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lulupen2023 · 2 years ago

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Barty Crouch Jr/Aro Volturi Harry Potter/Twilight crossover part III (I)/III (II)

thank you sooo much for feedback <3

Summary:

Barty Crouch Junior's (somewhat horrifying) fate seems to have already been written… or maybe not? What if there was someone who has other plans for him?

Summary of the chapter: Barty enjoys his new un-life with Aro in Volterra, before receiving a very special invitation…

III (I): Immortality suits you …

Barty loved Volterra. There was nothing magical about it, of course, but he had never been to Italy. To the contrary, beyond London and Hogwarts, he had been in very few places. Perhaps just in some Missions for his Dark Lord, but those Missions didn’t allow him the luxury of being a tourist.

But it was different here. Feeling comfortable due to the spell that allowed him to go out even during the day without shining in the sun, so as not to draw attention on himself, he could take long walks among the hills and all that greenery reminded him of Hogwarts a little bit. And when he wanted to have some fun, he just had to lure someone, perhaps with the excuse of being a foreign tourist looking for information. And once they were isolated, all that remained to do was to disapparate with them into the Volturi's Manor.

This was another of those days and he had just apparated in the main hall. He stood in front of the three thrones with Aro, sitting at the central one, looking at him with mock reproach. The only one who was truly reproachful was Jane, standing in the center of the room.

“Barty! Again?" she snapped, moving towards the more inexperienced vampire. "I was bored!" he shrugged as he tied his victim with magic ropes, silencing her with another spell. "You will expose us!" the blonde retorted. "It never happened." "You've only been here with us for three weeks!" "Well, it never happened in three weeks!" he remarked cheekily, snatching a chuckle from Aro. The millennia-old vampire loved his insolence.

"Sister, never mind!" Alec interjected, with his usual apathetic attitude. "No, I do mind, he has to learn how to behave!" she insisted, ignoring her twin and addressing the newcomer.

"You know the rules. You don't go out hunting. Heidi takes care of bringing us the unaware victims when she organizes her trips, as she did yesterday." Jane retorted. "Oh yes, yesterday was a memorable day!" Barty licked his lips at the memory. "That’s it, you see? That gave us enough sustenance for a month. There is no need for these ... extras. " she mumbled, pointing to the victim. The girl could only look at them with terror in her eyes, tightening the strings each time she struggled. The ropes had already begun to cut her wrists and a few drops of blood spilled on the floor. "But it's funny!" Barty pointed out, bringing the bleeding wrist of the crying girl to his mouth and licking it, without even displaying his canines.

"Impudent! You can't always do as you please! You deserve a lesson," she decided, staring at him. "Pain!" she exclaimed immediately afterwards.

Barty fell to his knees in excruciating pangs of pain, but still found the strength to pull out his wand. "CRUCIO!" he yelled, pointing it against her. This broke her deadly eye contact. Jane went from being the Executioner, causing deadly pain, to finding herself a victim, cursed by a suffering she had never experienced before. "I appreciate the attempt, pretty girl," Barty said with a smirk, "but I've had a year of tremendous and constant transformations into a guy without a leg and an eye. I'm rather trained in pain." He stood up, continuing his curse. "So what's it like to taste your own medicine?" In response, Jane continued to scream, lying on the ground, convulsing. "Aro, are you going to do something about it or what?" Marcus asked his brother, turning to the raven-haired vampire, bewildered. “Why on earth should I? They are so hilarious, much more than those jesters we had at court!" Aro chuckled. "The jesters didn't make us laugh even once, but they were delicious!" Caius grinned.

Deciding that he had had enough, Barty raised his wand, freeing Jane from his painful influence. Alec immediately went to his sister's rescue. "No one has ever treated me like this before ..." she muttered as Alec helped her up. "What a man!" she sighed in fascination, following Barty with her eyes.

- And he also called me 'pretty girl'! - she gloated to herself .

"And anyway, apart from the little taste I had before, I took her for you, Jane," Barty revealed, freeing the now passed out victim from the magic strings and throwing her into the more than surprised vampire's arms. "Oh!" was all she could say.

