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bluberryfields · 8 months

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This is what happens when you're raised by TV and trained in literary analysis

Beyond the crushing heartbreak of that finale, one thing in particular has stuck with me when I look at it in the context of S2 as a whole.

He lays out their relationship, "We're a team, a group. A group of the two of us. And we've spent our existence pretending that we aren't."

He then turns his head away and says, "I mean, the last few years, not really."

He pauses here, facing the interior of the bookshop. Really looks it up and down.

Turns back, "And I would like to spend" before choking on his words and looks toward the window. He can't finish saying something like "And I would like to spend eternity with you" because that's too much, too fast, for both of them.

But it's that "last few years" bit that has firmly lodged itself in my very broken brain.

According to Gaiman, it's been "a few years" since the end of Season 1. Armageddon has been averted. Heaven and Hell have reluctantly retreated. Crowley and Aziraphale have been effectively cut loose from their "sides," leaving them to form their own side.

So at the start of Season 2, we get a glimpse of the “fragile existence” they have carved out for themselves. To me, the biggest difference that we see is how they exist together in front of others. Going to the coffee shop, the pub, and the other shops along the street that Aziraphale has lived on for over 200 years. And don’t forget how they act in front of Nina, Maggie, and sweet, dim Muriel.

At the coffee shop, Aziraphale stammers a bit when Nina asks who Crowley is, but he still seems to have affection in his voice when he says, "We go back a long time."

Compared to Shakespearian "He's not my friend! We've never met before. We don't know each other!" panic, this is an incredible difference.

Of course, each time, Crowley is cool and cheeky and does nothing to indicate that they aren't a pair. Though, of course, he does deny it when Nina asks about Aziraphale being his side piece. “He’s not my bit on the side! He’s far too pure of heart to be anyone’s bit on the side.” And refers to him as an “Angel [swallows]I know.”

When they go the pub, Crowley's joy at doing something together in public that they do not normally do is super cute, including his cheeky order for Aziraphale's sherry. Then, when bringing the drinks over to the socially trapped Aziraphale, he greets Mr. Brown with a truly adorable, "Hello" and a signature DT smile. Then upon hearing how “excited” Mr. Fell is to host the meeting, he looks down and says, “Oh? You astonish me.” while Aziraphale sips his sherry and squirms.

We also watch as Crowley follows Aziraphale as he goes to each shop and talks to the owners about the meeting/secret ball. In theory, Crowley has no reason to tag along, and he certainly doesn’t help sway anyone who doesn’t want to/can’t go. He goofs around at the magic shop. He splays out on the bench, chin on hand, looking for all the world a husband waiting for his wife to pick out a dress at the department store. They are so married it’s ridiculous.

Finally, their behavior in front of Muriel while inside their sanctuary. Crowley sits on the arm of Aziraphale’s chair, somehow looking supremely comfortable on the old-fashioned furniture. He folds up those gloriously long limbs and presses himself as close as possible.

He smiles and plays along with Aziraphale’s coaching of Muriel in her disguise. Calls him Angel and asks to speak in private. And at the end, during the awful wait while Aziraphale talks with The Metatron, Crowley cleans up the shop and tells Muriel that he and Aziraphale will need some “us” time after all this. No beating around the bush.

Without oversight, they can be openly together and happy. But Heaven just can’t let that happen.

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dragonroilz · 7 months

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engineer if he had 11 useless PhDs

#tf2 #team fortress 2 #engineer #tf2 engineer #this is a callout post for myself #i am the one getting a useless degree #was originally going to do traditional sketches #but theres only one sterotypical artist outfit in my brain #so doing variations was going to be hell #and i aint got time for that #my art

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heycarrots · 1 month

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There’s been a lot of discourse about the nature of James and Miranda’s relationship. There’s even been a lot of discussion on my podcast about it. One thing I want to make clear is that my podcast is a platform for discussion on all points of view. I’m not going to agree, 100%, with everything that’s said, but it makes the views of my guests no less valid. There’s no right or wrong, here, because this is art and therefore, it is subject to interpretation.

