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feuqueerfire · 1 year ago

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2023 Series Overview + Stats

2022 OVERVIEW (SHOWS, SHIPS) + STATS

It's the end of January 2024 but I realized I didn't end up doing a 2023 Series Overview and Summary, so I thought I'd do one now. Unlike the 2022 series overview where I was more prepared, had watched a lot more, and had even rewatched the favourites and almost-favourites of the year, I'm very unprepared this time.

So, it's gonna be shows & movies I watched in 2023 and my ratings for them until today (240128) without really having rewatched anything (except Beyond Evil).

I wonder if I'll rewatch some of these at the end of 2024 (along with the 2024 rewatches) and whether that'll change the rankings or my feelings at all.

I think I've decided that these yearly overviews will not change/be edited regardless of whether I come to really like a show afterward or change the ratings or whatever - a snapshot in time.

Favourite Shows

The shows released before 2023 will have (release year) beside them.

Top 3 Shows Watched in 2023:

Beyond Evil

My School President

Strangers From Hell (2019)

Beyond Evil: The only show that I watched in 2023 that I have since properly rewatched (I literally watched all 16 episodes this January 2024 without really skimming or speeding it up despite having watched the whole thing already. The characters, especially the mains Juwon and Dongshik gave me so many brainworms, the acting was great, the relationships among the characters was great, the mystery and suspense succeeded for me. Great show all around, actually it's making me wonder why it's a 8/10 and not at a 8.5.

My School President: This was so fun and introduced me to Gemini and Fourth, which was another delight. The OST and singing aspect of this was so good, for which I am eternally thankful. I think I liked the first half of the show better than the second half, which I thought for long-winded; otherwise, it might've also earned an 8 from me. Haven't rewatched the show properly but have watched some reactions to the earlier episodes and also listened to people's podcast episodes, as expected.

Strangers From Hell (2019): Out of these 3, this is the one I've thought the least about since watching and also haven't rewatched, so I remember the least about. So who knows, maybe I'll rewatch and be bored or something but it was so good while I watched it, the vibes so unsettling and strange and weird. Great acting, great story, should rewatch. It's also the first non-BL kdrama that I watched in a long time and was the reason I started watching more of them again, especially the thrillers/mysteries with no romance but homoerotic undertones lol

Next 4 - Liked A Lot:

Not quite the top 3 but I thoroughly enjoyed these. Unordered because they're all 7/10.

Moonlight Chicken

Derry Girls S1 (2018)

Alice in Borderland S1 (2020)

The Devil Judge (2021)

Only 1 BL, one non-BL with homoerotic undertones, 1 English-speaking comedy, and a death game thriller. Also from different countries: Thailand, Ireland, Japan, South Korea.

Ranges from fun/funny, thrilling, exciting, and heartfelt. They definitely all made an impression on me and have good acting/production value/story/etc, but maybe a thing or two disappointed me, or I just haven't connected with it enough to think about it too often. Still overall good shows that I liked a lot.

These were generally good, but just something was missing - either there was a production/story/acting issue that was bothering me a lot, or the production was very good, but it failed to take up any brain space after I finished watching. 6.5/10 in my rating.

Never Let Me Go

Midnight Motel

Choco Milk Shake (2022)

Happiness (2021)

Derry Girls S2 (2019)

Derry Girls S3 (2022)

A Shoulder To Cry On

So Long, See You Tomorrow (2021)

The Merciless (2017)

Bed Friend

Alice in Borderland S2 (2022)

Bloodhounds

The Eighth Sense

Enigma

Stay With Me

Our Dating Sim

High enjoyment or fondness, lacked in either production/acting/writing: Never Let Me Go, A Shoulder To Cry On (except the last ep rip), Stay With Me (it actually didn't lack in production and stuff either and is better than medium levels),

High production/acting, but lacked in making me care or be as invested as I should’ve been: Happiness, Alice in Borderland S2, Bloodhounds (okay idk where to put this because first 6 eps were so good - ep 6 itself is fucking wild but the ending sucked rip), The Eighth Sense, Our Dating Sim

These had medium levels of both production and fondness but not enough to think about often or be great: Midnight Motel, Choco Milk Shake, Derry Girls S2/S3, So Long, See You Tomorrow (can't remember a single thing about this but I must've liked it from my review of it lol), The Merciless, Bed Friend, Enigma,

I think these should be lower actually maybe, like a 6/10 not 6.5 but I haven't rewatched them and don't remember a lot, so who knows: The Merciless, Bloodhounds, Midnight Motel, Choco Milk Shake, Bed Friend

Could Climb Higher - could be bumped up to a 7/10 if I love it upon rewatch and end up thinking about the characters more: Stay With Me, Eigth Sense, Our Dating Sim

Special Mentions: The rest of the shows I watched were rated lower than 6.5/10, though there were still a few that I have some fondness for because I like the concept/the acting pair/it just gave me something I wanted. This includes Island (literally only Cha Eunwoo's cool young priest character), Our Skyy 2 (some eps), I Go To School Not By Bus (2015) (idk that specific running away to bathroom scene and making out is so good), We Are Gamily (2017), ummmm I skimmed through eps 10-15 of Addicted Heroin (2016) (didn't watch anything before that) but there are certain very specific parts that I liked and get why it gave everybody brainworms.

Favourite Pairs (characters):

Lee Dongshik/Han Juwon (Beyond Evil): They are not a real couple in the show and yet... have read so much fic about them and in my head, they are indeed in love after all this mess. I don't have much to say, I just love their antagonistic relationship turning into something so tender (though still jagged) and it turning into something more after the ending

Tinn/Gun (My School President): cuties, my cuties. Adorable.

Don't have a third one, I don't think? so strange

Special Mentions:

Palm and Nueng (Never Let Me Go)

Heart and Li Ming (Moonlight Chicken)

in my head, Ajin and Fa (Enigma) -not canon

Favourite Pairs (actors):

Fourth and Gemini, I think they're the only pair that I became interested in 2023 and like followed fanaccounts and stuff. I'm so looking forward to them in future projects (My Love Mix-Up was at Q10 very recently, I'm waitingggg). Incredibly talented young people, both in terms of acting but also the performances they did at the concert like oh nice

Favourite Side Pairs

Can't remember a single one except Heart and Li Ming (Moonlight Chicken)

Biggest Disappointments

To be a disappointment, I had to have at least semi-high hopes

Be My Favorite: This one was a real disappointment because I've been looking forward to it for so long. In fact, I'd been looking forward to it since I saw the original trailer with Mike and people were still insisting they wouldn't watch it and were booing Krist because I thought the synopsis was intriguing and liked the chemistry of the ship. I was so happy when everybody seemed to love the show and it's such a shame that in the end, I'm the one who ended up bored and feeling nothing for this show...

Happiness: Not a super big disappointment because it was still a good show and it wasn't super hyped but I thought I'd like it more because I've only heard good things about it. Also thought I'd like it more when I first started because I liked the beginning few eps quite a bit before it fell into a lull in the middle.

General Stats

Total Watched: 44 entries in my spreadsheet, less than half of the 104 completed in 2022 - makes sense because I watched very little in the latter 6 months of 2023. Without the following below, 39 newly completed series/movies/shorts in 2023.

1 DNF (The New Employee)

2 Rewatches (Midnight 2021, Kiss Me Again Pete/Kao cut)

1 Survival Show (Boys Planet)

1 extreme skimming (Addicted Heroin 2016)

Release date 2023 vs earlier: 23 vs 21

Almost half and half, interestingly. My to-watch list now has fewer BL/GL from earlier than 2023 but more het/non-romance kdramas from earlier since I've watched a lot of the earlier BLs that I'm interested in but have barely dipped into kdramas.

Queer vs non-queer: 23 vs 20

The non-queer shows may still have some queerness (Claire is a lesbian in Derry Girls, trans girl in Alice in Borderland, etc.) but it's not the main character or the main plot and not a significant enough side plot

lol didn't count Boys Planet in this but it feels queer fr

Also 50-50 surprisingly. Some non-queer shows like Derry Girls, Alice in Borderland, and Island have 2-3 seasons, so that bulks it up just a bit

BL vs GL in Queer shows: 21.5 vs 1.5

0.5 to each for We Are Gamily

rip my fawking GLs for reallll but hopefully I'll have a more fruitful lesbian-watching year because there are like 5 that I have on MDL that seem promising (and have also watched Bottoms this January)

Romance-Centric vs Non-Romantic in Non-Queer Shows: 3 vs 17

in the Non-Romantic shows, this many shows have very homoerotic undertones (regardless of whether I ship): ~6 (Bloodhounds, Midnight Museum, Beyond Evil, Devil Judge, Strangers From Hell, The Merciless)

Some of these also had het undertones/side couples: 5 (Tomorrow, Island S1/S2, Enigma, Midnight Motel)

Number of shows per month: 6, 4, 10, 4, 5, 7, 7 (July to November), 0

Please this funny spread, I really just fell off on watching shows in the last half of the month because I was preoccupied with ZB1

Didn't count Boys Planet (August)

Average rating: 6.3 (higher than last year, so that's nice)

#tracking #general bl

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moral-turpitudes · 4 years ago

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A Secret Life:

**Gif credits go to the amazing @nofckingfighting your gifs give me life ok. They’re *chef’s kiss.**

Masterlist | Rules | Peaky Prompts

Trigger Warnings: None really, just some Fluff and some Swearing I think.

Word Count: 3,324

Characters: Johnny Dogs x Female!Reader

Requested by: @atjafshelby, you can find it here. This was the first time I’ve written anything mainly for him so I hope this is good lol. I love getting the opportunity to write other characters. :)

Summary: After a spat about potatoes and a sudden departure from Thomas’ dinner meeting, Johnny Dogs rushes home to be with his wife Y/N and their family, knowing he’d have to tell the blinders about his secret life with them eventually.

The weather was gloomy as the peaky men prepared for one of Tommy’s meetings in the middle of Charlie’s yard. The cans full of logs and kindling burning brightly through the smog of Small Heath as the smoke filled the air. The smell of smoked meat and other foods slowly making their way onto the makeshift table.

In the distance though, was a loud voice mumbling on hurriedly as he stomped along the dirt and soot covered road leading to the feast.

“Right, put the steel rods up the gooses arse there. Go on.” Johnny Dogs said to one of the younger lads who were understandably confused. His eyes watching as they did so, itching to do it himself since no one ever prepared goose the right way. This wasn’t his only criticism though, as he made his way to the table he noticed the lack of starch amongst the men.

“This isn’t a proper dinner. If you’re going to have the Gold’s here ya gotta have potatoes!” Johnny Dogs said loudly as the Shelby’s tired uncle followed the Irish traveler around the yard.

Charlie looked at the man dumbfounded, thinking it was as great a feast as any.

“I want him to see that we live proper, that we eat proper, in the proper way!” He exclaimed.

“No...no you know what?” He added, pointing at Charlie with an anger-filled expression.

“What?” Charlie asked, lighting a cigarette as his infamous nephews came strolling in.

“I’ll get the potatoes me-self!” He exclaimed, clearly frustrated as he stomped through the yard to the old market nearby. His mind buzzing with the thought of his wife and children back at camp. He loved being here with the men he considered allies, but his heart was there with Y/N, always, especially now that she’d been alone with their newest edition to the family.

“What’s he on about aye? It’s just a dinner to discuss the vendetta. Is he scared of the Gold’s?” Tommy said, a cigarette lingering on his lips.

“No he just thinks they’re bloody heathens.” Charlie said as Tommy smirked, walking back to meet Aberama Gold and his son Bonnie.

As Johnny got back, he hastily threw the potato’s in one of the boiling pots near the men. The steam rolling off them as he mashed them up and brought them to the table.

“Bit late there Johnny.” Arthur said, grabbing a huge spoonful of them.

“Not me fault someone can’t prepare a proper meal.” He said, his eyes darting to his pocket watch as Aberama agreed, thanking him for making them as they continued their tense conversation.

“Is there something wrong?” Tommy asked Johnny, causing him to swallow hard as he tried to not tell them about you. It ached him not to, but quite frankly he was nervous to do so. Knowing they’d have something to say when they learned of his relationship status and such.

“Almost forgot, I had some things to take care of at camp. I’ll be back in the mornin’ boys. Don’t get blood all over the fucking food alright?” He said, Tommy waving him off with a suspicious look on his face. He never had men leave abruptly, but if anything he thought maybe he had a whore waiting for him or another feud to handle.

But little did the blinders know what actually awaited him.

“Aye! Dads going to be home soon-no-don’t you dare hit your brother!” Y/N said aloud to her two rambunctious children Alice and Samuel, who were running around the field with the other little ones of the group that were set up nearby. Your youngest, Sarah, nestled on your hip and baby-babbling to herself.

“You’re gonna be full of words just like your father aren’t ya love?” You said to her quietly, going over to your son and daughter who were rough-housing as usual.

“Playtime’s over loves, we have to get ready for dinner.” You said, the children immediately stopping and saying goodbye to the other kids as you waved goodbye to their parents.

As you led your children back to the vardo, you quickly put your daughter down in her small crib near the cramped bed in the wooden structure.

Your tired reflection caught you off guard as you looked in the mirror. Your eyes not as bright and hair not as perfectly placed as before you’d had three children.

You were always grateful to be blessed with good looks that were surely from your mother, but you soon garnered unwanted attention as you’d grown up, the men throwing themselves at you left and right, until you’d seen Johnny one day at a camp in Ireland of course. He was bantering with his friends, fist fighting and such near one of your family’s stops, his smile catching your eye as he laid his own upon you. The poor man got punched because of you after all, making him go off his game with your beauty. But to this day he said he didn’t regret it, telling you in that moment his world stopped. That he’d felt like the luckiest man in the world to have someone as sweet and as beautiful as you by his side all these years.

And so now here you were, waiting for your traveler and infamously rowdy blinder husband to come home. The sun setting in a plethora of colors over the field as the other travelers sat around their respective bonfires.

“When’s dad coming? He’s usually back.” Your son asked, his eyes the color of yours but the shape of Johnny’s, and your daughters small smile like his as well.

“Yeah mum where’s he off to? I wanted him to tell us a bedtime story.” She said, pouting slightly as she watched you preparing dinner.

“Give him time angels. He’s a busy man.” You said, wondering where he was, knowing he’d most likely gotten held up by the fucking Shelby’s once again.

He’s never told them about you and it stung a bit, but you realized early on that he only did it to keep you and the family safe, knowing that nothing good ever came from uttering the Shelby name.

As you portioned the food out for the children, your youngest cried for her food as well as you sighed and went in to nurse her. Humming a soft song to her as she gradually fell asleep in your arms.

As the kids emptied their bowls, stomachs full and content smiles on their faces, you ushered them to their beds, your heart racing slightly as you thought about where your husband could be.

“Don’t worry loves, dad will be home soon alright? I’m going to be just outside.” You said, fixing yourself your portion of the food as you stoked the fire a bit more, the embers disappearing into the night air as you wrapped the warm knit blanket around you.

You’d gotten accustomed to spending the majority of your nights alone with the children, eating amongst the stars and telling stories, but one thing always remained constant, and that was the need for their dad to be home. He made everyone light up when he’d come around. His laugh bringing a smile to your face instantly as he entertained the kids on his off days while you rested with the baby. But now like many nights, they missed him. They missed how he’d make you all feel safe, knowing he had you all out in the open like this. But he knew the company he kept, and he trusted them with his life that they’d take care of you all if need be.

Alas, as you sat there lost in thought, you heard the cries of your daughter once again as you went into the vardo, gently cradling her to you as you carried her outside into the cool night air, the sound of the crackling fire and water rushing nearby helping her fall asleep once again as you bounced her around lightly.

“It’s okay sweetheart. He’ll be home soon.” You reassured her. Knowing he’d never ever leave you sleeping alone, unless it was something serious.

---

“Johnny, before you go, we’ll be stopping by tomorrow. We need to make sure you all are ready.” Thomas said as Johnny walked away from the table.

“Alright, I’ll see ya there then lads. Goodnight.” He said, tipping his hat and walking off towards the horse he’d ridden in on. Quickly riding towards one of the flower fields nearby to pick some for you. He knew they wouldn’t make up for him being late, but he knew they’d at least bring a smile to the face he loved so much.

---

You sat wide-awake with your sleeping daughter against your chest, your nightgown covered by the thick blanket you’d draped over you and the baby. Her soft coos and little snores bringing a smile to your face as you kissed the top of her head. Your stomach still hurting with some efforts as you shifted in your seat. She’d only been about 4 months old, so both you and her were adjusting to the whole life thing with each other.

As you sat there naming the constellations to yourself as you gazed at the stars, you heard the familiar horse hooves pounding on the ground near the vardo. Johnny’s giddy whistle making your daughter rustle around in your arms as she knew he was home.

“Shhh, she’s sleeping.” You said quietly as he walked over ever-so carefully to kiss you, his lips soft against yours as he lingered on them for a moment, taking you in.

“I wanted to get here earlier, with the baby and everything but uh...Tommy got in the way again.” He said, grabbing the flowers he’d picked earlier.

“Are these for me?” You asked, grasping them with your free hand.

“Mhmm. Picked them me-self. Thought you’d like some after a hard days work caring for the kids. And uh, since I’ve been gone so long ya know?” He said, nervously rubbing his hand on the back of his neck.

“I love you Johnny Dogs. You romantic devil.” You said with a smirk as you kissed him once more.

“Now tell me love, what’s got you on your toes?” You asked, knowing his body language more than your own at this point.

“They’re coming here, to make sure everything’s ready for the big mission.” He said.

“Christ....do we need to stay in? It’ll be hard with this one crying.” You said, looking down at the sleeping bundle in your arms.

“No...I...I want you to meet them. They’re coming tomorrow mornin’.” He said.

“I see....well I’ll make sure to get up and make sure the kids meet them too. Couldn’t hurt right?” She asked.

“It could soften the blow I suppose.” He said, grabbing the last of the food that was still warm over the fire.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” She asked.

“They’ll take one look at you and drool. You don’t think I see it every time we go outside the camp? You’re bloody gorgeous and you’ve gone and married a fool like me?” He said half-jokingly. His self-deprecating humor hurting your heart.

“They can say what they want, but you’ll always be the man for me Johnny. I wouldn’t have you any other way. You were the first man I’ve ever loved.” You said, remembering how despite your looks, you’d never had the luck of relationships on your side, thinking all hope was lost until that day so long ago. And god were you grateful for him, even if he did talk your ear off on more than one occasion, you still loved the man to death.

“Now go tell your children a bedtime story, please love?” You asked, looking at him with puppy dog eyes that made his heart swoon. He could never say no to you.

---

The next morning, you awoke to the sound of the kids playing out by the river, the wind rustling around the vardo as you heard Johnny helping out with the baby outside.

“I’m sorry love, I was going to get up and help ya but I guess I overslept.” You said, wrapping your robe around yourself that complimented your eyes and physique exquisitely.

“You needed the beauty sleep love. Besides, you’ve done enough for me these past weeks, thought I’d do something for ya.” He said, cradling the baby in his arms as you sat near him next to the barely lit fire, the coals still hot from the night before.

Johnny took your hand in his lightly, the ring on your finger sparkling in the sunlight as you both watched your kids playing together near the river.

In the distance though, you could hear the sound of a car pulling up, your nerves getting to you as you knew it was Thomas Shelby and his brothers.

“Here we go.” You mumbled, calling your children over as the men got out of the car, the kids nearly running into them as their little legs carried them swiftly over the grass. They quietly stood behind you as Johnny handed you your baby girl, her bright eyes looking up at you as the sun hit your face flatteringly.

“Hello boys! G’morning to ya! How’s about we get this meeting done shall we?” He asked, putting his cap on.

“Who’s the lovely lady over there aye?” John asked, eyeing her with hungry eyes.

