#C.S. Crew

[yuh13lo]

𖤐 What kinda women C.S.

The thing about Chris Sturniolo’s girlfriend was… she was never actually a secret.

She wasn’t hidden. She wasn’t stashed away. She didn’t make Chris sign NDAs before hanging out or hide behind the kitchen counter when they were filming. She just didn’t push. No “soft launch” pressure, no “when are we going public?” texts, no thirst traps hoping for a repost.

She was content sitting off-camera, ankles tucked under her on the couch, watching the chaos unfold in real time. Her laugh—light, a little squeaky—was the only thing that ever made it into the videos. Sometimes, if fans listened closely, they’d hear it just after one of Chris’s offhand jokes.

At first, it was just the usual noise. Another laugh in the background. Could’ve been Nick, could’ve been Matt. Could’ve even been a crew member or a friend. But then it kept happening.

Same pitch. Same beat. Every time Chris said something stupid.

“I swear there’s a girl laughing in the background of every video,” one fan posted on TikTok. “Every time Chris says something dumb, there it is. The laugh. WHO IS SHE.”

The comments lit up:

“LMAOOO I noticed that too!!”

“It’s giving girlfriend energy 🫢”

“Chris got a girl and didn’t tell us??”

Chris noticed the chatter. He didn’t say anything. He just smiled a little wider the next time she laughed.

The story that blew it all wide open wasn’t even anything dramatic. It was a random Instagram post on Chris’s story. Nothing fancy.

Just a short video of him in sweats, socks mismatched, trying to do that dance Nick had bet him he couldn’t get right. The kitchen lights were too bright, and the music was slightly off-beat, and Chris was clearly making it up as he went.

But the best part—the part that everyone latched onto—wasn’t even him.

It was her. Behind the camera. Giggling.

Not a quiet, polite laugh. Not a performative “look at my man being goofy” type of sound.

It was real. A burst of joy, unfiltered and messy, as if she’d tried to hold it in and failed.

Chris glanced at her in the video—just barely—and grinned mid-dance. “That bad?” he said.

She laughed harder, the camera shaking a little.

And that was it. Fifteen seconds. No tags, no captions. Just her laugh, his grin, and a little piece of their world leaking out for everyone to see.

TikTok lost it.

“She’s real???”

“Chris’s mystery laugh girl IS REAL AND HE LOVES HER I’M CRYING.”

“The way he looks at her when she laughs. No one talk to me.”

He didn’t make a statement. There was no big reveal video or relationship Q&A. He still didn’t tag her. Didn’t need to.

But fans started spotting her more often. The back of her head in a mirror. A pink hoodie sleeve that definitely wasn’t his. A “babe” whispered off-camera when he forgot his phone again.

And still, she didn’t push.

She’d sit in the background, giggling at his jokes, watching the boys film, her laughter the only thing she ever really gave away.

And that was enough.

Because Chris? He never hid her.

He just didn’t need to announce her to the world

When she was already his favorite part of it.

[chris-hallelujah]

My Own Girlfriend? | c.s.

Summary: Chris' girlfriend gets in on the surprise with Nick and Matt in Chicago.

Warnings: foul language

Word Count: 866 words

My Master List

Join my tag list : @matthewsroses @lvrsturniolo @sturnzblog @nickgurl4life @emely9274 @sturniolozbae @ksturnz

Divider by: @issysh3ll

The air was tense in the Chicago venue as everyone counted down to the surprise reveal. You sat next to Mary Lou and Jimmy with a smirk on your face. You knew tonight’s surprise and while part of you was nervous, you were excited to see everyone’s reaction.

“5…4…3…2…1” the crowd chanted which turned to screams as Nick and Matt’s faces appeared on the screen. They walked into frame and adjusted their ties in sync.

But then, something no one had seen yet. The screen cut looking like it was glitching before your face appeared in a black dress staring at the camera the same way the boys did in their suits. The crowd went crazy. Chris’ head snapped over to where you were sitting in confusion. “Yo what? You’re in on this?” He asked completely confused. His head turned back to his brothers, “You roped my own girlfriend in on your schemes?”

“You say that like we forced her. I will tell you I think she enjoyed this more than anyone,” Matt explained laughing and Nick nodded. You sat with your hand over your mouth to hide your smirk.

“Chris, are you ready for your hint?” Nick asked.

Chris nodded excited to see what you all had come up with. Matt opened the box and pulled out a tombstone with a picture of Chris on it. “I took this picture of him today,” Nick explained laughing as Chris looked at the tombstone shocked and confused, “because today… is your death!” Nick said dramatically earning a roar from the crowd. “Anyways! With that being said, what do you think we all did without you?”

Chris held the tombstone in his hand, “oh my god. This is like the eeriest thing I’ve ever seen in my life. I actually refuse to take a guess at what this could be.”

“Awesome! Who wants to take a guess?” Nick asked the crowd. A girl guessed that they visited a cemetery, which you thought was a pretty good guess.

Nick and Matt returned to their seats on the couch and the video began to play of them shit talking Chris. Chris sat shocked and laughing. “Basically, Chris has done his fair share of shitting on us and going to the studio with his friends making diss tracks. But Nick hasn’t really at all.” Video Matt explained.

“We also thought of how we could really make this stick, so we decided to bring in Chris’ girlfriend.” Video Nick said as you appeared in frame waving at the camera.

“Enjoy Chris!” Video You said blowing a kiss to the camera.

The video went on of them in the studio recording and rehearsing their lines. Right before they showed the music video, the screen cut to some text that read, ‘the next few minutes are Nick and Matt joking around and Y/N being dead serious.’

Video Matt rapped as him and Nick danced. Then came Nick’s verse, “Pepsi said no, you should probably climb Mountain Dew. After all these bars, I can't believe you still don't have a clue. Kick it back to the hooks, somebody's gotta tell you.”

The camera cut to you dancing with Matt and Nick. “Chris, you won the Versus Tour and that is pretty cool, but they ask me what team I’m on and I say #TeamBlue,” you rapped throwing an arms over Matt’s shoulder and leaning into the camera.

Chris collapsed against the couch in defeat laughing, “My own girlfriend?!”

The crowd was in hysterics and awe as the video ended with the three of you chanting the chorus and dancing.

Matt went over and helped you onto the stage causing the crowd to go even crazier. You gave them a wave before running to Chris who was in shambles on the couch. “You all really did that huh?” He laughed into the mic throwing an arm around you as you sat on the couch next to him. A crew member ran out handing you your own mic.

"Hi everyone!" You spoke excitedly into the mic waving out to the crowd. Everyone cheered in response.

"How long have you all been hiding this? How did you all get together without me realizing?" Chris asked still in shock. His arm across the back of the couch behind you.

"Well, Nick and I started planning this and writing our verses back in November. We roped her in a few weeks later, like the day before we went to the studio. But we all did it while you were filming one of your other surprises," Matt explained.

You lifted the mic up to your mouth, "So I have gone with you, Chris, to the studio a few times when you're fucking around with your friends but this was so much fun! We recorded the song and filmed the video all in the same day."

Nick spoke up, "We haven't even told you the best part yet!" He was so excited he was wiggling in his chair. "Our song will be out on all streaming platforms tonight at MIDNIGHT!" He yelled causing everyone to scream excitedly.

Chris laughed putting his face in his hands, "This is never going away is it?"

[emeryhall]

Thank you to @mooncello for the tag! And thank you to everyone who's been tagging me in Six Sentence Sundays, WIP Wednesdays, and tag games recently. Sorry, I've been a bit AWOL from Tumblr (and Discord).

But...I wrote a Captive Prince fic (I know, I know, yet another fandom) that I want to share with y'all.

Six to Seven Hours: or; The Adventures of Arkas, a Once Famous Gladiator from Isthima

Here are more than six to seven sentences (see what I did there?) from that story:

Damen woke on the inn’s narrow bed to cool, slender limbs wrapping around him, and a hard, bare chest pressed to his back.  “Laurent,” he mumbled into a pillow, still warm and drowsy from sleep. “Is it…?” The room was dark. It wasn’t morning. He felt backwards until his fingers met curves. “Where have you been?”  “Hearing stories.” Laurent’s words were breath against Damen’s neck.  “What sort of stories?” Damen rolled from his side to his back, shaking away the cobwebs of sleep.  “One was about you.”  “Was it?”  “Yes.”  “Was it a good one?”  In answer, Laurent climbed on top of Damen and straddled his thighs. The bedding pooled at his waist. Damen could see Laurent was perfectly naked and already amorous—the inches of gold cuff on his left wrist his only concealed skin.  “Oh, that sort of story.” 

Btw, if you read C.S. Pacat, I also wrote a Dark Rise gift fic for the lovely @monbons a couple of weeks ago ❤️

Tags below the cut. I tried to throw in some of the non-Carry On crew too - hope you don't mind 😊

@artsyunderstudy @cutestkilla @thewholelemon @you-remind-me-of-the-babe @bookish-bogwitch

@whatevertheweather @run-for-chamo-miles @iamamythologicalcreature @rimeswithpurple @roomwithanopenfire

@orange-peony @raenestee @larkral @shrekgogurt @messofthejess

@best--dress @rbkzz @fiend-for-culture @bitbybitwrites @porcelainmortal

@miharaikko @caterpills @r33sespieces @secretandarling @brilla-brilla-estrellita

@ileadacharmedlife @hushed-chorus @aristocratic-otter @j-trow-95 @noblecorgi

And anyone else who wants to join!

Side note: I was inspired to participate today after being reminded of how lovely the fandom community is when a crew of you talked me through my "to lock or not lock my AO3 account" crisis because of the most recent scraping. May AI consume itself like the non-human centipede that it is. (Credit to Em for that joke.)

[naffeclipse]

Hey, I'm making bagels right now, and it made me want to ask: what would the difference versions of the Bois (C.S, S.J, the polar crew, etc) favorite bagels, and how would they react if their YN made it for them? Also, I hope you're having a good day!

Bagel time

Cryptid Eclipse would think an egg bagel is pretty nifty and would scarf that bad boy down. If his little hunter made them an egg bagel, they would be delighted and keep expressing their gratitude over and over for the sweet gesture! Their heart takes such good care of the scary thing.

Detective Sun would prefer cinnamon raisin bagels while Detective Moon would be inclined towards blueberry bagels. If the vigilante appeared in their apartment one morning, making those delicious pastries, the boys would be suspicious that Y/N is going to bring up bad news or ask for something that is out of the question (but somehow gets granted regardless). Still, they would savor the unexpected visit before the vigilante pulls some kind of trick...

Mob Boss Eclipse would enjoy pumpernickel bagels with molasses—a strong flavor to pair with its dark and strong taste. If miraculous of miraculous, the vigilante made one for him, he would accept it graciously but offer his own gifts in return, like how they would never have to lift a finger if they came with him and they could dine on the very finest the city has to offer.