My intent, however, is to attempt to get as close to the original intent of the actors as possible because we look at a show or a film or a play as going through several layers of distillation. Each level purifies the intended narrative leaving its truest essence.

When we make a reduction sauce using an alcohol of some kind, let’s say a red wine, the heat applied to it burns off things we don’t need for flavor. You’re never going to get drunk off of red wine reduction because there’s almost no alcohol left in it. That all gets burned off, leaving only the flavor components, which is what we wanted all along, anyway. We want that extra element that enriches the flavor of the steak, by adding nuance.

So let’s take apart that meal.

We start with the birth of the idea. The story kicks around in an author’s head, trying to get out, growing bigger and more persistent until it outgrows the confines of the mental box inspiration is stored in and has to be let out. That idea, that’s the cow.

The author raises that idea, feeds it, watches it grow, and then, ultimately slaughters it. That sounds awful, but once you have that idea pulsing, growing, evolving and then finally commit the final draft on paper, it is a kind of death. The life of the story comes to an end and it becomes memorialized in a mausoleum. Readers will come to visit, spend time with it, lay down flowers, cherish it, and mourn its passing.

The next level is adaptation. That’s the steak. There are many ways you can slice the story, large roasts encompassing the whole story or a smaller, hyper-focused character study fillet mignon.

A writers room gets hold of the cow and carves it up. They choose what gets cooked and what gets tossed. A GREAT group of writers saves the bones. They take in the entire supporting structure of the piece and while the whole story may not make it onto the screen, they will have slow roasted the bones for a stock. When you watch a show like Black Sails, where themes are introduced that won’t fully be explained or explored until several seasons later, that’s what that is. It is the stock being used to flavor the whole dish. You’ve distilled the entire cow to its purest essence and so every scene, every line of dialogue, every acting choice, encompasses the entirety of the story. A line from episode one is defined by knowledge of the finale and in regard to dialogue, defined by an actors’ knowledge of a character’s backstory. There are many writers rooms who are creating the bones of the story as they go, which means they aren’t starting with a rich stock. You can’t trace back character motivations or choices to begin with because those motivations changed throughout production.

Black Sails, again, isn’t one of those shows. Steinberg and Levine came into the writers room with their stock pot full and sloshing, spilling story everywhere. The richness of the details they were laying can make season one a bit hard to consume unless you are ready for a story on that level. Viewers need to come to the table with some bread to sop up all those character details because we WILL need them later.

Over the course of finalizing scripts and blocking out episodes, the steak is cooked. Like any great steak, this story is medium rare. More juice comes out with every bite. It’s what makes the show infinitely rewatchable. It continues to cook on the plate, but because it wasn’t overdone, it never dries out.

When the actors get ahold of it, that’s the reduction sauce we were talking about. That sauce provides nuance and flavor. That’s the emotion. A line of dialogue on a page is just ink. It’s nothing until it’s spoken aloud. And like any bit of language in this world, it’s subject to interpretation. In this case, it’s the actor who does the interpreting.

I spoke on the podcast about the art of subtext and how huge a role it plays in Black Sails. One example we used is Jane Eyre. It’s one of the most frequently adapted novels in the English language and with each adaptation, we get a new version of our characters. The most volatile and subject to change is Rochester. There are MANY versions of Rochester that I find appalling (including the original beast in the book), but each actor has formed him into something else, based on their performance. Toby Stephens takes Rochester and turns him into a silly tragic romantic, broken many times over by a society he never really fits into, despite the status of his birth. He connects with Ruth Wilson’s Jane because she fully and happily inhabits that space on the fringes that Rochester thinks he needs to climb out of. Jane takes his hand on the outside of the wall, turns him away from the guarded palace and shows him the wild world that was at his back this whole time.

