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rwprincess · 3 years ago

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Two Worlds Collided

Masterlist

A/N: Oh, an anachronistic songfic from RWPrincess? But this time it’s about John Bender! :D Inspired by Never Tear Us Apart (originally by INXS in 1987, but I particularly like this Paloma Faith version)

Word Count: 2K

Synopsis: Bender met reader at the Breakfast Club and the two seemed like opposites, but they shared a common hidden sadness. Over the years, feelings and relationships change.

CW: Swearing, sexuality, Bender being a general asshole

Bender had met her the same way everyone in the Breakfast Club had, on the Saturday detention on March 24th. He had seen her in the hallways prior to that as he was always observant. He had seen everyone in the Breakfast Club before that day; but he hadn’t given her much thought. Now, he was paying attention to little else. He had no idea why he was drawn to her; they were both so different and he could never picture himself with a goody-two-shoes like that. But the way she had reacted to his more vulnerable, real moments, how she tried to make a connection with him...that stuck with him. He knew he should have learned from his disastrous blow-up with Claire that two people who were so different just wouldn’t work out. He repeated this to himself over and over, like a mantra, but it never changed how he actually felt.

After the breakup, the Breakfast Club had a split between those who chose Bender and those who chose Claire. Of course, Andrew sided with Claire unconditionally, but John considered that as no big loss. Allison tried to play the middle ground and Johnson had sided more with him, but he was surprised at the wholehearted backing he received from Y/N. He had assumed that she would either try to be neutral like Allison, or pick Claire. She had no reason to side with him, he had always come off as an aloof ass. But she had, and he was eternally grateful for that. He had originally decided to get together with Claire because the notion had a hot, forbidden quality to it. They spent time insulting each other and making out to make up for it. It was as passionate as it was destructive, so of course it couldn’t last. However, when he was alone and reflected to himself, he had been attracted to Y/N all along. She was hot, yes, but he had plenty of good-looking girls to choose from. He was more drawn to that kind, quiet inside she had displayed that day. How she had gone out of her way numerous times to reach out to him and had been genuinely nice to him. Most of the time, someone only did that to gain something for themselves. Whether it was to use him or to make themselves feel better, it depended on the person, but with Y/N that never felt like it was the case.

Don't ask me

What you know is true

Don't have to tell you

I love your precious heart

He thought back to the first time he saw her on that Saturday, walking into the library and looking so out of place. He was already adjusting into his spot when she entered and she froze in front of all the tables like a deer-in-the-headlights, as if she had just materialized there and had no clue what she was doing. He remembered feeling both attracted to that doe-eyed look and scoffing internally at it. While she wasn’t part of the cliques that Andrew and Claire were, she had a very sheltered look to her and he was envious of that type of innocence. Her ignorance must have been bliss compared to the hell he lived each day at school and at home. She was just as out of place as the preppies or ultra-dweeb Johnson, but instead of being offended by that notion, she looked terrified. She meekly put her items on the front-row desk opposite to him and he thought about all the fun he could poke at everyone here, including her. However, the first blow did not land well. Bender loved making people uncomfortable, but he didn’t necessarily want to make them cry. He’d made some off-handed remark towards her. He had been circling her and eyeing her, employing the discomfort he liked inflicting, trying to ‘guess’ why she was in detention. “I bet you were caught fooling around with a teacher, right? Always the quiet ones that you’d least suspect…”

John Bender rarely regretted his words or actions. He knew he was an asshole and let unfiltered thoughts through so that he could be the center of attention. In doing so, he had to stand by all the shit he said, even when he crossed a line. This was one of the scattered occasions in which he felt remorse, though. She didn’t reply, not verbally, anyway, but she looked scared shitless and was rooted to the spot. Tears instantly sprang up in her eyes and she looked as if she were about to hurl right on his combat boots. He backed off after that. He didn’t apologize, because that’s not something John Bender could have on his reputation, but he didn’t target her. There was something so sincere about her reaction and he saw himself reflected in that expression. Not the tough-as-nails persona he projected, but his secret self who had seen too much too early in life and could barely stand another blow. He didn’t know what her deal was, but there was a heavy sadness behind those eyes that was far too real for him to tamper with.

When he had shown the group his souvenir for spilling paint in his garage, courtesy of his father, she must have seen that reflection back. No one in that group actually knew him. They all thought he was a lying sack of shit; what could he say? His reputation preceded him. But he caught her gaze as he backed away from the group, and the sadness in her recognized the sadness in him. He felt an odd sort of click, a mutual understanding, but he turned away from them all and trashed the library.

I, I was standing

You were there

Two worlds collided

And they could never tear us apart

That was months ago, and out of everyone he met that day, she was the one who truly stuck by him. He’d surprisingly connected with Johnson, sure. Everybody likes to get high and Bender was the supplier. And he and Allison had similar interests, but she wouldn’t give up Andrew and with that territory came Claire...there was just no going back to that. But Bender still had Y/N, and he could never understand it. The first time he had brought her into his friend circle, he tried to justify it as sticking to his word and ‘having the balls to stand up to his friends’ like he had told Claire to do. He also reasoned that it was some sort of social experiment. As much as he liked to portray himself as someone who couldn’t care less, Bender was entirely social. He craved attention and admiration for others and could read just about anyone like a book. Maybe that’s why he didn’t mess with Y/N after that first comment landed so wrongly. He felt like he knew exactly what she was thinking and feeling and decided to back off. However, it wasn’t just some ‘watch and see how she interacts’ set up; Bender genuinely wanted her there. He wanted to integrate her into his life.

She was still extremely quiet, mostly a speak-when-you’re-spoken-to type, but he started to peel back layers in her personality. He found that, despite that lurking sadness, there was an unending pool of optimism. She tried to see the best in situations and in people. She meshed incredibly well with his friends because she listened instead of judged. She would nod along like she knew exactly what they were talking about and how they felt. He started to develop an attachment to her. While he was still dating Claire, he told himself it was akin to having a pet. Y/N was like a goldfish that he could tell his problems to and know the secret would be kept. But after Claire, he realized that wasn’t the case...particularly when he sought Y/N’s comfort above all else. He divulged the entire last big fight he and Claire had to her, and she was just so...reassuring. After that day, he began to see her in a different light. He argued with himself over what his feelings and intentions actually were, but he couldn’t keep them at bay for long. She was good for Bender. He had never felt lighter.

Of course, Bender had not known stability in his life ever, and the risk of falling for Y/N and having it mean something and being accountable to one person overwhelmed him. He did what he knew best: he fought it and ran away from it. At first, he tried to avoid her, just distance himself. But he’d gravitate back; being without her was too heavy to bear. He wanted to try to actively push her away, to fuck up this relationship with his words, just like he did with everything else. But when he opened his mouth to try to lie, to say he didn’t need her or want her around or whatever, he would look into her eyes and it became impossible. He remembered the way he had shaken her to her core the first day they met, and he couldn’t allow himself to bring that sadness up again in her.

We could live for a thousand years

But if I hurt you

I'd make wine from your tears

Eventually, he gave in. While he was able to control his words to not say anything harmful, he wasn’t able to contain them from slipping up and telling her, “Dammit, I love you!” It wasn’t in a context that could be taken as joking or being said flippantly; she knew immediately what he meant and that he meant those words, wholly.

She took his face in her hands and told him, “I love you, too.” There was no turning back, and as the years passed, they fell deeply in love. He'd dug up her secrets and fears, but she seemed to trust him enough to not use them against her in any way. They both dreaded the prospect of never getting out of Shermer and falling into the same circular trap their parents had. However, he reassured her that the moment they had the opportunity, they would bust out of there. He lucked out that Claire had never asked for her diamond earring back. It was probably one of many and she had forgotten she had even given it to him as a token. He decided to pawn it to top-off the savings he and Y/N had accrued. "You're too good for me, you're sure as hell too good for this place,'' he told her. The trade-in was enough to get them out of town and start anew, but only one of them could really ‘move up’ for now. While they argued back and forth about who should get to pursue which dream, Bender rationalized to her, “I was barely cut out for high school. I can’t really do college. And that’s okay. You’re the brains in this relationship, I’m the beauty.” He winked at her and with her laughter as response, that sealed the deal of who was going to school.

I told you

That we could fly

'Cause we all have wings

But some of us don't know why

She searched the crowd, holding her diploma. Bender had supported her both financially and emotionally these last four years and now they had the degree to prove it. She felt pride in being able to take over from him and let him follow a new path. He had always been good with his hands, but despite his protests, he was good with his mind too. He was a sharp-thinker and she knew that he could make a career that he loved out of that. She’d be there to push and brace him as he had done for her. Finally, she spotted him. When their eyes connected, she felt that same crackle that she had the first day they had met, all those years ago. Before the friendship and the love, she knew there was a spark there, that they were two of a kind, even though they were so different.

I, I was standing

You were there

Two worlds collided

And they could never tear us apart

#john bender #john bender x reader #benderxreader #fem!reader #the breakfast club #breakfast club #reader-insert #80s fanfic

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captainmarkone · 3 years ago

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come back.

Characters: Suprise CE Character x Reader. Warning(s): Angst, heartbreak hotel. A/N: I got hit by inspo. Enjoy this drabble of nonsense. But imma guess it's not a huge secret as to who the character is... but enjoy!

June 23, 2021 —

Storming down the stairs, I felt nothing but anger. Hurt. My heart absolutely breaking at the sight I saw mere seconds ago. Footsteps falling behind me, their breathing deep as if I was the bad guy; his own anger radiating off their body.

“I didn’t know you were coming home early!” my husband yelled, staring at me with a smirk on his lips. His robe tied around his body to conceal the naked skin underneath. He stood there, watching me as if I owed him some sort of apology.

“I hate you… I cannot believe… I ha-hate you,” I said, words fumbling out. A quiet plea to whatever god that was out there to smite me where i stood. For the pain, the betrayal. It was all too much.

“Who is she?” I asked, his eyes not showing an ounce of concern. He didn’t care that I hated him.

“Someone I met,” he simply answered. His wedding band glowing in the dim light. Something that was now a joke. A sham on what we were.

“My lawyer will be in touch with yours, you spoiled piece of shit. A little boy that married someone to feel like he was a man. You take all the goddamn money because I want nothing, absolutely fucking nothing to do with you, you manipulative little shit. I hope you eat shit and fucking live so all your life someone can remind you that you ate what you become!” I sneered, my voice laced with venom.

He staggered back a bit. Not sure what to say. No snide comment. His hands came up, as if he realized what he had done.

“Angel…” he whispered, as if he spoke louder would make his voice crack. A simple gleam shone in his eyes. Liar, I thought.

“Oh Ransom,” the voice upstairs sang his name. And that’s what hit me. Like a fucking freight train. He saw it then. The gleam in my own eyes. The pain that shown in them.

“Angel, please. She means fucking nothing. Please,” he began to beg, his voice now becoming something different. Sincere? Apologetic? Whatever it was, I wasn’t buying it. He said my name, a soft whisper that left his lips.

“Go to hell,” I said, grabbing my keys and walking out of the house we bought together. He had someone in our bed. Ours. He promised the world to me. Only to take it all back because he wanted his dick wet.

I needed time. To think. To cool off. Before going back there again to gather my things and rip him a new one. Hugh Ransom Drysdale was the love of my life. And that was something I never should’ve admitted to him; to anyone.

At the traffic light, I saw the soft gleam of the diamond perched on my left hand. His token of faithfulness. Sliding it off, I placed it in the cup holder and drove once the light turned green. I didn’t notice the car next to me had stopped just in time before the large truck rammed into my side of the car. Letting my world go black.

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RD -

Ransom paced in the bedroom he shared with you. His own heart sinking to the bottom of his stomach. Sick of himself. His actions. The way he let you, the only person who has truly loved him, go. When he sat on the edge of your side of the bed, he couldn’t think anymore. All he could was replay the year and half you spent together.

He had called you multiple times. But of course you didn’t answer. He didn’t expect you to but he had a small sliver of hope that you’d answer. Hear him out. Take him back. But straight to voicemail. He had kicked the blonde out the moment you drove away. Wanting nothing more than to drive after you. But he didn’t. He should’ve.

His phone rang then, before he could check who it was, he decided to just answer.

“Angel?! I’m so sorr-“ he started but was quickly silent when it wasn’t your voice talking.

“Hello. I’m Nurse Bellow from Boston Medical Center. I’m trying to contact the next of kin. Is this Hugh Drysdale?” She asked, following to check if he was your husband. “Hi sir. Your wife is here and in critical condition. We will be expecting you.” She hung up, and Ransom was up in a flash.

Dressing appropriately and making it to the hospital in seconds. Harlan already there with his coat hanging over his arms. They had moved you to a private suite. There you lay. Wires connected and the beat of the machine that checked your heartbeat on. He was devastated at the sight. His world crashing in one night.

“Ransom,” his grandfather said softly. Coming up behind him. Ransom fell on to the chair, taking your hand in his. “Baby… baby please,” he said softly. His turn to plea with the gods.

“I’m so sorry Ransom…” Harlan continued but it was all cut when the machines started going off.

“SHE’S CRASHING!” A nurse yelled, ushering Ransom out with his grandfather. The two sat in silence. No thought in Ransom’s head but you. Your smile. Your laugh. The way you said I love you unconditionally. These were the conditions in which you didn’t love him.

After hours of surgery, the doctor came out and he didn’t seem to have the best news. He sighed heavily and held his hands out and then put them back together.

“Mr. Drysdale… I am so sorry, but your wife didn’t make it. What we thought was just a simple internal bleeding, turned out to be much worse. Your wife… she was about two months pregnant. And well… it made surgery a little longer and little tougher but… she bled out and both didn’t survive. I am so sorry,” the doctor said, making it perfectly clear.

But Ransom stopped listening after he said sorry. Tears streamed down his face, his own heart shattering at it all. Harlan’s hand rested on his grandsons shoulder. Ransom turned to his grandfather and held the old man tight. Weeping in the chair, his world gone.

————————————————————————————————

Five months later —

He stood at your grave. The grass fully grown over your slot. Harlan had paid for the funeral, and even the plot that yielded DRYSDALE on the plaque. He never deserved you.

He had placed the flowers on your grave, standing there in silence. Tears slowly sliding down his face as he watched the flower petals blow with the wind.

“Ransom,” Harlan’s voice lifted Ransoms head. Turning and helping his grandfather down the small hill. “Ah. Thankfully they’ve been keeping this area clean,” he continued. His own bouquet of flowers being placed next to Ransom’s.

“She loved you Ransom. Saw that spark, that good in you,” Harlan said, fetching out a box in his pocket. The small velvet box was placed in the young males hand. “What’s this?” Ransom asked, eyebrows furrowing.

Harlan nodded to your grave and said, “She asked me to get it fixed for you. Said it was dull and needed something. A surprise.”

Opening the box, he saw his lost pinky ring. You must’ve taken it in June. Etched on the flat surface were the first letter of your name, his H, and small b.d.

Tears stung his eyes as he slid it on.

“B.D.?” He asked, Harlan raising a brow.

“I believe it was for ‘baby Drysdale’. Probably going to tell you on your anniversary,” Harlan said. Only making Ransom’s heart sink deeper. “Let’s go eat breaks on, Ran. She’s gonna be okay.”

As Harlan walked back to the car, Ransom stood there with his thumb playing with the band of the ring.

“I love you. I love you both,” he declared, turning before glancing back one last time. He got into the car with his grandfather, feeling a weight being lifted. As if… you had forgiven him.

#chris evans fanfiction #rd x reader #reader #trying not to do spoilers here #ransom drysdale x reader #ransom drysdale #ransom thrombey x reader #ransom x you

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decodingellipses · 3 years ago

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Modern Love: He Made Affection Feel Simple

[courtesy of Brian Rea]

"Dating as a transgender woman, in my experience, meant low expectations and casual sex. Then I met Jack."

This piece is part of the Modern Love column at The New York Times

by Denny

My bio on Grindr read: “Be trans friendly. Send face to chat.”

It was difficult to be on a gay hookup app as a trans woman. Most men in my feed desired to only sleep with each other. But I knew there were straight men on Grindr who hungered for a woman like me. I wanted them too.

That’s where I met Jack. At 22, he was a few months older than me, and, other than his age, his entire profile was blank, usually an indicator of a cisgender straight man who was guarded about his attraction to trans women. Typically, the messages I received would start with a vulgar sext, sometimes an unwanted nude photo.

Living in Morningside Heights, I was attending Fordham University for my master’s degree in strategic communication. One night I was up late working when I received a Grindr message from him, a selfie. Amid his light brown hair, two-day scruff and meek gaze, his lacrosse T-shirt stood out to me the most. He looked like a sporty boy I would have crushed on in high school.

He followed up his photo with “Hello.”

Messages in my Grindr inbox tended to cut to the chase: “Down for now?” “Car sesh?” Men who contacted me because they fantasized about trans women made it difficult for me to feel seen as a person in general, let alone a person worthy of respect.

Although my interest was piqued by Jack’s picture, it was his gentleness that drew me in.

Our sporadic small talk was harmless, spanning two months. I brushed him off, but as I commuted to school and spent hours in the library, he was persistent.

“My sex drive is pretty low these days,” I wrote. “Give me a bit and I’ll hit you up.”

“OK.”

When I turned back to my studies, he added, “Just so you know, we can do non-sex things and hang out too. It would be fun.”

This became our pattern: he being distant enough to show interest without pressure, and me appreciating his laxity, given my demanding schoolwork. His ease led me to trust him, so we set up a day to meet.

