friends too.

03. what is your character’s biggest fear? who have they told this to? who would they never tell this to? why?

veronica used to be very afraid of not being likable and not being the Cool Girl she was always used to being, but, her fears have shifted since mila was born. her fears more revolve around making sure she’s being the best mom she can be and just generally Not Screwing Her Kid Up. she hopes that she’s cleaned herself up enough to be a good mom and that the unconventional nature of their family setup isn’t going to make thinks complicated for mila. she’s had a lot of long talks with her mom over it.

04. has your character ever been in love? had a broken heart?

for six years, veronica dated the same guy. his name was brent and he was from indiana, he came to new york for college and stuck around after for work. a year after he graduated, he decided he and his Bros were going to go on a soul searching trip in europe. he dumped veronica before he left, with some vague excuse about how maybe when he came back, fate would bring them together, but by the time he was back she was decently pregnant and he wasn’t signing up for that. she was in love with him and he Really broke her heart, but as soon as mila came into the picture, she stopped dwelling on it as much.

06. it’s saturday at noon. what is your character doing? give details.

saturdays are the day she spends with her mom. her and mila head over for brunch and then spend a few hours hanging around, just being together. sometimes if it’s pretty, they’ll all go to the park or they’ll just help her mom run errands, but its a standing date all the same.

07. what is one strong memory that has stuck with your character since childhood?

she remembers getting to sit and watch her mom and her aunts in the kitchen at family get togethers. an only child with a Throbbing desire to fit in and be a part of something, she thought it really was some kind of magic to watch them all talk and work together and be so in tune with one another. to this day, she feels like she still hasn’t found her Group like that, but boy golly gee does she want to.

09. what is something that upsets your character? where do they go when they’re upset?

she’s bit emotional anymore she’ll get upset over little things. she’s taken to going and working out to get out those Feelings, but typically, she’s a romcom and ice cream kinda girl. just gotta bleed the pipe ( when mila’s out of the House of course ).

10. when your character thinks of their childhood kitchen, what smell do they associate with it? why?

her mom liked to have a bowl of cookie dough in the fridge at all times, as they frequently had company drop by, and it was a quick and easy snack that made people happy. she associates her childhood kitchen with the smell of fresh baked cookies.

#( veronica ortiz. )#( stats. )

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agentelmo · 6 years

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The X-Files MSR Analysis Series: Season 1 Episode 12

“Fire”

Previous episode analysis - 1x11 Eve.

Oh Fire, what an episode. The first time we see Mulder actively pursue a woman and it’s not Scully. WHAT IS THIS FUCKERY.

It’s okay though, because it turns out Mulder’s ex -- Phoebe Green -- is a real piece of work, making it quite easy to dislike her, which is handy because I think that’s the point.

There are two MSR angles here. The first is how Scully is really there for Mulder as a friend. She sees he is vulnerable and is protective of him; she is caring and reassuring even when Mulder seemingly dismisses Scully in pursuit of that British poontang. The beauty of their blossoming platonic bond really shines through in this episode.

The second angle is that Mulder has exactly what he desires right in front of him, but doesn’t see it. Phoebe is a tantalising reminder of a lifestyle he’s given up -- having a woman in his life -- someone to love and care for who loves him back. But everything that he desires in Phoebe is already there in the form of Scully. The issue is that Mulder doesn’t allow himself to see her as anything more than his partner, his friend, and so doesn’t recognise that he has this incredible woman right under his nose already.

With this in mind, there are parts of Fire that almost play out like a stereotypical romcom. The male protagonist with the amazing female best friend who is perfect for him but he just continues to pursue terrible women, all while the best friend looks on from the sidelines, picking up the pieces, supporting him. Until one day... *cough* seven years later... *cough*

So since this is an MSR review series, I tend to start with Mulder and Scully, not the cold opening. But I have to comment on this, being English myself.

What were they thinking? It’s actually kind of painful seeing these frankly horrendous actors talk in exaggeratedly hoity-toity English accents.

Tally ho, pip pip, cheerio!

Did you feel that? It was the collective eye roll of the entire population of Ireland.

If this gets any worse we’ll be giving Dick Van Dyke a run for his money. But hey, thankfully we’re not here long since Lord Moneybags McPoshface goes up in smoke.

Now we’re off to see our favourite FBI star-crossed lovers. Muldo and Scullywag!

So this episode confirms that Mulder and Scully do have other cases between episodes that we just don’t see. Fertile ground for the old fanfic writers, amirite?

In fact, it’s reconfirmed again in the season 10 episode, Mulder and Scully Meet the Were-Monster, where Mulder recounts how one time the two of them went on a case looking for a “rock-like creature”...

Only to discover it was a publicity stunt by a local landscaping business.

Yeah, I don’t remember that episode.

Makes me wonder who were they prosecuting in Fire? What case was this?! What cute MSR moments are we not getting to see?!

So we start with these two coming out of a hard day at court, Mulder jokes with Scully about the case.

Epic bants, Mulder. You slay me. And Scully too, apparently! She’s fucking giggling. GIGGLING.

Look at how cute they are. Having fun and enjoying each other’s company so effortlessly. There’s no guile about it, they are just comfortable being themselves.

Is it weird that I just feel happy seeing Mulder have a friend? He’s actually a pretty sweet, charming guy when he lets that side of himself out. Few people gave him the chance, and after so many years of being labelled “Spooky”, combined with some clear trust issues, he rarely gives anyone else a chance either.

Until Scully, of course.

Mulder relaxed and just having fun with Scully is my jam, fam. She laughs at his joke and he laughs at hers.

Just get fucking married, already.

Sadly, all marriage plans must be put on hold since some British bint arrives and ruins everyone’s day.

This “practical joke” Phoebe plays with the cassette tape gives some possible insight into the kind of relationship she and Mulder had when he was at Oxford.

She appears to enjoy toying with the emotions of others and then makes light of the consequences. I mean, here she makes Mulder and Scully believe they were about to be killed by a car bomb, but then makes no apology for it. Especially to Scully, someone she doesn’t know from Adam.

Mulder, clearly accustomed to her torment, doesn’t even bother to chide her for the prank, despite clearly scaring the shit out of Scully. I think he knows it’s easier to just play along.

Nicolas Cage, is that you?

Phoebe seems like the type who would say things like “it was only a joke” or “what’s the big deal?” or “stop being so over-sensitive” etc. The kind of gaslighting cunt that makes people crazy in an intimate relationship.

What’s interesting about these two is that it’s apparently been 10 years since they last saw each other, but Mulder wastes no time dredging up their romantic history like no time has passed at all. Making it abundantly clear that 1. Mulder isn’t entirely over Phoebe, and 2. he’s still resentful towards her for whatever it was she did to him in their relationship -- more on that later.

So spinning off on a tangent for a moment here... This all throws some serious shade on Mulder’s relationship with Diana Fowley. You would think that whatever left over resentments or lingering feelings he had towards Phoebe would have been resolved or at least faded in the wake of a new long term relationship with another woman. Mulder later says in this episode that he has spent the last 10 years trying to forget Phoebe -- it’s within those 10 years that he had a relationship with Diana.

This would place Mulder at Oxford in approximately 1983. He met and started dating Diana when he left Quantico which was three years later in 1986. We don’t know when their relationship ended, but let’s assume it was when she fucked off to Europe to work for the Syndicate in 1991. So, he was in a relationship with Diana for approximately five years and in all that time he still harboured feelings for Phoebe. Wow. It’s strange to think, that 100% canonically Mulder wasn’t over Phoebe when he was with Diana. Perhaps Phoebe was his first love?

I mean, it’s possible -- he was very young then. It would certainly explain why he doesn’t ever romantically pursue Diana when she returns, even though he could have, and she was certainly interested. Perhaps his feelings for Diana weren’t quite what we’re led to believe? Or perhaps it’s simply that his growing feelings for Scully just made things too complicated. Personally, I blame Amor Fati for muddying the waters on that one.

