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chainofclovers · 3 years

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Ted Lasso 2x8 thoughts

I am so lucky that the creators of Ted Lasso decided to make this entire show specifically for me. #blessed

If last week felt like a bit of breathing room (albeit tense, poignant, character-progressing breathing room) with distinct narrative lines, this week’s episode was a chaotic yet tightly-written swirl of pain and hope and sadness! No neat subject headers for this one, y’all. Just my brain and heart in the inadequate form of a bulleted list. It is the medium available to me at this time.

I am going to remember the moment when Ted calls Sharon and tells her his father killed himself for the rest of my life.

(I could say a bunch of stuff about his face and what he says and how he tries to hide his tears from Beard right after and how insanely much I adore this character and ahhhhhhhh but I’m just going to leave that scene there in our collective memories.)

Jamie. JAMIE. Higgins has given some great advice about love on this show, but his musings about his up-and-down relationship with his own father were not helpful in the context of Jamie’s dad, who is an abusive piece of shit. I really adore that all of the main AFC Richmond staff members are realistically a bit hit-or-miss with their advice and life philosophies (some are mostly miss this season, of course).

And I am completely in awe of the moment when Jamie punches his father. The way he just stands there after Beard kicks his dad out of the locker room. The way you can hear a pin drop. And Roy—Roy who is learning in so many areas of his life about his influence on people, learning that the things he needs aren’t necessarily the same as the things other people need—is the one to cross the room and hug him. Hold him, really, with the tenderness Ted used when he hugged Rebecca outside the gala in 1x4. God.

I’ve thought a lot about how s1 was about giving people a soft place to land. There’s always an angel there when you need one. There’s always an opportunity to be kind. If you look for someone, you find them. If you look for the good in someone, you find the good. And as everyone works through their individual journeys in s2, that can’t always be the case anymore. But there are still so many moments of angels on this show, and it’s not about chance and serendipity and fate [not that it was about that in s1] but about the effort it takes to become someone who can be there for someone else. Or who can be there for yourself. I’m so proud of Jamie for physically fighting back against his father. I’m so proud of Roy for being the one who recognized what Jamie needed.

I have every feeling in the world about how Ted is almost totally frozen both times (s1 and s2) he witnesses Jamie’s father abusing him. In s1, he was still there for Jamie after, and I have every reason to believe he’ll be there for Jamie after this incident as well, but that frozen stance HURTS. He’s in so deep with his pain about his own father that it’s like he physically cannot snap out of it to act in the moment. It seems entirely outside of his control, and it breaks my heart, because Ted wants so badly to be a good father, a good coach, a good friend, a good partner, a good patient. He’s there for people in all kinds of ways, even in his current less-than-capable state. He takes care of Sharon post-concussion and even gets her a new bike! During the disastrous match at Wembley his coaching is ineffectual and everything is chaos but he’s the last one standing on the pitch! But this really awful thing keeps happening to Jamie and Ted is just…frozen in the face of it. Like one of those nightmares where you’re running in place.

The frozen-in-place nightmare also kind of applies to the way the total separation between Ted and Rebecca feels, too. I have never for a moment doubted the writers’ intentions in setting these characters up as soulmates on parallel journeys, and I’m actually really digging (on a story level) how disconnected they are right now. It is IMPRESSIVE that their absence in each other’s lives feels like such a glaring loss, one we cannot forget even as there are so many other things happening onscreen. It is 100% not just shipper goggles making me process information about Ted while thinking about Rebecca and information about Rebecca while thinking about Ted. I know there are a lot of really angry and frustrated people in the fandom right now (both T/R shippers and T/R antis and non-shipping fans who don’t get why s2 is different from s1) and while I understand being frustrated by choices characters make, and frustrated by the feelings the show makes us feel that we just want to feel more of or less of, I continue to agree with pretty much every narrative choice happening right now.

Agreeing with the narrative like this?! This is such a unique experience for me as a viewer—to feel like I’m on a ride that is at once absolutely wild and incredibly sensible and well-crafted, and to feel simultaneously completely invested and anticipatory and speculative but also totally willing to trust where it goes. I long for Ted and Beard to really talk. I long for Ted and Rebecca to stop missing each other. I long for Roy to have a serious conversation with Ted about what’s happening with him. I long for Keeley to find a vocation, something that drives her beyond her projects. I long for so many things! But I wouldn’t long for them if this show was less good. If the show was less good, I wouldn’t have a wish list a mile long because I wouldn’t be so attuned to the details and potential lurking in every scene. THIS IS SUCH A GOOD SHOW, I CANNOT HANDLE IT, I LOVE IT SO MUCH.

(To that end, a great deal of the Ted Lasso tag and so many Twitter reactions reactions to the show feel super stressful right now and I am kind of just trying not to look?! I love this fandom so much because of the amazing conversations that happen and because of brilliant fic and because there are some awesome people I never would have encountered were it not for this show. That little bubble is wonderful and I’d stay in this fandom no matter what in order to keep experiencing those things. But fans’ catastrophic reactions to every little thing that happens, every little choice a character makes that isn’t the “perfect” choice? The takeaway that the writers—on this show of all shows—wake up in the morning ready for another day of torturing shippers rather than another day of writing a beautiful story they genuinely want to write? I do not enjoy those parts at all. I would like to opt out of those parts. I’m having such a magical experience watching this show and talking about this show and listening about this show and writing about this show with a variety of people who feel all kinds of ways. I truly wish I could somehow transfer the energy of this experience onto all the people who are hating it right now. I don’t mind at all that people are having vastly different reactions to this show and are sharing their honest feelings, including the really angry ones (I can appreciate something and disagree with it!), and I get that sometimes the language of fannish reactions is intentionally, ironically hyperbolic. But there feels like this very serious trend of people legitimately thinking writers on this show are targeting shippers and have lost respect for their characters, and I just feel like an alien from another planet when I see that stuff. I guess I just feel like people make art because they want their art to be visible to other people and to themselves, but that doesn’t typically involve specifically catering to or torturing a subset of that audience?)

I am more fascinated by Sharon Fieldstone than ever before. I have been running through every single action with her and Ted so many times. The confirmation that she’s living in club-provided housing (that could not look more different from Ted’s club-provided flat). Ted clearly noticing the many bottles. Sharon’s face while she tries to casually recycle them. (Sharon could legitimately have a more problematic relationship with alcohol than Ted does, and I find that extremely interesting and am very curious to find out what happens there.) Sharon leaving him voice notes while she’s concussed, probably because she’d been thinking about him shortly before the accident. The way Ted calls her and does all the funny voices and it’s not frustrating like all the times he uses his silliness and allusions to deflect during their prior conversations because this time, those behaviors are just a part of him showing care for another person. The way they stretch each other, and Ted is still wrong about the things he’s been wrong about, but they both grow all the same.

While it is pretty much impossible for me to imagine that this show would include an actual romantic relationship between Ted and Sharon (it would be beyond unethical even if they could write it well, and Sharon in particular is so professional and committed to her work, and it would erase so much of the powerful message about the importance of seeking therapy from a professional who is not your friend or partner, and I would totally hate it), watching this episode was the first moment I had this queasy little feeling that it’s possible that Ted could end up developing really complicated feelings about Sharon since, at this point, he’s been honest with her about things he’s hardly spoken about before and you can really form an attachment to people you feel safe with in a new way. (I mean, I’m sure Michelle knows what happened with Ted’s father, but I’m not even certain if Beard does.) He’s so broken right now, and Sharon is such a great person and so different from anyone else in his life (even though Rebecca is also different, and Beard is also different, and Roy is also different, and so on), that I could see things getting really fuzzy for him. I continue to have faith in the way the storylines on this show are handled. I’m just. Putting this here.

(In saying that, though, I also wanna make it really clear that I don’t just automatically assume anytime a new female character is introduced that they’re going to end up becoming a romantic complication. Like, Phoebe is allowed to have a teacher who is an attractive woman and AFC Richmond is allowed to have a sports psychologist who is an attractive woman and Keeley is allowed to talk to Jamie Tartt without it threatening what she has with Roy and all these people can exist as human beings without the introduction of romantic drama.)

Isaac gives every player one haircut per season, OH MY GOD. The JOY during the haircut scene. YES.

KEELEY AND REBECCA. Their text thread. The affirming video call right before Rebecca goes into the restaurant. The way Keeley sits all snuggled up against Rebecca in her office.

I was pretty thoroughly spoiled for the Sam and Rebecca plot through 2x8, and I was bracing for something far more problematic and tortured than what happens in this episode. The words I would use to describe their scenes: awkward, cute, cringy, and understandable. There are a million reasons why this relationship isn’t sustainable, but I felt completely understanding of both their choices here. This show has a lot of thesis statements, but I keep going back to the idea from 2x1 that there are people who enter your life to help you get to the next point, and I think it’s entirely possible that Sam and Rebecca will mutually be that for each other.

I find comparisons between Rupert and Rebecca super upsetting. There are absolutely meaningful things to say about the irony of ending up in a situation with an uncomfortable resemblance to certain taboo elements of an ex’s situation. But that ex is abusive and manipulative and cruel and Rebecca has exhibited NONE of those behaviors, and it makes me really sad to think that people feel that the writers on this show have betrayed Rebecca in giving her this storyline.

As always, I reserve the right to keep blathering about this show. I’ve had a headache for a couple of days, but my head is also so full of 2x8 thoughts that I couldn’t keep them in even if the circumstances for writing this were not ideal. I kind of hate that I’ve included frustrated fandom thoughts within the analysis of what I felt was an absolutely gorgeous, complicated, heartbreaking, near-perfect episode of television, but if ya can’t be a little dramatic on your own tumblr while you’re feeling raw and under the weather, where can ya?

#ted lasso #ted lasso s2 spoilers #meta by me #ted lasso 2x8 #a lesbian watches ted lasso #cw: suicide mention #cw: alcohol abuse mention

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stxleslyds · 3 years

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Who do you think should be a love interest for Red Hood/Jason Todd?

Oh, Anon, you sent me a very difficult question. I have been wanting to talk about my thoughts on love interests or ships when it comes to Jason but I always end up getting scared and don’t do it. But because you sent me this ask and I want to give you an answer, I will actually speak (write) my mind.

I like ships, I enjoy romances within stories, the name of my blog is based on one of my favourite ships from a tv show that I liked. I have also reblogged content that is about another ship that I like from an animated show but when it comes to the DC comics characters that I like (Dick Grayson and Jason Todd) I actually dislike romances and the idea of love interests, a lot. In Jason’s case, I actually hate the idea of him having love interests.

And that’s because of several reasons, but I believe they can all be enclosed into one thing, Jason doesn’t seem to be into romantic relationships or established romantic relationships. Every time they put him in one of those things start to make less sense, I will explain it more in detail because I will be going through every single relationship that was, hinted at, teased or official for Jason in the last eleven years. (Yup, I have found every single relationship that Jason has had forced and/or out of place).

This is, of course, what I think, you are allowed to think otherwise.

JASON TODD AND LOVE INTERESTS.

New 52.

Essence, Jason’s first kiss and some other things.

Essence was, as per New 52 onwards, the first person that Jason had a relationship with. (RHatO vol.1 #7). They met back in the All-Castle and with her, he said that he felt, for the first time after being resurrected “alive”. Yeah, it is a little bit weird, let’s suppose that Jason was 17 when he first met her, and when I say “other things” I do mean it, the panels are never explicit but there is enough information given and shown that tells us that Jason shared a lot of firsts with her.

But here is my first complaint, Lobdell didn’t need to tell us all that, in fact, he could just have told us that they were friends back in the All-Castle because when Essence is introduced in the story, Jason already thinks that she betrayed him and the All-Castle and he repeats several times that he either: wants to kill her or should have killed her in the past already. (RHatO vol.1 #7)

So, the first person that Jason had a love and/or sexual relationship with is now an enemy through betrayal, or so he thinks. After some back and forth and some other truths getting revealed, everything gets solved, Jason and Essence suddenly don’t interact much with each other.

We get another peek at their current relationship when she shows up in Roy’s hospital bed to help him recover from his injuries. There Jason says that she was his first kiss and that even though they have chosen different paths and they have tried to kill each other a few times they are still there for each other.

Wow, what a lovely message Lobdell, two people who have tried to kill each other and have an overall nasty/manipulative relationship, are still there for each other, which is what truly matters. Give me a break Lobdell, what is this? I understand this book is old by now but this narrative is not cute or special. They barely trust each other and they have been more than willing to kill each other but they are still on good terms, yay! Shut up.

Isabel, the flight attendant that may be a little too pushy at times.

