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aspiringsophrosyne · 2 years ago

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Episode 12: The Darkness Within

Ooh, no intro?

This episode not having an intro was an interesting choice; very attention-getting.

Get in your seats folks, the lights are going down. And don't mind that smell of smoke in the air. I'm sure it's nothing to worry about.

The Good

Right off the bat, I have to give kudos to whoever came up with those black veins crawling up Keyleth's face and body; they provide a visual cue for how bad she's doing and whether it's getting better or worse.

While they were still growing, we knew the potion in the last episode didn't work, and when they started fading away, even though Keyleth wasn't up yet, we knew that Vax and Scanlan's druid magic helped; this was another beautiful example of show-not-tell.

~~~

It's hard to talk about this now, but Vax helping Keyleth with her druid magic earlier and using it to heal her now with Scanlan's help is a brilliant little nod to....well, something that's coming up down the road. So it was lovely to see it....even if what it's setting up is probably going to break my heart.

~~~

Percy being so dismissive of Keyleth was a nice touch, as when he pointed the gun at Vax, it showed that his vengeance curse was not just going to hurt the names on his list; it had potential to do collateral damage to the people around him.

I'll also give points to Vex for calling him out on that and Cass for dragging Delilah out by her hair.

~~~

That smile on Percy's face as he pulls down the mask is incredible. I said it before, but there's something deeply cathartic about Orthax not being subtle anymore. This line: "And we are better for it." is dreadful, but now VM knows what's up and can do something about it. Even though they've taken what went down in the original campaign and made it even more dramatic, I still got that same satisfaction out of Percy merely stopping and starting to ask questions in the stream.

Because, yes, please acknowledge how fucked up this is!!

~~~

"Darling, take off the mask."

And oh, god bless Laura Bailey.

In the original, this line came a little earlier, leaving those of us who watched it wondering when it was coming in.

But watching this for the first time and seeing Vex walk up to him, my brain suddenly went: oh, is this where they're putting it; is this where she says it!?

Needless to say, that choice was flawless.

~~~

I will forever adore the contrast between Percy's terrible smile when the mask went on, the mask's impassive stare, and the absolutely broken crying Vex reveals when she removes it: God, it's devastating.

(There's also the fact that until this, we didn't get any indication that Percy was fighting this thing or that he was even capable of trying, and there's some fridge horror here; every time Percy was in the mask before now, could he have been fighting Orthax, and both VM and the audience had no way to know?)

The teleport spam adds a nail-biter of an attribute to this fight; while the rest of Vox Machina is fighting with a handicap in not wanting to hurt Percy, the demon not only isn't but has a lot of extra tricks up its sleeves.

The multiple new names popping up on the gun was another stunning use of show-don't-tell storytelling. Matt revealed in the campaign wrap up that if Percy had killed everyone on the list and hung on to the pepperbox, more names would've shown up on the barrels. And it just would've kept going like that forever.

This was a fantastic portrayal of that; and using only seconds of animation.

~~~

Perhaps I'm just slow, but it wasn't until now that I understood why Orthax was a smoke monster; Orthax's design was delightfully ephemeral and bird-like, and in incorporating smoke and fire, it brings to mind the pepperbox, hellfire and the deal Percy made with a devil.

The design pulls it all together, is what I'm saying.

There really is no end to the good I could espouse about the visuals of this episode: the hallucination sequence is a hundred different kinds of haunting and beautiful, Neal's score is, as always, fantastic, and while everyone does well, Taliesin's and Matt's performances stand out in particular here; the two are sublime. There's absolutely no hesitancy; no holding back. And I love it.

~~~

Small note: in the stream, before the squad set off for Whitestone, they spoke with poor Desmond: he told them about the Briarwoods, what Percy's home had become, and various bits of information. After this, Vox Machina took pity on the guy and had Pike eventually heal his hand; she rolled a natural twenty on it too! This is, so far, not how things go down in the animated series, so Percy shooting out his own hand provides a satisfying symmetry.

~~~

Vague spoilers for the end of the first campaign and likely the end of this series, but I appreciated how thick they poured it on with Delilah's demands to be ended because if you know where this story is going, you know that she has a reason to goad them with such insistence.

~~~

Scanlan throwing the gun away was more of a tense moment than a funny one in the stream, but I liked how they did it here. He's acting as the audience, and it's great to see a character thinking what we're thinking.

~~~

Keyleth's moment with each of the twins here is sweet. She leaves Vax in a good, if awkward, place, and Vex finally allows herself to acknowledge that she likes Keyleth, which makes things better for both of them.

And then....dragons.

The Bad (or at least not great)

I know that ending the season with the entry of the Chroma Conclave was something they probably had to do; that it's a fine hook for the next season, and Vox Machina really had to prove themselves these first two seasons, because if they didn't, they might not have gotten a third.

Still...I'm a little bummed VM, the audience, and Exandria didn't get more time to breathe; it would've been nice to see maybe an episode or two of fucking around before the dragons attacked.