This is what Toby Stephens, Luke Arnold, Louise Barnes, Zethu Dlomo, and really all the actors for whom their subtextual choices make them reflect like prisms, have done with their performances.

In the final distillation, character motivations and emotions are finalized by the actor. Writers can pontificate, the source material lies dead in its lovely tomb, but stories live and breathe by their storytellers.

What we’re left with is Toby’s face telling the world how deeply Flint loves Silver. Every single choice tells this story.

We’re left with Luke showing us how much Silver is repressing in his feelings for Flint. Luke’s face shows us an incredible depth of feeling and a door slamming shut.

We’re left with the incredible intimacy between James and Miranda, which speaks of a decade of shared physical intimacy. There’s an openness, a freeness to it until the moment in episode 3 when Miranda learns that James has found the Urca and is leaving soon to pursue it. She gives some of it away when she says “I thought I’d have you all to myself”. She is mourning the loss of intimacy that she only gets in short windows of time. They aren’t strained because James isn’t attracted to her, but because he’s rarely there. She has him for a few days at a time before he’s off on another hunt. The coldness starts from the moment he tells her he’s leaving in a few days because I believe she thinks he won’t be coming back, that this is the hunt he won’t survive and she’ll finally have lost both James and Thomas. From the moment Richard Guthrie darkens her door, she’s looking for a way to weaponize him and get them out. For her, it’s a race against the clock and she’s willing to sacrifice a bit of her relationship with James in the present to secure happiness for them in the future.

This is also why James still has sex with her before leaving, even though he’s furious for her reading Meditations to Richard. This is how they connect. They connected through physical intimacy in the flashbacks, as well. Him stroking her thumb in the carriage before the kiss. Tactile contact to seal their understanding of each other. Miranda bracing her hands on his chest during important moments in the Hamilton’s home, something she also does to Thomas, to show physical connection, physical intimacy. Miranda thrives on physical touch.

To think that, for 10 years, James is lying there like an object for Miranda to use, is, to me, short sighted. To think that James doesn’t love Miranda outside of a group, is also ignoring the fact that, 10 years on, James will not leave on a hunt (angry as they both are) without physically connecting with her, trying so hard to reach beyond his anger and the wound freshly opened from sight of that book he’s chosen not to look at for probably the better part of those 10 years. The way his hands hover over her back after she comes and he desperately wants to be with her in that moment, like the best of their moments, but he just can’t, speaks to the depth of his love for her.

So many fans of the show point to this sad sex scene as one of the most important character moments for James and Miranda, but I consistently come to the opposite conclusions about WHY it’s important and what we learn from it, because I’m taking my cues from the actor’s choices, not the director or the writers. On the page, in plain ink, he hates having sex with her. Toby and Louise show us, however, that they are trying to recapture a thing that is fleeting, reaching out to each other to patch up an old wound from which the scab has been picked off, leaving it seeping and raw.

From Toby’s performance, regardless of the words he uses years later to describe it, we see not a character who “loves men” or a character who “loves women”, but a character who LOVES. I don’t see Flint defining that love in terms of boxes and parameters. He’s a character who must be coaxed out, but then loves without reason, without a safety net, as he proves with his love of Silver. As was also referenced by a guest on the podcast, he places a sword in Silver’s hand and says “do it”.

Anyway, this post got away from me and took several turns, but the love between James and Miranda being dismissed by so many in the fandom has been bugging me for a while and I just needed to emotionally vomit on tumblr.

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rawliverandgoronspice · 8 months

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behold: my second least favorite string of words in the entirety of Tears of the Kingdom.

(it's a little less transparent why this time so I'll explain my thoughts under the cut)

So why do I not like this?

In so many words: because if you remove it, the scene still works, but you lose the moral certainty of what is going on.

This single sentence does so much legwork for the entire game (the kind I dislike), to the point where I'm about 60% sure it's the product of a rework that realized how ambiguous Rauru's position was as the Good Rightful King and needed to nervously reassure the players that Ganondorf Is and Always Was the Invader, Actually.