The first afternoon Jack came over, he admired my bathtub and drank his cup of water with two hands. His poised demeanor in a beige wool peacoat and long scarf reminded me, in a good way, of John Bender in “The Breakfast Club.” In my bedroom, he fixated on my yellow Power Ranger figurines, noticing my framed academic award next to them on the windowsill.

“You went to SUNY Oneonta?” he said. “I went to SUNY Potsdam.”

I pictured my friends who also attended Potsdam eating in the same cafeteria as Jack, getting drunk at the same frat party. Suddenly, the person I’d seen as a stranger now fit into my world.

I imagined what the deer looked like from his dorm room window, roaming the grass at dawn. Or how he spent his day when the school canceled classes because of snow. Or where he would have gone if his parents were able to afford private school.

We sat on my bed, my back leaning against the wall. He slouched his head onto my hip and wrapped his arms around my waist. “This is weird,” I thought. Aside from sexual intimacy, my hookups were typically aromantic, absent of cuddling and expressions of affection.

I kissed him and rolled on top. I took off my shirt and he hugged me tight. His face dug into my chest as he said, “I like you. I think you’re really cool.”

Unsure how I actually felt, I said, “Oh. I think you’re really cool, too.”

The next time I saw Jack, he spent the night at my place. It was then, awake in bed at 4 a.m., that I realized I had never let a guy sleep over before. His heat warmed the bed, so I crept to the bathroom to cool off. I Snapchatted a disoriented selfie to my friends, my hair messy and eyes bloodshot.

“How do you guys do this sleepover thing?” I wrote. “I can’t sleep at all.”

Customarily, my flings with strange men were brief. The men did not take note of my bathtub or my educational history before sex, and they did not linger after.

I came back into bed, disturbed by the rumble of his snoring, but his sleeping face on my pillow struck me. For the first time, the thought of sharing a bed with a man did not come from pure imagination. I now had a real image for this fantasy; I could pretend Jack was my boyfriend, reach for his face and whisper “I love you, good night,” then fall asleep and meet him somewhere in his dream as if we had done this a hundred times before.

The next day, he flew off to see his family for the holidays and the first weeks of the new year.

“merry crimmus,” I texted.

“u too, babygirl,” he replied.

After our sleepover, I didn’t hear from him unless I initiated — an unexpected change. Instead of giving in to my insecurity that the sleepover meant little to him, and therefore I meant little, I imagined other scenarios: him asking me to sleep at his place, for a change, or spontaneously calling me while I’m in line for my morning coffee. But because I had presumed a sex-only expectation from the start, I shamed myself for developing feelings.

“miss u,” he texted one random morning.

“really?”

We stayed in touch and occasionally saw each other, weeks in between. On a hot morning, he snored behind me as I sat on the floor beside my bed, working on my final thesis. He put his hand up to my face, letting me know he was awake. With my eyes on the laptop screen, I took his hand and planted kisses in his palm, wallowing in these ordinary joys — the kind of affection I slowly grew comfortable displaying.

Longing to be more than casual with him, I sought a therapist to guide me through my growing feelings.

Jack’s periodic “miss u” texts progressed with heart emojis, an unprecedented closeness. And I returned the sentiment. It felt thrilling to express my adoration so directly, until the weeks between seeing each other and texting ultimately turned into months of silence I knew to be ghosting.

I relied on Grindr as my safe dock because dating as trans is complicated. Sleeping around was easier for me. I had set the bar low, then met Jack, who saw me as more than a fantasized body, only to have his mysterious exit echo a looming insecurity I avoided for years: Being trans implies I am not real enough to deserve decency.

I broke down in therapy, mustering the courage to say out loud what was undeniably true: “He left me.”

“I don’t mean to put this on you,” my therapist said, “but could him being a cis straight man and you being a trans woman play a part?”

I didn’t want to blame Jack, who showed me a new realm of affection that made desire feel as simple as just a boy and a girl who liked each other. But he made leaving simple, too; all of this could still not be enough.

Deep down, I denied how my mere existence as a trans woman could ever cost him. Jack, in wooing me, nurtured the possibility that my romantic fantasies could come true, that I could be seen as a complex person rather than a fetishized token of someone’s imagination. After being deserted by him, I ruminated on my insecurity that being trans denied me of even a simple goodbye.

And yet I know myself to be real because my transition, as a teenager, required exceptional certainty. Doctors and psychiatrists double-checked my decision constantly.

“Yes, I’m sure,” I repeated, and I became more real each year. With Jack, I felt even realer. Not only had he seen me as a woman, but as a woman worthy of being held.

I could blame my being trans for Jack’s ghosting, but maybe it had nothing to do with that. Maybe he hated his job. Maybe his family fell apart. Maybe the pleasure we felt together contrasted whatever pain remained of our baggage.

On lonely days, I imagine myself at SUNY Potsdam. At a frat party, I drunkenly dance across from Jack, cheap blue lights grazing the curves of our cheekbones, sweat dripping like cyan fireflies. Neil Diamond’s “Sweet Caroline” roars through the party. “Good times never seemed so good,” everyone shouts. “I’ve been inclined to believe they never would.”

I put myself in the cafeteria, where Jack and I approach the salad bar at the same time. When he sees me, he steps back and says, “You go first,” with a grin so big I would need both hands to hold it.

———

Denny is a writer, actor and musician living in New York City.

#modern love #ML #NYTimes #New York Times #The New York Times #Amazon Prime #dev patel #anne hathaway #tina fey #NYT #trans #trans dating #trans love #lgbtq #pride #grindr

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vansmaybeonthewall · 4 years ago

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The Ghost of Beacon Hills High||Part 5

ooooooo shiiiiit. i’ve been busy with a thing called school, so sorry about the huuuge wait i’ve caused. i have homework and it sucks that i can’t write as much. :/

Masterlist

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The plan was….simple enough. The pack had reconvened with Deaton to explain the tragedy that was Gabby’s life. Luckily Deaton knew what they were dealing with. The plan didn’t change much, only a couple more things had to be done. Gabby had to return to the Nemeton in order for her body to reappear. But she couldn’t do that with her spirit trapped in the school. She could only be free if she had a vessel for her spirit to attach to. So really, the plan was not simple at all.

Deaton had explained that the vessel had to be an object of importance, an item that one would struggle to let go of. That was the troubling part. The pack wanted to help the girl..but they couldn’t just give up those tokens. However, a certain beta was willing enough.

“I can do it.”

“Liam-” Scott tried.

“No, I get it. You guys can’t give these things up, but I can. And I’m willing to do it.” His outburst did shock the pack, but his courageousness made them prouder.

“Liam, do understand that if you do this, what you sacrifice may not be recovered,” Deaton explained, making sure that he understood.

“I do. She would be proud anyways.”

“Wait wait wait. Who?” Stiles was confused, more like the whole pack was confused.

“Well, the thing I’m quote on quote “sacrificing” is my grandma’s necklace. She believed in doing whatever it took to do the right thing, even if it meant losing something.”

Quite astounding, isn’t it? The young beta who was thrown into the supernatural world with no warning, was brave enough to give up the last piece of his relative for a girl who died years ago. Of course everyone else didn’t know what to say. A freshman was willing to do what they as juniors couldn’t.

“Well, what do we have to do?” Lydia cut in.

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Gabby was nervous, who wouldn’t be? She had the chance to finally leave the high school, to be able to see Beacon Hills again. But would it work? She didn’t want to get her hopes up.

“Gabby? You with us?”

“Huh? Sorry. What’s happening?”

“Weeelll, Deaton said that you and the person who is giving up the object, which is Liam, must stand in the center holding the object, the necklace, while the rest of us chant the Latin phrases.” Lydia explained to Gabby.

“Giving up? What do you mean giving up?”

“Don’t worry about it.” Liam didn’t want the girl to feel bad when he really wanted to help her.

“But-”

“Really it’s okay.” The two had a moment gazing into each other's eyes, before being interrupted by Stiles.

“Oookaay, let’s get this show on the road.”

Don’t be afraid Gabby. Whatever happens, happens.

The group decided to do the ritual right by the school doors, an easy way of figuring out if Gabby could leave.

“So, what happens if you leave right now?” Scott needed to know, in case of succession or failure.

Gabby walked past the doors, trying to leave, only to somehow be put halfway down the hallway. She knew what to expect, as she tried leaving the first day of being there. The endless cycle of running and tears. The frustrated screaming. Running and running until she finally broke.

“That happens.”

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“Are you ready?”

“As ready as I’ll ever be.” Make this work,please God make this work.

Liam and Gabby stood in the center of the pack, the two of them holding onto the necklace. The simple heart shaped pendant dangling. Those surrounding joined hands and started the chant.

“ergo liberi eius erunt

ergo liberi eius erunt

set in hac sacrificium est anima eius!”

Light started to emanate from the necklace, a strong wind forming along with it. The bright light spread along Gabby, creating a white aura around her. The wind became rougher, hair was being whipped around. And then….nothing. No wind, no light, but the necklace now lay upon Gabby’s neck. The diamonds seemed to sparkle brighter than before. There was hope.

“I think it worked?”Stiles wanted it to have worked, but he didn’t want to get the girl’s hopes up.

“We HOPE it worked, Stiles.” Lydia countered.

“There’s only one way to find out

Scott motioned the pack outside, him and Kira keeping the two doors open. Gabby was left inside, bracing herself for whatever may come next.

You can do this. You’ve been through worse. What’s one last hope going to do?

She stepped closer and closer to the door, closing her eyes at the last second. She stepped through. Opening her eyes, she expected to be back in the hallway again. Instead, she found herself beneath the night sky, cool air surrounding her. She took a few more steps, assuring herself that this was indeed real. She let out a tearful laugh. She took off running and screaming. But who could blame her? She finally had the freedom she deserved.

Gabby tackled Liam in a hug, causing them to fall to the ground.

“I don’t know what you had to give up and I am really sorry you had to, but thank you. I don’t know how I’ll make it up to you.”

“Y-You don’t have to.”

“I’ll find a way, I promise you that.”

It was cute, the way they were looking at each other, you would have wanted a picture to capture the pureness of the moment.

“You know, this is nice and all, but we have an evil shape-shifting ex-boyfriend of yours to stop,” Stiles once again interrupted.

This caused the two freshmen to scramble off the floor.

“Right. What do we have to do now?” Gabby asked.

“We have to go to the Nemeton.” Scott stated.

“So we have to go there, where my body is going to magically appear because the Nemeton “notices” me, and then I have to chant some Latin? If I can leave the school, why can’t we just ignore that step?”

“Because nobody sees you.” Malia bluntly said. Ouch.

“Malia!”

“What? She asked.”

“Okay, so others don’t see me, but you guys can? This is some supernatural bullshit. Let’s get it over with.”

With one part of their plan completed, the pack and Gabby were confident the next would work. They were going to split up and drive towards the woods. It would have been suspicious to leave cars in an empty school parking lot.

“Holy shit! I call riding in that Jeep and I will be using the ‘I was stuck in a highschool for years” card.”

“Yes! Stiles wins, Jeep for the win!” Stiles threw his fists in the air out of celebration. “Can I keep you? Scott, can I keep her? She’s the best.”

“Uhm, I don’t think you can keep her Stiles.”

“If staying with him means the Jeep, then I will do it.”

“Stiles wins!”

////

Beacon Hills changed as Gabby spent her time locked away. She noticed one of the diners she used to hang out at closed down, cars looked different, and people definitely dressed different. She was stuck staring out the window, looking at how much the town she grew up in changed. Of course Stiles, Scott, and Liam noticed, but what could they say? She lost so much of her life and the people in it. The pack knew loss, but Gabby in a way, lost more. There was no prom with her best friends, no Senior trip, none of the great memories you experience in highschool.

Before she knew it, the town turned into woods and the Nemeton was closer. And soon enough, everybody would be able to see her again.

Especially Jason.

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taglist: @inumorph @lovelyhufflepuff38 @ asihailan @francesciak @big-galaxy-chaos @nmriia @143amberrose @rylie-lothbrok

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lizzybeth1986 · 5 years ago

Text

Quick Thoughts on The White People Waambulance, Chapters 18 and 19

• Sorry this QT is coming out so late, guys. I regret to say my heart wasn't really in this one...and it hasn't been with regards to my QTs for a while. This one might be my last, unless we count me finishing them off for the (not rewritten) Book 1. It's been two years since I began, and the last two books made the process honestly really exhausting.

• I clubbed the two finale chapters together because I really couldn't be bothered to do separate ones for both.

• In fact...I won't be doing any of what I have been doing for my QTs so far. I'll be honest to you: I usually do multiple replays, the last few in tandem with the other routes on YouTube. I go through the scenes one by one. I keep note of differences and variations and carefully choose screenshots that will reflect the gist of the scenes.

But I couldn't be bothered to do any of that this time. I pressed the "continue" and then the "end book" buttons as soon as I finished my first run of those chapters. I'm drained, guys. And I don't think I'll be coming back to the TRH series at least, not even for Liam or Hana or Kiara. Maybe my mind will change by the time the second book comes out (update from present-day Lizzy: no it didn't) but I'm not counting on it. And you'll probably know why by the time this QT ends.

• TW: Discussions on racism, both fandom racism and from within the narrative. The last section of this QT is going to be...pretty heavy, guys.

There's also going to be a lot of anti-Drake, anti-Olivia, anti-Madeleine and anti-Penelope content here, so if you like any of those characters...well, you've been warned.

The ensuing post is going to be LONG, and I know a lot of you have good reasons not to deal with long posts, so here's a tldr:

1. The TRR writing team stick to their weird obsession for jobless whiny white men.

2. Read this book once and you'll feel like you're drowning in an ocean of white tears.

3. WOC continue to get scraps from the writing team, even as they boast of being diverse and inclusive. In fact, they're regularly treated as mere tokens, exotic eye-candy or non-entities, while their behaviour is measured on standards that are very different from their white counterparts (this happens in other books as well).

...okay I wasn't expecting for the tldr to be long too 😅

• Me @ my QTs then:

Me @ my QTs now:

• I'll probably be finishing off my TRR Book 1 QT series when I'm a little less burnt out, but for now this is where it ends, I guess.

• So...here is to summarize the last two chapters: Accident happens. LIs mad. Paparazzi sad (but largely get away scot-free). MC and baby safe. At the Council meeting Kiara slam dunks the murderer of Liam's mother with the style and elegance this fandom still refuses to acknowledge her for. The MC is nice to her for like half a second. Last Apple Ball. New clothes for everyone as if they had a Diwali bumper sale the week before or something. Godfrey is somehow responsible for the security (who thought this was a good idea) and seeing the Auvernese Royal Guard outside our doors is SO not-creepy.

We get to see if we impressed our Auvernese and Monterriso allies enough. Bradshaw compliments Kiara for like half a second. Olivia sees the dude from the Q&A session (Jin) at the Ball and (if you pay) you get to see her catch, interrogate and lowkey flirt with him.

Leona and Bianca make it to the ball (where is Bartie Sr. Where are Xinghai and Lorelei. Where is Regina) and this time the narrative makes sure to shoehorn a plot element into their presence here: Leona is there so we can do something about the reveal that she constantly ratted us out to the press for money. ("oh look! Walker Ranch was plot related after all! We have a reason (albeit a flimsy, paper-thin one) to set 9 whole chapters in Texas. Even though we had to literally come up with this bit in the last minute, because really - all we wanted to do as a writing team was nut collectively over Drake Walker")

(I also can't believe that between the time I wrote this line and the time this QT finally came out - they literally found a way to re-fucking-write Book 1 so they could nut collectively over Drake Walker earlier)

• Why were we required to dress down in Texas for these assholes when they couldn't even bother to dig up their Sunday best for this ball??? Oh right, they're Walkers. Hypocrisy runs in the family.

• Good thing is you can choose to banish Leona if you want. She's angry about it for a second then accepts it and leaves. But like what is the point of banishing her when she hardly even bothers to come there in the first place? She's not going to be bawling her eyeballs out saying "boohoo, they threw me out of this country that I spent like five minutes in and never even wanted to visit in the first place".

• Bianca is present at the end of Chapter 18 mainly to deliver to us a plot point at the very last minute: a clue about where we could find proof about Queen Eleanor's murder. Bianca mentions conversations Jackson had with her, and a secret room somewhere. Her leaving the palace and abandoning her children is addressed, and the MC gets to berate her. It's...short.

• Why this important piece of information was given to Bianca when idk LEO could have pitched in and spoken about it, no one knows. Oh wait. I keep forgetting. Bianca is Drake's mother. That's why.

• Okay so Amalas valiantly found out about Leona's involvement in this and gave us tangible proof via photographs. But we're kiiiinda forgetting that the scrutiny and privacy invasions were happening even before we hauled ass to Walker Ranch? Who was responsible for those? Who was the "source" that the Chapter 17 paparazzo was referring to, the one that mentioned they would triple the price for more photos of the Queen/Mother of the Heir (Coz like why would she do that. She's already broke)? How did Amalas come by this information so easily and why was she really that invested? Why is no one asking these questions? Why isn't the group asking these questions? Why are they stupid. Jesus, they're all so stupid. HOW ARE YOU SO STUPID, SQUAD.

• Shortly after they get rid of Leona and Bianca, the rest of the group give the happy couple a choice of toys for the nursery - and that's our final nursery purchase. You can either go for the corgi - which is on brand for the series by now I think - or the lion, which is seen as very Cordonian.