But this is just a personal preference that I wanted to get off my chest. I don't consider it a mark against the series, considering everything it had to do.

~~~

Looking back on this episode, I think the one thing that bugs me in everything that was good about it is the lack of nuance; the series plays Percy's journey out as one of rage and revenge, and while it's true that Stream!Percy was full of rage (there's a reason titmouse kept some lines verbatim from the original) to make that the whole story was to mistakenly take the original at face value.

Percy was horrifically traumatized as a teenager; what he went through would've been bad enough even with a support system, but not only was he tortured and barely escaped with his life, he also lost anything that could have eased his recovery: Percy couldn't go back to the city that he grew up in, his entire family (as far as Percy knew) was gone, and if the Briarwoods were hunting him, he couldn't be sure anywhere was safe.

I would also posit that there was some survivor's guilt there. Percy said he wasn't the kid who was meant to rule; that was Julius, one of his deceased siblings. He was never going to be really important; why did he survive?

Trauma is, among other things, the terrifying loss of control. It's being put in a position where you can't protect yourself. Percy needed something to latch on to. Something that could make him feel in control: something that could allow him to earn the survival he felt he didn't deserve and thus his safety.

And Orthax obliged.

Percy was angry, as he had a right to be. But he also chose anger because anger was power, and with power, there was less fear and less feeling out of control. Anger is only the first layer; underneath was confusion, terror in general, survivor's guilt, and the terror that he would never escape being that helpless teenager who could do nothing to defend himself or his family from the Briarwoods, Ripley, and their co-conspirators.

And it would've been nice to see some of that.

Now look, the show didn't have the time to go into all that, but it didn't have to. It's a question of framing. Even if you don't have time to spend on every element I listed, you can still frame Percy's state of mind as being fueled by more than mere rage and vengeance. Just the people in his dream posing questions like: "Was it really rage that pushed you? Or the certainty that no matter how hard you tried, you'd never be anything more than that scared little boy who couldn't do anything? Who should've been the one to die instead of all the others: the more worthy de Rolos?" could've done wonders.

Nitpick

I would've liked to see the hallucination bring in Cassandra around the same time she starts talking to him, so she could break through it and reach him without Vex telling her to in the real world, surprising both Percy and the audience. Have that scene at the dinner table with his family, and have young!Cassandra make eye contact and tell him: "Percy, you've got to stop. Whatever you're seeing isn't real. I'm alive. I'm okay. I'm free. Because of you. And you have to stop." could've been pretty effective.

Whoo! So that's it. That's the post mortem and season one! For those who are reading, wasn't that fun?

..On to Season Two.

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aisarcher · 3 months ago

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Reviewing Patina

Because i realized i can infodump whenever i want, its my blog

First song on the album, Patina is my absolute 𝘧𝘢𝘷𝘰𝘳𝘪𝘵𝘦 on this album. It might squeeze into my #1 spot for this band. Cody 100% KILLED it on the vocals of this recording. As did the rest of the group, naturally. A fantastic start to the album, incredibly strong introduction to anyone just discovering them. This plays on repeat in my head.

Best time to listen: Foggy or Overcast Weather

Lakes was released earlier as a single, so I'm already a fan since I've been listening to it on repeat since it came out. They've been playing it in concert for a while before it released too, so I was already familiar and thrilled to finally be able to play it over and over in the car lol. Catchy chorus, great pacing, a perfect blend. Great summer song.

Best time to listen: Fantasizing Angsty AMVs

I'll admit I was skeptical upon my first listen that the crown would hold up to how I felt about the first two songs on the album, but that skepticism was quickly dashed by that fun little cowbell. Honestly, such a fun song. I do prefer to hear them preform it live though. Their energy on stage during this performance is so infectious! The crowd is always hype during this song. Last concert I went to, they were banging on a metal container during the last bits and it was unparalleled.

Best time to listen: With Sunglasses On

r.e.m. is literally so close to beating patina as my fave song on the album!! It's ridiulously fun to sing and I have been doing so at home, at work, all day, every day. Addictive doesn't do it justice! Patina beats it by just a smidge only because I need the chorus of r.e.m. to play at least one more time, I love it so much!

Best time to listen: Driving Fast/Driving at Night Thru the City (truthfully there is no bad time to listen to r.e.m.)

smokr falls lower on my tier list. Not because it's bad, it just isn't the type of song I listen to often. A sudden shift in gears, smokr is a much softer song than the predecessors, with mostly just Cody and a guitar for most of the song. They've done a great job at making the song 𝘍𝘦𝘦𝘭 smoky, as if you're listening in a room hazy with cigarettes and memories.

Best time to listen: After a Breakup

In direct contrast to smokr, which is mostly focused on Cody singing softly, decay is an entirely instrumental track that lets the rest of the band come in and shine. And what a sick tune they get going for us! At no point in the song am I bored of repeating lines, nor am I whiplashed from any changes. The song moves, flows, and evolves as it goes on and leaves you hooked the whole time and before you know it, you've flowed right into the next song.

denial is the song I always forget until that chorus hits me right in the chest. After the last 2 songs, denial pulls you right back into their usual sound of fantastic intrumentals and powerful vocals. It helps balance the beginning and end of the album and does so masterfully. They knew what they were doing putting everything in this specific order.

Best time to listen: In a Hot Topic or Zumiez

Starting off with the lone piano notes, followed by vocals joining, degrade makes you think we are back to sad, simple sounds like in smokr. However, the rest of the band quickly hops in and sets the pace as something entirely different. And that CHORUS! Some of my favorite lyrics from EP are in this song. I think this was the perfect choice to finish off the album. They've been playing it at concerts for a while now and has a lot of love from the fans. Most of us are already singing along lol. Such a vibe. You're bobbing your head before you realize it.

Best time to listen: In an Anime Intro with a lot of Running and Falling Through Endless Sky

If you read this far holy shit dm me we should be friends

#Archer is speaking #Music #song review #album review #estimated principles #Spotify

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topknotstrunk · 11 months ago

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Review Everything 39 - Blue Beetle

Okay so I have very mixed feelings over this movie.

Let me just get the negatives out of the way. I am a George Lopez "hater". He's just one of those actors that I find to be really distracting because it seems like he never plays a character, he just plays himself in the world the movie takes place in. When he first showed up, with his mullet and his weird beard I said aloud to my Partner, "He's gonna be a distraction the whole movie." And while I was wrong on that, I still never really thought he disappeared into his role. Sorry Jaime, what was your uncle's name again? Pretty sure it was George Lopez?

On the plus side, he was balanced out by how silly the rest of the family is. So, at least in that aspect, he did blend into the rest of the movie well.

My second complaint is one that's a little more difficult to articulate.

At this point we, the American audience, are FLOODED with Super Hero media. If we only look at the stuff that's have come out since the MCU started and super hero media exploded onto the pop culture scene, we have like 33 movies from the MCU, 17 movies from DC, plus the what, 17 MCU shows, 50 animated DC movies, 10 DC cartoons, and 49 various animated things from shows to animated movies from Marvel. That's 167 super hero stories on the screen. Damn.

Most people who like super heroes, even if they only watch movies, or only watch cartoons, know how origin stories work. We've seen them over and over and over again. At this point, if you're going to introduce a new character you need their origin story to be really interesting. Two examples of this being done well, I think, are Spider-Verse and Moon Knight. Moon Knight has lots of room to stretch out the origin of its titular hero, and turn it into a sort of mystery based around how his powers affect his brain, very cool. Spider-Verse plays with the "yes we all know how Spider-Man works, we've had at lease five movies about this", giving us the story of how Migel's powers came to be and using that as a contrast to the story we all think we know. Then with each additional Spider-Person we may get a clifnotes version to how they came to be, or they may actively bat away the notion of bothering, because we know the basics. I fell like both of these approaches worked well for me, a super hero lover who is for sure experiencing the fatigue of being bombarded with super hero media for 15 fucking years.

I, personally, feel like, at this point in Super Hero movies, you either need to do something unique and interesting with how a character gets their powers or you need to speed through that part and get on to telling more interesting components of the stories. Unfortunately Blue Beetle failed to do either. They leaned really hard on what my SO called the Equal Opposites trope, or what I think of as the You But Evil Trope. It's actually called Evil Counterpart, but it's tired no matter what you call it.

Now all that being said, I want to get onto the good stuff. This movie lays good groundwork! We're introduced to the fact there there are other scarabs in the first few seconds of the movie and some cool color grading in the movie hints at who at least one of them might be. Like yes, the end of the movie just slaps a fuckin' Scarlet Scarab cameo in there, hinting at, "Hang on, a cool bad guy who doesn't look like a toaster's heating element gone evil is coming!" But the intro had what looked like more than the 3 or 4 there are in Young Justice. They also did a good job of endearing us not just to Jaime, but to his family and even to Jenny Kord, who I admit, I was disappointed wasn't a power suit lesbian. And man am I excited to see where the previous BB having a backup? Copy? Of his brain in his computer will go. Assuming we get a second movie, since DC isn't great about that.

The movie is really... Pretty, I guess is the word for it. It's very colorful, without the "gritty realism" filter on almost any of it. Absent are the muted tones I've come to expect from this genre, instead various scenes are spooky and purple colored for sneaky bad guys, lit in glorious bisexual lighting for scenes with conflicting emotions, sour raspberry blue dominates the... Beetle Cave? The movie is full of bright colors which makes it really stand out against most other live action movies from its genre! Also, having a main character played by a star who's already familiar with playing a character who's experienced with martial arts made for fewer cuts in fight scenes and more engaging combat. There was also lots of flowey, artsy, interesting camera work, with the camera often zooming around, through pipes, accessing odd places as if mounted on a drone. Again, dynamic, interesting.

Also, I was shocked at the pretty frank acknowledgement of things like racism and fascism in the move. I've seen other stuff in the genre make fascist bad guys, but for a character to yell about how their fascist government is, ya know, a fascist government? Refreshing! From what I've seen online plenty of folks fell well represented by Jaime, his family, and his culture, which is good to see.

I'm going to give this movie what feels like a fairly low rating considering the good parts of it, but please check out how my scoring system works to better understand the number score. Though this movie did a lot right in terms of visuals, and got a pass from me on a lot for getting a character I'm really fond of on the big screen at last, it was a fairly boring movie, mostly because it didn't do much new. Which, 15 years into an onslaught of getting pelted with super hero media, it did need to do to be a truly good movie. In Summary: Yay, a Blue Beetle movie that's colorful, keeps most of the fights engaging, lays out groundwork for expanding in the sequel, and does the character decent justice! Boo, casting big name actors who are a distraction, and not doing anything new or interesting with an origin story.

Overall: 6/10

#review everything movies #review everything #blue beetle #superheros #fandom #review #spoilers #gif #not queued #content warning: fascism #tk's content

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youngshiney · 2 years ago

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how i would run sm: NCT edition

this may be the longest post in this series, if only bc of how large the group is. i think instead of breaking things up year by year, it'll be in two parts. first part is the overarching structure and lore and the second will be more of a speculative section about what units i would make. that said: let's get into it

part one, the concept: neo tech is actually an interesting concept and theres a lot you can do with futurism, cyber aesthetic, etc. its a topic that can cover aesthetic, musical direction, album visuals, pretty much every aspect of the dynamic. now that being said, if you want to have lore with this kind of thing, i think it needs to be simple-ish. what i mean by simple is having a setting that is unique but not too complicated while also leaving room for the integration into a larger story (ie smcu/kwangya in this case). so keeping that in mind, and reiterating the idea of nct members being anyone anywhere at any time, i propose that the overarching nct world be a digital one.

so jumping ahead to the first song temporarily, i would have had 7th Sense serve as sort of an intro video to the nct world, not just the members. itd be sort of like a vcr where theres a lot of storytelling and the plot would go something like this: the members in the song are going about their daily lives missing something, finding clues to the NCity, and it ends with them meeting up in the digital world. some examples of what kind of story i mean include the SuperM SuperOne personal teasers, Cravity intro vcrs with the comet, the Loona Butterfly mv, and the Chuang 2020 theme song mv. we'll get into more specifics when the unit section starts

i think most of the nct content and mvs taking place in this digital world would be a good way to have the experimental music and mvs sm wants while also allowing for some kind of story and lore to take place in the background. this will especially come in handy for tying the groups together in a larger framework

second part, the units: this will be controversial perhaps, and has definitely been unpopular in the past, but there should be no fixed units of nct. hear me out.

the idea of anyone anywhere anytime should mean that we dont have a rigid structure for the group and honestly it probably is a negative for their careers that they are in such a set group. if youre going to have a group with this many members (speaking as the current 22 members), having set units doesnt allow for every member to shine and gain recognition. i think nct would benefit more from having smaller groups (2-5) doing more content than trying to push out 1/2 albums each year for all three units. these small groups would allow for more diversity in sound, more members to have an impact, more creativity and member input on the music, and better resting times/better pay for everyone involved.

7th Sense: i think this being the intro song makes the most sense and i do agree with some of the member choices. i think the sound is interesting and gives a unique vibe to the group. for the mv, id do like i said earlier but heres more details. i think it would be interesting to show the members in their daily lives and how different yet similar they are, mirroring the members themselves. i think playing on their specific strengths would be a good way to show the group and their own charms at the same time. for Taeyong, id put the focus on his compassion and love of animals. for Ten, id show off his dancing and his art skills. for Mark, i think showing the contrast between his youth and his skills is the best way to go. for Yuta, id show off his athleticism and his dancing abilities. for Taeil, id focus on his friendly personality and his singing. id also try to show how international the group is through these members, really cementing the anywhere anytime aspect.

the reason i chose those five is partially due to bias but also due to role. Taeyong has to be in the intro to nct bc he IS nct, hes the face of it and the reason it exists as it does today. Ten is easily one of the most talented members in the group in a variety of areas, and represents a multitude of places in the world. Mark is one of, if not the most, skilled rappers in the group and having him showcase the rap talent in the intro makes the most sense (also long ass ride is iconic). here's where my picks come in. i chose Yuta bc he has the smooth and sultry tone that the song needs (and personally, i think hes underutilized which everyone knows bc of how often i rant about him). Taeil is a really great vocal and would be able to do the high parts easily. the reason i swapped out Doyoung and Jaehyun is bc a.) i dont think the song needs both of them and b.) i dont feel like they fit the vibe of the song that much? i think theyre much better suited for the pop Exo vibe of Without You than a darker tone.