Us and Jason met Isabel, the flight attendant when Jason is travelling along with Roy (RHatO vol.1 #2). Her introduction is very sexualised and Jason and her flirt a lot, he “checks her out” but he is also thinking that Isabel is better off not crossing paths with him anymore, but apparently that isn’t what she thinks because she leaves her number along with Jason’s drink. He is very surprised about that fact.

Jason had been struggling with the idea of calling Isabel because he didn’t want to mix his vigilante life with his normal life, that’s why when he calls her, he hangs up as soon as she answers the call. (RHatO vol.1 #7).

But that insecurity is thrown out of the window (apparently) because he does go on a date with Isabel even though he is doing everything possible to hide his double life (RHatO vol.1 #10). Isabel seems to be having an amazing time and as they reach Jason’s hotel, he offers to call her a cab, which means “date is over I want to go home”, but Isabel has other ideas she starts pushing him and saying maybe I don’t want to leave just yet and Jason is a little uncomfortable but Isabel just kisses him. Yeah, non-consensual kissing happens and this is the first (but not last) time it happens. The kiss is interrupted by someone else and the whole thing ends up with that someone (Orc), Kory, Roy and Jason talking.

Jason was so ready to make Isabel go at the end of their date earlier that he barely notices her when Kory and the others show up. She is literally on the floor asking what is going on and Jason doesn’t notice her until after they are teleported to a spaceship. Jason was so out of it that he didn’t notice her up until Roy pointed her out. How insane is that? What are you trying to say, Lobdell, Jason is an asshole? Or was Jason so uncomfortable on that date that he forgot that the date was still going on?

After they all realise that they are all stuck in space in the middle of an intergalactic war Isabel and Jason talk. Isabel lets Jason know that she thought that their date was boring and bad because Jason was trying to hide his real life, she also asks Jason why a vigilante asked a flight attendant on a date and he deflects that question like a pro. (RHatO vol.1 #11-12). You see, I think that Jason decided to go on a date with her because he thought that’s what he wanted or to prove himself that he could have something “normal”.

When they finally go back to earth Jason kinda acts like a jerk towards Isabel at the beginning but at the end of the issue, we see that Isabel invited Jason to stay the night at her apartment in Gotham, happy times happen and while Jason is in the shower Isabel gets attacked by Joker. The Joker made it seem like Isabel overdosed while Jason was in the other room which destabilised Jason a lot. He calls the cops and she is taken to the hospital after Jason leaves the apartment. (RHatO vol.1 #14-15) The last time we see her she is in the hospital recovering.

A long time passes by and we only see Isabel again when RHatO changes writers for a few issues, the author of Isabel’s comeback is Tynion. We see Isabel entering her home after a date, when she goes inside, she notices some weird robots and those things were put there by Jason who wanted to invite her to a private resort as a date. (RHatO vol.1 #28). Isabel decides to go and when Jason gets too wound up and is ready to kiss her, she tells him that he needs to slow down because a long time has passed since they last saw each other and she is quite mad that because they went on one date and she ended up on space for days and then got attacked in her own home. Jason is a bit taken aback by what she says but he doesn’t get to say much because a fight breaks out. Talk about signs… maybe they shouldn’t get together at all, you know what I mean?

After the fight was over, Isabel told Jason that she can’t do this (their “relationship”) any more, but that if the fight ever ended that he could go back looking for her. So, she “breaks up” with him but still kisses him before leaving. If you are leaving someone because you don’t feel like things are going right why on earth will you kiss them goodbye? It’s not like they were on a five-year-long relationship, they only went on two dates! Maybe this is not that big of a deal but come on…

Kory, this one wasn’t a “real” relationship but the idea of it was forced.

Although Kory appears in the first issue of RHatO we didn’t know then how Jason and Kory had met. That story is told later on and it begins with Jason appearing on the shores of an island where Kory’s ship was stuck. He is in and out of consciousness but we do see Kory taking care of him as he recovers, we also see that Kory has a little bit of heart eyes for the mysterious man, but that was because Jason looks like Dick Grayson (someone who she had dated and actually remembered even though she said she didn’t).

After Jason finally wakes up, he goes to her and she gives him clothing that used to belong to Dick, Jason knows those clothes are Dick’s but when he asks Kory who they are from she says that she doesn’t know (she was lying). After Jason gets dressed, he decides to tell Kory who he is and his story, so he tells Kory “Hey, there is something you need to know about me” and Kory kisses him. Ah yes, more non-consensual kissing, how wonderful! Jason is taken aback and Kory tells him that her people assimilate the knowledge that way, Jason doesn’t make a big deal out of it but I will. Lobdell, you knew that Kory didn’t have amnesia, and you know that Kory has been on earth for quite a long time, there was no need for that kiss. As the reader, I know that that’s how Tamareans learn stuff but I also think that Kory shouldn’t kiss people just to know new stuff! It baffles me that they are still doing this, it was silly then and it's silly now, stop the non-consensual kissing and then excusing it because of fictional alien traditions or whatever, just stop.

But I didn’t put Kory on this list for the kissing, I put her here because even though it was never explicitly shown that Jason and Kory had any type of interaction, there were some hints about it, like that time that Roy asked Jason if he was mad because he had slept with “his girl” to chich Jason answered something along the lines of “she is not my girl and she can sleep with whoever she wants”. (RHatO vol.1 #2)

But that’s not all because Lobdell gave us yet another moment in which Kory kisses Jason without his consent and Jason is written once again alarmed, this time even Roy is present and he is a little bit mad because his girlfriend is kissing someone else in front of him. At that point, Jason and Roy both knew that Kory wasn’t new to this planet and that she had been in a relationship with Dick Grayson previously. Because of all that, Lobdell passing yet another non-consensual kiss as Kory trying to tell Jason that he wasn’t alone in his fight doesn’t sit right with me, it’s even worse when you reach the end of the issue and Kory leaves both Jason and Roy on their own. (RHatO vol.1 #32) Yikes, Lobdell, yikes. (This is no hate to Kory or the other women on this run, this is pure hate towards Lobdell, please don’t get me wrong, he is the one being nasty).

Rose just appeared so Lobdell could tell us that she and Jason slept together.

Poor Rose, so many female characters being dragged into this mess by Lobdell, she really didn’t deserve this. She appeared in the last two issues of this run, two! Only for Lobdell to set up the idea that she and Jason had some fun nights in the past, honestly, who let this man write women?

Their interaction went like this: “Hey Rose, love that mask” “Yeah, I’d considered a heart tattoo that said ‘Jason’ with an axe hacking it in two” “I’m flattered, but I think you made the right choice” after Jason said that last part, he continued with this, “You want to explain what you’re doing here trying to kill us? I remember the last time I saw you; you had a big, satisfied smile on your face”. (RHatO vol.1 #39)

Really, Lobdell? She appears in the last two issues; you have them have that conversation and then in the last issue they are the only ones left (after the outlaws disband, RHatO vol.1 #40) but we never see her again, Rose isn’t mentioned in Red Hood/Arsenal or RHatO Rebirth, she isn’t mentioned any other time. Lobdell just thought that Jason didn’t look like he had fucked enough in the past so he decided to let the reader know that he had had some action. I hate him.

Barbara, this pains me, poor Babs, she didn’t deserve that.

No, Lobdell wasn’t the one who wrote this mess, it was everyone who wrote Batman Eternal. I mean, what was this group of men thinking? Where they playing darts and they had all the batboys’ pictures up on the wall and in whichever the dart got stuck, Barbara will get stuck too? Is that what happened? How often do they play this game, can they stop?

I don’t remember having read Batman Eternal and quite honestly, I didn’t want to put myself through that after I made myself read New 52 RHatO twice because I had forgotten to take notes of what had happened in each issue (I hate myself). So, I will only talk about the absurdity that was Batman Eternal #19 and #28.

All of the “relationships” that Lobdell came up with, were forced or out of place or both but this one takes the cake. It’s so simple and short, but oh, so annoying!

The phrase “You will never be Dick Grayson” coming out from Barbara’s mouth and it being directed at Jason should tell you just how many levels of wrong we are working herewith. Their whole interaction in this book seems to come from that phrase, how on earth do you build up a romance from that? Am I going crazy? Am I missing something? Come on, be honest with me.

Jason being the one who makes Barbara shake off mind control because he told her that he “only remembers what’s important, like the day he met Batgirl”, I am sorry but what? I really don’t have the words, he had even said before that he thought Babs liked him because she looked nervous, what is this writing? Since when does Jason care about Barbara? They met once when Jason was Robin and she was significantly older, what are these writers on, crack? (Batman Eternal #19)

But that’s not the worst thing, later in the book, they switch roles and Jason is apparently no longer interested in Barbara but she is all like “maybe you should stay this time, Jason. Help the family. Save Gotham” and Jason says “Gotham’s never been enough for me Barb” and I am not kidding, she tells him “What if there was more…?” That was hilarious, my gods, they must have been high when they wrote that because that is just too wild for me.

And Jason, the absolute beast that he is, says, “No. Because Barb, it’s like you said… I’ll never be Dick Grayson” (Batman Eternal #28). Jason, you dramatic little shit, what is going on? Why did the writers put us through all that just to end up being like “Babs is thirsty for Jason but he has already moved on”, what was the point of these interactions?

Yeah, that’s all I can say about that, let’s just move on to the mess that was Rebirth.

Rebirth.

Artemis, a new player enters the game.

While we did meet her in the first issue Jason isn’t seen being flirty with her up until they are in a bar and Jason is really drunk, he tells her that she has beautiful green eyes and Artemis is like, “if you are hitting on me, I will punch you in the head” (RHatO vol.2 #8), Lobdell back at it again with that mix between flirting and violence that I hate so much, lovely. But I guess this meant that Artemis was setting boundaries.

Boundaries and kinda thrown out of the window when later in the book we have something like looked like the start of a kiss that didn’t really happen because they were interrupted (RHatO vol.2 #11). Jason also acts a little too cheeky in two instances in another issue, one of them was a bit funny the other one no so much because Artemis was talking about how she had let only three people into her heart and one of them was now dead and she might have been losing another one, at that moment all Jason has to offer is “about that third person… does his name rhyme with Rason Rodd?”, which was a bit out of tune of him. (RHatO vol.2 #13).

The big surprise though is that out of the blue we have an issue called ‘Date Night’ where Jason and Artemis seem to go out on a date! What? We are moving on so fast! (Spoiler Alert: Jason thought it was a date, Artemis only wanted to talk about how weird Bizarro was acting at the time). One of the things that really caught my attention was how differently she was characterized in the issue and that within the story Jason hadn’t realised that Artemis wasn’t really acting like herself either. It could have been a cute date if not for the fact that Artemis wasn’t acting like herself because she wasn’t “really” on a date with Jason. Also, Lobdell does love to hint at Jason’s sex life, before they went on the date Bizarro said “use it (the teleporting door) all night if you need” and Jason responded, “I don’t think we will be needing it all night. I mean, if we do that’s okay, but I’m not, like, expecting anything”, it was kinda funny but yeah, come on! (RHatO vol.2 #19).

From that issue, we jump to the great finale (or not) of this “epic” “love” “story”, the so awaited kiss between Jason and Artemis, oh yeah baby! A couple of issues with flirting, a date that wasn’t a date but maybe if Bizarro wasn’t going insane at the time (who knows?). This kiss obviously comes with the separation of this team of outlaws, Jason is left alone on earth while Artemis and Bizarro are swallowed by a portal of sorts. Jason finally gets the kiss that he so desired, but at what cost? (RHatO vol.2 #25). Brutal issue for Jason, it was also like a special edition because it was bigger and that makes me laugh because all Jason did in that issue was suffer, how unlucky can this guy get?

We don’t see Artemis for a while but when she does come back, she is being controlled by something and it’s making her want to kill Jason, so to shake whatever was controlling her, Jason kissed her and hoped for the best (it worked). See, Lobdell can change! Before it was women forcing Jason into a kiss, now it’s the other way around! Yay! (RHatO vol.2 #41).

After all that we see Jason and Artemis spending some time together, it looks very friendly, they even have a very nice moment when Artemis hugs Jason as he lets himself grieve the loss of Roy. Jason also seems aware (this time) that Artemis is acting a little off and he gets her to talk about how much she missed her axe. It feels like they are taking it slow, they are figuring themselves out after so long, they probably won't kiss and make things complicated, right? Yeah, no, they do kiss, but they each pretend that it was like kissing a sibling. In the end, Jason does say that he lied and that he knows that she lied to him and that was okay with him, my only critique with this is: Why did they have to kiss? They could have waited instead of kissing and then lying about their feelings, what is this, Wattpad? (RHatO vol.2 #42)

Their relationship comes to a halt and we end up seeing them together (in a messy bed, twice) at the end of Lobdell’s run. But even though those two had their fun and Jason almost told Artemis that he loved her, things weren’t really meant to end with them as a couple because at the very end of the issue Artemis says her final goodbye to Jason. She says, “This is it. The end of us. I’m not being mean. I’m genuinely happy for you Jason. You have grown so much since you started the outlaws. But you don’t need us anymore. You don’t need me. Tell me I’m wrong” to which Jason responds, “I can’t. But if I ever needed anyone, it would have been you, Princess”. (RHatO vol.2 #50).