Orca Eclipse would love an asiago cheese bagel, preferrable in a sandwich form with protein like eggs, ham, and bacon. If the photographer presented him with such a divine meal, he would show his appreciation for the meal by devouring it entirely before their eyes before making sure he expresses acceptance and adoration for the gift—a very kind courting gesture indeed.

[ramblings-of-lola]

June '25 Wrap Up

I have a tag list for when I post wrap ups! If you want to be added to or removed from it, please let me know!

I read so much this month!! I'm so happy about this and it's mainly due to getting into audiobooks (they make so many mundane tasks enjoyable). It feels so good to fly through books again and not view reading as a chore.

The Ship of the Dead (Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard #3) by Rick Riordan ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5

I listened completely on audiobook and really enjoyed it. I loved the way Magnus defeated Loki, it was so heartwarming. The grief aspects with Magnus and Hearthstone's characters were well written. I liked that the Room 19 crew characters were involved more and I got to learn more about them, especially Mallory. I also thought the inclusion of religion with Samirah during Ramadan and her dynamic with Magnus as an atheist with interesting too.

2. The Voyage of the Dawn Treader (The Chronicles of Narnia #3) by C.S. Lewis ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5

I nearly cried at the ending, it was so sad with the Pevensie's saying goodbye to Narnia and Reepicheep going to Aslan's country. I loved seeing Caspian develop as a king and leader over the course of the story. I liked the allegory thoughout but at some places I was thinking "this has to mean something but what?". I was probably overthinking it though. Every time I read a Narnia book, I'm always surprised how Aslan is written so well. I love his appearances in the story to guide the characters. I also listened to this on audiobook and the narrator did wonderful for Reepicheep and Eustace's voices. Reepicheep's high pitched voice and Eustance's snobbish tone made me laugh a lot. I loved Reepicheep's bravery and loyalty throughout too, it never wavered.

3. The Unlikely Escape of Uriah Heep by H.G. Wells ⭐️⭐️⭐️/5

This was a recommendation from @novelmonger for the Book Rec Exchange (if anyone else wants to participate in this, I'd love to exchange recommendations). I liked the literary analysis of various stories and fiction in general. Charley was very lovable and sweet as a character. I liked the various fictional characters and how they were portrayed in the book, like White Witch riding a motorcycle into battle. It did remind me of Inkheart because of the fictional characters that are brought into our world by a reader. I thought it was interesting the author chose to have Rob, Charley's brother as the narrator, not Charley himself. The ending was good, I loved how Rob saved Charley. Overall, it was a good book, but had a slow pace for me.

4. The Faithless Hawk (The Merciful Crow #2) by Margaret Owen ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5

I loved this book, it was much better than the first one. The character's were so well done and I loved the friendship that developed between Jasimir and Fie. The plot twists shocked me a few times too and that's always an awesome feeling. The espionage parts of this were fun and the banter had me laughing out loud at many points.

5. The Hunger Games (The Hunger Games #1) by Suzanne Collins ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5

I was on the edge of my seat and couldn't put the book down once I got into it. It did take me a little while to get used to the writing style. It was so suspenseful and disturbing with the Capitol and how this awful thing is like a reality show. I hope the characters and world are fleshed out more in the next book.

6. The Hidden Oracle (The Trials of Apollo #1) by Rick Riordan ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5

I also listened to this as an audiobook. I loved Apollo's arc through this book, how he is humbled, loses his godly pride, and forms friendships. I loved his friendship with Meg. And Percy's cameos were good too. I'm not sure how I feel about the villain in this book, it was a twist I wasn't expecting. Nico and Will's banter was good too, it made me laugh a few times.

7. The Silver Chair (The Chronicles of Narnia #4) by C.S. Lewis ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5

Yet another audiobook I listened to. The ending made me so emotional because of how Caspian and his son were finally reunited only to be separated again. I was also emotional when Eustace finally got to talk to Caspian again. I loved Puddleglum's character, his faith in Aslan while being as pessimistic was interesting. I liked Jill's characterization and how Eustace still very much feels like the same character he was in the last book, while being slightly kinder. I liked exploring a different part of Narnia and the Underland too.

Tag list: @thatrandomlemononyourcounter1 @qylinscafvne @jinxed-starry-pages @sunflxwcrs @iwasonceabookworm

@thoughts-of-caly @brb-on-a-quest @partlysunny15 @marinaslibrary

[fanfiction-artist-prototype]

so i didnt wanna tag it onto the narnia post i saw but like;

With Caspian being like, a legitimate Prince of Narnia and the main children being the old kings and queens, and them being adults etc. Does C.S. Lewis ever like mention if they got married and or had children? Like is Caspian a VERY late descendant? I think that'd be cool.

There's about 40 generations in 1000 years so one of the kids are like his 27x great-grandma/granddad and the others are 27x great aunts/uncles and i think thats really funny.

You're descended from or descended from the ppl that toppled the empire descended from otherworldly kings and queens who ruled in coalition and when the world goes to absolute shit the kings and queens of legend come back but they're young again. Like thats so funny.

Could they have come back at any point? Was it a choice to not come back? Is this some kind of situation where Aslan goes 'nah fuck it, work this out between yourselves'. At least one of them (Lucy) is clearly Aslan's socially-appointed cub. Like was the general fallout over the last 1000 yrs not bad enough for Aslan's clean-up crew to turn up?

[pleasereadmeok]

A Goode year? ... 2024

Time for my usual review of Matthew Goode's (public) year. I usually sit down to write these thinking - hmm - we didn’t see enough of Matthew Goode this year and then get surprised by the number of Goode things that happened. But this year - OMFG there was hardly anything to write about. WTF? I know we have had droughts in the past but it's been a very lean year for Goode fans.

Oh well - we will make the most of the crumbs that we had.

January

December 2023's promotion of 'Freud's Last Session' continued into January and the praise kept on coming for Matthew's performance as CS Lewis.

Fans never doubted that Matthew would more than hold his own playing opposite Anthony Hopkins but it was still fantastic to have critic and audience reviews confirm our views.

These are some random reviews that appeared in January ....

Matthew Goode proves himself as a reliable character performer as Lewis. Squaring off against Hopkins is no easy feat, but the actor holds his own with quiet determinedness. [Punk Drunk Critics]

“It couldn’t be better cast, with both Hopkins and Goode slipping right into the skins of their characters and creating a sparkling chemistry. When the two are together the film makes for a mesmerizing study. “ [Keith and the movies com]

“Much of what we get is truly great material and the performances from Hopkins and Goode are exceptional.[Keith and the movies com]

Matthew Goode (“The Offer,” “The Imitation Game”) as C.S. Lewis, meanwhile, is as straightforward as Hopkins is slippery, and the two make a good pair. Lewis is not intimidated by Freud, nor is Goode intimidated by Hopkins. Both Goode and Lewis regard their older interlocutor with a mix of respect, affection and skepticism, as well as with a confident willingness to let a brilliant old showoff go into his dance. [San Fanscisco Chronicle]

Hopkins and Goode give masterful performances that transcend the conversation at hand.  [National Catholic Reporter]

February

In amongst the buzz around 'Freud's Last Session' we finally got confirmation of that Netflix series Matthew said he was due to start filming. Great news coz it's a goode one - a crime drama series, 'Department Q' adapted from the books written by Danish author Jussi Adler-Olsen.

📷 Netflix

The showrunner is Scott Frank who Matthew previously worked with on the 2007 film, 'The Lookout'.

Here's a summary from Deadline - Goode will play DCI Carl Morck. After a violent incident turns Morck’s life upside down, the emotionally scarred detective is charged with setting up cold case unit, Department Q, upon his return to work. At first, the disillusioned cop is happy to waste his days away, but his detective instincts are ultimately reawakened and his new department becomes a magnet for a crew of misfits and mavericks.

It got better at the very end of February coz we got the first proof of life for 2024 [we need more of those please] when Matthew attended the special screening of 'Freud's Last Session' in London. He was showing off his full 'Carl Morck' beardiness for the first time in public and we loved it.

📷 Yaffa Meskell

March

The promos for FLS kept rolling and extra screenings were added.... but then HACKETT!

Matthew joined up with Jenson Button and Hackett again to give us the Spring/Summer campaign. We got to see Matthew posing with doggies, playing croquet and looking cosy in beige (yes - BEIGE!) cardigans - so just your average trip to Seville. Although sitting on that trunk looks a bit eye watering. 😬 Ouch

📷 Tom Craig for Hackett

BUT the goode stuff kept coming coz cheeky Matthew had done a whole new movie appearance and WHO KNEW???? Well - we did ... in March.

Matthew was due to appear in the vampy movie 'Abigail' and we speculated about his role. Actually we didn't have to speculate too much coz when we found out that Abigail had a big, bad DADDY - we just knew. Vampy Dad 2 was coming soon!

April

In April we got some early sightings of Matthew doing a 'Carl' around Edinburgh including some squeally fan encounters. Loved this one from Sara Maude -

📷 Sara Maude

Sara told Edinburgh Live - "I absolutely had to get a picture with him, and I believe if you don't ask you don't get! He was an absolute delight, warm, friendly and down to earth - a true gent. To me, he is a sex god, and I was delighted to share that with him."

'Abigail' opened in April and we got to see Matthew as another vampy dad but this time - WITH FANGS!

OMG how he managed to even speak with those babies in his mouth was a mystery. But he was excellent as the supremely creepy vamp Kristof Lazar and audiences loved him too. His 'dinner' line brought the house down when I saw this 😂 Frikkin' hilarious.

Meanwhile 'Freud's Last Session' was going down well in Australia and there was lots of new praise for Matthew's portrayal of CS Lewis.

May

Oh, hello - here he is again in May. We know that Matthew is a totally geeky dad but - FISHING???

📷 James Murray

All in a good cause coz Matthew joined up with James Murray, Burn Gorman and Dominic West to catch some fishies (and put them back I hope) to promote the 'Off the table' campaign against farmed salmon.

📷 James Murray, Burn Gorman and 'Off the Table'

June

'Freud's Last Session' got its cinema release in the UK (at bloody last!) so I got to see Matthew on the big screen for the second time this year. Woohoo!

July

Nothing. Seriously, I GOT NOTHING!

August

There was a tiny update on 'Tally Ho' AKA 'Spiked' [Sort the name out guys - what's it gonna be?]

Kapers Animation gave us a few more pics of the amnesiac rabbit Walter - who will be our next crush - coz he's played by Matthew. So that's a given.

📷 Kapers Animation

Later in August 'A Discovery of Witches' popped up on Netflix in the US - which was great for the 3 people in the US who hadn't seen it yet. Seriously - so many more people discovering the joy of vampy Matthew is always GOODE news.

📷 Sky

September

Yep - you guessed it. Nothing.

October

To be fair I wasn't fully conscious for most of October so I probably missed stuff. None of the usual October golf appearances - so sad for him coz he bloody loves hitting a tiny ball with a stick. But nothing doing.