(no matter that it leaves the gerudos in this awkward in-between state of both invaders and victims, while never dwelling in the specifics of their history and their own agency in the entire thing; brushed off as a sin they have to expiate through loyalty to the winners of that particular strife, but without explicitely blaming them either to avoid the implications of what that would have looked like)

If you remove it, not only do you lose a pretty clunky line that detracts from Ganondorf's intimidating presence (who is he even speaking to? who needs to hear this right now?) that honestly speaks for itself when it comes to his experience with warfare, but also you lose any tension and any mystery regarding why he is attacking in the first place.

You also... kind of rob Ganondorf's motivations of their meaning. "Hyrule will bow down before me" leads to asking... why? What does he want? What does he see in those lands? And what little we get with Rauru and then Link during the final fight begs more questions; why do you prefer hardship to peace? Why do you value strength? What leads you to want to rule a land devoid of survivors, become a king without a kingdom? I don't think we ever get satisfactory answers. If you remove this sentence, on the other hand... Subtextually, it becomes pretty clear that his motivations is that he felt threatened by Rauru's power, which is ripe with subtext and questions about whether this is a legitimate reaction, whether his "no survivor" stance is due to a feeling of betrayal when his own people turned against him post the Demon King shenanigans... I'm not saying it would fix the entire game's writing, far from it, but it would already do *so much more*.

(genuinely, I think he could have stayed completely silent during the Molduga Assault, speaking only in the Show of Fealty before going completely nuts after Sonia's murder, and it would have worked MUCH better in terms of characterization but anyway anyway

EDIT: ALSO!!! that way he wouldn't speak hylian to fellow gerudos, which is weird inherently)

Without this line, the core of the tension between the gerudos and Hyrule comes front in his conversation with Rauru; it allows the cause of his hostility to be Rauru's invitations, that he would have taken as a threat, and would have still made him warlike and domineering without making him cartoonishly flat, because, once again, Rauru is not acting in a particularly more legitimate way when Zelda arrives in Ancient Hyrule; and it would have been... fair to point that out. And make for better characterization for Rauru, and Sonia, and Mineru, and everybody. But the priority was for Hyrule to be pictured as unquestionably holy; always legitimate, always truthful, always beautiful, always just.

Also, and this is more of a nitpick but: why would Ganondorf want Hyrule, specifically, to bow down before him also? Was he at war with the rest of the disparate tribes before, and just carried on his ambitions to the very very newly-founded kingdom as they allied under a new banner? (though it seems to be implies the lands were crawling under monsters in a generic sense, and not Ganondorf's attacks in particular) Why would he even consider Hyrule a legitimate entity worth taking over then, if it is so new, born from the will of a powerful rival, founded by what is basically a stranger to these lands? Why would he covet something so young instead of destroying it and just calling the lands Gerudo Lands II or Grooseland or something?

I don't think any of that was even accounted for, because, beyond everything else: to me, this sentence is so clearly and painfully crammed in here to shield Hyrule from any potential blame and immediately characterize Ganondorf as Bad without having to remove any of the causes that could lead one to side-eye Rauru's little pet project as equally questionable.

Beyond the clumsiness, it is cowardly --and, I think, a little damning.

#totk #totk critical #when will my brain return from the imprisoning war...#ganondorf #gerudos #rauru #tl:dr it is cowardly and reveals that nintendo knew about the Implications to some degree #sometimes less is more #really in that case less would have been so much more #it is literally ganondorf's first chronological line #yeah sure it tells you everything about the guy but #it's also such a bold commitment to flatness and self-righteousness that... yeah #and before I hear any “at least Rauru wasn't using force” I mean as far as we know though?#the constructs attack anyone deemed an “invader” on sight one of the things rauru does is to apologize for this #(I reread Rauru's initial dialogue in the Sky Islands and it would have been SO GOOD if any ambiguity would have been allowed)#(like the thing about Constructs mindlessly pursuing their useless tasks forever disquieting him...)#(yeah buddy so true that could uhhh almost be a metaphor for something else regarding purpose and lineage or something wow)#and even if he didn't use force directly the power dynamics and repeated invitations are still undeniably questionnable #like my guy why do you want everybody to kneel down to you what's up with that do we unpack this or #at least ganondorf was like.... born and raised a king (not that it excuses anything but he inherited pre-existing traditions)#so did zelda #she was born in an imperfect system and did whatever she could about it #rauru *crowned himself*#he *made* the system