All in all, this was the best-developed relationship that Jason had, but so much about this, one could have easily been transformed into a friendship between the two. You will see better what I mean after I talk about Isabel’s presence in this run. Maybe it is just me, but a solid friendship between these two could have been spectacular, mostly because of what had happened in that one annual that had Dick as a guest.

In that issue Jason was very jealous of Artemis having the most obvious heart eyes for Dick, she was very flirty with him and he was a real gentleman with her. When she offered to take him back to his trailer at the circus he said yes and there, as they were walking towards his trailer, Lobdell wrote the best piece of dialogue in his ten years writing Jason. Dick asked, “So, are you and Jason… together?” to which Artemis responded, “Me? And Jason? Anyone and Jason?”. How is Lobdell so blind to his actual interesting takes on Jason Todd. Aromantic Jason was right there Lobdell, but you had to push your shitty version of “romance” every step of the way! (I am fine with Jason having a fantastic sexual life but listen, Jason being aromantic was still possible).

Essence, first Jason accused her of betraying him but now *Uno reverse card*

Do you guys remember that Essence and Jason’s last interaction in New 52? Jason said that even though they were always fighting or willing to kill each other they also will always be there for one another? Well, when Essence comes back in Rebirth she plans on killing Jason because apparently this time around he was going to betray her. Their very first interaction in this run (RHatO vol.2 #35), consists of Essence saying, “I don’t know if I should kiss you or kill you” to which Jason responds, “why do you have to choose?”. Lovely, Lobdell is back at it again with his shitty version of quirky “romance”, if he is trying to write them as sarcastic, he needs to do a better job at it because it’s not a good look, and not everyone has read his New 52 run so introducing these two in this book this way is kinda not good. But then again, maybe that’s just me.

As a fight ensues after they said those things, we are shown panels of Jason and Essence when they were together in the All-Castle, they would be cute panels if not for the fact that they are currently fighting to the death. It is an insane contrast, and Lobdell also has Jason think “I was the first human trained by the All-Castle. She was the only heir to a throne she never wanted. It was never going to work out between us.” But the thing is that it did work out between each other until Jason left the All-Castle, when they met each other again they had both been fed lies about the other and neither of them seems to want to look for clues to make sure that those rumours of betrayal were true. One will think that now, one of you might not feel so confident when they think the other will betray them again, you went through this already losers! But I don’t blame Jason or Essence for their stupidity, I blame Lobdell.

The fight lasts a few pages but it will end with Essence stabbing Jason with her ‘Blood Blade’ (not to be confused with the All-Blades, those are Jason’s), but here is the thing the Blood Blade comes with a curse if you draw blood from someone innocent your soul will be trapped inside the blade. This is what happened to Essence because Jason was innocent of what she was accusing him, just like she was innocent in New 52 when Jason accused her of betraying him and the All-Castle. Boring.

Now here is the thing, Essence might be dumb or she didn’t know how the Blood Blade worked because later on in the book, the blood blade is teleported by Essence (she was still inside of the blade) to the front door of Isabel’s home. The very next time that we see Isabel she is unconsciously sharing a body with Essence after touching the blade. She possessed her because at that time she still believed that Jason wanted to “destroy the world” (RHatO vol.2 #45). It wasn’t long until she realised that she was wrong and then teamed up with Jason once again. (RHatO vol.2 #46).

Lobdell, why must you recycle stories all the time and make women look stupid? Why would she still believe that Jason was up to no good after she got trapped in the blade? But my point here is that this is supposed to be Jason’s first love and their relationship consists of, flirting, remembering the good times, and almost killing each other every time they see each other because *betrayal*, it’s so tiring and annoying. Do better.

Isabel, aw, shit, here we go again!

Lobdell really had ladies ready to appear in Jason’s life when another had just left. This is one of my major problems with the way Lobdell writes all of Jason’s relationships. It would be lovely if DC and Lobdell just outright said that Jason is only interested in having sexual relationships that aren’t meant to last a long time. Because the way they had him involving himself with women seemed a little sketchy, in #25 Artemis finally kissed him and he seemed pretty happy about it, but then she was gone and now that Isabel appears in Jason’s life again, he acts as if Artemis didn’t exist.

Isabel shows up at the Iceberg Lounge after Jason made public his comeback and his management of the place. One would think that given how things ended up in New 52, Isabel would like to take things slow, after all, she had told him that he could go back to her if he stopped living his double life, but no, she talked to him for a few seconds and then proceeded to kiss him out of the blue. Lobdell’s favourite type of kissing makes a comeback, how nice, I didn’t miss it at all!

I want to be honest with you, maybe I am being too harsh, maybe these are all “surprise” kisses but in a way, it still doesn’t feel right, this is not the first time that someone kisses Jason when he doesn’t expect it (Isabel has done it multiple times already), but he is written as if he didn’t care, and that is not good. Men can feel pressured into kissing someone or can feel like they are being harassed. Lobdell and everyone on this creative team seem to think that being kissed by someone you haven’t seen in very long out of the blue is romantic or cute or sexy or whatever but it has repeated itself so much that I only find it uncomfortable and annoying to read and see. (RHatO vol.2 #33). Maybe it was just me because in that issue where Isabel goes to the Lounge they get attacked and she is not at all bothered by it, this time around, Jason even tells her that her safety is his first priority which is quite funny because the first time they were in a date Jason forgot she was present and only realised that she had been teleported alongside the outlaws to a space ship when Roy pointed it out, but I guess Jason is a different man now. I guess he wants to cultivate a relationship with her now.

And he might because your boy asked Isabel on a date in Paris. They just happened to both be around Paris at that time but here is where Jason says something that makes me speculate as to why he is actually dating, he thinks this, “Isabel Ardila. A flight attendant. Maybe the only normal person I’ve ever allowed in my life. Don’t ask me why.”

Well, Chonky, I won’t be asking you anything, I will actually give you the answers as to why you are letting Isabel into your life. You do it because you equate dating to normalcy, but I am here to tell you that it's fine if you don’t want to date and form romantic bonds, it's not something normal, it's just something some people do. If you like going out with her because of the sex or whatever then that’s fine too, but if you have to question why you are doing something, maybe you shouldn’t be doing it at all.

Jason looks a bit uncomfortable, and we also see that he is feeling sad and lonely because he misses Roy. He even thinks, “sometimes, she even makes me feel normal”. All of this normal talk really speaks to me about Jason trying to have friends outside the job but he doesn’t know how to approach that so he dates women because it makes him feel normal. I can relate to that feeling in a way, and I just think that Jason is confusing friendly love with romantic love, I don’t even know if he knows of the existence of platonic love. A reader that understands those feelings can see that maybe Jason is struggling to feel normal when he realises that he doesn’t love the same way as others. The thing is, I don’t really think that is what Lobdell intended to do, he just wanted to push two of his agendas, Jason has an active sexual/love life and Roy Harper was Jason Todd’s best friend and the only one who is allowed to suffer his death is Jason. In fact, back at the time, Jason was actually one of the few people (or maybe the only person) allowed to mourn Roy.

When the date is over and Jason’s walking Isabel to her hotel, they have a chat where it’s revealed that Isabel thinks that Jason isn’t still living that double life, she actually thinks that Jason is only working as the owner of the Casino, Jason doesn’t correct her. And then there is this very weird line that Isabel says, “The airline picks up my tab. This way you know I don’t love you for your money”, Jason is very taken aback when he heats Isabel say that she loves him so he manages to say “did you just…?” but Isabel stops him with a kiss and a simple “nope”. Jason moves on and goes to work because he is still doing the vigilante gig, the double life, that Isabel thinks doesn’t exist anymore. (RHatO vol.2 #34).

Isabel and Jason’s relationship has always looked forced to me, in rebirth, it was even weirder because Jason had just kissed Artemis and when she was gone, Jason kind of acted as if it didn’t matter that much to him and moved on easily with Isabel, but now Jason is acting kind of sketchy too because he is hiding his double life and the last time he did that Isabel ended up in a lot of trouble. I really don’t know if Lobdell remembers his own shitty writing but he should remember this stuff.

We move on too, and now Isabel has come to visit Jason at one of the events that the Iceberg Lounge has got going on, once again Jason is acting a bit strange because he was having trouble at the time with the idea of his biological father actually trying to contact him before he was killed and he was also having trouble because he was in Gotham after his adoptive father beat the living shit out of him and “banned” him from stepping foot in Gotham again. Jason seems to open up a little to Isabel but just as he starts doing so, she tells him she has to leave. Jason looks hurt for just one panel and then he moves on with his (double) life. (RHatO vol.2 #35). This is the issue where Jason also comes across Essence and traps her in her own blade.

Because everything falls apart in what was one of the best arcs written by Lobdell, Jason sends Dog (Jason’s dog) to Isabel, so Dog can be safe. (RHatO vol.2 #36).

We see Isabel after some very long time, and she is described as “The on-again/off-again girlfriend of Jason Todd. Currently off-again”, at this point in time Artemis was back to being herself and Jason had kissed her and all that. I am just saying, Jason obviously isn’t comfortable in a established romantic relationship. Lobdell dances around that idea a lot, every time with all these women.

This is the issue where Isabel finds the Blood Blade outside her home. (RHatO vol.2 #43).

As you can see, I have problems with Lobdell not handling the relationships very well, there is no concrete information being told to the reader or the characters within the story about how Jason wants to date, we never know if the women in the story know that Jason has been dating/flirting with other women. I am not saying that is bad but it would have been nice if Lobdell just used his words to tell us what he is doing.

I feel like saying that Jason is the kind of man that looks for sexual relationships without commitment isn’t something that will break the world in two. All the “romance” is incredibly forced, just say that he isn’t into romantic relationships my dude… unless Lobdell really thinks that the “romances” that he came up with are actually well written.

Anyway, Jason didn’t know that Essence who he has been fighting against and then alongside was actually Isabel, so, when Isabel and Essence get separated for a moment Jason is surprised. After Isabel tells him that they are in the middle of a battle so she is going to let Essence control her body again, Jason tells her that he “loves her”. (RHatO vol.2 #49). Does he love her for doing that or does he love her because he likes her? Hmm, that’s a good question, it is never actually answered in comics because we don’t really get to see Isabel or Essence after that happens and in the following issue (Lobdell’s last) Jason and Artemis seem to have been having a very fun night and they also kiss, Jason had even kissed with Artemis before he told Isabel that he loved her.

As you can see, its all very messy, Lobdell really said “Jason can’t be directly or indirectly single but I won’t really explain what is going on to the readers or to the characters within the story”, and that speaks volumes about how bad Lobdell’s writing is. This man simply cannot remember the things that he writes, he literally had Artemis say that she didn’t think she could see Jason dating anyone and then she wants to date him and Jason had already been dating people before that statement was made! It was all so messy! It makes all these side-romantic plots pointless; Jason was lonely because he constantly lost his friends, then give him friends! Friends are nice DC, stop making it about romances when you can just give your characters solid friendships.

Barbara, this time the pain is brought to us by Geoff Johns

I put Three Jokers as part of rebirth because I still don’t know if that garbage of a book is supposed to function within actual canon or not but it came out while Rebirth was going on so that’s why it’s here.

Now, the whole book was bad, we can all agree on that but Johns’ handling of Jason and Barbra’s “relationship” made me sick. This is another thing that writers love to do to Jason, write him as the kind of man that cannot take rejection and continues to be pushy about his feelings. Please, DC, don’t ever let Johns write another comic for you, it’s embarrassing at this point.

But in this book Jason wasn’t the only one acting weird, Barbara also did some weird stuff. In this run, Barbara thought of Jason as an unhinged criminal that needs to be locked up but Jason had heart eyes for Barbara every time they saw each other, their whole dynamic was wonky and weird. They even fought before and after Jason killed one of the Jokers.

But that’s not the real problem, the problem was that Johns decided to make Jason get tortured by the remaining Jokers while naked, this man was found naked, injured and mentally unwell by Batman and Batgirl after Jason and Batman had a fight, Barbara decided to take Jason to her home so he could recover.