I know Matthew went on holiday with the family but that he and Sophie still found time to do something beyond kind for a very grateful fan. ☺️

November

Another proof of life at last thanks to the fabulous David Max Freedman - he knows we love BTS of Matthew and he delivered this of Goodey doing his ADR for 'Tally Ho'/'Spiked' -

📷 David Max Freedman

December

A truly bleak month with nothing. Not one scrap of news except that Department Q doesn't seem to be in Q1 for Netflix so we have to wait ...

But according to the Kapers website it looks like 'Tally Ho'/ 'Spiked' will be with us in Q1 next year

So bring it on Walt!

YEEEES!

Goode things coming... Spiked/Tally Ho, Department Q and what else? Last year Matthew was in 'talks' to possibly revisit the character of Robert Evans for something. The Wine Show season 4? Another movie or 3? Who knows? Whatever it is - it will be GOODE!

[noonaishere]

Music of the Heart [J.YH] // Online/Offline [C.S] - one hundred and eleven* | pocket square

“So what’s going on with you two?” Yunho asked.

“Two of who?” San asked back.

“You and /yn.”

He shrugged. “We’re friends.”

Yunho turned from where he was standing at the mirror and raised an eyebrow at him.

“What?”

“Sure you are. You fake dated and you’re still just friends.”

“Friends can fake date and still be friends. No one would fake date a stranger.” He laughed.

Yunho rolled his eyes, turned back to the mirror, and went back to tying his tie.

San looked to Mingi, who was shining his shoes. Mingi shrugged, not exactly sure what conversation he was in the middle of. He nodded at San.

“So, uh. T/n was invited too, right?” Mingi started.

Yunho paused. “Was she?”

“You know she was-- Everyone was, stop pretending.”

Yunho went back to his tie. “Oh.”

“‘Oh’?”

Yunho turned, fumbling with his tie as he spoke. “What do you want me to say, huh? I stood her up last time and maybe she won’t hate me? That’d I’d honestly be lucky if she doesn’t completely hate my guts at this point?”

Mingi stood and slapped his hands away from the tie. “You were never good at this.”

Yunho acquiesced and sighed as Mingi tied it for him.

“You should make it up to her.”

“How?”

“Being there, for one thing.” San said flatly as he folded the pocket square for Yunho’s suit.

Yunho attempted to shoot him a look, but when San looked back with an expression of kind firmness, he couldn’t muster the annoyance.

“You know… y/n thinks that you could have gone to the last party but you chickened out at the last second.”

“I had to film.”

“The company scheduled filming during one of their own parties?” Mingi asked as he finished tying the tie and cinched it up as far as it would go.

Yunho looked betrayed for a moment as Mingi took the folded pocket square from San and tucked it into Yunho’s breast pocket.

“It was… Second Unit filming.”

“Did you need to be there?”

“...No.”

Mingi smiled as he finished adjusting the pocket square. “Then it looks like you chickened out.” He patted his shoulder and sat back down.

Yunho’s eyes drifted to the floor staring hard as he considered the accusation.

“Ten thousand won for your thoughts?” San asked.

“That’s a lot, isn’t it?” Yunho asked, eyes still on the floor.

He smiled. “I drive a hard bargain.” He stood and readjusted Yunho’s tie so that it was no longer noose-like around his neck. “I think that if you like t/n as much as you say you do, you’ll do something to make this right.”

“But I fucked her life up so much years ago… and for so long… how can I--”

“And she survived. And your fear that her leaving before you would ruin everything in general - nevermind purposely fucking up her life - was unwarranted. You survived.”

Yunho’s brow furrowed, confused.

San sighed. “I think that: meeting here, years later like this… I don’t think I believe in destiny. But I think that sheer dumb luck gave you a second chance that you’d be stupid to squander.”

Yunho nodded as San smoothed out his collar. 

“We so rarely get second chances in life, it would be stupid not to make this right, don’t you think?”

He nodded again. “But what do I do? What do I say? What--”

“You’re the one who’s known her all those years. That’s up to you.”

“But she’s changed.”

“Are you still the same person you were back then?”

He shook his head.

“You’ve changed so much, even from being ‘Dancer Yunho’ to becoming ‘Actor Yunho,’” Mingi added. “I’ve gone from ‘Single, Street Dancer Mingi’ to ‘Mingi Who’s The CEO Of A Dance Crew, Dating My Dream Girl.’” He looked at San. “I don’t know your whole story, but from what Yunho’s told me about you, you’ve changed a lot.”

San looked from Mingi to Yunho and nodded.

Yunho mirrored his nodding and whispered, “I just want her not to hate me anymore.”

“Then humble yourself.” San said plainly.

Mingi nodded.

Yunho looked at both of them and nodded.

c.s previous | main cast | masterlist | next

j.yh previous | main cast | masterlist | next

a/n: Humble and kindness… do you think he can do it? Do you think San can?

Send an ask or leave a comment if you want to be added to the tag list! 🧋 🎵 Any comments, reblogs, or asks are appreciated! I love talking with you guys and seeing what you’re saying about the chapters, it keeps me going 🥰

@luvvvx • @iamthehotdemon • @hrts4hanniehae • @rachs-words • @stayatinykatsy • @dinossaurz​​ • @conwunder​ • @tinyelfperson​​ • @anythingrelatingtojinyoung​ • @jaytheatiny​ • @staytinyluv​ • @nevermoreraven1​ •

[faithfulsheepdog]

The Freedom in the Undressing (hear me out)

In this week's "God in the movies" session, we're actually going to ignore the movie version of this story because - as per usual - the book is better. The movie version really flopped with this scene in my opinion.

C.S. Lewis delivered one of the best character introductions I've ever read in The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, and it's the first two sentences in the whole book:

"There was a boy called Eustace Clarence Scrubb, and he almost deserved it. His parents called him Eustace Clarence and masters called him Scrubb. I can't tell you how his friends spoke to him for he had none."

A paragraph or two down, the description goes on to say,

"Eustace Clarence disliked his cousins, the four Pevensies - Peter, Susan, Edmund, and Lucy. But he was quite glad when he head that Edmund and Lucy were coming to stay. For deep down inside him he liked bossing and bullying; and, though he was a puny little person who couldn't have stood up even to Lucy, let alone Edmund, in a fight, he knew that there are dozens of ways to give people a bad time if you are in your own home and they are only visitors."

You know the type, right? I sure do. Arrogant, self-centered, and just all around annoying. No wonder he didn't have any friends.

Despite himself, he ended up being swept up (quite literally) into a sea adventure with Edmund and Lucy into Narnia, and he wanted nothing more than to go home.

On one of the islands the crew lands on, Eustace found a dragon's lair and was very greedy for the treasure. He put on a gold bracelet and fell asleep, and when he woke up, he had been turned into a dragon. "Sleeping on a dragon’s hoard with greedy, dragonish thoughts in his heart, he had become a dragon himself." Eustace - for a brief moment - was pleased by now being the biggest thing around, but he quickly realized he was cut off not just from the friends he was making and the crew but all of humanity, and he felt a a dragon-sized weight of loneliness and desperate need to change.

But God. (But Aslan.)

"I won't tell you how I became a—a dragon till I can tell the others and get it all over," said Eustace. "By the way, I didn't even know it was a dragon till I heard you all using the word when I turned up here the other morning. I want to tell you how I stopped being one." "Fire ahead," said Edmund. "Well, last night I was more miserable than ever. And that beastly arm-ring was hurting like anything——" "Is that all right now?" Eustace laughed—a different laugh from any Edmund had heard him give before—and slipped the bracelet easily off his arm. "There it is," he said, "and anyone who likes can have it as far as I'm concerned. Well, as I say, I was lying awake and wondering what on earth would become of me. And then—but, mind you, it may have been all a dream. I don't know." "Go on," said Edmund, with considerable patience. "Well, anyway, I looked up and saw the very last thing I expected: a huge lion coming slowly towards me. And one queer thing was that there was no moon last night, but there was moonlight where the lion was. So it came nearer and nearer. I was terribly afraid of it. You may think that, being a dragon, I could have knocked any lion out easily enough. But it wasn't that kind of fear. I wasn't afraid of it eating me, I was just afraid of it—if you can understand. Well, it came close up to me and looked straight into my eyes. And I shut my eyes tight. But that wasn't any good because it told me to follow it." "You mean it spoke?" "I don't know. Now that you mention it, I don't think it did. But it told me all the same. And I knew I'd have to do what it told me, so I got up and followed it. And it led me a long way into the mountains. And there was always this moonlight over and round the lion wherever we went. So at last we came to the top of a mountain I'd never seen before and on the top of this mountain there was a garden—trees and fruit and everything. In the middle of it there was a well. "I knew it was a well because you could see the water bubbling up from the bottom of it: but it was a lot bigger than most wells—like a very big, round bath with marble steps going down into it. The water was as clear as anything and I thought if I could get in there and bathe it would ease the pain in my leg. But the lion told me I must undress first. Mind you, I don't know if he said any words out loud or not.

"I was just going to say that I couldn't undress because I hadn't any clothes on when I suddenly thought that dragons are snaky sort of things and snakes can cast their skins. Oh, of course, thought I, that's what the lion means. So I started scratching myself and my scales began coming off all over the place. And then I scratched a little deeper and, instead of just scales coming off here and there, my whole skin started peeling off beautifully, like it does after an illness, or as if I was a banana. In a minute or two I just stepped out of it. I could see it lying there beside me, looking rather nasty. It was a most lovely feeling. So I started to go down into the well for my bathe. "But just as I was going to put my feet into the water I looked down and saw that they were all hard and rough and wrinkled and scaly just as they had been before. Oh, that's all right, said I, it only means I had another smaller suit on underneath the first one, and I'll have to get out of it too. So I scratched and tore again and this under skin peeled off beautifully and out I stepped and left it lying beside the other one and went down to the well for my bathe. "Well, exactly the same thing happened again. And I thought to myself, oh dear, how ever many skins have I got to take off? For I was longing to bathe my leg. So I scratched away for the third time and got off a third skin, just like the two others, and stepped out of it. But as soon as I looked at myself in the water I knew it had been no good. "Then the lion said—but I don't know if it spoke—You will have to let me undress you. I was afraid of his claws, I can tell you, but I was pretty nearly desperate now. So I just lay flat down on my back to let him do it. "The very first tear he made was so deep that I thought it had gone right into my heart. And when he began pulling the skin off, it hurt worse than anything I've ever felt. The only thing that made me able to bear it was just the pleasure of feeling the stuff peel off. You know—if you've ever picked the scab of a sore place. It hurts like billy-oh but it is such fun to see it coming away." "I know exactly what you mean," said Edmund. "Well, he peeled the beastly stuff right off—just as I thought I'd done it myself the other three times, only they hadn't hurt—and there it was lying on the grass: only ever so much thicker, and darker, and more knobbly looking than the others had been. And there was I as smooth and soft as a peeled switch and smaller than I had been. Then he caught hold of me—I didn't like that much for I was very tender underneath now that I'd no skin on—and threw me into the water. It smarted like anything but only for a moment. After that it became perfectly delicious and as soon as I started swimming and splashing I found that all the pain had gone from my arm. And then I saw why. I'd turned into a boy again.

