#literally where do you go to meet real live men

[ariacherie]

Bumble in Bumble in

my hometown my uni city

. 🤝 .

Being the

absolute worst

#girlblog #girlblogging #girlblogger #insomnia is so lana del rey coquette vinyl #i am just a girl #bumble #the struggles of online dating #I can choose between a beach town 7 with an ugly tattoo and a drinking problem #or a foreign exchange student in his 5th semester of a liberal arts degree who thinks everything in life is so profound #but either way they just want to smash #literally where do you go to meet real live men

[tiajk]

Amazon strawhat reader

Warnings; fem reader!, everyone crushing on reader if you squint, everyone loves themselves amazon reader, added robin brook franky and jimbei becuase why not even though i haven’t watched that far so if i get something wrong pls tell me, reader can do a lot of stuff

A/N: none!

masterlist. part 2

— luffy would actually love you without a single fucking doubt he was practically jumping up and down asking you to join his crew if you said no he would kidnap you but who could say no to him and his cute face

— luffy uses you as a climbing tool he wants to see something up high and can’t see his going to you asking for uppies and you gladly give them to him

— zoro didn’t want to admit but he liked you on the crew becuase your strong he wants to challenge you and he admires your strength but he’s lowkey scared of you if your taller than him

— let this man see your sword he will literally not want to let it go and he’ll be so honored that you let him even hold it if you let him use it in battle if he lost one of his he’ll be so fucking happy and blushy

— sanji swoons over every women ( and man) but a muscular tall woman that’s race is literally goddess warriors this man is on the floor for you at your every beck and call

— he gets carried by you a lot he tries to carry you but you just carry him and he gets all blushy

— nami thinks that’s your so fucking cool she would 100% want to sun bathe with you all the time

— she also wants to hear about how the stories that your people have made over the years

— ussop is shaking the first time he meets you

— when there’s a fight he hides behind you and says that your under his control when you go along with it makes him very happy that’s why your his favorite

— chopper thinks it’s so cool that your on the crew when you tell him about the animals that your mother told you when you where growing up it makes him feel less like a monster and he does his cute little dance thing

— if you ever in battle and seriously injured and don’t go to him because your stubborn best believe he’s shape shifting and throwing you over his shoulder so you can get treated correctly (you could overpower him but you’ll let him win this one)

— robin has definitely heard of amazons but never seen one before in real life

— you guys will have little reading dates and she loves when you give her books from your home because there so interesting and fascinating

— Franky thinks your SUPERRRR all the time you never understood his obsession with cola but when he had you drink some you were hooked

— he makes you gadgets all the time whether to improve your sword or shield he is always making stuff for you

— when brook saw you he wanted your panties but was kinda scared when you drew your sword at him then he remembered he was dead but it was still kind scary

— jimbei had definitely heard of amazons before but like robin had never seen one

— he’s like a really cool person to be around if you wanna learn about his people culture you would always go to his with no hesitation and he would gladly tell you

— the crew admires you a lot your like there personal bodyguard they love you

— the girls will always make sure that when you guys go shopping you all get matching stuff because why not

— i feel like luffy goes to you for everything he has a cut on his hand he’s going to you instead of chopper it just shows how much he trust you

— when you first join the crew and your kinda timid to the boys they understand because your people say that men are just nasty but they get kind sad because they wanna know you better but over time you learn to love them ask much as you do robin and nami

— tell them stories of your home they wanna hear about it all the time especially if simultaneously they all can’t sleep and want to hear your voice

— they know how stubborn you can be so when you go into battle and almost sacrifice yourself so they can live they can get pretty mad at you but they know it comes from a place of love and respect

— i know that amazon’s have super strength and so does the crew so when you guys them they get kinda scared because of your bone crushing hugs

— if you don’t understand why some people do certain things then they’ll explain it to you

— sanji love it when you tell him about food that you ate when you were a child he tried to recreate it with you helping him

— they know how passionate you can be one time you were telling them how much you love them and made them cry

— whenever zoro gets lost you always find him first or he finds you first becuase he can feel your passion 100 miles away

— luffy definitely flexes on law and kid that he has an amazing warrior on his crew and they don’t (they admire you just as much and are kind jealous)

— if someone were to ever catcall you or harass you before you can get a word at there all jumping the person making there life absolutely fucking miserable

— for your birthday they did the cutest thing they had the sunny decorated like your home island from what they could make out of the books and just made you fell right at home

— when they find out your a princess that doesn’t change a thing about they see you but they can tell that another place you get your passion from

— nami will probably ask you for some money and you give it to her becuase you love her so much and she never charges you because of it

— you love you nakamas and they love you

#ronoroa zoro x reader #strawhat crew x reader #monkey d luffy x reader #luffy x reader #zoro x reader #tiajk #opla sanji x reader #vinsmoke sanji x reader #opla nami x reader #opla luffy x reader #opla zoro x reader #opla ussop x reader #nico robin x reader #franky x reader #opla x reader #one piece x reader #chopper x reader #brook x reader #jimbei x reader #one piece x reader #one piece #one piece fluff #strawhats x reader platonic

[stanfanfiction]

Taste of You - Ken x female reader - PART SIX

Feelingsss tiimmeee.

Please let me know how you like it!! Thanks as always for reading!

Warnings: 18+ ONLY / Ken and Barbie meet in the real world and feeliinnggss happen / fluff / angst / super sweet lovemaking / fingering / p! In v!

For the third day in a row, you and Ken stood in line at the bubble tea shop.

“You know, you could probably apply for a job here. They’d probably give you all the free drinks you want,” you suggested.

Ken’s shuffled a little. “I, uh, maybe? I’ve only had one job before.”

“In Barbieland?”

“Mmmhmmm.”

“What was it?”

He placed his hands in his pockets. “It was, uh, Beach.”

“Beach?”

“Yeah.” He smiled sheepishly. “Like, you know how Barbies and Kens have titles?”

“Ooohhhhhh.” You cocked your head. “Just Beach Ken?”

“Basically.”

“What did Beach entail?”

“I just sorta stood there.”

“Just looking good on the beach?”

“Yeah,” he chuckled.

You smiled. “I could see that.”

“Oh my god, Ken??”

The two of you turned to the voice behind you and you blinked a couple times, taking in the woman who had spoken. Tall, blonde, bright faced, perfect smile.

“Ken! It is you!!”

Ken’s face rushed through a plethora of emotions in a split second before forcing a grin. “Barbie!”

You tried to intake this moment. Barbie, literal Barbie, stood in front of you, glowing with enthusiasm.

“I’m so glad you see you! How long have you been here?” She asked.

“Ah, yeah, like a couple months,” Ken said, hand fumbling with his pocket, trying to put on a cool exterior which only make it more obvious how insecure he was feeling in the moment.

Barbie turned to you. “Hi, I’m Barbara,” she said, “well, Barbie. Formerly, technically.” She stretched out her hand, and you shook it.

You were about to introduce yourself when Ken’s arm slipped around your waist. “This is y/n,” he said. “She’s my girlfriend.”

“Of course you are! You are so beautiful!” Barbie’s eyes shone.

“Oh, god thank you - YOU are so beautiful,” you said, slightly overwhelmed by her beauty and the bright energy radiating from her.

“So what are you doing here, Ken?” She asked.

“Like, at the boba tea store?”

“No, here. In the Real world,” she laughed, and he forced a chuckle.

“Oh, just, ya know, needed a change of scenery.” He shrugged, forced nonchalant, and you wanted to ask where on earth this sudden display of insecurity had come from but kept quiet, just watching their interaction happen. “I might work here, uh, someday.” He made a motion to the store around him.

“You’d be so good at that! You absolutely should.”

“And, What, uh, do you do?” he asked.

“Oh, I work at Mattel.”

“You..work at Mattel? The place that…made…you?” You said.

She nodded. “Oh yeah. It’s wild. I get to come up with ideas for new Barbies and Kens.”

“That’s…”

“Bizarre, I know,” she laughed. “But it’s amazing. I’m learning to trust my instincts better here, too! It’s so weird to question everything I think! That’s not something I had to deal with in Barbieland. I go to Ruth a lot to confirm that my ideas are good but she keeps telling me I just have to go with my gut. And it’s so weird sometimes because the building is literally full of men. Like who would have guessed men make decisions about what women want to be?”

You nodded. “I, I mean, yeah, I agree.”

“Ruth seems able to ignore it but -“

“Ruth is?”

“She created Barbie! Her ghost lives at the Mattel headquarters.”

“She…okay…”

“Ken hasn’t told you anything about any of this?”

You turned to Ken. “Not really. He always made the couple times he talked about Barbieland sound so boring.”

“Oh my gosh. Ken would, honestly.” Barbie playfully rolled her eyes.

Ken forced another chuckle. “Ahh, yes, I’ve been focusing on adjusting to here, ya know, the real world. So I haven’t said much…about…”

“Yeah, well now I feel like I’m gonna ask a lot about it because I realize that I have so very many questions,” You said, feeding off of Barbie’s playful vibes, hoping whatever was stressing Ken would fade. It didn’t work.

“Well, if he doesn’t tell you, I will.” Barbie grinned, then nodded towards the counter behind you, seeing you were next in line.

You both ordered and Barbie did too, handing her card to the cashier. “Drinks are on me today!”

You thanked her, still a little intimidated by this woman’s presence and energy, so effortless and flawless and…

“So how long have you two been together?” She asked.

“Almost two months,” Ken said proudly.

“Yeah, we kinda found each other pretty quickly.”

“I love that. I’m so happy you found someone, Ken.” Barbie squeezed his arm and you noticed he flexed his bicep a little, almost like an automatic response.

“And what do you do?” She asked you suddenly.

“I’m a student. I wanna actually become a professor of literature someday.”

“I LOVE that. I’m so behind on reading. Like, 50 years behind?” She laughed again. “You’ll have to give me important book recommendations.” She pulled a hot pink card out of her purse and handed it to you, “Barbara Handler” embossed in pearly white on it along with her job title and phone number. “Text me. Let’s do lunch sometime.”