Jason has just come out of the shower, he was clearly mentally and physically exhausted, and also very vulnerable. When Barbara came into the room Johns had them have a conversation while Barbara was fully clothed and Jason was just in a towel, and he was talking about how lonely and not cared for he felt, he was opening himself up to Barbara and apparently, Barbara (Johns) thought that the best she could do was kiss him, you know, to offer support.

Honestly, what the hell do male comic writers smoke when they write? You don’t show support to someone that has clear feelings for you with a kiss, to then pull away and say that “we committed a mistake”, we? Girl, come on, you made a mistake and a huge one! But one will think that Jason realised that Barbara did make a mistake when she kissed him and he also accepted the fact that she didn’t feel the same way as he did… well, not really, Jason is actually written as the kinda guy that doesn’t take well rejection and the kind of guy that keeps pushing for something between him and the other person to happen.

This man asked Barbara three times if she could give him an opportunity after the first rejection and he kept getting rejected! But that is not all because we all know that at the end of the book Jason left a letter (that thankfully Barbara will never see) in Barbara’s door when he asked again to give him a chance and that he would change who he was for her, he would actually stop being the Red Hood for her! Was Johns on crack? He had to be! The levels of wrong that are being messed around with here are out of the charts! Jason Todd, who has different values and morals than Barbara Gordon would stop being Red Hood just to get a date? Boy, don’t be dumb! Do male writers think that we are going to swoon over this kind of writing, do they expect me to applaud? I won’t!

This “relationship” was forced and incredibly out of place and out of character for everyone and it pissed me off even if it doesn’t affect canon because the writing is bad and the narrative is worse! If you love someone you shouldn’t change everything about yourself to be with them AND if someone says no or rejects your advances then the only thing you should do is back down!

This shouldn’t have to be said!

Future State

Rose, if you know me then you know that this is just a big no for me.

In the Future State: Red Hood story we are shown in the first panel of the first page that Jason is sharing a bed with someone else. We get to know pretty early that someone is Rose. The setting for their relationship is awful, both of them are working for the magistrate, they hunt “masks” otherwise known as heroes or vigilantes.

Jason hates his job and is known for bringing his “masks” alive, Rose on the other hand seems to have adapted easily while working with the magistrate and she is known for bringing the “masks” dead.

First red flag, why are two people who have such different ideals in a relationship together? Let me remind you that the Magistrate is not a good corporation or idea for Gotham, they are basically domestic terrorists and Jason is bringing them people that are like him (he is there undercover). Jason is going against everything that he is in order to infiltrate the Magistrate, Rose seems to be having fun. She brings the subject between them without care and seems to not really understand that Jason doesn’t like the work that they are both doing and that he doesn’t want to talk about it as if it were a normal thing that every couple does.

The second red flag in just a couple of pages is Williamson having Rose say “This is why we make sense. Daddy issues”, wow, are we really doing that, Williamson sat there and said Rose and Jason can make a good couple because both of them have unresolved problems with their parental figures, how wonderful. To me shared trauma isn’t a deal-breaker but sure, if you want to make one of your characters revolve her relationship with her partner around trauma, then that’s on you.

Jason also had a big problem with Rose attacking people who are hiding from the Magistrate because they are actually giving food to the “masks” and to people who don’t have to eat. Rose doesn’t seem to care and that makes the relationship a bit tense. So far, there are not many positives for this couple.

Things only get tenser, people are going around wearing those red pill looking helmets that Jason used to wear in Batman and Robin (2009), the funny looking ones, and those people are just normal people that are stealing food so they can eat or take them somewhere else. Jason is following one of those people and telling them that he doesn’t want to hurt them, just talk but Rose shows up and kills them. Jason is angry and Rose goes on a rant about how being a “mask” is against the law so she had a right to kill him.

Together they figure out that those people were being controlled so they go looking for whoever was behind those helmets.

They are tense and Jason is very cold with her even when she tries to lighten up the mood, but shit gets worse when they both receive an alert to go hunt another mask: Jason Todd.

Rose wants the money. Aw, nothing says healthy relationship more than murder.

The apparent reason why the Magistrate put a target on Jason was that he had the helmet that he took from that boy, when he realises this he puts it on and hopes that Rose finds him through that, so she can help him if he gets in trouble.

Jason gets mind-controlled through the helmet and is forced to fight rose, they fight for a while and then Rose breaks the helmet. Jason says “knew you would find me” and Rose responds “you are lucky I have a crush on you”, ok, is Jason okay with Rose wanting to kill him a few minutes ago when the alert on him came out? That’s not a big deal for them? Ok.

Jason seems to be in love with Rose even though they think differently and they are written with as much chemistry as a history book, he cares for her and does everything to save her when they get attacked by the Magistrate.

When they escape the initial attack, Rose grabs Jason and tells the Magistrate’s drones that he will take the bounty for Jason but that she will deliver him alive. Jason is surprised and angry but then the drones just leave. And we are left with Jason and Rose on a rooftop alone after Rose seemingly tried to betray Jason.

Do you know what Jason does next? He tells Rose that they should go on a holiday. He cares and keeps wanting to protect her from the Magistrate. Are you kidding me? This is so messed up; I want to remind you that these were the only two issues for this story. This is all the information we had for a long while and it is disgusting. DC really let this thing be published!

Rose betrays him twice; he is willing to harm him on some level and he still wants to be with her? Am I understanding that correctly? Later on, he keeps wanting to protect her from the Magistrate after he has evidence that they are hyper corrupt.

The point I want to make is that Jason and Rose shouldn’t have been introduced to us in this book as a couple or as people who have been sleeping with each other for a long time. I don’t know why this needs to be said but having a couple where one of them can think of killing their partner is absolutely awful. And then they make it worse by having the “victim” act like it doesn’t matter and that they should work on protecting the person that wanted to betray them.

I understand that there is a Future State: Gotham run going on with a Jason story in it written by Williamson but I don’t want to go near it. Future State: Red Hood made me uncomfortable and it made me cry out of frustration. How did this story get a pass by the editor? It’s disgusting, and it’s that because of this absolutely forced “relationship” that Williamson wanted to put in.

My point with all of these “couples/love interests reviews” is that writers need to be more conscious about what they write and about how some readers might perceive some messages.

Non-consensual kissing, harassment and all those things shouldn’t be part of the dynamic of two people that you are trying to put together. If there is some non-consensual kissing you can simply put a panel where the person apologises for their actions, but not even that is shown in these cases.

Comic writers need to be more aware of the way they write relationships. Yes, these are fictional worlds, people and situations but you are still playing with real-life interactions. Making some things appear in comics as normal things that you do to your crush/partner or whatever has an impact on people and writers need to become aware of this.

Lobdell was dying to let us know that Jason had a very active love/sexual life, great, but you need to show healthy relationships or make things clear about the relationships that Jason had. So many interactions that Jason had with women were overlapped with each other and the reader doesn’t know how to take it, is Jason a player or is he into open relationships, to me, it didn’t look like that but hey, maybe the writer would let us know? No, he won’t, because all he wanted to do was make Jason “date” more women.

Here is the thing, I have always felt like Jason was Aromantic, he likes having sex and having fun, but established romantic relationships aren’t his thing. It is what feels right (to me) with this character. And that’s (in part) because of all these messed up relationships that he was forced into. The two times that Jason seems to “be in love” are in Three Jokers and Future State: Red Hood, those two books are horrendous when it comes to Jason and love interests, in one of them Jason acts like the kind of man that cannot and will not take well a rejection and in in the other Jason acts as if he were blind to the abusive actions his partner does to him.

None of those two concepts are healthy or nice. Writers need to do better about that, they just have to.

So, to answer your question, I don’t think Jason Todd needs a love interest. Not as the main plot or subplot, maybe as a vague mention but nothing else, because comic writers suck at writing healthy and well-developed relationships. And because I really see Jason as the kind of person that wouldn’t involve himself in a romantic relationship with anyone.

I know this answer is more a rant than an answer but this subject is one that I have thought about a lot and it really made me nervous to bring it up. To everyone who thinks differently about these relationships, I understand and keep doing you, these are all just my thoughts and they are not worth more than yours.

Anon, thank you for the ask, sorry for making you wait so long and I hope that you have a wonderful rest of the week!

#jason todd #red hood #rhato #red hood and the outlaws #three jokers #batman eternal #dc comics #love interests #asksss

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misscrawfords · 5 years

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Rose! How do you feel about Emma and its various adaptations?

Sorry for the delay in answering - blame the school trip!

I love Emma. I wrote my dissertation partly on it (also on Northanger Abbey, Rob Roy and St Ronan’s Well) and while I loved it before I loved it even more after studying it. All of Austen’s novels are extremely well plotted, but Emma might just be the best. It’s like a detective novel in that respect (and has been described as such on multiple occasions) because you can pick up on clues to what’s really going on all the way through but on a first read, you don’t see them. Miss Bates unintentionally reveals details that can be explained by Frank and Jane’s secret relationship but they are hidden in her verbal overloading. Emma’s own thoughts betray her unknown interest in Mr. Knightley, and his actions point to his love for Emma. And so on.

Jane Austen is also being radical in her use of literary conventions and genre in Emma (as she is in basically all her novels). She has the tightest mystery plot ever written at this point hidden directly inside a novel that sticks strictly to the conventions of romantic comedy. She even goes overboard with it - successfully navigating three couples to appropriate happy endings. However, within that solid structure, she plays with expectations and conventions in a subtle way and this is where I get really excited.

First we have Emma herself, a heroine “nobody but myself will like”. Austen clearly loved questioning and pushing conventions of who was allowed to be a heroine. Her previous novel, Mansfield Park, gave us Fanny who most people at the time found disappointing after Elizabeth Bennet and modern readers (unjustly IMO) hate, and she followed Emma with Anne Elliot who was far too old to be a romantic heroine according to contemporary standards. In the middle we have Emma Woodhouse, a meddling snob. She’s got a lot in common with Mr. Darcy actually and her character development in terms of recognising the bad behaviour she is guilty of and the prejudice she feels towards those of a lower social status is pretty similar. But while Darcy and his character development is held up as beautiful and heroic and romantic, Emma is frequently condemned as dislikable. I do wonder why that could be… Personally, I love Emma. She’s clever and shrewd and funny and, honestly, is there anyone who doesn’t think Miss Bates is annoying and doesn’t want to throw a tantrum at the prospect of being upstaged by Mrs. Elton? Are you, dear reader, such a paragon of rational enlightenment and charitable feeling? Would you instantly see through Frank Churchill and resist his flirtations? Would you be best friends with Jane Fairfax and not be just a little bit jealous of her and how much Mr. Knightley everyone seems to admire her? Have you never said something cutting and regretted it? Are you perfect, reader, ARE YOU? Come on. Emma is one of us. She messes up, she judges badly, she says cringeworthy stuff in inappropriate situations, she gives bad advice - she’s human. And she deals with it without losing her positive outlook and she does grow, enough to “deserve” her happy ending (though that’s a loaded concept) but not so much it’s unrealistic. And what makes her likeable through it all are that her intentions are good. Emma is not a bad person who has to become good and “be redeemed”. She is a fundamentally warm and caring person who needs to have some bad habits of thought and action corrected by guidance and experience. Emma’s intentions and understanding are good from the beginning.

Emma’s also interesting because, yes, she does change, but if you put her in the context of the genre she inhabits, she also gets to keep a lot. Basically, in another novel, Emma would have to pay significant penance for her bad behaviour before she would be allowed to marry Mr. Knightley and she would have to prove that she is a changed woman and is absolutely not going to continue meddling and will be a good and submissive wife. Usually this also involves giving up the dangerous reading of novels which have led her astray. Several points. Firstly, Emma is not a novel reader, she is a novel writer. Emma is described by various critics as “an avatar of Austen the author” and if you read the novel through the prism of Emma being an author, things become really fascinating. Beautiful, illegitimate Harriet Smith is the heroine of Emma’s novel and obviously Emma-as-author wants to discover that she is really the long lost daughter of Somebody and give her a socially advantageous marriage. Emma’s matchmaking attempts are the workings of a novelist plotting with characters. Emma is creating her own world. This is radical stuff, in a society where female novelists were looked down upon. Emma has the means and independence and cleverness to write a story of her own - and she is comically bad at it. This is one way in which Austen plays with genre. Secondly, it is not at all clear that Emma does give up her matchmaking at the end of the novel. Austen is coy when she floats this suggestion about Mrs. Weston’s daughter: “[Emma] would not acknowledge that it was with any view of making a match for her, hereafter, with either of Isabella’s sons”. Does this suggest that maybe Emma isn’t as cured as she should be? Thanks to Austen’s levels of irony it’s impossible to tell, which is the point. Thirdly, Emma is the only Austen heroine to have real financial and social clout. Emma really does rule Highbury and at the end of the novel, instead of being subsumed into her husband’s world, he in fact moves in with her (however temporarily). This is practically the Regency equivalent of her keeping her name after marriage. She and Mr. Knightley are social equals and she does not leave her home or her sphere of influence when she marries. The only other heroine this would be true of is, interestingly enough, Fanny Price. But Mansfield Park is notoriously inward looking and Fanny’s ending allows her to truly become a Bertram which is what she wanted all along for better or worse. And Fanny and Edmund’s social status and influence are much less significant that Knightley and Emma’s are.