This is my favorite scene in the entire book because this paints an incredible picture of how God removes the sin and grime and greed and pain and wickedness and despair from our souls, cleanses us, frees us, and makes us new.

We cannot fix ourselves. Only God can.

See, here's the thing: I am Eustace. I can easily put myself in his shoes, rather like I can put myself in the shoes of Edmund when I read The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. I cannot fix myself. I cannot change myself. I cannot cleanse myself from the things I wish I wasn't, and I don't know how to change those bad behaviors I have on my own.

I need Someone to remove the layers of dragon skin from me, cleanse me, free me, and make me new. God is the only One who can do that.

I have been rescued, freed, and restored by His love and salvation since the moment I gave my heart to Him, and I need Him daily to continue to live as He wants me to live.

As it says at the end of this chapter in the book,

"It would be nice, and fairly nearly true, to say that 'from that time forth Eustace was a different boy'. To be strictly accurate, he began to be a different boy. He had relapses. There were still many days when he could be very tiresome. But most of those I shall not notice. The cure had begun."

The freedom and transformation God provides us is not only immediate when we accept His salvation, but it is also a continuous process, daily giving ourselves over to Him to let Him work in our lives, even if it feels painful at times.

Letting God take the lead is always worth it. His cure is always worth it.

So today, I ask you: are you a slave to the sin and shame and pain of your old self or are you freed by God's grace? Are you still trapped by the sickness of sin or has the cure begun in you?

Seek God and His salvation, accept the free gift of being transformed and being made new by His love, accept the freedom that can be yours in Christ Jesus.

[fairmerthefarmer]

More character designs except this time they’re fantasy dwarves and whenever I draw fantasy dwarves they legally all need to have facial hair regardless of gender cause I think that’s cool.

Also these guys are all secretly Narnian and are also on the crew of the Dawn Treader cause I’m forever building out the crew in my mind, and it’s practicing doing my own designs. Here is some more of the crew.

The slightest amount of lore for them is down here if you care, along with general Narnia headcanons and waffling.

——————————————————————————

The dwarf on the far left is a river dwarf I’ve decided. I don’t know fully that is other than I think it’d be cool if there was a tribe of dwarves that were close to the water nymphs, and generally have great knowledge and skills that are an asset on a sailing crew.

The river dwarves are one of the reasons telmarines were scared of the water (along with the niads, however the bridge of beruna imprisoned the river god, who otherwise was also responsible for many folk tales told to young telmarine children. Their fear of water is ironic to me cause I believe there’s evidence of them coming from the Caribbean as pirates? I imagine the humans on caspians crew are like, either rediscovering their roots or the few who held on to that seafaring background. Mostly younger telmarines in the same generation as caspian, they questioned the leadership and were very happy when old narnia overthrew Miraz.)

the river dwarves are generally peaceful and most lived in hiding during telmars reign. They’re temperament is very stable and they do well under pressure. River dwarves are incredibly stealthy and only attack in necessity as self defense. In terms of stealth think like lotr hobbits, and this is a great contrast to most other dwarves in Narnia (strong strength and combat, low stealth) A lot of them abstained from fighting against telmar alltogether due to their peaceful values. They are disconnected from some other dwarf cultures which can cause some tension.

The two in the middle come from a tribe of dwarves that are blacksmiths, and also they’re siblings. The brother in particular is a toy maker by trade specifically, and loves kids. His wife (far right) has a background in carpentry. Him and his wife don’t have any but virtually adopt any child they see. The sister is always having a good time, and seafaring comes more naturally to her than smithywork ever did.

The carpentry/forest dwarves generally have a history of closeness with dryads similarly to how the river dwarves are with the water spirits. Some of that connection has been severed due to how deeply the dryads retreated and were removed when Caspian the Conqueror (not our caspian) and his descendants over-deforested. It takes time to restore that connection.

The two on the left may or may not have a situationship and the two on the right have been married for years.

Regardless of trade they’re all on the ship because they’re loyal as fuck to Caspian, the married couple kind of see themselves in a parental role to him but it’s debatable on how that actually plays out.

Also no one has a name cause I’m so bad at coming up with names.

————————

My thinking in general is that Narnian dwarves make up a lot of the trades, other races do contribute as well, (I’d imagine some marshwiggles work in stuff related to ships/seafaring but perhaps not travelling themselves) most fauns are more into the arts/spirituality, but some do take up trades (a couple of my designs from this post are tradespeople, one of them is a bard.)

I haven’t done many centaur designs, but my vague thoughts is that there are those who are more spiritual and practice prophecy, stargazing, advising, and those who are more into combat, and are protectors, or messengers.

—————

Gender and the ideas around sexuality I’d also imagine would be a lot more fluid and most Narnians are a lot more open than some of the more human civilizations. (Like it’s a country made of sentient trees, talking animals and mythical beings, and the human countries kind of canonically are like “what the heck is going on over there???” Or they’re afraid of them and try to colonize them, like the telmarines)

These are all half baked ideas but I’ve been fixated on Narnia since I was five and it’s lowkey the reason I spent so much time and passion into drawing and now have a career in graphic design and illustration, so. This is mostly all for me, so don’t mind how long this post has gotten. 🤠

[yuh13lo]

𖤐 Not so secret C.S.

Chris never said she wasn’t his girlfriend. He just didn’t post her. Not because he was hiding her—his brothers knew, Sam knew, Madison definitely knew—but because the quiet, lowkey love they shared felt too good to offer up to the internet.

That night had been loud. Dinner with the whole crew, a cramped photo booth, Madison dragging everyone into group Polaroids like it was a 2007 teen movie. His girl stayed close, always next to him, her laughter easy and soft in his ear.

The photo ended up on Instagram, obviously. Just a harmless group pic.

Hours later, back at the triplets place, they were tangled together under a throw blanket on his couch. Her head rested on his chest, tracing lazy circles on his arm while some random movie played low in the background. His phone buzzed once, then again, then again.

He finally checked it—and paused.

“Who’s the girl next to Chris???”

“Is that the same girl from the photobooth strip in the background??”

“Not to start anything but she’s in Madison’s pics too. Like… consistently.”

“Soft launch era???”

Chris huffed a quiet laugh. She tilted her head up at him, raising a brow.

“They found you,” he murmured, spinning the phone so she could see.

She smirked, eyes sparkling. “Took them long enough.”

He kissed her forehead and dropped the phone back to the floor.

“Let ‘em wonder,” he said, tightening his arms around her. “I got you right here.”

And just like that, being almost found out didn’t feel so bad.

The next morning smelled like fresh laundry, candles, cinnamon rolls, and mild chaos.

Nick sat cross-legged on the floor, shirt in his lap, while Chris’s girlfriend carefully pressed a bedazzler against the fabric, her tongue poking out slightly in focus. The triplets were calling it their “Surprise Party Tour,” and for reasons still unclear, Nick decided rhinestones were essential.

Chris lounged on the couch nearby, watching the chaos unfold with a sleepy grin, still wearing the hoodie she’d stolen from his closet.

Matt strolled in first, eyes scanning the scene, a brow raised at the sparkly project.

But it was Nick who struck first.

“So,” he said casually, plucking a rhinestone from the tray. “Internet kinda lost its mind last night.”

Chris didn’t even flinch. “Yeah?”

Nick grinned. “Something about a mysterious girl in a photobooth strip and a group pic and—oh, right—your girlfriend sitting on top of you at dinner.”

Chris’s girlfriend looked up, eyes wide with faux innocence. “I was sitting next to him.”

“Your hand was on his thigh,” Matt chimed in, flopping onto the armrest of the couch. “Pretty sure the fan edits already have wedding bells in the captions.”

Chris smirked, eyes flicking to her. “Well, they’re not wrong.”

She rolled her eyes, flicking a rhinestone at him. “Smooth.”

Nick held up the newly bedazzled shirt. “Honestly, though? They figured it out faster than I thought. Y’all were being real soft.”

“I’m soft all the time,” Chris shrugged, walking over to steal a kiss from the top of her head. “Just not usually caught in the background.”

Matt fake gagged. “Save it for the private story, Romeo.”

Chris just grinned and grabbed a handful of rhinestones. “Alright, if I’m already exposed, I’m making a shirt that says ‘Her Boyfriend.’”

She laughed. “Only if mine says ‘Not So Secret Anymore.’”

Nick raised a hand. “I’m making one that says ‘I Called It.’”

And just like that, the quiet morning turned into laughter, glitter, and the low-key kind of love that didn’t need to hide anymore—just sparkle a little.

[gingerfan24]

Ana (The Elder) facts pt. 1

1.) About as old as the Imperium itself as she was born during the later period of the Great Crusade to feudal world nobility (I will try to go into detail on her very messy backstory another time).

2.) Has long relied on a vast network of “wealthy and like minded patrons” in order to go about her work and travels but has recently come into possession of her own ship, The Wandering Lady, and couldn’t be happier about it (it’s also crewed almost entirely by robots).

3.) An appreciator of fine literature, she has many ancient Terran classics among her collection, including Frank Herbert’s Dune, JRR Tolkien’s various works as well as C.S. Lewis’s Chronicles of Narnia (and many many more).

4.) She is also an appreciator of ancient Terran music. Among many things, she has somehow acquired (likely through inheritance) a mysterious portable musical device with the word “Sony” emblazoned across the front of it. This device has strange properties that allow it to play music from all sorts of eras of human history.

5.) Don’t ask her about what she was doing in the Badab Sector between 901.M41 and 913.M41.

6.) Undoubtedly has more heretical works in her collection as well, such as a genuine copy of In Defense of the Future: A Logical Discourse, which is the foundational text of a heretical sect active in the Calixis Sector called the Logicians.

7.) A very well-practiced biomancer, she is able to change her appearance at will and will often appear as either a beautiful young maiden or a stately old noblewoman.

8.) If you find yourself a guest on her ship you can be expected to be entertained in a lavishly and tastefully decorated dining area with a bar made from expensive Helican stone and a long dining table crafted from fine and antique Tanith lumber. Ana herself will undoubtedly be seen clothed in a fine dress for the occasion, laughing and telling tales of her escapades while robot servants busily go about their tasks around her and serving recaf, coffee, tea, amasec or whatever beverages you prefer. Feel free to sit a spell and share some tales of your own, she will certainly enjoy the company. Just be a good guest and try not to leave a mess on the carpet.

9.) Tis best to not mistake the old wanderer’s kindness and generosity for weakness. History is littered with the bloody corpses of those who have made this fatal error….