You nodded, thanking her, and Ken’s eyes kept glancing back and forth between the two of you.

“It is so, so good to see you, Ken. I’m so happy you’re here and doing well. You two are adorable together.”

You smiled. “Thank you.”

Barbie reached around you to pick up her drink from the counter, popping a straw into it. “So fun running into you guys!! And, Ken, I hope you get to work here. I’ll come see you all the time!”

Ken gave a half nod, half smile, as if trying to decide between the two.

“I was so nice meeting you.” Barbie leaned in for a quick hug. Dear god, how did she smell so good?? “I’d stay to visit but I have to get to work. Bye!!” She waved with that perfect smile and disappeared out of the door.

Ken stared as if dumbfounded at the door as is closed behind her, and you picked up your drinks and nudged his into his hand. The cold cup helped bring him back to the moment and he glanced down, then over at you.

“Hey, what’s going on, Ken?” You asked softly.

He remained quiet for a moment before turning to you. “Can we go to the beach?”

Zoey was more than happy to lend you her car for the day when you asked and soon you and Ken were on your hour-long drive to the beach.

Ken wore a pair of pink and green swim shorts, one of the few outfits he had brought from Barbieland, and you wore a see-through pink coverup over the new pink bikini you had purchased the other day. Usually Ken would be all over you, probably forcing you to find a place to park so he could fuck you in the car, but today he remained quiet, staring ahead. His elbow leaned on the door underneath the window, chin resting on his hand. Twice he reached across to squeeze your hand but otherwise he kept to himself, his usual enthusiastic candor no where to be found.

“What are you wanting to do at the beach, love?” You asked.

“Just…I want to be there. I think I need to.”

“Okay.” You rested your hand on his leg and he laid his hand on top of yours for the remainder of the drive.

You knew of a little area that you used to frequent with your girlfriends awhile back when you wanted to drink and hang out in private, away from the busiest areas of the beach, and after you parked you offered Ken your hand to lead him along. You held the folded towels under your other arm and walked slowly, letting Ken’s set the walking pace.

“What was the beach like in Barbieland?” You pressed gently, seeing what might make him speak again.

He shrugged. “Pink. Plastic.”

“The sand was plastic?”

“Everything was plastic.”

You stopped walking and kicked off your sandals.

“Take off your shoes,” You smiled, and he did as you asked. You sunk your toes into the sand and watched as Ken did the same, experiencing the feel of it for the first time.

“How does it feel?”

He smiled a little. “Kinda nice? It’s hot and soft but rough as well.”

“It is.” You leaned down to sit on your heels. “How does it feel between your fingers?”

He reached down to pick up a handful and smiled bigger now, lost in the moment of feeling the material and watching it as it trailed back downward between his fingers. He looked up at you. “I like it.”

You held out your hand to him and stood up. “Walk with me.” You both strolled along the beach, stopping once to have Ken stand in the tide area with you, getting to feel how the water felt when it rushed onto the shore and over his feet and ankles.

“Why does it feel different than other water?” He asked.

“I guess because of the salt? I don’t know, actually. I guess I’ll have to google it later.”

You got to the area you had been headed for after a little while, and unrolled both of your towels to lay them down onto the sand. You crossed your legs as you sank down onto yours. You expected Ken to sit down on the one next to you but instead he sat behind you on yours, wrapping his arms around you, nesting his chin on your shoulder.

He let the senses of the moment settle in: the noises of the ocean, the seagulls that flew overhead, your breathing against his ear. The warmth of the day and the warmth of your skin, the scent of the salt water and seaweed blending in with the scent of your hair.

“So what’s going on, Ken?” You asked, reaching behind you to pet his hair.

You felt him bury his face in your neck, his grip tightening around you. You allowed him the silence he needed until you felt liquid on your skin and realized he was crying.

You tried to turn to look at him but he shook his head, still pressing his face into you.

“I just….I don’t think I know who I am.” He worked hard to keep his voice steady but you heard the heartbreak in his tone.

“What do you mean, sweet Ken?”

He sobbed a little. “I don’t know where I belong.”

Your hand stopped its petting and rested comfortingly on his hair. “Oh, Ken.”

“I’m supposed to know who I am, right?” He sniffed and you felt more tears against your skin.

“Not necessarily. At least not right now.”

“I had always wanted to be with Barbie when I was in Barbieland, but she never wanted me.”

“Okay,” you encouraged gently.

“Then I went a little crazy trying to make her want me, but it only upset her. She deserved to be upset, though. I just…so…she decided she needed to come live her life here, in this world, and she helped me understand that I didn’t need to have her to know who I was, even though her leaving made me still feel so…empty.”

You tried to turn again and this time he loosened his grip enough so you could turn your waist to look at him.

He kept his head low, looking down at the ground so you couldn’t see his face. “I came here hoping something might make sense. I felt like I couldn’t figure out who I was. I know I’m me, but I don’t know what I really want. Or who I even am.”

“That’s nothing to be ashamed of at all. A lot of people don’t know *who* they are, sometimes not for awhile. And often having a permanent understanding of that isn’t always the case, either. It’s not abnormal. People grow and change.”

He shook his head. “I’m afraid if Barbie knew that she’d be disappointed in me.”

“Why would she be?”

He shrugged. “I don’t know.”

“Is it that maybe you’re disappointed in yourself, Ken?”

He raised his head a little now, looking up at you through wet lashes. “Maybe?” His voice cracked fully and he began sobbing, holding his face in his hands.

You placed your hands on either side of his face. “Ken, my love, can I see your face?”

He kept his face hidden, his shoulders shaking a little.

“Why are you feeling disappointed in yourself? You ever had a lot happen in a short amount of time. I’m not sure how quickly time works in Barbieland, but here, things can take a long time. A really long time, sometimes. And that’s normal.”

He pulled his hands away a little and you took the opportunity to pull them away from his face, his blue eyes oceans of emotion.

“Hey there, handsome. Now I can see you,” You cooed, and you got the tiniest glint of a smile from him.

He sniffed again. “I’m just worried.”

“About?”

“I’m so scared to lose you.” His voice cracked again. “I feel like I’ll stop breathing or something. And I feel like somehow that’s…wrong? Like I feel as though Barbie would say it is wrong.”

“Would Barbie say that? And even if she did, why would that matter, my sweet?”

Ken pondered this for a moment. “I’ve tried so hard to move on, and I have moved on, and it’s because you make me feel…insane things, y/n.” He exhaled those last words out as if doing so would nail them into you, that you’d understand without him having to explain further.

You nodded, cradling his face in your hands, and he automatically kissed your palm before nuzzling his face into it like always.

“You make me feel like I am someone,” he whispered, gulping before finishing his thought, “you make me feel whole.”

You leaned your forehead into his, and he lowered his eyes again, embracing the feeling of you close to him, watching as his tears dripped off his face and onto his lap.

“You are someone, Ken. And even if you don’t know exactly who that is yet, that’s okay. You’re someone to me.”

Ken sobbed and buried his face in your neck again, and you wrapped your arms around his neck, tracing little shapes into his back, something you had recently learned made him feel relaxed.

His breathed shuddered as he tried to regain control over his tears. “I’m sorry, I’m so sorr-“

“No, Ken, you don’t get to be sorry. You have nothing to be sorry for.”

“I don’t know where I belong without you.”

“You don’t have to,” You soothed. “I’m here, and I like feeling like I belong to you.”

He pulled back now, your eyes gazing into his as he searched you for any sign of dishonesty.

“You feel like you belong to me?” He breathed.

“I feel like we belong to each other.” You pushed some hair that had fallen into his face.

“Yeah?” A light breeze danced around the two of you, and you brushed away a fresh set of Ken’s tears that appeared when you nodded.

His crying felt less from a source of pain and more as a form of relief now, and you held him close to you and pressed kisses onto his hair as he experienced his release.

“I’ve felt so stressed for so long,” he revealed.

“About us?”

“Yes. That you’ll get tired of me, and I don’t know what I’d do without you.”

He sat up a little straighter and you leaned forward to kiss him, and he noticed right away and closed the distance himself as he crashed his lips into yours. The saltiness from his tears mixed with the taste of him, and you kissed him harder, wanting him to feel how much you felt for him.

“I love you, Ken,” You told him earnestly. “I want to be with you, and I want you to want to be with me.”

“I want nothing more than to be with you,” he replied, his lips still pressing into yours with sweet kisses.

“You’ll figure out everything that you’re wanting to, I promise. It takes time. And I’ll be with you every step of the way.”

Ken held you and sighed into your mouth, hand resting on the back of your head to keep your mouth against his, kissing you passionately.

“How can I make sure you feel loved?” You breathed in-between his kisses.

“Anything you do makes me feel loved.”

You leaned your full bodyweight into him, encouraging him to lay back on the towel. The sun had begun to set, and the sea breeze tickled your skin a little as it began to cool down outside.

You straddled Ken’s torso and leaned over to look into his eyes. He breathed deeply and rested his hands on yours that had placed themselves on his strong chest. You began kissing him down his neck and collarbone, then down his sternum and abs, taking your time once you neared his lower torso area and his muscles clenched at your touch as he let out a soft moan.

You tugged his shorts down enough to pull his member free and began slowly began pumping him as he hadn’t fully hardened yet, and one of his long arms reached to grip onto your wrist as it worked him up and down to hold onto you, his eyes closing.

“What would you like, Ken?”

“I just want to love on you.” He hardened fully then and began to sit up, but your hand pressed onto his chest and instead he propped himself up on his forearms.

“Why don’t I make love to you?” You asked, moving around so you could peel off your bikini bottoms and toss them aside.

Ken smiled, eyes red from crying but shining with love for you, and pulled you closer to him. “I would love that.” He reached for your cover-up that you hadn’t taken off all day and pulled it over your head.

You smiled and positioned yourself over his cock but he reached his hand underneath to rub between your folds. “Let me get you ready first.” He sat up more now so you could hold onto his shoulders as he pressed two fingers into you and you shuddered, Ken pressing his other hand into your lower back to help you balance. “Ride my fingers, y/n,” he whispered, his eyes not leaving yours as you slowly began moving around on them, moaning.