Something else to bear in mind when thinking about Emma’s character is that, despite her social power and wealth, she also lives an extremely confined and limited life. She is essentially a carer for her stultifying and claustrophobic father. She has never left the environs of Highbury. She is surrounded by people who jump to her every command and shower her in praise, both deserved and undeserved. The only person who criticises her is also in love with her. The only eligible men in her world before the arrival of Frank Churchill are her brother-in-law who is 16 years older than her, and the obsequious vicar. Yes, she can remain a spinster but even a rich spinster cannot maintain the sort of power she currently holds when faced with a married woman like Mrs. Elton (who is a real threat to her), but her alternatives are bleak. A woman of her rank and fortune should be having a London season and meeting other young people of her rank and forming external connections. Because of her father’s passive control over her, Emma has none of these opportunities. Even Fanny Price travels more and meets more people than Emma does. Yes, Emma Woodhouse is handsome, rich and clever and has had very little to vex her, but I suspect that is probably Emma’s own view of her life and it is not necessarily accurate.

Okay, this post is already far too long so I’ll end my discussion of the novel here. There’s also a lot that could be said about Jane and Frank, Emma and Mr. Knightley’s relationship and more, but Emma is clearly the most important and, honestly, the most in need of defence!

Onto the adaptations, and I’ll try to be brief:

1. The Gwyneth Paltrow film. Jeremy Northan is divine though his hair could be better and he’s not my favourite Mr. Knightley, even if I do have a massive crush on JN. Harriet Smith is a not particularly attractive redhead which is… weird. Frank Churchill is Ewan McGregor but he has appalling hair so IDK what was going on there - such a missed opportunity. Gwyneth Paltrow as Emma is a casting disgrace and I honestly can’t bear to watch this film because every time she is on screen I cringe. The producers were more interested in the aesthetic than making a good adaptation. My grandma hated it. Enough said.

2. The Kate Beckinsale film. Honestly, I don’t dislike anything about this except that I wish it were a mini-series and the proposal scene is a bit… eh. But I think it manages to stay true to the book in a feature film and I love Kate Beckinsale’s Emma. She has the right mix of liveliness and arrogance for me. Mark Strong is a stern Mr. Knightley but he’s not too handsome. Frank Churchill is perfect in this adaptation. Controversially, this is my favourite period adaptation.

3. The Romola Garai miniseries. I love lots about this mainly because the length allows everything to be expanded suitably. Johnny Lee Miller is the best Knightley by far. The Eltons are fabulous. Frank and Jane’s relationship gets more time dedicated to it. The Westons and Bateses are great. Harriet Smith is dumbed down too much - she’s naive and not too bright but this adaptation makes her practically an idiot, almost as much a disservice as the 2005 P&P film’s character assassination of Bingley, though physically the actress is perfect and she’s very likeable. And I really do appreciate what they were trying to do with Emma. It was clearly an informed choice to make her bubbly and often silly and a chosen interpretation of the text and I respect that - better that than wilful misinterpretation which some adaptations go in for. I fundamentally disagree with it - whatever her faults, I don’t think Emma is silly and giggly and I struggle to believe this Emma is a 21 year old woman secure in her position as a social leader. Her mannerisms often come across very modern - her little waves, giggles and posture and this is very irritating because Romola Garai has done some fantastic period acting (Daniel Deronda, The Hour etc.) and these mannerisms aren’t consistent across the cast. I love Romola Garai and I think it’s an interesting choice of direction, but not one that rings true to how I see the character though.

4. Clueless. Clearly the best adaptation of Emma ever made. We all know it.

5. Emma Approved. Only seen a bit of it and didn’t warm to it. Should probably give it another go. Why did they change Knightley’s name to Alex? What the hell is wrong with George!?!?

Anyway, here are my thoughts on Emma. Hope they’re at least somewhat interesting. There is nothing I like better than rambling on about Jane Austen! :-) Thank you for giving me the opportunity!

#Emma #Jane Austen #Emma Woodhouse #literature #books

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s-tick · 4 years

Text

Break-in

New non-fiction by Rachael Ikins

It was all my fault, the nervous breakdown, the tossed salad of diagnoses and medications that followed and left me a confused stumbling mess for ten years. My family made that clear to me by abandoning me to my elderly ailing husband “because he is a doctor,” and of course, he would know why I was so angry and knew what to do about it.

“We didn’t know what to do” was a later refrain. Furious at my behavior, my obesity and my drug-induced allegiance to the therapist who was treating me they raged at me. Rather than band together to reach out to my husband to help, they abandoned me. I was truly alone.

My husband had no idea what to do. He was a surgeon–act and cut–not a psychiatrist. All he knew was that the “treatment plan” was making me sicker and sicker as relatives got drunk at cocktail parties without us. Because some of the medications acted adversely on the parts of my brain that create inhibitions and control, I couldn’t stop spending money. I couldn’t stop eating. I was in a constant state of fight-or-flight, wanting to hit the road with my cat in a carrier running away from…something.

Instead, a new psychiatrist and the original therapist’s retirement resulted in my getting off the stew of drugs. I almost died. What I was left with was a combination of side effects and adverse reactions that the doctor had no experience with. My mind, however, was suddenly clear. I looked around me one day, and I sobbed. Memories long suppressed by chemicals flooded back.

I shambled stubbornly behind the vacuum cleaner to learn to walk again, and waved long chef’s knives around as I relearned to cook. Nutrition and the order of recipes, therapy for a healing brain.

My former sister-in-law said, “I told your brother that therapist is not doing your sister any favors.”

When my mother and I finally reunited, her comment, “Oh, they did you dirty.”

Did me dirty? They almost killed me. I had seizures and heart rhythm disruptions the night of that last dose and was unconscious as my husband lay beside me making a decision not to call an ambulance because, “They would’ve just put you back on all that shit. I knew you would make it.”

Six months later, the one cat I could not live without, the cat I’d wanted to run away with, died unexpectedly. I had insomnia. An hour of sleep a week was about it. She used to sleep with me and without her, the bed was a black hole. My only emotions were rage and grief. Truly I had much to feel that way about.

A year after my cat’s death, because my husband lied every time I asked him, “Are we going to lose our house? Are we going to lose our house?” I found myself alone in his investment counselor’s office where a busy-body assistant bustled out to tell me our money was gone. Her predatory grin and twinkling eyes kept me upright on the couch even though my vision went black for a minute.

When I stumbled to the car, I screamed so loudly my vocal cords were injured. Phillip’s unbelievable solution was to ask my mother for money. Within eight months we sold our house and lost the majority of the contents. We ended up in a small, poorly made camp halfway up the side of a mountain, a forty-five minute drive from where we began married life.

According to my family, all of this was my fault and my husband, the innocent victim. It is not self-pity or unwillingness to own my mistakes that I write this. It suited them to blame me. Only one person apologized years later and with the rest there is no relationship.

It’s a wonder how a thirty-five year old woman who wanted to get pregnant, was instead, drugged and used by a professional who planned to become the second “Sybil’s” shrink, did not die.

My life spiraled into a decade of darkness. At forty-five I “woke up” only to take two of the worst hits since my dad’s death, Nestlé’s loss and the house we were married in over twenty years ago. To be told by those who should have had an ounce of common sense, that I was responsible. Hurt, shame, anger set in. I would have given anything to go back in time, for just one person who said they loved me to have stood up for me.

The new house was surrounded by woods and fields. Since we’d lived in the city not far from the hospital complex when my husband was working, I had not been surrounded by wilderness like that of my childhood family camp for many decades.

It was a hard life. Not quite poor enough for food stamps, but poor enough to run out of food one March, I cut firewood from dead trees for heat. Raided piggy banks to pay for my husband’s heart medicine.

One bitter winter evening, I went to the barn for wood. As I grabbed some logs I thought, “I’m having a nervous breakdown.”

I ran into the trees and fell in the snow. I was so angry. So much had happened, life literally turned upside down, faster than my damaged nervous system could absorb it. I lay in the snow looking up at uncaring stars and thought, “Go ahead. Have your breakdown. Nobody gives a shit. No shrink, no relative. You have lives in the house that need you. So, get it over with and pick up that wood.”

My former therapist had a way of triggering anger in me. Then she’d tell me how awful my anger was. The more she abused me with chemicals and her training, the angrier I became, unable to defend myself, lost in a sea of drug interactions. This moment in the snow, after all that had happened, was the first time I realized: anger is not bad—mine was justified. Anger also is a flame that sustains. I got up and went in to stoke the stove.

The next day our nearest neighbor’s son was going to install a new door for us. I remember how cold the day was. He let me help with the nail gun, but my bare fingers quickly numbed. The next morning he finished which brings me to this moment:

“Lunch is ready.” Phillip’s voice floats from below me. The back door slams behind him. I stare into the horizontal snow pecking at my face. Last night ice dammed on the flat living room roof. A lagoon blossomed as heat leaked through. Water poured in at 10:00 p.m. I am on the roof, hammer in hand to pound the ice.

I’ve been hammering awhile now: my shoulders cramp, right hand aches with lactic acid buildup. Each time the head of the tool connects with the thick ice, pain jolts up into my shoulder, neck and head.

Hot and sweaty despite the weather. A two inch channel is all I’ve created, but enough for water to sluice to the ground. If only it would stop snowing. Phillip worries I will fall.

I imagine my relatives clustered around my casket. Their polite murmurs of, “What a shame it was, she never amounted to anything. That silly poetry stuff.”

I don’t disown my part in our circumstance, but I did not deserve that abuse. My fantasy encourages me to be careful if only for spite.

I move crab-wise across the ice, my half-frozen sweatpants chafe my skin. Only a tee-shirt on top, sopping with sweat and melting snow. I scrub snow out of my eyes with my right fist, hammer stuck to my hand. I roll onto my belly, feel for the ladder with numb feet.

I ease down one rung at a time. My husband puts his arm around me as we head for the back door. I’m glad we’ve just replaced the old one.

The knob won’t turn. Maybe my hand is just weak. No, it is locked.

“Phillip, you have the key?”

He pats his cotton shirt pockets and his jeans.

“No. I forgot.”

My husband has had 3 heart attacks, stents and quadruple bypass. He is slender and frail. It didn’t occur to him to prop the door, that it would automatically lock.

My first thought: 20 degrees out, a northwest wind blasting horizontal snow, have to get him inside. I race to the barn, our car. Locked, too. Keys, cell phone in kitchen.

We can see our breath in the dimness of the barn.

“I’m going to have to go for help.”

“Look inside these boxes, maybe there is an old jacket or something.”

I root through the packing boxes piled there from last September’s move. Paper, pots, no jackets, nothing but a ripped, stained beach towel. He insists I take it.

“Stay in here.” He shivers in his cotton shirtsleeves.

I trudge down the driveway towel around my shoulders. I can barely. I slip and fall, skin my elbows raw. I sob out loud, “FUCK!” drag myself out of the drift as I yank the damp towel on my shoulders. If I am bleeding, I can’t feel it. I hate everyone in this moment.

Should I go up the hill or down? The nearest neighbor lives over a quarter of a mile away. I head uphill into the blizzard. Every third step I slide, my sneakers full of slush. Frozen hair icicles clink against my glasses, lenses so covered I can’t see much. I wonder if I will die of exposure. Fuck that. I have to save Phillip.

I pray no snow plow hurtles out of the squall. No jump to safety; drop-off on one side of the road, a head-high drift on the other.

A surge of anger heats my middle. Really, God?

Just then I think I hear the sound of an engine over the howling wind. I stand still.

Yeah, it is a vehicle. I step out onto where I think the crown of the road is, snow up to my thighs. Behind me, woods. Ahead, state forest.

A dirty white Jeep coalesces from a cloud. Oh. It’s the letter carrier! Shit! She acts like she doesn’t see me. I step right in front of her. I look bizarre, a ghost in a blue and green beach towel. She grinds to a halt.

I lean in a window.

“We’re locked out of our house. My husband has heart disease. He’ ll die. Can you help us?” I point down the road.

She digs her cell phone out of a pile of mail in a box on the passenger floor. My heart leaps. Our eyes meet as she punches 911. Her eyes widen.