[filmmakerdreamst]

How Lyra and Will suffered as Protagonists in BBC's His Dark Materials

Despite the cast and crews open love for the novels, and the insistent diligence to stay as faithful to the source material as possible — even trying to fill in many of the gaps in the books, as seen in all three seasons of the show — the BBC adaptation never manages to capture the spirit (the only time I felt like it did was in the third season) because of the fact that every character is altered and changed. Not just adaptationally changed either like making a character dumber, softer or harder. They’re completely different characters, separated from the source material e.g. Mrs Coulter is changed from a seductive, calm character to a feral, suicidal character. I must admit, I did like the expanded self harm element that she causes her daemon. However I felt in the novel, if she were to harm her monkey, it would be ‘to keep her lust for power at bay’ rather than shame for herself.

The atmosphere was off yet the events were similar and the complete opposite at the same time. But you can’t have similar events play out with different characterisations, at least not with ‘His Dark Materials’.

Philip Pullman’s characters in ‘His Dark Materials’ are extremely charismatic, but to put it lightly, are not very palatable to say the least. As stated in @clarabosswald’s analysis, there seemed to be this weird need to make EVERY single character digestible or palatable in some way or another in the BBC adaptation, regardless of it making sense or not. I noticed this upon my re-read of ‘The Northern Lights’ that they even humanised the doctor that sexually assaulted Lyra by grabbing Pantalaimon, which was very troubling.

Now with the opposing ‘The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe’ film, they changed the characterisations to make them more sympathetic and accessible to a contemporary audience. They even dug deeper with the character Edmund which I thought was a fantastic choice. But the reason why those character changes worked was because C.S.Lewis was not concerned with building character, he was much more concerned with the place of Narnia itself. He almost used his characters to explore the world of Narnia, e.g. some characters would leave one book and come back 5 books later — which is why some of the later adaptations of Narnia didn’t do as well in the box office as the first one.

The character changes in that film enriched the story without effecting it in a way, because ‘The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe’ and the other books are driven by the plot. Where as ‘His Dark Materials’ is primarily driven by characters.

Philip Pullman in total contrast to C.S.Lewis, built the world (you could say he used the world) around the characters in order for them to get to Point A to Point B. But he was not concerned about exploring the multiverse so you could see the entire picture, like with C.S. Lewis.

I heard once that he described writing as wondering through a forest on a path and the path is your story. Theres a difference between the story world and the storyline. And as an Author, your concern is the storyline. It would be easy to step away and stray from the path and explore the forest and admire all the trees, but for him the most important thing to do was to remain on the path and focus on the story rather than the details along the way.

I’m not apposed to different versions of the characters or different storylines. But with ‘His Dark Materials’, those books are driven by specific character traits. And the fact that they changed them, while still being faithful to the events in the story, the story beats either don’t land or don’t hit as hard or don’t make sense altogether.

More specifically with the main characters Lyra and Will, but mostly Lyra since she’s the heart of the story.

Lyra is first and fourmost a liar, which may seem a small part of her character but its huge. Her ability to lie and get her way out of situations is the cause of many events in the books. She’s feral. She’s wild. She’s manipulative. She’s described as a ‘half wild cat’ and a ‘greedy little savage’. She can’t sit still or behave herself. She’s impulsive. She’s a leader. She gets into fights. She gets dirty. She spends all her nights on the rooftops. She’s an extrovert. She’s street smart. She’s selfish. She’s brave.

She’s an emotional and passionate human being. Thats what makes Lyra a real girl, not just a character on the page. These nuanced character traits of hers is how she pushes everything forward in the story.

All of those negative/positive aspects of her character in the books were watered down so much in the series. To the point where alot of them were removed. Not only is that incredibly dehumanising but makes the plot points where “she lies” not land as well or plot points revolving around her “telling the truth” make no sense at all.

The whole reason why she’s called Lyra Silvertongue is because she tricked the bear king with her lies, a trait which is consistent throughout the entire story — but completely nonexistent throughout the show. Her tricking the bear king in the adaptation came off as a lucky experience rather something that comes naturally to her. Even the ironic plot point of her being given the Alethiometer “a device that tells her the truth” didn’t hit as hard. They tried to establish her as a ‘liar’ in the second episode of season one then gave up completely as the show continued on.

But the weird thing is, those flaws were still mentioned by other characters in the show, when it was not the character they were developing. Characters would mention that she’s a liar, insufferable, selfish or that ‘she doesn’t apologise easily’ — which seemed like an over exaggeration since the show version of her isn’t really any of those things. This applied when characters such as Lee praised her for being ‘brave’ and ‘good’. I heard a HDM podcast recapping season 2 saying that “her character in the show wasn’t hitting the right emotional beats” to be a child of a great destiny that every character seemingly falls over themselves to give their lives for her.

TV Lyra hasn’t completely lost her flaws, but she’s not as nearly as flawed as she was in the books. She felt so contained, rather than passionate. Which felt so odd because yes, Lyra grows out of some bad traits such as her rudeness, due to the influence of Will. But she isn’t naturally like that.

They changed her so much, but also tried to keep her “the same” that her character growth which is huge in the books felt like nothing had moved at all. It kind of got reduced to a simple thing like her innocence being taken away. It was like she wasn’t allowed to have any sort of loud, dislikable reaction in any way. It felt like they were taking away her agency.

And I know one of the biggest reasons why they changed her behaviour in the TV Show is because they aged the character up to 14–16 at the start. I get it. Theres a huge difference between 12 and 14 in terms of maturity . It works for the Will & Lyra romantic scenes as an adaptational choice later in the story (because she’s allegedly 12–13 in the books).

I think Dafne Keen was an inspired choice for the role of Lyra, since I saw some scenes of her in ‘Logan’ and I 100% believe she would of pulled off Book Lyra given the chance, but by the time they started filming she was already 13/14. And in all honesty, Lyra just becomes odd looking older. She’s just not convincing as a misbehaving little girl who can’t sit still, she just comes off as a really strange child thats immature or lacking in social skills. For example, there’s a scene between Mrs Coulter and Lyra in ‘The Idea of North’ where she’s telling a lie, but it doesn’t come off natural because 1. They didn’t establish her as a liar immediately and 2. Part of her ability to lie comes from her spontaneous nature of being a kid telling stories and using her imagination. Dafne Keen didn’t really look that age, for it to look like something she would do.

They also made her relationship with Roger more of a focus in the show, which makes sense as her motivation in the later half of the books comes from wanting to rescue him. However, they made him ‘the only friend that she has’ which I found to be a strange decision because Lyra in the books has tuns of friends. I would say their friendship is more balanced in the series, where as in the book it wasn’t so much.

She forgets him a few times while staying with Mrs Coulter in the book where as she remembers him constantly in the episode ‘The Idea of North’ which felt like a confused choice to me. They were trying to have it both ways; have her be seduced by Mrs Coulter while also actively asking her to look for Roger.

The imbalance in Roger and Lyra’s friendship is important because it adds to the need to set things right with him in The Land of the Dead. It goes to the core of how everyone thinks she is selfish. She needs to save Roger to prove to herself she’s a good person.

In the book, when Lyra dreams of Roger in The Land of the Dead, the two of them have constant talks of how much he’s suffering. In the show, she just has alot of ambiguous flash forward dreams of Roger, with the story not prioritising them as important as the main plot of ‘Asriel’s War’.

When she brings this up to Will in the episode, he dismisses it instead of agreeing to go (like in the book) because of his daddy issues, no I’m sorry, because of Asriel’s War which makes sense as it’s one of the main plots in the season — where it was more of a distracting B plot in the book — but it just kind of adds to the idea that “its unnecessary” or “why are they doing this?”.

The desire to get to Roger and apologise in the show doesn’t hit as hard because there was more of a balance in Lyra and Rogers relationship plus the changes to her character just made it seem like “she just wanted to do it” rather than it being the most important decision she ever makes, to try to better herself.

While they go to the suburbs of the dead, Will and Pan constantly question why she’s doing this (a conflict that was not in the book — Will is steadfastly loyal to her by this point and Pan is too shivery to speak) while Lyra just snaps at them, making her seem mean for no reason. When she has a chat with her death, she doesn’t lie that an angel told her to do it (because they didn’t establish her as a liar properly), she just says that she wants to be good which is not a convincing argument considering what happens next.

When Pan and her have the argument while she leaves him on the doc, which is a great scene on its own (it made me cry), it also adds to the unnecessary nature of it all. It’s a scene that makes sense in the book because of Lyra’s impulsive nature, but because of her seemingly calculative nature in the show, it just looks odd. It’s described in the book that if Lyra had heard Pan speak, she would have folded and never would of got on the boat, but since the show did the complete opposite of that, It makes the scene more harsh and cold.

I think what the writers were trying to do was make it more of a mystery like ‘why is she doing this’ ‘its not too late to turn around’ a mission that appears fruitless at first, but turns out to be the greatest act of humanity — but again, I still don’t think that works because of how much Lyra’s entire character is changed. The act is not just for everyone else. It’s a major step in her character growth, to care about others.

In the Land of the Dead, obviously they had to cut out the whole section where Lyra literally looses her ability to lie while she’s telling lies to the harpies, then learns to tell the truth to the dead. This is the final step for Lyra’s character, finally learning the power of telling the truth instead of lies. They didn’t replace that with anything, only with her telling the dead true stories, which was heartwarming on its own, but obviously those story beats don’t hit as hard in the same way because like I said, its not presented as the final step in her character growth, its presented as a one off scene. This is one of the reasons why her character is pretty static in the adaptation.

In the Land of the Dead, its Lyra for the most part (apart from one instance) that keeps a cool head, while Will looses his — which again, the complete opposite. In the books, its Lyra that goes off the rails and its Will that keeps her centred.

Which brings me onto how the character of Will is changed in the adaptation, and how that effects the story from the second book onwards.

Will was brought in by Philip Pullman in ‘The Subtle Knife’, to represent Lyra’s other half — in another parallel universe literally, and also to help her on her quest to fulfil the prophecy. If it was just her on her own with Pan, it wouldn’t work and would fail.

Though I was taken aback by his entrance in ‘The Subtle Knife’ — as it was such a jarring change coming from the suspenseful cliff hanger where Lyra walks into the new world after her best friend Roger got murdered — he quickly but surely became my favourite male literary character of all time.

I don’t have as a big of a problem with his character changes then I do with Lyra, because there were at least a few times in the show where he was allowed to act like ‘himself’. Amir Wilson was perfect casting as Will. It was like the character had just walked off the page it was that good. But all together, he’s a completely different character — which I can understand. Out of all the characters, I feel he’s the hardest to pin down and his development is done in a subtle and subconscious way.

Throughout the course of ‘The Subtle Knife’, he’s incredibly off putting as he’s mostly angry and tired and then he’s in pain because of his knife wound. It works in a book format, because your’e in his point of view and you understand that he’s a child thats at the end of his tether. But it would be hard to portray that in a nuanced way on screen, unless your’e clever with it.

They unfortunately took the easy route with his characterisation on screen by making him softer. Not only that, the writing for his character was incredibly inconsistent at times.