• More party shenanigans. We're nice to Kiara for another half-second. Kiara arranges a photoshoot for us. The team can't pretend to give a fuck anymore about its fans so they will ask us to pay for an edit that I've seen millions of edit-creators in the fandom do wayyyy better. Like let's be honest - compare the engagement shoot pics (messy as they were) to the shoots we eventually got this book. You can see the difference. You can tell which one required more work.

• Anyway, if you choose this scene you wind up going back to the ballroom, dance with your spouse, aaaaand it's time for another diamond option. This time your spouse gives you something you've been craving (mousse parfait for the Liam MC, chocolate chip cookies for the Hana MC, handmade chocolates for the Maxwell MC and a choice between bacon and a veg version of it for the Drake MC. Damn, team TRR. Your favouritism is showing). The couple also writes a letter to the baby that the child can read growing up, in a bit of a parallel to Eleanor's letter to Liam that we see at the end of the chapter.

• After this, Liam reveals he has been pondering over what Bianca said, and wants to find out where they could find that secret room. Cue Liam's own flashback scene for free. Godfrey bringing to Queen the same goblet that the RoE MC found in a flea market in Book 2 for Regina (or perhaps just a similarish one). Liam and Eleanor reciting a rhyme that turns out to have clues for the secret room.

• To give the team credit, they seem to have (finally) put some thought into this. Like this actually feels like Liam's scene. Not one that delivers information about his family but is really about another character. They seem to incorporate all the things Eleanor seemed to be known for - things that were hardly addressed in the books when it came to talk of her. She is shown with a love for books given that books and poetry form an important part of the clues she leaves for Liam. One of the books is about foraging, which is unsurprising considering her love for gardens that was established in Book 1 of TRR.

• So...like...nice job but why was practically everything about Eleanor (including the way she'd stand up to Constantine, her displeasure at the sound of Godfrey and Bartie's names, her nature that Liam not only inherited but also learned) left only for your finale? Why no buildup? Why was I seeing you lot constantly pandering to Drake's family the entire time? Why do I know way, way more about Jackson than I do about Eleanor whose story this WAS? Why is she and her son suddenly getting this burst of attention at the tail end??

• They still manage to push young!Drake into a scene focusing on Liam and Eleanor, so we can see how Eleanor's teaching of how to be a responsible royal began to make inroads into Liam's way of thinking. It's the ultimate irony, that Liam took his mother's advice so much to heart that he lets Drake stay in his home, eat his food, and complain about those dastardly nobles to his heart's content for free.

Poor Eleanor in her grave is like

• Very fitting, how Constantine's proposal to Eleanor happens in the hedge maze, very much like Liam's first declaration of love in Book 1.

• If you're married to Liam, you get an extra letter that's addressed to Liam's future wife. She clearly knew her days were to be numbered by the time she gave birth to that second child at least.

• Lmao @ how the team somehow managed to remember that Eleanor would have been Leo's stepmother too. He's mentioned a couple of times. They didn't have enough time to develop a sprite for young!Leo but somehow had all the time and resources to make one for young!Savannah who had literally no purpose in Drake's flashback scene? Hmm. Hmm.

• They somehow manage to find the twin to the RoE MC's gifted goblet that Godfrey gave Eleanor the night she died, and Liam reveals that he's been obsessed with poisons enough to know that it wasn't the drink that was poisoned, it was the cup itself. Everyone is shook.

• Love that extra little detail about Liam's obsession with learning about poisons and how it's a sign of how deeply Eleanor's death affected him. But tell me honestly if you remember this plot point coming up even once before in any significant way. Even during the one time a person is poisoned in the previous book (by the laws of karma, the victim in this instance is Godfrey's only daughter) Liam shows very few signs of this "obsession". At a time when he has also lost a father. Convenient how something that could have added more depth to Liam is kept aside until there's a scene where his knowledge is required. Convenient indeed.

• I kind of understand why Liam acts on impulse, okay. The man just discovered who murdered his mum, at least some amount of irrationality is allowed (esp considering he hardly got to express ANYTHING when his goddamn father died). But you'd think Liam's friends would hold him back and help him think this through? Convince him that there are more effective ways to confront and get a confession out of Godfrey who after is in charge of security at the moment? You seriously think charging into the ballroom and suddenly stripping this man of his titles is going to actually work??? You couldn't figure out how to make him vulnerable instead so that he wouldn't be able to escape???

• I mean like, sure, one could always rationalize it all as "well see Lizzy, they needed a dramatic end to this story and they needed to wrap this mystery up quick". But there were other ways they could have spread it out than make it all sound so...so random. And you bet we all know why the narrative had to scramble around last minute to solve this. It's because we spend half the damn book in a dilapidated ranch with a shit family!

• Anyway, Godfrey escapes...and the MC tells her spouse that she's going into labour after...two contractions? Um. Okay.

• So. That ends Book 1 of this new series. And with it my QTs, for this series at least. My QTs for Book 1 (the OG, not the rewrite) might continue, but I'd need to repeat my failplay again because I lost most of those screenshots 😭

General Thoughts on the Book:

• So far, this is what I can see as happening in the next book:

- The birth, obviously

- Any extra perks from our purchases (ie. the nursery and the garden)

- Subplots involving the LIs' conflicts regarding parenthood and their own childhoods

- The mystery behind Eleanor's death isn't quite over yet, nor is the truth behind the constant paparazzi presence in TRH. Leona was the scapegoat this time around, but how did Amalas get all this information so quickly?

- Where is Eleanor's other child? Olivia's investigations may or may not lead to that answer. I'm pretty sure Jin might be involved as well.

- Another possibility is that Madeleine may give us important information since she was potentially aware that Eleanor was pregnant at the time.

- The mystery behind Jackson's death and what he knew regarding Eleanor's condition.

- What part did Bartie Sr have to play in all this? How involved was Constantine in the murder (if in fact he was)? What more dark secrets will we learn about Constantine, Godfrey and Bartie Sr during this time? What ultimately caused the breakdown in Constantine and Jackson's relationship, since Drake mentions Jackson being around when Regina was Queen as well?

- Speaking of Regina, how involved was she in any of this? We know she was Godfrey's cousin-in-law and Bartie Sr made a comment on her during the announcement about the heir, and that she married Constantine a couple years after Eleanor's death, but was she aware of any of this or was she largely out of the major plot and brought in later to cement Godfrey's position and power?

- I'd mention the possibility that Lorelai could know something, but they didn't really give anyone connected to Hana any time at all, so I have my doubts.

- Operation Swan, and possibly a visit to Monterisso. Liam's younger sibling must be in one of these places but my guess is on Monterisso.

- I'm guessing the team will write a nice wedding for Penelope and Ezekiel next book, while Kiara continues to get scraps from the same team.

- Drake and Olivia will continue to eat into the plot. Madeleine will join this unholy trinity as well because they've set the stage for her to have plenty of angst.

With that over, these were my thoughts once this book was finished:

WHERE ARE THE DUCHESSES?

Remember how, back in Book 3, we all marvelled at the number of women in this country who were in positions of power? Adeleide and Emmeline were powerful duchesses while their husbands were secondary figures, and Joelle though married into a noble family is an influential artist and - according to Liam - the embodiment of King Fabian's values. It seemed like, despite the underlying sexism and racism in the story, women were at least at the forefront of Cordonian politics.

This is virtually gone in TRH1. Godfrey (who wasn't even interested in Krona in the first place, much less Cordonia) and Landon (whose only concern seemed to be Penelope, leaving Emmeline to manage the duchy) have a seat in the Council. In fact we never even see either of these woman in the book. I can maybe understand the logic behind not appointing Adeleide, but the fact that Emmeline is passed over for her far-less -qualified husband is a mystery to me!

Also, has anyone noticed how white-male-centered the whole Eleanor story is? Notice how we never see Eleanor's friends, besides Jackson? We never see any of the courtly ladies of that era? She's the Queen. She'd have her own court. I find it impossible that Eleanor would have no interactions of importance among her own goddamned court, that Joelle, Emmeline or Adeleide wouldn't even be mentioned in her story thus far. It's fascinating that forget being part of her story - these women are largely forgotten in the book itself.

(Note: It's also important to add that none of Kiara's family - besides Zeke - makes an appearance this book. At all. One member of Penelope's family and one member of Madeleine's family is in the council, but we never really see or hear anything from Kiara's, even though Hakim was Constantine's old friend and Joelle could have easily been connected to Eleanor, given that Eleanor was exactly the kind of ruler Joelle would have loved and respected.

While we're on that subject, Lorelai could have been connected to Eleanor as well - considering that we know next to nothing about her years in Shanghai. There were ways Hana's story could have been tied into the overall plot as well that were largely ignored. The fact that both the main and secondary WOCs presented opportunities for better plot and story, and despite that they were largely ignored in the books...I think that says a lot. But I will get into more of that in detail in a different section).

LI SPACE AND STORY

• Now...as we all know, The TRR/TRH series is primarily a romance-focused book first, with an underlying plot about royalty and politics. So it makes sense to evaluate the book based on what it gives its love interests. That includes the number of scenes they get, and the kind of focus their story is given. So...here's the rundown of how that goes in TRH Book 1:

Liam: Overall, not too bad. He gets one individual scene, a free and paywalled childhood scene (though the free one is essential for the group's realization of who killed Eleanor). The letter his mother writes to Liam includes an extra section towards the end, meant for the MC who marries him. However, we must note that a lot of this "attention" was thrust into the very final chapter of this book, and 99% of the same book didn't exactly make an attempt to explore his inner thoughts on anything - his mother's death, the dealings with the foreign countries, his political activities. Eleanor being pregnant came from a scene that made Olivia the center of attention, the MC had the opportunity to ask him how he was feeling only once or twice, and most of the time the narrative relegated it all to "the matter is still being investigated". It's a slight improvement from the absolute lack of concern the MC and the narrative showed about Liam's emotional state post his father's death in Book 3, but not much.

Variations wise, the team did step up on the basic ones for most of the LIs, so clearly we've moved past the days of seeing cut-paste scenes and the likes of Liam and Hana saying "I'm so dumb in love with you". However, in playthroughs where the MC is Liam's wife and Queen of Cordonia, her lack of genuine concern for her country and lack of curiosity about the place she's ruling, sticks out like a sore thumb. The fandom loves to highlight how the plot is "written for Liam" or is "easier in Liam's playthrough", but besides his own child being the heir, nothing else from Book 3 onwards seems like it was particularly written with him in mind.

Drake: Hoo boy. So 2019 was clearly the year that many people didn't believe me about Drake eating up space, and the year they had to eat their words because in TRH it was too obvious to be ignored. On an overall scale you cannot avoid the extra perks even his LI scenes got - his Valtoria scene in Chapter 4 was longer, set in a different place and he was allowed to expand on his decision to say yes to Liam's request in a way Hana and Maxwell never were. We learned way more about his familial relationships and dynamics than all the LIs combined. His childhood scene was the first to be given variants depending on whether the MC was his wife or not. His sister's wedding takes up almost half the book, leaving little to no space for either the intrigue, or even the pregnancy that was supposed to be THE most important part of the book.

An insane amount of retconning was done to emphasize strongly on the "marshmallow" part of his personality, having him state time and again that for the MC he can even "sport a tutu if you said you had a thing for the Sugar Fairy". Part of these changes could be attributed to the backlash the team got for having him call a pink cake "girly".

There is a strong possibility that Jackson might be explored further in the second book, and it's no surprise considering that he's the one parent that is most talked about in the series. The book looks like it was truly written with Drake in mind, with a heavy dose of Olivia, and everyone else was added as a bit of an afterthought.

Maxwell: Pretty awful treatment for a character that the head writer of the team claims to like. He has no individual character scenes, and one childhood scene where his older brother Bertrand is given more focus. Ironically, Maxwell was more wary of Bartie Sr in TRR Book 2 than Bertrand was, but somehow they changed this little detail so that Maxwell could be written out of his own story.

His LI scenes were also not given much effort - some were badly written, and some scenes (like the free ones) showed little to no variations between the friendly and romantic playthroughs. One that comes to mind is the baby announcement photoshoot, which was so poorly done it added nothing of value to the character or the relationship.

Like the last book, Maxwell isn't allowed much development in TRH1, and he's still forced into a largely "court jester" role in the story. This reflects very poorly on him in certain situations, such as the chapter where we finally get glimpses of his book. The aim was to be humourous and light about the events of the series, but he comes out of it sounding thoroughly insensitive towards his friends, none of whose consent he took to write this self-centered pile of garbage.

However, there is hope that they might do things a bit better for him next book, if the rewrite of him in TRR 2.0 was anything to go by. However, it would be awful if they tried to do a better job of him and then left out Hana. Speaking of which...

Hana: I'm going to begin this section with a comparison to another character, someone who should have been treated as a secondary character - Olivia.

Olivia in this book has 2 character scenes (they're very plot driven, but they also explore her outside of her friendship with the MC and dynamic with the group). The spy scene with Auvernese royalty, and the scene with Jin, the Auvernese spy. An entire chapter is spent in her duchy (by now we've seen Lythikos four times and I'm now sick of the place), and she winds up taking over Maxwell's Q&A scene as well.

So that's technically 2.5 scenes AND a childhood scene that revolves around her even though it's about Liam's mother. In addition to this, Olivia also gets her own mini-book, The Royal Holiday, that revolves (again) around her duchy and has the group clamouring to give her attention when no one else wants to.

Here are the stats for Hana, who by virtue of being an LI, is also a potential co-protagonist in the series:

Nothing.

Zilch. Zip. Zero. Nada. Nothing.

She has one childhood scene that is part of the group's scenes - a beautiful, heartbreaking one that serves as a slap in the face to anyone who'd dared to be dismissive of what she went through earlier - but none after that, and no individual scenes either. The team - in one of their most offensive choices this book - force a storyline where she has fertility issues just so the MC can be the one carrying the child, and the same MC can opt(!!) to ask about her well-being after two days. The same MC has the chance to whine about not getting pregnant soon enough in front of Hana.

There have been a few efforts made to make the MC appear more caring towards Hana: she can angrily defend Hana against Isabella's jibes, and she can make Hana relax for once during the baby shower (unlike the wedding reception where the same MC treated her like a bridesmaid). The MC even gets to tell her wife that she should never consider herself secondary or unimportant.

All of these are nice, but at the end of the day they're all scraps. I'd equate it to how we're allowed to give Kiara compliments on the final two chapters, but the white women around her still get a far bigger chunk of space, story and attention dedicated to them. The team have a pattern of adding these tiny tidbits that will temporarily satisfy stans while still maintaining the status quo, and that's precisely what's happening here. Its important for us to understand this. Underneath all this surface concern and all these scraps, Hana is still getting dust in place of actual story and characterization. And given that they made ZERO major changes to Hana's scenes in TRR 2.0, I'm not expecting that to change.

As for the book in general...I don't have to go into why this book is a mess, do I? We all know. We've all witnessed how disproportionate the writing has been and while I'm glad more and more people recognize what I've been seeing since Book 3, it's sad that it took 9 whole chapters in Walker Ranch for so many to understand exactly how much space Drake has been eating up for no good reason.

BLACK HOLES AND WHITE TEARS

I'll begin this section by talking about Drake Walker. He's the most prominent sign of the larger problem.

Drake Walker is what I call a Black Hole LI. And yes I mean black hole as in the one that exists in space (Beckett from TE also fits into this category). He is the kind of LI that sucks up everything. Love. Light. Joy. Common sense. Other characters' spaces.

He is the kind of love interest that will have Liam's traumatic experience centered around him. The kind of love interest for whose problems - largely created by his mammoth ego - we have to resolve in Shanghai, the home of the lone female LI. While that same female LI gets nothing, and then disappears in a subsequent chapter. The kind of love interest whose love confession can take precedence even over the MC's own issues (remember the Beaumont House chapter in Book 1? The one that took place the day after Tariq nonconsensually kissed the MC? 98% of the dialogue revolved around Drake's feelings. Not about the faulty lock, not the possibility that the MC's security had been tampered with - Drake's feelings). The kind of love interest that was given an entire extra wedding and artwork for his mother in Book 3 itself - none of which were given to any other LI.

A Black Hole LI is totally the kind of LI that would get 9 whole chapters in their home while we have never even visited the homes of the others since the early books of the previous series.

This wasn't something that began just this book. It's been a constant since Book 2, and you can even see signs of his story gaining way more importance in Book 1. It's also not something we can - in all honesty - blame simply on finances and fan popularity: the writers confirmed Drake to be one of their favourites, and attempts to give his scenes additional perks (eg plot elements pushed into both the Whiskey scene and the Beaumont Office scene) happened long before they could make any conclusions about his popularity. I bought the Beaumont Office scene to find out more about that family. I bought the Marshmallow scene so I could find out more about Liam and Hana's conversation post Coronation (remember - Hana was never even allowed to speak about her return to Cordonia because that scene was given to Drake). I bought the Italian Restaurant scene to learn more about Liam's assassination. The funny thing about all these three is that these were their stories to tell, yet Drake is the focus. Quite a few of Drake's initial scenes sold because the team consistently made the effort, consistently ensured that the information from his scenes would benefit us in the long run. The narrative allowed for Drake to have his own story, and additionally let aspects of his story overshadow that of the other LIs' (see the examples I've given above). Even though he has very little of value to contribute to the larger story (no job, his friendships are shallower than a wash-basin, and no genuine communication with any commoner in the story - only endless whining).

The treatment Drake gets that no other LI does, is a problem in itself, but it also is a small part of an even bigger issue. He isn't the only white character who gets this sort of attention and detail to his story.