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rinny-rae · 3 months

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I am obsessed with Gortash's psychological/emotional development throughout his life so uh yea, here's a writeup no one asked for

Part 1 - pre HoH

Early Childhood (toddler to 8 yo)

Family life

As a little kid he started out affectionate, cuddly & eager to please as most kids are.

His parents were cold toward him and would snap at him for seeking physical comfort and doing normal kid things. They were overly critical and harsh in correcting his "bad" behaviors. They weren't outright abusive as in they didn't beat/berate him for it's own sake. However, they didn't want or like children in general. Their marriage was that of convenience and their parenthood was an obligation. They were authoritarian - dismissive at best, outright hostile at worst when he voiced his ideas and opinions. This caused him to become increasingly quiet and awkward around other people since it didn't exactly nurture healthy self esteem.

Gortash was a precocious, curious kid. His parents, of course, didn't appreciate or encourage his budding intellect. They took his cleverness as an affront and outright disrespect. As he got a older, he learned to suppress his affectionate nature & withdrew into his "hobbies". This furthered the emotional disconnect between him and his parents as now they began to see him as sullen, defiant and, eventually, hateful.

Hobbies

These were twofold & fed into one another.

He learned that he didn't enjoy spending time around his parents and turned avoiding them and his household responsibilities into a game. He got quite good at sneaking away and hiding.

Since his parents had such disproportionately negative reactions to the smallest transgressions, he also learned to lie. At first he lied in a genuine effort to avoid punishment but eventually started to have fun with it and push things further to see how much he could get away with.

He spent most of his free time exploring the world around him. His interest in how things work is apparent even this early in life. He didn't have access to a formal education or many resources. It would be cute if he had some mentor adult in his life that taught him & showed him sciency stuff but that's more of a writing prompt than headcannon.

He delighted in taking things apart to see how they worked. That, of course, translated to some rather morbid pursuits. Let's just say he played with a lot of insects and small animals and leave it at that.

Initially he didn't understand that he was hurting living beings but as he got older, he began to find his acts of cruelty cathartic. He also began to savor the power he held over his play things and used it to feign a semblance of control over his own unstable life.

Friendships

I'd love to hear what others have to say about this cause my own ideas are all over the place.

My first instinct is to say he had no close friends his own age. Lower city had no formal daycare/kindergartens/schools afaik so he wouldn't be in any environment with a bunch of other children. Instead, he would interact with whoever was in the vicinity of the family's shop. That would have exposed him to kids all different ages. Also, I think he was shy and awkward which didn't lend itself to making friends easily.

Did he get bullied by older children? Did he meet durge and/or tav when both of them were young? Did he get in a lot of fights? Did he have adults that took care of him and mentored him? So many wonderful possibilities.

#enver gortash #bg3 gortash #lord gortash #enver flymm #gortash #durgetash #putting my otherwise useless degree to work #who needs therapy #Just spend all your time thinking about fictional characters instead

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frodolives · 5 months

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I've never had a post get even remotely as much attention as my 1850s simulator one is currently and not gonna lie it is kind of overwhelming so sorry in advance if I don't answer any responses at the moment BUT I want you all to know I've been reading them and I love you all so much and I'm so genuinely happy people enjoyed my Victorianposting. There IS going to be more where that came from

#and my family thought my history degree was going to be useless. look whos laughing now.