“Battery’s dead. I’m so sorry!”

Oh. I drop my head. “Thanks.”

I face the wind. “It’s you or me, fucker.” The storm swallows the sound of her engine in seconds. The wind whistles, tugs away my body heat. Our closest neighbor lives on the left side of the road. Must be halfway.

Bowing my head I pull the towel to shield my face, and slog on. Out of the gloom I make out the shape of a maple tree. Leaves were brilliant red last fall. Roy’s house is close. Wonder if Julie is home. They introduced themselves last October.

I stumble and stagger toward the house like a drunk. Her vehicle is parked in front of the garage. I lift one foot up the porch stairs. My fingers slip off the railing ice. I raise a hand to knock or press the doorbell when the door opens inward, and I fall into the heat of their house with the momentum.

Soon we are bundled in her truck, skidding down the hill to rescue Phillip. She drives us back to her house. Hot coffee and wood stove heat brings roses to his cheeks. Julie phones a friend to see if he can help. His name is John, a retired fire fighter. She lends me parka, boots, hat and gloves for the journey back down the hill. We crunch around the yard’s perimeter. Even the upstairs bedroom windows are locked. We could’ve maybe gotten the ladder from the barn and climbed up there to open one. John doesn’t shame me, simply assesses the situation. It occurs to me that maybe everything is not my fault. Maybe others feel guilt for their behavior. Maybe sometimes shit just happens.

Finally John grabs a screw driver from his truck, pries the storm door out of its track and kicks in the front door, the shreds of my notion of security blasted open by a single blow.

Later hunched over a hot chocolate in front of the fire, my husband safe and bundled up with a book, I feel gratitude for the rage that stoked me and kept my feet hiking up that hill into an unknown. Anger can consume the user, no doubt, but as a tool used with care, like fire, it can save your life.

from don't die press https://ift.tt/31pnIvf via IFTTT

#IFTTT #don't die press #feminism #feminist #creative writing #writing #feminist writing #feminist cr

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blueneonlightshow-blog · 7 years

Text

What day is today?

Marco entered the kitchen, yawning as he grabbed a bowl and a box of cereal. What was it about not going to sleep early that made him so tired? “Good morning, Marcoooo~” the princess sang as she entered the room. “Hey Star.” He mumbled, still half asleep. “You seem to be in a good mood today…” She giggled. “That’s because today’s a special day!” Marco’s eyes opened, fully awake now. “It… is…?”

Star stared at him with a blank face before breaking out in laughter. “Haha, oh Marco. You’re so silly. Good joke! Oh! Hand me some of that cereal!” He handed over the box, watching his friend pour out her breakfast. Today was something special? But… how come he can’t remember what it was? It’s not a holiday… Mewni or Earth. He made sure to try and memorize all the important Mewnian dates. Is today an anniversary? The first time he met Star? No, that was in September… It’s not her birthday… is it? Wait, is it? Did he ever ask when her birthday was? Panic and fear set into his mind. Marco gulped, slowly glancing at Star who was happily eating her cereal. No… no, it couldn’t be her birthday. She would’ve told him about it long ago! ...Right? “Marco-” “Y-YES!?” he answered, faking the worst smile of all time. Star blinked. “...Uhhh… I was gonna ask if you had any plans for today. But if you do, I don’t-” “Yeah! I mean, no! I don’t have any plans! Totally free. After all, it is that day today… uhh… yeah. All special and stuff. Heheh...” Oh man, it really is her birthday, isn’t it? He didn’t even get her a present! The princess smiled. “Great! Because I have some pretty cool stuff planned for today. I hope you’re ready Diaz, cuz things are gonna get a little wild,” she whispered, pulling out a list of activities to do. “Haha, r-right… uh… what exactly do you have planned-” “Shhh, it’s a secret, Marco! If I tell you, it’ll ruin all the fun!” “Right, right. Totally get it.” Star looked down at the paper and smiled. “Alright! First on our list is the this one arcade dimension called Blitz n’ Chips and trust me, it’s amaaaaziiiiing~ Went there with Ponyhead one time. We won the grand prize at one of the machines there.” “Sounds like a tons of fun, heheh...” Marco mentally sighed. Perfect. Maybe he can win a prize and make that her present… no, wait, that’d be too shallow. It needs to have meaning! “Great! Then let’s get going, Marco!” She cut open a portal and grabbed the boy’s arm. “Hey, wait, I’m not done breakfa-”

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Marco landed onto the colorful, tiled floor as he heard the air filled with chatter, electronic alarms blaring with each prize won, and the sound of coins being dispensed at each machine. He looked up with confusion and saw a stadium sized arcade room packed with several different inter-dimensional species playing as well. Some humanoid beings, others… well… he wasn’t sure how to describe them. “Uhhh…” “Ohhh, nice! Looks like we came here on a slow day!” “This is a slow day?” Marco got to his feet and scanned the arcade. “I’d hate to see it on a busy day…” “C’mon Marco, let’s go get some coins.” “Um… maybe I should pay. You know, since today is… well…” Star laughed. “Don’t be silly! I wouldn’t do that to my best friend on today of all days.” “Heh… riiiight.” Marco scratched his head. Man, is he going to feel guilty later. The two spent the first few hours exploring the hyper advanced arcade stadium, finding games that seemed similar to the ones on Earth and Mewni on top of the unfamiliar alien-like machines that attracted the other dimensional creatures. Star was right at home, cheering and enjoying every moment of it, while Marco stuck close to the princess, not wanting to get lost in this seemingly endless arcade. Despite his precaution, Marco couldn’t help but feel like someone was watching. “Hey, Star? Maybe we should-” “Huh? Yeah, yeah, hold on Marco. I’m almost done with- OH COME ON! Not again. I keep falling for that same trap.” Marco looked around the large room, the uneasy feeling still lingering. “Star?” “Oh, Marco! I forgot to sign us up for a chance to win a neeblet. Can you go to the front and write our names in?” “Star, I’m getting a bad feeling ab- a neeblet?” “It’s a thing that does stuff. It’ll be cool, I promise. In fact, I probably should've gotten that as a present....” she said absentmindedly. Marco sighed at her ambiguous description. He put away his worries for Star’s sake and looked around for the ‘front’. “Um… where’s the front desk?” Star pointed to her left, not taking her eyes off the screen. The boy wandered in the direction, moving past the interdimensional creatures playing their own games. “Sorry, excuse me. Sorry. Watch out. Coming through.” After several minutes of being pushed around and getting lost, he finally made his way to the ‘front’. He could see multiple booths lined up against the wall where portals would open up and reveal a new customer. Marco approached the front desk. “Hello?” “HELLO!” Marco jumped back and fell to the ground. He looked up to see a familiar face. “Wait, aren’t you the guy that sells goblin dogs?” “Goblin dogs? Ohhh, you must be talking about my brother, Roy! My name is Troy." "Roy and Troy, huh?" "Our parents weren't very creative. So what can I do for you, kid?" "Well..." Marco rose to his feet. "I'd like to sign up for a raffle for a... neeblet?" "Sure thing. Line's over there," the little goblin man said, pointing at the enormous line. Marco narrowed his eyes. "Your brother had something like this before. This isn't just a trick to see who's worthy of signing up, is it?" "Oh, that. Yeah, Roy likes to do that for some reason. This is business here, kid. I can't keep the lights on if I pull pranks like that here." "So... no tricks?" "No tricks." Marco looked back at the line which only grew longer as he waited. "How long's the wait?" "Should be an hour, tops." "An HOUR!?" "Hey, look on the bright side! It's a slow day today, so you won't have to wait for a week like those poor souls there," the goblin said, pointing at the a group of malnourished monsters. Marco sighed. "Great..." He stood in line and thought for a moment before turning back to Troy. "Hey, what IS a neeblet?" "What's a neeblet? Pfffft HAHAHHAHAhahaha... ahhh, good one, kid. Love the joke." "What? No, I'm being serious-" "Riiiight, sure you are. Haha... alright, now don't distract me. I gotta get back to work. Don't worry, the line shouldn't take long." Marco crossed his arms and pouted, mumbling to himself, "but I don't know what a neeblet is..." He looked forward, ready for the long wait, but something caught his eye. He squinted, trying to make out the figure. It... looked like a bird... and... wait... "Can you watch my spot for me? Thanks," he said to the monster in front of him. "...What...?" Marco ran off to follow the large figure, pushing past the crowded room. He found an opening and stuck his head through. Marco gasped. "That's it, girls. She has to be around here somewhere! The wand is glowing with magic!" "Ludo..." Marco whispered. "Oh man, this is not good... I gotta warn Star!" =========================================================== "YOU ARE A WINNER!" A small crowd cheered for the princess as she completed one of the most difficult games in the dimension. Tickets spewed out from the machine rapidly as Star jumped in place. "I can't believe I won! And I didn't even have to cheat yet." "Star!!" "I didn't cheat, I swear!" she said, holding her hands in the air. Marco passed through the others, panting as he finally made it to Star. "We have go! Now!" "What? Why?" Star gasped. "Did we win that raffle already? Ohhh nice work, Marco. I knew you could do it!" "No, not that. We really need to go now! There's-" "Woah, slow down there, Marco. I just beat the hardest game in this place and won the biggest jackpot of all time. We gotta exchange these tickets at least. Besides, there's another gift I want to get today! I think you'll like it. I know I will." "I appreciate it, Star, but we're in danger right now!" "In danger of losing more money on these games, maybe." "Starrr!" "Hello!" Star cheered in a cute manner. The boy groaned, taking a deep breath before continuing. "We have to go. Ludo is-" "Right where I need to be." The two turned to find Ludo riding on top of his spider with the eagle. "Star Butterfly! I'm here for that book of spells!" "Ludo!? Marco, why didn't you tell me he was here!?" "Are you kidding me!?" "Ahem..." Ludo raised his broken wand at the princess, emanating an ominous green color. "The book." Star sighed. "Look, can we do this another time? We're trying to celebrate a birthday here and you're kinda ruining everything." "A birthday party? You two are having a party and didn't even bother to invite me!?" "Why would we!? You try to kill us all the time!!" "Kill is a strong word. I just want that BOOK!" Ludo shot a bolt of green energy at the two. Marco quickly pushed Star out of the way, just barely feeling the hot sting of the spell. Star gave her friend a quick smile before glaring at Ludo. "I don't even have the book with me! Go away! You're ruining ruining the birthday!" She took aim with her own wand and fired a narwhal blast at the green monster. Ludo took a direct hit, flying back against one of the arcade machines. He growled, quickly getting up to his feet. "Go get 'em girls!" The spider and eagle began to attack the two kids. Marco nodded at Star before charging in. The large spider spit it's webs at Marco but missed as the boy weaved through each shot. He kicked the spider away but was tackled by the eagle onto the ground. Star gasped. "Marco!" She ran over to him but a blast of green energy blocked her way. Ludo growled. "Oh, how did I miss?" He fired three more shots at the princess who elegantly dodged the spells. "Hyper sonic apple beam!" The wand began firing a barrage of delicious apples, burying Ludo under a pile of fruit. She smiled for a brief moment before another blast of energy blew the apples away. "Aw man..." The monster rubbed his head before firing more blasts at the girl. She raised her wand up before slamming it to the ground. "Diamond bubble shield!" The blast of energy bounced off the shield, firing dangerously at all directions, almost hitting Marco. The boy jumped when he saw a flash of green nearly hit his face. "Staaarrrrr?" "Sorry!" Marco continued to run from the eagle, trying to avoid being carried away by the bird. He jumped on top of one of the arcade machines, readying himself for the attack. The eagle flew straight towards him for another tackle but missed as the boy jumped up and kicked it away. "Ha! Gotcha- woah!" Marco fell back as the spider web hit him, pinning him to the ground. He struggled to get out, freeing one of his arms from the web. The spider jumped on top of him, ready to take him away. Star jumped behind one of the games, avoiding more of Ludo's spells. She glanced over and saw her friend pinned down. She pointed the wand at the spider. "Mystic ice wind!" An air of cold burst through the wand, blowing the spider away and freezing the web in the process. Using his free hand, Marco karate chopped the ice, breaking himself free. He ran towards Star and stood by her side. The two monsters retreated to Ludo's side who readied his wand once more. "Alright then... let's try this again. Ahem... please give me the book?" "Uhh... nnnnno?" "Well I tried." Another blast of energy shot towards the two. Star deflected the spell and sighed, looking visibly annoyed. "You just had to pick today, didn't you?" She gripped her wand and began to make a series of poses before raising her wand in the air. "Warnicorn stampede!!!" Ludo's eyes widened as he remembered this particular spell. "No no no no no no! Girls, let's get out of here, quick!" He jumped on top of the spider and grabbed hold of the eagle's feathers, making their getaway before Star could fully cast the spell. "I'll get that book, Star Butterfly, if it's the last thing I do!" He shouted as he disappeared into the distance. "I didn't even have it with me today!!" Marco raised an eyebrow. "He sure seemed scared of that spell." "Yeah, warnicorn stampede hasn't been a very good spell for him." "HEY! YOU TWO!" The pair turned to see Troy running towards them. "What do you think you're doing?" Star shrugged. "Uh, saving the day. Duh." "Saving the day, huh? Is this what saving the day looks like?" He pointed at the several rows of broken machines and lights. "Well... more or less, yeah." "Oh yeah? Well how's this for more or less. You two are never allowed to come back here!" Star gasped. "But, but, but, but-" Marco stepped in. "Hey, c'mon Troy, this isn't our fault. We were attacked by-" "And you can forget about winning that neeblet." "What's a neeblet!?" The goblin grumbled as he walked away to call in security. Star leaned over and whispered, "I think we should go." "Yeeeeahhhh, me too." =========================================================== The two stepped out of the portal and back into the kitchen. Everything was still in its place, like nothing even happened. "Well... that was fun, I guess." Star let out a sigh and sat down at one of the chairs with a sad face. Marco took a seat and put an arm around her. "Um... I'm sorry Ludo ruined your birthday..." The princess groaned. "I just wanted today to be really fun. I mean I had the whole day planned out for us and- wait... my birthday?" "Look, how about this? Tomorrow, I'll take you someplace really special! My treat. I don't think I can tell you where since it'll spoil the surprise." "It's your birthday today..." "...What?" The two stared at each other for a minute before bursting out in laughter. Star smiled and hugged her best friend once more. "Aww you thought it was my birthday today?" "Heheh... y-yeah... kind of... forgot about myself there." "Wow, Diaz. Even I'm not that forgetful." Marco raised an eyebrow, making Star turn her head. "...most of the time." "Uh-huh." Star stuck her tongue out at her friend, giggling at their banter. Their laughter slowly died down as they continued to gaze into each other. An awkward silence hung over them as they stared into each other's eyes. "...O-okay! Well, thanks for the trip, Star. That was pretty fun." "Y-yeah! No problem..." "I'm just gonna go upstairs and... yeah..." "Right! You do that!" The two nervously chuckled before meeting each other's eyes again. Another awkward silence... "..." "..." "...Um... bye." Marco ran upstairs to his room, shutting the door. Star put her head on the table, sighing to herself. "Happy birthday, Marco."