since i wouldnt do set units, heres what i would do. i would make the current units, but less often. id have the members focus more on solo, duos, and small groups. they should do what they do during the nct 20xx where they mix things up and make music outside of their usual groups.

some specific units i think would be good: Yuta/Jungwoo/Mark, Chenle/Kun/Renjun, Yuta/Ten/Shotaro, Taeil/Xiaojun, Yangyang/Sungchan/Haechan, Doyoung/Kun/Taeil, Jisung/Johnny/Jungwoo this isn't exhaustive bc you can make units for every member and every combination, just some i think would work well or want to see.

i think having the members pick and chose groups more would be a better move than trying to make set units for the 22 members. i think thats why theres such an overworking problem and a weird pay distribution, on top of opportunities outside of music for the groups and as solo members. Mark and Haechan would get to rest way more if they werent constantly doing music for two groups, which is kinda why they were going to graduate from dream in the first place. i dont agree with graduation concepts, so i think the mix and match concept is a good compromise to that. overall, my priority is fairness and the ability for members to have opportunities which i hope comes across in this post. i think this is everything i think about for the group, but if i have anything else to cover, i'll make a follow up. except for the tie-ins since thats a whole separate post

#how i would run sm series #hope yall enjoy!

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daniel-mga2022-mi4017 · 2 years ago

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TV Show VS Live Action Movie Remake (Referral)

Live action VS Adaptation

Concept: Video Essay

Topic: Differences between live action and animated adaptation

Important Points:

● Mise-en-scene

● Lighting

● Colour

● Editing

● Cinematography

● Music and sound

● Narration

Key scenes:

Opening

Irina Jelavic intro

Script:

Intro: Hello and welcome to the very first installment of a brand new segment; Action X Adaptation where we will be taking a look at some popular animated shows that were adapted from novels or comics, and then comparing it to the live action remake of that same show. We will be comparing the overall storytelling and narration of each version as well as discussing certain aspects of scenes and the overall feel of the media and how they differ from animated adaptations to live action remakes.

Body: Today's subject shall be interesting as I shall be looking at what is actually my all time favorite anime and its subsequent live action remake: Ansatsu Kyoushitsu, or as it’s known in english: Assassination Classroom. Assassination Classroom was an anime, which is a form of Japanese cartoon, which aired from January 10, 2015 to June 20, 2015. It was adapted from its manga(a japanese comic book), which began its serialization on July 2nd 2012.

Ansatsu Kyoushitsu follows the lives of a classroom full of highschool students. Looked down upon by their peers, teachers, and the rest of their school, this classroom is located in the mountains near their school but away from the main buildings and houses the biggest delinquents and dropouts the school has to offer in Class 3-E. These students have no hope in advancing in their studies and have given up on such until they are suddenly thrust into an abnormal situation. Their national government tasks them with eliminating the largest threat to their planet, a giant yellow octopus monster, who just so happens to be their newest teacher.

The anime begins with a bizarre scene that immediately grabs your attention. The scene starts with ominous music and the dark lighting of a dimly lit classroom, the word “assassination” written on the wall. The students all appear to be grimly waiting for something to arrive. (So far this sounds like the same school experience I had, but moving on) We then cut to the outside, where something is moving towards this classroom at a fast speed before landing outside with a large impact that causes a cloud of dust to be stirred up. The students are alert at this and all seem to be anxiously waiting for someone to arrive. There is an air of unease added to this scene, it is edited in such a way that it is hard to tell exactly what is causing the distress in the students and leaves the audience in the dark as to what the future holds for them. All the colors are muted and the lighting is gloomy which only contributes to this effect. We hear the sound of grotesque slimy footsteps approaching the classroom as we cut to the view of whatever is causing this noise, as it slowly and menacingly approaches the classroom. We then finally cut to the first sighting of this being as a yellow tentacle slams an attendance book down on the desk and we pan up to see a large yellow octopus-like creature wearing a uniform standing at the head of the class. In contrast to the atmosphere thus far this being has a wide grin on its face, which only adds to the aura of fear built up thus far. This being then asks the class representative to command the rest of the class to stand and greet their teacher. Now in contrast to a regular role call, the students all stand armed with guns pointed at their teacher. When given the command to bow, they all shoot at this being. The classroom erupts with gunfire as all the students shoot at this creature, however the teacher calmly begins taking attendance while moving at incredibly fast speeds and dodging every single bullet shot at him.

This scene works to create an air of mystery and intrigue to the show around this teacher and classroom, while also establishing its absurdist comedy through the unusual attendance taking. This scene is excellent as it draws the viewer in and sets the tone for the entire show.

The live action movie starts rather differently. We are shown the moon, which has been destroyed and now remains in a crescent shape. Information which was divulged only later on in the Animated show. We then zoom into the earth where it’s currently stormy and dark and we see a heli-carrier filled with soldiers. They are being informed of a mission where they have two hours to capture their objective, their lives are on the line. This is emphasized when we see one of the soldiers looking at a picture, presumably of his family. The scene has an air of danger and suspense to it, encapsulated by the chaotic background sounds and the fog making it harder to see, the lighting is dark and the weather is stormy, all adding to the sense of danger, suspense and overall chaos of the scene. The soldiers deploy from the heli-carrier in a chaotic shot filled with storm clouds, the camera is shown to be shaky and then noise becomes distorted before the scene cuts to what appears to be some sort of government headquarters. The lighting is tinted green which adds a militaristic feel to the scene. We see a large amount of people tracking some sort of being and viewing live footage as the soldiers search for their target. The music is intense and adds a sense of urgency to the scene, adding to the sense of danger and the stakes. We then cut to the ground where the soldiers are running, searching for their target. The lighting is tinted purple, making the scene feel alien, as if it was taking place on another planet rather than earth. The scene takes a dark turn as we see soldiers being picked off by some unseen force. They disappear and are dragged away by tentacles that emerge from the shadows. The music takes a more horror-like tone as we see gunfire and hear shouting among the soldiers as they fight this unseen being. We see the soldiers' video footage being cut as they are taken out. Finally the scene ends with a single soldier remaining and an oddly shaped alien-like shadow looms over them before the music crescendos and the scene cuts to black.

This scene in the live action has an effect that is in stark contrast to the opening scene of the tv show. Rather than setting up the show as comedic and light hearted, it portrays this being (who shall eventually come to be known as Koro Sensei) as violent and aggressive.

We do get a scene reminiscent of the anime in the live action adaptation, where Koro Sensei is taking attendance as the students fire at him, however this comes later on in the movie rather than being an establishing shot. The movie has significantly less time to establish certain things that are established in the anime and therefore scenes have to be shortened, reordered and combined to portray the key scenes in the anime.

The introduction of the class’s English teacher Irina Jelavic has a dedicated episode in the anime. In this episode we get a look into her character as she works. Irina Jelavic joins the school with the same goal as the students; the assassination of Koro Sensei. Irina Jelavic is portrayed as a knowingly attractive woman who utilizes charm and seduction as her main weapon. Using this to extract information from one of the students, the main protagonist of the anime, Nagisa. She even resorts to kissing him, a child, to essentially twirl him around her finger and extract information from him on Koro Sensei’s weaknesses and abilities. In her official introductory scene we see that she is being mugged by some men and Koro Sensei, while in disguise, saves her from them. She then immediately employs her charm and clings to his arm as she thanks him and asks for directions to the school. Knowing Irina Jelavic’s character, this mugging was very likely a setup to allow Irina to craft a good rapport with Koro Sensei. The music in Irina’s presence varies between romantic Jazz music, whenever we see her trying to gain someone’s favor, be it Koro Sensei, or the students, or her targets in a flashback explanation given by the main government operative, Mr Karasuma from the Ministry of Defence, in charge of the operation with Koro Sensei. Within the first day of being at the school Irina proves herself to have no wish to actually teach the students anything and instead sets up an elaborate trap for Koro Sensei. She asks to meet him in the school shed and once inside begins to make advances on him. Through the introduction of Irina we get some insight into one of Koro Sensei’s weaknesses, conveyed to us and compiled by Nagisa in a notebook he holds on to through the show. in that he is highly susceptible to seduction based ploys. However this is revealed later on to not work as Koro Sensei was simply going along with her tactics to “uncover his assassin”. Once in the shed Irina pretends to make a move on Koro Sensei, before giving the sign to her operatives and they open fire. Three machine guns start firing at Koro Sensei as Irina takes cover, there's a flurry of gunfire before finally things quiet down. Irina smugly steps out expecting to see Koro Sensei dead but is then shocked to see him standing there unharmed. As it so happens, Koro Sensei is immune to the lead bullets being shot at him. They simply melt inside of him. The only bullets which can hurt him are the special BB bullets which are used by the students. Koro Sensei smugly explains this to her and we see an ominous look appear on his face. Finally we have a questionable scene of Koro Sensei aggressively grooming Irina as finally she stumbles out of the shed wearing a “wholesome retro PE outfit”

The live action adaptation of this is in stark contrast to the animated scene. Irina Jelavic doesn’t have a particularly well fleshed out introduction as in the anime, rather we see her burst out from a cupboard in the classroom while the students are firing during roll call. We get a quick introduction from a voiceover as to who she is and how she operates. The music, similarly to the anime, is Jazz however it’s not as romantically pronounced as in the anime and is more spy-themed. After she is introduced, we immediately see a scene of her in a hallway with Koro Sensei. A large amount of her character establishment and planning capabilities are cut short here as we see the stand in for the shed scene here. She uncovers a machine gun and begins shooting at Koro Sensei, however none of these bullets damage him and we see the student’s perspective from another building as with a flash of light Koro Sensei disarms Irina and does the quick change, dressing her in the wholesome retro PE outfit. While this scene does work as a quick, comedic introduction to the character, what is saved on time is detrimental to the character. We do not see how Irina utilizes her charm or seduction tactics and we see virtually no strategy being employed on her part. We learn nothing about her character other than her tendency to use large guns and some expositional backstory.

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miyamiwu · 1 year ago

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From the animation quality the MDZS donghua provided, and going by its huge popularity, I don’t think they’re lacking for budget

Like, I can totally understand your point, but I’m still frustrated. Having episode 1 in the present, only to have the rest of the eps taking place in the past—this was an extremely bad choice. It works for some stories, but not for MDZS.

By the way, I started the donghua first before reading the novel, so I was very confused the whole time. Nothing seemed to follow in a logical order. It all seemed episodic. But as it was my intro to the wuxia genre (and I also heard that it was BL), I was still interested enough to stick through it

S1E1 got me hooked on the supernatural murder-mystery in ep1, and I wanted to know what happened next, but then the next episodes were completely unrelated to it.

If the donghua team wanted to cater to an anime-only audience, I say they did a very bad job at it.

But I’m not entirely averse to scene reordering, though!

Some anime/donghua adaptations can do it well.

The You Yao donghua did an amazing job at this. In the novel, the story was told through character POVs having arcs of their own. (Like, chapters 1-4 would have one main character, then chapters 5-8 would have another, etc.) Each arc could be treated as a stand-alone story, and they all seemed unrelated, only making sense in the end.

But in the donghua, instead of showing each character’s story separately, they combined everything. It ended up being a plotty political-scheme mystery show in contrast to the more lighthearted and episodic novel, but the heart of the original was still there.

I think it’s not really the reordering itself that bothers me, but how some teams making adaptations don’t truly understand the source material and are unable to replicate its vibe.

MDZS S1 failed miserably at this. In the novel, the flashbacks were meant to give context and emotional depth to the current scene. Viewing them chronologically was not only confusing, but it was also illogical. One event would jump to another with nothing linking between them.

What is with some anime adaptations reordering entire scenes and chapters from the source??? Like, I get cutting out some scenes to make stuff fit in an episode, but moving around the intricate threads the original author had woven into a beautiful tapestry and for what???? Just to make it look a tangled mess???

The storytelling in the Moriarty the Patriot anime was all over the place, so I decided to read the manga from the beginning, and there it was normal and written a way a writer would actually do it

In the Mo Dao Zu Shi novel, the main plot was in the present timeline, and flashbacks were purposefully placed throughout the story whenever necessary. It was a very beautiful arrangement, but then the donghua butchered it up by, for some reason, gathering all the flashbacks and presenting them in chronological order. It was horrible. The flashbacks aren't that hard to follow, and people aren't stupid. I still don't get why they did that

I understand that different mediums require different techniques, but in the examples above, I see no advantages at all.

#adaptations #animation #anime #you yao #mdzs #mxtx #danmei

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oliviareviewsnasu · 4 years ago

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Olivia Reads Fate/Stay Night ~Fate~ Route (Blind Readthrough) Part 1: Intro Sequence and Rin!

Before we begin with this readthrough I'd like to personally thank anyone and everyone who has come here to listen (or read I suppose) my maddened ramblings. You truly make it worth it. Now on to the readthrough. Intro Sequence By now this intro scene is engrained even into my mind and there’s not really much to say about it. As this is a blind review however here’s a basic summary of the events: Shirou, in a state of desperation, summons perhaps one of the most famous characters in the franchise to fend off an unknown attacker. The King of Knights stands before him and asks the iconic line: “I ask of you, are you my master?”. She then states that their fates (heh) are now entwined before the scene fades to white leading into the Rin prologue. On the more technical end; the music in the Realta Nua version is phenomenal. as is Ayako Kasumi’s performance as Saber even this early on in what would be a long career

What I think the anime (Unlimited Blade Works in particular) doesn’t quite convey is Shirou’s mystique and awe in the face of the King of Knights, nor his poetic heart. He’s clearly much much more intelligent and thoughtful than quite a few people give him credit for.

