#poor maudy can barely walk

[imperial-martian]

Standing Tall {Atticus Finch x Reader}

A/N: so, I hadn’t realized Atticus didn’t go to high school when I was writing this. After I wrote this I passed the part in the book. Mind you, I had watched the movie first. Also, keep in mind, this is my first time ever writing for Atticus. If you want me to write more, than I can turn this account into a multi-fandom blog.

Teen! Atticus x Teen! Reader

Angst/Fluff

(High School AU, Bullying, Third Person Point of View)

•—•

The young h/c haired, e/c eyed girl knew from the moment she woke up that morning that it was going to be an awful day. Mondays were always awful, as well as Tuesday and the rest of the week until finally, the weekend came around.

Golden hues of the sunlights rays shined in through her white curtains, lighting up her bed and allowing for the covers to become warmer than the temperature they had been throughout the night. Knowing that it was time to get up and head off to school, Y/N pushed her covers aside and swung around to sit on the edge of her bed.

She rubbed at her eyelids, blinking a few once she removed her knuckles before she pushed herself up from the bed and made her way towards her wardrobe. Pulling open the uncared wooden drawer, hearing the awful scraping sounds that over time would begin to wear out the wood, she pushed aside some clothes before finding her uniform.

The jumper was a grey, blue, and stripes of gold patterned to look like some sort of checkers board, underneath was a sky blue button-up and black tie, and over the top of both of those was a black sweater vest. Her shoes were an unpolished leather black loafers that slipped over the top of knee-high navy stockings.

Y/N hated the uniform, but she's dealt with it for twelve years, and with two more years left to go for high school it was bearable. She wasn't ready for the morning yet, still managing to brush her teeth, brush her hair and wrap it into a neat ponytail before making her way to the kitchen where she was greeted with her parents.

Her father was reading the newspaper, already dressed in his formal suit. Her mother was in a yellow sundress by the stove, cooking them all breakfast while Zala, the maid, set the table.

"Good morning mother," she greeted with a kiss on her cheek. Then she moved over to her father, kissing him on the cheek as well. "Hello father, a new case today?" she asked, nodding to the briefcase on the floor beside him.

Her father looked up from over the newspaper, his f/e/c eyes gazing over to his daughter before he snapped the newspaper shut and nodded, a small smile resting on his face.

"Indeed, Y/N, unfortunately, I can't bring you to school because of said case. I have to head to the court early," he explained, giving her a sympathetic smile before glancing at his pocket watch. "Which reminds me, I should be heading out now," he said, standing and fixing his blazer before grabbing his case and leaving the papers discarded on the table.

"You do well at school, won't you? Be careful on your walk there," Y/N's father chided before standing after he received a nod

Her father walked towards Y/N before kissing the top of her head and patting her shoulder, then moved towards her mother whom to which he gave a small kiss to before waving goodbye to Zala and taking his leave.

Y/N watched her father leave before turning to Zala to finally say good morning.

"I'm sorry to ask mother, but since father can't bring me to school is it all right if I head out early today?" she asked, already readying her backpack as she spoke.

Her mother turned to look at her from over her shoulder. "That's fine by me dear, but here," she said, grabbing some toast and an apple, "take this with you and eat it on your way there."

Y/N nodded her head, giving her mom a wide, thankful smile before grabbing the apple and toast. "Thank you mother, goodbye, and have a nice day. You too Zala, I'll see you after school."

Zala smiled towards her and nodded, "you behave Miss L/N," she teased before walking her towards the door. "Guess I'll only be setting the table for two this morning," she said, holding the door open for Y/N.

Y/N laughed softly before heading out and waving back to Zala before beginning her dreadful walk to school. It was interesting to see how quickly her mood had changed as soon as the thought of school had entered her head. It was unfortunate, especially since Y/N loved going to school. She loved to learn. However, there were people there that she simply could not push aside. She couldn't stand up for herself. There were too many.