“That’s me wife. Her names Y/N.” He said, looking John in the eyes as he crossed his arms.

“Oh and who are the children with her? They can’t be yours can they? Wow Johnny boy! Didn’t know you had it in ya. How’d you snag a gem of a girl like that aye? Use any of yer charms?” Arthur said jokingly.

“They’re mine yes, and don’t worry, I did nothing of the sort. She came to me actually.” He said with a proud smug smile on his face, knowing he married one of the prettiest women near Small Heath and the bastards couldn’t do anything about it.

“Well if you have anymore questions how’s about you lot meet them then?” Johnny asked over the awkward silence, Thomas still eyeing him a bit suspiciously.

“You boys go meet them, me and Johnny have something to discuss.” Tommy said shortly.

“Oh...al-alright. Here ya go lads.” He said, leading them over to Y/N and her children, who backed behind their beautiful mother shyly.

“Hello gentlemen, I’m Y/N. Nice to meet ya.” You said, smiling brightly as their stares lingered over you. It was something you were used to, but still made you slightly uncomfortable, so you remained focused on your kids.

“You can have a seat if you’d like, we don’t mind do we loves?” You asked, patting your son on the head as he smiled.

“No it’s ok momma. I’m gonna go play.” Your daughter said, running off towards the other little kids nearby. Your son sat by you though, eyeing the men curiously.

“So these are Johnny’s kids aye? What’s your name little man?” Arthur asked, putting on his nicest smile.

“Samuel. Who are you? Why do ya have big hats on like me dad?” He asked.

The men both looked at each other and smiled.

“We’re in a...group that your fathers in. It’s for people that are nice and strong.” He said.

“Oh...” Samuel said, fiddling with his fingers as he leaned his head against your arm.

“How’d you and Johnny meet aye? Old bugger like him sure snagged a beauty for a wife.” John said.

“Oh uhm...we met by chance really. I saw him scrapping with some people by the roadside when my family were going through and I stopped to watch. He says he got caught off guard by me. He got hit right after eyeing me up.” You said with a small laugh. John and Arthur chuckled as they looked over at Johnny and Tom having a rather tense conversation.

“While our brother’s interrogating the poor man, who’s this little one and her big sister?” Arthur asked.

“This is Sarah. She’s 4 months, almost 5. Talkative little bugger just like her dad. Always babbling about somethin’ aye? And that’s Alice. She hates sitting down, always wanting to be on the go. Guess it’s in the blood.” You said, also feeling antsy as you sat there with half of your little family.

“That it is.” Arthur said, looking around the camp as Johnny’s voice rose in the distance.

“When were you going to tell me Johnny?” Thomas asked, his cigarette dangling from his lips.

“About what mate? Bout me cookin’ and leaving yesterday or bout me family?” He asked.

“About your family, Johnny. You’re like family to us you know. How could you not tell us?” He asked loudly.

“You should know! The bloody line of work we’re in! God knows I’m not bringing them into that ‘ere.” He said a bit louder than Thomas expected, causing the others to look over.

“But why hide something like this Johnny? Not because of the way of our work but why hide it until now aye?” He asked.

Johnny thought for a moment, leaning against the tree near the river.

“Because Tom. I knew you’d all take one look at her and wonder why she’s wit’ a man like me. Ya know I’m not the nicest looking man ‘ere. Somehow how Tom...somehow she loves me and I wanted ya to see why I had to leave yesterday. It’s not just me I’m thinkin’ bout anymore.” He said.

“That why you’ve been yelling at work? Being short with everyone?” Thomas asked.

“Yeah Tom, yeah. Just...please don’t drag them into this.” He said, looking over at his wife who was managing pretty well despite John practically drooling.

“Well now that that’s cleared up how about you introduce me to them aye?” Thomas said, patting him on the shoulder and walking past him.

“I fucking guess. C’mon.” He said walking quickly ahead of his friend as Y/N smiled upon their arrival. His heart skipping a beat at the sight of it.

“Y/N, love, I want ya to meet-“ He said before you cut him off. Eyeing the man who’d put your family in risky circumstances long ago.

“Thomas Shelby. Yeah...I know. Nice to see you in person.” You said, shaking his hand roughly and with a more colder glance than you’d had given his other brothers. You knew Thomas orchestrated everything within the blinders, so he was often the one blamed when things went south, and you had no problem casting the blame on him when Johnny would come home half conscious and bleeding, or limping with a bullet wound or two.

“Pleasure’s all mine Y/N. How’s the family?” He asked, sitting beside Johnny around the bonfire that was slowly burning out.

“Good now that their father is back. This little one is Sarah, the wild one over there is Alice, and our boy here is Samuel.” You said, pointing with your free hand to your small crew of children.

“Aye, so he tells me you met by chance. How in the hell did this man meet a woman like you?” He asked.

You looked down slightly at your daughter who was surprisingly sleeping soundly, her small mass of hair on her head coming in as dark as her fathers.

“I told your brothers already but, uh we met when I was traveling with me family. Saw him scrapping with some other men from nearby, I guess ya locked eyes long enough with me that they knocked you out aye love?” You said lightly punching Johnny’s shoulder.

“Aye they did. Couldn’t stop bloody lookin’ at ya. I mean seriously boys. Isn’t she a beauty? I’m a lucky man. A lucky lucky man.” He said, lighting a cigar as you smiled and put your free hand on his. It was rough from years of work, but as warm as the hugs he gave. He was home to you, no matter where you all went, he was the one constant thing you longed for, knowing in your heart he was yours forever.

Johnny Dogs Tag List:

@flysafepapi, @gaytommyshelby, @ta-ka-shi-ma

If you’d like to be added/removed, just send me an ask/message. :)

#atjafshelby #peaky blinders #peaky blinders imagines #peaky blinders oneshots #peaky blinders fanfic #johnny dogs #johnny dogs x reader #johnny dogs x female!reader #johnny dogs x y/n #johnny dogs imagines #thomas shelby #arthur shelby #john shelby

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crocodilenialledfics · 4 years ago

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You’re all I need (the air I breathe)

Prologue - in which Niall and Stella meet and she is (for once) grateful to be locked out of her room with nowhere to go.

join the taglist

The love-at-first-sight, falling-too-fast, uni au that will make your heart ache (in a good way)

Stella couldn’t have predicted the way she felt standing in Louis’s doorway, her book bag on her back, desperate for a place to stay. Except she was there, eyes meeting blue eyes for the first time since she stepped onto her university campus.

”I locked myself out of my room,” Stella explained, eyes drifting away from his. It’s possible it was too much to hold his gaze. “And I can’t get ahold of my roommate.”

“Louis is at Zayn’s,” Niall told her, kicking the door open wider with his socked foot. “But you can hang out if you want.”

“I don’t want to impose,” Stella refused, shaking her head.

“It wouldn’t be an imposition,” he insisted, lips curling into a smile. “Honestly. It wouldn’t.”

Stella allowed herself to step inside of their room. She’d been there a million times but somehow the room was different with the lack of Louis and the abundance of his roommate.

“I’m Niall, by the way,” he said, closing the door behind her. “And you’re Stella, right?”

“Yeah,” Stella nodded, dropping her bag on the floor beside the futon. She let her eyes glance up to the tv, the paused game on the screen.

“Lou talks about you all the time,” Niall told her, sitting down on the futon.

Stella let her eyes wander, taking in the way he looked in a pair of sweatpants and a t-shirt. He had no business being so attractive while doing absolutely nothing. Stella snapped herself out of it, sitting down beside him. “He talks about you all the time too. Was beginning to think I had some competition.”

Niall chuckled, shaking his head, “no competition here.”

Stella watched him, trying not to think too much about the way he was watching her. The glint in his eyes like he knew something she didn’t.

“You play FIFA?” Niall asked after a second.

“No.”

“You wanna watch me play FIFA?”

“Sure,” Stella mumbled, her cheeks flushed. She was suddenly aware of how intently she was watching him.

Niall’s eyes drifted back to the TV when Stella relaxed against the futon. “So you’re from Doncaster, too? Went to secondary with Louis? And Veda?”

“Yeah,” Stella nodded. “We grew up together.”

“What was that like?”

“Boring,” Stella chuckled. “Incredibly boring, actually. Louis made it fun, though.”

“I can only imagine,” Niall smiled. “The trouble he gets into.”

“Oh yeah,” Stella murmured, a warm feeling in her stomach at the memories she had with Louis. She couldn’t have imagined spending all those days with anyone else.

“I’m from London,” Niall told her. “Well, correction, I’m from mullingar Ireland. I moved to London with my mam when I was thirteen.”

“How posh,” Stella teased.

“It was a little posh,” Niall chuckled, nodding. “As you can imagine, I was just dying to get out of there.”

“I can only imagine,” Stella murmured.

“Any siblings?” Niall asked.

“One,” Stella nodded. “A brother. His name is Ludovic. Ludo for short. He’s much older than me. Like 28 or something I can’t keep track.”

“Nice,” Niall commented. “You guys close?”

“Kind of,” Stella shrugged. “I mean, he bought me alcohol when I was 16. He didn’t tell my mum when he caught Louis and I smoking in the backyard. If that’s close, then sure.”

Niall chuckled, nodding, “I’d say that’s close.”

“You have siblings?”

“One,” he nodded. “Greg. He’s 25. We didn’t get along when we were young, don’t really get along now.”

“Sorry,” Stella murmured.

“It’s whatever,” Niall shrugged, sparing her a glance. He smiled. And Stella was hooked.

Maybe there was a reason Louis didn’t introduce them sooner, because they were missing pieces of each other. They were everything the other had been looking for.

That’s what Stella had been thinking about when the door opened. For some reason Stella felt like she was caught doing something she wasn’t supposed to be doing. Like staring at the side of Niall’s face was a crime, she’s committed over and over since she walked in.

“Hey...” Louis trailed off. “Stel, I didn’t know you were here.”

“I locked myself out of my room,” she told him, sitting up. “Have you heard from Veda?”

“Yeah we just got back from Zayn’s. Her phone died, I think. She should be back to your room by now,” Louis told her, toeing his shoes off. He squeezed himself between Niall and Stella, a video game controller in his hand. “Add me in, Nialler.”

Stella shifted beside Louis, feeling annoyed at him for bursting in. She rummaged around in her book bag until she pulled her phone out. She had a text from Veda letting her know that her phone died but she was back in the room.

“I’m gonna go,” Stella murmured, zipping her bag up.

“You didn’t wanna play?” Louis asked. “You kill at FIFA.”

Niall met Stella’s eyes and she laughed, shaking her head. “Have you been holding out on me?” Niall asked, almost incredulous.

“Aw come on, Stella,” Louis laughed, nodding toward her seat. “One game. We have another controller.”

“I have to go,” Stella shook her head. “I have an exam in the morning. Need to do a bit more studying.”

“Lame,” Louis muttered, shaking his head. “Always studying, this one. Quite boring.”

“Respectable was the word you meant to say,” she corrected him. “I talked to Joanna yesterday and she told me how wonderful I am and how she wished just a little bit of my good behavior would rub off on you.”

“Stop calling my mum,” Louis laughed.

“I wouldn’t have to if you’d call her yourself,” Stella retorted, standing up.

“I will,” Louis conceded, nodding. “Good luck on that exam.”

“Thanks,” Stella murmured. “And thanks Niall for letting me hang.”

“Anytime,” he nodded, holding her gaze for much longer than socially appropriate.

Stella left their room, feeling breathless and flushed to her toes. She shook the feeling as she took the stairs down to her floor. There was absolutely no way, Louis’s roommate should be making her feel that way.

When Veda got back to her room, Stella was overwhelmed with the feeling of needing to know everything about Niall. At least maybe everything that Veda had to say.

“You know Niall?” She asked as soon as she stepped in the door.

“Yeah,” Veda mumbled, sitting up from her spot in bed. “You met him?”

“I just hung out with him,” Stella clarified, eyebrows furrowed. “How didn’t I know he was that fit?”

“He is quite fit,” Stella agreed, nodding. “I heard he had like a girlfriend, though. Nadia. In London. That’s what Louis said, anyways.”

“That’s devastating,” Stella murmured, opening her bag. “I’d really like to kiss him.”

“You’re not a homewrecker, though.”

“Unfortunately,” Stella sighed, sitting down at her desk with her laptop. “Can you find out for sure if he has a girlfriend? We stared at each other. Like a lot.”

“He’s sweet,” Veda nodded. “We met like last week, I think. At Zayn’s.”

“Where was I?” Stella asked, affronted.

“Class,” Veda laughed. “It was Wednesday. Your evening class.”

“Well that’s just unfair,” Stella shook her head.

“I’ll tell Louis to invite him to game night,” Veda told her, laying back down. “Since you love him already.”

“I don’t love him,” Stella grunted, kicking her shoes off. “What do you know, anyways? New boyfriend every week.”

“Stella now you know I don’t date,” Veda laughed, already scrolling through her phone. “New flavor each week. Keeps things exciting.”

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realityhelixcreates · 4 years ago

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Lasabrjotr Chapter 74: Lessons and Dreams

Chapters: 74/?

Fandom: Thor (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe

Rating: G

Relationships: Loki x Reader

Characters: Loki (Marvel),

Additional Tags: Post-Endgame: Best Possible Ending (Canon-Divergent),

Summary: You are troubled by dreams, while Loki seeks ways to make things easier on you. You receive an unexpected visitor.

They day was almost upon you. The decorations were all up, your drum beat and chant were properly memorized. Several Avengers were on route, and parts of the semi-built city had been cleared and cordoned off for the festivities. Buridag was almost here.

You had your cloak and armor. You had your drum, and your parts memorized. You had your beloved prince, and your Valkyrie escort. There were some things missing though.

You wished Nanna Beth could have been here to see this. You wished someone from back home could be here to see this. Someone other than Todd, who damn well didn't deserve it, but would be here anyway. You had the feeling that, if you asked, Loki would have had him barred from attending, but you didn't want to go down that road. You were supposed to be a grand symbol of the integration of humans and Asgardians, and you didn't think you could do that honestly while at the same time excluding people just because you didn't like them, and they were awful people. Which Todd was. Ugh, why hadn't he gone home yet? He hadn't spoken to you, or tried to contact you, and he didn't even seem to be trying to cause trouble. It was weird.

And then there was the issue of the bull...you still didn't know what to do about it. You were coming to the conclusion that you would simply have to endure, and somehow go on with your life. Would it be good for you? To further experience and understand the importance of death? To become a symbolic provider of plenty for the gathered celebrants?

You would just have to clench your teeth and deal with it. It was one of those hard lessons you would have to learn as the lover-and advisor-to royalty.

You'd probably never touch a hamburger again though.

Sleep had been coming to you only reluctantly; the long, stretching moments after closing your eyes for the night were filled with thoughts and questions about Ymir's Dreamscape. You were not permitted access to the artwork-no one was. For all that it was contained within the protective confines of the shield and size-changing devices, it was still considered too precious for informal handling.

But it haunted you. You saw them painting in your dreams, shapes and concepts you had difficulty understanding. Glancing over their shoulder at the workings of a truly alien mind, and hoping not to be noticed, though you were no more than a mote in their eye.

Streaks of color. Clusters of circles. Shapes that were nearly anthropomorphic, yet wrong somehow. They drew and drew, in between millennia long stares of contemplation, watching the asteroids clump up bigger and bigger. Occasionally they had to brush them away from their immense body.

They had more fingers than you did, and each one was stained with color, almost all the way to where they joined with the palm. Crackled veins of colored light pulsed up and down the fingers, from a bright spark on the tip of each; it flashed whenever they dragged their fingertip along the canvas they had created.

You couldn't see the whole thing: it was so big, and so far away, and they weren't done making it yet. You would always wake up before they were finished. You would see the colors more vividly in the daytime; certain hues of red and blue, purple, yellow, orange, and green-they popped out at you. Each of the great beings fingers traced its color into your eyes.

Your lessons had tapered off, to give you time to concentrate on the festival. You weren't though; artwork occupied your mind. You doodled approximations of the things you saw in your dreams, close, but never quite right.

You tapped your drum, and recited your chant, the ancient words spinning back countless aeons, and thought about colors.

******

Loki stood out in the paddock and watched the bull. It was a proud creature; it walked the confines of the fence, confident in its great strength and prowess, munched its hay secure in the knowledge that it could not be bested.

It died tomorrow. He would swing the sword he almost never used, and bring the feast to everyone. It wouldn't be the only one: There were pigs and chickens and sheep, already butchered and ready to go, it was just the bull that was symbolic.

“Magnificent beast, is he not, my liege?” Andsvarr asked. “Shame about the public execution though. I know it's tradition, but it seems a bit gratuitous.”

“You speak very freely today, Alarrson.” Loki said. “You lack guile. Say what you came to say.”

“Er, I apologize your Highness, I did not know how to broach the subject. Have you perhaps spoken with your good lady about the bull sacrifice?”

“Not beyond discussing it as a part of Burdag tradition. Otherwise, she has been rather busy learning her ritual.” He paused, realizing Andsvarr knew something he didn't. “Why? Has she confided something in you?”

“I would say that she has, your Highness.” Andsvarr said. “Has she brought up her discomfort with this sacrifice to you?”

“She has not...Though now that you do, I can't say I'm surprised.” That may have something to do with your increased tension lately. The way your mind had been wandering. There was a great deal of stress on you; perhaps he should have thought more about how the live sacrifice of the bull might effect you.

“Humans used to make such sacrifices very often, from what I've read.” Andsvarr continued. “It's one of the customs we shared. It's much less common now, I hear, but since she came from a smaller farming settlement, I would have thought she'd seen one before.”

Loki shook his head. “Her community is agrarian, and a monoculture at that. While I was there, I saw no livestock at all. Just endless corn.”

“Weird stuff.” Andsvarr commented. “But tasty. And so many applications.”

“It is not, I think, only the sacrifice that troubles her.” Loki said. “It is the sacrifice on top of everything else. If that doomed giant hadn't woken up...”

“If we hadn't been digging in the ice.” Andsvarr pointed out, then withered under Loki's stare.

“Don't think I haven't thought the same.” Loki said severely. “But my brother has been studying the humans effect on their own planet, and he tells me that the melting of the ice may have been inevitable. They will awaken, no matter what. Better now that we are prepared. But it shan't be before Burdag, so now I must think of what to do with him.” He gestured toward the ox. “His fate is sealed, but I wonder if there is some way I might change the presentation? Removing her from the ceremony would reflect poorly on the public, but...”

“If it pleases...” Andsvarr interrupted after the pause. “There was talk in the barracks about something one of the gate guards heard from an islandpostur man, that the bets were on whether the Gävle goat would burn this year, and when. I looked it up because some of us were placing bets. You have a hand phone don't you? If you look, you might have the same idea I did.”

“When did everyone around me decide that cryptic was the way to be?” Loki complained. But he realized that Andsvarr was allowing him to claim credit, rather than trying to dictate to royalty.

Andsvarr went off to his drills, and Loki left the ox to his munching. A quick check showed the Gävle to be a kind of effigy, composed of straw-a stand in for a real goat. This was how human civilizations got around the ritual spilling of blood. By sacrificing in the shape of the original.

He saw instantly what Andsvarr had. But how to make it work? The sacrifice and butchering was to be done right there on the spot; obviously, that couldn't be done with straw.

But a container covered in paper and flour paste, shaped like a cow...

Maybe.

He needed to find Beli.

******

There was a flat, dry area outside of Asgard and Trolerkaerhalla that was reserved for the landing of small planes and other aircrafts. It was cleared of snow, and roped off so that the air travelers could get inside the city as swiftly as possible, but that didn't stop the more die-hard of admirers from putting on their warmest clothing and waiting to catch a glimpse of who was coming to the festival. Some of the arrivals were no one of note to the observers, but a few of them garnered great attention; The Vision, in his bright colors, Maximoff, and Dr. Banner, as uncomfortable as ever with the cheering and applause.