By all accounts this is true in a both a literal and meta-sense. 17 years later people are still discussing the franchise with nearly the same vigor as larger properties like One Piece or Dragon Ball. As for the literal, well, we all know Shirou’s dark fate. On the topic of darkness, I love how they portray Arturia. Awash in the light of the moon while Shirou is cowering in the dark. The contrast is beautiful and highlights just how important of a role she’d play in the would-be-hero’s future. What I find to be fascinating is how much imagery is loaded into these first few moments. That, coupled with Shirou’s prose, makes for a gorgeous introduction. My only issue with it is the whiplash bait-and-switch from Shirou’s perspective to Rin’s; especially with the knowledge that we’ll need to essentially re-read that part to begin with. It weakens some of the dramatic tension and choreography. Prologue: Day 1 (Part 1) And so the Rin prologue begins, in bed, with traumatic memories and regrets. So an ordinary morning for this reviewer. It’s also the first mention of the Holy Grail War that took place during the events of Fate/Zero. Rin’s final memories of her father do pull at my heart-strings however. Wanting to make someone laugh before you see them off is, in my opinion, a noble pursuit. Given what I know of Tokiomi from the events of Fate/Zero I can also agree that his character was perhaps one of the finer among the mages. At least compared to Kiritsugu “Sign a magical contract, can’t shoot, hire someone else to first for me” Emiya, Kirei “My religious views make my sadism and hedonism weird for me” Kotomine, and Lord El Melloi “Old Money, Old Magecraft” Archibald. Sound wise I’ve been listening to the flashback music for nearly ten minutes as I’ve been writing this up and I’m starting to see stars so we should probably move along- And so the Rin proloAnd so the Rin prologue begins, in bed, with traumatic memories and regrets. So an ordinary morning for this reviewer. It’s also the first mention of the Holy Grail War that took place during the events of Fate/Zero. Rin’s final memories of her father do pull at my heart-strings however. Wanting to make someone laugh before you see them off is, in my opinion, a noble pursuit. Given what I know of Tokiomi from the events of Fate/Zero I can also agree that his character was perhaps one of the finer among the mages. At least compared to Kiritsugu “Sign a magical contract, can’t shoot, hire someone else to first for me” Emiya, Kirei “My religious views make my sadism and hedonism weird for me” Kotomine, and Lord El Melloi “Old Money, Old Magecraft” Archibald. Sound wise I’ve been listening to the flashback music for nearly ten minutes as I’ve been writing this up and I’m starting to see stars so we should probably move along-gue begins, in bed, with traumatic memories and regrets. So an ordinary morning for this reviewer. It’s also the first mention of the Holy Grail War that took place during the events of Fate/Zero. Rin’s final memories of her father do pull at my heart-strings however. Wanting to make someone laugh before you see them off is, in my opinion, a noble pursuit. Given what I know of Tokiomi from the events of Fate/Zero I can also agree that his character was perhaps one of the finer among the mages. At least compared to Kiritsugu “Sign a magical contract, can’t shoot, hire someone else to first for me” Emiya, Kirei “My religious views make my sadism and hedonism weird for me” Kotomine, and Lord El Melloi “Old Money, Old Magecraft” Archibald. Sound wise I’ve been listening to the flashback music for nearly ten minutes as I’ve been writing this up and I’m starting to see stars so we should probably move along-

-Only for the lovely siren song of the world’s most annoying alarm clock to start ringing.

I agree with you there Rin, I feel like I’m being attacked as well. Terrible assault on the ears aside, we learn that Rin has been up late at night studying her Father’s will. A hobby that not even I would recommend. After struggling to get out of bed in time for class (Rin really is my spirit animal), she promptly complains about the coldness of her home. As someone who lives in Boston and has never heard of Central Air, this is painfully relatable. Have you had to sit on a toilet seat with ice in the bowl? I don’t recommend it. After the most uncomfortable scene of someone humble-bragging about their rich (literally in this case) background (likely because she can’t to anyone else), she explains that she is in fact a mage and what that entails. Persecution, isolation, and regular communion with forces beyond what most can comprehend. She also goes on to reference the 5 magics (familiar if you’ve played Melty Blood or read Tsukihime, something I’m sure to cover at some point).

What I find to be interesting here is that she fundamentally separates herself from the rest of humanity, treating herself as an outsider despite living what she’d consider ‘an ordinary life’. She shows longing and desire for the things that everyone else has access to and seems to disdain magic on it’s own. But to paraphrase Rin: “Let’s put off difficult discussions, they can wait till they’re old.” As Rin heads out she grabs a rather suspicious (and important) pendant that she managed to find after decoding Tokiomi’s will. It makes me wonder, did he lock up the Tohsaka family heirlooms in various vaults; hoping that someday his heir or maybe one of hers would be able to open them? Was he trolling his daughter? Or am I reading too much into this? Besides her finding the mystical cure-a-spear-to-the-heart jewel, Rin goes on to explain how Tohsaka family magic works. Essentially by slowly storing magic in jewels to draw upon at a later date. I’m reminded of Stormlight and its use of spheres, but that’s besides the point. There’s also a brief discussion of magic crests and how they’re essentially all the magical experiences of her predecessors engraved into her arm. Fun. Rin then goes on to finally leave her house after nearly thirty minutes of getting ready and shows a remarkable knowledge of German. Something that even I haven’t quite managed to master. There’s some brief world building with this area of Fuyuki being a blend of Eastern and Western architecture (as an architect myself this is fascinating to me) and draws a line of parallel between Rin and Shirou. Rin lives in a fancy Western-style mansion and longs for the future, while Shirou lives in the Eastern-style Emiya Residence and yearns for ideals that don’t quite exist anymore. As Rin hurries off to school, a sense of eeriness and unease washes over us, only for us to learn the most terrible and terrifying fact of all. She got up early and so her early morning panic was wasted. Oh and we also meet Ayako who is as exhaustingly energetic as usual. Somehow Rin’s clocks were all an hour fast. She suspects Tokiomi’s work, but I doubt the Tohsaka family Patriarch was one for pranks. Ayako drags Rin off the almost exorbitantly fancy Archery range and they begin to discuss their mutual search for a partner. Have I said that Rin is my spirit animal? I’m sure I must have by now.

This is the first glimpse we get at Rin’s competitive side. Ayako may have been the one to initiate the relationship, but any strong rivalry requires mutual input from both parties. A solid example of this can be seen in the relationship between Sanji and Zoro in One Piece. If I were less astute, I’d prop Ayako as up a potential antagonist later on during the route. As for the contest itself, it’s petty in the most realistic of ways. Attempting to get a boyfriend or girlfriend just to rub it in the face of your rival? I’ve definitely experienced that in my (admittedly brief) lifetime. Well we’ll have to find out another time as I’ve come to realize just how long this document is getting. Join me next week and we’ll continue along with the Rin prologue and hope we get to her summoning of Archer. This has been a fascinating look at the series I’ve adored for so long, just seeing the characters thoughts on the most simple of matters has been an eye-widening experience. This is Olivia Reviews and I can’t wait to see you next time.

#fate stay night #visual novel #blind reader #olivia reviews #part 1 #shirou emiya #rin tohsaka #nasuverse #the alarm clock won't stop ringing in my head several hours later

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ardentmuse · 5 years ago

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Rogue Choices - Prologue (Kingsman x Reader)

Kingsman - Harry Hart x reader, Eggsy Unwin x Reader, Merlin (Hamish) x Reader (you decide!)

Summary: As a new agent, Arthur gives you your last big assignment before you are approved to run missions on your own, only this time you get to pick your partner. And who says you can’t mix business and pleasure.

Wordcount: 5.8k (and this is just the intro!)

Warnings: fluff, sexual tension, talk of violence

Masterlist | Series Masterlist

(Note: I started this a long time ago but had to pause because Twine was doing weird things. It’s meant as a fully interactive piece, but I think we can make it work here on tumblr and AO3 with different chapter links. So I’m putting it out into the world to see if you all like it!)

PROLOGUE

Two strong raps on the door grant you a gentle, “Come in.”

As you turn the handle and enter, the smell of old books and polished wood fills your nostrils. Arthur’s office is a proper executive space. Shelves are lined with old tombs that must have been passed down for generations. The rich, plush Persian rug is worm upon the edges from years of use, but still draws the eye with its vibrant reds and subtle blues. Two large and striking leather wingbacks rest before a sturdy walnut desk, at which sits a patient Arthur, who doesn’t even bother to lift his gaze from the files before him as he hears you enter.

“Agent Kay, please take a seat.”

You do as you are bid, leaning back into the worn leather to take in the countenance of you boss. He seems tired, the grey hair of his eyebrows coming together as he squints at the documents before him. But even with the slight bags under his eyes, he is still the image of a proper gentleman. His collar is expertly pressed and his turtle shell glasses sit low on the bridge of his nose, just as you imagine Churchill’s might have.

After a few moments, he shuffles the papers aside and levels his eyes with yours.

“It seems you received the memo that I needed to see you?”

You laugh, “Your assistant nearly tackled me as I left lunch.”

“Eager kid, that one. He’ll make a good agent someday, too,” he muses, and then with a wry smile adds, “Much like you.”

“I’m already an agent, Arthur.”

“But mayhaps a good one given time,” he says, his eyebrows rising ever so slightly in challenge.

You haven’t been a secret agent long, having earned the title only a few months prior. The selection process to join the Kingsman was grueling to say the least, but you had been Arthur’s hand picked candidate. Only upon your recruitment did you understand just how much Arthur, a second father to you in so many ways, had primed you from your youth for this very role you doesn’t even know existed.

But nothing, not even Arthur, could have prepared you for the stress of being a Kingsman agent out in the field. Taking down the world’s most harrowing criminals, dismantling sex trafficking rings and stopping terrorist attacks takes a toll on the mind and body. Death is constantly right beside you, a single word or a single misstep enough to reveal your identity and get you killed. The work of Kingsman is highly classified, incredibly dangerous, and outside the bounds of traditional justice. You are a ghost, a guardian angel just outside the realm of men, leaving only vague notions of what could have been: a newspaper headline, a five o’clock story on Radio 4, a traffic jam or a flight delay. Ignorance is bliss as they say, but you now know the dark underbelly, the secret of which is the source of bliss for so many.

You sigh and hold your hand against your thigh to stop yourself from fidgeting. The shoulders on your suit, the well-fitted tweed of our Kingsman uniform, seem to tighten as Arthur continues to stare at you, waiting for your protest.

“What are you getting at?”

Arthur laughs as he pivots in his chair and presses on the spine of a book behind his desk. Instantly, the two shelves pull forward and slide to the sides, revealing an entire wall of flat screens and holograms projecting outward. You can’t make out all the details but the lower corner contains a building schematic and the top right shows the animated, scowling face of whom you can only assume is your organization’s latest target.

“Andrej Jankovic. Former Russian operative now based in Cyprus, leading what we’ve learned is the largest money laundering ring in the world. We’ve been tracking him for months, but,” he stops talking to focus on the movement of his fingers, swiping away spreadsheets to pull up live surveillance footage of the target, “As you can see, he covers his tracks very well.”

You watch on the screen as the man sips coffee in a small café. Four different cell phones lay out before him, concealed under the newspaper through which he flips lazily as he takes in the sea just outside the window. He is younger than you expect for such high crimes, with not a wrinkle in sight upon his face. His dark hair is long and flung haphazardly to one side but his facial hair in contrast is shaven with precision, just outlining his harsh jawline. He is striking in that brooding sort of way, long Roman nose and chiseled muscles. You might consider him handsome in a different life where your mind isn’t trained to notice the harshness of his brow or how quickly his eyes narrow with disdain each time someone new enters his vision.

“He is certainly… something,”

“Killed three people just yesterday for using checks,” Arthur throws your way as if that is something to marvel.

You swallow, still not comfortable with just how common death is in your new line of work.

“He’s ruthless and calculating, incredibly thorough and uncommonly intelligent. We’re never going to catch him with paper trails alone. There won’t be any. And simply taking him out leaves the whole rest of the corrupt network up and running. We need names.” Arthur swivels in his chair so he is facing you once again, resting his elbows upon the wood of his desk with a thud. “And I think you can get them.”

“Wait, really? You’re trusting me with this?”

You feel your jaw go slack. Biggest money launderer in the world, and Arthur thinks you can handle it? These past few months have felt like a probationary period, working alongside other agents, cleaning up their messes and assisting in communications and research. Your field time has been limited to sitting in corners of crowded rooms, observing more senior agents doing the hard work.

Arthur raps his fingers against the stack of papers before him.

“I think he’ll take kindly to you. If our intelligence is correct, he’ll be most susceptible to your…”

“Charm?” you insert.

“At least more than that of any other agent,” Arthur confirms. “Now don’t misunderstand me. It is not my intention to send you out alone. You will need a partner. Consider this your last test before I set you loose, Kay.”

Arthur picks up papers before him, writes quickly on a post-it that he places on the top of the stack, and then thrusts his arms forward to you.

“You have until tomorrow night to select a partner and review this research material. The jet leaves Friday.”

He doesn’t have to dismiss you with words. The way he pivots his body back to the screens behind him is signal enough that your questions will only be addressed after you thoroughly review the case.

And so you stand and make your way back into the labyrinth of the Kingsman manor to begin to wrap your mind around your new mission.

Just as the door closes behind you, a voice calls almost directly into your ear.

“Our mighty leading givin’ you a hard time, there, newbie?”

With a shocked puff of breath, you pivot on your heels to see the broad chest and shoulders of Eggsy just inches from your face. He is reclining casually against the doorframe, his arms crossing over his chest matching the cross of his ankles, all casual and cool. The cheeky grin upon his face, showing you those pristinely white teeth, lets you know your startled response is exactly what he was hoping to see.

“You’re never as alone as you think you are, my love,” he purrs with a rub of his palm into your shoulder, stilling the jump of your body at his appearance. “Rule number one of this spy gig.”

His deft hands make calculated movement against your collarbone, each brush bringing just the tip of his fingers against your pulse point, as though trying to discreetly test how much his proximity is impacting you. Your body goes stiff at the sensation, not in fear or discomfort, but in confusion. Eggsy smiles that disarming smile of his. He leans forward, his mouth finding a place beside your ear.

“You know, I think I still have quite a bit to teach you.”

The feel of his breath combined with the gentle graze of his nails against your throat make your breath hitch, goosebumps running down your chest. You hate how clear your responses are to these sorts of flirtations and so you divert your gaze to the place where the tips of his oxfords are pressed against your shoes.

At your lack of response, Eggsy drums his fingers across your shoulder, tickling you. You laugh and pull back slightly, enough to actually take in his features: his jaw, sharp and square and his skin kissed with just a tint of sun, his blue eyes glowing with humor behind his glasses. And with that last realization, you sigh. He is right. You are never as alone as you think, especially at Kingsman, with those silly glasses recording almost every interaction for Merlin or whomever to review at their convenience.

“You know, it seems everyone thinks I still have much to learn.”

Eggsy gives you a quick slap on the back, pulling his body fully from yours.

“That’s what big boss man is on you about?” he says as he begins walking down the hall, leading you out of the offices spaces and back towards the communal agent quarters. “Ill-timed joke, then. My bad, love.”

As you turn the corner into the grand stairway, you notice the chasm between your bodies. Eggsy is two steps in front and his feet light, tossing a look back towards you as he continues his talking, as if he wasn’t just holding his body only inches for your own, running his calloused fingers across the sensitive flesh of your neck and raising your blood pressure, not just giving you dazzling smiles and teasing your earlobes with his hushed breaths. That is Eggsy, flirtation and friendship, on and off, hot and cold, and always just enough honesty in his eyes in those moments to make you question which is the act.

After a long walk through parlors and the kitchens, laughing about your dogs and the antics that came out of the latest team meeting, you find yourself standing in front of the control room with the majority of your tension about your mission lost somewhere in the depths of your brain.

“Now this is where I leave you,” Eggsy says.

You turn with a huff to your friend.

“Why didn’t you tell me Merlin sent you to find me?”

The corner of Eggsy’s mouth turned upward in that too-seductive half-smile he had perfected somewhere between you first meeting him and right now,

“You’re much more fun when you aren’t stressing about work.” His eyes scanned from your body, slow and intentional, until his gaze came to rest on your lips, now just slightly parted from his clearly heated evaluation. He smiled at your response. “Much more fun.”