The girl had been unaware of the young, yet still older, boy walking behind her. Atticus Finch, a young, bright man on his third year of high school, was trailing behind Y/N in a sky blue button-up, navy tie, and black dress pants. He wore a black belt that matched his leather shoes which were polished till they were spotless. His dark brown, almost black, hair was parted perfectly and the matching colored eyes were hidden behind circular glasses that rested against the bridge of his nose.

Usually, a book would be resting in his hands that allowed his brown eyes to travel every word, picking apart each sentence with little care as to what or who was around him. However, today was different. Atticus was without a book, his hands even shoved into his pockets, and his brown eyes were scanning his surroundings rather than words on paper.

Atticus has been walking at a decent pace when Y/N had begun to walk in front of him. He had decided to pick it up a little till he caught up to her so that they walked side by side.

"Morning Y/N," Atticus greeted, startling her slightly, not because she didn't know somebody was standing beside her, but because she didn't know it was Atticus standing beside her.

She swallowed, eventually attempting to speak. "Atticus!" she exclaimed. "Good morning," she continued in a much more silent, shallow tone.

Atticus had only turned his head to look at the girl, giving her a soft smile as they walked side by side. Y/N's hands couldn't stop themselves from going up to the straps of her backpack and gripping onto them until her knuckles were white. She was terribly nervous, looking around as if she was looking for somebody.

"Hey Atticus?" she questioned, gaining his attention. "Where is your sister?"

"She has left early to walk with Maudie. She had said something about wanting to study for a test, however, it was clear as day that she was lying," Atticus chuckled, shaking his head a little.

Y/N frowned. "Ah, I see," she mumbled before turning her head to look off towards the houses that aligned the street.

Atticus, although noticing the sudden frown on the girl's face, said nothing, only continuing to silently walk beside her. He did, however, reach out a hand towards her, lightly placing his fingers against her arm in order to console her for whatever negative thought made her so sad.

Y/N's head snapped to the side, glancing down at the soft brush of fingers on her arms before she looked back up to Atticus' chocolate brown eyes. Her h/c eyes were filled with fear, not because she was afraid of Atticus himself, but God forbid Alexandra caught sight of this, her hell of a day at school would be as if she was burning in fire- like a slow and painful death.

Atticus has since removed his hand from her arm, placing it back into his pocket. "I didn't mean any harm by the action. I only wanted to offer some reassurance," the boy explained when he recognized that the girl was still in some deep thought.

Y/N blinked. "Oh no, Atticus, I-" she broke off, frustrated with herself for causing Atticus to think that he had made her uncomfortable. She stopped speaking after that, only because their school had come into view and the fright that she had felt just moments ago covered up the frustration she felt.

The bell went off the minute that they had stepped into the schoolyard, and quickly students began to disperse and head off to different classes.

"Hopefully I'll see you again before the day ends, Y/N. I wish you luck in all your classes," Atticus stated, offering Y/N one last smile before he headed in the direction of his class, just barely hearing the murmured 'you too,' that was returned.

The young girl knew it was best for her to head to class, and yet she was far too hesitant to take a step towards the direction she had to go. It didn't help when she caught the eyes of Maudie and Alexandra from the class windows.

Quickly, she averted her gaze, making her way into the school and walking the halls until she arrived at her class, only to be blocked off by the two girls she had caught the eyes of moments ago.

For a moment, she thought that the girls would shove her back in order for them to intimidate her, but when a hand reached out and grabbed at her collar the poor girl began to shake like a leaf.

"Why don't you tell us what you were doing with Atticus this morning, Y/N?" Alexandra, the one who grabbed at her, questioned while Maudie stood beside her to keep an eye out for the teacher.

Y/N didn't say a word. She never did when she was shoved around and questioned by these two, but this was different. Today she was trapped in Alexandra's grip. When her hand tightened a little, her knuckles digging into the skin of Y/N's neck, she gritted her teeth.

"What were you doing with my brother? I won't ask again you good for nothing twat," Alexandra demanded, her eyes searing with rage.