"I know you have a soft spot for young female students," the Death Eater murmured, then turned his gaze to Alec. "Next time I'll bring you a young scion." "There will be no next times!" Alec snapped. “There shouldn't have been this time either. Sister, repeat it to him, as well," he sought Jane's support. “Oh, such a fuss, brother, you heard it, right? Barty is cautious, he is discreet, and he takes only one victim at a time. He has not drawn any attention to himself. He will not expose us, ”she said to calm him, but Alec noticed the smile that Barty gave her. "If you want, I can bring that fainted Muggle back to consciousness so you can have fun with it," he suggested with complicity. "Huh no, thank you. I prefer the old way. Time is not a problem for us." In the midst of this mess Alec felt betrayed and abandoned. "Aro, aren't you going to say anything?" he whimpered, trusting in his Sire’s intervention. "Sure. To you, Alec, I say "Shut up, you're making a big deal about what is actually a trifle.’" Aro rolled his eyes, before looking at Barty. "To you, puppy, I tell you to follow me in my room. Seeing you at work like that is having a certain effect on me…” Barty rushed at him at supernatural speed, dragging him away with him. The destination was Aro's bedroom. Not that Barty didn't have his own, but mostly he was a regular and very welcome guest of the millennial vampire. "Well, I don't understand your tendency to give gifts to Jane. If you're trying to get in good with her, I believe that already happened a while ago," Aro scolded, tugging at his hair, as if to punish him. “Now are you also being nice to Alec? Shall I expect some cuteness of yours also towards Caius and Marcus? " In response Barty laughed, kissing him violently.

“I like you jealous, but you don't have to fear. Mine is just an attempt to integrate. I see Jane as neither more nor less than a sister, which in a certain sense she is… and as the only child I have always been, to me it’s such a new thing to experience. " he commented, snatching a tender murmur from his Sire. But Barty was aiming for nothing tender.

"As for you, I’m not even remotely playing nice!" the Dark Wizard grinned, pushing him onto the bed. A flick of the wand and the noble vampire's clothes dissolved, another spell just whispered and the magic cords imprisoned him to the bed. "If you think this will keep me away from you, you are a little too optimistic, puppy!" Aro growled excitedly, sure he could break the ropes with a few simple tugs, but he was astonished to find that the truth was very different. "They are vampire proof, you would never be able to break them, you would just hurt yourself… not that the prospect of seeing you bleed doesn't excite me!" the Death Eater chuckled, starting to unbutton his shirt very slowly and just a little, to torture him as much as possible. Aro expressed his frustration with a loud growl, further amusing Barty. "I don't need to take off my clothes for the moment," he explained, crawling over him with feline movements. "Now I want to dedicate myself just and only to you." He began with a long and moist kiss, more and more ravenous and voracious, before going down the throat. There the temptation to pull out the canines was strong, but Barty was able to resist. There would be time.

He continued his kisses on his shoulders, along his arms, he lingered for a considerable time on his nipples, sucking and torturing them a little with his normal teeth. Every groan he drew from Aro was a clear invitation to him to continue. Barty did his utmost to pay attention to every part of the snowy body of the millennial vampire, leaving the showpiece for the last. Aro was by now consumed with impatient desire, but the wait was certainly worth it. Barty began to caress his member, now fully erect and throbbing, for some time, teasing just enough to drive Aro mad with lust. Then he placed delicate kisses on the tip, letting his jerky and quick tongue do the rest.

Aro was in even more raptures when the younger vampire took him in his mouth, gradually, without haste, in a slow and pleasant agony. That was before he felt a stabbing pain that made him scream wildly.

"Barty, did you bite me ... there ?" he asked for explanations. The pain gave way to tantalizing pleasure and an overwhelming orgasm, stronger than any he had previously experienced

"The urge was stronger than me, forgive me ..." Barty tried to apologize, raising his head and licking the remaining drops of blood from his mouth. His elongated canines were still on display as he watched the signs of their intrusion disappear from the offended part. "Puppy, remind me to never put a stop to your initiative!" Aro chuckled, still floating in ecstatic afterglow, and then became more serious. "Barty, what are your feelings towards me?"