Take Olivia, for example. Started out as a rival to the MC, before her sad sad childhood and her genuine love for Liam was revealed in the Book 1 finale. Over the course of the story, her role changed from petty rival to Warrior Duchess to reluctant bff. Over the course of the original series, Olivia became one of the most prominent characters in the story, on par with the male LIs. I'm not sure how many people realize that Lythikos is the ONLY duchy in the kingdom we've seen thrice (four times if you count Holiday). To give you an idea of how big a deal that is, here's how many times we've visited other duchies besides the capital and Applewood:

Fydelia - 2

Portavira - 1

Castelserraillian - 1

Ramsford (the home of our sponsors!) - 1

Hana's mother's home - Never.

Lythikos has a detailed familial and cultural history, and I wouldn't be lying if I said we know more about this one region than we know about the entire country of Cordonia. And honestly for me, the obsession with this one duchy has reached saturation point. Lythikos is not Cordonia. Lythikos is not all there is to Cordonia or even the only place that should matter. Yet it seems the team is more than eager to flog that horse until there's nothing of interest left.

Olivia is the only character who gets an entire mini book that revolves around comforting her and making her feel better about her background and origins. I don't think we've ever given Hana this much attention when she left her home for us. Or when she was being bullied by Madeleine. Or when she was the other bride in that grand wedding. Or when we received the news that carrying a child to term would be dangerous for her body. Or --

We were given an entire mini-book to comfort Olivia - the woman who continued to call Hana "damaged goods" and " a failure" for not marrying a man, while Hana's friend/wife stood by and watched. The woman who didn't have to think twice before making snide remarks about an equally skilled courtier who never did her any harm, only because she could get away with it. Istg when I heard that most of the court snubbed her during that first event in Holiday, this was my reaction:

Like girl I feel bad for you but at least now you know how it feels to be held responsible for shit beyond your control!

Hana, in the meantime, is forced time and again into situations that would break most people - but with very little payoff. Her arc with her parents was given a resolution that confirmed that Hana could only be considered worthy if she was useful. She was made to interact time and again with the woman who harmed her with such glee in Book 2. The MC - as a friend or as a wife - is at best neglectful of her issues and at worst someone who uses and discards Hana as she sees fit. And now...in her romantic playthrough she's given a storyline that doesn't allow her to bear children easily, and the MC spends less than two minutes to actually check on her. Hana is one of the co-protagonists, yet a side character given the treatment she should be getting. One could technically blame finances for the way she's being treated too, but keep in mind that the bad treatment goes as far back as the Applewood chapters in Book 1. Technically a time when she was bringing in money.

I get it. Olivia is a fan favourite. Many in the fandom wanted her to be an LI, the writers didn't, so they carved out this middle path where she'd have a major portion of the story anyway. But keep in mind that a lot of this attention came - and is still coming - at the cost of Hana. The team pretty much gave Olivia what they'd been refusing to give Hana all along.

On a smaller scale, you see similar patterns with the secondary characters - especially the women of the court. Madeleine and Penelope had elaborate backstories designed to make people forgive and sympathize with them, and Kiara - even though her backstory in Book 1 was inherently tragic and deserved to be handled sensitively - was given validation with great reluctance from the team, and with no consequences if we treated her cruelly. Even now, the team has only tossed Kiara a couple of scraps in the final chapter, while already setting the stage for Madeleine to get her own tragic "patriotism" arc for TRH Book 2, and a possible wedding for Penelope in the near future.

The difference here doesn't just lie in who gets attention and who doesn't. It lies in how the MC is supposed to view these women as well. A lot more sympathy and understanding is automatically extended to the white women, and the MC faces consequences if she fails to acknowledge their pain. Far less sympathy is offered by default to the black and the Asian woman - the MC may be friends with Hana but a huge chunk of their relationship is mostly about the MC benefiting from Hana's skills without giving much in return.

Even though their misdeeds are acknowledged and spoken about, both Madeleine and Penelope are written in such a way that the problems they're currently facing matter more than anything they've ever done in the past. Hana is made to sweet-talk Madeleine despite being bullied by her in a previous book. The MC herself never gets ANY opportunity to directly address what Penelope put her through in Portavira, because what the MC went through matters less than Penelope's condition.

Compare this to the relatively small scale of Kiara's "misdeed" (being honest about not continuing with an alliance - I'm surprised people think this is an actual thing to be offended about!), and the way the MC is allowed to mistreat her sans consequences afterwards. We're even allowed to call Kiara a snob in the books - which isn't at all true if you look at any of her scenes in canon - and constantly make fun of her desire to learn (in fact, if anyone in the series could be called a snob, it would be Olivia). If I were to sum up how a woman of colour is spoken about in the books, vs a white woman - this screenshot would do the trick:

(Notice how none of the options to speak about Penelope allow us to speak rudely of her, yet in Kiara's case we're allowed to make judgements on her as a person. In Hana's case, while we don't exactly drag her the way we can drag Kiara - we get precious few opportunities to actually defend or support her when others talk rubbish about her).

When you explore the series overall, it's impossible to ignore the casual racism that makes disrespecting people of a certain race/colour easier than on another. It's impossible not to see where the narrative chooses to give consequences to an MC who treats a white woman badly, and where it allows the very same MC to suspect, and then (optionally) gaslight, a woman of colour a couple chapters later. It's impossible not to see which people are meant to be respected despite their bad behaviour, and which people can still be treated badly despite their better behaviour. It's impossible not to see a pattern emerging.

This is not even a problem that plagues only the TRR series. From TCaTF to ACOR to Platinum to even MoTY, there is an ongoing pattern of discrepancies between the way white people and people of colour - particularly women - are treated. Many POC characters are placed in situations where it's easier for them to suffer/die/be shown disrespect, than it is to show them kindness or mercy. MOC are regularly either exoticized (Prince Hamid is the most glaring example of this) or placed in very traumatic situations for which the payoff isn't always going to be that great (I know this happens to Dallas, but I don't know about the payoff for Syphax).

WOC particularly suffer quite a bit in a lot of PB novels, in comparison to their white counterparts. Rowan Thorne of TCaTF, as a character, didn't deserve for her death to be made easier than her survival (in contrast to Diavolos, who was given far more opportunities AND will live simply by virtue of allying with Kenna), any more than Kiara deserved to be interrogated by the people who should have been concerned for her safety or Xanthe deserved to be shipped to slavery. All this, while a Vanessa (who is in a position of power and who plays an active role in rendering the MOTY MC financially helpless) gets a diamond scene where she "explains" her situation and a Madeleine doesn't even have to hear about her bullying from her victims.

The fandom, too, has contributed to this on a number of occasions. Speaking specifically of TRR, how many times have we seen Hana being dragged on Olivia posts? (also, if we were really measuring Olivia by the impossible standards that we held for Hana's characterization, Olivia would appear pretty damn one-note too: after all, 80% of her characterization consists of knife jokes). How many times was Hana being looked at with disdain for either her niceness or the poor writing for her, while the same fandom would regularly coo over a nice-presenting Penelope (whose characterization is one of the most inconsistent in the series)? How many times have we seen Kiara being called a creep/obsessed for merely looking at a man, while almost no one judges Olivia for kissing a man without his consent? How many times have people forgiven a traitorous Penelope and hated on a far more innocent Kiara in the same breath? How often did the fandom hate on Liam for accepting the MC's advances after she rejected him, yet not say a word when Drake did the same thing? How many times has Maxwell been loved for his humour and childlike nature while people of colour with a similar personality (Lily from Bloodbound, for example) were hated on instantly? Clearly, there have been more instances of people in the fandom sympathizing automatically with the white character, than with characters of colour. Time and again, brown and black characters - particularly women - have been required to match up to impossible standards (if they're nice they're boring. If they don't like the MC they're <insert every gendered sexist insult you can think of here>). The standards are far more relaxed for white characters, and they're often given more breathing room and to most of what they want without the constant judgement that black and brown women get. The standards set up for both are grossly different.

Racism is a beast that assumes many forms - and not all forms of racism will appear obvious to some, especially when such stereotypes are so normalized in media and popular fiction that we almost accept it at first. Almost. To get to the root of why there's such an imbalance in this series - among others - we need to first acknowledge the sexism and racism that are such a vital part of its narrative, and that its fandom regularly buys into and (sometimes unwittingly) promotes.

At this point, it's important to understand that having queer characters or characters of colour simply exist in the books isn't enough. Token rep can be found in PB's books by the dozens, but at the end of the day it means nothing if there is a constant reluctance, over and over and over, to treat those characters with the same care and sensitivity that they treat their white ones (or their "exoticized brown" ones).

• Like I mentioned earlier, I won't be playing TRH from this point forward, but I do hope to finish my TRR QTs soon. I have a LOT of thoughts! If you'd like to be tagged on those, do tell me!

#long post #tw: racism from pb #tw: fandom racism #trh quick thoughts #trh qts #king liam #hana lee #maxwell beaumont #anti drake walker #anti olivia nevrakis #anti trr madeleine #anti trr penelope #trr kiara

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ikevampeventarchive · 5 years ago

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[Event Info - SE] Once Again, I Will Fall In Love With You ~ Pt. 1

Event Overview:

This is part 1 of the two-part anniversary story events that IkeVamp has a tradition of doing for their anniversaries, on top of election events! Part 1 features Napoleon, Arthur, and Isaac in Japan, while Part 2 will include Mozart, Leonardo, and Vincent in France.

Announcement: Jun. 28.19 | Duration: Jul. 1 (4:00 PM) - Jul. 13 (9:00 PM)

For this year’s event, the premise is that MC passed away after living the rest of her life in the 19th C, and then made a promise to the suitors wherein if there is such thing as reincarnation, they will search for her again, and they will fall in love again. This post is Really Long so everything is under a cut!

Prologue:

—Unknown memories, a forgotten promise. Led by fate that transcends time, once again I fall in love with “you”….—

(..Ah, this dream again.)

—Ever since I was a child, I’ve seen this dream countless times. In a mansion hidden deep within the forest, a place that I do not know, I spent my days with “those men”….—

**(Napoleon): (yawning)….’Morning, MC. You prepared breakfast for me? Thank you.

(—….You’re calling my name in such a familiar way. Who are you?)

(Mozart): While I was gazing at the sunrise this morning, a new melody formed in my mind.

(Jeanne): It’s a good song. When I listen to your piano, it calms my heart like magic. MC, you think the same, right?

(Mozart): Ha…My first audience will be you and MC. Make sure to stay and listen ‘till the end.

(Even though this scenery should all be unknown to me, but somehow, they feel painfully familiar…)

(Dazai): How about it, Miss Toshiko? Won’t you partake in an apple as well?

(Isaac): I’ve told you already, stop mentioning apples!

(Arthur): This again? It seems like you never learn— You agree of course, MC?

(Even though this is a dream, it feels just like reality—)

(Theo): Hey, MC. Why is he here?

(Shakespeare): My, “he” is a bit cruel, isn’t it. I am here because your older brother invited me so.

(Vincent): I wanted to have tea with everyone, so I invited Will, but… MC, did I mess up?

(Theo): That’s not….you didn’t do anything wrong! C’mon join in, Mutt!

(…Every day was lively and fun, repeating over and over.)

(Comte): …Hm, it has a lovely scent. The coffee you served was amazing.

(Leonardo): Making something that even we would praise, cara mia, you’re quite talented, aren’t you? Or is it due to being under the tutelage of a genius butler?

(Sebastian): I would disagree. MC has been extremely quick in picking up everything and assisted me greatly.

(I want to stay here. And I came to wish for it desperately. But…. Dreams will always have an end — it is the inescapable truth of parting.)

???: I love you…MC. …If there is such a thing as being reborn, I will search for you. No matter how long it takes.

(…I’ll wait for you. I will wait for you no matter how long it takes.)

Embracing my beloved’s words in the final moments, I slept for a long, long time…—

Opening my eyes to my ordinary bedroom, I let out a small sigh.

MC: ….What in the world was that dream….?

(The place…was an old, foreign country, and I lived with someone in a large mansion….That’s it. I can’t remember anything else.)

The dream that was so vivid in my mind becomes obscured by mist the moment I open my eyes. But even so, my heartbeat races, and overwhelming feelings of happiness and pain remain.

(In my dreams, I feel like I made an extremely important promise. An important promise, with an important person….who was that person…?)

It was merely a dream, and I’m not sure if there was any meaning held within. But deep down, I had a feeling our meeting was seared into my heart.

** - The nameplate is blank but there are sprites that appear to signal who is talking.

Event Info:

If you’ve been playing other IkeSeries games, Secret Endings are nothing new. For this event, players must first clear the same character’s Sweet End and Premium End consecutively (it doesn’t matter which End is chosen first), and only upon completion of both Ends, will they unlock the Secret End.

There is a Secret End for each route, with the amount of points needed to clear One route, all Ends, is 28,396.

Upon completion of the first end for each route, players will be prompted to buy the Epilogue, with the Epilogue bonus being the speech bubble accessory item shown below.

Visit the links below for ERS (Event Route Summary) of each event route.

Routes: Napoleon | Arthur | Isaac

Event Rewards/Promotions:

Shown above is the full event outfit from both the Ranking, ECB/Completion, and Epilogue bonuses.

Early Clear Bonus Gold: Clear 2 Premium Ends within 24 hours of entering the event.

Get [Juicy Pink Glitter Makeup] (Beauty: 200)

Early Clear Bonus Silver: Clear 3 (All) Premium Ends within 48 hours of entering the event.

Get [Voluminous Curly Ponytail] (Beauty: 200)

Ranking Bonuses:

Ranks 1 - 100

Shining on the Moon Brilliant Celebration Dress (Beauty: 280)

Shining on the Moon 2nd Anniversary Celebration Clothes (Beauty: 260)

Frilled Gorgeous Bow (Beauty: 180)

Diamonds x 50

—

Ranks 101 - 300

Shining on the Moon 2nd Anniversary Celebration Clothes (Beauty: 260)

Frilled Gorgeous Bow (Beauty: 180)

Diamonds x 50

—

Ranks 301 - 800

Frilled Gorgeous Bow (Beauty: 180)

Diamonds x 50

—

Ranks 801 - 1500

Diamonds x 50

—

Ranking within the shown borders will also grant you an extra accessory item!

Shown above is the event outfit consisting of ECB (Early Clear Bonus) and route completion items.

[Glittering Butterfly] and [Shining Shower] (the sparkles) are Love Point Bonuses.

All Clear Gold Bonus: Clear all Secret Ends by 7/11 at 11:59 PM (Event started on 7/1 at 4 PM).

Get [Hourglass Shining Under The Moonlight] (Beauty: 200)

All Clear Silver Bonus: Clear a total of 6 Sweet and Premium Ends by 7/6 at 11:59 PM.

Get [Romantic Rose Curtain] (Beauty: 200)

All Clear Bonus: Clear all Ends.

Get [Rendezvous At A Moonlit Lake Background] (Beauty: 220)

All Premium Clear Bonus: Clear all 3 Premium Ends.

Get [2nd Anniversary Stuffed Bunny] (Beauty: 200)

Set Purchase Bonus Present: Purchase the [Event Specialty] Set within 7/1 at 4:00 PM to 7/6 at 11:59 PM and receive [2nd Anniversary Celebration Chibi].

Love Points Bonuses:

10,000 Points - Closet Space x 2

20,000 Points - Gacha Token x 1

30,000 Points - Closet Space x 2

40,000 Points - Gacha Token x 1

50,000 Points - Closet Space x 2

60,000 Points - Gacha Token x 2

70,000 Points - Closet Space x 4 and [Glittering Butterfly] (Beauty: 80)

80,000 Points - Gacha Token x 2

90,000 Points - Closet Space x 5 and [Shining Shower] (Beauty: 100)

100,000 Points - Gacha Token x 4

—

And that’s it for the Event Info for Part 1 of the [Once Again, I Will Fall In Love With You] event!

Cybird certainly went all out for IkeVamp anniversary, with all the sales and bonuses and events they’re throwing left and right, which keeps all of us running this blog very busy bees.

#ikemen vampire #ikevamp #story event #napoleon #arthur #isaac #july 2019 #2nd anniversary #event info #long post #jp ikevamp #once again i will fall in love with you

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supercitycarnival · 7 years ago

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The Diamond In Your Engagement Ring Is Fake 3/3

I couldn't let it go. Fluffy fluff ahead. This was rushed. Apologies for errors. @poppyssupergirl Here is your bedtime story!

Read Part 1 here

Read Part 2 here

Part 3

*********************

Kara sat, propped on her window sill, enjoying the rare southern California rain. Her new best friend was cuddled in her lap, happily looking out the window with her. Kara glanced down at the little white puppy. She grinned at the way he lifted his small floppy ears. Moving her hand to stroke his back, the puppy looked up at her with sweet, brown, puppy eyes.

He still didn't have a name. Kara was planning to bring him up to CatCo as soon as Cat returned. She'd been out of the country for almost a week, leaving only a few days after she and Kara had finally started talking again. Cat had insisted Kara wait to name the little guy until she could meet him, claiming she needed a sense of his aura to have the best judgement on an appropriate name.

Kara missed Cat like crazy. Time at work trudged by without her there. Time at the DEO was just time spent passing the hours until Cat came back.

After Kara had broken things off with Mon-El, her relationship with Cat had instantly begun to blossom again. Kara had been graced with more smiles from the mogul in a week than she had been in almost three years. One night while they'd been processing the day through a conversation on the balcony sofa, Cat had reached over and taken Kara's hand. Kara had felt the blush on her cheeks, but Cat only gave her hand a squeeze, slowly releasing it with a soft smile.