Will from the books is fierce. He’s frightening. He’s stoic. He gets angry. He’s a strategist. He does whats best for someone. He likes to stay invisible. He’s sarcastic. He’s an introvert. He likes to stay hidden. He’s practical. He’s a child carer. He’s naturally aggressive e.g. He beat up a bunch of boys at school because they were hurting his mother. He hardly smiles. At times, especially in the second book, he becomes incredibly depressed. He’s pretty much a 35 year old man in a young boy’s body. He’s incredibly soft, but the reader can’t tell until Lyra brings that out in him.

I would say Will is a more contained version of Lyra, yet the complete opposite of her. They’re like yin and yang. They both have something that the other lacks, and that helps them both grow up. Lyra brings out a softness out in him, brings out his impulsive nature where as he helps her strategise and learn not to just rush out and do things.

TV Will suffers from the same problem that TV Lyra does.

Every negative/positive aspect about him is watered down. Revealing a quite mild character. I feel that they didn’t touch on the fact that he was a child carer enough, which is a huge part of his character. It just came off as ‘he loves his mum’ more in the show. Will being a caterer is supposed to contrast Lyra whom didn’t grow up with parents and got to live out a childhood that he was never allowed to experience. This is a theme. Every character trait that contrasts Lyra in the books isn’t present so much. I would even go as far to say that they’re too similar in the TV Show.

I was wondering throughout the second season why the storyline was static and wasn’t going anywhere. Certain plot points such as Will being a murderer, Lyra helping Will find his father, The fight for the subtle knife and Will becoming the bearer of the Subtle Knife felt tacked on or weren’t hitting as hard as they should.

At first, I thought it was because the novel was ‘the weakest in the trilogy’. I often see ‘The Subtle Knife’ as a bridge between both ‘Northern Lights’ and ‘The Amber Spyglass’.

But since re-reading the book, I went ‘Oh my God, its because they changed Will’s character arc’.

TV Will, the more I think about it, does not suit becoming the bearer of the subtle knife. The only times we see him fighting is in the boxing ring. He expresses incredible regret over killing a man instead of brushing it off because he was protecting his mother. Even when he’s under threat, he says ‘I don’t want to hurt you’ He even has to be persuaded to fight. There’s even a moment in the show where he says “Maybe we’re better off not fixing the knife at all.” which kind of dismisses the practical nature of his character in the book. Plus the knife being a part of him, the same way as the Alethiometer is a part of Lyra. Even the remarks that Lyra makes about him being similar to Iorek the armoured Bear don’t make as much sense, because of the fact that he’s softer.

Book Will struggles with his warrior nature, and eventually learns thats not who he wants to be. But he isn’t naturally a soft person. He learns to be through his experiences and his relationship with Lyra. Which is why it was so odd to me that they included the line in the show where Will is saying to his father in the Land of the Dead “You told me that I was a warrior; That I can’t fight my nature. Your’e wrong.” I was just like, what are you talking about? That is so not the character the show had developed. TV Will had hardly been shown to fight anyone of his own free will — it didn’t make sense to me. They were trying to have it both ways. Completely ignoring his basic character traits and flaws, yet still going through the same arc (a somewhat watered down one) one e.g. idolising his dad for his whole life, realising his dad ain’t shit when he meets him, finding Lyra missing, ignoring the task his father set him etc.

Even the task that Lyra has to help Will find his father didn’t land as well because of the fact that the two of them were bonding straight away in the show, instead of it being like ‘oh no we’re stuck with each other’ to this slow process of her and Will learning to trust each other.

I understand that you have to translate Lyra and Will’s relationship alot differently in a Show format, because subconscious development doesn’t really work due to the lack of intimate point of views. Plus it adds to the narrative to flesh out their dynamic alot more on screen. The more something is changed in an adaptation, the more it stays the same.

I have openly praised the shows depiction of their relationship in another analysis I wrote (before i re-read the books) and how I loved how they gave them more soft moments. However, I will admit now that the soft moments that they had in season 2 felt off to me because they weren’t in character. I think, looking back I would of preferred more soft moments if they were in character.

Will’s initial softness towards Lyra in the show is partially to do with TV Lyra being much less feral and less of a threat. As a result their journey is warmer and far less angstier than it was in the books.

And that in turn messes with the tension.

The element of Will being slightly dismissive of her at the start, is important to how certain story beats land. It adds to the ‘OH SHIT’ when Lyra’s been taken and the task that his father set him that he’s been dreaming of his whole life suddenly isn’t important to him anymore. Thats why it’s such a big deal when he spends most of his time through ‘The Amber Spyglass’ looking for her.

But in the season 2 finale, it ends with Will going off into the sunset, presumably to fulfil is fathers wishes. Then in season 3, he finds her missing, goes ‘whoops’ and then there’s a montage of him trying to find her. Then when he does (quite easily) — he goes on about how “since his dad died he’s done none of the things that he asked him to do’ which makes him looking for Lyra within the show feel even more anticlimactic.

Also, this is more of a personal opinion that an analytical one, I did not appreciate when Lyra brought up going to the Land of The Dead, TV Will went “I saved you. I did everything I could to save you. You told me not to but I did it anyway” which felt to me like ‘Wow brilliant, of course you had to save her’

And instead of agreeing to go to the Land of the Dead with her like in the book, they had to insert some tension from ‘The Subtle Knife’ (because they messed with the tension in season 2) and have Will go on a rant about what his dad wanted him to do, Asriel’s war, dismissing Lyra’s wishes and even having him suggest maybe her dad regretted killing her friend.

This is something that Will from the books would never ever say, let alone to the girl that he loves. He’s fully aware how much her dad hurt her and he respects her too much by that point to ever suggest something like that. Even when he does think about ‘what his dad wanted him to do’ he’s still steadfastly loyal to Lyra. They were completely undermining the turning point in their relationship and Will’s character development by adding pointless drama to extend the episodes running time.

As mentioned in a very articulate post by @mamsellechosette24601 ‘the quest to find his father and fulfil his fathers wishes’ isn’t the point at all, its Will letting go of his childhood dreams, of realising what really matters is Lyra all along.

Now I’ve seen in another analysis of the adaptation that their path to falling in love in the show is alot clearer than in the books which I can understand and agree with (to a certain extent) because the books were much more concerned with philosophy than romance. This is true for the romance between Asriel and Marisa in the Book vs the TV Show as well.

The concept behind their relationship remains the same:

“Will and Lyra are very good people who learn to trust each other when they’re at their most vulnerable, they become the only thing they have in a terrifying world of enemies. By the end, when they realise they're in love only to discover they can never be together, they make the mature choice, however hard it may be.”

But their relationship is totally different in the TV Show because of their character changes.

I would say Lyra and Will have more of a enemies to lovers storyline in the books — where as the adaptation version of them doesn’t. The screenwriters clearly tried to iron out alot of the problematic elements, especially in the beginning and focus on them being “friends” more. I’m not apposed to them doing that, but the way they did it ended up muting a few of their scenes together.

I’ve actually made an argument in my other account (against the ‘His Dark Materials’ analysis saying that ‘the adaptation did a much better job at showing when Will and Lyra fell in love’) that their relationship development was a lot subtler in the books because the characters were alot younger and more immature. And that it was more ‘obvious’ in the tv show because they aged the characters up, therefore they could have more mature conversations and scenes together.

This was before I did my re-read.

After re-reading ‘The Subtle Knife’ and ‘The Amber Spyglass’ comparing it with how their relationship is handled in the TV Adaptation. I would actually argue the opposite .

In some ways, the growing romance between the two of them is much more mature (and makes more sense) in the books than in the show, at least to me. Unlike in the TV Show, their relationship never enters into neutral territory, even when they finally learn to trust each other. Theres much less emphasis on their ‘friendship’.

After their brutal first meeting — where they attack eachother — in ‘The Subtle Knife’ Lyra is immediately taken with Will and constantly thinks about him and what he thinks of her. There’s even a moment in ‘The Amber Spyglass’ where she’s trying to hide that she’s in pain while they’re walking (because of all that time she’s been asleep) because she doesn’t want to appear weak in front of him. 

The way Lyra and Will meet in the show, is reminiscent of how children meet for the first time. Though quite skeptical of each other, they instantly bond and make friends after 5 seconds, because why wouldn’t they? They’re kids the same age after all. Even though there’s still an element of mistrust there, there’s hardly any conflict between them. They don’t play off each other as much. There is one moment where he gets angry at her for making him wait, but all that is solved in a minute because of Lyra’s ‘calm nature’

Even when Lyra gives Will away by accident and says that she lost the Alethiometer, he doesn’t shout at her. There are few comments here and there but theres no real tension between the two of them.

When Will and Pan have a conversation, its presented as Pan going up to him to have a chat after he had a bad dream rather than Will finding the courage to speak to him in the book and saying ‘I think Lyra’s the best friend I’ve ever had’. This is presented more as a statement in the show because their friendship has already been established and less of a discovery (as he wasn’t reacting to her that much in the book as he had alot on his mind).

Lyra and Will even have a talk about Pan’s conversation with him afterwards in the show. But in the book, that never happened. It’s mentioned later but never discussed, because of the fact that it was a private conversation between Will and Pan.

You could say this was another problem that the adaptation had. It’s mentioned multiple times ‘YOU CAN’T TOUCH SOMEONES DAEMON’ but not emphasised why thats the case.

In the books, it’s heavily implied that touching someone else’s daemon is the equivalent of touching someone’s genitals. There’s a moment in ‘Northern Lights’ where Lyra and Iorek find Tony in the fish house without a daemon and Pan wants to comfort him but holds back because of the taboo. Thats why it’s such a big deal when Pan comforts Will and starts licking him in the book.

In the show, its quite an underwhelming scene that lasts 5 seconds where Pan strokes Wills fingers and Lyra says in a quiet voice ‘In my world, your’e not supposed to touch someone else’s daemon but you didn’t do something wrong’

And don’t get me started on the 5 second panning away shot where they’re finally touching each others daemons, instead of the moving moment from the book. It didn’t feel like they really understood the gravity of what those scenes meant and what it meant for their connection.

Again, this is more of a personal opinion. Near the end of the final book, when they enter the world of the Mulefa, Lyra and Will trust each other more than they ever have, which shows how much they’ve both grown since ‘The Subtle Knife’. Mary even describes that she never saw ‘more trust on a persons face’. But in the show, there’s this weird forced tension between them for the sake of ‘romance’. They’re suddenly awkward teenagers with each other — which was not a choice that I liked because it didn’t come naturally.

And when they have to be ripped from each other, a whole page worth of them bargaining to be together is turned into ‘I didn’t think it was possible to feel this bad.’ and ‘This is all wrong’, plus Mary and Serafina being weirdly insensitive while Will and Lyra are in different locations rather than being with each other.

This is possibly why I didn’t feel anything when they had to be forced apart because, the way it was handled felt rushed and soulless. Plus I don't really think that Dafne and Amir had enough romantic chemistry in order for it to work.