Aaaaaaanyway, back to Fire.

I love Scully’s face when Phoebe feeds Mulder this cheese-tastic line.

She’s clearly uncomfortable witnessing this, most likely feeling somewhat of an awkward third wheel. Not to mention a little put out -- dat’s my man biyotch!

I jest, but I wonder if there is some truth to the idea that she felt special to Mulder because he is a loner. This man who doesn’t let anyone get close chose her to open up to. Yet she’s now realising that wasn’t always true, and perhaps her connection to him isn’t as special as first thought? I mean look at her face, she clearly does not like this.

The dynamic between these two women is intriguing too. Phoebe clearly makes Scully uncomfortable. Firstly, Phoebe never acknowledges Scully’s presence; only greeting her when forced to by Mulder’s introduction.

To play this joke on the two of them, Phoebe had to have been watching them approach the car and no doubt overheard their conversation -- noting their close relationship. Seemingly she’s already sized Scully up as rival for Mulder’s attention -- someone to undermine -- and so expertly removes her from every interaction the three of them have by outright ignoring her.

It almost works too, Mulder is clearly enthralled with Phoebe, gazing at her the whole time in this dreamy way, but as soon as Phoebe says this:

It breaks Mulder out of her spell almost instantly -- he even physically pushes her back.

Talking shit about Scully is the point at which Mulder will no longer play along.

There’s some interesting symbolism in this scene with the camera work too. Where Phoebe and Mulder are always in frame together, and Scully is separate -- the camera reflecting how Phoebe’s relationship to Mulder re-positions Scully as the outsider.

So before we move on, I gotta share the amazing eye fucking that is going on during the cassette tape scene in the car.

That second picture looks like it should be captioned “find someone who looks at you the way Mulder looks at Scully.” I mean, geez man. His face is a weapon of mass seduction. He really should have a licence for that thing.

Next we’re in basement HQ and Scully notices straight away that something is up with Mulder.

She keeps eyeing him as he is clearly becoming more and more uncomfortable. But why might that be? On first viewing you could be forgiven for thinking Mulder is just getting hot under the collar -- pardon the pun -- chatting away with his old flame. Pardon that pun too. Potentially this is what Scully assumes as well, but we know with hindsight that it’s because he’s listening to Phoebe ream off the details of how her suspect likes to burn people alive.

Phoebe maintains her campaign of exclusion. Trying to undermine Scully by completely ignoring her, and then throwing out a reference to a “private joke” she shares with Mulder -- drawing a clear barrier between the two of them and Scully. She’s making it clear that she’s talking to Mulder and only Mulder.

As Phoebe leaves, having never once glanced in Scully’s direction, she suddenly says goodbye to her, treating her as an afterthought to emphasise that Scully is neither needed or wanted.

Seriously, dis bitch man. Scully is onto you.

As Phoebe tries to erect barriers, Scully immediately kicks them back down again as she straight up asks Mulder what’s this private joke is.

That’s my girl.

Mulder concedes, but you can tell he is embarrassed. I love that you can see the exact moment he decides to just tell her the truth.

Up until this point Mulder has kept his private life quite guarded, even from Scully. For all the world to see, he is a man entirely about his quest. Revealing to Scully that he has the same frailties as any other man -- falling in love with the wrong woman, for example -- is making himself vulnerable to her too. The fact that doesn’t stop him is a testament to their relationship at this point, to how much he trusts and respects Scully. He feels safe with her.

Only living for his quest is how Scully saw Mulder too, so to see that he can be consumed by something other than the X-Files -- be made vulnerable by a woman -- is surprising to her. She’s seeing another side to him.

When Mulder starts to deny he’s affected by Phoebe now, Scully takes the opportunity to dig him out a lil’ bit. Of course she’s gonna call him out on his bullshit. That’s what friends do.

What’s striking about this exchange though is that shes not jealous. She’s amused. Shes truly playing the role of his best friend, looking out for him rather than being the best friend secretly in love with him -- which she totally is by the end of season 1. What? Fight me.

That switch Scully talks about in season 6′s Rain King? It’s not been flicked quite yet. She still only sees him as a friend, someone she cares about deeply, but she’s not at “the only person you can ever imagine yourself with” point. Not quite yet.

Guys. Did Scully just make a dick joke? Like, not just any dick joke... but an erection joke? And, and... not just any erection joke, but Mulder’s erection joke?

Wut.

Also what the heck is that voice she puts on? “Is that what you were extending?” She is so cute when she’s teasing him. UGH!

Now this is where I see some of the romcom-y aspects of the episode come in. Mulder is honest, open and unguarded with Scully -- playful, even. He’s being his usual self again. This cool, controlled act he seems to don when Phoebe is around is completely shed and they banter away again like they did moments before Phoebe arrived. Basically, with Phoebe, he knows revealing weakness is danger, whereas with Scully he can let his weaknesses show.

Dude... the perfect woman for you is right there. RIGHT THERE! OMG.

Unfortunately, this could then mean something negative for the MSR, at least here and now in season 1. That perhaps Mulder doesn’t even allow himself to see Scully as a “woman” i.e. as a sexual being. Thus she is safe to bare his soul to, she’s his friend and partner only -- a non-threat.

But I suspect that’s actually what Mulder needs. To see Scully this way first. A friend and equal first and a lover second. Even when they are finally together I believe this is how they continue to see each other.

Entering into a romantic relationship with Scully then, would be the ultimate statement of self-healing for Mulder. That he can find love with a nurturing, caring, loving woman rather than an emotionally damaging one. Let’s stick a pin in that thought, we’ll come back to that.

So Mulder and Phoebe go down to the arson specialist, Agent Beatty, and he proceeds to slather all over Phoebe. He’s being quite gross and creepy, actually. Almost makes me feel sorry for her.

Yeah... Almost.

Thing is, she knows the power she wields over men and uses it against them. More power to her when the men in question are like this guy. But Mulder? She’s basically kicking a puppy.

It always bothered me how OTT Agent Beatty is with Phoebe. Is it the British thing? I am not the kind of woman to tear another woman down about her looks -- Phoebe is beautiful -- but the guy is falling over himself. Is that really warranted? It’s gotta be the accent. I don’t get it, but then I am British too so, yeah, it’s like being Superman on Krypton. Big deal. We all have the super powers so it’s hardly special, ya know? 😂😂

All while this is going on, Scully is there but unsure where her place is. Phoebe’s exclusion tactics clearly working their magic, because it seems Scully is starting to feel a bit insecure about where she fits into this new three-way dynamic. She’s no longer sure if her place is alongside Mulder, so she just loiters in the doorway.

The camera focuses on her a couple times and at first she’s just listening in. But then she seems to crane her head around to look at Mulder; possibly noticing that there’s something up with him?

Remember, this is happening before Mulder has told Scully he doesn’t want her on the case. So there’s something quite sad about this. Scully standing alone in the doorway, unsure of her place.

Sir Malcolm Marsden’s dog is named Jackson. Really, Chris? Really?

I think Chris Carter has a very short list of names that he must use again and again otherwise anything he writes will simply spontaneously combust.

Now this next scene is probably one of my favourites in the entire episode, because as insecure about her position in all of this Scully seems to be feeling, she isn’t one to be so easily pushed aside. So she appropriates the three pipe problem “private joke” from earlier, and completely hijacks it’s meaning to make it their private joke.

She is the Watson to his Sherlock, and Phoebe? Phoebe is Moriarty -- “mind game player extraordinaire” as Mulder describes her, a foe who likes to play at being a friend and who is decidedly the true outsider of this three-way dynamic.

Not to mention, Mulder truly is the Sherlock to her Watson too. He is the ideas man, the guy who is so completely in his own head that he sometimes fails to grasp the human element. I mean, how many times throughout the series do we see Mulder eff things up by not dealing with people very well, necessitating Scully to step in?