They weren't the only important people to have answered their invitations: representatives and ambassadors from all around the North Atlantic Sea were coming in-from the relatively nearby Faroe, Shetland, and Orkney islands, as well as the Hebrides, whose names you were just learning.

You were at the gates to greet these esteemed visitors, speaking what little Icelandic you had managed to learn. There were a surprising number of representatives; it seemed like everywhere in the North wanted to be there-people from each of the Scandinavian countries and various areas within, to the larger island countries; Scotland, England, Wales, Ireland and North Ireland.

You still didn't quite know the difference, but you knew it was important enough not to ask.

There were also people from such far-flung places as Svalbard, Greenland, Germany and Estonia. In fact, it seemed as though most of Atlantic and Baltic Europe had sent someone. To your surprise, Canada and the United States had also come, even though they didn't recognize Asgard's sovereignty.

And then there were the anthropologists, journalists, even a few 'local' celebrities. Everyone wanted pictures of or with you, and you hoped that none of these people would turn out to be horrible, since pictures of you with them were going to be on the internet forever now.

You couldn't help but side-eye the religious representatives- some Christian, and some Heathen, from all the surrounding countries, and from within Iceland itself. You weren't sure what the Christian leaders were doing here: Asgard, by its very existence, posed a great challenge to their faith, so perhaps they were facing that challenge head on? Or perhaps it was to gather information. You didn't think they would have much success in proselytizing here, as it was hard to convince people to turn to a god that wasn't well known for answering directly, when the Aesir they'd grown up with were just right there. And it was extra hard to force conversion when you didn't have a weapon capable of harming the people you were trying to force.

The Heathens didn't make you any more reassured: speaking to Sofie had taught you that there were definite problems within those communities, racism and authoritarianism chief among them. Though, like any group of people, there were plenty who didn't accept such things. It just wasn't easy to tell by looking.

None of this was anything you'd ever had to think about back home. Diplomacy, poise, professionalism, visibility, navigating complex social and political relations-what use did a simple baker have for such as these?

You hadn't baked in weeks. Your time was mostly sucked up by lessons and political stuff, and though Loki had promised you respite after the ceremonies, you still couldn't help but wonder if that part of you life was simply over.

The cooks had learned your cinnamon roll recipe, and most of Asgard was picking it up. Loki was spoiled for cinnamon rolls these days, and showed no sign of growing tired of them. You wanted to introduce him to cornbread, snickerdoodles, or even no-bake cookies, but there just hadn't been time. Everything was lessons and dreams.

The sun dipped low, and though it was still early in the day, you would be going back inside once darkness fell. It simply got too cold to stay out. Luckily, it seemed that all the visitors had the same idea, and the stream of representatives and celebrities trickled off with the fading light.

Soon there was only one plane left, tiny, even smaller than the flock of already small planes that had come and gone. Only two people disembarked, no bodyguards, and they struggled against the strong winds. At least they were properly dressed in warm coats. Coats that you recognized.

No, there was no way. No possible way. But they were here.

“Daddy!?!” You squealed, and threw yourself into his open arms. Professionalism could be damned.

#lasabrjotr #loki (marvel)#loki x reader

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evansfm · 4 years ago

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𝙨𝙚𝙚 𝙛𝙤𝙧 𝙮𝙤𝙪𝙧𝙨𝙚𝙡𝙛 –– 𝐞𝐯𝐚𝐧 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐧𝐞𝐥𝐲 .

every morning evan woke up to a london sky that refused to let the sun in ; summer was drier than spring , but the clouds seemed to linger year round . . . not that she minded . she had , after all , grown up in county dublin , where things were always a bit damp . still , the lack of COLOR could be draining . . . so she searched for it in unexpected places , creating little pockets of color for herself in a rather grayscale world . golden lights strung on her balcony , isla’s bright red hair and matching smile , an array of bright letters boasting NME lining a wall –– covers from past decades , a rainbow rubik’s cube next to her keyboard , two framed photographs perched on her desk . the first seemed like forever ago , a beaming eloise with a twin on either side ; beck on the left , evan on the right , both planting kisses on her cheek one valentine’s day years and years ago . the second was more recent , backstage at a show in galway ; kieran sat in his chair with his fingers intertwined with evan’s as she draped her arms over his shoulders from behind , chin resting on top of his curls and a smile that looked SOFT compared to the goofy one ruairi wore , looming behind her with his chin on her head . she felt warmth every time she looked at them , but there was always a tug in her stomach . . . the undeniable feeling of something missing . she found her little pockets of color , but they still seemed muted without the people she loved –– the PERSON she loved .

their schedules had begun to clash –– and evan hated the way she was beginning to get used to the dull ache of his absence . distance had been a part of their relationship for months , but the time zones were killing her . they couldn’t always make time for hours wasted away on facetime ; she couldn’t always fall asleep to the sound of his voice on the other end of the line . they were both where they were supposed to be , chasing their dreams together , separately . . . but evan was beginning to wonder if the path she was on –– the desk , the deadlines , the distance –– was actually what she WANTED . there was a lack of creative control at nme ; she was a part of a greater whole , confined to a desk when she wasn’t out in the field . she felt restless . . . bored , almost . and with her most recent deadline met and a job of her own –– evan connely , sans nme –– waiting at the end of the week , she was distracted .

“ WHAT are you doing ? ” isla popped up behind her , coming out of nowhere to look over her shoulder .

“ jesus , ” evan startled , nearly dropping the plastic puzzle in her hand , “ where t’e fuck did you come from ? ”

“ charlotte’s office . answer my question . ”

“ playing wit’ a toy , ” she held up the half solved rubik’s cube , then let out an audible sigh as isla looked unimpressed , then jutted her chin towards the computer screen , “ trying to put together a mood board for t’is gig i’ve got wit’ saint valentine on friday . ”

perfectly shaped auburn brows raised , “ we got saint valentine ? ”

“ no , ” evan’s lips lifted into the faintest smirk , “ i got saint valentine . ”

“ you’re bloody joking . shut UP , ” isla gasped , rounding to her side of the table desk , just to roll her chair around , “ and you didn’t fucking tell me ? ”

“ no , because you couldn’t keep a secret if you tried .”

“ well that’s because it shouldn’t be a fucking secret , ev . this is fantastic , ” hazel eyes widened with excitement , “ so you’re shooting them for –– . . . ”

“ t’ey weren’t too explicit about it . i know for certain i’m covering bot’ shows at t’e o2 , documenting t’e whole thing from t’e moment they get there , ” evan huffed a curl away from her face , nodding to the screen , “ and t’en a shoot on site at t’e venue . so i’ve got to work wit’ what i’ve got . i’ve got ONE chance here , and nicky haven scares t’e absolute fuck out’a me , so i can’t blow it . ”

“ nicky haven scares EVERYONE . it’s part of his charm , ” isla leaned in , making herself perfectly comfortable in evan’s space as she took the mouse and began clicking through different ideas opened on photoshop , “ let’s see what you’ve got so far –– . . . ”

“ isla , it’s not a big deal . really i shouldn’t even be working on t’is HERE , right now . it’s not exactly nme related stuff , you kn–– ”

“ i TOLD you she was here today , ” a girl called sophie , who manned nme’s front desk in the mornings , materialized on the other side of evan’s desk . a junior writer , andrew , was hot on her heels .

“ soph , now really probably isn’t the best time and it really isn’t your busi–– ”

“ someone’s got to show her , ” sophie was , admittedly , obnoxious . and coming from EVAN , that was a feat .

“ show WHAT to WHO ? ” isla’s voice changed in tone , taking on a hint of authority as she looked at andrew , “ aren’t you meant to be doing some social media research right now ? ”

“ i WAS , but –– ”

“ but we’ve found something that evan HAS to see , ” sophie . again .

“ we ? ”

“ ME ? ” evan said in tandem with isla , brows lifting as she clicked the final piece into place on the cube . she glanced over at isla and felt a strange twist in her stomach when she saw the redhead had gone rigid .

“ is this about –– ”

“ rebecca stringer , ” andrew nodded solemnly , as though evan was supposed to know who the hell THAT was .

“ better known as BEX , ” sophie added .

it was evan’s turn to go rigid . her back straightened , and it felt like ice had just been shot through her veins . truth be told , she was more worried about conflicting schedules lately . . . not the way bex sing-songed a shortened version of kieran’s name . . . or the way she answered his phone and simply couldn’t remember who evan was . . . or the way she’d made sure evan could hear her promise to personally deliver kieran to his hotel room that first night in los angeles . it wasn’t exactly PLEASANT being reminded of the instinct that she’d shut down , intuition telling her something wasn’t quite right there . her brows pinched together as the rubik’s cube slid from one hand to the other and back . she glanced over at isla with a prompting look .

“ we’re . . . doing a piece about nepotism babies in the industry , and she’s a PERFECT example of one so i was having andrew look into the way she interacts with fans and her socials and what not . she’s one of like TEN people we’re looking into , ” she explained with an apologetic look . it was then that she turned a sharp eye to andrew and sophie , “ don’t know what THAT has to do with evan , though . ”

“ see for yourself . ”

“ SOPHIE . ”

“ what ? it probably isn’t even new information for her , ” she shrugged , reaching over two monitors to hand evan a phone . twitter was opened to a profile with bex’s beaming face in the icon , but the handle wasn’t hers . she gave the pair of them a skeptical look before glancing over at isla who only offered a half - hearted shrug . it didn’t take long to see what , exactly , sophie had been talking about , a slew of tweets and retweets .

bexupdates : bex & kieran pulled up to the venue together . . . and then left at the same time . why are they lowkey so cute annathefound : not bex wearing a baby tee version of the found’s merch . . . stanning her boyfriend just like the rest of us

ruairidailyposts : ok wait are evan & kieran even dating anymore bc i could be down with a bex & kieran moment cheerupbailey : @ruairidailyposts you know two people can have a relationship without posting about it right ??? they’re in separate countries rn lol

babybexxx : i just think that bex & kieran walsh as a power couple .

bxhq : no offense but bex is simply so much better for him than some rando from ireland like what thefoundupdates : @bxhq babes they LITERALLY grew up together ????

totallyconan : be honest do u guys think the reason evan isn’t on tour with them is bc they’re not together anymore like she literally never misses shows

adamfitzupdates : why are y’all so obsessed with a relationship that doesn’t concern you ??? chill bexlevitates : @adamfitzupdates bc it’s weird that evan knew him for so long and only started dating him AFTER the found started to get big like that’s shady

bexupdates : find someone who looks at u the way bex looks at kieran on stage wtf did y’all see that

newruleshq : no waaaay this man has a gf when he and bex look so good next to each other LMAO

thefoundupdates : according to the girl who wrote the article kieran literally WALKED OUT on the interview ??? rockstar behavior but also hope he’s ok

evan could’ve kept scrolling for hours as her heart rate began to rise and rise . the crease between her brows deepened , and she reminded herself of everything she knew to be true . kieran LOVED her . twitter was a BRUTAL place . it was as though the worst parts of her subconscious had come to life in 280 characters or less . her head began to swim as her heart sank into her stomach .

“ what does t’is –– . . . ” her voice cracked , and she cleared her throat , finally looking up from the phone screen , “ why , exactly , are you showing me this ? ”

sophie looked as though she was shocked by evan’s question , “ because i’ve dated musicians . . . and like HALF of those are in bex’s likes . which are public , by the way . just doesn’t seem subtle to me . ”

“ are you trying to insinuate something here , sophie ? ” her tone shifted , irritated as she handed the phone back .

“ like i said , i’ve dated guys in bands , too , and –– ”

“ enough , ” isla snapped , “ you’re sticking your nose where it doesn’t belong . BOTH of you should be off doing your jobs right now , so , run along . ”

both of them scurried off without a word .

evan was still for a moment , but her fingertips were itching for the keyboard . she was no stranger to things like this , unkind words from strangers who didn’t LOVE the idea of her –– despite not knowing her . the good outweighed the bad on the internet , but the voices who didn’t like her were always the loudest . even BEFORE she and kieran had gone public with their relationship . . . even before they were ever in a relationship at all . over time , she’d learned to tune it out and focus on the kindness that flooded her comment sections and mentions . . . but every now and again something slipped through the cracks . . . and when they did , she absorbed them like a blow to the abdomen . they settled into her memory and cemented themselves there , tucked away until they found the perfect moment to make her self conscious . like the fan who had commented on the shape of her body before and after going to uni . . . and another from galway who made it their business to let everyone know she’d slept around while living there . . . and every time someone said she wasn’t good enough for kieran or any of them . that she had bad intentions , leeching onto the boys for fame . that her career was based SOLELY on the four of them .

if she caved and kept scrolling , she’d commit it all to memory . . . everything that made her intuition about bex STRONGER .

instead , she launched forward and snatched the rubik’s cube back up , immediately distorting its perfect faces and mixing it up again . it was good to keep your hands busy , she knew , when your mind began to run away .

the worst of it wasn’t even TRULY comments about their relationship . . . those hurt , but they didn’t sting quite as bad as real - time updates about kieran and bex showing up or leaving venues together . she dulled the pain by reminding herself that THREE other boys were never too far behind . that kieran would never . . . COULD never . . .

but then again , there was the tweet that weighed heaviest in her mind . kieran walked out in the middle of an interview , and he hadn’t told her . something rattled him to the point of his version of an outburst , and he hadn’t told her . that seemed like something he would have told her . . . it seemed important enough , she thought to herself , right ? RIGHT ?

her throat felt tight , and she kept running the tweets she’d read over in her mind . there was a deep furrow in her brow as she looked down at her hands , still vehemently mixing up the toy . something felt off kilter . . . but she couldn’t pin down which hurt more : the slew of tweets from people pretending to know what went on in her relationship . . . or the thought of kieran doing something as rash as storming out of an interview –– and then not telling her .

“ i didn’t know about t’e interview bit , ” she said quietly , eyes still trained on the colorful cube . she was certain her face was the opposite , color drained .

“ evan –– . . . ”

“ it’s fine , ” she said firmly , “ it’s probably not true . just like t’e rest of it isn’t true . ”

her voice sounded distant . . . and she wasn’t sure if she was trying to convince isla or HERSELF . clearing her throat again , she set the toy back down on her desk and scooted towards the computer .

“ i’ve got work to do , ” she said quietly , getting back to the monitor . though all she wanted to do was go home . how many more people thought that she wasn’t GOOD ENOUGH for kieran ? how many people thought someone like bex was a better fit ? how long would it take for the suggestion to become potent enough to make the people who KNEW them question it as well ? and if kieran had walked out of an interview , WHY hadn’t he told her ?

she glanced down at her own phone screen , hoping that maybe she’d missed a text or a call . . . but all she got was nothing . nothing but the words she’d seen written down , now cemented in her mind : bex is simply so much better for him . . . because SHE was there , wrapped up in the same world he was in . she was accessible . immediate . beautiful .

and evan was stuck in london with nothing but time to wonder .

#idk what to taaaag it

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crystalk17 · 4 years ago

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First Impressions Mean Everything/Lone survivor

A chapter involving Chesher learing more about his family and most imporantly Travis. These two have a rocky relationship, but what do you expect.

Warning: I honestly can’t find any so if you find any please let me know

Chesher took a few steps back just marveling at the titan who...did he just fall out of the vehicle? The boy had to stand back up on his feet taking a few steps back to make sure there was some distance between him and this new Zuvain. In all truth, he couldn't take his eyes off of this man who was now supposed to be related to him. The guy had odd red hair compared to his parents. The head of the house male had brown, almost grey hair while his wife had blond curly hair that she obviously just brushed through and left laying. In all honesty his wife looked a lot younger then her husband, the only thing that distinguished her age were the few wrinkles around her eyes that could honestly be mistaken for lack of sleep.

His new brother honestly didn't have anything special about him besides his height and bright red hair that would have belonged to a human who lived in Ireland. Everything else was honestly pretty common. His hair was short, he wore typical blue jeans that had a hint of tater to them like he was just working outside. There were unrecognizable darker patches that were probably from mud or water. Chesher doubted anyone their size recognized the abomination attached to his pants. Of all things, the male wore a typical t-shirt. It was plain dark navy blue. Nothing else. It's probably supposed to be an undershirt that the guy just threw on.

Chesher looked straight in front of him and the last thing he noticed just made a shiver run up his spine. He wore work boots. Tan steel-toed boots. It looked like the man just skinned and tanned the hide just this morning. To patch up the whole ensemble, the boots were also covered in mud, but more distinguishable than the jeans. Just by the way the guy was dressed, Chesher could guess he was a hard-working man, definitely from out in the country.

Chesher watched as the head of the family walked over towards the younger man and helped him back up to a standing position by grabbing him from the shoulder. Such power. Such strength that he could never understand or have in this world. Not ever again. The father figure brushed off his hands while walking over towards Miss Garcia. "Let's get the formalities out of the way." His wife followed behind.

Chesher's eyes went wide. "Wait. Ummm you're just going to leave...me here?" he took a few steps towards the man he still didn't even know a name for.

Miss Garcia turned around herself to address the behavior of the young child. "I am just taking these two inside to get things signed and processed through. You'll be fine."

"But..."

The giantess gave a stern looked towards Chesher. "You will be fine. This will not take long." it was very evident she wanted him to remain outside for some reason.

The boy sighed lowering his head down to the ground. "Fine." He watched as all three Zuvain walked back into the building already discussing information about today. He sighed once more allowing hair to fall in his face. This was going to be a long day.

He turned around to once again grab his materials when he froze at the sight. The youngest male was still present. Now thinking about it only three did enter the building, for some reason the twenty-year-old stayed outside with him. In full view, the male was now crouching on the ground getting too close for comfort. Instead of grabbing for him though, he already had something in his hand. His bag.

"Hey! Back off. Now." At this very moment, it honestly didn't matter that this Zuvain was a titan or that they were alone. Why would this stranger have the gall to grab his property without asking? He marched over with his fists curled in on themselves like he was prepared to punch the guy. Chesher stood in front of the giant's boot with a stern look of dismissal. "I said back off and drop it."

The redhead raised his head a bit looking directly towards the human in his presence. He seemed to instinctually get lower by getting on his knees then slowly lower himself to sit on the concrete. It was very evident the guy didn't mind the ground or getting his clothes dirty, but he did seem to do one action Chesher wasn't used to from a Zuvain. He leaned backward like he was trying to get some distance between himself and the human. All figures he ever came across always tried to make themselves bigger or intimidating, sometimes not even meaning too. This guy...was trying his best to seem smaller? Even though with his enormous size, of course, it didn't work, but the kid had to admit the gesture was a nice change of pace.

"Look, kid. I wasn't going through your stuff or anything. Calm down. Just trying to help." he held the pack with only two fingers trying not to crush any items, but not realizing the bag was opening from his movements.

"Will you knock it off! You're going to lose everything I own...just...just put it down."

The Irish looking man slowly places the doll-sized bag on the ground, but with how he handled even setting it down, the zipper started to rip apart revealing the contents inside, some even started to spill out. With a "are you kidding me!" Chesher ran over to scavenge the few things that skidded across the concrete trying to make sure all items were accounted for.

He bent down to collect a comb when he felt a presence right beside his own. Slowly tilting his head to the side he wanted to so badly jump back and run. In his field of vision, the giant's hand was right next to him, trying to pick up a few items without crushing them in his ginormous and overbearing fingers. His instincts told him to get away, to get away from the ginormous being right beside him, but instead, he took a deep breath in and slapped the man's hand. "I will get it. Just back off will you?"

Like an animal reacting to a human's touch, the titan retracted his hand and placed it into his lap. " Sorry was just trying to help." Since the human didn't want any help he just leaned his head in a hand and observed his movements. "You're a jumpy little guy aren't you?"