“That’s so good,” he praised as your hips moved around and his digits sunk in deeper. “Fuck my fingers, my beautiful girl.” He curled his knuckles a little when he was deep enough to hit your g-spot and you fell into him a little, Ken’s breathing picking up with yours as you whimpered against his gentle pleasuring of you.

“My beautiful girl,” he breathed, and your arms wrapped around his neck to hold him closer to you.

“Ken,” you moaned, “I wanna pleasure you.”

He kissed down your neck. “Soon.”

“Now, please,” you almost whined. “Please, Ken.”

“Mmmmm,” he moaned against your pulse point and relented, pulling his fingers from you, and you reached down to position his cock underneath you, slowly lowering yourself on him.

Ken choked out a loud moan and shuddered, gripping your waist.

“Lay down, my good boy,” you cooed. “Let me pleasure you.”

Ken almost collapsed back onto the towel, holding your hand in his as he watched you circle your hips slowly with him inside you, both of you moaning loudly at the sensation.

“Y/n,” he begged, “please, please move.”

“I’m getting to it,” you smiled, setting your free hand on his abs to steady yourself as you began bucking your hips. Ken’s head fell back and his body tensed as you slowly fucked him, wanting him to feel everything in soft, smooth motions.

His hands flew to grip your hips when you began fucking him up and down, and his hips flew up to meet yours a couple of times, making you cry out.

“Let me hold you,” Ken said, and you nodded as he sat up and wrapped your legs around his waist then held you as he fucked up into you.

You both held each other and moaned almost incoherently to each other, and your body felt like it was exploding in fireworks, every touch from Ken electric. Ken’s heart sang every time you made a noise when he thrust into you, when you gripped him, when you called his name, your touch like a healing potion.

You came unexpectedly, your climax hitting you hard and you stiffened, shivering as Ken held you tight and fucked you through it, then stared deeply into your eyes before kissing you while he rode out his own.

You sat intertwined, gasping into each other, the only other sound being the waves crashing behind you, the sun having set during your love-making.

You saw the reflection of the moon in Ken’s eyes as he brushed hair out of your face, and smiled. He smiled back.

“Whatever we go through, we’ll get through it together, okay?” You said, and Ken confirmed his response by pulling your lips into his one more time.

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#ryan gosling #ken #barbie movie #ken smut #ken x reader smut #fanfiction #ken barbie #ken doll #ken x reader #ryan gosling fanfic #ken ryan gosling #ryan gosling x reader #ryan gosling smut #ken fan fic #ken fic #ken fan fiction #ken fanfic #beach ken

[sweaterkittensahoy]

Rosie Rosenthal going to war and becoming a pilot to personally bomb the fuck out of Hitler because it was the right thing to do as a human being, and then going home, getting back to work, and then getting offered the chance to be part of the Nuremberg prosecution team.

And he meets his wife--a fellow prosecutor--on the ship over to the trial. And they're married basically the moment they land in Europe.

And then he interrogates Herman Göring personally.

Do you remember those Peanuts strips where Snoopy fights against the Red Baron? The WWI fighting ace? That was fucking Göring. Literally. He was the leader of that squadron.

That's who Rosie Rosenthal interrogated for Nuremberg. His literal mirror image.

He flew 52 fucking missions. He broke his arm twice. He was training to pilot in the Pacific because that war wasn't over even as the ETO came to a close. And his encore to his war service was to fucking take out Herman fucking Göring.

I think the reason WW2 stories stay so close to our hearts if we're Allies is because even if the most unassuming of people became heroes but also, even the unquestionable heroes went far beyond anything that feels real or true for any of us.

But they did.

And in doing so, they gave us something to strive towards. Do I want to go to war, become an icon amongst terrified men, then go back and kick a war criminal all the way in the ass? God no. Not ever. Do I want to, when I am gone, leave a legacy where people saw me go, "I did this because it was fucking right" and then make decisions in their own lives with an eye towards doing what is right? Yes.

#rosie rosenthal #robert rosenthal #masters of the air

[dyke-will-graham]

Long Live Abigail Hobbs!

In honor of our best girl I’m sharing my favorite Abigail Hobbs coded songs because she’s quite literally the ghost haunting me. No one deserved her.

Killer- Phoebe Bridgers

“Sometimes I think I’m a killer. I scared you in your house, I even scared myself talking about Dahmer on your couch.”

“I am sick of the chase, but I’m hungry for blood. And there’s nothing I can do.”

Family Tree- Ethel Cain

“I’m just a child but I’m not above violence.”

“Christ forgive these bones in hiding and oh and the bones I’m about to leave.”

Sun-Bleached Flies - Ethel Cain

“God loves you but not enough to save you.”

“But I always knew that in the end no one was coming to save me so I just prayed, and I keep praying and praying. If it’s meant to be then it will be.”

Strangers- Ethel Cain

“I tried to be good, am I no good? With my memory restricted to a Polaroid in evidence.”

“Found you just to tell you I made it real far. And I never blamed you for loving me the way that you did.”

“Am I turning in your stomach? Am I making you feel sick?”

Bite the Hand- Boygenius

“Who do you think you are? Who do you think I am? Maybe I’m afraid of you?”

“I can’t love you how you want me to.”

Vienna (in Memoriam) - the army, the navy

Enough said.

Smother - Daughter

“In the darkness I will meet my creators and they will all tell me I’m a suffocator.”

“Sometimes I wish I had stayed in my mother, never to come out.”

Im Right Here - Theodore Shapiro

The humming and melody feel like what Abigail’s life with Will might have been had they been in WolfTrap instead.

House Song- Searows

“Something is rotten inside me, I have to find it and cut it out.”

Hard Times- Ethel Cain

“Tell me a story about how it ends where you’re still the good guy I make pretend cause I hate this story where happiness ends and dies with you.”

“I thought good guys got to be happy? I’m not happy. I am poison in the water and unhappy. A little girl who needs her daddy real bad.”

“I’m tired of you still tied to me.”

OKAY THATS ALL FOR NOW. Abigail is one of my favorite characters ever and I think her complexity should be observed more. She was a survivor and perceived in the light of those around her and never as she truly was and I mourn her daily. I think about how she deserved to go to school abroad and never want for anything but in the end was a playing pawn in a game between two men who were themselves too terrified and confused to make sense of each other much less her as an independent.

IF YOU WANT MORE HERES MY PLAYLIST FOR HER

#hannibal #hannibalnbc #save abigail hobbs #Abigail Hobbs #will graham #hugh dancy #mads mikkelsen #hannibal lecter #will loves hannibal #hannibal and will #hannigram #hannibal and Abigail #garret jacob hobbs #playlist #character study #boygenius #Ethel Cain #nbc hannibal #Spotify

[taylorswiftstylequestions]

omfg i'm sorry to rant but i NEED a sympathetic person to hear this. i like the every single album podcast more than most swifties, but today's ep -- and the last few -- are driving me insane. i am so fucking sick of hearing nathan and nora wring their hands over what joe might deal with. all harassment is bad, but i am done pretending that jake g and john mayer went through….any kind of wringer? they had like...a semi-awkward couple of weeks? jake is still a mega a-lister and john mayer is widely considered to be one of the greatest living guitarists. fuck, what mayer did was outright predatory -- and he's done it to multiple women -- and lbr, he lives 99% of his life totally unperturbed by it. he's not losing gigs or status in the places that matter to him; i suspect a lot of swifties aren't aware of this but i'm a guitar nerd, and uh, yeah, he's considered a living god and no one gives a shit what he did to taylor. and literally everyone woman in the public eye, including taylor, goes through worse every single fucking day, even at their heights of popularity. i don't know how to deal with hearing nathan and nora worry about :(((( omg what will joe go through :((((( when he's never going to have disgusting ai porn of himself explode across twitter on a random weekday. maybe i feel this strongly b/c i work in games, where hordes of male fans regularly ruin random women's lives because they animated a female character wearing a t-shirt instead of a string bikini, but i can't deal with this anymore. these men are fine. lots of people get mad at them, but it's because they did truly shitty things to her and she refused to absorb it silently. then it breaks, and their lives go on.

---

I feel like Nora really articulated what Anon was trying to say the other day about along the gist of "I hope something really bad happened to justify all of this." Interesting perspectives! Btw I just want to be super clear that I don't think Taylor or anyone has to justify anything like that! Just thought it was interesting how Nora put it in the latest episode and T's power is the unusual part of this equation.

---

In a very classic "I thought the two of you should meet!" re: today's The Ringer / Every Single Album pod episode.

I will say I read both of these messages before listening to the episode myself and tbh I think Nora ultimately landed in a pretty middle and reasonable place (it started out pretty rocky though) by the end of the episode. My understanding is she ultimately felt like Taylor has every right to tell the story that she wants / needs to tell and the work will speak for itself. That this is Taylor going face to face with the elephant in the room and (probably - we don't know obviously) not obfuscating the reality that we all saw play out in real time behind 'fictionalized' half truths roleplayed by semi-imaginary characters. And at the end of the day the (likely - AGAIN WE DON'T KNOW) reality is that she's prepared to walk through the narrative that is this pressure cooker storyline many are waiting with baited breath for which is the deterioration of her most significant relationship to date.

All that to say is that I think both of these points are incredibly valid. I personally have a lot of feelings wrapped up in it that do tend to come down more on the side of it's strange that the default position is this desire to sign up as first in line defence attorney for a man when the crime as we know it is 'woman writes her life into art'.

Nora interestingly noted that there's a "pressure for this album to come with receipts" (paraphrase) based on this (fan) hyped up narrative of something sinister having gone awry that this album will pull the curtain back on. And if it fails to do that, enter said self-appointed attorneys.

#opinion #tss nanonsense

[lyramundana]

Hello, dear. Can you please do a scenerio where yandere Chan and yandere Hyunjin falling for the same person?