In fact, you don’t have to go very far to find the last instance of it. In the previous episode, Eve, Mulder has to be rescued by Scully when dealing with one of the murder twins parents. In many ways, Scully is his connection to the outside world. His human credential, as David Duchovny once so poetically put it. In the same way Watson is Sherlock’s.

So Mulder tells Scully she’s off the hook on this case because he believes Phoebe is playing a mind game with him, a practice of hers he seems acutely familiar with.

Scully concernedly eyeing up Mulder all episode is suddenly vindicated. He is clearly distressed and Scully switches tack. She goes from teasing to protective.

That worried look on her face, the way she leans forward, searchingly. She’s seeing how unnerved he is and she can tell he’s upset. She is truly his best friend in this moment. She doesn’t judge, doesn’t criticise -- she just hears him out.

Mulder has already confided that he “got in over his head” with Phoebe, and so now all past questions about whether Mulder truly trusts Scully seem to fall away here, because he’s now freely baring his soul to her. The flood gates are open.

Phoebe is fire. Wow. She terrifies him. But there is a double meaning here. Not only is she like fire in that she represents a painful memory that laid the way for emotional trauma, but she’s like fire in the way that draws a moth to its flame. Mulder being said moth.

She’s dangerous, but he’s attracted to that danger. Something about Phoebe pulls him in, almost against his will. He walks out of the office determined to face his demons, but ultimately ends up willingly ensnared in Phoebe’s web, yet again.

Unfortunately it seems Mulder is drawn to the leggy, brunette, femme fatale type. I mean, look at Diana. Perhaps this is why he doesn’t look at Scully that way for such a long time, she’s not the kind of woman he would ordinarily go for. Not in just looks, but in the element of danger. In the same way some women are attracted to the bad boys, perhaps Mulder is attracted to the bad girls. Women who emotionally mistreat him. It would certainly align with the idea that we seek out unresolved past traumas in intimate relationships, doomed to relive them. Perhaps Mulder has mommy issues. I know that’s certainly a popular fanon concept.

Ultimately what it comes down to is trust. Mulder’s trust in others was probably damaged considerably by Phoebe.

Think about the circumstances under which he met her. He’s left his home; left his country; gone to college as far away from his old life and miserable, divorced parents as he could get. He’s looking for a fresh start, a way to leave the past behind. Running all the way to England is one way to do it. There he meets Phoebe. This brilliant, beautiful woman who takes an interest in him -- wants him.

Desperate for comfort, for love, for understanding, he lets her in. I think he lets her in so completely that she knows everything -- his darkest childhood fears, his secrets. Probably knows all about his sister too. I think he gave everything to her and she lit the fire and watched him go up in smoke.

Phoebe is fire.

Scully, bless her, now feeling quite protective over puppy, seeing how vulnerable he is to Phoebe, offers to help on the case. But Mulder declines, believing he can handle it himself.

Yeah good plan, Fido. Let’s see how that goes.

I’m just sayin’.

Now there’s some strong suggestions made about what might have happened between Mulder and Phoebe when they were at Oxford.

Phoebe compliments Mulder on his interview technique, and how he managed to persuade the witness to cooperate after she had confessed to lying to her partner about where she was the night before.

To which he quips back...

So the suggestion being made here, is that she had one or two indiscretions of her own during their relationship. Namely, that she cheated on him. If we think of how this episode ultimately ends, it’s a pretty safe bet. The look on his face when he sees her in Lord Marsden’s arms is the look of a man who has been there before, and is not even surprised. Almost like he had been waiting for this all along.

So I think it’s fairly certain she cheated, probably several times. From the sounds of it he forgave her and took her back every time and was probably a push over about it. Firm but polite.

And you know what? I can absolutely see Mulder being like that. As mentioned before, Phoebe was probably the first woman he opened up to emotionally. So severing that bond would have been a huge loss, leaving him incredibly vulnerable to emotional abuse -- he would have forgiven her anything if it meant holding onto her.

My impression of Mulder is that through all his bravado he feels very deeply and so, when he does let people in, he can be very easily hurt.

His behaviour much later in I Want To Believe demonstrates that quite well. Mulder is clearly very hurt by Scully’s suggestion that she won’t come home if he continues working the case. He sees this as a rejection of the person he is -- “...this is everything I know, this is who I was before I met you...” etc etc.

Later when he goes to see Father Joe at the hospital Scully comes across him first, she grasps his hand but you can see he’s not comfortable with it -- he feels vulnerable around her, she’s essentially broken his heart and he’s doing his best to bury that and keep focused on the case. She hurt him and his walls are up. He takes his hand away again, and can barely even look at her.

When she can see he’s avoiding her, trying to run away, she calls out to him. Tells him that she does understand this stubborn, passionate, drive of his -- that it’s the reason she fell in love with him in the first place.

But he is still too hurt to be understanding. He’s defensive, and saying something he no doubt regrets later. He’s let her in, deeper and more completely than anyone has ever been, so for her to reject him this way isn’t just a disagreement he can work out later, it cuts him very deeply.

Bare in mind, this is in 2008. So you can imagine how much more fragile and vulnerable he was where love and women are concerned back in his Oxford days in the 80′s.

Anyway back to Phoebe…

Mulder’s sharp comment clearly strikes a nerve with her, and she chews him out for holding onto what happened 10 years ago. Mulder then infamously says...

So who wants to bet that he might have walked in on Phoebe with another guy?

Remember how Mulder later catches Phoebe with Sir Marsden? I suspect there’s a mirroring of the past in the present. You gotta feel for Mulder, though. It’d be difficult to let go of something you can never unsee with the passage of time to dull the memory.

Not to mention other memories that can’t be dulled; like that one time they fucked in a graveyard, apparently.. Oh good times, good times.

Soooo... Mulder fucked Phoebe on a tombstone? Yikes. That’s simultaneously creepy as fuck and so Mulder all at once.

Also, with a bit of Google-foo I discovered that there is no grave for Sir Arthur Conan Doyle in Windlesham. He was originally buried there in a rose garden, but was exhumed and re-interred in Hampshire in 1955 – as far as I can tell, there is nothing left at the original Windlesham grave site. 1955 is long before Mulder and Phoebe would have been there. So… yeah. Whoever’s tombstone they were fucking on, it wasn’t sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s.

Perhaps there’s a metaphor for their relationship in that. A complete lie? A huge error in judgement? That which appeared to be something it wasn’t? You could go on forever.

Dana, babe... you need to get a freakin’ light bulb up in that office. No wonder the two of you wear glasses -- that poor lighting is not doing your eyesight any favours.

Next we see that Scully -- despite Mulder’s insistence that she not get involved -- has decided to help him anyway.

There are two reasons for this. First, she’s feeling insecure, she’s been dismissed by Phoebe and, to a lesser extent, Mulder too. The two of them are still feeling each other out and defining the parameters of their working relationship, so I think there is a part of her that seeks some kind of approval from Mulder. She is determined to assert her worth. She’s worked with him long enough to know he can use her help; but I think a part of her wants to prove to Mulder that she can’t be so easily replaced as his partner.

The second reason is simply because she’s feeling protective over him after hearing about his history with Phoebe. She can see he’s vulnerable and it concerns her -- she’s never seen him like that before, and she��s quick to fly into protective mode when she feels he’s in harms way.

What I love is that Scully proves her worth with flying colours. Coming up with a stellar profile which pegs the guy perfectly.

Seriously, who is the profiler between these two? Seems the majority of the profiling we’ve seen thus far has come from Scully.

She has the presence of mind to check immigration records for British citizens with a connection to the Marsden’s or previous victims that have recently come into the United States.

She also correctly analyses which accelerant he is likely using.

As well as how he uses it.

Cough syrup?

Paint?

She does all this work without a sniff of help from Mulder or Phoebe. They’re too busy fawning over each other and planning a little fuck buddy interlude at a swanky hotel.

All the while Scully is getting the job done.

She is forever the MVP of the series. Seriously, Mulder and Phoebe would have been up fudge creek without a paddle if she wasn’t working the case.