Overall, despite there being more ‘soft moments between the two of them’ Show Lyra and Will’s connection feels alot more shallow and simplified.

In the books, I got the vibe that even though they were very young, you couldn’t imagine them being with anyone else but with each other. They were each others other half. They were essentially the only family they had in a world full of enemies. There was never a moment in the books, where they weren’t already in love with each other to some degree. It went beyond the typical romantic duality.

In the show, it felt more temporary. This is mostly due to their character changes (they were too similar in my opinion). Like a connection between friends that became romantic at the end of the journey. And it’s something they’ll get over because “It won’t always feel like this” or “Its much more romantic to live for love than to die for it” or “It might not seem like it now but you have a future”

I think that was one of my main problems with the TV Show, it lacked emotion. Not just as an adaptation, but in general.

More than anything, the adaptation felt too confused. It was trying to reimagine the story while also paying homage to the original material. And thats why overall — despite my enjoyment for some of the episodes especially in season 3 — it didn’t work as well as it should have.

[swxsherss]

REVENGE

C.S

- where chris cheats on you while you're on tour.

AN: i quite literally based this off something i seen on here from one of the people i follow. i can’t remember who either cause i wrote this a long time ago 😭. if its bad then let me knowwww! again i did write this a long while ago but i hope you enjoy🫶🏾

A few nights ago you found out chris was cheating on you.. that same night you stayed in the studio hurting and crying wondering why he did what he did or why he didn't just break up with you if he wasn't happy.

so many questions ran through your head yet none could be answered. he kept texting you as if everything was normal which told you he knew nothing of what you know.

the longer the days went on of pretending to be okay and letting that knowledge sink the bigger the pain got and it didn't help that you weren't confronting him about it either. you carried conversations with him like everything was cool. like now..

"when are you coming home? i miss my baby" chris whines

"i'm not sure yet."

it pissed you off when he called you baby as if he didn't just lay with someone else some nights ago

he began to yap about something but you couldn't take it anymore

"chris i'll call you tomorrow. gotta get ready for my next show."

"okay i lo-" you hung up

YOUR POV

i remembered a beat my producer sampled from Justin Timberlakes' "Cry Me a River" and that's when the lyrics just flew right out.

i was performing in LA in two days and i wanted this song to be finished by then. Previewing what i had and how i wanted it to sound kept me up almost all night. i slept in the studio and almost missed my show.

i couldn't let chris keep me up like this. i wanted revenge

my team kept asking trying to figure out why i was crying and locking myself in the studio all night and i'm eventually gonna tell them but it'll be on my time.

As if my night couldn't get any worse the show was canceled due to weather issues.. it hurt me more to let my fans down and unfortunately i had no one to complain about this to but Chris.. so i called him

he didn't answer so i checked his location and not to my surprise he's not home so i called his brothers

"Guys have you talked to Chris?"

"He said he was going to Aya's house. Hasn't been home since"

As in my BESTFRIEND AYA?

As i recheck his location i ask Nick how long he's been gone.

"since yesterday actually.. he's been going over there since you left but i don't see why he wouldn't answer his phone. Matt call him really quick"

"yo?"

i go on mute and Nick can see in my face that i'm about to cry

"your girlfriend just called and asked about you"

"oh shit. what'd she say?"

you can hear rustling from matt's phone

"the fuck are you doing?"

"just tell me what she fuckin said so i can call her back"

"why didn't you answer her call in the first place?"

"cause i was at Aya's place. i didn't want her to think anything"

"so you could've answered your phone and let her know that"

silence

"chris are you fuckin with Aya?" Nick asks

"i'll see y'all when i get home"

the phone disconnects and i come off mute.

"Moni?"

"i'm gonna be there tomorrow. i'll uh.. see you guys-"

"go on mute go on mute" nick whispers

i do that and Chris comes in the door

"so?"

"haven't called her yet"

"no dumbass are you fuckin Aya?"

"i am. the fuck does it matter?"

"we're going to her show tomorrow. you better have your shit together and tell her the truth"

"not telling her shit she doesn't know about."

Nick went in his room after that whole thing to talk to me but i told him i'll just see him tomorrow at the show. All night him and Matt texted me apologizing for chris's behavior and actions. nobody should feel sorry but Chris and Aya. Her brother got into her phone and sent everything he could of them and also took videos while i was gone which is how i knew he was cheating on me.

...

the crew ran around me trying to make sure everything was in perfect condition while i was just standing there in my own head. my blank expression made my manager pull me to the side for a moment. she wondered if i was gonna be okay. i still hadn't told anyone what happened so they're all clueless.

i went on stage and for a brief moment i was okay until i saw Chris in the stands.. The camera panned over to him and he blew me kisses and made hearts with his hands. i couldn't take it anymore

"i'm sorry can you stop really quick. i'm sorry"

the crowd was confused and so was my crew in the back.

"i don't mean to do this in the middle of the show but guys my boyfriend is here."

yells go over the arena and i quiet them down

"so in honor of my boyfriend being here i wanted to show you guys my new song. see i wrote it a couple days ago when i found out how much he truly loved me"

he said he loved me why does it hurt?

why does it haunt me? it's getting worse

I can't compete with him, it's so unfair

want to get even, i want revenge

"dumbass are you fucking Aya?"

"i am. the fuck does it matter"

seems like he's running from the truth but he can't hide

what's done in the dark comes to the light

as the photos and videos of him cheating come up on the screens behind me. the camera points to him looking helpless as i stand on stage singing my heart out. it felt great to finally be crying for a different reason. still hurting for the same reasons though. time will pass and eventually i'll get over it but i must say. revenge is sweet

he said he loved me

it doesn't hurt

why does it haunt me?

can't get no worse

he can't compete with me, i'm gonna win

want to get even, i want revenge

he said he loved me

AN: i just figured out i wrote this January 18th… baby its May 16th LMAOO

[hushed-chorus]

Thirty Books in November Challenge - Day Twenty Check-in

(Day 10 check-in here)

Since last update, I’ve managed to read twelve books. That puts me nearly back on track; nineteen books read with ten days left to reach my target. Reading three graphic novels and a novella helped, but given most of what I have left is novel-length, I’ll need to knuckle down to make it.

Some short reviews of a select few.

Captive Prince trilogy by C.S Pacat - The books that defied my expectations

I am not a big smut consumer, so I wasn't sure I’d vibe with this. Turns out there’s a lot more going on here. Plot! Twists! Great characters! Gahhh. And it does something that so much modern ‘traditional’ fantasy does not - it gives us victories and happy endings! Adore adore adore.

Heartstopper (2-4) by Alice Oseman - The books I’m kicking myself for not catching up on sooner

I thought vol 1 was adorable and set aside the rest for when I needed comfort. Got more than I bargained for. Love the character work, love the softness and teen joy coupled with the frank look at mental health. Many parts made me nostalgic for my teenage years. 

The Wager by David Grann - The book that I wish more nautical nonfiction was like

Do you know how hard it is to research day-to-day Age of Sail bullshit? It’s fucking hard. This book is a solid starting point, because while it’s telling a story of a particular ship and crew, it gives us a peek at life on a ship. If I write a nautical story, I reckon I’ll re-read this to help prep me.

Currently reading: Bookshops & Bonedust by Travis Baldree, and Heartstopper 5

[taeyongsfemdom]

| A Deal With The Devil: Part II |

●femdom/serial killer!reader & older!male character.

●contains: violence, weapons, kidnapping mention, drugging, taeyong being a damsel in distress, small mention of a coma.

●PLEASE READ DEAL WITH THE DEVIL BEFORE THIS ONE ⚠️ I don't want nobody getting confused.

Um, hey ya'll.....

Before ya'll cuss me tf out, let me explain!

This story is long overdue. For those who don't know, I dropped part one of this duology about two years ago (I think) and ended it on a cliffhanger. One of the reasons why this took so long is because I had so many ideas bumping around in my brain and had moments where I was like-

But at the same time, I was like-

Anyway, what I'm trying to say is that I apologize for this taking so long lmao! Last thing i'll say is that this will be more "action-packed" and there will be a happy disney-esque ending! I hope you all enjoy this as much as I did! Also happy new year!!! Let's start the new year off with a fic! I'm also working on something pretty big that will be dropping soon! So stay tuned bitches!

Love ya'll ❤️

"That motherfucker"

You scrambled around the room trying to calm yourself down, you woke up to the sight of Taeyong not being next to you and it sent you into a panic. You knew that the man that invited you both over was behind this when you found the note sitting on a pillow.

"Thanks for bringing me a new toy. Taeyong is mine now, bitch" - C.S

you sent out a text to your assistant Mark to pull up with back-up just in case, you could handle the man by yourself but things were going to get messy. You wanted to be in style before handling Swan yourself, the grey blazer with chains hanging off it covered the yellow dress that hugged your curves and a pair of grey high heeled boots on your feet. You took a quick spin in the mirror as the loaded gun strapped to your thigh peeked under your dress before heading out into the hallway to look for Taeyong.

"Don't worry little rose, I'm coming"

The sound of your heels echoed throughout the halls, Swan's house was huge but you knew it like the back of your hand. The man was hiding the boy somewhere in the house, and you weren't gonna rest until you found him. You're eyes spotted the cracked double doors in the hallway that led into Swan's home theater, you quietly walked inside to it being empty, you jumped when the screen turned on to show various videos of Taeyong during his time as an idol. A clip of his laugh made your heart race as you felt a small anxiety attack on the rise, the screen began to distort as words appeared that said.

"YOU WON'T FIND HIM...GET OUT"

Anger took over as you ran out of the theater and back into the hallway, this was clearly Swan trying to mess with you.

"Get it together Y/N. You need to find Taeyong and get out of here"

You took a few deep breaths and checked your phone and saw that your backup had arrived. A small smile appeared on your lips as you typed out specific instructions for them to follow as you kept looking.

~

The front door creaked open as Mark, Mason and the newest addition to your team Amanda, carefully walked into the quiet house, the three of them in complete awe from how large it is.

"You're telling me that boss and Taeyong are somewhere in here?? We'll be here for hours!"

"Mason, what does she want us to do?"

"She said that she wanted me to meet up with her and find Swan. Mark, she wants you and Amanda to look for Taeyong. She said to be careful and be alert of everything around you since Swan is dangerous"

The both of them nodded as the three of them split up deep into the house, various small beeps could be heard in the halls from a hidden camera at the corner of the ceiling.

"Well, well, well! Everyone seems to be looking for my new doll. Y/N had to bring her little crew with her...pathetic"

Swan chuckled to himself as he looked into another camera that zoomed in on Taeyong sleeping like an innocent little angel.

"Mmmmm, goddess?"

Taeyong opened his eyes to sun shining in the bedroom, he rolled over to see that weren't next to him, but he didn't think much of it and assumed you were at work. The room he was in was an exact replica of yours inside of your home, the boy got up out of bed and headed to the bathroom, not knowing there was someone watching him.