Sure thing, I'll try my best. Here you go, sweatheart 😘

YANDERE CHAN & YANDERE HYUNJIN FALLING FOR THE SAME PERSON

These men are already intense and fierce in their passion as normal people, even worse as yandere. I pity the person that has managed to get both of their attention, because Hell awaits for them.

Hyunjin is an egocentric man, very aware of the effect he has on people and enjoying every second of it. He has no problem using his good looks for his own benefit, considering that his beauty is another asset of his and so he can use it however he wants to. He gets off the power he feels when he has someone on his grasp, playing with them until he gets bored or finds someone more interesting. This doesn't prevent for secretly dreaming about finding his real love and live the idealized romance experience he visualizes in his head.

Christopher (we call him by his gouverment name here because the author finds it hot) doesn't have this much of an ego, but he's quite confident on his charms too. Like Hyunjin, he gets off the feeling of control over someone and having them squirm at his will. He's very territorial and protective with people he loves. He feels a desesperate need of be in control of everything that involves him and be in charge at any situation. He thrives off being "the leader" and having people look up to him for guidance.

As yandere, they're among the worst of the group. So if they happen to fall in love with the same person, it'll be a bloody experience.

They meet that person, let's refer to them as "Darling", either at work. Maybe Darling is a member of the staff, someone close to them, or maybe they're just a normal person they meet outside work. Regardless of the place, the love stricks them and they can't scape it. Hyunjin falls at first sight, in awe with Darling's beauty, and idealizing that person in his head before having a proper converstation. First thing he does is use his charms on them, convinced that they'll soon drawn them to him like usual, but he's shocked when Darling isn't inmediatly under his spell and treats like a regular person. This only sparks his interest more and gives him the desire to get closer to Darling, wanting to figure them out. It's during this push and pull that he falls in love, getting off the challenge of seducing someone that isn't easily impressed.

Chan needs more time to actually develop these feelings. Opposite to Hyunjin, he doesn't let appareances sway him, but he can apreaciate beauty when he sees it. It's only when he gets to know Darling on a personal level that he starts to fall. He doesn't waste time in making his move on them, but he also notices he's not the only one..

When they discover they're both after the same Darling, there's an inmediate shift on their relationship. There'll only be two outcomes: Their friendship is broken because their yandereism surpasses any friendship and other emotional bonds outside their love interest, or they make a reluctant alliance for their sake of said friendship but filled with tension. They're both extremely possessive and controlling, so they have trouble sharing, but they might find a common ground in wanting to protect that person and prefering to see them with the other rather than someone else. This latter means they'll plan together and tag team to keep you for themselves, which is actually way worse than if they fought against each other, since that'll at least distract them.

Basically, if these two are infatuated with a person, they lose any renmant of independence and freedom. Darling is locked with them, totally forbidden of going out without them. Literally, Darling is never alone. One is always beside them, clingy as they are. They're too possessive to let her stray too far, god forbid someone looks at them for too long. They have the last word on every single aspect of Darling's life. They'll eventually become a compliant doll, only there to follow their wishes and please them. Forget any friendships and relatives, Darling belongs to them now, in body and soul. Hyunjin punishes Darling for interacting with other people without their consent, while Christopher easily intimidates anyone to stay away from Darling or straight up gets rid of them.

No phone, no going out, Darling can't even dress by themselves. They become less of a human being and more like a pet. If they speak, it can only be things they want to hear and never something remotely negative. Hyunjin is prone to be dellusional, in the way that he can dellude himself into believing this is a perfect romance and Darling is truly in love, but Christopher is more realistic and is aware that this is all wrong. He just doesn't care as long as he can keep Darling in his grasp and only for his eyes.

In short, as much as I love these men, I won't wish be in this position for my worst enemy.

#request #bang chan x reader #hwang hyunjin x reader #yandere skz

[golbrocklovely]

so i went to the mall today and my mall has a zumiez in it. i did in fact see snc's merch in there, which was interestingly surreal.

i'm still taken aback by how popular they are sometimes.

that being said, i need to set the scene for you.

first off, i haven't been inside of a zumiez since i was in high school. where i live and when i went to school, you didn't go in that store bc the workers were kinda douchey and literally would call you a poser for not being a skater/stoner kid. it was odd times in the early 2010s lol

plus i've never cared for the styling in that store so it's never been on my radar. but i went in. and… it was odd.

it was me and this young couple looking at shoes. next thing i noticed, dead fucking quiet. like no music at all playing. which was very odd bc it made it feel like i wasn't supposed to be in there.

snc's section was all the way in the back. i go, i see it, i sneak a pic. here's proof of that:

then a worker, the only one btw, comes up to me and tells me "sam and colby's merch is selling like crazy"

this manlet of a guy comes over and starts talking to me. he kinda looked like argyle from stranger things, except white lol

we start talking and he very casually tells me that he actually met colby bc zumiez flied him out to some meeting thing for when snc were gonna drop their merch in stores, and he accidentally met him without realizing who he was. colby was nice and talked about how he was excited to drop xplr, and it wasn't until he (the worker) was telling the story to someone else, that that's when the person pointed out who he met.

he then said "those guys….. are very interesting". and it was in a bit of a tone of like amusement and questioning. i agreed with him on that one.

and then he asked me if colby got cancer from the conjuring house….

even in real life i can't escape that place lmao

i told him that no, he didn't get it from the house. he was already in remission when they went there. he said he thought he heard that that's where he got it from. and i said, "no. but some ppl think he got it from robert the doll. the haunted doll you're not supposed to make eye contact with or take pics of in florida."

midway thru me talking to him that couple came up and asked for some pair of shoes. fun fact, the guy was asking for like a size 7 or 8 shoe and i became extremely aware in that moment that i had bigger feet than that kid so… that's fun.

i wear a size 8.5 in mens, 10 in womens.

after that the guy asked "why would they make direct eye contact with the doll?" i said it's believed that if you do that bad things happen to you, then he said it's not worth it. i agree. and then i left.

i'm actually shocked at the idea that other ppl near me know of snc. i know that sounds bizarre but i've never met someone that liked them. well, i did have the one coworker years ago that thought colby was hot, and then someone in the supermarket pointed to my xplr hoodie and said they liked it. but other than those two random instances, i can't imagine what an snc fan even looks like lol

#personal #text #sam and colby #sam golbach #colby brock #also i kinda love that the 'i love hot moms' tee is in their section #i think snc would enjoy that lol

[zundely]

Having lots of thoughts recently just how badly some Orleasian Wardens must hate Hero of Ferelden. I mean imagine- you are running an organisation that struggles to prove that it is absolutely vital to survival of the world. What more the survival of said organisation relies on recruiting desperate people with generally not much to loose so that is another strike against you as some will inevetably just view this as harbouring criminals. Last blight was 500 years ago, there are literally no people who remember what it was even like and definitely no Wardens who remember it. You just managed to tentatively reestablish yourself in a country that banished you.

And then the blight fucking starts, exactly in the middle of that country and suddenly all the contact with Wardens in the area is lost and the new guy in power has declared them his main political enemy. Everything that could go wrong in that situation did go wrong. Wardens had to go absolutely crazy knowing there is an apocalypse going on nextdoor and they don't have any real way to stop it.

And then the whole thing is ended in about a year by 2 new recruits, one of whom has possibly never seen a darkspawn before with their eyes and has skipped the introductory meeting, a goth hermit, singing nun, assassin with a death wish, drunk divorcee, giant from a death row, a middle aged grandma, talking pile of rocks and a dog. And they managed to end it and live. If they at least died then Wardens can work with it, they can make them a martyr, build them a shrine. They can become the symbol tge Wardens need to reestablish their power... but if the Hero lives, then the Wardens are suddenly put in a very tight spot. Living legend is not nearly as good for the PR as a dead one, especially when said legend is like a novice at best. It makes the whole organisation seem redundant, they spent hundread of years preparing for an apocalypse that was bearly an inconvinience and the whole lot of older and more experienced members have to watch as the guy fresh out of the Joining becomes the most valued and important member by doing something that by all acounts should be impossible. Not only that- Gray Wardens that should stay apolitical, and remember vivdly why that is, have to grit their teeth watching as Hero of Ferelden gains more and more political power. By the end of the Inquistion they can have the King/Queen of Ferelden, Arishok and Divine as their friends. They got title and land bestowed upon them. How are you ment to get someone like that in check when they step out of line?

But okay, fine, you work with what you have. You send the best men you can spare to Ferelden, both as a way to reestablish your presence using the good will Gray Wardens now have and to subtly guide the rising star. Aaaaaand they all die immediately, but worry not, the new Commander is recruiting new Wardens from local runaways, criminals and corpses while also managing to fight the ancient progenitor of the Blight. They are the definition of failing upwards.

To me it reveals just how much Origins was ment to be a stand alone, but I am a happy it wasn't because it created a very unique situation where Gray Wardens had to deal with the fact there was a living legend amongst them... and they didn't deal with it well. That said it provide a brilliant context to just how desperate they are after they all begin to hear the calling in Inqustion and possibly why they chose to do what they did.