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astrid-beck · 7 months

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Someone asked me forever ago whether I think dnd arcana is humanities or stem and I thought about it way too much but my answer now is that arcana isn't humanities OR stem, it's more like natural philosophy. It's science as humanities. It predates separating mathematics from metaphor. I think it's about the connections and patterns you create by theorizing the abstract layer that surrounds the material world, impossible to pin down but uniquely meaningful because humans have thought about it

#what taking a history of science class does to a motherfucker #my original answer was humanities which is an unpopular take but #as a useless degree pursuer i need wizardry in my corner #dungeons and dragons #obligatory disclaimer i'm talking about the academic tradition of my american university background #obviously there are plenty of other schools of thought that don't enforce this binary etc #but that's the point of the humanities vs stem question innit

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stuffnonsenseandotherthings · 9 months

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Be My Favourite is Queering More than Just the Love Story.

I wrote here about how, at the start of the show, Be My Favourite queers the straight narrative by taking a heteronormative romance plotline (Kawi pining after Pear for years and using travel to Get The Girl) and transforming into a queer love story (in which Kawi falls in love with his love revival).

Now I thought once Kawi and Pisaeng got together that would be us done with the Queering of the Narrative but it seems like this show still has more to give, albeit in a much more subtle way: Be My Favourite now seems to be Queering the lens and structure of the show itself.

We have spent the entirety of Be My Favourite experiencing the story from Kawi's perspective. Yes, we occasionally get glimpses into Pisaeng's or Pear's point of view but Kawi is the character throughout which we, the audience, understand and process the majority of the narrative and is, as such, the defacto protagonist, our lens into the show.

In most "standard" single-lead stories we stay with the same protagonist, the same audience lens, throughout the entirety of the narrative, right up until the very end. After all, why leave a character we have grown to know and understand in the penultimate act? This is the "expected" structure, the "accepted" structure, the (hetero)normative structure.

Not in Be My Favourite however.

In episode 11 our perspective suddenly changes. As soon as the camera follows Pisaeng out of the door at 7:30 instead of staying the the sick Kawi, the audience lens shifts and the roles are reversed: Pisaeng is now the protagonist, the lens through which the audience understands and experiences the narrative, while Kawi, who up until this point has been the centre of our experience as the audience, is suddenly relegated to the "secondary" role of the love interest. The audience lens has been flipped on it's head.

So how exactly is this queering? Well, the queering of a text can take many forms but it's primary function is to challenge and, where possible, deviate from the "accepted", "standard", (hetero)normative structures and this includes the in the very structure of the narrative itself. Just as Be My Favourite queers and escapes the restrictive narrative boundaries of the straight love story by having Kawi fall for his love rival, it is now queering and escaping the restrictive boundaries of the narrative structure itself and challenging the idea of how the story "should be told". Why should Be My Favourite stick to the set (and historically heteronormative) binary of "Protagonist/Love Interest"? Why must the characters be defined by arbitrarily assigned labels? Why shouldn't the character roles be fluid and changeable? Why must things stay the way they have always been?

Be My Favourite says screw "normal" right down to it's very heart and I think that's pretty darn cool.

#thai bl #be my favorite #be my favourite the series #be my favourite episode 11 #be my favourite meta #what I also love is that the shift is done so well it doesnt feel weird or jarring #it works perfectly #partly because of the Pisaeng POV flashbacks we've been fed throughout the show #kawi x pisaeng #kawi #pisaeng #who said my degree was useless?

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tallshps · 1 year

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hey Locked Tomb tumblr I think I uncovered a very obscure but very funny layer to John Gaius and his particular branch of religion

Mithraea (singular: Mithraeum) were classical Roman temples, underground (usually part of natural caves!), and dedicated to the worship of the god Mithras. Most obvious connection here is the cult of Mithras dealing with the travelling of the soul through the body and into the universe; connections to water, the sun and cosmos, etc. The cult of Mithras had some clashing with early Christianity too but I need to get back on topic

I’m talking about what’s always depicted in fresco or relief in Mithraea: him killing a bull

John.... this motherfucker is Mithras Tauroctonos ??? Mithras the bull-slayer. Did you know cows watch sunsets?