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An update? From me? Holy shit. Here are some more fics for you to read!

@wholesome-week I think this is prompt 2. Birthdays right? I’m only a month late :D

#wholesomeweek #star butterfly #star vs the forces of evil #svtfoe #marco diaz #birthday #fanfic

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artificialqueens · 7 years

Text

The Parent Trap (Biadore) [Chapter 2] - Henny

A/N: Hello, Dolls! I’m so happy with all of the positive feedback I’m getting from this story. I’m superduper overwhelmed! Anyway, I don’t know how you’ll take this chapter because it is currently 3:10AM as I write this. So, please enjoy my sleep-deprived and coffee-induced writing.

P.S Do you like my new line breaks? HAHAHA

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Portia woke up with someone poking her side. She grumbled a bit before burying her face further into her backpack which was pressed against the window. She started to doze off again, but the persistent finger or the person attached to it, rather continued to poke her ribs harshly. Portia’s hand suddenly grasped the stranger’s tightly, not even bothering to open her eyes.

“Stop it or I will cut you, Bitch.” She whispered threateningly to the stranger. She let go of the hand and will probably never put a face to it during the whole two weeks.

“Wow, I can’t believe you actually scared off Nick. He’s literally twice your size.” A new voice said. Portia opened one eye and looked at the girl in front of her. Well, the two minutes of not knowing whose finger it was was good while it lasted.

“That was a guy? Man, he had the most feminine hands! I thought I was holding a rose or something.” The girl laughed at her comment, and that made Portia very happy. The girl, name still unknown, reminded her of Bendelacreme with her looks and mannerisms. And, not to mention, the super upbeat tempo while she speaks.

“I like you. I’m Taffy.” The girl introduced herself, a hand reaching out to Portia.

“What kind of name is Taffy? Were your parents like high or something?” She blurted out. Porsche! She can almost hear her Dad’s disapproving tone which is kind of hypocritical, if you think about it: Adore is as shady as Bianca AND he was probably high when he named her.

Because of her mouth, usually, other people would leave Portia and never talk to her again, but Taffy stayed; she also laughed! Again.

“No, silly. It’s short for Taffeta!” Taffy giggled and bopped her nose. Good, Lord.

“Isn’t that like a fabric or something? Your parents named you after a roll of fabric.” At this point, Portia wasn’t in control of what left her mouth. She felt kinda bad, but at the same time felt the need to say it.

“Noo… It means delicate.” Taffy moved her body in a way, as if to say she was, in fact “delicate”.

“Bitch, I don’t know about you, but you’ll always be a roll of fabric to me.” Portia shrugged and the girl shoved her shoulder playfully.

“Okay, okay. Laugh all you want, but I still don’t know your name.”

“Portia.”

“Damn, okay. I don’t know how to make fun of that.” Taffy sighed in defeat. Portia laughed and felt that she was going to like Taffy and it was definitely the beginning of a beautiful friendship.

They continued to talk about whatever they could talk about, mostly the people in the bus. Portia definitely did not humor Taffy when she asked to play I Spy for the nth time.

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“Miss Haylock? We’re here.” Nerissa rolled her eyes and pulled out one of the earbuds stuck in her ears. She jumped out of the car and stretched a bit, taking in the atmosphere of the place in front of her. Music camp, huh. Who would’ve thought her dad would allow her?

“Cut the crap, Uncle Shane! You don’t have to go all formal escort on me.” She said as she walked to where her godfather was, and helped him retrieve her bags.

“You know, your dad says you’re an angel, but you’re a little monster, aren’t you? Not even a thank you, tsk tsk tsk” Shane teased as he carried her duffle bag out of the trunk. Nerissa watched as her uncle moved her bags from the trunk to the pavement.

“Well, I learned from the best. Heh. For what it’s worth, for a twink, you’re pretty darn strong.” She smiled in mock sweetness at the older man whose eyes widened.

“Where did you learn that word?” Shane asked, panicked, bending down to meet the girl eye-to-eye.

“What? Twink?” Nerissa repeated, a slight smirk playing on her lips.

“Yes, and don’t repeat it. EVER.” Shane was shaking her now with his hands slowly gripping her shoulders tighter.

“Hmmm… When I was “sleeping”, I overheard your conversation with– who’s Dan? Or should I say Daddy?” She was full on smirking now as she wiggled her eyebrows suggestively.

“Ughhhh! Roy’s gonna kill me!” Shane threw his head back in despair and the little girl only laughed in delight. Shane regained his composure before he stared into her eyes with his own eyes narrowed.

“What do you want?” He asked and she smiles, pleased.

“Hundred, please. Also, I need new pointe shoes. Hmm… I wonder how I’ll get my new shoes now…” She sighed loudly, her green eyes still holding Shane’s stare as he grabbed his wallet to grab a hundred dollar bill. Nerissa opened up her palm to accept the cash, choosing to ignore Shane’s angry mumbling.

“Now about my shoes…”

“Yeah, yeah. I’ll get you new ones. Roy knows it, right?” Shane asked, no anger in his voice anymore because he truly loves the girl and can’t stay mad at her for a long time.

“Duh! Thanks, Uncle Shane. Love you!” She beamed at the man. Shane rolled his eyes, but kissed her forehead still, whispering a quick “I love you” against her hair. He was about to enter his car when he saw that Nerissa was no longer smiling, but rather frowning with her eyes trained to the ground. He rushed to her side.

“Hey, hey. What’s wrong, Little Duck?” He asked, cupping the girl’s cheek gently to face him. His heart broke when he saw teary green eyes look back at him. “Oh, Sweetheart.” Shane cooed as he pushed a few of Nerissa’s hair away from her face to wipe her tears. He brought the girl into his arms and rubbed her back affectionately, trying to mimic Roy’s movements in comforting the girl.

“What if nobody likes me? And– and nobody wants to be my friend?” Nerissa sobbed which only made Shane’s heart break even more. Sometimes, he forgets that Nerissa was also part Danny and she can’t always put on a brave face like Roy does.

“Then it’s their lost because they’d be missing out! Besides if they don’t want to be your friend then why do you want to become their friend? They’re clearly not worth it, Babe. Unless they gonna pay your bills, pay them bitches no mind.” That brought out a small giggle from the girl which made Shane smile in relief.

“And, remember what I taught you? The one my good friend taught me?– I wish you could meet her, you’d love her.” He asked, the little girl still wrapped in his arms.

“Mhmmm” Nerissa nodded, the twinkle of happiness starting to return in her eyes.

“If they’re mean to you, what do you say?” Shane asked. Nerissa straightened her posture and squared her small shoulders.

“Beat it, Queen!” She said sassily. Shane laughed and hugged his goddaughter tighter. After exchanging quick goodbyes, he rushed back to the car and took another glance at Nerissa who blew him a kiss and waved him goodbye.

“Go get ‘em, Princess!” He exclaimed as he, too blew her a kiss and started his long ass fuck drive back to New York City.

t(-.-t)t(-.-t)t(-.-t)t(-.-t)t(-.-t)t(-.-t)t(-.-t)t(-.-t)t(-.-t)t(-.-t)

“WELCOME GIRLS AND BOYS!” The banner greeted them. Portia wrinkled her nose at the stench of sweat and mud. She adjusted her bag up her shoulder and started to walk to the bulletin board.

“Porsche! What bunk are you in? Are we together” Taffy asked as she pulled her suitcase behind her.

“I haven’t checked. I just got my bag from that dog pile over there.” She shrugged and pointed towards a pile of duffle bags near the busses.

“Oh, shit.” Taffy cursed in shock, eyes widening at the amount of kids trying to retrieve their stuff as Portia read the listings.

“Noriega–Noriega–Nor– Here we go: Noriega, Portia. I’m in Strings Cabin!” Portia informed Taffy who bustled over to read the list.

“Michaels, Taffeta… Strings! YESSS!” The girls cheered as they tried to move against the hundreds of teenagers in the place.

“HEY! HEY! Give that back!” Portia heard a little boy’s voice shriek and her head instantly snapped to where the voice called out. She saw a little boy, probably three years younger, jump up and down to reach his bag from the grasp of…oh, Nicholas and his minions. She smirked.

“Portia, don’t! Not now, please?” Taffy begged, knowing what Portia was already planning to do

“This is just going to be quick.” Portia answered as she approached the scene of the crime.

“Hey, dickhead! Don’t you have anything better to do? It’s the first day, for Christ’s sake.” She crossed her arms as she stood in front of the group of boys. That got Nick’s attention, he dropped the bag and approached Portia who didn’t bat an eye.

“Do you really want to go there?” He threatened, getting close to her face.

“Yeah, I do. What are you gonna do about it? Hit me with your girly hands?” Portia snorted and could hear Nick’s friends trying to hold their laughter as the man himself looked taken aback.

“They agree."

“What are you talking about?” Nick asked furiously, throwing a quick glare to his minions to shut them up.

“I’m talking about how your mom’s ‘special’ hand lotion seems to be working well for you.”

“Yo– I–She do–”

“Does she realize that her son’s probably using her stuff to get smoother hands than she does?” She arched an eyebrow at him. His mouth gaped open and close until he huffed and walked away. She smiled victoriously as she walked back to her group of friends.

“Woah, Momma!” Taffy cheered and Portia took a bow before laughing loudly.

“How were you not scared?” The boy she saved from earlier asked, still tensed.

“Oh, I was, trust me. But, like my favorite Drag Queen always said: Never let a Bitch see you sweat.”

A/N This chapter made no sense, but it was fun to write! Ooh. I also plan to add links of the previous chapters below my fics from now on to give you an easier time to catch up with it, if ever. HIHIHIHI bye!

Previous chapters! Prologue | Chapter One

#biadore #bianca del rio #adore delano #parent trap au #henny #tw bullying #rpdr fanfiction #canon compliant #the parent trap

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moonlight-escapade · 7 years

Text

Without You (Steve Rogers Imagine - Short One Shot)

Hey guys! So this is my first attempt at a Steve Rogers imagine. I kind of found myself playing with an idea and wanted to try it out.

Just as an FYI, this is a bit all over the place. I was really impatient and wanted to try out a bunch of different things at the same time because I have no restraint. Lol.