Barty lay down next to him, taking a few seconds to collect his ideas. "I find your company very delightful. You keep giving me new stimuli, both as a vampire and as a Dark Wizard. And, last but not least, we have amazing sex!" He made Aro laugh in the last part. "Can this be enough for you, for now, without looking at all costs for the word that begins with L?" Aro stared at him silently and then smiled. "Yes, puppy, that's enough for now." "Either way, you are and will always remain my savior. Maybe it won't be romantic, but it’s very meaningful." Barty murmured, kissing him.

“Happy and proud of it. But now… what about you free me? So I'll show you why it was the right choice!" Aro looked at him and winked. Barty obeyed and quickly realized that Aro wasn't lying about it. --------------------------------------------- The days followed one another, time passing almost without Barty realizing it. Until one day, something most unusual broke the peaceful rhythm. The most recent of the maids that were their servants, a young girl who was about the age of twenty, with an uncertain gait and trembling hands, came into the presence of the Volturi with a letter closed by sealing wax. Miraculously, it did not slip from the silver tray that supported it. Barty was standing beside the wall, looking at the servant and then at his Sire, as if it was a game of ping pong.

"Mis-MisterVolturi, I-I bring you a letter from a certain Mr. Moldevort ..." she stammered in utter confusion, extending the little tray towards him. Aro tore off the sealing wax, but his eyes were on the unfortunate young woman. Barty was also glaring at her. "Sweet Sandra, I guess you meant Lord Voldemort!" Aro corrected her coldly.

"Y-yes, I'm sorry, pl-please-forgive me!" The unfortunate woman did her best to apologize. "Tsk, tsk, I don't tolerate distraction when communicating with me!" He shook his head, bored. "It will not happen again!" she assured. Aro grinned in a way that froze the blood in her veins. "Oh, but I know it won't happen again," he commented with a chuckle. He turned his bemused gaze to Barty. "I can, can’t I?" the younger asked impatiently, already clutching his wand in one hand.

"Oh yes, puppy. Have fun as well," his Sire agreed. "I'll have to find a servant who can speak correctly!" he snorted, bored. Barty was already behind the girl, but she didn't dare speak or move. He tugged her violently by the hair, to take her to the adjacent room and from there the others heard only the chilling screams from the unlucky girl and the sadistic laughter from the Death Eater for an indefinite time. "I'd say he's not one of those who get right to the point," Marcus commented. "I find him funny," Caius gave his opinion. "We needed some noise in this house!"