Chesher rolled his eyes at just the sound of the titan's voice. He didn't even care what he said really just the noises coming from his vocal cords we're getting on his nerves. The only response he could think of since he didn't listen to the full statement, was another sigh. He didn't look up at the redhead and just picked the items up from the ground. "I don't need your help."

"Well, how is that a way to treat the one person who is trying to be nice. Plus where you're going you may need quite a bit of help from me."

"I can handle myself!" He abruptly stood up to give the intimidating man a staredown.

"Didn't say you couldn't, just stating a fact. I will have to say the elders of our kind have said you humans all looked so cute. It didn't matter who you were, and may I say they were right."

Chesher closed his fists one more time hearing the statement from the man. He could feel his own nails dig into his skin leaving marks, nothing to scar but only a stress reaction so he didn't flip out in front of him. The shivers ran up his spine just from anger and rage. "Look. All of you creatures." he looked directly up at the man just preparing to let all of his anger out and not hold back, but he noticed there was a smile on his face. Not one of intimidation or mockery. More like "I just accomplished something I wanted and I'm proud."

"Got you to listen to me with that statement, didn't I? Maybe you won't ignore me in the future?"

This was honestly one strange guy. He hadn't tried to grab him, intimidate him, well on purpose, and just seemed to want Chesher to talk to him. "Your a weird one aren't you?"

"I try to be." he tilted his head a bit giving a comforting smile towards the small one. —————————————————————

He could feel every vibration of the instrument he was in. Even with his current surroundings being the hand of the twenty-year-old, he could feel the rickety tumblings of the tires against the pavement. Within the hour the couple came out of the building and announced to their son they were finished. Chesher told Miss Garcia his goodbyes, grabbed his bag, then looked towards the hand extended out to him. The titan still found ways to surprise him. He was so used to the giants just grabbing him, and he had the bruises to show proof of that. Cautiously, he climbed on with his only possession and forced his worries away. He just had to submit to the new "Families" power now. He honestly didn't have any other option.

This only lead to his new brother, he should probably learn his name, climbing in the back seat while holding Chesher to his chest. When he sat down he made sure to place the little guy on his lap like a child. It felt a bit demeaning, so he crawled over to the edge of the giant's leg, looking down. It wasn't that long of a drop. Slowly leveling his back so he could fall without damage, he jumped. There was no other choice he could make really. He tumbled onto the vehicle's bench seat with a roll. In retrospect, he probably shouldn't have done that.

"You know, all you had to do was ask?" The redhead said watching the human with wide eyes. Chesher could tell he was a bit concerned with his reckless behavior, but in reality, if he thought that was reckless then the human was in for a world of trouble when he got to the house.

The human was brought out of his thoughts by the deep voice from the driver seat. "We honestly have about an hour drive back to the house. It's a small house out in the country."

"Yeah, yeah, I know, I read the file just like you read mine." Chesher sat down on the cushioned surface, looking out the window the best he could. He could only make out what was in the sky or the tops of some items like telephone poles.

"Well, I doubt you have been at a place like this before. Country home, crops, we have horses, and even a dog"

"But don't worry about him. He'll be outside the whole time." The redhead chimed in.

"Yes. We couldn't really get a living arrangement for you so you will be sharing a room with Travis here for a time. Just until we can make arrangements that is."

Chesher assumes the twenty-year-old was the one he was talking about. So his name was Travis. He would have to remember that.

"Well I hate to ask mister but I didn't exactly get your name or your wife's."

"My apologizes." The head of the house said just barely looking behind him to get a good look at the human. "Names Sam and my wife's name is Bernice. Just call us whatever you feel comfortable calling us though." He immediately readjusted his head so he was looking out at the road.

Chesher sat in silence trying to take in everything. He has done this a hundred times, or at least it felt like, yet this time felt different. That scared, yet comforted him. Such conflicting feelings struggling for power. He didn't even know how to get used to this. The only thing he could tell himself was this will all change. Give them a few days and one of them will harm him. Just like the others.

He suddenly felt his body being lifted off of the cushion. He felt his feet dangle into the air and the protection of a surface underneath him leave. He frantically looks around at all sides. He knew this feeling all too well. The one referred to as Travis had plucked him up by his clothing and brought him into the air. Chesher knew all too well what to do. Instead of fighting and thrashing about, he grabbed the collar of his shirt to make sure it didn't cut off his circulation. Holding on with both hands, his feet dangled and kicked back and forth. He knew this would eventually happen, he just didn't think it would be so soon with how he was acting earlier.

Chesher then he felt his feet land on top of a hard surface. He moved his left foot back and forth, making sure it was a real surface and not just a trick of his imagination. He then felt the pressure from his shirt being pulled on released and quickly pulled his shirt down, looking all around. He stopped thrashing when his face meets that of the window.

"You're a lot jumpier then you try to portray yourself as. I was just placing you on the windowsill. Probably a better view from here than down there, especially since there is no giant blocking the view."

"Well warm me next time! And don't ever handle me like that again!" Chesher covered up his mouth as soon as it came out and turned his head to view the window. He couldn't bear to see the titans face after he just yelled at him. That's when the land came into view.

The human placed both hands against the glass and peered out. Before him were brown and green fields. Like that of meadows in a storybook. He could feel the vehicle suddenly pull off from regular pothole pavement to a dirt road. It went from smooth with some bumps, to a gravelly and jittery surface. He honestly had to slowly walk across the window sill with his arms out to make sure his balance didn't get the best of him and then clung to the edge just so he had something to grab.

He momentarily looked behind him towards Travis. He slowly extended a finger to show a gesture of goodwill and say I can help.

"Just back off." the boy remarked. He saw Travis shrug and retract his hand, but noticed a smirk was still present on his face. He could tell the redhead was trying not to laugh at the human's expense right now, but he did decline his help.

Chesher turned back around, still clinging to the side of the window, and watched as the house came into view. It was smaller than most Zuvain homes. It honestly just looked like an exact replica of a human country home. White with brown shingle roof. There was a small porch upfront, well small for them. He looked behind the house and noticed a cornfield, though he wasn't sure of that belonged to them or not. He was just surprised it was corn. The Zuvain didn't transfer many human foods to their size, it was too complicated. Then to tie the Homy feeling altogether, there was a barn that was left open with another vehicle parked in the front that looked like it was currently being worked on.

"Welcome home."

Second chapter done!!!! If you have any qustions for me or my OC’s I would love to hear them. My asks and inbox is always open. I am making a tag list so let me know if you want added for this story. There will be more!!!

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1337wtfomgbbq · 4 years ago

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IDENTITY

Name: Sean Backley

Gender: male

Birth Date: September 13th 1957

Species: wizard

Blood Status: Muggleborn

Sexuality: Gay

Nationality: Irish

Residence: Bogside, Derry, Northern Ireland

THE MAGE

Wand: Blackthorn, Dragon Heartstring, 11 inches, Springy

Miscellaneous Magical Abilities:

Wandless Magic

Sean doesn't consider it something that he'll need to learn. He also lacks the focus.

Nonverbal Magic

They learned nonverbal spells in sixth year and it took Sean only three weeks to fully master it.

Spell Inventing

He invented a spell that makes you able to toss fireballs that will burst over the intended target like a molotov cocktail. 'Molotno Ignat' is the incantation, and you're supposed to twirl your wand until a fireball forms, before you toss it using your wand. It'll burst over the intended target.

Apparition

His mother didn't have the money for him to take the classes. He prefers flying anyways, and Ethan will usually offer to side-along apparate with him.

Boggart Form: His mother crying at her kitchen table, all alone.

Riddikulus Form: A firework explodes right in front of her face and she starts laughing. Sean took quite some time to come up with something to counter the boggart.

Amortentia: (What does he smell like?)

Broomstick polish, burning gasoline, dirt, the smell right after a firework explodes.

Amortentia: (What does he smell?)

Herbs, the smell of old books, broomstick polish, leather.

Specialized/Favourite Spells:

Bombarda

Reducto

Confringo

Episkey

Finestra

Impedimenta

Lumos

Stupefy

APPERANCE

Height: 6"0'

Weight: 167 lbs

Physique: On the lean side with broad shoulders

Hair Colour: blond

Hair Cut: short sides and back of the neck, while the top hair stays longer.

Eye Colour: dark brown

Skin Tone: pale

Body Modifications: Lost one of his lower front teeth during summer break of ‘72 during a brawl with british soldiers.

Inventory: Wand, both wizard and muggle money, pack of cigarettes, a lighter or matches.

Fashion: Mostly convers sneakers, jeans and whatever top he has on hand. His clothes are mostly darker colours and pretty much all hand me downs or from the local church, so they're all patched up and worn in some way or another.

School Uniform: Has his shirt often not put into his pants all the way, tie either untied or he took it off because he hates wearing ties. His uniform is second hand too.

Faceclaim/Voiceclaim: Timothy Olyphant

PERSONALITY

Attentive, Confident, Stubborn, Brave, Honest, Determined, Hot-headed, Cynical, Oppinionated, Protective, Creative.

ALLEGIANCES

Hogwarts House: Gryffindor, though he was a hat stall between Gryffindor and Ravenclaw.

Affiliations/Organizations:

The Backley Family, the IRA, the Derry gang, the gryffindor quidditch team, the Bellycastle Bats.

Professions:

Helped around his mothers shop all throughout his childhood and hogwarts years because his mom couldn't afford to hire someone at the time.

Legman and supporter of the IRA (1970-1981 )

Chaser of the Bellycastle Bats (1976-1981)

Class Proficiencies (O.W.L Grade):

HOGWARTS INFORMATION (1969-1976)

Astronomy: Poor

Charms: Acceptable

DADA: Outstanding

Herbology: Dreadfull

History of Magic: Troll

Potions: Exceeding Expectations

Transfiguration: Outstanding

Electives:

Ancient Runes (3rd): Exceeding Expectations

Care of Magical Creatures (3rd): Acceptable

Alchemy (6th): Outstanding

Dropped Subjects (6th year): Care of Magical Creatures, Astronomy, History of Magic and Herbology.

Quidditch: Sean was Chaser on his house team since his second year, and captain from his 3rd year onward until his graduation. He was poached and later played for the Ballycastle Bats as a chaser.

He's a natural talent on the broom and with the game. His gameplay is pretty quick, almost rapid-fire, he's extremely strategic and can see moves of the opposition ahead of time, almost like a seer.

Favorite Professors:

Ivan Dreyfus

Professor Dreyfuß, who taught Ancient Runes and Alchemy in hogwarts, was the person that accompanied Sean, Liam and Odhran and their parents to diagon alley. Because of his missing father Sean latched onto Professor Dreyfuß as a father figure. They would often meet in Professor Dreyfuß' office and just talk, especially in his 6th and 7th year under the guise of Alchemy.

Minerva McGonagall

Sean had huge respect for his head of house and considers her, like his mother, as a woman more than worthy of all respect. He'll even call her Ma'am instead of Professor sometimes.

Later he even admitted that he's extremely thankfull for the fact that Professsor McGonagall didn't give up on him, as his only wish in life was to work for the IRA.

Seranius Kelman Uffer

DADA teacher in his fifth year was one that really knew what he was doing and managed to make the subject engaging and entertaining, he was strict but fair. Sean learned the most about the subject under him and Uffer overall reminded him of his local priest.

Least Favourite Professors:

Cuthbert Binns

Sean would start out the lesson by putting his robe onto his history book to use as a pillow. He's interested in reading up on magical history events during his off time but he gave up in the subject.

Horace Slughorn

Sean hates Slughorn with a passion and Slughorn trying to 'get him for his collection' didn't help his case. He still likes potions and is rather good at the subject, he just can't stand Slughorns overall personality.

Thurman Starling

It’s not really personal, Sean just doesn't know why they even have to take Astronomy in the first place.

RELATIONSHIPS

Mother: Maureen Backley (née Accling)

- Born April 11th 1934

- Maureen is a muggle who owns a convenience store in Londonderry and who worked with the IRA from the 60s to at least the mid 70s

- She met Sean's father in 1950 and they got married in 1953, merely two months before she got pregnant the first time.

- Her husbands death in 1966 hit her and the family rather hard and she relied on their local church and community quite heavily to guide her through those trying times. But it also caused her to be extremely close to her boys.

- Her youngest son Henry being killed on ‘Bloody Sunday’ 1972 marked the beginning of her turning her back on the IRA.

- 1974 Andrew walked out on his mother and brother as he refused to turn his back on the IRA.

FC: Paula Malcomson

Father: Robert Backley

- Born August 27th 1931

- He met Maureen in 1950 and they got married in 1953, mere weeks before Maureen got pregnant with their first child.

- He was killed in 1966 by members of the UVF, while he was out running an errand with sean.

FC: Thomas Kretschmann

Brother: Andrew Backley

- Andrew is three years older than Sean and shows no magical abilities, like his mother

- Born December 23rd 1954

- Comes wholely after his father

- It was his idea to go to the protest on 30th January 1972, though he fully puts the blame of Henry's death on the british soldiers

- Andrew walked out on his family in 1974 as he could feel them turning their backs on the IRA.

- He married sometime between 1974 and 1980, a woman who's family was involved with the Ulster Liberation Army.

- He asked Sean for help with an IRA attack in 1980, which caused Sean's death in march of 1981. Andrew said that Sean 'died for the cause' and his mother never spoke to him again.

FC: Brad Barron Renfro

Brother: Henry Backley

- Henry is five years younger than Sean and showed some magical abilities. Sean was sure Henry would get a letter to hogwarts too.

- Born August 14th 1962

- Henry was a really kind and hardworking kid. He was always excited to help his mom around the shop.

- He ideolized his brothers and always wanted to be with them, he listened to their various storys with avid interest.

- He was really excited when he was allowed to come with Maureen and Sean to Platform 9 3/4 and really wanted to go to hogwarts too.

- He was sadly killed on ‘Bloody Sunday’ 1972 at the age of ten.

FC: Ricky Schroder

Love Interests:

Bonny Lennox (they went out a few times between 71 and 72. Sean stopped accepting her offers and didn’t show any interest, romantic or otherwise, for her after bloody sunday. Bonny didn’t stop pursuing him until 73)

FC: Danica McKellar

Appart from Bonny he also dated a few girls in his year and beyond, but never longer than three weeks, including: Tillie Pertinger, Jenny Butler and Cary Dendron.

Aaron Molloy (A lot of kissing and groping during Sean’s gay panic 72 to 74)

FC: River Phoenix

Ethan Larken (They basically were always meant to be but took some time to get there. Sean knew for sure in 74 that he only wanted Ethan. They did the leg work to get together during 74 and 75, but took until almost 76 to get together. Sean never came out as gay, and they never made anything official but they were in a relationship 1975-1981, moved in together in 77.)

FC: Fred Savage

Best Friends: The Derry Gang, consisting of: Ethan Larken, Liam Bachram, Odhran Miller, Shain Aberdeen, Thomas Holton and Ryan Doxey.

Ethan Larken, Aaron Molloy and Edith Towel are so close to them however that they could be considered members of their gang too. Ben Redgate was also on the quidditch team and even though they were two years appart in age Sean considered him a rather close freind.

Rival: The other quidditch teams, The Slytherin gang of their year around Charles Devin.

Enemies: Like, the British ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Dormmates:

Shain Aberdeen

Ryan Doxey

Liam Bachram

Aaron Molloy

Pets: An owl he got at the beginning of his third year, which he called 'Alex'

Closest Friends: Ethan, Liam, Odhran and Aaron.

BACKGROUND/HISTORY

- His early life was shaped by the mounting conflict in Northern Ireland.

- His father was very involved with the IRA.

- Sean was raised strictly catholic causing him to repress his sexuality all throughout his life.

- He went to primary school with Liam and Odhran, who, coincidentally, life on the same street as Sean.

- His father was killed by a member of the UVF in 1966 as they were out running an errand. Sean saw the whole thing.

- During the August riots of 1969 Sean saw a young man get shot and later die.

Anything after that, concerning his time at Hogwarts I’ll start posting storys about on my blog.

No, my blog won’t turn into this, it’ll still be a hot mess of whatever the fuck I like and incorrect clone wars quotes, no worries.

Template and inspo to finally post this OC by @lizzieparkerhphm

#harry potter oc #hp oc #harry potter original character #hogwarts oc #sean backley oc #sean backley #derry gang #harry potter fandom #harry potter #hp #hp fandom #hp ocs

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kessielrg · 4 years ago

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[Kingdom Hearts AU] Maybe Next Year...

Summary: Inspired by @schizophrenichangedman‘s Ventus, in which Sabrina gets a Christmas visitor, and the duo share a silent night together.

Rating: K+

Word Count: 2,853 words

If you like this story please reblog!

---

It was usually a lie that Sabrina couldn't feel any emotion than pure pessimism. At the moment, her mouth was pursed into a thin line to keep herself from shouting against her adoptive father. His words had stopped making sense a good three minutes ago. She didn't even know why he was still talking to her- the only words she needed to hear was 'I will not be home for Christmas.' The addendum of 'I might need to give you a rain check on New Years too.' was also unneeded, and possibly just as frustrating.

To his credit, he really did try not to have the whole holiday week booked with anyone but family. This was only the second year that he wasn't able to smooth over whomever he needed to be home. But it still hurt. He might as well had reached through the phone and pulled her heart out of her chest.

“Please Sabrina, I know you're mad, and I did everything that I could. I swear on my life.”

“I'm not mad.” she told him. A bold faced lie, but she was a good actor. “If anything, that just means we get to go on an even bigger vacation later, right?”

“Didn't we plan on going back to Paris?”

Even if he couldn't see it, Sabrina shook her head. “Ireland.” she corrected him. “I want to spend the night in one of those historical castles again.”

“You just want to wear a cape and dramatically swish it whenever you go down a flight of stairs.”

“Hell yeah.” she agreed with a soft snort. “Don't forget the dramatic entrances into the ballroom accompanied with slow, romantic waltz music.”

Hearing his laugh was a small comfort. She would have liked it more if he was sitting next to her. After awhile, her father let out a soft sigh.

“I love you, my little princess.” he told her in a gentle tone. There was a small indication of weariness in his voice. Sabrina had to close her eyes in a vain attempt to hold back the waterworks. She hated crying.

“Love you too, you old coot.” she mused back. For a moment, her voice broke- revealing just how much she was trying to hold back. But she didn't give her old man time to comment on it; she hung up the call as quickly as she could. The next moment after, she smacked her head against the cool kitchen counter. Her arms tangled around her head as she let out a low moan of annoyance. She should have known he wasn't going to come around tonight; if he was, he would have been home by now.

She probably would have just given up right then and there had her phone not buzzed. The teen took one look at whoever had messaged her and immediately grimaced. Letting out a grunt, Sabrina took a few steps away from the counter and looked up toward the cabinets. Intuition told her that whatever camera set up to spy on her in the kitchen was placed on top of the fridge. She'd almost assume it was the fridge itself if they had sprung for one of those 'smart' appliances. Thankfully, her father didn't see much use in it. The Alexa, on the other hand, was absolutely bugged for sound input when it was plugged in. That bit had been confirmed to her some months back.

Turning her attention back to her phone, Sabrina flicked through her messages to answer her most persistent pester.

Mister Jekyll: Looks like you're home alone for the holiday, little girl.

Lady Aesthetics: Tell me something I don't know. Fuck off.

Lady Aesthetics: Wait. Why are you awake? There's no way you're pissed because I got ditched.

Mister Jekyll: I thought you wanted me to tell you something you didn't know.

Mister Jekyll: But don't flatter yourself. Space cadet saw something that wasn't meant for him, and you can imagine the results.

Lady Aesthetics: I refuse to believe that it had to do with me.

Mister Jekyll: Fine. Believe what you want. Either way, I've got a surprise for you. You're going to get a visitor around 11 if I leave enough breadcrumbs. You might even get two gifts too. The one is red wrapping paper should not be opened around him though.

Lady Aesthetics: Are you finally gifting me those his-hers guns we talked about the other day? I'm flattered.