#tlt #the locked tomb #harrow the ninth #i've had a lot of fun with this series because I have an otherwise useless classical and religious studies degree #theres also more i could say about how Mithraism had initiation rites that were like 7 specific ritual meals and trials #and there were 7 original lyctors #but this is far funnier #having a classics/religion degree has just forewarned me for the stupidest shit in this series its like the worst oracle curse ever #nona the ninth #htn #john gaius #I'm also just bitter Alecto didn't turn out to be the Sun cause tht was my theory #ntn

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napping-sapphic · 4 months

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I’m not cut out for even slightly more intense health issues than my usual stuff yall so here’s my will for when i die of feel too bad disorder: i’d like to dedicate my few life achievements to all the sapphics out there and also they can have all my stuff i guess

#i did not go to a doctor yet because i was better yesterday #and it is now worse again!! rude!!#now i have to consider going today🙃#i do have a few general health issues but i don’t ever get sick or anything #so now im an absolute WIMP when it comes to feeling bad #im ready to fight whoever invented feeling bad cause it is not fun!!#also ready to pass away so pls enjoy my objects i love them a lot #you guys don’t get to have my books though please bury them with me as my final request #you can however keep my degree which is useful as tinder or perhaps a part of a decorative stack of useless papers #this is a joke and im over exaggerating and probably fine btw #just some things acting up probably not anything bad or serious #however the only thing im yearning for rn is for this to go away #so probably won’t have enough yearning for women to make many posts #unless i find some in my drafts or some such #idk #but i wanted to post about it since i know sometimes radio silence gets yall worried #so!! im good just going through it lol

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writing-good-vibes · 2 years

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welcome back to self-loathing hours with anna. turns out getting a job is really difficult. and turns out even though at this point i'm willing to sell my soul to the corporations just for the minimum wage, none of them want me anyway. so what was i saying? oh yes, self indulgent comfort with the terrible twins. not sure when these are set, other than pre-canon. they get it, you're all stuck working for The Man, but if they could they'd keep you at home all day as their good little house-spouse 💗 bold is asl, as always. WARNING for spicy implications (nothing explicit). GN!reader.

bo x reader

"No, that's okay. I understand. Well, thank you for the opportunity."

You sigh as you hang up the phone. Another job rejection.

You check the time. Just gone noon. Bo should be going on his lunch break soon.

Pulling on your sweater, you decide to wait outside for Bo to get home. The road leading up to the sugar mill ran right past the Sinclair house, and you had a perfect view from the front porch.

A trickle of workers start coming back into town and soon enough you see Bo round the corner, along with a few of his work friends.

He smiles when he sees you, breaking away from his friends and walking up the short path to the house. When he reaches you, stood on the front step, he wraps an arm around your waist. With a kiss to your temple he says, "Afternoon darlin'."

"Afternoon," you mumble, squeezing him in a hug. "How's work today?"

He frowns down at you, "It's goin' fine. What's wrong with you, baby?"

You sigh again; it leaves you as a shuddering breath. "I didn't get the job," you whisper.

"Aw, darl', I'm sorry," Bo says, pulling away and throwing an arm over your shoulders as he guides you back into the house. "They'll be other jobs."

"I know," you follow his lead. "I know, but... nothing has worked out yet. I don't have enough experience for anything."

"Baby, you're sharp as a whip. Something will come along," he holds you by the shoulders, looking at you pointedly.

You try, "Yeah, but..."

"But, nothing, y'hear me?" Bo's eyes are intense, a fire burning being his baby blues that you weren't about to start playing with.

"Yes, Bo."