You shake your head at him, always the tease.

“You really believe I would have had you laughing after Arthur had you down if your mind had also been churning on what Mr. Stoic McSeriousface wanted with you?”

You pout. Eggsy knows of your friendship with Merlin, the tech head for your organization. You know he is just trying to get a stir out of you.

But before you can answer, Eggsy moves forward. You step back and find the door pressing against your back.

“You’re going to be the death of me with that pout, you know.”

After a silent beat between you, the air growing thicker as you stare each other down, Eggsy leans forward, raising his hand the way he sometimes does to brush stray hairs from your face. But instead, his hand moves beyond your shoulder, making contact with the wood of the door. He knocks hard and heavy.

“Enjoy being bored to death, peaches,” he whispers to you before slinking down the hall.

Eggsy turns the corner just as Merlin opens the door to his workspace. You take note of his expression as he looks down the hall. It really is stoic, but when his face sets upon you, it immediately changes into something soft and inviting, encouraging even.

“Kay, glad you’re here.” He opens the door a little wider and then continues, “Come in.”

“Good afternoon, Merlin,” you say as you move into the tech space, Merlin following closely behind.

You throw yourself down on the vintage Eames lounge chair that sits in the corner of the room, placing your stack of papers on the floor as you allow yourself the joy of reclining deeply into the headrest.

Merlin pats the footrest as he passes by, inviting you to relax. He moves towards his desk, computer, and all the hundreds of gadgets that are organized upon the shelves beside.

“So, what do you have for me?” you ask as you follow through on Merlin’s request to fully recline yourself. “Details on Jankovic?”

“Yes, and no,” he says, not meeting your eyes. He takes a seat and begins typing away.

The rhythmic ping of keys give you a moment to truly observe the man before you. Merlin is a striking, almost imposing, figure in appearance. He is tall and lithe, in complete control of each moment, in a way that conveyed a refined elegance to some and a rigid intent to others. His face is a masculine stone, like a sculpture of a Roman general, piercing in its seriousness. But he brings life to the features that you love: soft hazel eyes, busy dexterous hands, and a smooth Scottish accent that makes even the sweetest words from his mouth sound husky.

After a moment, he continues on, “Jankovic has a well-trained team and multi-layered cyber systems. His security, virtual and physical, is nearly impenetrable. I do believe I have found a few exploitable flaws, almost all of which require work on the ground to hijack. If we don’t go that route, I have managed to mirror the controls for the security system at the hotel he owns in Limassol, so I will be able to be of assistance once you land.”

You stand and move beside his desk. He has months of logs, meticulously organized and color-coded and tabulated, certain sections highlighted in red, denoting times of lower security or routine system upgrades. His work, just like him, is precise and detailed.

You lean down over his shoulder to take in the schematic of the hotel, several floors of suites and an entire rooftop entertaining space. Your mind conjures images of the ocean and soft sand beaches that are visible just below, the salt air and the setting sun filling your slowly numbing senses as you sip on your second cocktail and a stunningly handsome man runs his hands down your spine to the soft of your back.

But the strong scent of cedarwood and bergamot that you know to be Merlin bring you back to the present. Or maybe it aids in the fantasy. When he reaches over to rest his hand on your back, pushing you forward slightly to watch the tiny dots he is pointing at with his other hand, you know where your mind got those ideas in the first place.

“I’ve discovered some patterns here that I think we can exploit, unless of course you decide making your presence known to the target is a better option.”

His fingers never leave your back as he speaks.

“Stealth or charisma,” you muse, “Just like a video game.”

“If so, your video games are quite limited,” he laughs. His fingers slide across your back as he rolls his chair to the other side of the room. You feel the absence most acutely.

“I’d hope there’d at least be some intelligence or combat in these skill trees of yours.”

His fingers run over the lock in the shelving. You hear a click and then the draw opens to reveal a pristine case containing three weapons you have yet to see, each encased in foam and glass like priceless works of art.

“Perhaps some lock-picking?” he turns and offered you a smile.

“I’ve definitely maxed out my luck, at least,” you say with a tilt to the draw of weapons, each more beautiful than the next.

“And enchantment, if I may be so bold,” his words are to the drawer of weapons and not your face, but your mind fills in his devastating lip bite and the thought has you melting and feeling the shyness creep over you.

The silence hangs between you two as Merlin flicks the lock on each case.

Finally with a deep breath, he says, “My latest prototypes. You’ll need all the protection you can get on this one, Kay, so take your pick.”

“Can’t I take all of them?”

Merlin turns and shots you a look so deadly, you feel the air leave your lungs.

“And risk you losing all my hard work? Never.”

His eyes are piercing yours, wearing you down, but you try your best to hold your ground.

“I’m quite trustworthy, Hamish,” you say with a gentle bit of your lip.

“First names, now? You jest, my dear,” he says with a narrowing of his eyes that let you know he likes the words more than he wants to admit. “Now pick.”

You feel the weight of the weapon in your hand, bouncing it a little to get comfortable.

“This one. I like this one,” you say finally.

Merlin shuts the drawers and turns to you. “And it likes you, too, Kay. Very fitting.”

You can’t help but smile at his praise. Eggsy is wrong, you know. Merlin isn’t so much serious as he is careful about his work. You enjoy the lightness he shares with you, even if it is intercut with professional talk.

“Thank you, Merlin,” you say as you holster the weapon and grab your papers.

“You’re welcome.” Merlin’s head already back in his computer and typing away.

As you reach for the door, he calls you once more.

“And Kay?”

You turn to offer him your full attention and are struck by how serious he looks, the hard lines of his face all completely turned to you and his chin dipped in a soft reverence that you hope is reserved for you alone. His voice takes on that husky quality as he breathes out the next words.

“I know you’re a little overwhelmed right now, but you are among us for a reason. You’re a capable agent, Kay. Please don’t forget that.”

For a man who often shrugs off sentimentality, he manages to find just the right words to build you up and make you smile. You feel a tiny wave of pleasure course through you, easing a bit of the weight from your shoulders.

You watch his Adam’s apple bob as he swallows. With a curt nod, the sweetness of the moment lost, he returns his eyes to the screens beside him.

You sit in the study, the fire roaring beside you, as you pour through each meticulous document that Arthur gave you. Just skimming these papers alone is going to take you all the way to your flight and then some, and that doesn’t include the time you need to devise a plan, select a partner, and prep for execution. But none of those other things can happen until you wrap your mind fully around your mission. And if that means sitting here well into the morning, transcribing and memorizing and organizing, then that is what you are going to do.

You hear the clink of porcelain upon the table beside you. A mug of tea is now perched among your discarded notes, the steam cloud in the lamplight.

“Thought a pick-me-up might be in order,” Harry, your mentor and fellow agent, says above you as he moves to the other side of the room, carrying his own mug and his own papers, though his take the form of the news, several morning editions stacked together, a few in languages in which you weren’t aware Harry had proficiency.

With the flick of his wrists, Harry opens the top paper, but unlike his usual routine of reading through the headlines and major political scandals, Harry turns towards the back, folds the paper in half, and pulls out a pen from his jacket pocket.

You take a long sip of the tea he provided you, and are pleased to discover it isn’t his usual nighttime blend but a proper English brew, one that will provide you enough caffeine to get your through this work. If Harry is anything, it certainly is thoughtful.

You work in silence for fifteen minutes or so, Harry’s long legs elegantly crossed as he relaxes himself against the couch. He drums the end of the pen upon the tuffs of the Chesterfield. You can’t help but think about how, in the past six months, you had already fallen into a pleasant routine with these men you called your colleagues. Lunch with Eggsy, briefings and shooting practice with Merlin, and long nights, just like tonight, sitting beside Harry and working in companionable silence. With Harry, words are rarely needed. He is a man whose company creates an aura of calm that penetrates even the most intense of moments. The few missions on which you have accompanied him were smooth, efficient endeavors; they left you feeling confident and poised even by comparison to arguably the most poised man you have ever met.

“Attractive, eight letters, third letter is most likely a ‘g’,” Harry asks into the air.

You lift your head from a giant list of innocuously named shell corporations to consider his question.

Engaging? Magnetic?

“Hmmm,” he muses, scribbling upon the paper, “Thank you, darling.”

You only get a few more minutes of silence before he is piping up again.

“Unstable, six letters, last letter ‘y’.”

Wobbly? Flimsy? Shifty?

“Perfect,” Harry whispers over his swift pen strokes. The roar of the fire by now was dying down, the pleasant crackle of embers scenting the room in hickory and smoke. You find yourself fighting the exhaustion that is coming over your body at the sheer comfort of your company and the ambiance the room provides.

Not thirty seconds pass by before Harry is calling your way once more.

“To proceed, four let-“

“Harry, are you trying to distract me from my work or is this crossword collaborative?”

Harry folds the paper shut and places it firm upon his lap. His eyes shift upward slowly, from your feet to your eyes, pausing upon the stack of papers spread out around you on all sides before he finds his way to your face. Harry’s lips curl into a soft smile, one that is made all the more precious by the way the fire’s reflection upon his face. He rubs at the bridge of his nose as he debates his words.

“I wouldn’t call it distracting as much as helping,” he finally decides, picking up the paper as he takes soft steps towards you.

Soft, that is the best word to describe Harry. Gentleness and patience and softness are what you associated with him most. Sure, you have seen his skills, watched him turn into a ruthless hit-man as the situation called for it, powerful and strong and confident. But the instant the bodies laid still before you, Harry’s steps grew light again. As he reached out his hand in serenity, kindly lifting you to your feet, brushing debris from your hair and asking in a whisper if you are safe.

“I’m not so sure how not doing my work is going to help me do my work,” you say as Harry pulls the footstool out beside you to sit. His back is perfectly straight despite the lack of support and you wonder if you body would ever be trained with the same precision as the seasoned agents you so admire.

“You’re thinking too much,” he says. He sits the newspaper down on top of your papers, covering up all your notes and drawing your focus to the absence of notes on his actual page. Nothing exists in the boxes, only in the margins and you notice how peculiar it appears.

“See, darling, this is you right now, taking each individual note and trying to assess it alone. If I went bullet by bullet through this crossword puzzle trying to figure out what it meant by every single word clue or question mark, I would have half the puzzle wrong.”

Harry is leaning over the newspaper now, his head awfully close to your own. The fluff of his brown curls are brushing lightly against your forehead. Despite the tickling, you don’t pull away.

Harry’s voice is low, requiring you to lean in. He wants this proximity. For what purpose, you don’t let you mind assume.

“Some clues like this one,” he says, pointing to 20-across ‘Author Silverstein,’ “Are easy to solve without context.” His hand moves to write the first bit within the puzzle: ‘shel.’

“But others,” he moves his pen to point at 4-down, ‘To proceed,’ and the three words he has written beside it: sail, toil, and till. Somehow his brain did the puzzling work of realizing long ago that the ‘l’ in ‘shel’ was the necessary fourth letter. “ Others require much more context.”

“And even still, some may seem to require context,” he says, pointing to the clue, ‘display of glee,’ which had nothing scribbled beside, “But actually require none at all, just experience and foresight.” And with that note, he moves quickly to the tiny space to which the clue corresponds and without checking anything else, writes ‘jig’ in large, bold, capital letters.

“Now how do you—“ you went to protest, but Harry interrupted you.

“Because it’s always jig. I know it could be ‘hah’ or ‘lol’ but it isn’t. It is always jig. There aren’t many other ways to get ‘j’s into the puzzle. Do a few crosswords and you don’t even have to finish reading the clue. That and emu. And Nave. V’s are tricky buggers, too.”

You sigh, “But I don’t have the experience to see the ‘j’ and the ‘v’ in our spy work yet. I just see the Silversteins and the capitals of France and the 2017 Best Picture winner.”

Harry’s hand reaches out to rub against your knuckles, comforting and supportive, “But, darling, you do. Every puzzle has a theme. Every target has his preferences. Find what is distinctive, what is rare. Trust your gut to see what doesn’t fit, what needs to be there because it can’t exist any other way. “

Harry lifts up the newspaper, revealing your workspace once again. He links his fingers with yours as he allows his free hand to run along the stack of papers before you.

“Scan,” he says, slow and emphatically. He lifts the stack like a book and flicks, one page each second with a satisfying click and swipe.

The first few pages go by with a blur. By the tenth, you are pulling out only a handful of words, though those words seem to make a story anyway: Ancoria, Konstantinos, $9,999, Ltd.

“Stop!” you say upon the sixtieth page or so. Harry’s hand grips yours a little tighter, sending a warm jolt down your spine. You see him smile out of the corner of your eyes at your apparent discovery.

“What do you see?” he asks, his shoulder brushing yours as he leans in. The rough wool of his jacket brushing against your bare arm is a pleasant contrast to the smooth skin of his palm that still pressed firmly into your own.

You use your free hand to point to the third transaction line.

“All the previous shell companies had Greece mythology names. Scylla, Nyx, Calliope. But this one is Roman: Decima. At least I think it is,” you bit your lip a little realizing this may be a stupid thing to call out, “But even if it isn’t, it doesn’t seem right. This also seems to be the only shell company for which we have names of the board of directors.”

Harry takes his pen and circles Decima with three big spins. He underlines each of the names listed on the board below and pulls the paper out of the stack and up to the top.

He draws his hands away from yours to close the pen and collect your stack together once more. He plops the newly assembled stack before you and makes to leave you. But as he stands with one knee against the footrest upon which he had been sitting, he hovers his body over you, his proximity doing little to help with the already intense heat of your skin from the fire. He leans forward and grazes his lips gently upon your forehead. As he pulls away, his hand finds your chin and he meets your gaze.

“That’s my girl,” he says with a smile before turning and walking swiftly out of the room, his newspaper abandoned to your pile.

With a renewed vigor, you dive deep into the papers, determined to see the odd inconsistencies that might provide context for the more common practices. As you continue to sip on your tea, you notice the cup had refilled and rewarmed itself. You never heard Harry enter the room at all.

The following morning, you wake with the sun. Little sleep had happened in the past day but you feel refreshed regardless. The long hours you had put in the night before resulted in quite a bit of relevant information and three distinct methods for tackling Jankovic, each with its merits and its challenges. But you are feeling confident for your meeting with Arthur, at least you were last night. This morning, you need to eat your breakfast and review your notes before providing your supervisor with your planned course of action.

You lift yourself from the plush comfort of your bed, the biggest benefit of spending the night at the manor, and walk towards your desk, which now is a much more organized collection of research: three distinct piles with three hand-written mission plans upon each.

You pull the blanket along with you, cocooning yourself as you sit at the desk and review your plans.

The first is a traditional approach: the honey-pot. In Andrej’s personal history, he has displayed a clear preference for your physical features. And even more, he has had no steady partners, just a series of lovers, all of whom were affiliated with other men simultaneously. In your time at Kingsman, it had already become clear that the type of people you took down got enjoyment out of breaking more than just the law.