Mister Jekyll: Let's just say, you'll be absolutely vibrating the moment you touch it.

Lady Aesthetics: Comforting.

Mister Jekyll: Oh, most definitely.

Mister Jekyll: Above all, you'll have twelve whole hours of not being monitored by me or my comrades.

Lady Aesthetics: So I AM about to be murdered? Not a very poetic date to go out on. I expected more from you.

Mister Jekyll: Unfortunately for you, I've grown attached. I'll have a special punishment for you later. For now, get ready for your visitor.

Raising a rather skeptic eyebrow, Sabrina once more looked up at where she suspected the hidden camera was. Stupid illegal GoPros and their ability to be smaller than a pinkie nail. Shrugging, the teen started to make her way to her room- she apparently was going to have a guest. How fun.

. . .

Sure enough, just a few minutes after 11 PM, the doorbell rang. Not quite sure which version of the blonde haired, blue eyed pester she'd be experiencing tonight, Sabrina opened the door without a look of interest. That quickly changed when her eyes drifted from his face to his hair.

“Oh. My. God.”

Ventus gave her a confused tilt of his head before absently reached for his hair. Half of it had been tied a bright red, and the other side a festive green. When he tilted his head in a certain direction, sparkles in his hair glistened in the porch light. It didn't stop there- Ven was even wearing a tacky Christmas sweater that detailed a large present made of several layers of knit. It look incredibly top heavy, really, and Sabrina had no sense of envy toward him. In his hands were two presents; one was wrapped in green paper and not much bigger than a ring box, the other was a bit longer than that and wrapped in red paper.

“What's that look for?�� he questioned, noticing her weird expression as she continued to stare at his hair. A smile then drew on his lips as he then mused, “You scared of a little tinsel?”

“Hardly.” came the undignified huff. “I just suddenly remembered that you got away with that while we were at school. There's no way that your hair complies with the 'only natural hair dye colors' rule in the student handbook.”

“It's natural when you're Christmascore.” he spat back with a little razz of his tongue.

Rolling her eyes, the young woman told him, “Just get inside.” before moving a little out of the way for him to actually enter.

Ventus didn't need to be told twice, practically skipping inside her house before noticing something. Or rather, the lack of something.

“You guys didn't decorate.” he pouted.

“Not true.” Sabrina objected. “We have a tree.”

“Where?!”

“By the staircase,” she informed him before leading him toward the kitchen.

Ven bounced with every step he took. The grin on his face was just bursting with joy in seeing what the tree at Sabrina's house looked like. It had been placed near the L-shaped stairway, well lit with some sparse decorations here and there. He wasn't much of a minimalist, but he supposed it would do. As he set the presents he was holding under the tree, something about it just seemed… off. Ven took a closer look at it; taking a branch between his finger tips and even daring to take a bite out of the ends.

“It's not even a real tree.” he moaned; his pouting starting anew. He then looked to her with an almost puppy-like disappointment. “You know, for someone who came to school in a white limo on her first day of school, you sure do know how to skimp out on the holiday decorations.”

“Well, I'm sorry that I was invited to three different soirees since break started. Two of which occurred outside of this state, so I was away for a good week.”

“But you're rich.” Ven continued to pout. “Shouldn't you have maids and butlers catering to your every whim at every moment of the day? Maybe even set up a Christmas light show spectacular outside your window? What's the point?”

“Don't you dare diss Miss Astra.” Sabrina snapped at him. “She comes by every Wednesday to clean while I'm at school. We gave her three weeks off for the holiday.”

“You can't be that lonely.”

Sabrina's face hardened into something so dark that Ven almost got a shiver up his spine. Looking him dead in the eye, she outstretched her arms to gesture at the entirety of the house.

“Does anything about this house make you think I could be that lonely?” she questioned. Her voice was just as spine chilling, and deeply bitter.

Deflating a little and averting his eyes, Ven let out a small, “Touche.” But he quickly shook his head. He came here in a mission, didn't he? Never would have thought that giving Sabi a little Christmas cheer would be so difficult. Maybe it was time to divert the conversation a bit. Something to eat, maybe. He had skipped dinner tonight out of spite and he was just starting to feel a tiny bit peckish.

“Just one question,” he then tried to ask her, “No candy canes?”

“I've got candy cigarettes.” She offered, her tone still dark, as she went over to one of the kitchen counters. She opened up a drawer and pulled out what certainly looked like a box of cigarettes. As walked back over, she fiddled with the top. She pulled out a white stick from the box then offered the rest to Ven. “100 percent sugar, tastes like chalk, and almost just as smooth as 'em too. You'd never know the difference.”

Ven's eyes widened as he reached over to take a candy cigarette from the box. He immediately stuck the stick of sugar in his mouth and chewed on it a little. It really was like eating chalk- but the candy cigar had a bit more resistance to it when he bit down though. You could almost crack a tooth if you wanted to.

“Well,” he then decided, unsure if he wanted to keep the candy cigarette in his mouth or hold it between his fingers, “Since it's too late to really do some Christmas binging, how 'bout you open up my present? I think you'll like it. Meant to give it to you at school, but I… I got a little side tracked.”

“Sounds like the biggest understatement of the year.” Sabrina snorted. Regardless, sticking her candy cigar in her mouth as well, she went over to the tree and picked up the green gift wrapped present. She then picked up another present from the pile, one that she had personally wrapped herself.

“I have a present for you too.” she told him. “Here, catch.”

Ven let out a surprised yelp as she tossed the large square gift his way. He was just barely able to catch it with both hands. As eager as he now was to open it, he patiently waited for Sabrina to come back over. He took her cue as she sat down by the tree, backs against the wall that bordered the living room and kitchen.

“On the count of three.” he playfully told her. “One… two...”

Neither of them waited for him to say three before tearing into the presents.

Sabrina was not surprised to know that Ven's gift was in a ring box. She just didn't expect to open that up to find a gold plated necklace inside. The charm at the end was of a rather simple looking crown. But still, it looked nice. Giving a moment's worth of thought, Sabrina started to take the necklace out of the ring box. Ven next to her was rather disappointed with what his present was.

“It's a book.” he said in a flat voice. Sabrina made a small sound of inquisition as she looked over at him for a moment.

“A portfolio, actually.” she told him as she put the necklace on. “Open it up and skip the first few pages. The foreword gets kinda winded.”

Still bummed at what appeared to be a bum gift, Ven did as he was told. The foreword did look winded -lasting about five pages front and back- before Ven saw something that nearly made his jaw drop. In the book were full color photographs of natural forests and creeks. The print of the photographs were so pristine that Ven felt like he could just jump in.

“I love it.” he said in a near whisper. “It looks so… familiar.” He looked over at Sabrina before giving a little hum. Sabrina was looking over the necklace as it hung around her neck, falling just in the middle of her breast. Between the lighting of the tree illuminating a bit of her hair, and just her near blank face, something about this moment didn't feel real. And when things didn't feel real, Ven just had to make sure that they were. Ergo, it should not have been a surprise that he placed his head on her shoulder.

Sabrina partially came out of her line of thought to glare at him. She tried to make a half hearted attempt at shaking him off as she told him, “Get your tinsel head off of me.”

“Nope.” he replied with a smirk.

“I'll lay on you if you don't move.”

“I dare ya.”

That was when Sabrina gave one very precise shove, almost knocking Ven completely off to the side if he didn't bob back over. As he sat up straight again, Sabrina had placed her head on his shoulder.

“Checkmate.” she mused. Ven laughed a bit as he moved his head a little to catch a whiff of her hair. Lilac. She always smelled like lilacs. Or lavender. Sometimes both. Too bad she didn't let him indulge in whatever shampoo scent she bathed with for long. She sat back up and stared absently at the ceiling.

“How are you getting home tonight?” she asked him with an almost genuine curiosity. “I doubt any of them actually brought you over, and I sure as hell am not driving you back in the dark.”

Ven recoiled slightly at the idea. “Dunno,” he decided. There was a small pause before he added, “Fuck them.”

Sabrina looked over at him and raised a neatly manicured eyebrow.

“Your grandfather came home?”

“How did you know?” he asked, quite darkly. He refused to look at her- instead bringing his knees closer to his chest. He wasn't going to get mad about it -not yet-, but it was still a sore spot.

Sabrina offered up a callous shrug before admitting, “I guessed. Sorry your family's shittier than mine.”

“Do you think your old man could adopt me? You're home alone so often that if you went insane, no one would even notice.”

“Oh, he'll notice.” Sabrina mused, taking a new candy cigarette out of the box. “You think I'm good at reading people? Take three guesses on who I got it from.”

“Really?” he asked in a small wonder- his eyes hungrily looked at the candy cigarette box, but fully eating one proved to be his allotment for any food at the moment. Talking about family was not helping the growing nausea either.

“It's one thing to be born from money,” Sabrina agreed, giving the candy cigar a few licks before sticking it in her mouth. It didn't long for her to pull it back out with a small 'pop' before adding, “It's another to be barred from the family legacy and still try to make it big. I don't envy what the old man does- let alone the people he has to deal with. Stuff like not making it home for a major holiday rarely happens. He even told me once that he doesn't even accept vacation pay from it.”

“Do you believe him?”

For a long time, she didn't answer him. When she did answer, her voice was small but toneless.

“Do you know how good I can get at lying?”

“Yeah?”

“Take three guesses on who I got it from.”

“Oh...” was all the reply he could give. Slowly, Ven relaxed his legs against the carpet and once more brought his attention to the photography book.

“Hey Sabi?”

“Yeah?”

“Maybe next year will be less shitty for both of us.”

For a moment, Sabrina didn't say a thing. Instead she carefully started to snake her arm around his and hugged it. In a voice that didn't entirely sound like her own, she mumbled back at him, “Yeah. Maybe.”

“Merry Christmas, Sabi.”

“Merry Christmas, Ven.”

8 notes · View notes

margridarnauds · 4 years ago

Note

Your "Grace O'Malley" tag is extremely gratifying--it's so nice to see actual scholarship. So with that in mind: Have you read Morgan Llwelyn's novel, and if so, what do you have to say on it?

Hi! Thank you so much! I’m glad you like it; it can feel a little bit like I’m shouting into the wind, given that Gráinne is one of my more niche focuses. I still kind of want to do something that actually looks at the EVIDENCE, but I digress.

Morgan Llewelyn….I have mixed feelings about. I last really looked into this book when I was toying with doing my undergrad Capstone Thesis on Donal O’Flaherty, about….4 years ago, now. Time really does fly. So, I forced myself into a refresher, just to remind myself what I missed.

[warning for references to rape, incest, and some of the most Cursed™ lines I’ve ever been forced to read in my life, and that’s including the zombie blowjob scene.]

Final Verdict: 2.5/5 - DEFINITELY not the worst retelling of Gráinne’s life (I’ve seen....Things), but also not the best, either, and with some very, very glaring flaws that make it impossible for me to really enjoy.

My main take away from it is that…as far as its depiction of Gráinne, it did about as well as its source material. I can tell, looking at it and reading it, that she really looked hard at Anne Chambers’ book. Which is unfortunate because, as I’ve made……………relatively clear over the years, I think that it’s very, deeply flawed. And, unfortunately, Llewlyn stuck rather close to the book, leaving in things like Donal’s “murder" of Walter Fada Burke (if the patronymic don’t fit, you’ve got to acquit), Sexist™ Incompetent™ Donal™, and…..Hugh de Lacy, which, in my personal opinion, owe more to Chambers lack of critical reading of her own sources than they do to the historical record. ESPECIALLY Hugh de Lacy because…the name. Very odd that one of the major Anglo-Norman officials should share a name with Gráinne Ní Mháille’s boytoy. Very odd. Especially given that the pattern of “Love interest of Gráinne’s killed off/Gráinne seeks revenge” is VERY similar to what we hear of the Defense of Hen’s Castle. Almost as if they come from the same story.

This also leads us to the scene where Donal tries to rape Gráinne in her sleep which, honestly, I loathe with every fibre of my being. Nope, nope. Hate it. Hate. It. Oh, God, I forgot about the references to Donal!Incest. Why is this a mini-genre of Gráinne Ní Mháille historical fiction. Why. I can think of at least…..2-3 books that do this. Why God. Why.

Lest anyone think that this is the Donal fangirl in me jumping out, in general, I feel like Llewelyn’s treatment of most of the characters is ultimately paper-thin. Richard Burke is also given this treatment and, while I wouldn’t REALLY expect a sympathetic Richard Bingham (nor would I particularly want one - I’ve spent a lot of quality time reading his complaints and cackling), even HE’S done a disservice.

On a technical level, I don’t REALLY like how she handles the timeline, it jumps around a little too much for my taste. We’re treated to constant flashbacks with little warning, including ones that could have been just as easily folded into the timeline proper. And, while Llewelyn has a rich, descriptive style, she also writes an, honestly, impressive number of lines that will haunt me for all the wrong reasons. I’ve detailed a lot of them under the readmore, but some highlights:

She had gazed in wonder at the child—his perfect ears and fingers, the miniature penis that would eventually become a mighty rod for transmitting further life.” This is, I’m sure, what every mother thinks when she sees her newborn son’s penis for the first time. Why. Why God. Why. Why. Why.

Okay, another candidate for Cursed Lines: "Richard noted the high color in her cheeks, and saw how her nipples stood out strongly under the soft fabric of her gown.” If this were a male author, I would be-Nah, it’s still bad. It’s just bad writing, I’m sorry. In general, I found that she massively sexed up Gráinne’s life, for no real reason that I can tell except for that it felt almost like she felt like it was necessary to prove that Gráinne was a Real Woman™? There’s a very....odd way that her sex life is treated, and it grates on me. We have to deal with Donal, Richard, Huw(uwu), Philip Sydney, and Tigernan, all in the course of one book and, honestly, I don’t really CARE about Gráinne’s sexcapades, and they’re generally written with so little development or feeling, even and especially in the case of her GREAT LOVE HUW, that I found myself actively groaning. My take on Gráinne, at least the Gráinne that I know in the sources, is almost asexual. I don’t deny that she had sex. She obviously did. (FOUR CHILDREN.) And I think that she might very well have enjoyed it. (Not that there’s enough evidence to KNOW.) But I also think that she was a profoundly pragmatic woman who didn’t fixate on it that much. Again, I could be wrong! When we have as little as we have to go on as we do with her, it’s impossible to know! But I just do not see her as jumping into bed with guys that often, especially not in cases where there was no clear benefit. There’s this...trend, where Gráinne HAS to have a love interest, in every major adaptation of her life, because it’s almost like people are afraid to have her without the anchor of sex and romance. (For what it’s worth - I do think, simply because of the amount of time that they spent together + the fact that they did have at least three children with one another, that Donal was probably her favorite of her two spouses. I don’t KNOW this, because I can’t. The evidence isn’t there. I don’t know whether they loved one another, whether it was a great romance, whether the sex was good, or even if it was just a mild affection, but I do lean towards him, even if I can’t say that he was the Great Love of Her Life™. I think they complimented one another’s lifestyles quite nicely, and that’s all that I can really give.)

Llewelyn also has a very, very obvious bias against Catholicism that ultimately makes me wonder whether she ever meant to engage with 16th century Ireland on its own terms. As an atheist in Celtic Studies....look, I can GET having many, many mixed feelings about Catholicism, but it WAS the religion of the land at the time. If you want to have ANY understanding of the people and what was going through their minds, you have to try to engage with them on their own terms. I’m not in any hurry to convert to Catholicism, but I do try to consider life through the eyes of medieval and early modern Catholics when I’m analyzing sources made in that time. And trying to separate it off from the Good Pagan Times, to the point of creating a 16th century druid woman to voice your opinions on free love/organized religion/etc. is just going to get you into disaster. (Though Evleen did give us one female character who is a friend to Gráinne, so...victory?) Bonus, by the way, for the Evil Priest who schemes against Gráinne and is fucking boys on the side. (It seems like they’re of age, at least?) We’re told that he has reasons for what he does, but it comes as a bit of a last minute attempt at creating the illusion of a three dimensional character. I feel like Llewelyn, ultimately, should have stuck to Pre-Patristic times. I shudder at what she would do with, say, the Mythological Cycle, I don’t particularly want her touching my baby (if she touched Bres in particular, I would probably cry) because, at this point, I don’t trust her with ANY medieval materials (mainly because they’ve all been CONTAMINATED by CATHOLIC HANDS, oh NO), but I feel like it’s where her heart truly is.

IF she’d stuck with pre-Patristic sources, we wouldn’t have to deal with 16th century characters thinking things like: " He would go in the style of his warrior ancestors, fearless in the face of death; the ancient, pagan Gaels had known death was only a brief incident in the ongoing flow of life, a transitory happening of little importance.” Admittedly, Llewelyn herself SEEMS to realize this, as she has him cross himself afterwards, but I really, really don’t think it would be the sort of thing to cross a man’s mind in the Early Modern Period. There was very little evidence for reincarnation that was that explicit (One of the papers that I did was on the existence of reincarnation in Pre-Christian Ireland, so I actually CAN speak on this one with some degree of confidence - My ultimate findings were that it probably did exist in some form, but the evidence makes it hard at times to draw definite conclusions), and I’m not sold that they would…understand it as reincarnation, as SUCH. We can look at what, say, Julius Caesar wrote about the druids’ beliefs and apply them to medieval Irish texts, but a man living in 16th century Ireland wouldn’t necessarily have the same luxury, especially since relatively few figures are given reincarnation narratives. It’s like…she’s applying the Mythological Cycle, but she momentarily forgets that these characters wouldn’t have VIEWED the Mythological Cycle like we would have, and it’s rather jarring. No one else might pick up on that, because this is my field. This is the ONE THING I can be pedantic on.

Now! There are some things I actually do like! Outside of Chambers’ questionable grasp of historical interpretation and the resulting taint, I can tell that Llewlyn did have a solid grasp of the FEEL of Early Modern Ireland. As I noted above, she’s a very fine author, the kind I honestly ENVY as a historical fiction writer, the type that is so confident and descriptive that, even when she’s wrong, which is often, I find myself reaching for the sources just to make sure. Her descriptions are vivid and visceral, pulling me immediately into the FEEL of Ireland in the 16th century, a way of life on the verge of collapse.

When she isn’t being descriptive in all the wrong ways as detailed above. I do feel, for whatever it’s worth, that as someone with the background in this material that I have, I was kind of doomed from the get-go. I THINK that for someone who isn’t a Celticist (in training), it would be much, much more enjoyable, BECAUSE she is so confident in her style and her way of evoking the mood that it wouldn’t really stick out. I happen to be both blessed and cursed in that regard.

It’s clear, as well, that she has a grasp on the literature of the time - References to the things like the first Gaels coming from Spain make my heart SING with joy because it’s a very clear allusion to Lebor Gabála Érenn and the Mythological Cycle, which is my specialty, and there are plenty of times that I can tell you EXACTLY what sources she had to hand while she was typing on a section. It’s just a pity to me that she seems to try so hard to toss it all away in order to bifurcate Early Modern Irish society into Pagan VS Catholic, since she fundamentally did betray her own sources there. And, unfortunately, the way she tends to show her research is about as subtle as a blunt nail, in a very “As you know” manner: See: “I have heard the brehons chanting the laws governing fosterage, describing every article of clothing that must be furnished a child and every detail of the training the child is to be given.” Like, yes, the law texts record this, but I can’t really see someone from the 16th century SAYING it that bluntly, you know? Also, I’m not really sold that they would be chanting it out loud as a ritual thing, rather that a lot of the law tracts are in a simple Question/Answer format because it would have, presumably, made it simpler for the Brehons THEMSELVES to remember that way.