Tonight, sitting at her window watching the rain fall, Kara wished Cat was with her. She wished she could tell her about the day, about Snapper’s annoying deadlines, the way she and Alex had taken down six bad guys flawlessly, and the how she was upset about not being able to secure a source for a story.

Kara picked up her phone. She wasn't sure where in the world Cat was, somewhere in Europe checking on CatCo's holdings, but maybe she could text.

Just as Kara was opening her text thread with Cat, a knock sounded at the door. Narrowing her eyes, Kara peered through the door with her x-ray vision. A wide smile spread across her face. She quickly stood and walked over to set the puppy down in his fluffy bed near the sofa.

With long strides, Kara rushed toward the door. Stopping short, she remembered her glasses. With super speed, Kara covered the distance to the kitchen table, retrieving them and slipping them on her face. Taking a deep breath, she went to the door.

Opening it, she took in the sight of Cat standing before her with a soft expression and caring eyes. Her hair had gotten wet when she made her way through the rain to get to Kara's door. The idea of Cat not caring about what her hair looked like in her desire to see Kara made the superhero’s heart soar.

“Hi,” Cat said quietly.

Kara replied with a nervous and hushed, “Hey.” Eyes flitting down, Kara noticed a wooden box in Cat's arms. “Oh, gosh, sorry,” she stammered. “Let me help you with that.”

She took the box, noticing it would have been a bit heavy for Cat, and went to walk back into the apartment, setting the box down on the table. Turning back, Kara saw a hesitant Cat standing in the doorframe.

“Thanks,” Cat said.

“Come in,” Kara urged, her usual enthusiasm returning. She walked back over, tugging on Cat's wrist with an affectionate squeeze, and closing the door. “I missed you. Tell me about… wherever you went.”

“Belarus,” Cat filled in.

Just then, a timid whine came from the living room. They both looked over to see Kara's puppy with his chin resting on the edge of his bed, floppy ears raised, and gaze set on their guest.

With a small gasp, Kara said, “Looks like someone wants to meet you.”

Cat's anxious demeanor faded and she relaxed as they walked over to the sofa. Kara picked up the tiny dog and presented him to Cat.

“This is my new bestie,” Kara told her. “Wanna hold him?”

“Absolutely,” Cat answered, holding out her hands.

Kara loved that not even the stoic Cat Grant could resist talking baby talk to a puppy. As Cat cooed over the puppy, holding him close, Kara soaked in the opportunity to watch this more tender side of her. Kara was smitten with the both of them.

Cat laughed softly as the puppy lightly licked her chin. “He's perfectly adorable, Kara.”

“He still doesn't have a name,” Kara reminded her.

“Well, we will have to remedy that.” Cat passed him back to Kara. “Can we talk first?”

Kara caught the serious turn in Cat's tone. “Yeah, of course.” She set the puppy back in his bed, instructing him to let the grown-ups talk.

Cat seemed uneasy and it made Kara uneasy. “Everything okay?” Kara asked.

“Yes, everything's okay,” Cat replied, though she was wringing her hands together.

When Cat didn't say more, Kara gently prodded. “Tell me what on Earth was in Belarus. I didn't know CatCo had investments there.”

With a breathy, short laugh, Cat said, “What on Earth, indeed.” At Kara's confused look, she pointed back to the kitchen table.

They walked over to where the medium sized wooden box was sitting. “What's in it?” Kara was suddenly curious.

“Um, well,” Cat began, cautiously, “I got you something.” Kara's lips opened slightly as she glanced from Cat to the box and back again. “CatCo doesn't have any investments in Belarus,” Cat added. “I went there to get this.” She rested her hand on the box.

They watched each other for a moment. Kara was beginning to understand that something significant was happening. Cat had just admitted that she went to the other side of the world to get something for her and, based on Cat's tentative demeanor, it was deeply important.

“May I?” Kara pointed at the box.

Releasing a breath, Cat nodded. Kara put her hands on either side of the box, pausing for a second, before she gingerly lifted the top off.

Kara was perplexed. Inside the box was a large rock. Though it looked unusual and somehow still oddly familiar, Kara couldn't place it and certainly didn't understand why Cat was so nervous about sharing it with her. Tucked into the corner of the box was an elongated leather pouch.

Seeing that she was eyeing the pouch, Cat quietly instructed, “Open it.”

Kara reached inside and carefully pulled out the piece of leather. Her heart started beating faster, sensing that whatever was inside was about to change everything. Pulling apart the string holding the pouch closed, Kara turned it over in her hand.

Two long, slender turquoise-blue crystals slipped out of the pouch and into her hand. They were flawlessly smooth and translucent. With an uncontrollable gasp, Kara recognized them instantly. She pulled them completely from the leather and held them loosely in the hands, unable to take her gaze off them.

Tears she couldn't harness sprung to her eyes. In her hands, Kara held the impossible. Two Kryptonian engagement crystals. On her home world, these crystals would have been cut down into a stone that could have been set. These crystals were used as special tokens specifically because they were so difficult to obtain. They were only found on the high mountains of Krypton City. It was dangerous to hunt them, making it all the more significant when it was presented to a loved one.

Kara was speechless. Trying to form words, Kara found that she couldn't speak through the lump in her throat. “I… how…” She closed her mouth, shutting her eyes and holding back a sob.

Cat waited to speak, allowing Kara time to process what she was holding in her hands. It was a piece of her home, a piece of the culture that had been lost to the stars. Kara shifted her hands to hold both crystals in one palm and gently ran the fingertips of her other hand over the surface of the crystals.

“You asked me,” Cat said, hushed, “what I would have gotten you.”

Kara finally met her gaze and stared into hazel eyes, full of affection. She remembered. After she'd gotten engaged to Mon-El and Cat had informed her that the diamond he'd gotten was a fake. Kara had asked Cat what she would have gotten her.

Swallowing, Kara could barely speak above a whisper. “You said the best in the world. No matter where you had to go or what it cost.”

Nodding slowly, Cat took a step closer, putting her in front of Kara. She reached up to place her finger tips at the arms of Kara's glasses. Searching Kara's eyes for permission. Any resolve Kara had to keep her secret from this perfect woman had left the second she opened the pouch. Cat eased the glasses from Kara's face. Without breaking eye contact, Cat set the glasses aside on the table.

“I asked Winn what he knew about Kryptonian engagement customs,” Cat began. “He found a story in your mythology about how, in ancient times, Roa had taken water from the sea and poured it high in the mountains around Krypton City.” Tears escaped Kara's eyes. She couldn't believe a human was telling her about Kryptonian mythology, much less this human. She listened intently as Cat continued. “The water he poured on the mountain tops made trees grow higher on those mountains than any other mountains on the planet.”

Cat gently touched one if the crystals in Kara's hand. Kara couldn't help herself. She took Cat's hand and clutched it to her chest. Cat stepped closer and wrapped her free hand around Kara's wrist where she was holding the crystals. Kara curled her fingers around the crystals, like it made them more real.

“Please, tell me more,” Kara asked through her tears, voice gaspy with her emotional and shallow breaths.

Cat's close-lipped smile made her heart skip a beat. Her tears began to subside as Cat continued, “Some the sea water was trapped in the crevasses of the mountains. Over the centuries it hardened, preserved in the form of these blue crystals. When the oceans dried up, the crystals became a precious reminder of what Krypton had been in the past.”

Cat was talking so quietly and standing so close, Kara felt the warmth of her body. She closed her eyes, enjoying the feeling of Cat's small hand in hers at her chest.

Slipping her fingers from Kara's wrist to her elbow, pulling slightly and drawing them closer, Cat finished, “So whenever someone wanted to propose to someone else, they had to make the journey to the mountains outside Krypton City. Then they had to make the dangerous trek up the mountain, searching for the a crystal to bring back to their love.”

Kara released a breath, relaxing her grip on Cat's hand, but not releasing it. “My father wandered around on the mountain for days before he finally found a crystal for my mom,” she shared. “I loved that ring.” Clearing her throat, not wanting to cry again, Kara said, “My mother always said it matched my eyes, and one day I would have my own.” She glanced from Cat to the crystals, then back. “Cat, where did you find these?”

Smiling, Cat answered, “Well, I needed help. I got Winn to track down unidentified meteorites around the world. Of course, they hit in many unpopulated places and no one ever knows about them, but there are several that fall every year that are found and catalogued.” Cat released Kara's hand and turned back to the box on the table. “Scientists can tell if they were a piece of a larger asteroid, or maybe a piece of one of the rings around Saturn, or a random space rock, or part of a pulverized moon .” She paused before saying, “And in some cases, they can tell if a meteorite is a piece of a distant planet that traveled across the universe to fall into the middle of a farmer's field in Belarus.”

Kara stepped closer to the box, looking with wonder at the large rock that lay inside. The realization settled on her that this wasn't just a rock. It was a piece of her home, a piece of Krypton.

“Are you saying…” Kara trailed off unable to finished the question.

“Yeah.” Cat rested her hand on the top of the rock. “This is largest known piece of the planet Krypton.”

Setting the crystals down, Kara moved to slowly pick the rock up out of the box. She felt the weight of it. About the size of a basketball, she turned it over in her hands. It was jagged, not smooth like the crystals. The surface was rough and Kara ran her fingertips over the dips and sharp edges. She could easily picture a rock like this coming from the steep mountains of Krypton.

Cat told her, “The reason this meteorite was preserved and actually made its way onto a database was because it had these strange and very beautiful crystals attached to it.”

Cat turned the rock over in Kara's hands and pointed to two deep divots. That was where the crystals had been embedded.

Kara shook her head slowly, stunned at all of it. “How… uh,” she tried to concentrate on her words, still trying to catch up. She was overwhelmed. “How did you get them out? I thought minerals from Krypton were, like, way stronger than on Earth.”

“You're right,” Cat confirmed with raised eyebrows. “I had team of geologists as well as the best jewelers working on it for forty-eight hours straight to get them out. But I still wanted you to have the rock, so I bought it from the government.” She smiled, admitting, “I almost had them cut a piece down and put it in a setting.”

Kara chuckled softly. It was all so Cat-like, secret research, whisking off to an obscure country to find a needle in a haystack, going through who knows what kind of negotiations to purchase said needle, then procuring an entire team of elite professionals to work on it. No doubt, Cat had been behind them, sarcastically cracking the whip.

“I can't believe you did this,” Kara said, wiping her tears.

“I hope I didn't cross a line.” Cat's previous nervousness returned, given away by the crease in her brow.

Eyes widening a bit, Kara insisted, “No.”

She carefully set the stone down on the table. Kara was so caught up in the moment, she put her hands on either of side of Cat's waist, pulling her until their faces were close. It was an innocent move, only meant to emphasize her point, but when Cat let out small gasp, Kara realized her action was unintentionally intimate.

Still, Kara held onto Cat. With the secrecy gone, she let boldness take over. “No,” Kara repeated emphatically, “you did not cross a line. No one's ever done anything like this for me, Cat.”

Cat visibly relaxed, letting her own hands rest at the base of Kara's neck, comfortably settling into Kara and allowing herself to be pulled closer.

“Don't get me wrong,” Cat said, her usual aplomb showing itself, “I'm not proposing to you.”

Kara grinned. “Of course not.”

“That would be ridiculous.”

“Obviously.” Kara couldn't take her eyes off Cat. She was adorable with hair still damp from the rain.

Fingers trailing from behind Kara's neck to her jaw, Cat watched her own index finger outline Kara's sharp jawline, ending its journey under her chin.

“I mean, we're not even dating,” Cat whispered. Kara's breathing had caught while Cat's fingers moved.

“R-right,” Kara mumbled, suddenly getting lost in the sensations that came along with having Cat Grant this close.

“I just wanted to show you what I would have gotten you if I happened to propose,” Cat clarified.

“Uh huh.”

Seeing Kara's reaction at their proximity, Cat smiled softly. She leaned in until their noses brushed. Kara's heart was racing. It was taking all her effort to subdue the flush bubbling inside her, hoping to seem more in control than she felt.

Finally, Cat drove them to the next step with a hushed request. “Kiss me, Kara.”

The space between their lips was suddenly gone. Kara barely had to shift to lightly press her lips to Cat's. Comfortable and simultaneously exhilarated, Kara sank into the kiss until their mouths melded together. They separated only to come back together more firmly.

Just as Kara's hands were beginning to move and Cat's fingers were beginning to comb into her hair, a quiet whimper came from the other side of the room.

Coming apart with a perfect small sound, they smiled at one another before turning their attention to the puppy, waiting patiently in his bed. Both women walked over to the sofa, speaking gibberish at the same time to the tiny dog who instantly began to wag his tail.

Kara scooped him up and they all sat down on the sofa. Cat and Kara showered him with affection. Kara lifted her eyes and looked back to the kitchen table. She couldn't remember being more touched at a gesture. Tears welled up again as she gazed at the blue crystals, memories of a lost world floating through her mind.

Cat's laughter brought her focus back to the sofa. They stayed there, determined not to leave until the puppy had a name.

#supercat #kara x cat #supergirl #fan fiction #prompt fill #sort of

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sinkingorswimming · 7 years ago

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‘Til We Let the Spectrum In: a companion to ‘Til I Tear The Walls, ‘Til I Save Your Heart

For the amnesty week of @knockyuuriupweek: prompt of “labor/labor induction.” Stands alone primarily, though knowledge of the Ballad of Tam Lin may help. The prior story can be found here on AO3.

It wasn’t just that Victor had to adjust to the march of time since his imprisonment in the roses. He also had to help with marriage arrangements and the complications of his sweet one’s pregnancy.

Doctor Nishigori forbids his love any strenuous activity after Samhain, and so he spends much of his days reclining in bed or on a chaise in the library with Minako assisting in his education as always. Lady Katsu--Okaasan brings Yuuri soothing teas and carefully prepared meals, which Victor lovingly feeds him until the day Yuuri slaps the spoon out of his hand and berates him about his hatred of coddling.

(Upon retiring to their chambers---yes theirs, as Otousan wryly points out since the question of Yuuri’s purity is quite settled, to be sure---Yuuri sheds tears with loud hiccups, ashamed and apologetic. Victor kisses him, stroking his back until he sleeps, watching his bethrothed slumber with diamonds in his eyes as he tries his best to love him.)

On occasion, Victor takes Yuuri on a slow, small walk by the hothouse. At first the perfumes of the different flora trigger Yuuri’s nausea, but after a few months it abates so he can enjoy his family’s efforts once more.

Once a week, Victor has the horticulturist make Yuuri an arrangement, bringing him this small boon as a sign of his suit. They always avoid red roses by unspoken agreement, but one particular bouquet with the red camellias so prized by the Katsukis strangely moves Yuuri to the point of tears.

Minako pulls Victor aside before afternoon tea to explain their meaning sotto voce. Victor then reserves them for anniversaries, his birthday in the late autumn, and the celebration of St. Valentine.

The wedding happens as promised, their families united by the sacred and legal bond. Cousin Mila, with all the brightness of Polaris in her smile, introduces a dark-haired beauty as her companion, Lady Sara Crispino of the Southern Crispinos. Lady Sara is just as pleased, her lilac gloved hands and amethyst collier matching her unique eye color.

The wedding is successful, the party the talk of the nation for years, and Victor adjourns with Yuuri to one of his family’s estates, a seaside castle with a golden gate. The marriage chambers have fur blankets and a roaring fire, and Victor presents Yuuri a token that belonged to his late mother.

It is a necklace of molten gold and black opals that remind Victor of the sky under which they met. It is meant solely as a dowery, but when Victor takes a moment to gather the mulled, spiced wine for their nightcaps, he returns to his sweet one draped in front of the fire in the necklace and nothing else, not even his spectacles.

(”We shouldn’t---Doctor Nishigori---” Victor weakly protests, because Yuuri is beautiful, somehow more than the first time ever he saw his face, more than the night he saved his mortal soul.

“I’m not waiting almost half a year for a proper cunsummation of our marriage,” Yuuri offers with a frown. “I asked Yuuko---if we take steps to move carefully, all will be well.”

How is Victor to refuse such an offer? Only a fool would lack the sense to reject such a suggestion, and it has been too long his passion could only simmer below the surface, threatening to ignite in the evenings upon retirement to the solitude of their bed.

Victor is full of longing, and thus Victor gives in.

He gives in half of every week’s nights without fail thereafter.)

Time passes so quickly that Yuuri becomes round like a hot air balloon with back pain and difficulty sleeping. He walks more, and before they know it, the third phase draws close.

Nishigori has arranged for a surgery when the time comes to safely birth the baby. He and his wife take up residence in the guest cottage as Yuuri may begin his labor pains any day and the village is too long a coach ride for such an urgent event.

Two days before the official date, Yuuri asks to be drawn a hot bath midday. It is done, and as he undresses to sink into the water, something causes him to call for Victor.

Victor enters to find Yuuri in only his shirt holding his trousers and small clothes. The groin area on both have been soaked through with clear and red fluids. Victor stares at Yuuri with a sense of escalating panic.

“Victor---” Yuuri manages with a supernatural calm. “Victor. Get the Nishigoris.”

Victor cannot move, rooted to the floor like he was a field of enchanted blossoms.

“Victor!” Yuuri snaps. “Go!”

This springs him to action, Victor breaking a land speed record to reach the cottage, all but destroying it like a puff from a big bad wolf. “Yuuri---baby---time---” he manages before sprinting back.

Yuuri, with no care for his mostly nude state, has lain by the bed on the floor. He groans, and the husband and wife time gently place him on their bed. Nurse Nishigori has a watch, and she focuses on it as Yuuri lets loose a bray, breathes, then does it again.