The next scene with Mulder and Phoebe seems to lay the foundation for why Mulder finds himself being drawn back into Phoebe’s thrall.

He shares his theory with her that the arsonist has some kind of pyrokinetic ability and Phoebe agrees without batting an eyelid. Mulder laughs at her because he’s quite taken aback by this. He’s more used to Scully who would have challenged him -- grounded him -- and got him to think of how what he’s suggesting could be scientifically possible.

Without that challenge, Mulder doesn’t even consider how the killer is doing it beyond “he did it with his magic fire!” Thus missing the significance what Scully is investigating -- the accelerant.

Mulder has a bit of an issue with confirmation bias, so as soon as he gets even the slightest inkling of some kind of paranormal goings on, he will straight away gravitate towards avenues of investigation that prove his theory. People agreeing with him plays into his egomania – having this beautiful, “brilliant”, woman agreeing with him is gonna get his “juices flowing” too. But it also blindsides him -- this is a man that needs to be challenged.

While investigating apart on this case, they are coming at it from their own unique point of view, but both are missing a significant piece of the puzzle that they fill for each other. If Mulder hadn’t ditched Scully they would have arrived at the complete answer by now. That the killer cannot control fire, he does not have pyrokinesis necessarily, but he does have the unique ability to ignite fires if a powerful enough accelerant is present.

In Fire, Mulder hasn’t fully recognised it yet, but this is the unique and beautiful dynamic that makes them perfect partners. As he later says in season 11′s Nothing Lasts Forever -- they are reason and faith in harmony. It’s been their magic formula from the very beginning.

Unfortunately their harmony is being stifled. Mulder is distracted by Phoebe -- her agreement has flattered him, stroked his ego, and with that she goes in for the kill -- easily seducing him with an offer of spending the night together.

It’s bittersweet to go back and watch this episode now; seeing Mulder pass Scully over in hopes of bedding Phoebe, knowing what we know now; what Mulder will come to realise. That the woman who is perfect for him is the one that’s always right next to him.

Ah the folly of youth, eh?

Oh Mulder...

He’s such a pathetic puppy. The idea of getting laid gets him all giddy.

I think what you can take away from this, is how over the fucking moon he would have been in All Things when Scully comes to his bed. I mean, can you imagine? 😂😂

Theeeeen it’s awkward-conversation-with-Scully time. Mulder is clearly not focused on the case at this point, he is far more invested in getting his head away than catching this arsonist because Scully is there saying hey, I might know who this guy is, and he’s like, “yeeeeeeeah, that’s nice, but this is not a good time for me soooo...”

I mean, wtf Mulder! Sir Marsden’s family is at risk, he has a wife and children. People have been burnt to death by this guy and you’re all nah, sorry Scully I haven’t got time to solve the case, I am kinda busy right now trying to get laid.

Fuck. Me. What a douche nozzle.

Look at Scully’s face at the end of the phone conversation. She’s not liking this new side of Mulder at all. She keeps pushing against his obvious resistance because she believes he’s ditching her in favour of Phoebe. Her insecurity is more palpable here -- but this isn’t necessarily romantically driven. I think she’s feeling insecure as his partner; like she’s being replaced. Whereas Mulder just wants to fuck Phoebe; working with her is actually beside the point. Poor Scully.

Then it’s the scene you’ve all been dreading! Yep, it’s the dance/kiss scene.

So it starts with Mulder milling around the hotel lobby waiting for Phoebe to arrive, but she ignores him and walks straight by. Mulder was clearly thinking they will be spending the evening together as well as the evening together, if you catch my drift.

It suggests that Mulder was actually interested in rekindling their relationship -- he was planning on a romantic evening with Phoebe I mean, look at what he’s wearing. He’s “undercover” but he could have gone as a bodyguard to one of the other guests, or as a member of staff to give him more freedom to move around without raising suspicion. But no, he’s dressed to attend the party, not to stand guard dog outside of it.

He wanted to dress up for her. I don’t think he was just in it for a one night stand. He loved Phoebe once, and I think if she didn’t fuck him over later in this episode, he was in very real danger of falling in love with her again -- her betrayal pulled him back from that precipice.

Let’s not think about that too much.

He looks vaguely pathetic standing in the hallway, desperately waiting for Phoebe to throw him a bone.

Phoebe, of course, wouldn’t want Mulder and Sir Marsden in the same room together since she’s playing both of them. Yet, despite the fact she’s ditched him the entire evening, with just the tiniest scrap of attention, he’s eating out of her palm again.

She truly does have a power over him. For some reason he is enthralled by her, and it seems to be related not just to her beauty, but her intelligence, her “brilliance” as he called it.

But you know who else fits that criteria? Yeah, not even gonna say it.

Scully is genius-level brilliant. It’s a very rare occurrence when she’s not the smartest person in the room. She was perhaps less conventionally attractive for the 90′s. She has a 1950′s Lauren Bacall-esque screen goddess look to her, especially in seasons 1-3.

Which is my only explanation for why people fall all over themselves when Phoebe is on screen but seemingly fail to notice Scully at all. Oh that, and...

So back to this dagger-through-the-heart scene... Phoebe uses sex to lure Mulder in several times in the episode, and it happens again during this scene.

Scully arrives in time to see them start dancing and is more irritated, or fed up, than jealous. She’s arrived at entirely the wrong moment and now she has to wait.

This episode does then establish that Scully wasn’t in love with Mulder this early on. Attracted to him sure – but not so attached that she would be jealous of him with another woman. We know exactly what that looks like for Scully, and when that woman is jealous she is completely incapable of hiding it.

As much shit as they’ve been through together at this point, it has still only been a matter of months since they met.

Although I think she does experience a bit of a sting when she sees them kissing – rolling her eyes at him. This wasn’t what she came up here for.

She’s there to work, to focus on the-- wait.... WAIT. WAIT.

Is that butt groping I see, Mulder?!

It fucking is!

That horny, sex-starved, puppy is just gagging for it! GAGGING.

Fuck. Seriously, in All Things I think he must have all but attacked Scully.

ANYWAY.

Scully is there to work, to focus on the case, while Mulder... well...

Mulder is distracted by a handful of ass cheek and a tongue down his throat, it seems.

It might be crossing her mind that she had decided to forego her own love life to work with him on the X-FIles back in The Jersey Devil. She’d berated him for not having a life, and yet, here he is. A taste of her own medicine, perhaps? Let’s not forget, Mulder had a similar scene waiting for Scully as she went on a date, staring at the clock looking miserable.

I suspect she’s probably also wondering what the hell happened to trying to avoid getting ensnared in the flames of Phoebe Green??

Scully then stops dead in her tracks as she sees Creeper McCreeperson hiding in the foliage.

But she doesn’t get the chance to think about that for too long before she spots that there is a fire on the 14th floor. She rushes out to tell Mulder and Phoebe and then proceeds to raise the alarm in the rest of the building.

Dana Katherine Scully -- MVP.

Phoebe informs them both that the children are on the 14th floor, and so Mulder, being the action hero that he is, decides to go up there -- people need help and so he will save them, that’s his edict in life. No matter how difficult it is for him, he’s going to try because that’s what he tells himself he must do. In the psychotherapeutic sense, he is every bit a “rescuer”. A person who feels connection to others through saving them. It’s how he has learnt to relate to other people.

The rescuer identity usually emerges in childhood in reaction to a feeling of powerlessness. The child may have experienced their parents as emotionally unavailable, distant and unable to meet their emotional needs. With these needs being unmet, the child learns to experience love and connection vicariously through meeting the needs of others.

Think about it. Mulder lost his sister when he was supposed to be looking after her, and in his memory of these events he is powerless to stop her abduction -- no matter what he tries; grabbing a gun, screaming for help; nothing works. We know from the Pilot that his parents refused to talk about what happened to Samantha and as a result the family fell apart -- his parents divorced and the first chance he got, Mulder got as far away from them as he could; going to Oxford.