I do like that Llewlyn’s Gráinne…she’s attractive, yes, but she’s not conventionally attractive, and she’s explicitly said to be big and tall as a man. I feel like a lot of pop cultural depictions of Gráinne want to make her dainty and beautiful, despite living in an incredibly harsh, stressful environment. I think that her outfit’s a little too much “Modern pirate”-y for my taste, but I’ll allow it because, tbh, it looks really, really badass and, whatever clothing Gráinne would have worn, we probably wouldn’t have really recognized it as “Pirate-like”, since our vision of pirates in the modern day is mainly an early 18th century one. I do appreciate that Gráinne has that hard, pragmatic edge that I respect in the Gráinne that we read about in the State Papers and in Bingham’s recollections - a very matter of fact, no nonsense woman who would do whatever it took to survive. Though I do think that she probably didn’t really spend that much time thinking about Elizabeth. It seems slightly unrealistic to me that, knowing how pragmatic Gráinne was, that she would really, really concern herself that much with Elizabeth, especially when she would have had powerful women like Iníon Dubh closer to home. There are some really nice, poignant moments as well that the hard edge masks, like the moment where she asks after a piece of hair that sent on to her son Owen. When Gráinne is in her natural element, having fun on the open sea, taking vengeance, and getting to be angry and proud and fierce, as well as the moments where she shows a softer side....those are the moments that make it for me. But then we’re back to the sex and romance, to the point where the book is literally divided by which man she’s screwing at the time.

Also, despite wanting to LOATHE Tigernan, as an OC love interest of Gráinne’s, I did find myself warming to him, as he has a nice, laid-back dynamic with Gráinne built on trust and filled with plenty of banter. Next to her, he is probably the single best developed character in the book, though, unfortunately, he does get it through a ton of space devoted to his thoughts, his pining for Gráinne, and his intense jealousy for the many times she chooses someone else over him (mainly because he never tells her he loves her and then he feels like she owes him for what he does for her - yes, there are some Nice Guy tendencies here, but, honestly, after about the second or third time this happened, I was very pro-Tigernan running away and finding a better gig for himself.) No, besides being Catholic and lower class, we don’t really have that MUCH on him outside of being Gráinne’s first mate, but, honestly....that’s still more characterization than the others get, and, at least as of Chapter 24, he hasn’t done anything TOO atrocious.

My PETTIEST of bitching/impromptu liveblog beneath the cut:

A VERY pedantic thing: Llewelyn says, multiple times, that the English would anglicize her name “Grace”. In reality, no one in Early Modern England did that, it came much, much later. In all the Letters of State, she’s referred to as “Grany” or a variation of that name - An English attempt at “Gráinne.” That’s also why you’ll notice that I tend to refer to her as Gráinne here - It was the name she was known by in her own time, it was the name her contemporaries called her, and so it’s the name I call her.

"He wore a full and drooping mustache in the old Gaelic style, though otherwise he was cleanshaven.” Again. MINOR nitpicking. The Gauls were the ones who, traditionally, we associate with the droopy mustaches. In the sagas, beards are given a TON of prominence, to the point of being the marker of being a man. So. Odd choice on Tigernan’s part there. I know that Llewelyn didn’t intend to write him as a 16th century Irish coxcomb, but…well.

"He realized he had made a bad mistake in referring to her peculiar relationship with her husband. He had been in the castle at Bunowen himself; he had seen with his own eyes that Grania’s belongings were taken to one bedchamber, and Donal O Flaherty’s were put in another. Many might speculate in private about the arrangement, but only a fool would have mentioned it to her face.” As I’ve mentioned before, I really, really don’t think this relationship was as loveless as it’s generally portrayed as. I don’t know whether they were PASSIONATELY in love (and unlike a certain biographer, I won’t try to fill in what I don’t know with what I WANT her to have had), maybe they simply got on, but they did have three LIVING children. And I underline “living” because there were likely more. “Likely more” means that they probably did regularly share a bed, at least as much so as their respective schedules allowed.

“Aye, and didn’t she put her children out to fostering before they could stand? A woman’s not usually that anxious to get away from her children that she takes to the sea to avoid them.” Given that fosterage could begin VERY early, I really, really don’t think anyone would have questioned this at all. Gaelic Ireland, simply put, often didn’t have our own conception of the nuclear family, and this was generously provided for in the law codes. Fosterage was useful as a way of maintaining ties between both neighboring families and, most especially, between kings and their vassals, with vassals often fostering kings’ sons. (That way, if the king should die with multiple possible heirs, it means that the kids have people backing them for the kingship.)

"I think that husband of hers had been crying poverty so loud and long he made her deaf to everything else” - Not to be #TeamDonal on main, but the facts as they’re recorded tend to have a strong pro-Donal bias. Take the words of his 17th century relative, Ruari O’Flaherty: "Of all the western O'Flaherties, Donel an chogaidh , although not the chieftain, was the most powerful and opulent.” Most. Powerful. And. Opulent. Yeah, Donal wasn’t crying poverty to anyone. Could he have been lying through his teeth? Maybe. Who knows? But this is ONE thing we have on Donal’s personality, recorded not too long after he died, by a historian who would have had close access to O’Flaherty sources. I believe him. And, I’d even be willing to commit the ultimate heresy and say that Donal’s success was not due entirely to his wife.

She does use the proper terms in a few places! Such as “rechtaire” for “steward”. (Io stem, masculine.)

“You are a noble Irishwoman, you go to no man’s bed unless you want to.” COMPLICATED. Arranged marriages were definitely the norm, and, in the legends, we get to see the unfortunate downsides of what happens when a woman is coerced into a marriage she doesn’t want, generally by an older man, while she is generally pining over a younger one. I wouldn’t say it was something that people LIKED, the fact that this entire genre exists is a pretty good example of people being like “DON’T DO THIS SHIT”, but I can’t say it didn’t happen. Examples of this include Fingal Rónáin, Tóraigheacht Dhiarmada agus Ghráinne, Longes mac n-Uislenn, Aided Con Roí, etc. I would not say that it was considered to be an IDEAL, it was something that was definitely warned against, but it could, in theory, happen. It wasn’t necessarily a legal form of marriage, but it was a form of marriage.

"Shorter than Cuchullain or Brian Boru,” PETTIEST of pettiest bitch complaints, but Cú Chulainn is generally described as short. I know, I know, not what she’s going for. But still. Let me be a petty bitch on this one thing.

“Times have changed,” he said impatiently. “Those are archaic luxuries, and luxury has worn thin here. Perhaps in Umhall there is still leisure for sitting around listening to bards, but it takes every resource I can command just to maintain my territory against those who constantly nibble at my borders.” MOST. OPULENT. AND. POWERFUL. Okay, but one thing that she does get right, and is right to emphasize, is the importance of the bard - chieftain relationship. This was really, really one of the key relationships in a chieftain’s life, to the extent where one of the privileges of the chief ollaimh was the right to sleep with the king in his bed. And yes, it was EXACTLY as homoerotic as it sounds. For a chieftain to not keep a bard - It’s actually a really, really stupid move on Donal’s part, not just for the sake of tradition, but because…who’s going to be there to remember him and keep his memory alive? Who’s going to write praise poems for him (and for Gráinne! The chieftain’s wife was often celebrated in verse.)

"Grania had brought a handsome marriage portion with her, her own property under the Brehon law, for a woman of her rank must be able to stand on equal footing with her husband.” Accurate - Gráinne would have, most likely, been a cétmuinter, or chief wife, under the law, and her union to Donal would have been a union of equal contribution. (Donal also might or might not have owed her a “Thank you for your virginity!” Present on their wedding night.)

“The priests are right in giving husbands authority over their wives,” he had shouted at her then, while she pleaded to be allowed to keep her babies with her longer. “The old Gaelic way gave women too much freedom altogether, and you are a fine example of the folly of that custom.” Kill me now, kill me now, kill me now, kill me now. This is just….GAR. GAR. Or, as Llewlyn likes to say every five seconds…*Dar Dia*. Suffice it to say, the question of how much freedom post-Christianity Ireland had for women VS Pre-Christian Ireland is an endlessly long topic that has to begin with how we define “freedom” and, specifically, which women get it. (Sucks to be a slave girl no matter what.) But also, while women definitely DID have power (EVEN POST-CHRISTIANITY, THANK YOU VERY MUCH)…that doesn’t mean that it was that COMMON, or that post-Christianity radically changed how (un)common it was. This is just…too blunt, too much of a caricature, and also happens to be insanely, insanely anachronistic. (Also: What would a 16th century chieftain really KNOW of the Old Gaelic Way? He would know about women like Medb, yeah, and he would probably see her as evil and uppity, depending on which stories he’d read - Though as a Connachtman, he would probably be inclined towards being on her side. But that doesn’t mean he would have really thought “Oh, yeah, pre-Christianity, women had SO MUCH power.” Lawlessness and chaos tend to be features of pre-Christian Ireland in the medieval writings, but I wouldn’t really say that liberated women….were? Especially because in those same writings you have women like Emer who, while distinct in their characterization, are still very much proper and chaste women who keep to the house.)

“I warn you, Grania—you will accede to me in this or I will send you back to Clew bay and denounce you throughout Connaught for a lack of womanly graces. Is that what you want, to be sent home rejected with your shortcomings shouted from the hills?”

“Who would believe such charges?” she had demanded to know, outraged at his unfairness.”

I’m just going to say it now: She could sue him SO MUCH in a proper Brehon court if she could get some witnesses to say that they heard him talking shit without cause. So. So much. So. Much. Donal would be losing a solid chunk of his goods. Though I will point out that, technically, since Gráinne isn’t sleeping with him, she isn’t doing her proper duties as a wife, laid out by the Brehon laws, and so, yeah, he could probably have a case against her. (For what it’s worth: If he was refusing to sleep with her, she could ALSO divorce him, with him explicitly being at fault and having to pay up. It was equal opportunity, in that sense.)

The Brehon law keeps being called “pagan” and…no. No non noon no. It had its origins in pre-Christian Ireland, likely, and that’s why a ton of legal scholars, with a few noted exceptions, tend to be strongly Nativist, but that doesn’t mean that, by Gráinne’s time, it hadn’t been more or less adapted into Christian marriage in Ireland, albeit sometimes semi-awkwardly. (For example: Polygamy was allowed, but the law very much privileged the rights of chief wives, including their right to toss their husbands out on their ear for taking in a woman over their head.) There’s this odd obsession in the book with Brehon Law =/= Christian Law, and that’s definitely not the case. You wouldn’t have had two marriage ceremonies, one under the church and one under the Brehon Law, because the Brehon Law would apply no matter WHAT. It’d be like forcing a couple to undergo a ceremony after their official wedding where a bunch of lawyers read out of a law book to them. It just wouldn’t happen.

“The Augustinian monks of Umhall, who taught me history in my childhood, explained that when the Romans left England and that land sank into barbarism, it was missionaries from Ireland who took God’s words to the British tribes and taught them to read and write.

“Perhaps they hate us, Donal, for being a more ancient and educated race. Perhaps they mean to drag us down by treating us as savages until we do not remember ever having been anything else. And along the way they can take our land from us with a clear conscience because we are only savages and deserve no better.”

On one hand, it DOES capture that note of PRIDE that tends to be there, loud and clear, in the texts, especially, say, Auraicept na n-Éces, which claims that Irish is a perfectly formed language, made from all the best bits of the Tower of Babel’s languages. (And….well….”The land of saints and scholars”. Ireland WAS a hotspot of monastic activity.) And, honestly, I support showing off the literary side of Ireland, since it doesn’t get discussed enough. That being said, no monk in his right mind would have said that it Irish missionaries civilized Britain. Why? Because Patrick came from Britain. Or, rather, Britannia, more accurately. He wasn’t an Englishman, not in the modern sense, he would probably be Welsh today, but he was from a monastic, educated family (despite claiming his Latin was poor in his Confessio, it’s actually quite good - Patrick was a MASTER at using humility as a rhetorical device).

"Grania slept naked. She liked her skin to breathe as she slept, not encumbered with a gown that would twist and bind.” “And then Gráinne froze her ass off because the nights in Ireland, even in the warm heat of summer, are cold and bitter as a Norseman’s frozen tit, if there were, in fact, any Norsemen in Ireland in the 16th century, and frequently require multiple blankets + a solid duvet. Gráinne then died of pneumonia several weeks later, making for a very short book.” Also. Again. If this were a male author. I would have committed a murder at this point.

Reference to saffron dye - NICE. This was really a staple of the clothing, for both men and women, to the extent that it features a LOT in accounts of Ireland at this time.

“By the paps of Danu!” No one. In 16th century Ireland. Would have shouted out “By the paps of Danu!” “By the Washington Monument!” “By the Lincoln Memorial!” “By the stunning cliffs of Oregon!” Sounds rather silly, doesn’t it? (Though if you WANTED to start shouting “BY THE LINCOLN MEMORIAL!” Well. I’m not here to stop you.)

"She was small for a Gaelic woman, and pale, a tiny wraithlike creature who exuded a contradictory air of resilient strength.” I’m not going to say that Chambers is WRONG, because, of course, Irish women come in a variety of shapes and sizes. You know, like people everywhere. But I WILL say that, during my time here, it’s the only time in my life that I’ve felt at home, because, for the first time in my life, I’m not short. Also, I want it on the record that now, whenever I see her, I’m picturing the little old woman who sits in on research seminars and who has the entire department scared shitless. Tiny, but MIGHTY.

"Her only ornament was a triskele of silver in an ancient pattern, suspended upon her flat bosom by a leather thong.” The Triskele is a Neolithic symbol used through the Iron Age, DEFINITELY not in use, in Ireland, by the Early Modern Period.

"“Evleen Ni Brien-“ That would be “Ní Bhriain” in modern Irish. Normally, I wouldn’t be THIS nitpicky, but hey, if you’re patting yourself on the back for the research you did and then can’t be bothered to put in a fada + the proper possessive form of “Brian”. I also don’t THINK that the “Ní” form had been adopted yet, I’m fairly certain that’s modern, so it would, more properly, be Evleen iníon Bhriain. Though, since it emphasizes that she’s from the Dál Cais and the O’Briens are predominately associated with them, I’m going to GUESS the proper form would involve her father’s name. It would be “Evleen iníon *possessive form of father’s first name* Uí Briain”.

"He had only heard whispers of such people, but enough tales still abounded concerning them to make them readily identifiable—even if this one did claim the noble name O Brien.” You know, in Reign, when you have a bunch of druids dancing in the forest and everyone was like “That’s fucking ridiculous!” Yeah. Yeah. That’s exactly how I feel right now. Druids DID last for some time in Ireland after Christianity, but not INTO THE 16TH CENTURY.

"“Of course not. But neither can I forget that it was the strictures of that faith which kept me bound in marriage to a man I learned to despise.” Divorce was still a thing. There was no problem, in theory, with getting married at a fully Catholic altar and then dumping them for getting jiggy with the serving girls a few years down the line. Llewelyn’s misunderstanding of the relationship that the Church and the Brehon laws BOTH played in the lives of people (SHOCKINGLY ENOUGH, the Catholic Church was NOT seen as pure evil by every day people at the time, who had to flee into the arms of the Brehons for comfort from Mother Church. Note that I’m saying this as a confirmed and strong atheist.)

Can I just say that the scene where Gráinne’s feeling up Hugh (the OC) in his sleep would be MUCH creepier if the genders were reversed?

"But he was not the man he had always been. He was some different person here.” Wow, the sex must be REALLY good!

"set in violet shadows that spoke of wonderfully sleepless nights.” Why is it that when I stay up doing an all-nighter, I end up looking like a raccoon going through its emo phase, but when Gráinne tumbles some random dude for a little while, she gets “violet shadows?” It’s not right, I tell you.

"“Was your marriage so bad, Grania, that you have turned your back on your own womanhood forever?” GAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH. Well. Now I know where The Pirate Queen gets its “Your ultimate worth as a woman and happiness in life is decided by whether or not you have a dick in you” philosophy. I wish I hadn’t known. But now I do.

“That’s the way it is with men,” he said. “They touch us. For the feel of strong arms around her and a solid chest to lean her head upon, a woman will put up with a lot of misery. It’s the curse of our skin to be hungry for the feel of a man’s skin.” GAAAAAAAAH. GAH.

"God the benevolent patriarch promises us rewards in the next world if we’re willing to sacrifice in this one. But maybe I don’t believe in patriarchs anymore.” Totally a thing that the real Gráinne Ní Mháille would have thought. Because women, in general, in the 16th century had the terminology to make these critiques in this exact way.

" If one satisfaction was snatched from her she would find another; if she lost love she would embrace hate, and glory in it.” Oh, god, not THIS motivation for a female character, please. Gráinne Ní Mháille was a hell raiser from birth, there’s no reason to think that, because she lost her boytoy, that really radically altered her life path.

“I wonder if Tigernan thinks you and I are damned,” she asked her husband. “We were wed in no chapel.” Given that there were nine degrees of marriage under the law, of varying types of legality, I doubt it.

Yay, exactly what this book needed: More sex!

I’ll be real: Richard Bingham playing Weddingcrashers at Margaret’s wedding only to nearly get his ass handed to him by two members of Gráinne’s family is truly an #Iconic moment. 10/10, if the rest of the book was like this I could die a happy woman.

"It was not an Irish face, but the eyes were unforgettable.” ….what is an “Irish face?” Especially post-Norman invasion? What does an Irish face look like?

“There are rumors he gained his inheritance by murder, and it is said outright that he and his mother between them drove his first wife into her grave.” Yay, the return of the Oedipus complex! My favorite thing in this book!

"Grania herself slept alone in a tiny walled guest chamber above, but she was aware of Richard sleeping in the same house. A strong man, sleeping naked in a bed … .

How people change, she thought to herself with amusement. This is definitely not the same Grania whom Donal an Chogaidh knew.”

Yay, MORE sex! MY FAVORITE THING. IN THE WORLD. BECAUSE YOU KNOW WHAT MY FIRST THOUGHT WAS WHEN I READ THE LIFE OF GRÁINNE NÍ MHÁILLE?"**MORE SEX**.”

" If Richard took her at all, he must take her under the old Gaelic concept of “marriage for one year certain” to see if they suited one another.” Ah, yes, the old Gaelic concept of marriage that mysteriously shows up in no legal texts, legends, or genealogical tracts. A very authentic Gaelic tradition, very old, much wow. (For what it’s worth….the Telltown marriages are as close as this comes, but the thing that makes them stand out is that everyone KNEW they were the oddballs.)

"According to pagan custom—which still lived in uneasy truce with Christianity in many parts of Ireland—there were ten degrees of marriage, all the way from a union between propertied partners of equal rank to union by abduction or the mating of the mad. From any of the ten a child could result, and the brehons therefore had allowed for every child’s rights to be recognized by the social order. No human containing an immortal spirit could be illegitimate.” The astonishing thing is that it’s very, very obvious that she read Cáin Lanamna for this…and then proceeded to not apply it to any other time except for when it was necessary.

"How can I be Grania if there is no Tigernan at my shoulder?” Yes, because we all know that the thing that really defined Gráinne Ní Mháille was, in fact, the men in her life.

"Evleen smiled. “At least it isn’t fettered with Christian chains,” she said. “You were wise.”” Oh, God help me. There’s no way to have a marriage in Early Modern Ireland not “fettered with Christian chains” because Christianity IS the religion of the people.

Remember when Gráinne was described as “More than master’s mate” to Richard Burke, implying a union that was mutually respectful? Yeah, me neither. I’m so glad he’s a one dimensional sexist with mommy issues. That’s such a new, innovative take on their relationship. I LOVE to see it. (Note: I’m saying this as someone who HATED Chambers’ blatant shipping in her biography, but hey. I can’t deny what the first hand evidence says. Unlike Chambers.)

" I’ll get the O Lee—he’s our ship’s physician, and at least he can-“ Unless the chieftain of the O’Lee family moonlights as a ship’s doctor, you wouldn’t call him The O’Lee. Just say “I’ll get Aidan O’Lee.” Or, even, “I’ll get the ship’s leech!”