"Hope you're ready to say goodbye to Y/N, little doll. You're mine now"

There was a small little breakfast cart parked next to the bed that Taeyong noticed immediately after leaving the bathroom.

"Ooh food!!"

~

"God, little rose where are you???"

"BOSS??? BOSS????"

You turned to see Mason running towards you, you ran right into her arms and hugged her tightly, she knew right away that something was wrong just by the way you were hugging her.

"Mason, thank god!"

"I didn't think I was gonna find you! What the hell is going on here?"

"It's a long story."

You pulled her in a nearby room, took a deep breath as she crossed her arms across her chest, waiting for an explanation.

"The other day, Swan made a deal with me where he wanted something in exchange for my annual company review. I was hesitant at first but I did it anyway"

"What did he want in exchange?"

Your heart started racing again.

"He wanted Taeyong. He said if I didn't go through with it, Mark would be fired. I couldn't let anything happen to him, so I brought Taeyong here and Swan & I did a plethora of things to him. After we were done, I took him to the bathroom and gave him a bath and then we went to sleep…then next thing you know"

Mason noticed the tear sliding down your cheek.

"I didn't see him lying next to me anymore, and I thought he was in the bathroom but he wasn't in there and my heart sank. I started freaking out because he's always next to me, that man took him from me and I have no idea where he is and I'm horrified that he might do something to him"

"Hey hey! Boss it'll be okay! Calm down"

"Mason. You know I don't cry, but I'm scared. I'm so scared. Taeyong means so much to me"

Mason pulled you into a tight hug as you sobbed into her shoulder, her hand rubbing your back. Mason has never seen you like this before in years, you rarely got emotional, but this was something very different.

"Boss, we're gonna find him! You don't have to do this alone. Mark, Amanda, and I are here to help you! Also your outfit is fabulous by the way! Wait...is that Taeyong's SuperM teaser outfit? It looks so good you, bitch!"

You laughed and hugged her again tightly as you wiped your tears away, the both of you going into the hallway to start the search up again until the sound of your phone dinging.

"Who is it?"

You pulled out your phone and found a text from Swan.

"Meet me in the ballroom. Alone"

"Fuck. I need you to find Mark and Amanda and go to the ballroom. I may need backup"

She nods as you head off to the ballroom to get your little rose back and take care of Swan.

~

"I can't believe she made me breakfast before she left! She's so sweet"

The butterflies in Taeyong's stomach started fluttering around as he looked at a framed picture of you and him that Norilyn took a while back and it made him smile.

"I wonder if she feels the same way about me"

A gloved hand opened up the door carefully as a hooded figured walked toward the boy who was distracted by the picture in his hand. He looked up and saw the figure in the reflection of the mirror in front of him, the picture fell out of his hand and shattered onto the floor before Taeyong let out a blood-curdling scream.

"NO! NO! GET AWAY FROM ME!! SOMEBODY HELP PLEASE!"

~

The ballroom was extravagant as hell, the room was literally dipped in gold but dark at the same time. Your heels clicked against the floor as you looked all over for Swan, the gun you had on your thigh was strapped to was in your hand since you had no idea what the man had planned.

"Oh Y/N!"

You quickly turned to find Taeyong held tightly against Swan's chest as he was towering over him, a predatory grin plastered across his face as you held the gun right to him, Taeyong’s sweet chocolate eyes was filled with fear as he saw you with the gun.

"I hope you got my thank you note! My new doll and I have been waiting for you!"

"Let him go..."

You said through gritted teeth while your grip tightened on the gun.

"I don't think I'm gonna do that! You fell into my trap and you were dumb enough to go through with it. Taeyong made this easy for me too, he really thought he was safe at home, but he was actually in the dollhouse that I created"

"What are you talking about?"

"I'VE ALWAYS WANTED TAEYONG TO BE MINE! When I found out that you were managing him, I started coming to your company quite often to get the opportunity to see where he was, but he was never there. I remember when you invited me to dinner at your home and was shocked to find him living with you! IMAGINE WHAT THE WORLD WILL THINK WHEN THEY FIND OUT THAT TAEYONG IS FUCKING AROUND WITH HIS MANAGER! I had one of my men take pictures of your home so I could create my own version of it"

Taeyong winced in fear as the man was shouting right by his ear, Swan's large hand grazing his throat and that made your blood boil.

"Don't you think Taeyong would look gorgeous with his throat slit throat slit open?"

"STOP! DON'T FUCKING TOUCH HIM"

The man grinned wickedly again as he pulled out a syringe of clear liquid, the needle lightly poking Taeyong's neck. Your eyes went to the door behind him opening to reveal Mason peeking out, giving you the notion that she's ready to strike.

"GODDESS HELP ME!!!!"

"Put that gun down or Taeyong DIES. Just be a good girl and obey a man for once, Y/N"

Before he could say another word, Mason ran up behind Swan and swatted him in the back of the head with the butt of her gun. Taeyong flew out of his arms and onto the floor, a bloody gash appeared behind Swan's head as you kicked him in the balls, making him scream.

"YOU SON OF A BITCH"

Mark and Amanda ran in to find you and Mason fighting Swan making the both of them stand off to the side.

You gave the man several punches right to the nose, blood getting all over your hand before he grabbed your boot, his face looked disgusting as his whole face was covered in blood.

"YOU FUCKING BITCH!"

"LET ME GO!"

Your boot smashed right into his face as he scrambled across the floor. The butt of Mason's gun hit him on the head yet again, instantly knocking him out. The both of you breathed heavily as it was finally over, your finger went down to feel his neck for a pulse.

"Is he dead?"

"No, and I don't want him to be. I want him alive! Call Kun and his team so they can take him"

"Already done!"

"BOSS!!! COME QUICK!"

Your heart dropped when you saw Mark and Amanda hovering over someone lying on the floor. You quickly ran over to find them both looking at a unconscious Taeyong, fell to your knees and carefully held his face in your hands while trying not to let out more tears.

"Oh my god! Little rose! Little rose?!?!? Taeyong?? Taeyong, wake up please!!"

Your eyes went to the syringe that shined across this floor.

"He's alive, but his pulse his faint! How did this happen???"

"Swan had a syringe at his throat that was filled with something. I don't know what it is, but I'm gonna find out. Mason I need you to stay here while Kun cleans up! I need you to grab my suitcase that's in his office. Mark, Amanda, get Taeyong in my car so we can get the fuck out of here"

~

"This is all my fault"

You were sitting at Taeyong's bedside while he was still unconscious. One of your personal doctors came to examine him, turns out Taeyong was in a coma due to the drug that Swan injected into him. The doctor said he was gonna be just fine, and needed rest, Norilyn and Amanda were in the room sitting on the couch watching you sulk.

"Y/N, everything is gonna be fine! All he needs is rest"

"Nori, I should've never done this. It's my fault that Taeyong ended up like this"

"No it's not! It was your piece of shit boss! Don't beat yourself up over this. Taeyong is gonna be okay, how about you just talk to him, that usually helps with waking someone up"

You looked over at the boy while he laid there, even unconscious, Taeyong still looked devastatingly beautiful while rays of sunlight hit his face.

"Boss listen, I know this might be a weird suggestion, but what if you kissed him? Y'know! That true love's kiss thing? It's supposed to work everytime."

Amanda gave you a light smile, while Norilyn rolled her eyes.

"Wow that's a great recommendation A! But like, this isn't a disney movie, plus we have one little problem"

"What's the problem?"

"I can't say the L-Word"

"Oh...well it was just a suggestion"

Norilyn sighed and patted your back as she stepped out, Amanda following her before you grabbed her hand.

"Amanda, can I talk to you for a second?"

"Yes, of course!"

She sat down right next to you, your hand still holding hers.

"What if I do kiss him, and...he doesn't wake up?"

"Well that depends honey. Are you in love with him?"

"That's the thing, I don't know"

"What I recommend is for to you is to listen to your heart. That's all I'm gonna tell you"

She smiled at you one more time before she leaves the room, your eyes going back to Taeyong. You started replaying the love confession he gave to you a while back and that made your heart flutter, he spilled his whole heart out to you and you ran away in fear of breaking his heart, your finger moved a piece of hair out of his face as you leaned in for a second before pulling away.

"Don't freak out, don't freak out! Norilyn says it's okay to be in love, I really do think we feel the same....but I don't know. I remember the day we first met, seeing those sweet chocolate eyes right after he fell in front of me. It was like things were meant to be!"

Norilyn and Amanda peek into the room to see if anything happens.

"Does he love me? Of course he does! He's crazy about me! And I'm crazy about him...more like obsessed actually. Is a kiss even strong enough to wake him up? This isn't a fairytale but it's worth a shot!"

"Just one kiss, this moment could be it. God I wanna know! Here I go..."

"Is she gonna do it???"

You try leaning in again before hiding behind a dress mannequin, Amanda and Norilyn sighing in disappointment in the doorway. You slid behind the curtain and hid for a second before popping out and going to the bed one more time.

"Here I go, here I go, here I go..."

You leaned down and pressed your lips against Taeyong's as you kissed him, your heart fluttered for the first time a very long time. You pulled away and pressed your nose to his as his eyes fluttered open to find you glowing in the sunlight. You looked to see him wide awake staring at you with a smile.

"Goddess?"

"Oh my god...little rose!!!!"

"What happened? I had a dream that someone kissed me"

A small gasp left you as he stretched his arms, his brow raising with confusion.

"Little rose, we need to talk"

The both of you walked onto the balcony of the room, your eyes were glued to his while he smiled at you.

"I kissed you"

"Y..you kissed me?"

"I did, it's a long story that I don't have time to get into, but there is something I need to tell you"

Your hands held his tightly.

"Taeyong, I'm in love with you! I've always felt the same way about you. Ever since you told me how you felt about me, I thought about it everyday and I just had my heart locked up for so fucking long. Ever since my break-up with Dante, I was just scared to fall in love again. Until I met you, I'm sorry that ran away when you spilled your heart out to me"

"Goddess it's okay! It just took some time, I know it was kind of unexpected for me to say that to you but-"

Your finger pressed against his lips to make him quiet.

"Shhh, just shut up and kiss me”

You wrapped your arms around his broad shoulders as he leaned in to kiss you, his pretty lips felt amazing against yours. Taeyong’s hands rested lightly on your waist while your hands messed with his hair, Amanda's jaw dropped as she peeked in the room saw you both kissing on the balcony.

"Taeyong's awake....TAEYONG'S AWAKE! TAEYONG'S AWAKE!! NORI TAEYONG'S AWAKE!!! AHHHHHHHH!!!!!!"

You both pulled away as you gave him a huge hug, an innocent smile was stuck on his face as he held you tightly, not wanting to let you go.

"I love you, little rose"

"I love you too, goddess"

This might not be normal fairytale, but a villian can get a happy ending too.

The End