#dragon age #dragon age origins #Gray Wardens #I have dragon age on me mind #Rambles

[ultfreakme]

and on our agenda is JonJay. How many times have I told myself not to go under comments on Tumblr, but this time misfortune took me by surprise. It was about Bernard, I decided to go into the comments, which was my main mistake. The author of the post wrote that Jay is worse than Bernard, since he can control the minds of other people (I don’t remember this at all, I know about his ability to pass through walls and any solid objects) and how Jon can meet with him. God, there was no explanation, but if this person meant that Jay forced Jon to fall in love with him by penetrating his mind, then I'm leaving this planet. How blind do you have to be when you read a comic book so as not to read that Jon agreed to help Jay himself, since people needed help. And he didn’t fall in love with him right away either, rather after Jay met the superfamily, like, yes. I’m still It's still killing me that people think Jay is the worst option for Jon, although if you ask my opinion, they couldn't find each other better. Jay literally exposed himself for the sake of Jon, what else do they need for them to believe in his sincerity. By the way, they don’t have any thoughts about the setup from Nicky to Damian. Sorry, but it still really annoys me, like ,how so. I'm still wondering why people love Bernad and Nika more than Jay. Maybe you have an answer, I don't know. (I love them too, but this injustice is killing me)

Anon, I get you so much. I answered something like this before but I love ranting and the Jon Kent tag is filled with Jay hate so I'll do it again. The reason why people hate Jay is:

Racism and Orientalism

People think Jon should've ended up with Damian

He's associated with Jon's age-up

Potential covert biphobia

None of the Jay haters have actually read SOKE. The 'mind control' rumors started spreading and becaus basically 70% of tumblr DC fans haven't actually touched more than 3 issues of the comic books and out of context panels in their lives, they don't know that Jay's NEVER 'seduced' Jon. Which is, by the way, a classic offensive stereotype assigned to Asian characters; that Asian characters, especially ones who are into men are all seducers. This is primarily applied to women but now its being applied with Jay.

It's funny because Jon WAS affected to be attracted by an actual telepathic character; Imra, aka Saturn Girl.

And this is where the biphobia comes in because Saturn Girl dated Jon, it was a disaster fire relationship in a book that mischaracterized both of them.It's implied that Imra accidentally used her powers to make Jon be into her, but NO ONE talks about it because it's a seemingly heterosexual relationship. Also she's a white blond girl. It's far easier to target the sparse Asian rep we get.

Nika and Bernard also don't get as much hate because of this reason. People can talk around it all they want, but they are more loved and accepted because they are white. If either of them were POC, they'd be getting the same treatment.

The DamiJon shippers for some reason got it into their heads that Damian x Jon is going to be a thing and now they're mad that they're headcanons aren't real. Like I can't even be kind about this because these assholes have been nothing but racist, clogging up Jon's tag by not tagging anything right, and have also attacked actual content creators to the point they've had to respond to them to tell them to STOP.

Nothing will get these people to like Jay, because they don't actually care about comics, storytelling, the messages these stories bring, the characters, or anything really. They just care that their headcanon vision of Jon's gone and it isn;t easy to project their "sunshine baby" tropes on Jon anymore since now he's actually got adventures of his own outside of Damian. And those adventures happen to be with his boyfriend Jay.

#jon kent #jay nakamura #jonjay #anti damijon #riki asks

[josephsaturn]

Gonna post some SW AU ideas

(Fair warning: most of these are tcw/clones-adjacent because that’s where the brainrot is lmao

Also I am ONLY fully done watch the first 2 prequel movies and season 1 of tcw. I know what’s gonna happen after, but not every detail of it.)

Starting with:

Shmi the Nanny

Ok so.

A few months after Anakin is taken to become a Jedi, Jango goes to Watto’s for help on his ship, so Watto sends Shmi to go work on it while Jango watches. Idk, he’s probably got nothing better to do. While she’s working on fixing the problem, he decides to pass time by telling her about the kid he just got: how he’s the sweetest thing ever, how he looks like an angel, maybe he even stops Shmi’s work to show pictures or something. But, the important thing is this: he knows that Kamino’s no place to raise a child, and he trusts both the nanny-bot and the Kaminoans about as far as he can throw them.

Getting an idea, he then looks at Shmi and asks if she has any experience with kids.

She, obviously, answers yes.

Jango walks back in to Watto’s store, stays in there for a few minutes, and when he comes out, he tells her that she’s coming with him to be his kid’s nanny.

I wanna make it clear that Jango DID NOT free Shmi: she’s still got her chip, Jango’s just got her detonator. He’s simply her new owner, and, as Shmi’s gonna learn, a REAL piece of work.

So they go to Kamino, and meet up with whichever Kaminoan is there to greet Jango. He introduces Shmi as Boba’s live-in nanny for when Jango goes on bounties and such, and they take her to the Tipoca apartments to get settled in. While walking there, Shmi notices the tubes carrying the other clones on the weird merry-go-round thing in canon, and gets told that those are the Jedi’s clone army.

The Jedi.

The very same Jedi she allowed Ani to go live with.

Why did the Jedi need an army?

But they make it to the apartments, Shmi gets one right next to the Fetts, and Jango introduces her to little baby boba, only a few months old. She also gets introduced to the Cuy’val Dar, since she’ll be in close quarters with them.

For the first few days, Shmi just walks around, taking in all of the sights Kamino has to offer (like all the WATER, holy kriff), but gets rebuked by whoever’s nearby when she tries to go into the cloning facility.

Finally, Jango harshly wakes her up in the middle of the night and takes her to his apartment, telling her that if anything happens to boba, it’ll be on her. With that, he leaves, and shmi falls asleep on the couch, only to be woken up by boba’s crying.

She ends up taking care of him for a month and a half, Jango nowhere in sight for all of it, only for him to return in the middle of the day and coldly kick Shmi out of the apartment.

The pattern repeats: Jango leaves for at least a month, comes back for just a week or two, then it’s back out again.

Some highlights of this idea:

Shmi bonding with certain members of the Cuy’val dar, with one of them even giving her her own blaster

Shmi officially meets the rest of the clones when Boba turns four, having lost him after turning her back on him for only a minute. Alpha-17 finds him and gets him back to her

Boba gets to listen to some of her stories/eat food from tattooine

Boba in general growing up with a positive influence instead of being a super-duper isolated brat.

Shmi straight up killing Dred priest when news of his fighting ring reaches her

Shmi thinking about how the only people she likes on this miserable planet are just the kids (and yes the men bred to die are kids to her. Sue her she literally watched them grow up) cuz the adults are different shades of asshole

And other stuff

Lemme know what you think!

#I’m not sure what happens during AOTC honestly #aside from the galaxy’s second most awkward reunion #shmi skywalker #shmi the nanny au #star wars au #star wars #boba fett #jango fett #sw au #the clones

[quill-pen]

Okay, okay, okay--Sim Scroogeverse lore: a.k.a How did Connie and Bess not meet for literal years?

@rom-e-o, because I'm working on some more stuff inspired by pics.😅

George dies when Bess is 17, almost 18. Bea goes off the deep end but, instead of suicide, she just... vanishes. No one can find her.

Custody of Bess and her siblings goes to her uncle in England. He and his wife are less controlling and more so just... not fans of the idea of being encumbered by a sudden influx of 5 children. So they send them to stay with Granny FeFe as per usual and just take care of handling schooling. They are still snooty asses though.

When Bess turns 18, they send her to college (she returns to Ohio to Walsh University where she meets Debbie and gets reacquainted with some old faces, notably Oliver) with the promise that once she graduates they will transfer sole custody of her siblings to her. Of course Bess accepts. She graduates at 21. She br

Turns out, shocker, her aunt and uncle screw her over a little bit because the process to transfer custody is NOT as streamlined as they made it seem and they do not make it easier by missing deadlines, meetings, etc. "We're not about to change our schedules--our lives are much too busy. We'll do it when we can." No battling, just blatant negligence.

It takes YEARS, but finally Bess gets custody at 24. And with the kids safely in her charge, she can now focus on herself a little; date, treat herself just a little (Granny and Addie push that), find answers to questions long held. She goes in search of the men who knew her father--Ebenezer and Ebenezar Scrooge.

She only finds Ebenezar as Ebenezer has just gotten married to Connie and they are currently on honeymoon. Ebenezar helps Bess discover her past, she helps him get some of his and his brother's philanthropic endeavors off the ground, and they quickly become best friends. He, of course, becomes 'Wolf'.

Ultimately Wolf, and other friends and family, are what make Bess decide to stay and make a home in London. She still lives with Granny, but she hopes to move into a flat with the kids at some point. She makes decent money as a midwife, so it's a real possibility. Wolf, in his spare time, helps her look as she, at the same time, helps him make more of a home out of his flat. (Moved out after Ebenezer and Connie became a thing to give them more privacy.)

A month or so later, when Ebenezer and Connie are set to arrive back home, some of Theresea's health issues flare up, and they both hurry to her side. They stay with her to see her through this dark time. Theresea does recover, but they are there about a year. In that time Connie handles her mother's duties and, of course, Eb still is able to work his business because technology can be a wonderful thing. So can working with your brother.

They are made aware of Bess via chats with Wolf, but never actually meet or speak with her, because it's a little awkward for your family to meet someone who's "just a friend" over the phone. Ebenezer quickly realizes his brother is in love, but doesn't mention it to him until Wolf finally realizes it himself. "I... I think I'm in love again, Sammy." "Yes. You are, Charlie. I'm surprised it took you so long to realize it, you clot-head." Connie is thrilled and always declares how she can't wait to meet the girl. She starts calling Ebenezar "Wolf" too to see him blush and smile on video calls.

When they are set to return to London, Bess' world is upended as she is suddenly served legal papers. Her mother has returned and she intends on suing Bess for custody of the kids. Bess has to leave for America immediately. She goes to tell Wolf goodbye, as she doesn't know if she'll ever be able to return. It's an ugly, teary goodbye. And it's not accepted. Wolf declares he's going with her. "I held down the fort for my brother--it's his turn now. Besides, you're going to need all the support you can get with this, so are the children. But if you really don't want me with you, look me in the eyes and tell me." Bess can't. They all go to America and Wolf and Bess fight their hardest to keep the kids away from Bea, who has obviously fallen into some very bad and dangerous ways.

Just like Ebenezer did, Wolf keeps tabs on things in London. Things are going well on all fronts. Eb and Connie are expecting a baby. Then they've had it: A girl named Starla. "Starry's so excited to meet her Uncle Wolf and Auntie Bess," Connie starts teasing. Wolf just laughs. Only his brother knows he's considered asking Bess to marry him. But he knows he can't. He doesn't deserve her--why would she say yes? She can't possibly feel the same. Besides, there's far too much to worry about going on as it is.