“TAKE THIS FROM UNCONSECRATED HANDS.” I won’t say that all’s forgiven because, I’ll be honest, I really, really hate this novel at this point, but you know what? This forgives at least some of this novel’s sins. One of my favorite tales about her being brought to life on page by a very talented author does make for a high point, between this and Gráinne avenging the boytoy.

Okay, I’ll be real: The O’Donnell and Gráinne boasting about their respective kids is really, really cute, and I accept it because my very first exposure to Early Modern Ireland was “The Fighting Prince of Donegal.”

The O’Donnell talking shit about English poetry is…..very accurate to the time and the mood. My personal favorite genre of Early Modern Irish poetry is probably “The English aren’t shit.”

"Black Hugh nodded. Grania stood up, and Philip Sidney rose with her, as smoothly as if they were joined at the hip. Tigernan uttered a strangled curse. The sasanach was taking hold of Grania’s arm as if she were an old woman and he were a blackthorn stick for her to lean upon! Was that some English custom, insulting the strength of women? Or did he mean to grab her and make off with her?” Honestly, for once, Tigernan is a #Mood.

"But when Philip’s hands moved over her body, Grania discovered that all human landscapes have a certain similarity. She knew his touch as male, and hungry, and when she returned it in kind she felt a familiar rising response that flattered her and made her eager for more. Within the bed they did not seem to be foreigner and Gael. They were just man and woman, enjoying each other.” I ENDURED THE SEX SCENE WITH PHILIP FUCKING SYDNEY. SO THAT NO ONE ELSE HAS TO.

And, just like with Richard, no one can match up to Wonderful Boytoy Huw.

"She prances along the seaways as if she had a man’s balls, John, and by the bright blue eyes of God, it should be my hand that grabs those balls of hers and crushes them.”” Oh, GOD, I THOUGHT THAT THE PIRATE QUEEN’S MOST INFAMOUS LINE WAS JUST BAD LYRIC WRITING. I DIDN’T KNOW THEY TOOK IT *FROM THE NOVEL*. WHY, MORGAN LLEWELYN. WHY.

Look, I’ve made it to Chapter 24. There are 32 in total. I COULD read the rest of the way, since I want to see how poorly the treatment of Elizabeth is going to be (I’d be very shocked if there isn’t some variation of Not Like Other Girls involved), but also: I do not care at this point. I might pick it up again, but also: A bitch is tired. And illiterate. Perhaps, if I’m ever feeling brave, I’ll take on the last eight chapters, but for now: I’m calling it.

#long post #grace o'malley #gráinne ní mháille #chaos-yet-harmony

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moonlightreal · 4 years ago

Text

Fate Episode One

At long last, it’s tiiiiiime!

First: whitewashing bad. Fact acknowledged. Everybody else has said everything on the subject (ad nauseum...) so no reason to say it all again!

I’m diving in with questions. The main one is “Will there be a good reason for Musa to be a mind fairy rather than a music fairy?” Dunno why that’s what I’m wondering the most, but it is. There’s also “Is Fate!Stella truly an unholy union of Stella and Diaspro?” and “so what makes them fairies not witches/psychics/mutants?” and “So what’s up with Beatrix? We know nothing about her, and as an Umineko fan I’m favorably disposed towards witches named Beatrice!” and also “They’re not really having sex are they?!”

I’m going to try and approach Fate just like I do every season of the cartoon, ready to celebrate the good, snark at the bad, enjoy many headcanons, reference random stuff, and have a good time. Pretending I haven’t had my fannish heart nigh to broken by the state of the fandom and that I’m worried I’ll get hate for even posting this. I’m’a try to start from zero to find my own answer the really big question… “Good, bad, or totally irredeemable?”

So… In which we discover a new world.

We start with… a night scene. Not promising when “too dark can’t see” is one of my pet peeves! An old fella comes out to check on his cute Irish sheep. He passes through the barrier, into the dangerous forest beyond to look for a missing sheep. Yup, he’s gonna be guest victim in the first five minutes.

Oh no! Something has disemboweled a sheep and left it hanging in a tree! Clearly there are leopards in the magical realm!

There is a great roar and an unseen but very large-sounding beast chases our poor shepherd! The guy trips and falls just as he’s about to get through the barrier and is set upon and devoured by the unseen beast! Blood spatters the rocks!

Opening! It’s the wings we’ve sen and some really beautiful music. One point for the music.

Then a gorgeous flying shot of the outside of the barrier and Alfea. Whatever the plot turns out to be, the outdoor setting is beautiful. Music that seems to be both pop and edgy plays as we zoom in on the logo on the gate, and there’s Bloom coming in the gate.

And there’s Terra with her father and a tray full of plants.

And there’s Aisha walking by with her dreads

And there’s Stella taking a selfie with other students.

And there’s Musa leaning on her suitcase, headphones on, looking at her phone. Another girl says something to Musa and she turns and replies and smiles.

And there’s one of the guys twirling a knife. I’ve heard Sky starts out in a pink shirt so this must be Riven. The camera comes back to Bloom as she gives him a doubtful look. In the novelization she’s mentally labeling him an edgelord, and that kinda fits. Any dude showing off his willingness to twirl weapons at a high school probably is best avoided—except the dudes here are training to fight so the weapons rules must be different. I wonder if Bloom knows yet that dudes with swords are normal here.

Bloom gets a text to meet Stella at the gate. She waits.

Camera pan to Sky talking to another guy. Sky looks… Sky-ish. Chris Evans style handsome, blond. I’d’ve made him grow his hair to mimic cartoon Sky’s silly shaggy haircut, but points for making Sky look like Sky! Minus points for not dying Riven maroon. They could’ve made it work!

Sky is indeed wearing a pink shirt. In the novelization Bloom thinks he’s wearing it “because gender roles were for the weak” which is a line I think is funny and intend to use in a story somewhere. There is no obvious hint in the show that Sky thinks gender roles are for the weak

Bloom’s tired of waiting. She heads off. Sky ditches his buddy to go meet her. “Wow, you are so lost. I’m impressed with your confidence in the face of complete ignorance. Issue is, you’re overcomitted. You’re essentially running. And now that I’m here you can’t possibly give me the satisfaction of turning around.” he says, all in one go.

I can’t decide if that’s jerkish or charming. Maybe Bloom shares my weakness for men with accents because she decides on charming.

Bloom says she’s a fairy, giggles because that’s something she never thought she’d say, they’re standing in the courtyard of a college for fairies, Bloom’s from California, not the Otherworld. So we get all that established. Sky is kinda charming here and points out the specialists’ hall and fairy hall.

Sky: “I’d be happy to-”

Bloom: “Mansplain it?”

So the writing team does know some modern issues! Bloom says Sky seems like a mansplainer, which seems like quite a leap since she is new and he is helping her, in a friendly-sarcastic kind of way. She’s giggling, clearly charmed.

Then Riven comes up, and he’s like a foot shorter than Sky, and Bloom escapes for some reason so maybe she wasn’t enjoying the conversation as much as it looked? Or maybe it was just the plot needs to move along. Riven glomp-hugs Sky. He’s got a great accent too.

Bloom must’ve left because she saw Stella, they say hello. Bloom says she got impatient waiting and Stella says, “How very American of you” So American stereotypes are known in magical worlds also?

So, Stella! Blonde, tall, zero Stella vibe. Accent. Long pale coat and a satiny top with big chunky pendant. She gets to her ring quick, “Portal ring, the only thing that keeps me sane in this place is the ability to leave it. Your world may not always be thrilling but it beats this one. There are seven realms in the Otherworld, each a different kind of boring.” All spoken in a jaded monotone. Ugh, what have they done to our Stella!

The girls walk inside while Stella speaks, the school is pale stone and arches and plants. Other students are arriving, hauling suitcases, hugging. At least some of them seem happy to be here!

Cut to the globe! and it’s a magical globe, the water moves and there are lil sailing ships! But the lands are totally blank, so it’s a cheap magic globe Dowling didn’t pay enough for the one with tiny forests too. Alfea is in the realm of Solaria.

Maybe they shouldn’t have made Ireland = Solaria. I’ve only been to England but we did not see the sun the whole trip! Bloom’s in Dowling’s really cool office. She spins the globe but the camera pans away before we see the names of the other realms. Bloom’s talking nervously about seeing people updating their insta stories, expecting Tinkerbells, and the lack of wings.

Dowling: “We had wings in the past. As we’ve evolved, transformation magic has been lost. Tink was an air fairy, you’re a fire fairy.”

Dowling says classes tomorrow, learn to use magic slowly but safely… we establish Bloom is here to learn to control her magic so she can go home and not keen on ‘slow.’ Dowling says, ‘trust the process’ which immediately makes me mistrust her.

Then she gives a great lil speech: “Alfea’s graduates have ruled realms and led armies. They have forged powerful relics and rediscovered long lost relics. They shape the otherworld.”

But Bloom just wants to get done and go home. She says, ‘I'm here because you promised you’d teach me control.” and Dowling says, ‘no, you’re here because you knew you have no other choice.” and Bloom looks betrayed.

Yeah Dowling’s sus.

Next scene: Bloom showing her dorm to her parents over video call! How does that work between dimensions? Her folks look nothing like Mika and Vanessa, dad’s got a beard and silver temples, mom’s got big blonde curls. Neither of them have burn injuries or the sort of freaked out vibe I’d expect from folks whose house was just on fire.

Roommate pan-around! Terra puts potted plants everywhere! Stella preens at the vanity! Musa headphones-and-laptop but smiles at Terra. Aisha comes in with her laundry bag.

Bloom’s parents get suspicious about the timezone thing, they think Bloom’s in the Alps, and Aisha comes and covers for her saying it’s time for lights out.

Aisha intro! She is wearing a pink and brown checkered dress that’s not super fashionable or flattering. I like her blue braids though. Aisha does not seem to have the accent that many Alfeans have.

Bloom explains the “human parents, fairy daughter, I must be a throwback to an ancestor” thing. Aisha looks dubious. Then they mention Harry Potter!

Bloom; ‘Ravenclaw, sometimes Slytherin.’

Aisha; ‘Explains the lies then. Gryffindor.’

Bloom: ‘Explains the judgment.’

Congrats, you both were jerks in three short lines. 9_9 But they’re smiling so I guess it’s friendly sniping.

Bloom goes to see Stella, who’s holding up sparkly tops to herself. She’s also got this weird rainbow skirt that looks like gymnastics clothes not real clothes. Stella’s changing for the party because people have already seen her in her clothes. Bloom asks confused, ‘People expect you to wear multiple outfits?’ and Stella comes back with, ‘people expect me to care how I look.” In the same jaded monotone.

Before Bloom can WTF outta there like a sensible person Stella snaps her fingers and creates a ball of light. Bloom gapes, but not nearly as much as I feel like she should. The magic is beautiful, it’s all rainbowy and sparkly. Bloom just hesitantly asks, ‘Can I ask, how exactly you..?” and Stella shuts her down with an almost kind, “I’m a mentor, not a tutor.”

But she does give a little infodump. “Fairy magic is tied to emotion. God thoughts, bad, hatred, fear, the stronger the emotion the stronger the magic.”

And Bloom says, ‘Do you hate me or fear me? You were looking at me when you did that. And I’m pretty sure you don’t love me.” Smart cookie, Bloom! Points to you! We know it’s because Bloom was talking to sky, and that gives Stellla some emotions.

And points to Stella, she thaws out her voice and talks like a real person, ‘I don’t know you. I’m sure once I do I’ll find something to love.” She sounds rather doubtful about the last bit but yay actual emotion!

Then Stella goes over to Terra for her intro scene and I cringe because the novelization did Terra dirty and I’m not keen to see it on screen. But it works ok. Stella gently calls Terra on the number of houseplants and says the secret garden was better kept secret, Terra responds that wasn’t really the message of the book, Stella looks at her with amused patience and leaves Musa and Terra to continue the scene. And I decide if there’s no infodump about how earth and the Otherworld relate to each other in this show I shall be cross.

Then Terra chatters on about her family and how she grew up at Alfea since her dad works here (she’s holding a 100% fake plant) and drops that Stella is a second year. Musa asks why a second-year is in a first-year suite and Terra says it’s some administrative thing probably best not to mention. But Terra totally knows the secret.

Musa’s eyes glow purple. Magic! But we don’t hear what she hears. She starts putting her headphones on. Terra goes on to say they should all not mention it to Stella, then interrupts another headphones-attempt to offer Musa a succulent, “They’re low maintainence, perfect for you, not that I really know you...’

Musa: ‘If I take it will you stop talking?”

Terra visibly deflates and Musa apologizes and grabs the succulent before finally getting to escape into music.

Aisha leans in to ask Terra if Alfea has a pool. It has a river and Aisha’s been swimming—twice a day every day! Terra says no pool, just the pond where the specialists train but nobody swims there, at least not on purpose.

And we immediately cut out to the pond, which looks pretty mucky, I wouldn’t want to swim there either! Two specialists, a boy and a girl, are whacking away at each other with wooden swords on the shore. They’re all dressed in black pants and tank tops, very Divergent movie poster except with the Alfea logo on the front. There’s a bunch of specialists training all around the pond and one does indeed knock their opponent in with a splash! But we home in on Sky and Riven and I cannot get over how short and skinny Riven is compared to Sky! And the fact that I’ve just been rewatching Lord of the Rings and Riven doesn’t look 100% not like Dominic Monaghan… sorry Riven’s actor, I’m sure in future episodes I’ll stop thinking you’re a hobbit!

Anyway, Riven’s teasing Sky about his crush on Bloom, says Sky always goes for the crazy ones and all redheads are crazy. Sky puts Riven on the mat and Riven says he was getting high all summer and not practicing. Before Sky can give him a “big brother speech” on that riven skedaddled because here comes the teacher with a different speech!

This show’s Codatorta, whose name is Silva and who looks very irish and I like him, does a little speech about how y’all gotta train, singles out a black guy I think is Dane and says, ‘even you will be able to fight like him.” and attacks Sky, who fights back. They spar for a minute.

Infodump: “Sky’s father was Andreas of Eraklyon, that makes him a legacy.” Also, some of these kids are from families of specialists and some were selected by Silva based on their talent for combat and weaponry. “This place will seem like hell until actual hell comes. We are the first line of defense, a certainty when the future is uncertain!’

Then Dane snickers about the whole ‘school full of kids with swords’ and Silva says it must be nice to be so ‘soft’ he can make fun. And Dane drops that the barrier exists ‘to protect the school from Burned Ones.”

As he says it, we cut to Sky going out through the barrier to smoke.

Burned ones are gone. But Silva saw one when he was a kid. His father shot it but was killed by the Burned One’s poison. Burned Ones are inhumanly strong and fast, and have a terrible poison, or disease that kills people who get away.

Sky looks over and sees the shepherd’s body. Yikes!

Cut to the staff arriving to look at the remains. Just three: Dowling, Codatorta, and Terra’s dad. Is that the whole staff? Who teaches? Could’ve been a wolf or a bear… Terra’s dad collects some gunk from the body and I think calls it “char residue.”

Dowling says, “She killed all the Burned Ones.”

She? This world’s Marion/Daphne, likely.

But the adults clean it up so the kids can party! Our girls are gathered around the food, and they’re better dressed! Aisha’s got her hair up and a blue hoodie, Musa’s got a little red coat. Terra has not been blessed by the fashion fairy, she’s in some overalls it looks like, not flattering. Terra is saying hopefully that maybe the shepherd died of old age and Musa’s ‘Yeah, that old age decapitation” is gentle ribbing not cruel.

Aisha’s loading up a stack of cookies, says how much she eats and, ‘If I didn’t swim I’d be massive.” it’s not aimed at Terra , but Terra flinches. Aisha heads off and Terra says something that boils down to, ‘Musa, you’re tuning out me in particular.” which, Terra you’ve known Musa for what, six hours? Way too short a time to take it personal. Musa says, ‘It’s a me thing, it’s not you.” and Terra just flusters and heads away. Musa looks troubled but not sure what to do and puts her headphones on.

This is SO much better than in the book. Not perfect, all the interactions between the girls have been very weird as if they’ve been given a script full of cruel catty lines and instructed to say them in a kind way, but at least they’ve tried for the vibe of “trying to be nice to people we don’t know yet and flubbing it” rather than “we are all terrible people” like I feared.

Terra meets her dad and tries to go to the greenhouse with him but he makes her stay to enjoy the party.

Cut to some grownup dude—Dowling’s secretary? Apparently searching for something in a desk that I presume is outside the headmistress’ office.

Beatrix… or possibly a gothed-up Bloom… comes to see Dowling and when told the headmistress isn’t in says, ‘I’ll just take a water, room temp, thanks love.’ and then when the door opens Beatrix greets Dowling with a simpering ‘I'm your biggest fan, I’m obsessed with Alfea...” and cascading apologies for swearing, with more swearing. Dowling and her secretary are as confused by this as I am but Dowling says Beatrix can study the history of Alfea in the library if she wants to. I assume this is evil Beatrix slyly getting permission to hit the books. Is Beatrix even a student at Alfea?

Cut to Bloom’s notebook, she’s already started taking notes about powers being linked to emotions, love hate and fear. Great initiative Bloom, but are there no textbooks you could be reading ahead in?

We get dumped back to a flashback: Bloom’s mom wants her to go out on a Saturday night, to a party or a movie or whatever teen thing. All Bloom wants to do is go to antique sales apparently. Bloom doesn’t want to be a “basic bitch” like her mom and her mom doesn’t want her daughter to be a “weird loner.”

Pause while I urban dictionary “basic bitch.” Huh. Not a term I ever heard in my circle of nerds.

Bloom and her mom are awful to each other. Back in the present Bloom’s eyes flame up as she remembers. She decides it’s time to go experiment! Right now! Before even one day of magic class or one page of a textbook! The idiot ball has entered play.

Night has fallen because of course it has. Bloom runs into Sky at the party. But she’s not looking to party, she’s looking for a place to be alone outside. Sky directs her to beyond the barrier, because we’re about to have Plot. If it weren’t for Plot I‘m sure Sky could’ve suggested a specialist workout area inside the barrier. Sky says there might be wolves or bears or “maybe something much scarier” and Bloom catches the idiot ball and says, ‘But no people? Perfect!”

Sky offers to go with her but Bloom says no thanks in a “I think you may be flirting and I may be down for that in the future just not right now.” kind of a way. Good character interaction! Except Stella grabs Sky for a chat once Bloom heads out to meet the Plot.

Sky and Stella have an opaque exchange that really just establishes they have a past of some sort that everyone knows about because everyone stares—or at least Stella thinks everyone is staring. I’m starting to feel weirdly sorry for this Stella who has none of her namesake’s sparkle and confidence. Why does she think all the realms are boring? Is she ever enthusiastic?

...wait, it’s still day! Why was it night inside?? This show is weird about lighting. Gosh Ireland is beautiful! Where’s this castle they got to be Alfea? Can I go there? This FOREST! It is a fully magical forest. Aisha is swimming in the river, with goggles and a cap but Bloom heads into the amazing forest. Good music here too! Forests and magic and music, come on Fate you CAN be a good show, I believe in you! Just put down the idiot ball and step away... Bloom goes through the barrier and outside it sees a swirl of orange and white sparkles in the air. She watches it and laughs and then hikes through a little more forest.

Finding a clearing Bloom calls her fire. At first she can’t, then she looks through the pictures on her phone looking for emotion. “Pictures of my sad teenage years are not happy thoughts. Noted.” She says with an angsty little smile. Then there’s a photo of the burned out house. She zooms in and stares at it taking in all the details. And we get flashbacks to the line of fire racing towards her parents’ bed.

Fire! Bloom turns her handful of fire this way and that, delighted, then tries for two hands. This is the scene from the trailer, playing with fire. Good music here. And good that Bloom thought the magic was neat… uuuuntil she realizes she doesn’t know how to put it out. She freaks out and waves her hands around trying to blow out the flames.