When he decided he had played enough with his victim, Barty unceremoniously cast the Killing Curse and the others noticed the green glow. "I'd say I feel much better now!" he commented, satisfied, returning to the three thrones. “I told you you were going back to Hogwarts, didn't I? Well, my beloved, the time has come. Voldemort expresses a desire to see you again. We will leave at sunset and do not even try to offer me some of your magical devilry. I travel the old way and you will keep me company," he said firmly, making Barty laugh. "I would even go there on foot, as Muggles step, just to reach that place!" Barty swore. "I know and, yes, you can have his letter," Aro smiled, anticipating his wishes, and handed it to him. During that same day Barty lost count of how many times he had reread the letter. He stroked the now dried ink of that elegant and majestic handwriting with his fingertips, imagining the tone of his Dark Lord's voice and his mood at the time he had written it. Certainly he would keep it among his fondest mementos. -------------------------------------------------- - The carriage dropped them off at Hogwarts Castle. Lord Voldemort had arranged everything for their arrival. The Dark Lord had recommended that, before reaching his headquarters at the Malfoy mansion, the two should take a tour of the school to see how much things had improved. Everything had been explained in the letter. Barty was delighted to return with Aro to the school that had seen him as a teacher for a year, especially when he found that there were only young Pureblood wizards who were learning the Dark Arts under the guidance of other trusted Death Eaters. He found with pleasure the two Lestrange brothers, Rodolphus and Rabastan, who had recovered from the devastating years of captivity. ------------------------------- Aro was quite nervous when they met Fenrir Greyback. But, rather unusual for the quarrelsome nature of Barty, the young man was able to act as a peacemaker between the two of them and the werewolf. "I'll have to give Voldemort a nice little speech about how inconvenient and very deplorable it is to keep such a fleabag in a public place. It undermines the decent image of Hogwarts," Aro muttered his disappointment, amusing his Childe, as they entered Diagon Alley. Barty had shown his Sire the magical secret passage at the back courtyard of The Leaky Cauldron. "If anything, I don't understand why my Lord entrusted those incompetent Carrows with such tasks, not to mention Lucius!" the young Death Eater growled, deeply annoyed. "You know, Aro, this street was always teeming with people, especially Halfbloods and Mudbloods. Now none of them dare to be seen around here anymore!" he informed his Sire with satisfaction. "If it weren't for the fact that we have already had a large dinner before leaving, it wouldn't cheer me up at all, my dear." “At least Purebloods and Death Eaters are allowed to walk around here. They probably were told of our arrival. They do well to hide," the Dark Wizard grinned proudly. ----------------------------------- Narcissa preferred not to welcome their guests. They were instead entrusted to that coward, Wormtail. He led them to the hall where Voldemort was waiting for them. "Master, I brought you Aro Volturi and Barty, as you wished," said the animagus, looking for approval from his Master.

"Leave us alone, Wormtail," the Dark Lord ordered in a hissing voice. He was sitting with his back to them. He only got up after his servant had taken his leave.

"Aro, my good friend," he greeted the millennial vampire. They both smiled as Voldemort walked towards him. "I thank you above all for the comfortable journey you arranged for me to have," Aro said. “I had to do something," Voldemort smiled. "You definitely don’t strike me as someone who enjoys trains." "That's true," the millennial vampire proudly agreed.

"And, Barty, my boy!" Voldemort turned his attention to him. The Dark Wizard was looking at him with religious silence, kneeling on the ground and gazing up with adoring eyes. But something was wrong. Voldemort realized that he must have practiced some camouflage spell on himself to change his complexion and eyes. "Ah-ah, Bartemius, no masks with me," he admonished, shaking his head. He gestured to show that the younger man could get up. Then he ran a hand over his adoring face, thus canceling the effects of those spells. Now Voldemort was satisfied. “Were you ashamed of what your new nature is now? You shouldn't. Look at yourself; immortality suits you ... ” If only he was still able to do that again, Barty would have blushed. "My Lord ... you ... you are beautiful," he let out. It was just as Aro had described him to him, even better, those icy eyes that looked at him so deeply then… Barty could have drowned in those eyes. "Keep your enthusiasm in check, my dear fanged boy!" a high-pitched female voice interrupted them. "Idolizing my Dark Lord is my job. I'll take care of it," Bellatrix purred as she moved up to stand next to her Master.

From her sudden entrance, Barty knew she had probably apparated into the room. (End I)

The distracted maid scene is inspired by the hidden scene in Twilight (one of my favorite Aro moments, I had to recreate it … with a few variations that I hope you enjoyed; P)

More, so much more to come and get ready for lots of Bellatrix’s and Barty’s cat and dogs fights XD I just hope you enjoyed so far, pleeeease, let me know

#barty crouch junior #barty crouch jr #aro volturi #twilight #harry potter #crossover #crossover fanart #fanfiction #fanfic #barty crouch fanfic #aro volturi fanfic #dark #what if #alternate ending #plot twist #vampires #vampire turning #rating: nc17 #bloodplay

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astrid-delacour · 1 year ago

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more things my friends have said as marauders quotes

Barty: sperm shaped drinks are the best kind of drinks

Lily: I do what I want /DEBAUCHERY

Pandora: did you just use debauchery as tone tag

James: sleep paralysis possum

Remus: I'm like a functional alcoholic

Evan: I'm not edgy but my friend had a dream last year

Marlene: he's so basic I can't see him

Sirius: do they make foot lingerie

Sirius: you look like the grinches dog

Evan: I would never call the ace alliance it's legal name in casual conversation

Mary: your hair is the colour of the devil

Sirius: it's not gay if we both have girlfriends

Regulus: I am better at the tism cause I make the noise

Lily: who drew balls on my board?!