Y/N closed her eyes. "I wasn't doing anything with him. We walked to school near each other. That's all!" she exclaimed defensively, trying to assure Alexandra that she wasn't trying to do any harm.

"What did he say to you before he walked off to class then?"

"He wished me a good day," Y/N explained.

Just as Alexandra was about to speak again Maudie tapped at her urgently. "Mrs. Wooder is coming!" she warned.

Alexandra let go, taking a step back into the classroom where all the other students were huddled in their own cliques. She smiled, a sinister smile, towards Y/N before moving to take her seat.

Maudie brushed past Y/N, purposefully knocking at the girl in the doorway before taking her own seat. Y/N did the same.

Mrs. Wooder entered the classroom, slamming a heavy book against her desk like always to gain the attention of all the students. "Everybody take your seat," she said in a low, threatening tone. Everyone listened.

The class started soon after.

When lunch and recess finally came, Y/N had already endured her berating of words from Maudie, Alexandra, and their little followers. Each day seemed to be worst than the last, and today was no exception. Actually, it seemed far worse than she had thought it was originally going to be.

Their words were no longer solely aimed towards her, but family and others she cared deeply for, such as Zala. It was disgusting what she was told. It was times like these where the young girl hated herself. It was only ever times like these that she felt that way.

During lunch, Y/N did her best to sit as far away from the little group that constantly berated her. Of course, it wasn't far enough. Somebody realized and urged everybody else to join in and bother her.

Y/N said nothing. She sat there silently, enjoying the packed lunch that her mother had made while insults, threats, and other disgusting words were thrown at her.

It wasn't until she felt a hard kick to her side, one so hard that it must have left her rib bruised, that she finally acknowledged them. After a short coughing fit due to the impact, she stood, instantly getting pushed back into the wall she was leaning against.

For a moment, Y/N did nothing at all. She simply looked up at the girl who had pushed her. Maudie stood there, a grin on her face.

Y/N clenched her teeth and jaw, her hands clenching into first and crinkling the paper bag that was in her hand. She couldn't stop herself when she lurched forward and pushed back at Maudie. She did it with so much force that Maudie fell to the ground.

Y/N didn't pay attention to the damage she had done, just taking advantage of the shock of the group before sprinting inside after tossing the lunch out. She quickly made her way to class, waiting there with a few other students until the bell went off again.

She had no idea what damage she had done to Maudie, nor did she want to. She was already shaking so much in fear, she didn't want to know what would happen when Alexandra came back in. It was clear that she would be taught a lesson and not one by the teacher.

Thankfully, her next class was with none of the girls she feared at the moment, and for once she hoped that this class would end up lasting hours if it meant she could avoid them. Unfortunately, the class did not last long, actually feeling as though time went by faster than usual.

The final bell went off, and as students began to file out, Y/N took her time in packing up. When she could no longer stall anymore, she hesitantly made her way out of the class, looking around. To no one's surprise, Alexandra and the others stood before her.

Without even allowing Y/N to blink, the palm of somebody's hand met her cheek. The sound echoed down the halls.

"You twat," Alexandra spit out at her. "Your little stunt sent Maudie to the nurse. She's got a bruised back 'cause of you."

Alexandra has prepared to slap her again, winding her hand back. Y/N closed her eyes, tensing as she waited for the impact.

"That's enough Alexandra!" a deep voice called out from, what seemed to be like, the end of the hall. "You lay a hand on Y/N and I will have to report you to the head office, as well as mother and father. Blood or not I will not allow you to lay a hand on somebody, especially one that does not deserve it."

Y/N opened her eyes, tilting her head a bit to see that the one who had stopped Alexandra was Atticus. She felt the grip on her drop. Taking a deep breath, Y/N stepped back.

Alexandra didn't say a word, shocked that her own brother had caught what she had done.