To compensate for this trauma; the unimaginable weight of guilt and powerlessness he felt to save Samantha, he saves anyone and everyone he can. This way he can sooth that voice in his head; the voice that tells him he is worthless, unlovable. From his 12 year old perspective, his parents withdrew their love when he failed to save Samantha, and so now his self-worth is tied up in a need save -- if he can save someone, he is worthy of love.

So regardless of how terrified he is, he goes head first into the fire to save those children.

He doesn’t want to do it, in his mind, he has no choice.

In a way, it makes me wonder if that’s why he took back Phoebe despite the fact she cheated on him. Perhaps he saw her flaws, saw her destructive behaviour and believed her could save her. Men and women often fall into the trap of believing they can change their partners through love. Perhaps Mulder believed if he loved Phoebe enough, she would change -- that effectively, he would save her?

Poor Mulder. He pushes himself to the point of passing out to save those kids, but fails. While everyone else, including Phoebe, is fawning over Creeper McCreeperson for ultimately being the one to save them...

...it’s Scully who searches for Mulder and immediately goes to him when she sees he needs her help. Regardless of where she falls on Mulder’s priority list, he’s always at the top of hers.

This whole hotel scene really tells you everything you need to know about how these two women feel about Mulder.

One casually discards him when it’s convenient, while the other will wait for him, and be there for him even when he doesn’t ask for it.

Even when he pushes her away.

The next scene emphasises this further, with Scully sitting at his bedside taking care of him. Handing him water as he chugs up his innards and the first thing out of his mouth is...

The script notes for this scene are well known now. Mulder apparently wakes to see Scully and muses on the fact this was not the woman he had anticipated ending up in bed with.

Chris Carter’s writing, everybody.

Thankfully Scully is sensitive enough to his shame and embarrassment that she doesn’t give him a hard time. In fact, she’s mothering him, using that soft, gentle, loving voice that she usually reserves for talking to children.

She’s trying to sooth him, knowing he is going to be hard on himself.

When she asks what happened, he is entirely honest with Scully. They have established a level of emotional intimacy in this episode that they’ve not touched on since Mulder’s emotional confession of his childhood bedtime ritual in Conduit.

This intimacy gives Mulder a feeling of safety that I suspect he hasn’t experienced in a long time. He can be wholly open with Scully, all his weaknesses and vulnerabilities laid bare for her. Represented physically by his walking around almost naked in front of her, wearing nothing but black silky boxers.

Oh Mulder, he really goes all out when he think’s he’s gonna get some. Which just makes me think all sorts of fun thoughts about Mulder and Scully’s season 7 sex life.

(Here ya go, @allyinthekeyofx these gifs are dedicated to you.) 😉

There’s a significant shift in Phoebe’s behaviour when she enters the room. First, she directly addresses Scully, and holds a whole conversation with her. Shocker! She dismisses a piece of vital information Scully gives her, of course, but she still has noticeably adjusted her approach to her. She doesn’t seem to be treating her as a threat anymore.

When Mulder comes back in and sees Phoebe, he suddenly becomes conscious of his body, of his exposure and vulnerability, so immediately covers himself.

The difference in the level of intimacy he feels safe sharing with these two women is clearly drawn by such a simple gesture.

It then becomes apparent why Phoebe is behaving differently, she is returning to England. Mulder is clearly disappointed to hear she’s leaving. Again, reinforcing the idea that perhaps he was hoping for more than a one night stand. Was he hoping she would stay in the US for him?

Phoebe’s dwindled interest in Mulder is palpable. She seems to have given up her romantic pursuit, no longer bothering to ostracise Scully. She politely, and it seems genuinely, bids her goodbye as she leaves.

Knowing full well what she’s just witnessed -- Mulder essentially being dumped -- Scully is ever protective. Looking out for him once again. It’s a shame you can’t hear gifs, because it’s all in that soft, gentle, tentative tone of voice she uses when she asks him...

Mulder is clearly deflated, but I love the next exchange between the two of them.

This is Scully’s chance to shine, to prove herself to him. She basically single-handedly solves the case and discovers who the arsonist is after Phoebe and Mulder spectacularly failed.

She’s clearly making a point to him in outlining the entirety of her investigation. She wants him to know exactly how much she has done. Mulder seems to be only vaguely interested.

That is until she gets to the climax of her little tale, and he flips into overdrive realising they now have what they need to find this guy.

Scully’s face as Mulder leaps into action is perfect. That smug smile of satisfaction.

Whose “brilliant” now, eh?

Mulder flies over to Cape Cod to warn Phoebe, only to find her wrapped in the arms of Sir Marsden. Oh hey, I made these gifs already!

Mulder’s face... It all makes sense to him now. This was all just another game. She played him, and she played him good.

But it seems Mulder has finally learnt his lesson. Fool me once, and all that.

Since it was clear Mulder hadn’t fully let go of his feelings for Phoebe in 10 years, I’d say this was a good thing for him. If she had gone home and he was left to pine over her, that would have been disastrous. So it worked out for the best, if a little painfully for Mulder.

It’s called tough love, bitch. Suck it up.

After this moment, Mulder’s entire demeanour with Phoebe changes – he’s put his barriers back up, and the detached Mulder tone comes out.

He’s looking at her like he can’t quite believe he almost fell for it again.

When Scully arrives later, she can tell straight away that Mulder is upset.

Again, Mulder… what you are looking for is right in front of you. He brushes it off, but she’s watching him intently. She’s so protective of him, it’s so sweet.

So they discover that the arsonist is not the driver, but is in fact the caretaker, and as we know, has painted up the house with argotypoline -- rocket fuel.

In a repeat of the hotel scenario, the children are up stairs in a building that starts going up in smoke.

Mulder valiantly but stupidly tries to put the fires out. Bath towel vs. rocket fuel, Mulder. Seriously?

Finally realising that whacking a rocket fuel fire with a towel is the stupidest thing he’s ever done whilst sober, Mulder orders everyone out of the room.

However, Mulder does find a moment to continue his hand’s love affair with Scully’s back. All in the midst of facing his darkest fear of fire – nice!

Now this is going off book a bit, but I get the sense that there was supposed to be some kind of scene where Scully is in danger in the fire and Mulder overcomes his fears to save her.

I say this because there is a cut line of dialogue from the original script where Scully says “don’t let it be said that you wouldn’t want through fire for a woman” and Mulder apparently replies “and don’t let it be said that I wouldn’t do it for you again, Scully.”

To whoever it was that decided to cut that. CC, I’m looking at you.

I mean, that’s pretty heavy handed stuff… perhaps they realised it was a bit too heavy handed for a show that was supposedly never going to put these two together romantically.

If it had been left in, it would have drawn a clear parallel between Phoebe and Scully. Still along the vein that the episode is already toying with throughout, but those lines of dialogue would have made it far more blatant. The comparison being that Phoebe is fire – she is a tormentor, a symbol of sexual desire and emotional pain for Mulder. As such, his relationship with her compounded his fear; she feeds them. Whereas Scully is a soothing, caring presence. A symbol of love and friendship, and emotional healing for Mulder. As such, his relationship with her helps him to overcome his fear.

The episode does still maintain certain aspects of this – once Mulder has severed his bond with Phoebe, and reunites with Scully, he does put himself between others and the blaze, trying to put it out. He also takes control of the situation and orders everyone out of the house. He’s no longer freezing at the sight of fire.

I really like that as they shuffle everyone out of the house, Mulder tells Scully to find a fire extinguisher but tells everyone else to get out. It’s him and Scully again – together as partners, she’s the one he trusts to have his back.

Mulder, Gawd bless him, summons up the courage to face his fear without needing to save Scully in the end, its having the chance to vindicate his earlier failure at saving the children that motivates him to push forward.

Bless this brave puppy.

Success!

But yeah, being pulled from a burning building twice in one night? Those kids are fucked. Traumatised for life.