“This is fast,” she says. “Your labor pains are only five minutes apart.” She smiles. “Your child is eager to meet you both.”

Victor wrings his hands then takes the back steps two at a time, begging the cook for aid. After what feels like years, he is given an almost over-flowing cauldron of boiled water.

Yuuri’s cousin, Phichit, hears the commotion. “Has the time arrived?”

“Get linens,” Victor instructs. “They’ll be needed.”

Phichit does so without a question or complaint, the two of them bursting into the rooms with nods to the Lord and Lady Katsuki as well as Minako who wait outside.

Doctor Nishigori has given Yuuri a low sedative, it appears as he moans in sleep. “I have brought boiled water and towels as well as old sheets!” Victor declares.

Nishigori pays him no mind, but his wife favors Victor with a blank stare. “That’s...very good, Victor,” she says with audible confusion. “Set them out of the way.”

Phichit obeys---Victor does not. He cannot because he sees the size of the scalpel being employed for the cesarian, and immediately collapses to the ground in a spell.

In addition to Minako’s palm impacting with his cheek, the sounds of a baby’s cries rouse him from unconsciousness. “He’s fine,” is all he gets from the governess as she helps him into a standing position. When he has reoriented, he sees a proud doctor and midwife, a beaming young Lord Chulanont, and---

Yuuri, now half-awake and his arms full of a wriggling infant with tufts of jet black hair on the crown of their head. Victor silently weeps as he sits on Yuuri’s side. Yuuri is tired and wan in a precarious position aided by a large pile of pillows. His stomach is surely sore and weak from the incisions. He favors Victor with a smile and wet eyes. “Meet your son.”

“Perfection, the both of you,” Victor assures him with a kiss on the cheek. He strokes the boy’s hair---it is exactly as Yuuri’s. There is no doubt he is theirs, Victor believes as he takes in the insistent Nikiforov cheekbones and mouth.

After everyone greets the new little one and someday heir to both fortunes, they are left alone with their son. He begins to fuss and Yuuri feeds him like any mother would, though they have not decided to have the child use such a title.

A fire is stoked for them, and while a nursery has been made with the typical trappings, for now he is too young to sleep down the hall. There is an elegant bassinet close to their bed, and Victor holds him as he rocks him to sleep until an early morning feeding.

Yuuri watches him with love. A sudden gust causes a window to blow open, and Victor puts the baby in the bassinet and then closes it. His back is to Yuuri and their baby, but he hears Yuuri shout a warning.

Victor turns, and in the dim light, four pairs of eyes glow: one green like a barn cat, one blue like midsummer lightning, the third a different shade of blue like bioluminsecent fish, and the final pair simply reflect like a polished piece of obsidian.

The darkness clears and Victor grabs the fire poker. “Leave this place,” he orders the four fae men.

“We are not here to take the child or cause you pain,” the black eyed man whose cloak has a bear fighting an eagle embroided in gold says.

“We come bearing gifts,” says the dark blue-eyed man, tall and in a regal shimmering purple befitting of a king.

“There are no tricks or deceptions, and we do not require anything in return,” the blue eyed man clad in the colors of an oil spill that has mixed with water.

“Let us grant these boons, and we shall vanish,” says the youngest, a towheaded changeling boy in white and feathers.

Yuuri is scared and determined as he was on Samhain, but Victor spent over half a century as one of their kind. They cannot refuse lest they risk insulting them.

Noting frightens Victor worse than insulting the Queen of Air and Darknesses court. “Do as you will,” he says.

“Victor---” Yuuri begins, but the look in Victor’s eyes makes him quiet.

The fae gather around the baby. The black eyed man is first. “To you, child, I bestow wisdom and the willingness to work hard, completing all tasks with grace and strength.”

Ebony and gold light glimmer onto their son.

The violet king is next. “To you, child, I bestow confidence, charm, and song, so that you may never forget your noble heart.”

Emerald and aubergine sparks cover the baby.

The shimmering witch goes third. “To you, child, I bestow passion, empathy, and a great desire to love, as well as the necessary objectivity so you do not lose sight of your own self.”

Several shades of blue glimmer on the baby’s skin.

Finally, the last gift. “I bestow upon you, child, your father’s courage, your other father’s devotion, and their combined loyalty and truth. May these never fade or dim, no matter the adversity you face.”

Silver and yellow cover the baby.

The quartet bow as they vanish, the window blowing open a second time in spite of being latched. Yuuri shuts it this time, and when he finishes, he clings to Victor, both of them trembling as they look at the inkling dark to ensure they do not return.

They do not.

After deliberation, they name the baby Sora, for when his eyes open they are Victor’s color with Yuuri’s shape, like a shimmering, windy sky. He grows healthy and handsome, beloved by all he meets. He is kind and wise beyond his years, hardworking and gentle to Vicchan and upon the small dog’s final breaths, a larger poodle they name Makkachin.

He flourishes and grows, and the fae are true to their word...though sometimes if Victor is out with Sora alone on the grounds, he senses someone observing them to only find a yellow striped cat with green eyes.

He brushes it away, and basks in the joy of his son and sweet one.

#knock yuuri up week #sfw #sunday: labor #dommi's fic #tam lin au #victuuri fic #yoi fic

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sinsiriuslyemo · 8 years ago

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I loooooove your stories, and since request is open, I would please myself with one if you dont mind: an imagine where rafael and the reader, after a few dates finaly do it. When they're finished she confesses she was a virgin...extra points for sweet rafael and nervous reader, diamond points for what would posibbly happened after her confession...

You are without a doubt my fav Raúl blog! I love your writing! Could you do a Rafael x reader imagine where they just have really sweet and fluffy sex/make love?

Thank you both so so much!!! Your words really made me smile!! I hope it’s okay that I combined these two requests :) They seemed to go well together! And thank you both so much for your patience!!

The weather had called for light snow for the majority of the day, but you’d known better. You always knew better than to listen to the weather man, who didn’t know anymore than anyone else what Mother Nature had in store for the future. ‘Light snow’ had turned into an all day blizzard, and you’d thanked your own cynicism for talking your boyfriend, Rafael into staying in and having an all day movie marathon. It was still coming down hard, and you frowned a little. Taking the subway during a snowstorm was not exactly your idea of a good time, and you hated taking cabs, besides, the traffic on street level wasn’t going to be any better.

“It’s getting late, I should get home,” you whispered to Rafael after the credits began to roll on the TV.

“Why don’t you just stay the night, cariño?” he offered, and you looked up at him.

The two of you were still in the first eight months of your relationship, and you’d been taking things relatively slow. You’d never spent the night together before, and you still hadn’t made the relationship physical. Aside from a rare nap on the couch, you’d never even slept in the same bed.

“I don’t have work tomorrow, it’s Sunday. We can have breakfast in bed, do the crossword together,” he continued, fingertips stroking over your shoulder lightly.

“Are you sure?” you ask tentatively.

“I’m positive. It’s going to be a nightmare trying to get to Brooklyn at this time with the weather the way it is,” he answered. “I have an extra toothbrush, you can borrow a shirt and a pair of shorts to sleep in. Plus, I have to admit that I would love nothing more than to wake up with you snuggled against me,” he added, pulling you closer to him.

You blushed a little and laid your head on his shoulder, hoping he wouldn’t see how the pink rose to your cheeks. You and Rafael had shared so much with each other. However, the one thing you hadn’t told him, mostly because it tended to intimidate the other guys you’d dated in the past, was the fact that you were a virgin. Lately, you’d been seriously considering changing that, and taking yours and Rafael’s relationship to the next level, but you always chickened out before you could work up the nerve to bring it up.

You thought about telling him now, but he was right, the snow outside would make the trip to your apartment in Brooklyn beyond difficult. If by some strange happenstance he were to react the way every other man had, it would be a long, sad ride home. So instead, you bit your bottom lip and looked up at him, nodding softly. He smirked, able to feel the way you trembled slightly beneath his arm and kissed you tenderly.

“Why don’t you sleep in my room, I’ll take the couch,” he offered, kissing you again.

“No, that’s silly,” you replied, your voice sounding almost muffled compared to how loudly your heart was pounding in your chest.

“I just don’t want you to feel like I’m...you know, pressuring you to make our relationship...physical. If you’re not ready, you’re not ready. I understand. I’ll wait as long as you need,” he said, shrugging his shoulders.

You smiled at him softly, snuggling up to him and sighing contently. You couldn’t help the overwhelming feeling of just knowing that he was the one. It wasn’t a fleeting lust, or a gentle wave of guilt of his patience that drove you, but a true, deep-rooted love that you not only felt for him, you felt it from him too.

It was this feeling that guided your mouth towards his, kissing him deeply as you moved to straddle him. Threading your fingers through his tresses, you rocked your hips against his, earning a barely audible groan from Rafael as his hands slid over your thighs, pulling you closer to him. You could feel the hunger in his kiss, taste it on his tongue as it swept over yours with a growing need. Pulling his bottom lip between your own, your hands went to clumsily begin unbuttoning his shirt, trembling at the thought of being naked with him.

Standing and holding you up, he carried you into his bedroom, kicking his door shut and setting you down on your feet in front of the bed. Rafael pulled back a little to look at you as you finally got the last button on his shirt undone, his chest steadily rising and falling with his heavy breaths. His hands pulled your top over your head, taking a minute to drink in the sight of you.

“Is this okay?” he asked in a whisper as his fingers danced over your collarbone.

You nodded your head, hands pushing his shirt open and over his shoulders as your lips met again while hands explored. Reaching around you, he unclasped your bra, bringing each strap down before finally pulling it off. Instinctively, your arms moved to cover yourself, a little insecure about how your body looked.

“Are you okay?” he asked softly, moving his lips to kiss over your neck. “We don’t have to do this,” he added.

“Y-yeah...just a little nervous,” you replied, chuckling a little as your head tilted to one side, granting him better access.

“So am I,” he whispered against your pulse point. Cradling your face with two large, gentle hands, he left tokens of his affection over your face. “If you wanna stop, just tell me,” he added, looking at you.

Nodding again, you closed the space between you and he took the gesture as the green light to pull you flush against him, running his hands over your bare back before drifting lower until he was gently grasping your backside. You moaned against his mouth, your own palms sliding around his shoulders before falling to let your fingertips graze his nipples, then lower, past his belly button to settle on his waistband. He sighed, still kissing you as he too reached for the button and zipper of your jeans. Your movements mirrored one another’s as you rid the other of pants, mouths still comfortably tangled.

Moving to lay you on his bed, his lips went to make a fiery, slow path down to one breast, tongue and teeth manipulating your nipple until it hardened under his stimulation. He repeated the action on it’s twin before continuing his journey as you arched your back. When he reached the hem of your panties, he looked up at you, pressing a wet kiss on the skin just beneath the waistband, giving you a moment to protest. His fingers hooked on either side of your hips, pulling them down at a snail’s pace and you looked down at him bashfully, biting your bottom lip.

“You’re so beautiful,” he whispered when you laid naked before him. There was a lust in his eyes that caused a tingle between your legs and your hips, on their own accord, rocked towards his mouth. He smirked softly, dipping his head to plant an open-mouthed kiss on the juncture between your hip and your core, nipping on the tendon that protruded slightly there.

“Oh my God,” you whispered as your fingers threaded through his hair when his mouth connected with the place where you most needed his attention. Arching your back, you moaned deeply, legs moving on their own to press your calves against the backs of his shoulders in attempts to draw him closer.

You’d never felt anything quite like this, even your own experienced fingers paled in comparison with his tongue when it gently massaged your clit. His mouth made your eyes roll to the back of your head when it gingerly sucked your sensitive nub into it’s depths. His fingers moved with precision as they kept your nipples alert with pinches and rolls between a thumb and index finger.

“Oh Rafael,” you sighed, breath coming in heavy, loud pants as he moaned against you.

Your body was on fire, every nerve ending tingling with a desire for more. More of him, more of what he was doing to you, more time to savor every subtle movement. Suddenly one of your nipples missed his fingers and you opened your eyes, looking down to find a pair of emerald orbs staring back at you. Before you could ask why he’d moved his hand, you felt something press against your opening. Seconds later it was sinking into you, a bit thicker than your own finger and you focused on staying relaxed.

He groaned again when his digit was fully submerged, your arousal making it incredibly easy for him to gently slide it in and out a few times.

“Does that feel good?” he asked in a husky voice, his mouth taking your bundle of nerves again as his finger stilled inside you.

“Yes,” you managed to whisper, nodding your head as you licked your lips, catch your bottom petal between your teeth.

After a moment, you felt another feeler slide in to join the first, and the suction on your clit intensified, muscles contracting around the intrusion, trying to draw him in deeper. Again, he slid them in and out of you, pulling out to gently turn them before plunging back in and crooking them upward. You arched your back, moaning loudly as a tension built inside you, beginning in the pit of your stomach and moving towards your center until it burst from you. The impact forced your upper half up until you were holding yourself with one hand behind you, the other tangled in his hair.

He moaned along with you, stimulating you through your release before making his way back up to your lips.

“Oh my God, that was...amazing,” you said, giggling against his mouth and earning a soft smile from him as he kissed you over and over.

You reached between you to rub his organ over his boxer briefs. He groaned, letting you roll him onto his back while your hand slipped beneath the cotton barrier between you, grasping his hardened organ and squeezing gently as his lips tangled with yours. His long fingers sank in your hair, hips arching towards your palm as another moan vibrated against your pout.

Slowly, and a bit clumsily, you stroked him, a bit unsure as to whether your technique was up to par; The furthest you’d ever gone with a man was some dry humping, and normally when it would get heated enough for them to begin reaching under your shirt, you would drop the V bomb. It never went over well, and often that would be the end of that.

Deciding to move on, you kissed your way down his chest, dipping your tongue in his belly button before pulling down his underwear. Your eyes widened at the long, thick shaft staring back at you, and you placed a kiss on his crown. Opening your mouth, you took the tip of him in, earning a rather loud groan from your lover.

You looked up tentatively, seeing his eyes screwed shut and his chest rising and falling heavily. He lifted his head to look down at you, mouth hanging open, and he moaned again when he found you staring up at him with his cock between your lips. His eye stared intently at where your mouth wrapped around him as you tried to sink lower, unsure as to how much of him you could take.

He tasted musky, but there was a sweetness to the bodily fluids that were oozing from his tip, and you moaned around him. You wanted more, and gently bobbed your head, taking in a few more inches every time and feeling your confidence build whenever he groaned or combed his fingers through your hair. Then you just got too cocky, (pun intended, not intended) taking a little too much of his length, and your gag reflex made an appearance.

“Oh my God!” he groaned in surprise, panting above you and licking his lips.

Catching your breath, you took him into your mouth again and sucked on his head, hand lazily stroking the rest of his length. Your tongue rubbed over the v on the underside just beneath his crown and he sighed loudly, hand curling into a fist in your hair before sliding down to cup your face.

“Mi amor,” Rafael whispered, thumb stroking your cheek. “It’s um...it’s been a--”

He gasped when you sucked him a little harder, and he moaned, hesitantly placing his hand further under your chin and lifting your gaze for you to look up at him. Your eyes were filled with a slight concern, lips pink and slightly swollen, and the corner of his mouth quirked upwards.

“That feels really good, but...it’s been a while for me so...I’m not sure how long I can last,” he said softly. “Especially if you’re gonna tease me like that,” he added.

You bit your bottom lip. Had you been teasing him? You certainly hadn’t meant to, you only meant to appear as though you at least sort of knew what you were doing.

“I’m sorry,” you answered, chuckling nervously as you came to lay beside him, and he shook his head lightly.

“Don’t be sorry, I like it, but...I just need you,” he replied, kissing you again and humming against your mouth as he gently rolled you onto your back.

Perching himself above you, he dropped tender kisses over your jaw and down the length of your neck while one hand grazed his fingertips over your flesh.

“Do we need a condom?” he asked in a whisper against your collarbone.

At least that was one thing you’d gotten right; after six months of being with him, when you began to consider giving him your virginity, you’d taken it upon yourself to consult with a doctor about birth control.

“No, I have an IUD,” you whispered back, fingers threading in his hair as he lightly sucked on your nipple. “I want to be able to feel all of you...I want you to feel all of me,” you added bashfully, blushing when you heard him groan.

When he looked up at you, his eyes were filled with that same intoxicating lust you’d seen before and he carefully settled between your legs. Gently taking your lips again, Rafael reached between your bodies, rubbing his mushroom head over your clit before sliding it down to your entrance.

“Are you sure?” he mumbled against your mouth.

“Yes...please, Rafael,” you whimpered, holding on to him as he pushed forward, the very tip of him gently popping into you. He shuddered as your heat surrounded him, eyes trained on you, trying to gauge your comfort level.

You gasped, eyes widening just a bit as you groaned and breathed deeply beneath him as your nails lightly scratched over his back.

“Are you okay?” he asked tentatively.

Rafael wasn’t exactly naive to his size and the fact that he was bigger than what most considered average. Despite the desperate need that came over him at being inside a warm body after years of work-induced abstinence, he was determined not to ruin his first time with you by not taking your relaxation into consideration. The last thing he wanted was to be too hasty and cause you unnecessary pain or discomfort.

You nodded your head, craning your neck to kiss him.

“Just...go slow,” you whispered against his mouth.

He nodded his head, kissing you again as he eased into you, stopping about halfway to give you time to adjust. He swore he could’ve died with how tightly you fit him and his head slumped down to rest his forehead against your shoulder, fighting with everything inside him against closing the gap between your hips.