Atticus stepped forward again, standing in front of Y/N to shield her from the crowd. "I shall see you at home, for now, I'll be walking Y/N back to her house. I expect not a word from anybody. If anyone dares to touch her again, I may not let you all off with a simple warning next time," Atticus explained to everyone before looking at his sister once more. "You and I shall have a word when I get home."

Without another word, or waiting for a response from anybody else, Atticus took hold of Y/N's hand and began to walk out of the school. Y/N could tell that although Atticus was angry, he didn't dare show to what extent. He never let his anger show or take over his actions. He was always true to himself and acted accordingly to the situation presented to him. He was never out of line.

"Thank you," Y/N whispered to him meekly, walking beside him with her head down.

Atticus looked over towards her, taking a moment to access her. He gently grabbed her by the shoulders, turning her so that she faced him. He examined the bright red handprint across her cheek, the small purple bruises on her neck from Alexandra's knuckles, and the hand that Y/N placed over her side.

"I'll have to check you over when we get to your house. Your rib may be damaged worse than we think. I only want to make sure you don't need to visit any doctors," Atticus explained. "I'll explain to your mother what had happened, it's only right that I take the blame for my sister's actions. God knows how long she has been doing this to you," Atticus continued, shaking his head in disappointment.

Y/N felt tears in her eyes due to how grateful she felt. Not once did Atticus ask her why she never told him what was happening, or why she continued to let it happen. He just understood. He could question her all the way to her house with questions, and yet he only focused on his main priorities; tending to her wounds and explaining what's happened to her parents.

The walk was dreadful for Atticus, not because of the silence that filled the air, but because of the noises that did. No matter how quiet you tried to be, he could hear her small winces whenever she took a step that was just a little bit of a stretch.

He wondered what the emotional damage that Y/N had taken on was like, but again, he never asked. He could ask his sister for questions like that.

Once they finally arrived back to Y/N's house, Atticus walked up to the door and knocked on it. He shifted his arm a little, both his backpack and Y/N's- that he took when they first began walking -adjusting so that they wouldn't slide off his shoulder.

The door was opened by Zala who instantly could tell that something wasn't right.

"Mr. Finch?" she questioned, tilting her head.

Atticus offered the best smile he could, which was barely one at all. "Hello Zala, may I ask that you assist Y/N to her room, please? If you could also direct me to the first aid?" Atticus asked gently, trying to be as kind as he could even though he wanted to rush everything.

Zala, although confused, and now worried, nodded. "Of course," she nodded, taking Y/N's hand and walking up the stairs. Atticus entered behind them, wiping off his shoes and placing the backpacks by the door.

"Mr. and Mrs. L/N?" Atticus asked, peeking his head into the kitchen where he spotted Y/N's parents sitting at the table.

Their heads turned to look at the door. Mrs. L/N was the first on her feet, walking towards the young boy. "Atticus, what brings you here?" she asked, giving him a sweet smile.

"That's what I'd like to discuss," he explained, entering farther into the room. He took a deep breath as Y/N's parents shared a glance with one another, concern being the most present feature on their faces. A moment later Atticus began to explain everything.

He had finished doing that after a few minutes, excusing himself so that he could go and tend to Y/N while her parents spoke to one another about the situation, giving the two their space before they would go to speak with their daughter.

Atticus made his way upstairs, knocking on Y/N's door once he arrived. A small, 'enter,' was murmured from the other side of the door. He gently pushed the door in, walking into the room and noticing that Zala was applying a little ointment on Y/N's cheek.

She finished within the next minute and made her way towards the door, giving Atticus a small thanks for being so thoughtful as to make sure Y/N was taken care of and to even explain to her parents what had happened. Atticus only returned the thanks with a smile and nod before walking towards Y/N.

"May I sit beside you?" Atticus asked, doing so when she nodded. He let out a little sigh, turning so that he could look at her. He didn't say another word, simply observing as Y/N looked down at the floor before finally she met his gaze.

"Thank you, again. You didn't need to do this for me," Y/N said sincerely.