A year into the custody battle, Bess is broadsided with the accusation of being Wolf's sugarbaby by Bea. "They're not even married! Who's to say he won't get tired of her games or catch on to her manipulations and drop her? What's to happen to the children then? How can a young, single woman with a history of mental illness possibly be expected to care for four young children?" She has a point, as far as the court's concerned. The relationship between Ms. Sullivan and Mr. Scrooge is certainly an... unusual entity.

Bess is at a loss how to put such "worries" to rest. The lawyer says it wouldn't be as much of an issue if they were married. "Then that's what we'll do," Wolf states. And there's no talking him out of it. He will do whatever he can to ensure those kids he's come to love so much stay with Bess. In her desperation, Bess agrees.

They tie the knot in a courthouse, no frills. Not even rings. The courts think that looks better, but they still want to see if it will last and prove a stable environment for the children. They grant the Scrooges temporary custody for two years, with Bea only receiving monitored visitation. "A trial period." Bea is livid and does her damnedest to make life hell for them from then on. Bess is 26.

Ebenezer and Connie are made known of the development, but they're told it's not a permanent situation. "Only until the custody is permanent--only for a couple years, then we plan to annul." "Sure. Whatever you say, Wolf." "I'm serious--only two years." "Yep. Only two years." They still haven't met Bess at all yet, but they know they will eventually.

Six months. Six months of hidden feelings and pining. Six months of nerve-wracking family court proceedings and surprise visits from social workers, and Bea being a pain in the ass in every possible way. Six months of hellish visitations with Bea that never fail to leave Bess drained and in tears. Six months of Wolf longing to take her into his arms and kiss her pain away. Six months of Bess wishing to have his love so she could have at least one good thing to fall into at night instead of a cold, empty bed (because they definitely sleep separately to avoid awkwardness). But six months of actual family moments too. Six months of Wolf being even more of a father to the kids than ever before. Six more months of silently falling more and more in love with each other.

Finally, on Christmas, the feelings come out and the relationship is solidified.

Ebenezer and Connie get the good news and aren't surprised but are so thrilled! They can't wait to be a big family, and Connie is already figuring out how to make Bess' favorite baked goods. "I've always wanted a sister! I can't wait! Please tell me she likes hugs, because she's going to get them even if she doesn't." "She loves hugs. The tighter the better."

After their first anniversary (which, unfortunately was spent in Bea's company), nearing Bess' 28th birthday, Bess and Wolf are given the news that they are to be granted permanent custody. Bea ODed, and though she's still alive, she's obviously been declared unfit to be a parent. Greater relief has never been known.

Bess goes to visit her mother in the hospital, not to gloat, but to tell her exactly how she feels and has always felt (she's feeling confident with the relief). After she's done ripping into the woman, she tells her goodbye and promises that Bea will never see her kids again.

They spend one last birthday and Christmas in the States as Wolf has managed, in secret, to track down the baby Bess gave up for adoption as a teen, and the family has most generously agreed to host them for Christmas. Then they have to spend a few more months in the new year tying up loose ends with the courts. But as soon as they can, the gaggle of Scrooges return to London. It's been a long time and so much has changed, all of it for the better. Now Bess finally gets to meet Wolf's family, which is about to get two more people bigger, as Eb and Connie are expecting again.

#scrooge 2022 #netflix scrooge #scrooge a christmas carol #scrooge #fanfiction #sims au scrooge #WHY IS MATHS???

[siremasterlawrence]

Embedded In A Marriage

I am not a professional type of loving, kind of other wise marriage counselor by any odd stretch of the means except for this very incident.

Happily I park the car in front of their home sneaking out and in to the gate I make my way up the staircase to the main door of their house.

Once I reach the top both of time race over to hug me, I walk in to the room slamming the door closed and walk in to the living room naturally.

Shoving both of them on to the couch as I am guiding them to the side letting them both settle in because I was about to be the one man.

I am going to break them down one by one till this house is a former shell of what it was but nobody but me because I only matter to him.

I place my suitcase on the table flipping the gold locks open as they pop swooping up in your the air and I reach for the metronome device.

Placing the device on the table I spin it to face them both then flick the metronome on high as the line swings back and forth in his eyes.

The device blows up lighting so bright in our faces glowing up in the room as the golden aura shines on them both in a super zone they are sped.

Both Tyler and Michelle are spiraling in to

a passionate zone of numbers, colors and multitude of colors washing down on them

a everything fades.

“Excuse me! What is happening to us? Where are we?”

“You are entering a mind altering erogenous zone.”

“You came to me in a need of help in the heat of the moment.”

“Everything else seems to be non existent to you except my voice.”

“My voice is all that matters “

“I am now the man of this house hold”

“Tyler feel your man hood shrink”

“Michelle your allegiance switches to me.”

“I am man for both of you “

“Tyler? Can you hear me?”

“Just nod your head “

“Why on earth should you worry?”

“You are now free of all responsibility “

“You only need to obey”

“Do you remember what this is?”

“No! How did you get that?”

“What is this?”

“You no longer need your manhood”

“Penises are men”

“I mean real men so much more then any looks”

“Do you understand this?”

“You emasculated me”

“Oh so much more then that”

“I have enslaved you “

“You love me, I am your center “

“You exist because I will you “

“Rise to your feet and kneel”

“Yes Master”

“Master Lawrence”

“Yes! Master Lawrence “

“What do you see?”

“My God”

“Undo my pants “

“Kiss my cock “

“Mmmmmmm”

“Fuck”

“FUCK!”

“Did you screw with me?”

“Place your hand on my palm”

“How may I serve you?”

“Give me everything”

“You want what I own”

“Kiss me “

“I am your life”

“Now and forever”

Now for wifey in all glory returning him from her job as she ascends the stairs to meet or greet me but instead she sees my finger go snap. She literally looses all sense of self in a matter of seconds the fog is descending in to her mind. She soon enters the main bed room mindlessly zonked out removing her clothes and falls on to the bed back first and open up to me.

The end

#tyler hoechlin #bitsie tulloch #saving a marriage #married submisive #married pussy #buying a farm #owning a land #hypnosis #mind control #hypno slave #reprogramming #hypno submission #mind control slaves

[akajustmerry]

would LOVE to hear more about your tabitha and naomi headcanons!!!

and yee shall receive !! idk these are probably silly n basic because we know SO LITTLE about both, but whatever it's free real estate!!

considering we meet tabs at the underground rich ppl party, its a fair bet she's probably a rich nepo baby like everyone else in succ, but she seems pretty chill about it. she's just vibing, wooing her hot rich peers.

tabs has the laidback vibe of old fuck off money. older than the roys or pierces, i think. probably in property or land which is why she has no interest in the Roy trust or the pierce's or politics. we know that makes her more attractive to rome but probably to naomi too. here's someone so rich they really are only in it for you!

i imagine naomi and tabs crossed paths and hooked up occasionally in the past, but grew closer during/after naomi's accident. naomi told ken in the show she was struggling cos of press, trust, trauma, addiction, etc, during that time. from what we see of tabs with roman, she is a pretty patient and understanding person, at least to a point (everyone has limits). i imagine after her accident, naomi would have appreciated having someone like tabs in her life who isn't after anything and is relatively non-judgemental and chill.

don't really count this as a headcanon cos it's just true but tabs and Naomi were hooking up that whole weekend at the Pierce estate. I know it's framed as the "Ken and Roman attempt to get Some" weekend but we know neither of them got any lmao but u know who did?? my gorls <3

for what it's worth I do think naomi and Tabs both genuinely liked kendall and roman. i don't think there were any ulterior motives on their parts. as we saw, neither naomi or tabs had any power or insight to sway the deal in any way. equally, tabs and naomi really gain nothing power-wise from dating these guys so u gotta assume it was genuine on some level. like they really just saw these human shaped messes of men and went "hiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii <3" kinda very bisexual of them both really. I felt v represented by it I must say

i dooooo think in the immediate aftermath of naomi and Kendall break up, the next time she hooked up with tabs, they defs had a little "what IS wrong with them?" convo where they probs just showed each other roman and Kendall's lame texts, had a laugh, and then washed their hands of the roy boys

when it's announced tom is ceo of waystar, naomi calls tabs like, "isn't that literally the guy who swallowed his own load because you told him to 😂" and she's like yeah turns out he never stopped and idk they probably start dating seriously again after that.

after naomi gets her share of the money from the sale to the Waystar I like to think she uses it to start some overpriced rehab centres or something. eventually, her and tabs get engaged. nan pierce never acknowledges the relationship and passively refers to tabitha as a friend of the family, even at their wedding because she honestly seems like that kind of bitch.

honestly they probably just continue living cool beautiful bisexual women lives. maybe naomi has some rough patches here and there cos you know addiction isn't easy, but tabs is there for her. they just become this quietly classy wealthy lesbian couple who throw great parties with other philanthropic influential gays and closeted wealthy folks. I'm imagining something like what the kindness blind items say sandra bullock does with all the Hollywood lesbians gays.

shiv invites them both to her baby shower because they're honestly the closest thing she has to friends who are women after everything. they don't go though cos they assume shiv is just inviting them to mess with the boys. they send a very precocious expensive gift though like literal gold and silver baby cutlery or something

tabitha becomes like an insanely successful ghostwriter or something. idk why I just have the impression she's kinda been a wallflower in all these insane wealth spaces and eventually tells all those stories somehow

I feel like if I don't stop I'll just be writing fanfic so I'll stop but idc if it's just projection I jus love that there's 2 beautiful aloof bisexual women in this show and the only thing we really know about them for certain is that they were both way too good for the Roys <3

#naomi x tabitha #tabitha hayes #naomi pierce #succession

[sunsetsixx]

lace & silk

a/n: this is a beyond random post for me here at sunsetsixx hq but as a journalism major & previous owner of a multifandom writing blog i guess i was bound to return to my roots at some point ! this isnt me becoming a writing blog, instead just a one-off fic of an idea thats been floating around in my brain for the last 2 weeks that came to fruition in a google doc at 2am. i dont know if theres even an audience for this besides me & maybe like 3 other people in my notifs so enjoy if you wanna & pls dont judge my out of practice writing too much <3

pairing: current!vince neil x fem!reader

word count: 2315

warnings: smutty dialogue, light (?) smut, mentions of tommy & brittany getting it on lmfao, a highly unrealistic take on the behind the scenes of the stadium tour that was necessary for the plot

“Can you fuckin’ believe we’re already halfway through this tour?” Brittany asked, shaking her head as the two of us walked back to where the buses were parked. “I swear to God we just hopped on that plane to Atlanta like yesterday.”