"Y'know, if anything come up at the mill -- up in the office -- you'll be the first to know. I promise." He presses a kiss to your forehead before pulling away, sending you off with a playful pat on your ass.

You nod over your shoulder at him. You know Bo would keep you at home all day if he could. He wants to provide for you, and all he'd ask in return is a hot meal and a clean house. For you to wait for him to come home every day and let him love on you.

But real life doesn't work like that, no matter how much you both wish it did.

Bo watches you go into the kitchen as he makes himself at home on the couch. He hears your movements as you get lunch ready, the rustle of the bread bag and the gentle clatter of plates on the counter. When you reappear, with two plates of sandwiches in hand, he smiles at you. God, you're too good for him, he thinks.

He gestures for you to put the plates down on the coffee table. You do so, and then he takes your hand, pulling you over to straddle his lap.

Resting his work-rough hands on your hips, Bo leans in to kiss you. His lips are chapped, but you kiss them when he pulls back to say, coyly, "I got a whole half hour before I have to go back to work, y'know?" His hands leave your hips, finding themselves on your thighs instead, slowly sliding up, inch by inch.

"Oh yeah?" you cup his face in your hands, pulling him back to your lips.

"Oh yeah."

vincent x reader

Another rejection letter. You shove it back into it's envelope and abandon it on the side table and try to push the feeling of disappointment down in your chest.

Instead, you go to the kitchen and busy yourself making lunch for you and Vincent. He's been down in the workshop for hours, he'll be hungry.

Fifteen minutes later, you descend into the basement with a plate of sandwiches and the latest book you'd been reading. Vincent is still working when you arrive at the workshop, he barely notices you walk in.

Placing the plate down on the least cluttered workbench, you walk up behind Vince, wrapping your arms around his waist. "Afternoon."

He drops the tool he'd been using to clasp his warm, wax-flaked hand over yours on his stomach. He grunts softly in greeting.

"They turned down my work, said it wasn't what they were looking for," you mutter into his back.

You feel his shoulders drop, before he eases out of your grip and turns to face you. "My love," his fingers stroke from your cheek to your jawline.

Not meeting his eye, you try and sound nonchalant, "It's my own fault, I shouldn't have set my hopes so high."

"You don't need a job," he says, "You can just stay here all day, with me. I need a muse."

"You know I'd love nothing more than to do that," you sigh wistfully. Oh, what you'd do to stay with Vincent all day. "But we need the money."

"No, we don't. We are starving artists," Vince smiles, a look that almost seems pleading. And you believe him, absolutely. There's not a doubt in your mind that Vincent would be willing to suffer for you, for his own art. That he would rather go hungry than make you work a job you didn't want, or seek the approval of those he considered beneath the both of you in terms of talent.

But the real world didn't work like that, no matter how much you both wish it did.

"We can only starve for so long. And it's not fair on Bo." Bo's been taking even longer shifts at the mill.

"Never mind Bo, we --," Vincent starts, but you cut him off.

"I'm going to try and get a proper job, just until I start getting somewhere with my portfolio."

Vincent looks like he's about to interject, but he can see you look dejected enough without him trying to argue your new plan.

"Okay, my love. But only until you can get your work out there, where it belongs."

"Thank you," you whisper, pulling him towards you enough to press your forehead to his. "Are you ready for a break?"

Your hand trails from where it is twisted in the front of his apron to the waistband of his jeans.

He lets out a breathy laugh, nodding. His hands reach behind him to untie the apron strings as he walks you back towards the cot in the corner.

#bo sinclair x reader #vincent sinclair x reader #bo sinclair #vincent sinclair #house of wax 2005 #slasher x reader #having a moment.#wait when am i not having a moment actually?#oh to be the twins' little housewife #cook and clean and take care of them #and so much free time to read all the books ive been meaning too #and do all the writing i procrastinate over #but no instead i have to job hunt and be turned down because i have no experience and my degree is useless #godspeed to you all

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