Atticus chuckled gently, shaking his head a little. "Of course I did. I couldn't watch somebody be beaten by my own blood, especially not somebody I deeply care for," Atticus replied, giving her a sincere smile.

Y/N struggled to speak for a moment, not able to find the right words. After a few minutes of silence she finally built up the courage to ask, "Atticus, how deeply do you care for me?"

Atticus took a moment to think, leaning his hands against the mattress a little as he thought of an answer to those questions. He'd only been able to come to one conclusion, and it was one that he had known for a while but wouldn't admit to. Not until now.

He couldn't seem to express his care for her in words but decided to resort to actions. Atticus gently took Y/N's face in his hands, being mindful of her cheek. He tilted her head up towards him, allowing his thumb to gently stroke her skin before he closed his eyes and connected their lips in such a soft and tender kiss that would end up leading to many more for years to come.

#atticus finch #atticus #finch #atticus finch x reader #to kill a mockingbird #to kill a mockingbird book #to kill a mockingbird movie #x reader #atticus x reader #high school au

[cto10121]

mulling over my recent rewatch of the hungarian retj (rómeó és júlia) some more and while it’s still one of the best versions of the show, some things just stuck out like a sore thumb, such as

the choreography. now, i’m not in any way an expert or even amateur on dance, but 90% of this duda éva mess featured the dancers hopping around like bunnies and doing weird YMCA-style hand movements like some nineties nightmare. lehetsz király is especially an offender, but verona had some questionable choreography too. i’ve never liked the choreography in this version much, but in this rerun it was somehow more glaring. i guess since then i’ve gone back to the french choreography and since redha was directly inspired by jerome robbins’ work in west side story...well, yeah...

the part where one of the capulet servants gets kissed by a hyper rómeó after le balcon and the servant recognizes rómeó as a montague becomes unintentionally amusing when you consider that in this version, the differences between the montagues and capulets in terms of clothing and physical appearance are subtle and minimal at best, nonexistent at worst. how the hell did she recognize rómeó as a montague???? by his blue blouse? they’re not color coded, so blue wouldn’t automatically mean montague in this world. so what gives?

speaking of which - ditching the color-coded dress, while it arguably adds more ‘‘realism” (not really, imho), muddles the action a lot. in the original french, you always knew who was what, and not only that, but there were strong characteristics in their dance that differentiated them more. the montagues were wild cards, the capulets more restrained and scheming. it affirmed the divisive reality of the feud. in the hungarian, most of the feud is fought by the head of the families, which is a reversal both of the french and shakespeare. during la vengeance, if it weren’t for benvolio’s presence on one of the sides, i wouldn’t have known which side wanted to protect romeo and which side didn’t. they were all dressed in the same sleek dark leather costumes. i guess that was the subtle ‘‘point” of the production, but unless you show a difference other than clothing, all you’ll have is just people of the same ethnicity, same gestures, same choreography doing shit to each other and little understanding of why. so though the hungarian actually brings out the feud more and its violence, the french is actually more convincing

that orchestra. this may be due to the poor sound engineering of the dvd that privileged the singers than the instruments, but it still sounds awfully tinny and weak. the strings were so thin they were threadbare; the tempos were all over the place. songs that are definitely not meant to be played fast were played fast and other parts were slowed down to an excruciating degree. the arranger cut out the solos in the latter part of the choruses, so the hungarian versions feel more repetitious than even the french, even when they add new lyrics. they obviously got more of their budget toward the FIRE ACROBATICS and neat stage effects 

the acting. better than the french, obviously, since these are theater-theater people trained to do everything all at once. the script gives more of a plot and story to the musical-operetta than the french, which was more concert-based. but because of the dramatic needs of the story, the singing on stage suffered A LOT. imagine almost 3 hours of shouting and belting and everyone running around like kids high on candy. my ears were ringing at the end something awful. the french had pacing problems too, but that was because the addition of extraneous songs that could have been cut (le pouvoir, le poète, however much i like the latter) and some lazy directing. the hungarian has more ear fatigue; the energy that they establish is not maintainable for long. as a result, damien sargue sang much better, with better expression, than attila dolhai, who sounds like an operatically trained singer. hommonay zsolt as párisz was also operatically trained, it sounds like, but even at times didn’t sound good at all, especially during la folie, which should have been a picnic for him. at least the chorus was consistently good. 