“Seriously.” I nodded in agreement. “Time has flown.” 

“It’s been a crazy ride. Like so fun.” 

“If I’m being honest though, it’s really not as chaotic as I thought it would be.”

“Really? What do you mean?” She asked.

“I don’t know…I guess it’s just different actually living the modern day reality. We’ve heard and read all these insane stories of them in the 80s but obviously life just isn’t like that anymore.” I let out a short laugh. “No real backstage shenanigans…it’s funny to see how much they’ve mellowed out over the years.”

“Girl you’re lucky you don’t have to deal with shenanigans. My husband thinks it’s funny to light shit on fire with hairspray every five seconds. There’s literally never a dull moment in that dressing room.” 

“I don’t know if I’m jealous or not.” I said laughing. “We keep it pretty chill in ours. Mainly just me helping with his outfit and hair. Lots of Fiji water and listening to Sammy Hagar’s solo stuff as ‘pump up’ music.” I explained as Brittany laughed this time. 

By this point in the conversation, we had made it to tonight’s stadium’s back parking lot where our temporary homes were located. All of the buses were set up in a line with the lights on, as if ready to drive off at any minute. But from the looks of Brittany’s face, and the absence of our men, we weren’t going anywhere anytime soon. 

“Hold up.” She said, a look of disbelief gracing her features. 

“What?” I asked, laughing in confusion. 

“You’re telling me that you and Vince Neil haven’t fucked in your dressing room this entire time?” 

My mind began to rewind as many shows back as it could remember, but nothing of the sort stood out. I shook my head at her. “No. Just in the hotels and a couple times on the bus…” I trailed off as my gaze wandered over to the vehicle in question, all kinds of memories from the first week flooding back when Vince so romantically suggested “breaking in the new place” with multiple rounds on multiple surfaces. 

“(y/n)! What are you even doing? You’re a tour wife man, you gotta act like it!” She joked, lightly hitting my arm with her bag. 

“I don’t know! I guess it just always gets too busy back there, especially with all the meet and greets and photoshoots and filming…I never wanted to tire him out before the show or whatever. I haven’t even thought about it too much.”

“The rushing around is what makes it so good though. Tommy & I were like rabbits back in St. Louis. I don’t know what was in that water but shit got crazy.” 

I nodded, thinking about everything my best friend was saying. “You might be right, Britt. Truly what am I doing if not the lead singer in the sleaziest band to walk this earth backstage? It’s a disgrace to their reputation, honestly.” I said, shaking my head. 

“There you go!” She laughed. “Just because they’re getting older doesn’t mean we are too. We gotta keep them on their toes babe.” 

“You always do make a good point Ms. Furlan-Lee.” I replied, and the two of us broke out into laughter. We stood outside scrolling through our phones and judging each other’s Instagram feeds for a few more minutes before we were finally joined by the men of the hour. 

“Goodnight guys! See you on the next!” Nikki’s slightly raspy post-show voice called out. He was walking up with Courtney and a sleeping Ruby in tow on the way to their bus as well. 

“See you dude!” An unmistakable voice yelled back, followed by the appearance of the lankiest guy of the bunch, still somehow with a single drumstick in hand. 

Finally I caught a glimpse of my specific man of the hour, who had traded in the bright red glitter and leathers of his stage costume for a pair of camo shorts and a black tank top. His signature chain hung around his neck and for some reason he was also still adorning sunglasses at 1:30 in the morning. 

“There you are.” I said smiling as he walked up. 

“Hey lovey.” He said, wrapping me in a hug and pressing a short kiss to the top of my head. 

“You tired?” I asked, still in his arms. 

“Yeah I could sleep. Fuckin’ awesome show though. I still can’t believe how many people are actually showing up.” 

I scoffed at his words. “That’s the dumbest thing you’ve ever said. This is literally the tour of the century. People are gonna be showing up for you guys forever.” 

He smiled and shrugged his shoulders. “Hopefully.” 

He gave my back a quick rub before motioning for us to get on our bus so we could start off to the next city. As we got ready for bed, my conversation with Brittany played over and over in my head, and the more I thought about it, the more I realized she was right. 

I just said it too– this is the tour of the fucking century. I need to start treating it like that for myself and my man. Tomorrow is a new day full of new experiences and new ideas and new desires. A million possible ways I could go about what I wanted to do swirled around in my brain, but as I settled under the covers of our shared bed in the back room, a lightbulb moment was had. 

~

The next night began like every other after we arrived at the latest stadium and got everything settled. Crüe was closing the show tonight, which meant we all had more time to hang backstage. We were currently in an in-between period between Poison and Def Leppard, meaning there was about two hours until Crüe’s set. Vince was mostly ready to go, and was over in someone else’s room with the rest of the guys in the band hanging out and doing whatever other pre-show rituals they all partake in these days. 

I was in his dressing room, putting last night’s ideas into action. I was nervous for a million different reasons; nervous he’d shun me off if there wasn’t enough time, nervous he’d think I was trying to act like some groupie on the Girls Girls Girls tour, nervous the idea my brain had conjured up was overstepping or I’d get in trouble with their stylist somehow. Lots of nerves. I just hoped Brittany’s advice was right to take for Vince and me. 

After connecting my phone to the speaker and turning some music up decently loud, I began the action steps of my plan. I grabbed my tote bag and wandered into the bathroom. I took off the ripped blue jeans and tank top I had been sporting all day and opted for something more…(well technically, less) appropriate. I had dug out one of my red teddies from my luggage on the bus, a lacey number I knew was one of Vince’s favorites, and slipped it on in place of my clothes. I touched up my makeup that had begun to flake off over the course of the day, and ran a brush through my hair. 

Once satisfied, I walked back out into the now much more noticeably cold air of the dressing room for the main operation. 

There on a silver rack hung Vinnie’s most prized possession this tour– a floor length, silk piece of art hand painted with Japanese symbols in reds, golds, and royal blue covering the back. I ran my hands down the oversized sleeves as it hung there, looking like something that should’ve been in the MOMA rather than trekking around dingy baseball stadium hallways being diligently followed by a short woman with a portable steamer. 

It had been almost a month of The Stadium Tour and I hadn’t dared to touch it, especially not after seeing how pissed off Vince got when someone (still a mystery who) stole his original show pants from backstage. Tonight was different though. I needed it to help me with the fantasy I had dreamed up after a middle-of-the-night conversation in a parking lot in Cleveland with my best friend. 

I took a deep breath before carefully taking it off the hanger and placing it on me. My smaller frame was of course drowning in it, since the length and size was custom made for Vince. I tiptoed over to the full length mirror hanging on the wall, careful not to drag too much of it on the floor. 

My eyes went wide as I took in the sight of myself. Bright red lace hugging my hips and chest perfectly, (the bodysuit had been a gift from Vince last Christmas, something that actually was custom made for my body’s measurements), with the iconic Wild Side performance look draped over my shoulders. I felt expensive– high class even, and now understood why Vince was always on such a high between the opening song and Shout at the Devil. This piece was enough to make anyone’s ego go through the roof. 

I tied the kimono up in the front to conceal what lay underneath and took a deep breath before walking back over to sit on one of the couches. My back was facing the door, so the surprise wouldn’t be ruined when he came back in, which after seeing the clock turn to 6:39pm, realized should be almost any minute now. 

I smoothed my hair over a few more times with my hand and picked at some stray nail polish that had chipped off onto my cuticles. My mind wandered to the endless amount of reactions he could have at the sight of me until they weren’t just fantasies anymore, but the real thing. 

It took everything in me not to jump off the couch like some sort of rabid animal in anticipation when I heard the doorknob turn and the heavy door creak open. 

“Hey baby, have you see my kim–” 

The sentence died in his throat as I rose from the couch in the very article of clothing he was asking about not a second before. I smiled innocently up at him as his wide eyes looked me up and down. 

I walked toward him, making a show of my bare legs peeking through the soft fabric with every stride forward. He bit his bottom lip when I placed my hands in his. 

“This what you were looking for?” I offered, officially setting the backstage plan into motion. 

“Oh yeah…” He trailed off, letting go of one of my hands so he could twirl me around. “Look at you baby doll.” 

“I got you a present.” I said softly, after a moment. His eyebrows raised when I didn’t continue. Finally I walked backward a couple steps and held my arms out so the kimono’s tie was on display. “You have to unwrap it.” 

He practically pounced on me the second the words exited my mouth. He pulled the silk fabric gently and the loose knot fell, allowing a glimpse of what was underneath to show through.

“You fuckin’ tease.” He said in a low voice, still smiling like a kid in a candy store. The plan was working. 

His hand graced my shoulder as he pushed one arm of the robe off so it draped down my back. “You want something tonight, huh sugar?” He asked, pressing a short kiss to the underside of my jaw. My eyes fluttered closed at the touches, almost completely abandoning the act then and there. I did my best to stay strong. 

“Don’t you have a show in an hour?” I teased, taking a small step back. 

His face dropped. “Don’t you start. Those fuckers can wait.” 

Before I knew it, I was being lifted up and carried towards the couch. He laid me down so my head was on the armrest as he hovered over me. I ran my hands up his tattooed arms as his lips pressed down onto mine. 

He ran his hands over the red lace that clung to my skin and massaged my soft flesh underneath. The couch was beyond uncomfortable, but I found I didn’t care at all when Vince was touching me like this. 

As we made out, his right hand snaked around my back to undo the thin fabric and pull it down my body. I started to slide the kimono off my shoulders to give him more access as well. 

“No.” He said and put his hand on my arm. “Leave it on. My girl wants to play dirty tonight, right?”