Eggsy is the perfect partner for this plan. His flirtatious personality and social skills mean he can easily convince a group of people that you are a couple. With the gala at the hotel on Saturday, all it would take is a little skin and some well-placed winks on your end for Andrej to want to tempt you away from your handsome partner. And while you entertain Andrej’s attentions, Eggsy would be open to sneak into the depths of Andrej’s personal estate and gather what information was needed to take him down. Sure, this plan puts you right in the belly of the beast and therefore in the most direct line of danger, but it also gives you the best chance to adapt to new information and go with the flow.

The second plan is significantly less risky but requires more planning. A covert invasion of his security detail and hijacking of his automated banking systems would provide you all the information you needed to tear down the entire network. With Merlin’s mirror, you could cut down power to the hotel, sneak into the basement offices undetected, and bug and download what you needed. With Merlin, this plan could be flawless, with you using your combat background to take down the guards and his tech skills ensuring a full system overhaul without a trace. You would still need to get into the hotel, and the gala would work as a good cover, but unlike the honeypot, your goal would be to blend in as much as possible. It may not be the most glamourous plan, but it would certainly be the most efficient, and not to mention the most intimate, sneaking through darkened corridors and keeping as close as possible to avoid detection.

And finally the third plan would require approaching Jankovic directly, posing as British investors seeking to hide funds overseas, hoping to utilize Jankovic’s existing network to hide quite a bit of money quickly. And you’d be willing to pay for the services. You need credentials, as Andrej is a skeptical man, but he is also not the type of man who can pass up a quick cash opportunity. You could approach him at the gala, enquire about his services, and find out much from the horse’s mouth, supplementing what he tells you with the information would be able to mirror from his phones once you had him in the room with you. And in this, Harry could truly sign. A master of the art of blending in among the oddest of crowds, Harry could easily pose as the financial head of your organization, partners in crime in the truest sense. You wouldn’t have to steal anything in this plan. Andrej would give it freely, though it would require near perfect coordination between you and Harry.

As you add notes to the margins of your stacks, you look over at the post-it Arthur left on your files yesterday: Regroup noon, tomorrow. If you don’t leave now, you will be late. You throw on yesterday’s suit, scoop up what papers you need and rush to Arthur’s office.

The door is open when you arrive and Arthur is seated upon one of his couches, cutting into a perfectly roasted chicken breast as he beckons you forward.

“Discover anything useful?” he says after a swallow. He lifts his cloth napkin to his lips and waves out the door behind you. Pushing past you, his assistant cruises inside and grabs his plate with a nod before leaving.

Arthur waves a hand to the seat in front of him. You take your sit and go to speak, but before you can say a word, Arthur lifts a finger.

“Before you run me through the details, whom should I request be joining us for this briefing?”

“Um…”

And that’s a wrap for the prologue! Please let me know in the comments which route you’d like to me to work on first. :)

All tags: @fangirlandnerd, @aerdnandreaa, @thisisbullshytt, @cancerousjojian, @whovianayesha, @themarauderstheoutsidersandpeggy, @luna-xxxxx, @sleepylunarwolf, @starryrevelations, @potter-thinking, @all-by-myself98, @bananafosters-and-books, @cutie-bug, @igotmadskills, @hazelandcoconuts, @yallgotkik, @amberkay284, @the-new-galahad, @13ofjuly, @daft-not-punk

Kingsman tags: @allonsymexgirl, @eiensteiner, @thecaptainsgingersnap, @madamcadaver. @doct0rstrange, @ratwrites, @kaeleabres, @nellietara, @ediblemurderer, @allofthekingsmen

Harry Hart tags: @un-education, @lexicon04, @bananzaa, @consultingdoctorwholock, @sparrowharkness, @newconnorwhodis

Merlin tags: @consultingdoctorwholock, @sparrowharkness

270 notes · View notes

whereisten · 5 years ago

Text

Gentle Monsters

Summary: After a night of running from a wild animal, you meet Johnny, the owner of the conservatory greenhouse you accidentally broke into. Johnny is kind and sweet—a little too sweet.

Genre and Warnings: angst, fluff, a little horror, like two curse words.

Word count: 3.4K

[2:36 A.M]

You ran fast, brushing past the empty and dark stores beside you. You hoped you could find someone, anyone that would be out here on these lonely streets at this time. Anyone that could confirm what you saw was real. The cold night air sent sharp pains through your lungs as you breathed heavily. You tried to focus on what was in front of you, not what was chasing you.

The full moon shined brightly above you, nearly drowning out the street lamps that dimly lit the sidewalks.

Everything happened so fast. One moment you were walking home from the bar you worked at, the next second you felt the strange presence of something—otherworldly. You couldn’t explain it. It’s figure was huge, steps heavy, stench foul. It was by itself, but it growled multiple voices.

You were speed-walking as it followed every turn you took; trying not to freak yourself out because surely, there was a reasonable explanation. You wanted to turn and head back to the bar where your coworkers were still cleaning things up, but you couldn’t.

You swore you could feel it’s hot breath on the back of your neck before you bolted. You glanced back to see an extremely tall figure, maybe 8-feet tall, fully covered in dark hair with glowing red eyes and sharp teeth. It looked like a wolf, but stooped on its hind legs.

A werewolf? Impossible, this isn’t fucking Twilight, they don’t exist.

You thought to yourself, and yet, there it was, increasing its speed as it followed you.

You knew you were tired, but even your sleep deprived brain couldn’t have conjured up a visual so realistic.

You don’t know how long you ran for, but you were finally able to distance yourself from it. You still felt you had to keep going. You silently thanked your father for forcing you to join the track-and-field team in high school.

The city streets ended and soon you were running in a large field of grass. You didn’t hear it following you anymore. You turned around and saw nothing but the bleak streetlights that were so far away now. You slowed your pace and resumed walking speed. You started to cry. “What the fuck” you whispered to yourself, doubling over to catch your breath.

You didn’t know what to do, you couldn’t head back in the direction of your apartment. What if it would follow you home? Your mind ran wild with thoughts of what to do. There was no one to turn to, no one would be in these fields at this time, and there were no houses in sight.

You stopped walking. “Where’s my phone?” You fumbled around in your bag and patted all your pockets, no phone. It must have fell out of your back pocket when you were running. “Shit.”

You looked up and put your hands on the back of your head. You were so tired, you just wanted to go home and sleep, but tonight wasn’t like any other night and now you had no phone. There was no one to help you. You were alone.

That’s when you saw it. The shiny glasshouse in front you glistened in the moonlight, it was stunning, you had never seen anything like it before. You walked towards it, hoping that it would be open, maybe you could crash there for the night. The “thing” wouldn’t be able to see your body amongst all the plants and trees within the greenhouse.

Johnny’s Conservatory Greenhouse

A sign read out from above in large cursive writing.

“Johnny..I’m sorry but I’m gonna need this for tonight.” You whispered to yourself as you tried to pull the door open. The lock was flimsy and broke once you pulled with little force. Perhaps it was only there to deter people.

You closed the door behind you and quietly walked in. You looked around. It was beautiful, even in the dark. The plants and vines were green and lively, a great contrast to the dark and polluted streets you lived and worked in. You never made your way to the outskirts where some nature was still being preserved. The owner clearly took care of it.

It was quiet, only the sound of your own breathing and a small waterfall in the distance filled the air.

You continued to walk and eventually found a bench in the center, only a few feet away from the waterfall. You plopped yourself down and sighed. “Finally.”

You placed your bag down beside you and laid down.

I’ll just stay here for a few hours, it’ll be safer to go home during the day.

You thought to yourself, in hopes that you’d find your phone in the daytime.

Your mind still ran wild, you were trying to find an explanation for what happened, an explanation for what that thing could possibly be. It didn’t make sense and you were shaking, unable to calm yourself. You turned over on your side and felt a tear run down, you were so confused and scared.

You rested your head on your folded arms and slowly drifted off into sleep, comforted by the sounds of the waterfall.

You were too deep in sleep to feel a soft blanket cover you. It was 5:30 A.M now, the full moon was gone and the sun started to rise. He watched you as you slept quietly, your hair and skin looked so soft, your lips were in a cute, pouty shape, the long lashes that sprung out from your eyes grazed your round cheeks. But your face was drained. You were like a scared child, unable to find comfort in their surroundings. He wanted to hug you and make you feel like you were safe, that you would be okay now in his conservatory.

The glare from the sun and glass above you woke you up. It shined down on you, allowing heat to finally touch your skin. You could barely open your eyes, everything was so bright. You sat up and rubbed your eyes. You looked around you and felt all the memories come back once you felt the cold metal of the bench you were on.

Your heart started to race as you remembered being chased by that animal. You panted, looking around you to find a soft brown blanket that had covered your body. With a confused expression, you lifted the blanket off of your body.

“Where did you come from?” You quietly asked.

Then, a voice startled you.

“I thought you might be cold in here” a male voice from behind you cut in.

You sprung up from the bench and turned to see a tall man in a brown sweater and black jeans. His brown hair covered his forehead and his face was soft. He gave you a small smile. He held two coffee mugs in his large hands.

“I-I’m so sorry—“ you started and turned to gather your things.

“No, no worries. This place..loves to see new people” he gave a light chuckle before walking over and handing you one of the mugs he held.

You looked up at him, he was so welcoming and warm. “Are you J-?” You started.

“Johnny? Yes, since 1995” he laughed. “Here, it looks like you’ve had a rough night.”

He stood right across from you now.

You looked up at him and smiled.

“I’m-I shouldn’t have crashed here..it’s just..there was something—actually, never mind. I’m sorry” you gave an awkward smile and took the mug, looking into it and hesitantly raising it to your nose.

The black liquid gave off the familiar smell of coffee.

“it’s just medium roast coffee” he laughed.

“Oh, thank you” you smiled and raised it to your lips. You shouldn’t have taken a drink from a stranger, but he was so warm and nice, it was just coffee and nothing more. And he wasn’t upset with you for crashing his amazing conservatory and staying there like it was a motel.

“What time is it?” You asked as you rubbed your temple.

“It’s 7 o’ clock” he answered quietly.

“Would you like to sit with me? I’d love to know how someone like you ended up here in the middle of the night” He asked, motioning towards the back of the conservatory where tables and chairs were set.

“I don’t open this place to the public until 8, so we have time to sit—and talk if you want to.” His voice was soft and sweet, it lured you in.

How could anyone say no to this soft giant. His brown eyes watched you carefully, glancing from your furrowed eyebrows to the same lips he watched earlier.

You wanted to leave and head back to your place. You wanted to find your phone, but you couldn’t be rude to this man. He wasn’t even upset with you.

The least you could do is explain why you were in his place.

You nodded and watched as he turned to head back to the cafe area.

“This place..your place, it’s beautiful” you said as you sat down on the cushioned chair. He sat down across from you at a small, round table with a colored mosaic of glass on top.

Everything in the conservatory was detailed exquisitely. You wondered how a young man like him could’ve thought of the intricacies of beauty in this place.

“Thank you” he smiled, his eyes squinted and his smiled widened. He was so bright, you were truly surprised by how gorgeous he was as well. His skin was fair and clear, no pores in sight. You hoped you would get the chance to ask about his skincare routine.

“It was my grandmother’s. She took care of it while she raised me. I would run around, knocking into vases and falling into the water as a child. I used to make her so mad” he laughed as he looked at the waterfall behind you.

“She passed away when I turned 20 and I decided to take care of it, and open it to the public.” His eyes drifted down to the table.

“Oh, I’m sorry for your loss” you said. “She raised you well, it’s really amazing..we need more beauty like this in this city” you smiled as you looked up at the green vines that hung above you.

He turned to you, watching as your eyes glanced over the marvelous glass walls of his conservatory. The sunlight brought out the alluring color of your eyes, and the rainbow-colored reflection from the glass shined down on your delicate skin.

You looked at him and caught him staring. You quickly looked down to the coffee to avoid his eyes. A moment of silence rested between you two and you realized you couldn’t avoid the topic much longer.

“I work—at a bar in the city” you started, taking a large gulp.

Johnny leaned forward slightly and nodded when you glanced up at him with worried eyes.

“I was heading home—and someone—some thing started following me” You whispered, trying to hold back tears as the fear you felt just hours ago crept back in.

“It was..big..and fast, it growled and had large fangs..it was like..some kind of monst—” you managed to mutter out with watery eyes as you looked into your coffee cup.

You looked up at Johnny who watched you with concerned eyes.

“I-I’m sorry, forget it, I don’t know what I saw” you shook your head. “I sound ridiculous, I’m sure..I was just seeing things in the dark” you shrugged your shoulders and gave a quiet laugh to cover your panic.

“No need to apologize, I believe you..” Johnny reached out and placed his hand on your trembling one. You looked down at it, appreciating the warmth of his touch.

You gave a small smile and nodded. He believed you, this stranger believed you.

“Thank you.” You nodded.

He drew back and smiled. “Weird things happen here. I have no doubt that you saw something last night” Johnny took a sip and placed his cup down. You breathed a sigh of relief.

“But—there are many..irresponsible and—bored kids out there, maybe they were trying out a new Halloween costume?” He leaned back in his chair and said as he pursed his lips and tilted his head, crossing his arms over his broad chest.

You shuddered a bit, feeling the small hope you gained disappear.

“It wasn’t..like that at all. These kids aren’t 8, 9 feet tall” you motioned with your hands. “I—I can’t explain it.” You looked up at him.

He was silent, observing you. His eyes calmed you down, it was as if he was silently telling you to doubt what you saw. And it was working.

“But maybe you’re right. Just some annoying ass kids” you laughed and shook your head again. Johnny smiled again, and you felt your heart weaken. There was something so kind and tender about him. He was as luminescent and welcoming as his conservatory. He was built and strong, his arms flexed when he put them over his chest, but his touch was gentle.

You laughed. “I’m sure I sound crazy to you.” You panicked as you second guessed yourself, your chest started to rise and fall rapidly, you feared you may have a panic attack at any moment.

Johnny furrowed his brows and shook his head. “No, no it’s understandable. You were tired and it was dark out, who knows what kind of wild things people do in this city.” He stood up and reached out for your hand.

“Come on, lets take a walk, you need some air” he gave a small smile.

You looked up and reached out to take his hand.

You walked around the greenhouse and marveled at the unique kinds of flowers, herbs and mosses you had no idea existed.

“This is called Nepenthes attenboroughii.” Johnny said as he pointed to a deep red plant shaped like a pitcher with a smooth edge. You reached out to touch it while his hand still held your other hand softly.

He tapped your hand gently with his long index finger.

“Don’t.” He quietly commanded. You looked up at him.

“It’s one of the few carnivorous plants left on Earth” he said as he looked down at the beautiful plant. “It eats the rats that slip out from the city and into the fields so they don’t destroy the herbs.”

“Really?” Your eyes widened, shocked that such a dangerous but rare plant would be in these walls.

Johnny nodded.

“It’s gentle and soft on the outside, it appears to be harmless, but it’s really a monster” Johnny shifted his gaze from the plant to you as his tone lowered. Something about the way he looked at you after he said that statement sent shivers down your spine.

He flashed you a quick smile as if he sensed that you were frightened by the plant.

“Come on, there’s more.”

He led you through the rest of the large greenhouse, never letting go of your hand. You didn’t want him too. You felt safe and content around him. He was caring and paid attention to so much detail. He excitedly explained everything to you and even memorized the Latin names of his plants.

“You’re probably like ‘this guy is so weird, what the hell’ and you’re right” he laughed as he looked at the floor. “These flowers and shrubs..they’re my babies” he gave you a bright smile again, his eyes crinkling as he laughed out.

You smiled. “I don’t think you’re weird at all. I like this, you actually care about something.” You wouldn’t tell him but you secretly loved the way the Latin effortlessly flowed from his mouth in a seductive tone.