So remember I said there was some interesting symbolism with the camera work in the opening of the episode. Well, now we’re at the end, the framing has flipped. Mulder and Scully are reunited as partners on the screen, and now, with Phoebe’s influence over Mulder dashed, she is framed as separate from the two -- the true outsider.

The final scene is very sweet, and symbolic of Mulder and Scully restoring their equilibrium as they return to the casual bantering we saw from them in the beginning of the episode, before Phoebe showed up.

Where we started was that Phoebe was the one in on the joke, now she’s the butt of it. Scully does have a fun side too.

I just gotta say, she looks especially beautiful in this scene, thankfully this was a good wardrobe day for her. Season 1 was very hit and miss.

Scully asks where Phoebe is, and Mulder, clearly more relaxed than we’ve seen him the entire episode, shrugs – he doesn’t know, and seemingly doesn’t care to.

Now if we were to get the romcom ending, Mulder would have noticed all the times Scully was there for him and would have thanked her, or at least recognised that he did need her help after all. Or maybe he’d tell her he’s thankful she didn’t listen to him when he told her not to help. But this is the X-Files, so... yeah who the hell do you think you’re kidding?

Phoebe also sends Mulder another tape, but he doesn’t need to hear it. He’s free of her thrall now, and so there’s nothing she could say that would be meaningful to him anymore.

Would have been a nice touch to see him drop the tape in the trash, but I think we get the idea. It took 10 long years, but Fox Mulder is finally over Phoebe Green.

Next up… My favourite episode of season 1. 1x13 - Beyond the Sea.

#thexfiles #x files #txf meta #txf analysis #MSR #x files msr analysis series #xf gifs #xf screencaps #fox mulder #dana scully #chris carter #david duchovny #gillian anderson #phoebe green #txf 1x12 #fire

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lumalaya · 6 years

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summer films ‘18

hi there! to clarify, this is a log of films i’ve seen this summer, not exactly films set in the summer, so if you’re here for that, i’m sorry?

anyway, here we go!

1. kasal (2018) / dir. ruel s. bayani ♡ 180525 ♡ girl is engaged to the son of cebu’s current mayor who is currently preparing for elections, but her ex comes back and tries to win her back ♡ cliche, i know, but trust me, this movie deals with this plotline in a very interesting way ♡ and come on, it’s bea alonzo and paulo avelino, two icons 2. high school musical (2006) / dir. kenny ortega ♡ 180614 ♡ iconic, i love troy bolton, thanks for reminding me ♡ i know sharpay isn’t that bad but she’s still a bully lol ♡ the choreography for when there was me and you got me dying i love it ♡ fave song: stick to the status quo 3. high school musical 2 (2007) / dir. kenny ortega ♡ 180622 ♡ my least favorite in the trilogy ♡ there was so much unnecessary drama they should’ve cut troy some slack ♡ i hate chad danforth, that’s all ♡ fave song: you are the music in me 4. high school musical 3: senior year (2008) / dir. kenny ortega ♡ 180622 ♡ my favorite in the trilogy! ♡ i still hate chad tho lol but i love taylor so much she’s my favorite character! ♡ i wish they elaborated more on gabriella though, because i like to imagine an alternate ending where she declines stanford and stays in albuquerque for another year which disappoints everyone and puts a strain on her relationship with troy. that would’ve been so interesting! ♡ fave song: i love all of them, but if i had to choose, the boys are back 5. kimmy dora 2: the temple of kiyeme (2009) / dir. joyce bernal ♡ 180626 ♡ the only reason i watched this was because i had a terrible pimple on my forehead and it reminded me of some horror movie then i realized it was this so i had to look for the particular scene ♡ the movie was really bad, as expected ♡ but i absolutely love eugene domingo!! she’s so talented i really admire her as an actress

6. before sunrise (1995) / dir. richard linklater ♡ 180630 ♡ this was the day my internet ultimately stopped working (for four days, if i may add) so i thought hey why not start that movie marathon i’ve been meaning to do ♡ i was excited to watch this because it’s a known pop culture reference, and also because it’s seulgi’s favorite movie ♡ it’s unique! it’s not easy to film a story that revolves around two people who’ve just met walking around in a city neither of them knows ♡ i liked this movie but it wasn’t that spectacular or anything, i think it lacks emotion and excitement ♡ but please, do not get off a train in europe with someone you’ve just met that is dangerous

7. before sunset (2004) / dir. richard linklater ♡ 180630 ♡ i knew nothing about this so i was actually surprised to see the same actors nine years after before sunrise’s release ♡ i like this better than the first one! céline shows the emotions i was looking for ♡ it’s much simpler and easier to follow because it really is just them walking around and talking to continue the story because of the short amount of time they have together

8. before midnight (2013) / dir. richard linklater ♡ 180630 ♡ this movie is the reason i watched the series! it was mentioned in it’s okay, that’s love so i thought i needed to watch this, and honestly, it helped me understand the characters from iotl a bit better! ♡ it ended up being my favorite film of the three ♡ it’s more complex than the first two because it introduces more characters and is set in more locations ♡ after years of watching and reading romcoms, this made me believe in love