Meanwhile, you were thanking your lucky stars that you’d lost your hymen a long time ago while riding your bike. At the very least, you wouldn’t bleed all over him. But nothing could’ve prepared you for the delicious sting of being stretched more than you ever had before. It was a sort of unpleasant stretch that was really only painful for a few minutes as your body adjusted to him. Engaging your muscles, your core hugged him and he groaned at the feel of your walls tightening further around him, trying to draw him deeper. Slowly, he pushed forward the last few inches and let out a breathy moan, again fighting the urge to begin moving just yet.

Lifting his head, he kissed your lips passionately, moaning when your tongue requested entrance into his mouth.

Your hands gripped the muscles in his back as you willed your body to relax, grateful for the reprieve he was giving you by remaining still. He was longer and wider than you anticipated, but his groin pressed against your clit in the most perfect way, and it wasn’t long before you felt a familiar itch for some friction.

“Oh my God, Y/N, you feel so good,” he moaned, nuzzling your nose with his.

“Please,” you whimpered, squeezing his appendage again and rocking your hips gently upward, silently encouraging him to move.

He shuddered and carefully began an in and out pace against you. His humping was gentle at first, then slow getting harder when you began to moan beneath him. Dipping his head, Rafael sucked on your pulse point as your nails scratched down his back.

There were no words, just the sound of your heavy breathing and moans of bliss mixed with his soft grunts whenever he was completely submerged inside you. Every few minutes, he would slow down, not yet wanting the coupling to end, and you clenched around him desperately, continuing to move against him. You didn’t want him to stop. You never wanted him to stop.

“Rafael...more...please,” you begged, tightly winding your legs around his waist and using the leverage to pull yourself up harder against him. “Don’t stop,” you pleaded again.

Obliging your request, he thrust faster, harder still, his coarse pubic hair stimulating your sensitive bundle of nerves perfectly. He’d never been in such a snug body, and his balls tingled with anticipation of his release. You arched a final time, crying out as your nerve endings ignited again, far more intensely than when he’d used his mouth on you. He stroked you through your orgasm as your entire body trembled, your muscles twitching and contracting around him enough to make him light headed. It was with that incredible sensation that he too fell over the edge, groaning loudly while his hips pistoned faster against you on their own accord as he shot his seed deep inside you.

His mouth found yours again in a heated passion as he gradually brought you both back down, and hugging you tight against his body. He broke your kiss only to tuck his face in the crook of your neck as you both caught your breath, a thin layer of sweat coating the two of you. After a while of laying this way, he dropped tender kisses over your face, ending with a final kiss to your mouth.

“I love you, Y/N,” he whispered into your ear, and you smiled, tears forming in your eyes.

Those words, tumbling from his lips so softly were enough to confirm you’d made the right decision. You’d never had a doubt in your mind, but his gentle murmur, so full of affection and honesty cemented your conviction.

“I love you too,” you answered, snuggling against him as he rolled both of you to settle your frame over his.

“That was definitely worth the wait,” he said, still slightly panting and smiling as he kissed your forehead. “I don’t think I’ve ever come that hard before, it was...so intense,” he added in a sigh, holding you close against him.

“It was my first time,” you finally said, and he chuckled softly, apparently taking your admission as a joke. You picked your head up, looking at him with a serious expression. He felt your gaze and met your eyes, his smile falling slowly.

“You were a virgin?”

Biting your bottom lip, you nodded your head.

“Why didn’t you tell me?” he asked you softly, fingertips lovingly stroking over your spine.

“I didn’t want to scare you away,” you admitted after a moment of silence. “Every other guy has...disappeared after they’ve found out. Maybe because they didn’t want the pressure of being my first or...maybe they just didn’t want to wait for something that may or may not have ever come,” you added, rolling your eyes.

“It wouldn’t have scared me away,” he replied, whispering again as he smiled down at you. “I just wish I’d known, I...I would’ve tried to be romantic instead of just, ‘we can do the crossword together in the morning’.”

You snorted, kissing the skin over his heartbeat, and snuggling further against his frame.

“I thought the Sunday crossword was romantic,” you offered, shrugging softly as you looked up at him. “Plus, look outside. The way it’s snowing, the city covered in white powder, the moonlight bouncing off of it. You really couldn’t get more romantic. You also offered breakfast in bed, how could I possibly resist?”

He rolled his eyes, smirking and kissing you gently.

Pulling the fluffy covers over you, the two of you watched the snow continue to fall outside his bedroom window. After a long moment, he turned his head to look down at you.

“Hey, can I ask you something?” he wondered.

“Mhm, but make it quick, Barba,” you teased. He waited until you looked up at him.

“How’d I do?” You grinned at him, reaching down to grasp his now soft cock in a gentle palm.

“Let’s just say I’m definitely going to want an encore in a few minutes,” you purred against his jaw.

“I think that can be arranged,” he replied with a smirk, kissing you deeply again.

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thereal-tsuki-llama-blog · 8 years ago

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The Proposal

I decided to post it, because I can’t control my impulses. I won’t label this as spoilery, because it’s just one ending out of a hundred potential endings, and I make zero guarantees that Sacrifices will end anything like this super happy, pie-in-the-sky fluffy ending. Certain details which would be spoilery have been removed or changed. Think of it as more of an AU ending to Lost in Translation.

Warning: tooth-rotting sugar below the cut.

Misaki perched on the edge of the bed and ran her brush through her hair, one long stroke at a time, while she contemplated her strategy. She’d been building up to this question for the past month, trying to come up with an approach that didn’t involve just bluntly asking. This was a big question. It needed context, and she needed to give him time to start thinking about the ramifications before she actually came out and told him what had been on her mind. She didn’t want to blindside him with her proposal.

Hei was stretched out against the pillows, already in his pajamas - well, if flannel bottoms and no shirt counted as pajamas. His nose was buried in a book; he usually read while she finished up her work before coming to bed. Continuing her strokes and putting off the question for a couple more minutes, she glanced covertly over at him - just in time to see his gaze flick from her back down to the page. She bit back a smile; he liked watching her at mundane tasks, but it embarrassed him to be caught. So she always indulged him, and pretended not to notice.

It was that little endearment that finally gave her the courage to broach the subject. “Hei,” she said, putting down her brush and turning towards him, “there’s something I wanted to talk to you about.”

He closed the book around his index finger to mark his place and looked up at her in concern. “What is it?”

“Nothing serious,” she added hastily. “Well, it is a little serious, but it’s good serious.” His brow only creased more at her terrible explanation. “I mean, there’s just something that I’ve been thinking about for a while now, and I wanted to discuss it with you.”

“Okay.” He set the book on his nightstand and sat up, away from the headboard.

Misaki scooted back so that she was sitting cross-legged on the bed now, turning the hair brush over in her hands. “We’ve been doing pretty well, right? I mean, I know things were hard in the beginning, but, I think we’ve made a lot of progress, and for the past few months we’ve actually been a stable, normal kind of family.”

“I think so too,” Hei said slowly, still clearly confused and uncertain. Shit, she was making a mess of this.

“Right. So I’ve been thinking about the future. I don’t want to throw any more chaos into our lives, because god knows we’ve had enough of that; but if there was any time to do it, it would be now. Because, like I said, everything is sort of…normal.”

Hei’s hands closed around hers; he pried the hairbrush from her grasp and set it beside them on the mattress. “Misaki,” he said levelly, gazing into her eyes in that way that always made her breath catch, “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“Right. Sorry.” She took a deep breath; it was now or never. “I have my annual appointment with my gynecologist next week; she’s going to ask me about replacing my birth control. And I was thinking that, maybe...I wouldn’t.”

There. She’d said it. It was out in the open, and she couldn’t take it back. She held her breath and studied Hei’s face for his reaction.

He was still frowning in confusion. “You want to just use condoms? That’s fine; I mean, if that’s what you want.”

Misaki laughed in spite of herself. All this worry and planning, and she’d forgotten how absolutely clueless he could be; she should have just asked straight out. “No; I mean, I don’t want use any birth control at all. And just - see what happens.”

She saw the dawning comprehension spread across his face, softening his concerned frown into disbelieving surprise, his eye lighting with warm delight.

He squeezed her hands tightly. “You -” he began, then started again. “You want - you mean it?”

Misaki nodded and bit her lip, but it wasn’t enough to keep the smile from spreading across her own face at his obvious joy.

“But,” Hei said, letting go of her hand to run his fingers through his hair. “Are you sure? You had so much trouble the last time; I don’t want to put you through anything like that again.”

“I know; I won’t deny that that was one of the hardest things I’ve ever had to do,” Misaki admitted. “But the situation was completely different then. I was under so much stress and pressure, and you -”

“Weren’t there.”

“Were on the run for your life,” Misaki corrected him gently. “And now you’re here, and you will be here.” She leaned forward and kissed him lightly on the lips. “The more I think about it, the more I can’t stop thinking about it. I want another baby with you, and I want us to do it right this time. I just wasn’t sure what you would think. And you don’t have to answer right away - it’s a big decision, and we can wait to make it.”

Hei wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her into his lap; she traced the scars on his chest absently. “I don’t need time,” he said, leaning his forehead against hers. “My biggest regret out of my whole life is not being there for you and Reika; and I know I don’t deserve it, but the chance to do this with you, from the beginning,” - his hand slipped under the hem of her camisole to rest warmly on her belly - “and grow our family even more - I can’t even describe what that would mean to me.”

Misaki smiled and brushed the hair out of his eyes. “So that’s a yes?”

He cupped her face and kissed her. “Yes,” he said, then kissed her again, holding her close while she tangled her fingers in his hair and tried not to forget how to breathe.

“Um,” he said when he broke the kiss at last, “since we’re talking about serious things…”

“Mm?” Misaki asked, her eyes on his lips as she ran her fingers down his chest to his stomach.

“Well, there was something I’ve been meaning to ask you too.”

His sudden awkwardness pulled Misaki out of her reverie. “Hei, what is it?”

He let go of her to turn towards his nightstand and pull open the drawer. Misaki couldn’t help peeking over his shoulder; that drawer was his own space, something that she’d made sure that he had when he’d moved in, where he could keep things that were private without feeling like he was hiding anything from her. She was careful to maintain that boundary and never open the drawer herself. As far as she knew, the only thing in it was the feathered talisman that Amber had given him. Amber had treated him so horribly, and Misaki hated to see Hei hanging on to any kind of reminder of that time - but she couldn’t deny that it had held significance for him. On that basis, she couldn’t begrudge him the token.

However, when he opened the drawer, she didn’t see the talisman. The drawer was empty except for a small, square black case, which Hei removed. Her brow knitted in confusion. Why would he keep jewelry in there? Misaki wasn’t in the habit of wearing jewelry, and Hei wasn’t in the habit of giving her any. Was - oh god, was it stolen? Why did he have stolen jewelry??

Then he opened the case, and her heart skipped a beat as everything suddenly became clear.

“Well, like you said,” Hei began awkwardly, holding the open case in front of them, “things have been going pretty well for the past few months. I know you know that I love you, and that I will be here for you and Reika until the day I die - and longer, if I knew how. A ring or a signature on a piece of paper won’t change that for either of us. But I thought that you might like to make it legal - well, official, anyway; I don’t know if we’ll ever be legal. But mostly, I want the rest of the world to know what you mean to me.”

All Misaki could do was stare at the ring in its white silk bed. It was simple and elegant, a small diamond flanked by two brilliant blue sapphires on a silver band.

“You can say no,” Hei continued. “It won’t hurt my feelings; I know marriage isn’t very important to you. I just needed to ask.”

Misaki thought her heart might burst from happiness. For all her intense contemplation on the idea of having another child, marriage hadn’t once occurred to her. It hadn’t occurred to her that it would be on Hei’s mind, either - but she kept forgetting what a closet romantic he was. Of course it would be important to him - and if it was important to him, then it was important to her.

“Hei, it’s beautiful,” she said somewhat breathlessly. “But, you haven’t actually asked me anything.”

He blinked at her, and she smiled. “Right,” he said, running a hand through his hair. “I’ve spent weeks deciding on the ring, then trying to figure out the best time to ask you…I never actually planned what to say.”

She couldn’t imagine a more perfect time or place. “It doesn’t have to be anything special; just ask.”

He placed the soft velvet case in her palm, then wrapped his hands around hers, blue eyes gazing deep into her own. “Misaki, will you marry me?”

She nodded, suddenly unable to find her voice. “Yes,” she managed to whisper at last.

Hei broke into a huge smile, one of those smiles that was still so rare that she treasured each and every one. “Really?”

Misaki laughed and threw her arms around his neck. “Of course!” She kissed his cheek. “I love you.” Then she kissed his lips, and somehow Hei managed to get the ring onto her finger without breaking away. His hands returned to her hips waist and pulled her even closer into his lap as she gripped his upper arms, marveling distantly at the added weight on that single digit.

Then the door to the bedroom burst open. “Mom, Dad, there’s a spider -”

“Reika,” Misaki said sternly, tearing herself away from Hei’s kiss and shifting from his lap, “what have I told you about knocking first? You’re supposed to be in bed.”

Their daughter hovered at the side of the bed. “I know, but I got up to pee and there was a spider in the bathroom and -” she broke off suddenly to stare wide-eyed at Misaki’s hand where it still rested on Hei’s arm. “Mom, you’re wearing the ring! Did he ask you??”

Misaki glanced at Hei, who only raised his eyebrows innocently. “Yes, he asked me.”

Reika clambered up onto the bed and settled next to Misaki to inspect the ring. “What did you say?”

“I said yes, of course,” Misaki laughed, and wrapped an arm around her daughter.

“I knew you would. Do like the ring? I helped pick it out!”

“Did you?” Misaki turned to Hei, who was smiling warmly. She kissed the top of Reika’s head. “It’s perfect.”

#fan fiction #darker than black #ficlets #this might be the only happy ever after you'll get #so enjoy it

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mastcomm · 5 years ago

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Their Story Wrote Itself – The New York Times

Cynthia LaFave had a word of warning when she first met T Kira Madden in 2015.

“She said, ‘If you hurt my daughter, I’ll kill you,’” Ms. Madden recalled.

And that, by Ms. Madden’s reckoning, was a fair enough thing for her to say about her relationship with Hannah Beresford. Years earlier, Ms. Beresford had fought an episode of depression so crippling she required hospitalization.

Ms. Madden was no stranger to pain, either: Her 2019 memoir, “Long Live the Tribe of Fatherless Girls,” outlines her trauma-filled coming-of-age as the queer, biracial daughter of a pair of well-to-do addicts in South Florida. That Ms. Madden’s pain may have affected Ms. Beresford was a reasonable concern for her mother.

It proved unwarranted. “Their relationship has brought so much peace to them both that, as it stands now, if anyone tries to hurt Kira, I’ll kill them, too,” Ms. LaFave said.

Ms. Madden and Ms. Beresford, both 31 and now living in Beacon, N.Y., first saw each other in 2012 at the Jamaica Bay Riding Academy in Brooklyn. Ms. Beresford, a former professional equestrian, worked there as a trainer and coach for the nonprofit Metropolitan Equestrian team. Ms. Madden was shepherding the half-dozen homeless veterans she drove there through therapeutic interaction with the horses. It was part of her job as a teacher and counselor at the Doe Fund shelter in Harlem, which also housed formerly incarcerated men, many of them addicts.

Ms. Madden had just received a master’s degree in fine arts from Sarah Lawrence College, where she is now a professor in the M.F.A. writing program. A career in social services wasn’t in her future, but the shelter job attracted her for its proximity to a population that felt familiar. “My parents were pretty severe addicts,” she said. By the time she moved to New York at 17 for college at Parsons School of Design, both were in recovery from drug and alcohol abuse. Then, “we had this second sort of beautiful life together,” she said. “They were sober and we had these happy adult relationships. My parents always loved me. They weren’t bad people.”

Just complicated ones. Ms. Madden’s Hawaiian-Chinese mother, Sherrie Lokelani Madden, lives in Atlantic Beach, a part of Hempstead, N.Y., and is the general manager of the Dop Dop Salon in SoHo. Her father, John Laurence Madden, was Jewish and, after a career as stockbroker, headed his brother Steve Madden’s international fashion accessories business; Mr. Madden died in 2015 of complications from lung disease. In addition to their addictions, they had secrets. Ms. Madden found out as a child she had two half brothers on her father’s side from a marriage that her parents’ affair broke up. As an adult, she learned about another half sister on her mother’s side and a brother, whom her parents had placed for adoption. Still, her childhood in Boca Raton, Fla., had a shiny exterior. She grew up winning equestrian ribbons and attended an exclusive high school, North Broward Preparatory School, in Coconut Creek, Fla.

Fridays at the stable with the Doe shelter residents were an opportunity for her to be around horses again and, on occasions when volunteers ushered her charges through their riding and grooming lessons, to read books.

“Hannah noticed me first,” Ms. Madden said. “She remembers me reading at the picnic table, a Joy Williams book called ‘Escapes’.” In 2013, before Ms. Beresford and Ms. Madden found a chance to be properly introduced, the shelter’s horse program ended. But Ms. Madden’s love of horses lingered. She returned to the stable to ask the barn manager if there was someone who could give her lessons.

She was reconnected with Ms. Beresford, whose job at the stable overlapped with her graduate studies in poetry at N.Y.U.

Ms. Beresford earned her master’s degree from N.Y.U. in 2014 and now teaches poetry at Drew University in Madison, N.J. She grew up in rural Voorheesville, N.Y. Her parents, Ms. LaFave, a trial lawyer from Albany, and Jon Beresford of Cañon City, Colo., the owner of Beresford Remodeling, divorced when she was 5.