Aisha comes to the rescue and says dumb things like, “You’re losing control.” and “If you get angry at me...” and Bloom does get angry and throws lines of fire right at Aisha. Who looks terrified. Sensibly, but also has she never seen fire magic before? She grew up in a magic realm, does she know nothing about how to help someone get control? Is control taught to magical babies so teenagers rarely see someone wigging out? But if magic is emotion then everyone will lose control sometime since we all get upset. How does an emotion=magic society function?

Anyway. aisha pulls water up from the ground and puts out the flames.

Inside Aisha gives Bloom what for about losing control. Including, “Is that American for sorry I almost set you on fire?” Srsly, this show is Irish people and Italians stealth throwing shade at Americans! *Laughs in January 2021* Bloom retorts that she went away from people to experiment for just that reason, and tells Aisha about not having had fairy parents or any magical experience.

Aisha responds with the story of flooding her school including the toilets and having to wade through poo. (I also tend to call it poo, after watching Mike Rowe. I wonder if they watch Dirty Jobs in the Otherworld.)

And Bloom tells her story. Bloom isn’t a cheerleader, she likes antiques and staying home by herself, so she and her mom don’t get along. Her parents removed her door, which is awful! And Bloom got flamey eyes and sent fire straight at her parents while they slept. While Bloom sat on her bed in a rage trance. Understandable level of fury after that fight. And Bloom feels awful, also understandable. And she snuck out to sleep in a creepy warehouse to protect her parents. Her folks didn’t know it was her of course, they don’t know about magic.

Aisha says that beats her flood story, but Aisha is also wondering about something. “You drew on a good deal of magic without even trying. it’s hard to believe you’re from a dormant bloodline. Is there any chance you’re adopted?”

Bloom laughs. Then says she heard the story of her birth a million times, she was a miracle baby diagnosed with a heart defect but then after birth her heart was fine.

Aisha: “Oh god, you’re a changeling!” … ‘It’s barbaric and it barely ever happens anymore….”

Bloom has had enough and just says, “why would you even tell me that?” and leaves. Musa comes over and asks Aisha what she said. Aisha: “The truth. Because someone’s been lying to her.”

Cut to Dowling, lookin’ sus!

This changeling thing had better be fully explained later. Why was it done in the past? Why is it considered barbaric? What happened to the parents’ real kid? I assume she died of the heart condition, but that’s a bigole dangling bit of Plot. In the unlikely event that Fate goes for many seasons that baby will turn up with magic too or as a specialist or something.

Dowling pours tea. Then she telekinetically locks her office door and opens a secret passage! Dowling is sus.

Back at the party, where it again seems to be night. Dane is leaning on a column hangin out when here comes Riven with a flask! He offers, Dane says no thanks, Riven says, ‘There are two types of first-years: pussies and aspiring former pussies.” and pours the entire flask’s worth of booze into Dane’s cup anyway.

Dane says something about, “It feels like less a binary choice and more like a spectrum.” And points for the actor delivering this line like it’s a sarcastic comment on social juscice-ness rather than the large sign saying “Dane is not straight!’ that the writers intended. Dane drinks, makes a face, and Riven bullies him into drinking the rest, tipping the glass so Dane chokes.

Terra rides to the rescue, “Bullying the first-years? Can you be more basic?” and Riven says Dane was into it which he wasn’t.

Terra: “Thinks he’s some badass but you should’ve seen him last year he was just a tragic nerd in disguise.”

Riven: “And she’s just three people in disguise.”

Dane does call Riven out on that bit of nastiness but Terra just does a great lil speech and strangles Riven with vines. Thought I’d hate that but I kinda liked it. Go Terra. Then she introduces herself to Dane, says that wasn’t a great first impression but Dane says he’s about to make an impression by throwing up after a single drink, and Terra hurries him away presumably to the nurse.

Bloom google-imaged changelings! Lotsa woodcuts, someone’s fanart entitled “horror of fairy babies.’ There’s more nuance to it than that… Bloom looks at a family photograph.

There’s Stella, coming to be sympathetic? Nope, she’s coming to conivingly advance the plot! “You know there’s no shame in that, wanting a normal life, wanting to be home...”

When the girls get back Bloom is nowhere to be found. Musa mind-reads that Stella is wracked with guilt, They put it together, Bloom was talking to Sky and now she’s gone. Apparently Stella did something nasty to the last girl who talked to Sky. Terra is kinda straight up badass. Stella confesses, she kindly loaned Bloom the portal ring so she could go back to “the first world” but to use it Bloom has to go deep into the forest outside the barrier to a door in a graveyard.

Portal’s super low special effects, Bloom pushes open a door in a cemetary, the ring glows, and Bloom walks into what must be the warehouse she hid out in.

It’s very dark inside both buildings but away from the cemetary it seems to still be day so we can see a Burned One’s shadow coming towards the portal. Day and night seem to depend on location in this show, and anywhere you need a monster it’s gonna be dark! Bloom seems to leave the magic portal open and we see her step out on the warehouse into a weirdly well-lit night on earth.

Real actual nighttime on earth. Bloom walks to her parents’ house and calls them from outside. Her dad’s surprised she called twice in one day. This call her folks seem just worried and nice, not awful like they were in the flashback. Bloom cries. She can’t ask her parents about the changeling thing. Her mom says very kind, ‘Your path isn’t like mine or your father’s but I can’t wait to see who you become.” Bloom hangs up and cries and watches her parents in their house, then walks back to the warehouse to return to Alfea.

But first we get to see where she was camping! In a little office in the warehouse. She brought a lot of stuff, bedding and pictures for the walls and everything. She opens a notebook and we see that she was experimenting already, discovered she was fireproof, wondered if she had superpowers. Then she senses something and looks out through an interior window into the rest of the warehouse.

Yikes! it’s a Burned One!

Bloom staggers back, trips, and drops Stella’s ring down a grate in the floor.

Bloom’s never heard of Burned Ones at this point but she knows a monster when she sees one. She cowers, back to the wall. The Burned One breaks through the window and tries to grab her!

Bloom escapes into some kind of tunnel, I guess she opened the grate that the ring fell through? It’s not totally clear. There’s the ring, on the other side of a different grate or screen, Bloom can’t reach it, there’s lots of roaring, Bloom runs like hell!

And there’s Dowling! She says, ‘don’t stop now.’ and gestures Bloom through the door back to the cemetery. The door closes behind her. Terra, Musa and Aisha are waiting to make sure Bloom’s ok. Bloom says the Burned One got the ring.

Stella, meanwhile, is on Sky’s bed when he comes out of the shower! Dressed, at least.

Sky is not interested. “You can’t be here, Stell. If Silva finds out-’ Sky goes for his trousers but Stella comes over and snuggles up to his bare back. Sky is still not keen. Seems Stella dumped him then went silent all summer and now she’s jumping in since he talked to Bloom. Stella… comes out and says, “I got jealous. I did something really stupid.” and she says, “I can’t sleep in a room where everybody hates me.” For sending Bloom into danger to get home when that’s what Bloom wanted? Not great, Stella, but hateworthy? Did the girls all tell her they hate her or does Stella just think she’s an awful person? And is Stella actually desperately unhappy or is she just trying to get in Sky’s pants? Not sure what to take away from this. Sky hugs Stella and tells her she’s better than she thinks she is.

The others get back to the dorm and Aisha reassures Bloom that Dowling can take care of the Burned One.

Cut to Beatrix leaving her raid on the library with armfuls of books. She passed Riven, who’s smoking. They say flirty things and Beatrix says she’s been “snorting the midnight adderall” to show that she’s a bad girl. Riven offers her a puff but her hands are full of books so they do this almost-kiss so Riven can blow smoke into her mouth. Erotic, also gross. Is that a real thing people do? Riven asks Beatrix if she’s a first-year and she says “I’m lots of things” and walks off leaving Riven and the room he’s in, which has the most gorgeous arched windows with trees in them. Is this place real? It’s the same place the party was but now it’s night and these windows are glowing green with tree outlines in them. This has gotta be something the filmmakers added.

Pajama scene in the girls’ suite, Terra waters plants, Musa hops in bed with headphones on. Terra does a needy little wave. Musa reluctantly un-headphones. Terra offers a speaker she borrowed from her brother so Musa can have her music without shutting other people out.

And I cringe so hard because just let people tune you out if they want! Communicate by whiteboard! People not wanting to share doesn’t mean they hate you, it means they have their own thoughts they’re busy with! Come on Terra, be better than your novelization self!

Musa calls Terra out on her fake-happy bullshit. Musa can feel all of Terra’s insecurities and anger. Seems like maybe empaths shouldn’t have to share a room! What’s the range on mind reading? How did Musa hit 16 without learning to tune stuff out or going mad? But Musa says, ‘but if you want to know how I really feel...” and switches her music to a speaker, it’s guitar-y and nice.

Up in Dowling’s office, Silva says she should’ve killed the Burned One not left it chained up and knocked out in a shack outside the barrier. Dowling needs to investigate this Burned One, see if there are more of them. Then Dowling spills that Bloom is a changeling, from the time the last Burned One disappeared. And she says, “Rosalind kept so much from us. I’m worried about the students. The Alfea they know is very different from the one we attended.” There’s something very “there was a war before” about the two of them. Dowling may not be sus after all, though that may make her a terrible headmistress depending on how the next episodes go.

Montage of sleeping students. Terra and Dane are texting. Dane accidentally likes one of Riven’s sexy photos. Riven’s pleased. Sky and Stella are sharing a bed but after the last scene I can’t imagine they actually did anything. Sky seemed pretty unseduceable.

And outside a Mysterious Cloaked Figure passes through the barricade, finds the Burned One in the hut, and zaps it awake with lightning. It pushed back its hood… Beatrix! So if she undid her too-tight braids she’d be Stormy? So is Beatrix the villain? I mean obviously she’s a villain but the threat of the Burned Ones feels... bigger than one teenager in Bratz clothes who has not got the presence of even one Trix much less all three wrapped up together. But anyway she’ gets to be a doomful cloaked figure at the end of episode one.

Very pretty ending credits music. Listened to it several times. I can’t understand the lyrics which is probably just as well. Is it in irish or is it just sung in a way to not have clear lyrics? C’mon fate, Irishness is a big thing you’ve got going for you, please milk it for all its worth!

I… I LIKED it! Now my friends say future episodes get worse so I can’t get my hopes too high but this wasn’t awful. None of the girls really had any vibe of their characters, only Bloom and Sky really look like Bloom and Sky. The worldbuilding is lacking, I’m left with more questions than answers.

And oh god one episode was ten pages and about five hours. I… I meant to do this with every episode but I’m not sure I can. There’s so much to comment on it takes forever. Maybe I’ll do each one in parts. Or maybe I’ll abandon the writing and just watch the show like a normal person. It’s a lot of fun to fine-toothed comb each scene but I’m’a be here forever!

#fate the winx saga

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tarry-a-lot · 5 years ago

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French Musical Recommendations?/review (Part 3)

This is a mix between recommendations and shows I don’t like and shows I just know exist but don't know a lot about. Even if I’m not too much a fan of some of the show I would still check these shows out for the fun of it, maybe its not my cup of tea but it is for someone else. Again my French is lacking so if the lyrics aren’t great I wouldn’t really know unless I sat down and read them which I didn’t do.

Robin des Bois (2013):

what to say about this show... I’ll start with the summary: Robin Hood and Marianne break up pre-show and have their own groups going on. Marianne also has a son with robin but robin has no idea about him. Sheriff of Nottingham starts attacking so Marianne asks robin for help. Also the sheriff figures out about robin’s son and so he imprisons the kid and surprise! there a romance between Nottingham’s daughter and Robin Hood’s son.

Yep, haven’t seen the show, really don’t mind the plot sounds interesting enough. I’ve only listened to the soundtrack once and all I got to say is that it’s not great. The cast is lovely and look really sweet and friendly with each other, but all the songs really just sound like basic pop. To be clear without understanding the lyrics and just listening to it with not visuals, I found the soundtrack quite boring, so maybe I’m just missing something. My favourite songs are “Le flèche et la cible,” (the piano makes it sound like an anime opening or something, liked the drums too, and the vocals are nice) and “On est là” (it’s a really weird one, I couldn’t put my finger on it but after playing it for someone I got the decisive answer of it is very 80′s, the instrumentals really threw me off but hey it’s catchy). Also some songs had a bass line that also threw me off, just wasn’t expecting it. like the one in “la Providence,” maybe it’s just me. And one last thing about the songs, what the hell is ”Notting hill Nottingham” like that title is also the chorus and I’m just?? maybe if I understood the rest of the lyrics it would make sense? aside from the debatable chorus line, the drums are a blast in this song. Clips and music videos available on YouTube along with a behind the scenes two part video on the official musical’s channel.

Non-Music: well the costumes are ok, don’t love them but don’t hate them either, though friar tuck’s is debatable, from the bits I’ve seen most of the background is done with a screen which is fine, it’s more of a concert style show anyway, I’m a big fan of the ladder trees though, the dancing and acrobatics is probably the highlight of the show (again only saw bits but it looks good)

Dracula l'amour plus fort que la mort (2012): This is different from the Frank Wildhorn Dracula musical, Dracula: A chamber Musical and the Swedish Dracula musical. Unsurprisingly this musical is based on Stoker Dracula telling which I never read so I don’t know how much it follows that text. It was also inspired by the 1992 Coppola film (which again I have never watched). I won’t be too helpful about plot summary but it follows the general novel plot with Jonathan Harker engaged with Mina Murray goes off to Dracula’s castle for work. Things happen, the issue with Lucy occurs then Mina is targeted by Dracula and Harker with the Dr. Seward and Helsing go to kill Dracula to save Mina. There also seems to be a subplot where Mina was Dracula’s lover in a past life, which is shown through dance sequences throughout the show.Music wise it’s mainly rock pop which is up my alley. Personally, just based on music and not lyrics I like “Encore”, “Elles”, “ Le Ciel et l'Enfer” “ La Dernière danse” and maybe “L'Amour et son Contraire”. The full show is available on YouTube.

Non-music: This show goes hard on edgy imagery. I personally quite liked the general over the top modernish gothic vibe. The dancers are great and quite liked some of the limited palette scene. The opening shadow puppet scene was cool. The only part I really had issue with is maybe the CGI 3d video scene. It was cool at times but the CGI is not great which is not their fault, but kind of distracted me. Also if you watch it there is this scene where Harker is laying in a large Pieta statue (minus the Jesus) and it’s just great. Like edgy church imagery with vampires? sign me up. There’s also this Vampire dream sequence in a bed because of course every vampire musical needs one (Tanz der Vampire if you know what I mean). Harker is in bed and vampire women come out from the bed (the bed itself is a hollow prop where dancers are hiding within and pop out from the holes hidden by the puffy bedding), the bed itself could have been more decorative with posts (like tanz) but still a really cool scene, Almost forgot, Mina and Dracula are played by dancers so they don’t really sing, especially Dracula he does not speak at all. Costumes are fun to look at, some are the best but I appreciated the general look of the show so I’m not that bothered. I strangely grew to like the spiney Dracula costumes, I think the fact he didn’t talk and just danced helped me like the costume more.

Overall, fun show so if pop rock is your vibe this show you should check it out.

Cindy Cendrillion (2002): This show is not good, but I had a blast laughing about it as I watched it so I recommend it. Let me clarify, my dislike is not due to the cast, in general I thought singing and dancing and all that were really good, what gets me is how dated it is now (it is really early 2000’s vibes and some of the plot is debatable). Show is available split into two acts on YouTube.

So the plot is pretty much a retelling of the Cinderella story in a modern early 2000′s setting. Cindy (Cinderella) is the daughter of an recently disappeared Irish pilot. and she lives with her step mother and sisters who are mean to her. She has a passion for dancing the jig, I’m assuming they are referencing Irish step to a certain degree. She goes out in night to dance but her step-mother threatens to kick her out if she doesn’t come home before midnight. A super star named Ricky (Prince Charming) has a Birthday ball and sees Cindy and falls in love. Also Ricky had a model Fiancée Judy who he breaks it off with to pursue Cindy. Spoilers now... Ricky writes a song where one can dance “the jig” to so they hold a competition to find a dancer for it, guess who wins? Cindy.. they fall in love... but Judy realises it’s all over for her and Ricky ands faxes him so mean message then commits suicide by overdosing on drugs. Cindy gets scared and leaves Ricky to Ireland. Ricky tracks her down and they fly away in a spaceship?! honestly this plot is just sure something.

Okay.... um if you read the spoiler section of the summary you’ll know how wild this show is. For those who haven’t warning there is an suicide by overdosing on drugs in the show. Music wise it’s alright, I watched the show but all the songs are quite forgettable because I was so distracted by the plot. Again the vocals are nice so perhaps I just need to listen to audio only, though I’m unsure about some of the lyrics.

Non-Music: I have so much to rant about this show. First off it’s just weird that her Irish pilot dad keeps appearing in like spiritual form. Also Cindy is not spectacular at dancing, which is hilarious during the jig dancing competition you have actual dancer ensemble members doing cool moves and in general good dancing but at the end Cindy comes stepping around and twirling a bit, the same choreography she does every time she danced the jug in the show and then wins the competition. Honestly, they should of just done full Irish step dancing and had the actress trained in it or to be more practical had a double for Cindy that was obscured to trick the audience into thinking this double was Cindy. The actress was lovely and maybe she can dance but “the jig” choreography was so pathetic compared to the ensemble’s part, even the ensemble part was weird.. maybe I just don’t understand what “jig” dancing is. Also the ending was so random to me, maybe it’s because of my lacking French, I get there were references to space throughout the show but WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT ENDING. Well stage wise it was interesting at parts. I like the large center column piece that had platforms on it that moved around the pillar. Cindy’s love song to Ricky with her in front of a large Ricky Magazine and two screens showing zoom ups on Ricky was weird. Finally, costumes, really dated and tacky but I think they were quite fun. The only complaint I really have is Ricky, he wears this half tank top half leather jacket look, and it’s really a single tiddy out look.

Starmania (1979): Let me start by saying I DON’T hate this show I just know little about it. I’ve watched bits a few years ago and only really recall one song. It’s one of THE French musicals, I mean I wouldn’t know for certain but you’ll see it’s quite popular and covered by newer musicals cast member (like Mozart L’Opera Rock). The photo is from a more recent production which is different from the original costumes. As a show it’s set in a futuristic society so there is some surreal techno outfits and set pieces, which are actually quite cool. It’s pretty much about a gang called the Black Stars who are trying to rebel against a billionaire turned politician Zéro Janvier. There is romance plots, the wiki has more info on that. In general, the singing is great and from the parts I’ve seen it looks interesting despite the show aesthetic being really not my thing. Full versions of the show are available on YouTube, the production done in English is also posted on YouTube. I would say if you are trying to get into French Musicals this is a good one to listen to as well as it’s kind of a classic but I hesitate as the visuals look a bit weird due to the futuristic element (kind of remind me if starlight Express when it comes to costume) but if this isn’t you cup of tea there are plenty of other shows as well.

Résiste (2015): It’s a French Jukebox Musical. It’s one of those one artist jukebox musicals, so all the songs were originally sung by France Gall and written by Michel Berger. It’s about five friends (I think they’re friends), two of whom are sisters. The sisters work with their dad at the family bar/night club. The plot revolves around something tragic happening and the five friends trying to deal and grow from it? (probably something to do with the night club)I haven't seen it so I have no idea what the tragic event is. I didn’t know any of the songs before this musical but it’s quite catchy and fun. Clips of the show and songs are available on YouTube.

#French musicals #résiste #starmania #robin des bois #cindy #cendrillion #dracula l'amour plus fort que la mort #dracula #france gall #michel berger #theatre #rambling #musicals

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