9. gone girl (2014) / dir. david fincher ♡ 180701 ♡ i knew nothing about this film except that there was a girl and she was missing and the plot is unexpected? ♡ i won’t say much on this because it’s amazing when you watch it without knowing anything ♡ but it is CRAZY it hecked me up so much wow ♡ will try reading the book when i can!! 10. the grand budapest hotel (2014) / dir. wes anderson ♡ 180701 ♡ my first wes anderson film (finally) ♡ bored me at first because sadly, i can’t relate to rich european men who live in hotels and have sex with elderly women ♡ but it is so much more than that! it’s funny and deals with loyalty, the war, and crap immigrants go through ♡ yes, the cinematography is unique and beautiful, but i couldn’t appreciate it much from years of seeing wes anderson stills on my social media ♡ i went into this without knowing anything about it, but i wish i’d watched the trailer beforehand because that would’ve helped me appreciate it more 11. the fault in our stars (2014) / dir. josh boone ♡ 180702 ♡ i was bored and looking through my sister’s hard drive and i thought hey why not watch sad western teen books-turned-movies i used to glorify years ago ♡ it was alright but knowing every line, song, facial expression that would come next made it worse ♡ john green’s cameo is so awkward it’s almost funny ♡ i hope i never meet an augustus waters in my life 12. if i stay (2014) / dir. r.j. cutler ♡ 180703 ♡ part 2 of sad western teen books-turned-movies i used to glorify ♡ the story is pretty good but the film itself isn’t as good as i remembered ♡ i’m still so in love with jamie blackley after four years he’s so handsome and his voice is beautiful ♡ chloe moretz’s acting is really awkward though it’s almost painful to watch ♡ it made me want to reread the sequel where she went though! 13. she’s dating the gangster (2014) / dir. cathy garcia-molina ♡ 180705 ♡ i started this with an open mind and some expectations because although i hated on it for no reason years ago, i wanted to give it a chance ♡ but i’m sorry it really is bad ♡ kenji delos reyes is manipulative and selfish i hope i never meet a guy like him 14. grave of the fireflies (1988) / dir. isao takahata ♡ 180706 ♡ two siblings in the middle of a war ♡ watched this because a friend wanted to rabbit with me! ♡ i haven’t seen a ghibli film in a while so this was refreshing ♡ really sad though :( 15. 10 things i hate about you (1999) / dir. gil hunger ♡ 180706 ♡ guy is paid to date girl lol ♡ julia stiles is so beautiful :( i love her ♡ pretty funny actually! ♡ also watched this because friends wanted to rabbit with me :> 16. i’m drunk, i love you (2017) / dir. jp habac ♡ 180707 ♡ i finally, finally watched this ♡ not gonna lie it disappointed me? so many people loved it but for me it was eh ♡ paulo avelino’s character was pretty lacking for me, i wish they’d elaborated more on him ♡ but i liked the group dynamic because they’re not the wholesome, fake happy kind of friends, seeing them interact made me feel like they’re people i really know in real life (which made me miss my own friends) ♡ even jasmine’s character felt real because she’s probably someone i’d know HAHA ♡ fun fact: i’ve listened to the song lloydy long before watching this because i mean? a song about john lloyd? sign me up 17. that thing called tadhana (2014) / dir. antoinette jadaone ♡ 180708 ♡ another film i finally watched after multiple pop culture references ♡ i actually kinda liked it! it literally has a spiel about john lloyd of course i do but it gets better when the main characters become comfortable with each other ♡ i find it interesting that the director also directed love you to the stars and back which is another film that revolves around two people, both dealing with stuff, who’d just met and decide to go on a journey together ♡ the characters also feel pretty realistic/relatable once you get to know them 18. the spectacular now (2013) / dir. james ponsoldt ♡ 180709 ♡ part 3 of sad western teen books-turned-movies i used to glorify ♡ the only reason i rewatched this was because it was the shortest of the films i had at the time and i needed something to pass the time while loading episodes of svt club ♡ i mean it’s okay? not bad not good and i don’t even like miles teller ♡ shailene woodley perfectly plays the part of the awkward oblivious girl (and that’s not a compliment) 19. the breakup playlist (2015) / dir. dan villegas ♡ 180716 ♡ this film was so refreshing to watch?? sarah portrayed a youthful musician just starting out so so well i love her so much what a great first sarah g movie for me ♡ piolo made me fall in love with him and later on hate him, as he should ♡ i love opm kaya seeing the gig scene, some actual artists like ebe dancel, and looots of covers of songs like wag na wag mong sasabihin by kitchie nadal and with a smile by eraserheads ♡ i understand now why people love paano bang magmahal HAHAHA 20. barcelona: a love untold (2016) / dir. olivia lamasan ♡ 180717 ♡ alright so remember how i absolutely hated sdtg? ♡ I LOVED THIS FILM SO. MUCH. ♡ kathniel matured a lot in two years and i think they were perfect for this!! they really showed certain struggles of young adults and did not disappoint ♡ it also shows filipino values for family, utang ng loob, ofw struggles, etc ♡ and of course the cinematography is beautiful HUHU i mean it’s barcelona!! 21. my annoying brother (2016) / dir. kwon soo-kyung ♡ 180721 ♡ honestly took me a bit to get into it ♡ i expected it to be funny and although it did make me laugh a lot why were there tears :((( ♡ kyungsoo is so, so, so talented i admire him so much as an actor now ♡ really hits you in the feels! a really beautiful story about two brothers 22. so i married an anti-fan (2016) / dir. kim jae-young ♡ 180724 ♡ meh ♡ it took some getting used to seeing chanyeol being all snobbish and cool instead of his usual loud happy self ♡ of course it’s overdramatic for the comedy, but the hate-turned-love isn’t even that good lol it’s just unreasonable but whatever ♡ the lead girl reminds me of arci munoz HAHA 23. wonder (2017) / dir. stephen chbosky ♡ 180725 ♡ we watched this during my summer program and i was actually pretty excited because i remember loving the book! ♡ this honestly teaches you a lot not even just from the perspective of children but also as teenagers, parents, friends, etc ♡ i thoroughly enjoyed it!

#films #movies #recs #recommendations #reviews #film reviews #movie reviews #film recs #movie recs #high school musical #filipino films #i love troy bolton #sad western teen books-turned-movies i used to glorify #before series

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reconditarmonia · 7 years

Text

Dear Yuletide Writer

Hello, lovely writer!

I’m reconditarmonia here and on AO3 (and have been since LJ days, but my LJ is locked down and I only have a DW to see locked things).

General likes:

-- Relationships that aren’t built on romance or attraction. They can be romantic or sexual as well, but my favorite ships are all ones where it would still be interesting or compelling if the romantic component never materialized.

-- Loyalty kink, whether commander-subordinate or comrades-in-arms, and the trust associated with it. Sometimes-but-not-always relatedly, idealism. I guess the two combined might be, in general, the idea of nobility of character and what that means.

-- Heists, or other stories where there’s a lot of planning and then we see how the plan goes.

-- Femslash, complicated or intense relationships between women, and female-centric gen. Women doing “male” stuff.

-- Stories whose emotional climax or resolution isn’t the sex scene, if there is one.

-- Uniforms/costumes/clothing.

-- Stories, history, and performance. What gets told and how, what doesn’t get told or written down, behavior in a society where everyone’s consuming media and aware of its tropes, how people create their personas and script their own lines.

-- Eucatastrophe.

General DNW: rape/dubcon, torture, other creative gore; Christmas/Christian themes; unrequested AUs, including “same setting, different rules” AUs such as soulmates/soulbonds; PWP; food sex.

Fandom: Dòu Máah Dáan | Peking Opera Blues (1986)

Characters: Tsao Wan

This film is so much MORE than I ever dreamed. More hilarious, more shippy, more dramatic. I think what I want most from this fandom is something on a similar emotional scale - not necessarily something where the plot itself has a national or international scope, but something that has room for opera slapstick, corpse puppetry, and torture; material concerns, and high aspirations; saving each other’s lives, and having sleepovers. Thematically, I’m really interested in the way the film shows friendship and familial love sometimes dovetailing with ethics and ideological goals and sometimes conflicting with them, and in the various ways women can find, or seek, their own independence.

Tsao Wan is the only character I’ve put in my request. I was fully expecting to come out of the film with femslash ships, and instead I have a big OT5 and a huge crush on Brigitte Lin (okay, that part I could see coming), so I’d be happy with any combination of the main five, including the two men, who were not nominated, as long as Tsao Wan is there. Some combination possibilities: how do any of them meet up again after the events of the film, whether by chance - do Bai Niu and/or Sheung Hung happen to be making a tour stop somewhere Tsao Wan has a mission? does Tsao Wan and Ling’s work take them near Tung’s village farm? - or intentionally - how would a new opera about Tsao Wan and Ling’s exciting adventures be created by Bai Niu and/or Sheung Hung, in terms of research and role creation? Or maybe Tsao Wan needs Bai Niu’s skills for a mission. In fact, maybe she needs everyone’s skills for a mission. Recruitment road trip! Some solo possibilities: what was Tsao Wan’s time in Europe like? Was she involved in any political activity there? What does she do post-film as History continues? In anything set post-film, I’d like to know that all five characters are important to each other, even if they’re not actually in the fic and/or sexually involved.

If you want to get really plotty, I love heist and con stuff like Leverage, Ocean’s Eleven (remake), and The Italian Job (original), where there’s a Plan with steps and roles, and then it plays out. If straight-up casefic isn’t your style, it could be fun to throw some shippy tropes at this canon (fake marriage where Tsao Wan is pretending to be the husband? hurt/comfort or sickfic? hell, I’d read accidental baby acquisition), but tropey stuff is not necessary - I’m just trying to throw out some ideas to get things moving. Ideally there’d be at least a figleaf of plot in the background, even if it’s not casefic.

Fandom-specific DNW: Explicit references to torture are still a hard DNW (I covered my eyes during the scene in question when watching the film), but I recognize it’s part of canon and consequently might be part of the world of the fic. If someone is tortured or creatively executed in your story, it’s fine to mention it but I do not want to know how.

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Fandom: Far from the Madding Crowd - Thomas Hardy

Characters: Bathsheba Everdene

I didn’t nominate this and it didn’t occur to me that it would be in the tagset, but I couldn’t stop thinking about it! One thing that always sticks in my mind about this novel is the way Hardy calls Bathsheba “the young farmer” just as he refers to the men as farmers - which, just saying, is more than most people writing about this story can do - and so, that being the case, what I’m most interested in is something about Bathsheba as farmer. One day in the life or four seasons in the life or five plantings/harvests in the life, or pseudo-academic fic about a case study of a woman farmer in the Victorian era, or a conflict between the farm and nature that Bathsheba has to decide how to solve.