At 4, she had started horseback riding. “It became pretty consuming,” she said. In 2007, Oklahoma State University recruited her for its N.C.A.A. Division 1 equestrian team. But by then, after years on the road touring, distractions from her athletic career were mounting.

“I had struggled most of my teen years with anxiety and depression, and it all piled up,” she said. In 2008, she hit what she called rock bottom. “I was hospitalized for a while, and in the hospital, I came out,” she said. She called friends and family to tell them she was gay. “As they say, it got better.”

Credit belonged partially to a college poetry class. “Though I’d hate to suggest that depression can be treated with anything less than intensive therapy by a medical professional, that became something I could look forward to, where I could see a future.”

At Ms. Madden’s first riding lesson in Brooklyn in 2013, Ms. Beresford set a professional tone. “We connected on a lot of different levels,” Ms. Beresford said, especially riding and writing. “But I didn’t know how Kira identified. It didn’t cross my mind that she might be gay. I think coming out in Oklahoma, spending my formative years there, made me assume no one else in the world was gay.”

Ms. Madden noted “that we both were in relationships at the time. But right after that lesson I texted my friend, ‘This lesbian in breeches is so hot!’ I felt very crushy toward Hannah.” Not so much, though, that she was willing to break up with her girlfriend and ask Ms. Beresford out.

Instead, life got in the way, she said, and after six months she stopped taking lessons. More than a year passed. “But I always thought of Hannah, how I wished I could be her friend.” In late 2014, she scoured Yelp for the names of Jamaica Bay Riding Academy instructors, hoping to find Ms. Beresford’s last name and contact info.

Eventually, she reached Ms. Beresford through Facebook. “I was like, ‘Hey, remember me?’” Ms. Madden said. Both were nearing the ends of their relationships; Ms. Beresford, who considers herself more a country than a city person, was about to move to Austin, Texas.

But after exchanging and reading some work each had written (Ms. Beresford a manuscript in progress and Ms. Madden short stories and part of a novel), they decided to meet for a first date in February 2015 at the Stonewall Inn.

��In the back of our heads we were thinking, this could be really painful, because I was moving in a matter of weeks,” Ms. Beresford said. But their book swap had already connected them. “When you’re reading something autobiographical, you not only learn the facts of the person’s life but the lens through which they see the world,” Ms. Madden said.

[Sign up for Love Letter and always get the latest in Modern Love, weddings, and relationships in the news by email.]

At the Stonewall Inn, they talked and kissed until closing time. “We got kicked out,” Ms. Madden said. “It felt like love.”

As the Chinese New Year began on Feb. 19, Ms. Madden, who embraces her Hawaiian-Chinese heritage, and Ms. Beresford celebrated together.

Weeks later, Ms. Beresford rented a U-Haul for her move to Texas. Ms. Madden told her, “You can’t move to Austin without me taking you.” They drove together. Ms. Madden returned to her Williamsburg, Brooklyn, apartment alone. Then, in the fall, her father fell into a coma.

“My father was my person — I was really close to him,” Ms. Madden said. Ms. Beresford booked a flight and planned to stay in New York until Mr. Madden recovered. When he died, she comforted Ms. Madden through her grief. They wouldn’t return to Texas to pack Ms. Beresford’s things for a full year.

By then, they had become experienced road trippers. “Hannah and I always joke that we spent most of our relationship in a car,” Ms. Madden said. In addition to the U-Haul trip, by the end of 2016 they had driven to Buffalo for a horse show and to Kansas to visit friends of Ms. Beresford’s; they also drove to upstate New York regularly to ride horses and spend time with Ms. LaFave.

Ms. Madden’s mother had also become a fixture in their lives, through regular visits to the home in SoHo she shared with Mr. Madden before he died, and later to Long Island. Ms. Lokelani Madden felt close to Ms. Beresford immediately. “Hannah really grounds Kira,” she said. “She has this soothing effect. I admire so much how they bring out the best in each other.”

In 2017, Ms. Madden and Ms. Beresford moved to Provincetown, Mass., where Ms. Beresford had accepted a yearlong residency at the Fine Arts Work Center. The next year they moved to Inwood in Manhattan, spending the bulk of their time teaching, writing and editing the literary journal Ms. Madden founded, “No Tokens.” They had already traveled to 30 states when, in July 2018, Ms. Beresford planned a surprise 30th birthday trip for Ms. Madden.

“We went up the California coast through the Pacific Northwest and stopped in Powell, Wyo., to ride horses at this campsite ranch near Heart Mountain,” Ms. Madden said. On the evening of July 12, they climbed back in their rented Toyota to watch a meteor shower.

“There were so many mosquitoes we turned the lights out in the car. Hannah started talking to me about how she wanted to spend the rest of her life with me. It was corny in a great way.”

She spoke Ms. Madden’s whole name — T Kira Mahealani Ching Madden — before saying, “Will you marry me?” After Ms. Madden said a tearful yes, Ms. Beresford opened her car door and found her way to Ms. Madden’s side in pitch blackness to present a ring. They counted down from three before turning on the car lights so Ms. Madden could see it: A teardrop-shaped opal surrounded watermelon tourmalines and gray diamonds, designed collaboratively by Ms. Beresford and Misa Jewelry, a Hawaiian designer.

“It was typical Hannah, being the most thoughtful person in the world,” Ms. Madden said. “Years ago, when I was feeling very lonely, I had bought a watermelon tourmaline engagement ring to remind myself to always commit to my well-being first.”

On Jan. 7 at Kualoa Nature Reserve in Kaneohe, Hawaii, Ms. Madden and Ms. Beresford committed to each other’s well-being for life. At a wedding attended by 72 guests, Ms. Madden, wearing a marigold dress designed by Zac Posen before he closed his business in November, walked with her mother down an outdoor aisle strewn with multicolor rose petals. Ms. Beresford wore an aubergine suit by Bindle & Keep, a Brooklyn company that specializes in suits for queer and gender nonconforming people.

N. Michelle AuBuchon, a friend and fellow writer who was ordained by the American Marriage Ministries, officiated during a 30-minute ceremony celebrating their devotion to each other.

“To know T Kira and Hannah is to know how fiercely they love, with no boundaries, barriers or divisions,” she said. A dozen attendants, including Justine Champine, who the couple called “dyke of honor,” stood by the couple as they exchanged handwritten vows. “You and I have dedicated our lives to words and the arrangements of those words, but it’s these moments, our moments of silence and understanding without explanation that matter most to me,” Ms. Madden said. Ms. Beresford was characteristically poetic: “The universe may be limitless, but I can count my life in moments of seeing you, of hearing your voice, of disbelieving in scale,” she said.

Yards away from the water’s edge, with coconut trees swaying and the majestic Ko’olau mountains in the background, Ms. AuBuchon pronounced them married.

On This Day

When Jan. 7, 2020

Where Kualoa Nature Reserve in Kaneohe, Hawaii

Tradition During the ceremony, Ms. AuBuchon led a traditional exchange of flower leis between the families.

Time for a Tour At a cocktail hour, guests were taken in two separate boats on a short tour of the Molii Fishpond. The 125-acre fishpond is a form of sustainable fishery management, which dates back 800 years.

Grass Skirts A band, accompanied by a trio of hula dancers, played traditional Hawaiian music during a dinner that featured short ribs and sea bass.

Kalani Takase contributed reporting from Kaneohe, Hawaii.

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realestatedigitalsales · 7 years ago

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Real Estate - 5 Ways Blockchain Technology Will Disruptive The Real Estate Industry

By Ameer Rosic Could Blockchain technology — Replace Government in Real Estate? Real Estate - Smart contracts have the potential to eliminate the need for trusted third parties to facilitate transactions. In the case of real estate agreements, contracts could be verified and enforced automatically without the need for human interaction, reducing the need for agents, lenders, inspectors and title insurance providers. Computer scientist Nick Szabo is credited with originally conceiving of smart contracts in the nineties. The original example used by Szabo was a vending machine — by inserting an amount of money and selecting a product, a contract is made between the purchaser and seller that requires them each to perform. The purchaser pays and selects the product, and the vendor — through the logic embedded in the vending machine — provides the product and any necessary change. The latest version of smart contracts comes from Ethereum. QUICK RECAP OF BLOCKCHAIN? A blockchain is a distributed and highly scalable database that is hardened against tampering, even by operators of the datastore’s nodes. The most prominent application is the public ledger of transactions for Bitcoin. Distributed technology has finally advanced to the point where we can host physical asset types in the virtual world in a distributed and near-impossible to tamper with format. To transfer ownership of a home today, there are countless checks of authenticity and intermediaries involved to insure the transfer is legitimate. By using a distributed database to prove authenticity, you could legitimately transfer ownership immediately without the need of a middleman.(Just pause and think about that) In fact, when you think about blockchain technology and the industries it could disrupt, real estate is usually on the top Houses in the future will be digital ones. For example: imagine your house being able to answer: •Who is my owner? •Who are my inhabitants? •Who are my caretakers (Ex. Plumber,) and what is their reputation with me? •When was my HVAC system last serviced? When is the next service? •How much electricity am I using? What’s my billing history? Am I late? •Am I currently owner-occupied, rented, for sale, or vacant? The president of the International Bitcoin Real Estate Association, Ragnar Lifthrasir say there is great potential of Blockchain technology for development in the real estate industry. His team wants to create a digital alternative for government land and title registries. “If a buyer and a seller of a property both agree to use Bitcoin Blockchain solutions instead of government solution, nothing will stop them as long as they both agree to use it.There are many ways we could use Blockchain technology in the real estate: purchasing real estate; escrowing real estate; recording the transfer of ownership of real estate onto the Blockchain.” Blockchain will transform real estate in 5 ways: Fraud prevention Disintermediation Money 2.0 Smart contracts Overall experience 1. REDUCING FRAUD Real estate fraud costs unwitting buyers millions of dollars each year. Criminals are able to fake title ownership, often simply by using editing software to stipulate transfer of property ownership in their favour, and at negligible expense. Indeed, title insurance itself is a $20 billion industry, and Lifthrasir estimates that at present it is costing around $1 billion to combat title fraud. “Forgery of documents showing someone is the owner of a property but really is not is one major problem. It’s been reinvented with technology as the duplicating of notary stamps and grant deeds is much easier with the use of the Internet.” Paul Barbagelata, owner of Barbagelata Real Estate in San Francisco told MarketWatch. One of the most common types of real estate fraud is rental scams. As reported by Morgan Brennan from Forbes, one of the most common types of real estate fraud is rental scams, in which a scam-artist will copy details and photos from a real listing, then re-post on another site while posing as the agent responsible for the property. The crook will then ask for money up front from interested parties — as a security deposit or a fee for their “services” — or request that funds be transferred to a third party (who is part of the scam) as proof of available funds to make the purchase. The unwitting buyer is unlikely to see a dime of this money again. Blockchain as proof of existence; proof of ownership; proof of transaction; proof of exchange; proof of value in any form of proof, is where this technology is showing its strength. Replacing paper proof with digital proof is the heart of blockchain technology and it’s where most blockchain start-up companies are focusing. Everledger is leading the pack, as it has addressed a very specific issue with a smart solution. Blockchain technology would allow you to upload your land title documentation to the network, which other users can record and verify if needed. This would provide proof that you are the first owner of the documents, and decentralised network verification would prevent forgery. When it’s time to transfer your title, the document simply requires ‘rehashing’ (encrypting) by you to prove he/she is in possession of the document. The elimination of costs associated with title insurance and fraud, according to Lifthrasir, is the biggest advantage of using blockchain. Companies such as Everledger are currently trying to solve this problem in the Diamond industry. Everledger was created by Leanne to address this issue, and was one of the companies selected by Barclays for coaching through the Techstars program in the Barclays Accelerator. Everledger offers a permanent ledger for diamond certification and related transaction history on the blockchain, and acts as verification for insurance companies, owners and law enforcement. 2. DISINTERMEDIATION (THAT MEANS CUTTING OUT THE MIDDLEMAN) Do you like these parties leeching off of you? 1. Brokers 2. Government property databases 3. Title companies: Insurance and property databases 4. Escrow companies 5. Inspectors and appraisers 6. Notary These middlemen exist because they hold information (The keys) that you can’t access or have skills/ licenses you don’t have that needed are needed to operate in the existing property transaction ecosystem. With a Public blockchain you can distribute a database where anyone can record information, without it being censored, and without needing permission. Equally, anyone can access that information. (Transparency) For example: Prior to the internet, the government and title companies were necessary to verify and record property data. How can Blockchain technology replace these middlemen? Blockchain will enable every property, everywhere, to have a corresponding digital address that contains occupancy, finance, legal, building performance, and physical attributes that conveys perpetually and maintains all historical transactions. Additionally, the data will be immediately available online and correlatable across all properties. The speed to transact will be shortened from days/weeks/months to minutes or seconds.– Jason Ray, Nov 2, 2015. CURRENT WAY OF DOING THINGS The title to a property is a piece of paper. To transfer a property, you fill in the blanks on a deed, sign it with a pen, drive to a notary who puts their rubber stamp on it, and then drive this paper to your local government office to be placed in their database. Do you see the problem here? It’s SLOW and archaic. Too much time and money is wasted. Especially tax payers money SOLUTION Bitcoin or Ethereum can create a digital title. This is a cryptographically secure token that can be transferred as effortlessly, quickly and cheaply as an email. Once people can easily verify property records themselves and transfer a title digitally, brokers, escrow companies, title insurance companies and notary publics will follow the decline of the post office. 3. MONEY 2.0 Bitcoin is a digital currency. Ethereum has its “Ether” token (Think of it as another currency) . Unlike the Dollar, blockchain currencies aren’t paper that are later represented by software, but are 100% computer code. The power of cryptocurrency is you can program it to escrow and distribute itself. With fiat (Non-crypto) money, you need humans and banks. THINK ABOUT THIS When you want to rent an apartment, the landlord takes your security deposit in case you damage the property. By law, he’s supposed to keep the funds in a separate escrow account and not spend it. Once the lease ends, the tenant has to rely on the good faith of the landlord to return the deposit. But if you’ve ever attended small claims court you know how frequently this human/trust-based system fails. Me as a renter and owner have gone through both sides of the coin A) Never getting back the deposit B) Tenant trashes the place and your deposit only cover 1/10 of damages. Either way, it’s a bad situation. No Bueno! Bitcoin has a function called multi-signature. In bitcoin, you use your private key to approve the sending of the digital currency to another person. With “multisig,” you can create a transaction with three private keys, where at least two are required for spending. Cryptocurrency can be used to create a programmable escrow. Instead of sending the landlord dollars to a bank account, the tenant and landlord create a multi-signature transaction. The tenant and landlord each has one private key, and a third one is given to neutral third party (Arbitrator). For the security deposit to be spent, two out of the three people will need to use their private key. The funds are locked in crypto-escrow for the duration of the lease. By using cryptocurrency, real estate escrows can be done more securely, quickly, and cheaply. Bitcoin is Money 2.0 also because it’s censorship-resistant. Bitcoin isn’t held in bank accounts but in a digital wallet stored on your computer or smartphone. 4.SMART CONTRACTS Using smart contracts based on blockchain technology, assets exchange could follow specific instructions. Property transactions could be added on a blockchain in a similar way to how payments between parties are handled using digital currencies like Bitcoin. Every ‘coin’ represents a unique house or piece of land and exchange is just like in any other transaction using digital currency. It is expected that a blockchain based business in real estate will not happen overnight. While the technology offers some exciting prospects for the future, streamlining such an innovative protocol with a very administration-based industry will take several years. “Smart contracts can add transparency of funds, voting and help automate CC&Rs, which can in turn alleviate time spent dealing with legal issues.” Smart contracts can also be used to aggregate inputs from various “oracles” and serve as a progress monitor for a real estate transaction. An oracle is a third party that is trusted by the participants in the blockchain. It can be something like a known API or another blockchain. An oracle could track the progress of the assembly of the various executed documents necessary to create a legally enforceable real estate transaction.” THE ADVANTAGES OF A USING SMART CONTACT OVER A TRADITIONAL CONTRACT ARE Trustless — The open-source nature of the Smart contracts means that it will execute exactly as the source code dictates. This allows one entity to confidently transact value directly with another entity without relying on a third party to stand between them and ensure that each honours the transaction agreement. Autonomous — A Smart contract exists on a Blockchain where it will self-execute according to the pre-agreed contract conditions without any direct human involvement. Self-sufficient — Smart contracts are stored permanently on a Blockchain where they have all the resources permanently available to them in order to execute and remain in existence. Once published a smart contract becomes irrefutable, irreversible and unalterable. This means that all participates have very high confidence in execution surety of the process. 5. EXPERIENCE Blockchain technology provides a better opportunity for more accurate tracking of customers and owners histories, across borders and banks, reducing the risk of defaulters. Blockchain technology can contain a huge amount of data, including entire contracts. The impact of “smart contracts” will have a profound impact. Smart contracts eliminate the middleman, such as a legal firm, as payment will happen based on certain milestones being met. By its very nature, the smart contract is easily enforceable electronically, creating a powerful escrow by taking it out of the control of a single party. CONCLUSION The transformation is not going to happen overnight. Blockchain technology is still very early (Think internet in the 90’s), and it will take the examples of forward-thinking real estate firms to lead the way and convince the masses that blockchain is the correct path to take. Read more Click to Post

#Real Estate - 5 Ways Blockchain Technology Will Disruptive The Real Estate Industry

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