You looked to your right to find the plant that looked like big red lips. You’d never seen them in real life before, only through cartoons. “The lip flower!” You said excitedly.

“Ah yes, everyone loves this one, the psychotria elata. It looks like this.” Johnny turned to you and pursed his full lips to mimic the plant. You both bursted out in laughter.

An hour went by quickly as the two of you walked about the glasshouse and bonded over memories. Johnny told you that he rarely went into the city, he hated how gloomy it was. He felt humanity was becoming more superficial and mean, and that the nursery kept him kind and human.

You felt his eyes on you as you reached out to feel the bright, colorful flowers above you.

His eyes watched your mouth as is parted slightly. He knew you were infatuated with the beauty of his flowers.

His eyes drifted down to your exposed neck and collar bone. He had smelled countless flowers before, but none smelled as good as you did. He wanted to touch you, to touch your warm skin, to feel it against his.

Johnny looked at the watch on his wrist. “Oh..it’s almost time.” He said sadly. You guessed that it was almost time for him to open the conservatory to others.

“Does it get pretty busy here?” You asked him.

He nodded and looked down at you with a sad expression. “Busy enough for two workers to always be here. We have to keep the place clean and the plants hydrated. It’s a difficult job, but I love it.”

You nodded and exhaled.

“I just wish—I could show you the rest, there are many more species to see” he gave a small smile, his eyes softened as they looked into yours.

“I want to see the rest also, I’ll be back and I promise not to break in next time.” You both laughed.

“But I should go. My roommates are probably wondering what happened to me last night” you laughed. You finally let go of his hand to pull your bag onto your shoulder. He slowly put his hand to his side, obviously saddened that you let go.

“Well, I have to admit..I’m kinda happy you found—or well, broke into my place..it’s been a while since I’ve seen such a pretty face around here. It’s selfish of me to feel this way, but it’s true, I’m sorry” Johnny laughed, running a hand through his thick hair.

You blushed. “Thank you, I really didn’t think it through..I was so scared”

“I know..and I’m sorry you felt that way” Johnny took a step forward.

His skin glowed under the clear sunlight that poured in through the glass. You would love to have someone like him in your life. He was calming and nice, unlike the city people you dealt with. The way he spoke was attractive to you. He really knew what he was talking about and he touched you gently, unlike any other man.

“I’d love to visit again, maybe we can have lunch or s-something” you stumbled over your words, a bit flustered by his deep brown eyes again.

“I’d love that” he smiled wide coming closer to you and leaning down. He held your chin in his hand, and looked into your eyes carefully. He was intoxicating and his touch sent sparks through your skin.

He was a stranger, but you felt like you’d known him for years. You nodded as he stared at your lips and placed a hand on your waist to pull you you closer to his body. He moved his face downward to yours, but stopped once his soft, plump lips were within centimeters of your own.

He then placed a bright pink flower behind your ear. His thumb softly caressed your ear as he looked into your eyes, not letting them go for a second.

“It was nice to meet you, y/n.” He stopped and let your chin go. His bright smile returned as he pulled away. You exhaled, not realizing that you had been holding your breath.

You wanted to feel his smooth lips on yours so badly, but it was too soon. You smiled and nodded as you gathered your things. “I should get going, I have to find my phone too.”

“That reminds me.” Johnny walked to the back of the conservatory as you waited at the door.

You watched him as he quickly walked up to you, his long legs allowing him to reach you within seconds.

“You dropped this last night” Johnny smirked as he held out a black, rectangular object for you to take.

Your eyes widened when you realized what it was.

You looked up at him with a confused expression.

It was then that you realized that you never did tell him your name.

Your eyes fluttered back down to his outstretched hand as you took your phone from him.

“Wh-“ You started but he interrupted you.

“Stay safe, y/n, I’ll see you again soon” Johnny winked as he opened the door of the conservatory to let you out.

You quickly walked out, daring not to glance behind you as you walked away.

————————————————

a/n: the next full moon occurs on June 17th..be careful out there :)

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concussed-to-pieces · 5 years ago

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Stay Safe Playlist

YouTube Playlist for Stay Safe Found Here

(Alternatively, if the link doesn't work: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLtGKUohVH5zUp6uaQkDTx7T8VNCVjrccq )

I present the soundtrack/score/playlist for Stay Safe! While I was writing, I had the idea to ‘score’ it like it was a visual media byproduct. Music is incredibly helpful for me when I need to visualize different things or instill certain emotions.

Beneath the cut you will find a full breakdown of the individual songs chapter by chapter, as well as the YouTube links to each of them! There will be spoilers for all chapters of Stay Safe, of course.

Enjoy!

Part One: Should Have Known Better

Intro--Carpenter Brut

So here we have our introductory piece! Something to channel a little danger, a little suspicion, that sense of unease from waking up bleary-eyed in a new place. Throughout it weaves the old school sci-fi motif to set our scene, with heavy synth use and electronic instruments.

Launch--Daniel L.K. Caldwell

We lean heavily on the electronic once more, evoking a sense of weightlessness as we head through hyperspace to the dulcet tones of deep synth, querying brass and lonely, wordless vocalizations. Our protagonist finds themselves managing the care of a strange child in a new environment. They are weary and sore but their charge is an easy burden to bear, all things considered. When they eventually bed down for some well-deserved rest, they find they can sleep peacefully.

...x…

Part Two: Tranquil Turmoil

Star-Stealing Girl--Chrono Cross Original Soundtrack

This piece is inquisitive and lilting, and fits well with Sorgan. Through it you can hear soft, high vocalizations like a child's singing. The village radiates safety and comfort, invoking an aching sense of nostalgia for things that our protagonist may have once had.

The Countess Cathleen/The Women of Sidhe--Riverdance

Near and dear to the heart, this piece is twofold. We carry on the gentle, idyllic motif of the previous piece with some crooning pipes, but of course our group is in this village for a very specific reason. The second half of this track morphs into something determined, made of sterner stuff than its gauzy counterparts. This perfectly accompanies the implied training montage of the villagers and our protagonist under the watchful tutelage of a shock trooper and a Mandalorian.

...x…

Part Three: Vibroblade Mettle

Facing Fears--Ivan Torrent

At last, we come to our big fight! We start out soft, our protagonist calming the children in the hut before they themselves are attacked. There's the uptick in tempo, the shift of music where they grit their teeth down harmonized by beautiful vocalizations. The whole piece has a certain panicky cadence until around the halfway mark, where it briefly flattens out before building back up to a triumphant crescendo. Our protagonist will let nothing and no one past them.

Good Night--Undertale Soundtrack

Thoroughly exhausted and incapacitated by the fighting, our protagonist drops where they stand. They are safe, and they sleep like a rock in the comfort of that knowledge. This piece is short and soothing, perfect to loop over and over again to lull you into slumber.

The Rage Of The Shadow Warriors--Star Wars: Republic Commando Soundtrack

The children are taught a very important song and dance by the Mandalorian, which they then perform in front of their parents.

...x…

Part Four: Reaching Out

Cosmos--Hazy

This piece is contemplative, soft piano with ethereal, twinkling electronic notes. There is an airy quality to it that lends itself to reflection. We find our protagonist sitting sulky and disgruntled on Tattooine. At first, their resentment is sharp and crisp, but as one day turns into two, they begin to worry and their resentment thaws gently.

Sixty Seconds To What?--Ennio Morricone

Our gunslinging attack! We prelude with light chimes, instilling a false sense of security as Calican dandles the child on his knee. Then, the guitar picks up when our protagonist discovers the truth behind Toro's motives. Organ and horn blast to highlight Calican's villainous gloating and sneering at the Mandalorian, contrasting sharply with the light chimes once again to close the piece out as Calican falls.

America Online--The Midnight

The song that gave this chapter its title! This track invokes a sense of longing, with its worn-out cassette sound and quiet electronic pipe trills. Through it all weaves the tentative, heavily-filtered vocals with the query that our protagonist will soon find on the tip of their tongue.

...x…

Part Five: Dark Past

Lighting The Fuse--The Magnificent Seven Soundtrack

Our protagonist finds themselves in a tense spot, surrounded by unfamiliar ne'er-do-wells. There is unease in the air; we are at the slow build to an inevitable explosion. Grudging alliances are forged, undoubtedly for the sole purpose of gleefully breaking them.

Animal In Me--Solence

Our protagonist is separated from the Mandalorian once again and there is no way to truly know what transpired in the prison beneath their feet. However, his mental and physical state when he returns suggests that something unsavory has occurred. Our protagonist, for all of their good intentions, knows precious little about the armored man's grisly past.

Dream A Little Dream Of Me (Instrumental)--Yiruma

The Mandalorian, delirious, asks our protagonist to sing him the lullaby they sing for the child. They oblige, assisting him in obtaining peaceful rest.

...x…

Part Six: Go Alone

Bat Out Of Hell--Meat Loaf

Something lighthearted and fun! Meat Loaf songs are always a joy to belt out when you think no one else is listening, and this one is no exception. Our protagonist is unwittingly observed by the armored man, another nail driven in the coffin of eventual reveal.

The Savage Divide--Fallout 76 Soundtrack

We come to our protagonist moping around. They mourn being left behind once more, but they understand the reasoning behind it. This piece is wistful, with keening strings that lead nowhere but are lovely in their looping futility.

...x…

Part Seven: Like A Ghost

Is This Love--Whitesnake

The song that started it all! If this was a movie in the eighties, you can bet this would be the song playing during our important scene. The scene where the stoic Mandalorian finally bears his heart to our protagonist. It's a song that seems like it should be delighted, but it sounds more like heartache. Love is no simple thing, as we will soon find out.

Stay--Smash Into Pieces

The song that gave this chapter its name! Pleading agony given vocals. The Mandalorian doesn't know what to say and that appears to be his downfall as our protagonist leaves him to ruminate on his behavior.

Adieu--The Seatbelts

Our protagonist scolds themselves roundly for their doe-eyed optimism with this gentle jazz piece in the background. Whisper-soft vocals chiding over idyllic ideas of love, not so much sad as disappointed. The piece is steeped in callous awareness, though shrouded in piano and delicate guitar.

...x…

Part Eight: Savior At High Noon

Let It Never Be--Terrane

Our protagonist departs the Razor Crest alone and begins their walk back to the town. Soft, hazy vocals paint a picture of defeated, mechanical steps, emotions pushed to the side in favor of putting distance between our protagonist and the subject of their affections.

I'll Never See Him Again--Pocahontas Soundtrack

A throwback! Our protagonist finally makes it to the town and is ultimately struck by the crushing realization that they will no doubt never see the Mandalorian again. In a fit of exhausted grief and perhaps a touch of self pity, they cry themselves out. This piece never fails to elicit an emotional response, with the tender, pained violin playing that familiar theme.

Holdout--Two Steps From Hell

Our high noon showdown! We start strong, drums hammering like thunder as our protagonist all but throws themselves into the fray. The rattle of cymbals mimics the cacophony of beskar, loaning the scene a sense of despairing grandeur.

You Saved Me--Piotr Wojtowicz

Our protagonist, unmoved by intelligence or self-preservation, storms the proverbial beaches to aid the mortally wounded Mandalorian. Visual media would make this miles more glamorous, with gratuitous slow motion and competent lighting. We start out soft, but there's nothing quite like the breath-taking hitch of gentle piano that swells to female vocalization and fierce drum beats!

...x…

Part Nine: Swan Song

Mandalorian Funeral Chant--Star Wars: Republic Commando Soundtrack

The Mandalorian sings IG-11 off, paying tribute to the reformed droid in the only way that he knows how.

Sacrifice--Transformers: The Last Knight Soundtrack

It's time for agony! We have a somber piece, strings circling round and round to a build as our protagonist slowly loses consciousness. There is an urgency and fear here, as well as weary resignation. Our protagonist is so, so tired.

Melancholy--Alex Kosenko

The long walk home. The two weeks in the bacta tank. The uncertainty of our protagonist's fate, and how heavily it weighs on the Mandalorian who now finds himself alone again. This piece is lonely, it's sadness and longing all in one. A contemplative doldrum.

...x…

Interlude: How He Sees The World

Star Wars: The Mandalorian Suite--Samuel Kim

This composer is exceptionally talented! They've taken the score for this series and woven in motifs from the original scores, giving the whole piece a beautifully layered depth. A suite track for the retread installment, where we view the entire tale through the visor of the Mandalorian.

...x…

Part Ten: Shereshoy

One Summer's Day--Joe Hisaishi

Our protagonist wakes in the Nevarro medbay, disoriented from their time in the bacta. The piano shines here, with searching orchestrations occasionally gaining center stage. There is a feeling of loss, of nostalgia and most importantly, a sense that things need to be put to rights.

So Small--Thomas Bergersen

The reunion! This track starts off quiet, gentle. Apprehensive and yet, cautiously hopeful. Our protagonist has found their way back to the Mandalorian and, as the music swells in that oh-so-familiar old romantic motif, all is forgiven. The strings build in tandem with the brass and choir, triumphantly declaring everything that is affection and reconciliation before tapering off. However, if we wanted to go for something a bit more eighties...

The Outfield (The Midnight Remix)--The Night Game

The alternate/bonus track for their reunion! This remix has boosted synth and extra canned drums, lending itself better to the sci-fi vibes. Another crooning, eighties-style power ballad to have everything fade to black right before we get that salacious X rating, and the proverbial credits begin to roll.

Dream A Little Dream Of Me--Jacklyn Lovey

Finally, a vocal rendition of Dream A Little Dream Of Me. A modern cover with a gentler tone overall, and the perfect way to round this score out.

The curtain closes on our tale, and I would like to thank you all for reading, listening and enjoying! Stay safe, my friends!

#playlist #the mandalorian #the mandalorian spoilers #stay safe playlist #because I love music #so so much #enjoy!

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helloitsme103 · 4 years ago

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In This House

Part 1?

“I don’t think I’ve seen you before.” I mumble under my breath. It’s been years since someone has entered his house. Longer since they were pretty like this one was. “Who are you?” He barked from the love seat. He was bleeding pretty badly. The remains of his shirt were pathetic for him but entertaining for me. I swear to god, or whichever one made this man, they were gracious to this guy for sculpting him into a model of a being. “Oh calm down hun. You ain’t gonna die on me. Not today. No sir.” I call from the retro kitchen I call my lab. It was cute for what it was. Black and white tiles for floor and complentary back splash with accents in the form of of yellow painted cabinets and silver appliences that were seemingly updated every few years. Or.. what counts as years in a place like this. From the doorway I hear a very much irritated and painful groan. “Okay-Okay-! Hold on now!” I call as I turn off the sink. I quickly get the bucket of water from the sink- carefully though since we don’t want that baby to spill- and a med kit from my side cabinet. “On my way hunny!” I scurry into the more modern living room. The floors a dark brown and the furniture being a contrasting white. Light, sky blue walls make a more cheerful welcome than that of the hot mess of the man bleeding out on my favorite love seat. “I swear, you need to take a chill pill sometimes y’know that?” I remind him ask I make my way towards him. “W-who?” He asks through his grogginess. “Great. Left you out too long. Hold on.” I pop open my kit and take out a jar of powder I wish I could keep. With a few twists the top of the jar comes off with a satisfying pop. “God this is my favorite part.” I say just loud enough to get his attention. “Wha-” I smirk as I shover this under his nose. Direct hit. He inhales and goes into a coughing fit. Thank god I’ve done this for as long as I have. “Oh calm down hun, it wont kill ya.” I look through my bag, all the while ignoring his curses and comments. “Calm down why don’tcha. Take a seat, have a load off.” I tease while looking up and down at him while I still have a chance. Again, what a looker we have. Blonde hair, nice blood red eyes, wonder who gave him all these slashes. Again, rest in pieces his..? Is this a suite? I reach out for his chest, eyes locking his. “Whatcha doin?” He snarls. “Im going to remove your shirt.Is that alright?” For a moment he glares at me. “Not gonna drug me or some shit?” His shoulders tense a little. “Okay for one, the thing you just smelt was supposed to keep you awake and numb you up. Can have you falling asleep on me right now.” I hear him growl but his muscles loosen up. “As for everything else after this, which I don’t think I’d need to give you, I’ll always ask for your consent first. Got it?” I turn back to my kit and pull out another jar. When I turn back to him, his gaze is else were. “Hello?” He makes a noise resembling “Fine and “Hurrmph.” I rolled my eyes. “Okay then mr. I don’t give a damn.” I place the jar down on the floor. swiftly, I poke on of his wounds. “OW! The HELL!?” I smirk and bat my eyes. “Oh I’m so sorry-! How reckless of me!”