I wanted to make it longer... but I kind of liked how it ended... hehe. I think later on I’m going to play with more Steve stuff!

I had fun writing it and I hope you’ll have fun reading it!

“Sweet heart, please come! I promise it’ll lift your spirits,” Peggy called from the bathroom to where you sat in the living room. You’d taken it upon yourself to fling your exhausted body onto the heavenly velvet sofa after a long day at the telecenter, and currently had no prospect of ever leaving it. It was exhausting staring at all those small metallic holes, the long rubber wires, the thousands of numbers and cities and states, oh! Whoever’d thought up the process was a real pill.

“Language!”

“What? Hey at least I didn’t say-“ he covered your mouth, pressing you against his chest.

You smiled as you remembered the way you’d teased Steve an entire day with all the new profanity slang you’d learned from the telecommunication’s ladies.

“But it’s not like I’m saying-“

You’d begin, and every time, he’d cover your mouth, or haul you over his shoulder, or kiss you to stop from saying the dastardly word.

“Shi-,“ you screamed as he threw you over his shoulder, cutting you off.

“Hey! But the ice cream!” You tried pointing back around his head as he carried you off, your body like doll in his arm as you hung over his back; “That mouth needs soap, not sweets!”

“I can think of something else my mouth nee-“

He bounced you up, running even faster before putting you down before him, his eyes wide and his face flushed.

“I was just gonna say-“ he placed his hand over your mouth until you finished speaking.

“Steve!” you swatted him once he moved his hand. “I was gonna say a kiss!”

He looked down at you, dazed, and laughed. His face still flush in embarrassment as he took the hand you swatted him with and brought you against him softly

You looked up at him with a cheeky smile, teasing; “I’m scandalized, Captain! What did you think I was going to say?”

“Good lord,” he sighed, running his hand over his red face as you began to giggle uncontrollably. You were cut off suddenly by the warm, strong feel of his lips onto yours, kissing you as he lifted you up against him. Lips moving expertly along the familiar design of your mouth. Breaking for air, you opened your eyes to find his glowing blue gaze fixed upon you… the butterflies in your stomach fluttering wildly as heat began crawling onto your face. Steve smiled brightly as he watched that adorable shy blush he’d always teased you about flush on your features. With one last kiss to your lips, and your cheek, he placed you back onto the ground.

“Let’s get some ice cream!” And just like that, he’d lifted you once again over his shoulder, taking you back to order two scoops of Chocolate,

“Steve-“

“And an extra cherry on that for the lady.” He looked down at you, his eyes sparkling as you reached up, pulling him down to place a kiss on his cheek.

You were twirling a photo you’d framed of you and Steve. It was from that same time, at the fair last Summer… before he’d had to go back into the bloody battlefield of War. Your stomach twisted at your description. You quickly brought the photo closer almost unknowingly tracing along the smiles and eyes in each frame of his lovely face.

It felt like years since you’d taken that photo.

It felt, in fact, like years since he’d been here. Since you’d laughed the way you had in the third square on the strip… When Steve had muttered some uncharacteristically provocative comment in your ear a moment before the camera shot off. As you stared at it, the desire to take your heart out of your chest for some kind of relief from it’s incessant breaking becoming more and more appealing. You faced the frame down on the small coffee table, not knowing which hurt most; staring at it or intentionally shielding it from your despondent mind.

“Please, please please!” Peggy called again from the bathroom, this time stepping out to make eye contact as she fastened a strand of her hair up into a roller on her head. “It’ll get you out of your doldrums!”

You lifted your head off the sofa cushion as you defended yourself. “I’m not in… doldrums…”

She raised an eyebrow.

“I’m just… I just…”

“I know my love,” she smiled softly, understanding. “That’s why I think you should come. At least help get your mind off things for a bit don’t you think?” She spoke as she walked back into the bathroom.

You sat up then, guffawing. “Right, because a room full of men clad in Military uniform, and the American flag hanging from every corner will help me get my mind of things.”

You didn’t mean to sound bitter… but it had been months now since you’d seen Steve, and the idea of going without him, the idea of doing anything more without him really, broke your heart.

“Oh pish posh my sweet,” Peggy chimed as she ran through the apartment to where you sat. “You’re coming and that’s final- ah!” She held up a finger as you began to interject.

“Final!” She smiled, poking your cheek as you tried to keep a straight face. “At least come for me. I’m going with a lad from the 45th Infantry Division. They’ve been in Sicily for months- who knows what awful Italian charm he thinks he’ll be able to work on me.”

You couldn’t help but chuckle at her “blasé-ness.” But that was Peggy- she was hardly impressed by anyone. Any man for that matter.

“So I’ll need someone there to rescue me when he starts trying to do that creepy little-“ she grabbed your arm, kissing it from the fingers and up your arm as you laughed, pushing her away and nodding.

“Okay okay! But I highly doubt you’d find yourself trapped in that situation without having broken the poor guys lips before he made it past your wrist.” You laughed, letting her lead you to the bathroom.

“Maybe,” she laughed as she sat you down, pulling the pins out of your hair as she began the rolling process.

“Do you have it on yet?” Peggy called for outside the bedroom door.

“Peggy it’s too tight! Can’t go out like this! Let me borrow the other one- that light blue one!”

“No! Open the door this instant.”

You groaned.

“(Y/N)!” she warned.

You let out a breath, groaning again as you trudged toward the door to let her in. Her eyes widened immediately as she took in your frame.

“It’s just too much for me I-“ she held up her hand, stopping you as her eyes widened in amazement.

“Yes.”

“What? No!”

“Yes.” She grinned to herself, grabbing your arm as she led you toward the door.

“Wait! Peg- I can’t wear this it’s- I look like a call girl!“

She grabbed your shoulders, staring you intently in the eye.

“You look bloody amazing.” She spoke with every ounce of seriousness.

You stared at her slightly off-put in excitement.

“It’s so… breasty though… don’t you-“ your face flushed as you asked before she cut you off.

“It’s perfect!” She sang, spinning you both out the door and down to Roy from the 45th Infantry’s car.

“Bonsoir Bella’s,” he smiled lazily as he greeted you both with a heavy Southern drawl. Immediately, Peggy glanced back at you, eyes wide with amusement as she allowed him to open the car door for her. “And you ma’am,” he eyed you, opening the back door for you to hop in. You smiled politely, bending in to take a seat. As you passed the open door… his finger slightly brushed your hip. Your stomach tightened, eyes slightly widening as you let him close the door.

“You good?” Peggy smiled back at you, her expression still playful. You nodded quickly, smiling as she rose her eyebrow in silent conversation.

“Alright Signorina’s,” Thought it sounded more like See-ñer-inas, “let’s beat this!”

Peggy nodded as he started the car, and the rest of the way terrified the poor man with her characterized “English Seriousness.” Her own form of amusement as she watched them grow more and more intimidated of her.

Meanwhile, you nervously eyed down at the silky black fabric lining your figure and brushed the incident from before off. Yeah, you laughed at your silly paranoia, it was just a simple coincidence.

“And we thank our strong men-“ the announcer spoke, stopping as he caught eyes with Peggy. Her eyebrow raising slightly. “And women! For their sacrifices to our country. We are indebted to your service, to your bravery, and your resilience. Please enjoy yourselves tonight as we celebrate your victories, and those victories we’ve yet to claim!”

The audience cheered, men and women… mostly their dates, you noticed, stood in celebration. Hollering and cheering at each other- hugging and patting each other on the back. It was a heart warming sight. You knew Steve would’ve enjoyed sharing in such a moment. Oh, why did you come here?

“Well! Let’s dance shall we?” Peggy chimed beside you. Barely catching the familiar stinging in your eyes, you blinked quickly before turning back to her. With a breath, you pushed a smile onto your face. “Sure!” Wait, dance? “Wait-“

“Wonderful! Let’s find you a partner.”

“Wait- Peg-,”

But in an instant she had already bounded tables away from you. You shot up, watching her nervously, anxiously, uneasily… every emotion you had to explain the way your stomach and chest tightened and twisted and turned as Peggy seemingly bolted to find you a partner. You quickly began pushing past tables of officers, excused yourself as you found yourself trapped between pushed out chairs and laughing soldiers… army wives and fiancees laughing as they held onto the arms of their men. Your eyes watered with tears as you bumped into loving couples, kissing couples… couples just… being here, together. Pushing frustratedly through their perfect bubbles you stumbled, falling into the side of one of the many celebrating Officers as you nearly missed crashing straight into a waiter.

“Oh goodness, I’m so sorry!” You apologized desperately as you turned around. Your eyes quickly widened, a slightly relieved laugh leaving your lips as you looked up to find Roy, Peggy’s date smiling down at you.

“Roy! I’m- I’m sorry!” You laughed apologetically, straightening yourself out as you glanced around him for Peggy’s familiar head of perfect curls. “Is um, is Peggy-“

“Hello there, (Y/N),” he spoke. His voice slow as he grinned, his hand coming up to pat your shoulder to your shoulder as he stared at you through squinting eyes.

You took a breath, watching him carefully as you shifted from under his touch- trying to make your movements come off as nonchalantly as possible. You’d no idea what to expect from a drunken 45th Division Officer with hands-y hands. Well, maybe you did.

“Hi,” you laughed casually as you could, “Um, do you- have you seen-“

“Wanna dance, Doll?” He slurred, bringing his arms around your waist as you stood there, thrown off. Your mind reeled- your thoughts both dazed and screaming at you to pull away, but your body refusing to comply. You felt your heart pump anxiously through your chest as you managed to take a step back.

“Come on, sugar,” he smiled, his hands slowly moving down your sides, “Not like you got anyone rationing you.”

“As a matter of fact, she does,” a voice called from behind as you were pulled away from Roy’s shameless hold, his body quickly pushed away by…

Steve.

Your heart froze.

“Ste-?” you barely whispered as the figure came to stand before you, his shoulders tensing as his arms crossed before him in challenge.

“C-Cap..tain…?” The sleazy solider slurred, his voice raising in surprise and fear. He looked back to you, then back up at… at him. Your breath hitched as the thought- the idea- the possibility sent a burning lump in your throat to rise as you waited, paralyzed in disbelief… in shock… in… joy. Your heart literally seemed to flamed inside your chest, your arms seeming just as literally to burned where they hung beside you, wanting nothing more than to wrap themselves around the man before you.

Not a moment after, Peggy finally decided to appear after seemingly having dodged your wild goose chase throughout the entire convention hall in search of her.

“I got him, go on then,” she huffed with a smile as she pushed the drunk away, shooting a wink up at-

He turned around. Your chest exploded.

Before he even had a chance to speak, you threw yourself into Steve’s warm, comfortable, familiar, safe body- your tears falling unendingly. You sobbed, hardly knowing where to start as you pulled his collar down, bringing his face to you and beginning to press a thousand kisses to every part of his wonderfully familiar, handsome, heart warming features. To the bridge of his nose, to his chin, to his forehead, to his lips. You could hardly stop yourself. You wrapped your arms around his neck, warm tears falling down your face as the strength- the wonderfully perfect familiarness of his strong arms wrapped around you. Home.

Pressing you closer and closer to him, he allowed you… after six months, to finally breathe again.

You gasped for air as he raised himself up, his hands coming to the sides of your face as he leaned down to press a kiss onto your cherry red lips. You kissed him fervently- as though this kiss were the essence of the life force to your existence. Threading your fingers through his hair, you pulled away, staring at him in person. Just… staring at him in person. The feel of his neck and his hair… of his nose gently rubbing on yours as you embraced him, both of you breathing each other in. Just, breathing. You smiled then, suddenly- unexpectedly. Then laughed. Laughing in joy and delight, laughing in relief, laughing at the way your tears had exploded from your eyes, the way your breaths had swallowed the air around him, the way his eyes, alight and brilliant looked as they gazed down at you with every ounce of adoration… and then he smiled.

“Well, it’s nice to see you again too.”

You smiled, your hands wrapping around his waist as you sobbed with relief. His own pressing you soundly against him.

“Take me home,” you laughed, tears falling plentifully down your face as you reached up to grip onto his collar again. It was as if holding him there you could keep him closest to you. You could keep him from ever going away again. You could keep him from ever leaving your side.

“Come on baby doll,” he whispered, lifting you into his arms as the chairs and tables and couples you’d once shoved past recklessly to get through parted seamlessly before you.

“We’ve got a lot of catching up to do,” he whispered, smiling down at you as you placed your head against his chest. Closing your eyes as you listened to his breathing… his heart beat… all intact. All in one piece. All home. Here. With you.

#Steve Rogers Imagine #Steve Rogers #Captain America #Steve Rogers x Reader #Steve Rogers FanFiction #Marvel #The Avengers

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