everyone’s an asshole except résj. this production went back to the original shakespeare characterizations for some of the characters, particularly for the capulets and the nurse, so yeah. but where shakespeare was more nuanced and realistic in his portrayal of the capulets, here they’re mostly unlikable dysfunctional assholes. paris was a sleazeball (though the show tried to say he cared about juliet enough to want to die in her tomb hahahaha no), capulet a doddering fool, lady capulet chronically unfaithful to the extreme, the nurse bawdy and particularly tactless, and tybalt a walking talking disaster on two legs, an epileptic severus snape if there wasn’t one (even my dad thought he'd make a great snape, so it’s not just my hp-addled brain) plus incest issues with his aunt and cousin. lady montague is fierce as fuck, but of course her role is lesser, benvolio acts almost exactly like mercutio except he has a more puppy-ish air and mercutio is more eloquent and cynical. mercutio was closer to the original shakespeare, which means he could be a douchecanoe at times. all in all, the only truly sympathetic characters are rómeó and júlia, which would be terrific (kill the trend of making them into stupid horny teenagers DEAD, i mean it) if it didn’t feel so cheap and vaguely manipulative. of course you’d sympathize with them - they’re the only ones who aren’t crazy, high, mentally troubled, or into the stupid feud in the first place. of course, they’re entertaining to watch, much like you would a trainwreck, but the melodrama does reach a point of incredulity. 

speaking of résj, while they’re cute and all, (if way too old) they tend to feel almost extraneous to this production, so focused on the feud and violence as it is. this should have been called egy orült villág or something like that because that’s really what it was. 

the song order. the show does make it work, barely, but it’s still jarring and strange, even after all these years. i can’t get over c’est le jour and c’est pas ma faute switched around, and tu dois te marier following verona must have been one of the strangest decisions they’ve ever made. i would have liked to have been there in the room where they decided on this order. it isn’t really intuitive, just the opposite. it did solve some of the pacing problems of the french, but musically i think it suffered a lot. gyulölet and szívbol szeretni being close together was weird as well, although the former made for a good number. how strange

the ho yay is incredible in this version. like, purposely fanfiction-y. i never paid much credence to the tycutio and bencutio shippers of the shakespeare fandom, but someone in this production obviously did. mercutio is out-and-out bi, but you can probably read anyone in this production as such. tybalt is an atomic bomb of repression so of course he gets read as such. it adds nothing to the production except, of course, the pleasure of seeing attractive people being all over each other. those wily fangirls are at it again

OH I HAD NEARLY FORGOTTEN - in párisz halála, paris’ death scene, he says that he believes rómeó was here to desecrate júlia’s grave, as in the original shakespeare. rómeó actually had to tell him straight-up that júlia was his wife. but in la folie, the people were all crying that júlia’s death was rómeó’s fault, so obviously paris would have known that they had been together. so what gives? why wouldn’t hungarian paris make that connection and tried to turn him in on the basis that he was responsible for júlia’s death, officially ruled as a suicide? this is verona, after all, where everyone knows everything about everyone, and especially in the hungarian version they found out awfully quickly about résj. in the french, you sense that the capulets are in denial about the rumors (though french!capulet seems to hint that he knows based on his bitter ‘‘et je maudis tous ces amants’’ line) but the hungarian family seemed to have believed it quickly. so yeah, that’s a strange plot hole. i’m guessing galambos attila had to write this le duel reprise quickly and just fell back on shakespeare since there is no french equivalent. 

#i'll just tag this #romeo et juliette #romeo es julia #rómeó és júlia #why not #this version had some good points though #the backstory on tybalt and his father was pretty on point #i liked it so much i used it for my version although i added a twist