“Is this how you take care of people witch?!” He howls. Oh we’re playing this game huh? I go though my case and pull out a letter opener. “Is this how you talk to people asshole!?” I yell. His eyes go wide and his hands begin to pop from the arms of the chair. That’s a new one.. His hands go for my head. That’s not a new one. “The hell are you-?” I don’t hesitate to tear open his shirt and throw the opener into the wall behind me. I get the jar I had and pop it open. “’Not gonna kill ya here. I don’t think anyone can truly die here. But damn do wounds hurt.” I recount dryly. “And don’t test that theory. I’m living proof of it.” I chuckle. I see him shuffle in the now copper chair as I get the the salve on my fingers. “Stay still. I know it feels weird but calm down.” He flinches when I get close to him but I keep my eyes on my work. Eventually I cover all of his wounds with the salve, him hissing and biting his lip. “Y’know its okay to scream. Most of the most masculine of people i’ve seen have screamed when encountering this.” He only glares at me and bites his lip harder. Shrugging, I let him keep this up. “Okay then. You aren’t really proving anything but fine.” I reach for a towel nearby and dunk it into my bucket. “You are very stubborn.” A glance makes its way towards me. I laugh at his attempt to be scary. “You must hear that a lot.” After a few minutes of staring at his struggling, I wring out the towel. “Now this is gonna sting. No judgement if you pass out or scream. This isn’t a challenge. It’s a fact.” He turns his head away from me and closes his eyes. Can we get an F in chat for what this man is gonna go through?

“Trust me when i say this is gonna hurt me much more than this is gonna hurt you.” I mumble and press the thing on his chest. A scream unlike any other fills the house. Someone call Guko ‘cus this man takes the cake when it comes to screams. I stand my ground though, and make sure to wash out any wounds that I rubbed salve in. Don’t worry about him. The screaming stopped after about a minute of this. When I got done with him it was an hour later. In that time he was cleaned up, bandaged, band-aided, and set to bed in the guest room. “This one is a fire cracker.” I mumble before setting on a new record. When the player eventually starts a song I don’t reccogise starts. Its poppy, happy in tone, determined even and it gets faster. The same could be said with a feeling of hope in my chest. While I continue to sweep, more songs like this come on. All similar but unique in their own right. In a way it’s refereshing to what I’m used to. Eventually I get done and check the time. Even though it dosent matter in the long run, time keeps me sane here. The phone ends up ringing soon after. I exhale once again and answer one of the many phones this house has to offer. This one is old. It is a land line. Attached to the wall and always on. Gray in color, brick like too. There isn’t much to say with it that is of interest. Even its own ring is boring. I pick up “Hello?” I ask once again. “My hero Academy.” A monotone, computer like voice says. I sigh “Hold on for a moment.” I put the phone down and rush to the kitchen. On the counter is a worn, old, yellow, note pad and a black pen. Scribbled on it is a list going down.

Batman: The animated series

Harry Potter: Books

The Princess Bride: Movie

Many other titles litter the page. Many that I have come to known and bitterly love. For better or worse.

When I recover from my own memories I wipe away the tears that threaten to fall. “Cmon now. Let’s get back to work.” I remind myself and make my way back to the hall, this time with my tools. “Yes? Hello I’m back. What did you say again?” I pick up the pen in one hand and hold the phone in my other. “My Hero Academia: anime.” I cock a brow at that. “Onime?” I question. “My Hero Academia: ANIME.” I shake my head at the slower but louder voice. “Yesyesyes, I get it! Calm down.” I roll my eyes and sigh as I write it down. “Can you tell me who you are now?” I try. The line dies on me. What else was I expecting? “Wonderful.” I growled. Thoughtlessly, I slam the phone into its holder. For a moment I question. Random things mostly but I ground myself eventually. I always do somehow. “This is bull crap.” I mumble. My week walk me to the wall. I place my head on it and hide in my hair for a good minute. “Cmon. You can do this. We’ve gotten this far.” One inhale. One exhale. And my feet take me to the living room. The loveseat is gone, but there is always the couch I guess. I jump over the rest and sit on the cushioned seat. As always the remote is by my side. Always the left, never the right. There isn’t a lot of buttons on the remote. No numbers but there is a switch for channels and volume but the channel button dosent work. No information or exiting. There is an on and off though. Along with a pause and play there was fast forward and what have you. I don’t really use those that often though. What I do used however, this the microphone. “Please play My Hero Acedemia?” I say into the head of the mic. from the ceiling, a projector slowly rolls down, covering almost all of the wall. before showing the title of the show. My hero acAdemia. Okay, whatever.” The intro started. “What things are you going to make me feel My Hero?”

#my hero academia #fanfic #story

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ballouheys · 5 years ago

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hey there , i’m libby ( or any of the other many nicknames that come w being named elizabeth ... we’re all pals here . call me what you want to ) and i just spent way too much time trying to write this intro . but this is way to long and way too all over the place ... .. so hit that little like button and i’ll slip n slide into your dms ( i’ll probably slip n slide into ur dms even if you don’t , what can i say ? i’m shameless ) to give you the low low on gigi so you don’t have to read this mess of an intro rip :/

𝐨𝐨𝟏. 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐁𝐀𝐒𝐈𝐂𝐒 .

𝐟𝐮𝐥𝐥 𝐧𝐚𝐦𝐞: gentry thylane ballouhey . 𝐧𝐢𝐜𝐤𝐧𝐚𝐦𝐞𝐬: gigi ,gen . 𝐝𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐛𝐢𝐫𝐭𝐡: june 26 . 𝐳𝐨𝐝𝐢𝐚𝐜 𝐬𝐢𝐠𝐧: cancer . 𝐜𝐮𝐫𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞: los angeles , california . 𝐡𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐭𝐨𝐰𝐧: los angeles , california . 𝐬𝐞𝐱𝐮𝐚𝐥 𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧: bisexual ╱ biromantic . 𝐬𝐩𝐨𝐤𝐞𝐧 𝐥𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐮𝐚𝐠𝐞𝐬: fluent in english and french . literate in spanish , but is unable to properly articulate the language despite several years of studies . 𝐭𝐚𝐭𝐭𝐨𝐨𝐬: a sloppily drawn heart on the side of her right middle finger, a winking and now faded smiley face on the tip of her left index finger, but out of all the unfortunate markings, the most unfortunate of them all was her own signature in girlish print across the inside of her foot. or perhaps the license plate of her first car ( that she had driven through their fence four months after it had been gifted to her ) beneath her left breast. all of which had been inked into her skin by friends, all of which seemed like a much better idea when drunk . 𝐩𝐢𝐞𝐫𝐜𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬: three in tight succession on each earlobe . 𝐞𝐱𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐝 𝐚𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐭𝐢𝐜: notes penned in red ink , each individual i dotted with its own tiny heart , scuffed and sullied balenciaga sneakers and ruffled ankle high socks , the cacophonous clink of bulky anklets against one another with each passing step , applying a full face of makeup only to remove it all minutes later , a far too large collection of scrunchies varying in pattern and texture lining the top drawer of her bedside table , a plethora of practiced accents , mascara and tears leaking down the swell of freckled cheeks as the credits to a romantic comedy she could quote word for word begin to roll , long bubble baths in a claw foot tub with a streetcar named desire playing on repeat in another room , sundays spent tangled up in an array of silken bed linens , a collection of shoes that could rival even carrie bradshaw’s , a signature practiced to perfection , hearts varying in size doodled on the palm of her hand , along the underside of her arm , romanticized idealizations , wearing her finest lingerie beneath sweatpants and the hacked hem of t-shirts she cropped herself , strands of hair sticking to overly glossed lips , unsmoked and pink ringed cigarette stubs dropped into an emptied flute of champagne , the wrong number scrawled on a napkin in pink ink to match the stain of puckered lips , unsubtle flirations , a personality akin to bubbling champagne , kisses planted anywhere but on the mouth , meaningful conversations with a stranger , and long nights spent searching for love in all the wrong places .

𝐨𝐨𝟐. 𝐈𝐍 𝐃𝐄𝐏𝐓𝐇

perhaps the one thing worse than a charmed childhood spoiling with years passed, was a childhood that had been spoiled from the very start. and poor gentry ballouhey had been brought into this world swaddled in cotton and blushing bright pink, held loose within the arms of a mother who didn’t quite want her, as her father stared with disdain at the second little girl he hadn’t quite planned on having. the family of three had already been perfect, she was nothing more than a blemish, a mistake, a pretty, little bandaid doused in alcohol and placed atop a gaping wound ( utterly useless and entirely too painful ). yes, she had been born into the quintessential white-picket fence family, all bright and toothy grins ( perfectly straight, perfectly white ), in their matching white tennis outfits as their matching white poodles gallivanted across the perfectly manicured lawn, but no childhood could be charmed when one spent the entirety of it unloved.

the ballouhey’s outcast, conceived amongst a dreamlike haze of judgement clouded by a bottle of dom perignon shared beneath starlit parisian skies, had been burdened with the expectations to conform when her entire existence stood in stark contrast to their careful ideals. even her conception had been rash and unexpected, much unlike her sister who had been dreamt of from the very moment their parents had married, carefully crafted in a lab after several failed attempts. meryl was wanted, a charming girl who lived a charmed life, and gentry? well, she simply was not. the blonde and bubbling stain on an otherwise perfect family portrait, the odd duckling among long-necked and elegant swans, gentry had felt forced to force her own self into an almost unsettling obedience. another failed attempt to please, to garner but a mere fraction of the attention marlon and madeleine ballouhey smothered their first-born in.

she was a true oddity, in more ways than one. softness epitomized, all freckles and full cheeks, doe-eyes and blurred edges nestled several steps to the left of her sharp-eyed and sharp-lined family members. an airy spring breeze in comparison to her elder sister’s chilled winter evening. the littlest ballouhey that left all spectators befuddled for she was all her father with a little something else. yet despite marlon and madeleine’s best efforts to keep their youngest tucked away from the public eye by sending her to the most exclusive and private catholic schools, and leaving her at home with the nannies while the rest of the family attended awards shows ( claiming it was simply because she was too young to attend ), gentry was sought out by one of her father’s friends to star in a film at the age of fourteen. the first time she had ever been chosen before meryl, her short lived claim to fame. perhaps an acting career wasn’t truly her calling, but the adoration she had received was.

the attention she received in the years following her debut in the film industry, turned the girl desperate for love into a girl even more hungry for adoration. she began to spent her days striving for perfection to draw her parents coveted attention ( the only thing they had ever left her wanting for ) back to herself. each straight a report card had been put up on the fridge only to go unnoticed, the nanny chauffeured her to all her extracurricular activities and sat in her parents place for all her dance recitals. and when she told her father about her time spent volunteering at the animal shelter she’d been met with a dismissive nod and a clap on the shoulder that was meant to be congratulatory as he left in a hurry to tend to something on set. her parents immersed themselves in their work, in meryl, and gentry was pushed off to the side for the nannies to deal with even after she was well into her teens.

yet while she began to achieve the feigned perfection her family had always seemed to possess, their decline sputtered to life. at least within their home. she can still remember mornings spent splayed out on her plush queen-sized bed with her romantic comedies to drown out the noise , hair a mess and a pressed private school uniform on - all pink on pink on pink ( her pink cigarettes tucked beneath a pillow, mother’s faux lashes accentuating eyes made vacant by her pink and white pills, and the collar of daddy’s scotch soaked dress shirt stained by pillow lips painted an unfamiliar shade of pink ) as she used the edge of a polished finger to swipe the errant tear that had leaked from a trained tear duct, glossed lips once, twice, thrice before slipping out of their house ( it felt both all too large and far too small for the four of them ) unnoticed by her quarreling parents, glared at by her sister. others could see right through the act, witnessed the slammed doors rattling painting right off the walls, heard the boozy and biting insults, the tumblers hurled, scotch sloshing, ice clattering, glass shattering, and she knew that they knew. but when looks of pity, or rather discomfort, passed across their faces she’d simply smile that deep-dimpled barbie doll beam, and turn the television playing rom coms on repeat up several notches. love gone terribly awry stifled by the picturesque, perhaps that’s where it had come from … her love for love, or more specifically yearning and romance as depicted on the silver screen, when she had been raised in an environment so frosty it should have left her with a block of ice in place of her childish and sputtering heart .

𝐨𝐨𝟑. 𝐏𝐄𝐑𝐒𝐎𝐍𝐀𝐋𝐈𝐓𝐘

not unlike her parents she loved obsessed in a way that exhausted ( far too much , far too fast ) . ashton had inherited her mother’s insecurities , strung her jealousy in a choke around her throat like an emerald necklace , and her father’s flighty heart that sputtered to life for all the wrong souls . it was no suprise that the two who had given new meaning to the term hopeless romantic would spawn a lovely daughter just as unlucky , if not more so , in love . but their hard , cold genes had been muddled together , creating something much worse . she loves love , or rather suffocating adoration , and will latch on to just about anyone who makes her feel a little less hollow . while gentry is what one would deem a movie buff, it would be difficult for someone to name a movie that she hasn’t seen at least once, she loves to read just as much. tucked away in the valley as her father traveled the world to attend award shows and charity galas, there was very little to do. so she often found herself flipping through novels as she tanned alongside the pool, always the odd one out as her friends gossiped about the boys from their brother school and flipped through gossip rags.

gentry has an extensive vocabulary, contrary to what most might think. its a product of her extensive reading and film viewing, but she always seems to get a weird glance when she drops a big word into her sentence littered with valley girl lingo.

while she certainly isn’t a ditz, she doesn’t necessarily dispute the assumption most people make when they glimpse the spacey look that her features take to a bit too often. perhaps she likes being underestimated, but she doesn’t typically do much to prove those who do underestimate her wrong.

gentry loves nothing more than spending all day in her pink silk pajamas, buried beneath sheets and duvet with her persian cat, holly golightly ( dubbed holly ) as she watches a rom-com she’s already seen at least ten times. she isn’t lazy per se, she just much prefers a night in with a bottle of champagne and her box of tissues ( if she’s planning on watching 13 going on 30 she has to be prepared for a few leaked tears ) to a night out.

gentry is almost a bastardized version of cher horowitz, plucked right from the screen and loosely translated to fit reality. she’s a bit selfish and undeniably herself, yet yearns for, needs if one were to be dramatic, admiration. any semblance of attention that strokes her large ego and keeps her confidence from wavering a much appreciated gesture. but despite being far too self absorbed for her own good, she gives off some guise of selflessness - though her ample acts of kindness always tend to benefit her in return. and while she’s often concerned with how people perceive her, desperately wanting for everyone to find her desirable, she’s a bit too idealistic, a bit too stubborn to simply settle for people. with a collection of romance novels and romantic comedies still lining the shelves of her room that hadn’t change much since girlhood, it’s no secret that she has an insatiable love for love.

#reputationintro #whew this is ~rough~ pls forgive :/#and the formatting is really ugly too i hate it here

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