I bit my lip and took a deep breath through my nose as I nodded in response.

“That’s what I thought. You want me to fuck you in this then wear it onstage in front of 40,000 people…is that it?” He whispered.

Any and all facade of confidence and calmness I previously had completely melted away at his words. Just the thought of him putting it back on later after these less than wholesome activities to go sing in front of a stadium full of unsuspecting fans had me shuddering in anticipation. He started kissing down my jaw and neck again until he reached my heaving chest. 

“God I love these tits.” He spoke softly. “Especially when they’re filling out this outfit.” He trailed his hand over the kimono once again, down my curves until he reached the part of me dripping with need. 

“You’re lucky I got an extra one of these baby…because you’re gonna be the fucking death of me.”

#vince neil #motley crue #mötley crüe #the dirt #vince neil x reader #vince neil imagine #vince neil fanfic #vince neil smut #vince neil fluff #vince neil the dirt #the dirt imagines #the dirt movie #the dirt cast #daniel webber #vince neil x you #motley crue imagine #motley crue smut #motley crue x reader #motley crue fanfic #sunsetsixx.gif

[prettyboysdontlookatexplosions]

i lied, i can't stop thinking about this. disclaimer that i don't know aaaanyyyyythiiiiiing about shakespeare, i am just an idiot with feelings and a blog. hamlet makes sense to me most completely as a play about death. all the tragedies end in death, but hamlet begins in death - not just the aftermath of the murder, but the literal apparition of a ghost haunting elsinore (ghosts being, of course, one form of undeath). even before the revelation of the extent of claudius's betrayal, hamlet cannot forgive his uncle for assuming the throne, nor can he forgive his mother - a woman whose permissible paths in life all end in her marrying a man in power - for forgetting his father so easily. he cannot accept his father's death as a thing to be mourned and moved on from. it is an unassimilable catastrophe in his life. when he speaks of his father he describes him in larger than life terms: he gives him the attributes of gods and conquerors, figures out of myth or out of history so distant and so grand it has become legend. he accepts the duty of revenge laid on him by the ghost, but then spends most of the rest of the play pretending to act like a crazy person to hide the fact that he's running around like a crazy person and staging plays about pretend fratricide and killing the wrong person instead of just stabbing his stupid uncle once and for all. and the thing is i think this works whether you think the ghost is real or not or somewhere in between: to me his actions look like the actions of someone who very badly doesn't want something to be true. he doesn't really want to avenge his murdering incestuous uncle, because if he does - if the ghost was real, if the ghost was right, if hamlet closes the story - that means his father is really dead. and if his father is really dead, then anyone could die. even him. which is fucked up for hamlet, because he is very afraid of death. that's the payoff of the to be or not to be speech: life's a bitch, but death is worse - death must be worse, because why else would anyone ever choose to stay alive? if death itself is not to be feared, why would anyone avoid its embrace to linger in this world where your uncle can marry your mother after killing your father and you just have to live with that, forever - you just have to carry that always, even if you get your vengeance, even if you take him out. you take claudius out, your father's still gone. it's hard to imagine anything could be worse than that, but death must be, or else there would be no reason to survive it. the rejection of death and the rejection of life go hand in hand. you can't face death so you go around pretending to be mad and staging plays about pretend fratricides and you drive your girlfriend insane and your uncle is still out here getting away with it.

and then he meets up with his bro in the graveyard where they're getting ready to bury his dead girlfriend, who would maybe be alive if hamlet had just decided to be normal, and he sees all these bodies that once were people, and thinks about all the stuff they had that is nothing now. he sees the skull of someone he knew, someone who was alive and is properly gone, not a ghost but a memory; he touches death, really sees it, for the first time. he thinks about the fact that alexander, who was a king & a conqueror, a figure out of legend, also died; that in death he became dust, became earth, became maybe a fucking bottle-stop because that's what the living do with the earth. alexander, and caesar too, men like his father. men who were kings, conquerors, almost like gods, and now nothing, which is to say, in the end they were men like any other man. you can rule the world and you'll still wind up in the same place as poor yorick, a fucking jester. and hamlet is not handling this well, because this is not a play about a person who handles things well; it's a tragedy. it's a tragedy and the best that can be hoped for is that, once hamlet has looked death literally in its fleshless face, finally it becomes real to him; finally he can hide no more, and he drops his bullshit long enough to set in motion the chain of events leading to his destiny, which is both to avenge his father and to die, because his father's death and his own death were always one and the same: it was always just the end of the world that looked untouchable. it was always too late for hamlet, once his father was gone. but it feels significant, to me, that when he thinks about alexander becoming dust, becoming earth, becoming loam, he takes it to the place of becoming something people use. the one who ruled returns to serve. alexander who wept because he owned all the world belongs to humanity again. he separated himself from the world but the world always takes us back. and the other thing about the graveyard scene is: it's ophelia's grave they're digging, ophelia who was ruined by grief as a result of hamlet's carelessness, his refusal to look squarely on at what he was doing. that's the other way that death becomes real to him: his cognitive dissonance has a body count now. it was always too late for hamlet, maybe, but it didn't have to be too late for ophelia. that was something he did. refusing to accept the fundamental truth of your own humanity comes with a cost other people have to pay.

uh. so i feel like it's obvious why i have been ruminating on hamlet on this, Dracula To Dust Day, but either to make myself sound slightly less insane or at the risk of really proving i've lost it: this is what the count did, right? he was a warlord, a conqueror; he was alexander who said i will not be dust, i will not return to the earth. i will not become matter which belongs to the soil, which can be harvested for human activity. instead i will take - and it's possible this wasn't exactly a choice; the book is ambiguous about how dracula became patient zero for vampirism, how much the feral hunger of other vampires is something he shares versus something he is able to control; it's possible that all he ever wanted was not to die, and he didn't know until he was lost exactly what that would require or what it would make him - but by the time we meet him, his un-life is: instead i will take the lives of others, to steal more life for myself. it makes him immortal, or almost; it makes him fearsome, powerful; and it makes him very alone. the book never gives a reason for why he lets jonathan live in his castle as long as he does; maybe stoker couldn't come up with a justification but knew he needed that arc, to set the stakes (pun not intended) of the horror properly. but you can read loneliness into it, for sure: his monstrous habits have severed him from human contact such that the best option remaining is to play with his food. which gives some extra weight, i think, to how much bram stoker's dracula (1897) really and truly is a story about how the real stake through the heart is the friends we made along the way. our heroes can't command the weather or the wolves; they can't fly, or shape shift, or turn to mist, or paralyze their enemies with their sight. and it's very clear, i think, in the book, that one person with all the garlic & communion wafers in the world couldn't take dracula down - it has to be a team effort. that's their superpower: not vampire allergens or van helsing's knowledge or quincey's guns or arthur's gold, but literally and quite simply the fact that they can work together. that they can communicate, that they can be in a small and strange community. that they can forge alliances, because they can be allies. which they can do because they're human. which dracula cannot do - i mean, if he had been able to tell one dude "pull this boat up over here" it would have been a whole different ballgame - because he is not.

which also, i mean, okay, in my heart quincey morris who has never in his life done anything but be perfect makes a miraculous recovery and lives to tell the tale of this and all his other globe-trotting gun-slinging horse-riding adventures - but this is also why someone does have to die, in the end of this particular book. this is why we can't have our heroes all face down the horror and come out unscathed. it would be cheating, a little bit. not always, but this time. at the end of a book about the unfathomable horror of a creature who lives by the theft of blood, you do kind of need the mathematical balance of a hero who dies in giving the gift of blood. i guess also maybe in a christian gothic horror novel you as a nineteenth century protestant need someone to wind up on the cross (was i too harsh on the kenneth branaugh hamlet all those years ago? - no, i don't think i was) - and wow, it's crazy to me that in six months of reading a book about loving god and drinking blood i've never once stopped to meditate on the transmutational overtones of this situation, but what are quincey's last words if not a variation on "this is my blood, which is given for you"? spilling on the snow so that mina can be redeemed. this is, like, no one ever accused nineteenth century protestant novelists of being subtle, god bless their tender hearts. but, but, okay and - and points were made, i think, beyond the god-architecture of it all. points like: a life given is a life lived. a life ungiven, a life hoarded, a life spent in a castle on a hill, a life spent in a box viewing the world as the means to your unending end - is a life unlived. is an unlife. is a living death, and therefore a horror. and points like: dracula lived, half-lived, refused to die, for centuries, alone; quincey made it, what, not even thirty years - a handful of trips around the sun, by comparison, but he didn't spend those years alone, and he didn't die alone, either. in fact he died in pursuing the act that would disintegrate the forces that had been drawing mina away from the world: she notes in her narration she can cross the holy circle to go to him, and thus she can be with him in his final moment because of what he did. his death is a suturing, a great reconnection, because he died for how much he values life. (which is a lot, i mean, of all of them, he had the least cause to be there. he got wind that some weird shit was going down with his crush and his bros and he was all in.) because it goes the other way too, about how rejecting death is rejecting life: if you love life, like really love it, you're too busy living to worry much about dying. i mean, i wouldn't really know, i think about death all the fucking time, obviously, which is why i am not a laconic cowboy but a deranged blogger forever spitting nonsense into my metaphorical phonograph. but it's nice to consider, as something to aspire to. that maybe the goal is becoming the kind of person too preoccupied with navigating the eastern snows by an old friend en route to fight evil itself for the soul of a a woman i met a month ago to have much room to worry about much else. to be too busy living life to ruminate on its end.

in conclusion: wow i really can't believe that one of the most enduring and popular novels of the past century in a half is like good actually and contains themes and ideas that speak to readers generation beyond its author's death. please congratulate me on not quoting either t. s. eliot or rilo kiley in this post which i definitely almost did.

#this book has changed me on a subatomic level i am not the person i was #dracula daily #i was like 'am i going to fucking put this deranged thing in the tag' #but whatever the last entry is tomorrow #& for once i have actually consistently tagged something on this blog so i'm not gonna drop that now sorry @ everyone