Feel free to bring in the other nominated characters or other major characters if it suits what you’re trying to do, but what I’m really looking for is a focus on Bathsheba’s work, determination, and process of learning. I’d also love to read something like a merchant ship AU (as the first alternate setting that came to mind where it would be not exactly the done thing for her to captain her inherited ship and make commercial decisions herself - although I do have to point out that contrary to popular belief, there were a lot of women on shipboard in the age of sail, may this be useful - but also where nature and luck/fate are as influential as they are in the original setting), or something in which the land, superstition, and ritual were more overtly magical.

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Fandom: 月刊少女野崎くん | Gekkan Shoujo Nozaki-kun

Characters: Kashima Yuu, Nozaki Umetarou

Pick a trope. Have them fuck it up.

That’s one of the things that makes me love this canon - the simultaneous send-up of and indulgence in tropes, in a very good-natured way. (Another way I’ve described its genre: “nothing happens, but very dramatically.” Everything is shocking or devastating or the pinnacle of bliss.) Kashima and Nozaki are two of the characters whose propensity to do this is most likely to set a story in motion, due to Nozaki’s experimentation/observation for his manga and Kashima’s princely self-fashioning and going 120% on everything; I also love Kashima’s bifauxnen-ness, acting talent, and earnest failboating, and the way that Nozaki could have been written as a tall-dark-handsome-stoic cipher guy and instead is just as quirky as anyone else. That said, this is an OR request, not an AND, and I’d also be happy to read stories about pretty much anyone from the nominated tagset (except Mikoshiba or Mayu; I don’t know Mayu very well because I originally got into this through the anime, and Mikoshiba just isn’t my fave, although I have no objection to his appearing in the story).

There are all sorts of lists out there of common shoujo(/romcom/fanfic) tropes if you’re not sure where to start. And, because Nozaki is all about subverting gendered characterization and role-boxing, and also about people trying to make their lives conform to narrative, go ahead and apply those tropes to whichever characters you feel would be the most interesting or fun. Feel free to pick non-high-school-setting ones, too, if there's magical/historical/high-society shoujo you want to see them tackle, or to take a play that Kashima (and whoever else) is involved in as a jumping-off point.

As you may have gathered, I love the way the canon plays with romance tropes, but I would prefer no overt Shipfic. If you’d like to include a ship, whether slash/femslash or het, I’d like for it to be handled without much seriousness, and for friendship with characters who aren’t part of the ship to be a significant part of the fic, as per canon. I do really like the show’s variety of friendships between characters of different temperaments, interests, and sexes.

If you’re really getting a “why don’t you just rewatch/reread the canon, reconditarmonia” vibe off this, which I’m kind of giving myself, you could try sex comedy future fic? Give them magical powers? What I’m most interested in, wherever you go with this, is the playing-with-tropes thing.

Fandom-specific DNW: I love Hori and Kashima’s relationship, but I’d strongly prefer that her feelings for him not be written as overtly romantic. High levels of ambiguity/intensity/tropey-ness are fine and great.

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Fandom: Monstrous Regiment - Terry Pratchett

Characters: Any (Alice “Wazzer” Goom, Jack Jackrum, Magda “Tonker” Halter, Maladict, Polly “Ozzer” Perks, Tilda “Lofty” Tewt)

Give me all the loyalty kink for this fandom. Characters rescuing each other from peril, risking their reputation or position or ethics to defend each other, accomplishing the impossible or sacrificing things without even thinking twice because one trusts the other’s orders or judgment. Or A not going off the leash or into danger to defend B because B said not to, to protect A’s conscience or life or reputation. Can be romantic or platonic - I ship Polly/Mal and Tonker/Lofty, but I would also be delighted with Polly&Jackrum, Wazzer&Polly, or other non-romantic twosomes or moresomes in situations of loyalty and trust. Maybe Polly sends Mal on a dangerous mission, or Tonker is captured after she and Lofty burn down another place where women and girls are being abused, or Polly protects Jackrum’s secret/s from someone who could reveal them, or Wazzer ends up in the field again with the general’s retinue and Polly and Mal rescue her from danger (or vice versa!!). What strengths or sacrifices do they have at their disposal for each other?

Pratchett-esque voices would be great. He’s really, really good at sucker-punching the reader with sincerity in an overall satiric mode, and I think that style lends itself well to this sort of thing.

I’m not going to lie, Polly is my fave. I like that this could have been a generic coming-of-age or women-in-war story, where the protagonist learns that she’s brave or worthwhile and then the crisis is past, but instead Polly learns that she’s a cunning bastard and a hell of a sergeant, and being a one-off hero in a country that’s at peace and making slow social progress isn’t good enough for her. That said, just because I’m better able to articulate what I like about Polly doesn’t mean I’d be less excited for fic about anyone else! I think that’s something I’d want to explore for any of the characters who enlist in the course of the story - what are these women good at? What lets them fulfill their potential? What do they want when their hand isn’t being forced? Or for Jackrum, who’s already gone through that whole process by the time the story begins, any more backstory would be fabulous.

If you’re going the Polly/Mal route, I also love ludicrous levels of sexual tension in a military context (I think it’s the unavoidable proximity + the presence of others making it hard to act on it).

Fandom-specific DNW: vampire romance tropes (such as turning and/or immortality) as focus; non-female pronouns/headcanons.

Fandom: Simoun (Anime)

Characters: Any (Aaeru, Dominuura, Halconf, Mamiina, Neviril, Paraietta, Plumbish Priestesses, Rodoreamon)

Simoun somehow ended up being a really weirdly meaningful show to me. I loved how all these women got to be flawed and fucked-up, noble and loyal. How, in the mold of all my favorite epic shoujo anime, it starts off beautiful and fine and then Shit Gets Very Real and that’s actually one of the themes of the show - we had a little debate a few weeks ago on FFA as to whether or not Simoun was a military canon, and the fact that circumstances have remade a team of priestesses in fancy quarters and magic flying machines who are there to pray to God, put off their choice of sex, use their talents, maintain or claw their way into a social position, into a military force involved in a war - that’s an idea that the characters themselves struggle with in the show. (Neviril’s scene in the hearing is one of my favorites.) How everyone gets character development, in the sense of learning and changing, and even what seem like annoying mandatory straight subplots actually end up serving that thematic or character development, to say nothing of the more focal relationships between the leads (not just Neviril and Aeru, but also Mamiina and Rodoreamon, Neviril and Paraietta...)

I’d really like to read a fic where an individual character’s development or two characters’ relationship is similarly tied in to plot developments; it doesn’t have to be a plotty fic as such, but I was very interested in the way the developments of the war and the pilots/priestesses’ actions in it precipitated changes in their relationships. So how might Neviril and Aeru’s relationship develop in the other world (what are they doing?), or Mamiina and Rodoreamon’s on the Messis when they’re not the narrative focus before Mamiina��s last mission and the braid thing? (Or if this is more your speed, dig into that and see how a character grows or the relationship between characters develops when that’s not being moved along by outside events in the same way, especially if they’re aware of that being an issue. When Neviril and Aeru are outside the normal flow of time, or Paraietta and Rodoreamon are civilians, for example.) I’m also interested in all the permutations of loyalty we see in the show - like loyalty to a position over loyalty to a side (as with the Plumbish priestesses’ siding with our Sibyllae), loyalty that develops before liking or friendship, the devoted loyalty to Neviril. I like the show’s military themes despite its magical-girl visuals. I think this is also a canon where it would make sense for sexual first times to be part of a fic - what does that mean for the characters you choose?

I should also say that due to all the magic and timespace warping in the show, I am more than okay with post-canon fic that gets characters back together who were separated by canon, if that’s what you want. You can resurrect Mamiina, or have Neviril and Aeru visit the main reality/timeline again. Or play with timespace even more - time loop fic? (Edit: This didn’t even occur to me until I found out about the IF post, but this fandom might lend itself to interactive fiction, too.)

#yuletide #peking opera blues #far from the madding crowd #gsnk #monstrous regiment #simoun #dear author letters

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