James: I'm like Thomas Edison and you're that welsh dude

Remus: Stalin?

Regulus: I'm mean but not detriment to dental hygiene mean

Sirius: this is the one thing the Catholic Church would back me up on

Marlene: she's so mommy, I want to use her thighs as earmuffs

James: give me the fucking magnet back you hoe

James: we do not call 12 ear olds hot in this establishment

Barty: are you a Rick or morty?

Evan: idk

Barty: I feel like you're a rick cause you're autistic

Barty: I'm a whore for jack skellington

Dorcas: I'm a whore for sally

Lily: omg we're literally the bubonic plague

James: whatever fruits your loops

Sirius: I'm not to gay for anything, except heterosexual relationships

Remus: that takes a level of common sense I don't have

Barty: I've added a sneeze for every year of my life

Sirius: "*takes dramatic bow and twirls hair like a Renaissance girl who's secretly a witch*"

Marlene: fuck you and your two prong fork I have a seven prong fork

Marlene: she's a bitch but I love her that's my opinion of her (about dorcas)

Regulus: take an IQ test rn and while you're at it take an "am I gay" quiz

Regulus: ok 1684 the men were being whores and the girls were being whores (describing his family)

Mary: can you guys stop being horny on main please? (Talking about Canada)

Lily: nothing goes harder than the electoral college at homecoming

Pandora: I'm still on my autism high

James: you never know how fast you're walking until you body check a wall

Barty: it's really hot when you hear the tortured screams of a child predator dying

James: no one pulls my leg on leg day

James: thank sweet cheesus

Dorcas: it's a requirement

Evan: THATS A LIE. That is a LIE

Dorcas: it definitely is....

Evan: sweet lord Jesus

first year: vou have to come vou stand in line and have chicken fingers

Dorcas: I'm signing you up for Tuesday

Evan: I hate you

(In a baby voice) Sirius: I'm wubber wou're gwue what ever bounces off me stwicks to WOU

(Also baby voice) Marlene: jwokes on wou I'm cement *closes door and leaves*

Sirius: WHAT DOES THAT MEAN?!?!? MARLENE! MARLENEEEE

James: so we've got a white a black and a Hispanic. I love cultural diversity

Mary: ohhhh so he PlaysTM golf

Mary: right person wrong time except by wrong time you just don't like him and right person you mean he's ugly

Mary: I hot girl summered a little too close to the sun

Lily: you would put an e minor in there

Mary: Marlene needs to be spayed

Marlene: you're like garage band

Dorcas: Lily I think my song is killing Marry

Lily: good

Lily: it needs a little more work and by a little I mean I haven't started it

Dorcas: this is not a no judgement zone, this is a very judgement zone

Sirius: dairy-free, gluten-free, uhh vegan-free, it's all the frees

Dorcas: how self sabotagey are we feeling today

James: .... functionable

Peter/Remus: what? did you just say functionable?

James: ....veah

Peter: it's functional

James: seriously?!?!

Remus: yeahhhh

James: I was homeschooled ok!

Remus: how long have you been saying it like that?

James: anyways...

Dorcas: I'm not getting that sappy! They don't deserve that!!

Mary: your eyebrows are like 3 business days from your eyelids

Marlene: that is the bassiest bass

Mary: sometimes you just have to accept the crack

Peter: James would be a court jester

Pandora: that's very hannon-y

Pandora: like power ballad but make it cats

Lily: how loving should be as easy as ...?

Marlene: COW

Marlene: like cow eat grass

Mary: loving should be as easy as 'insert metaphor here'

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messervixen · 2 years ago

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𝙼𝚊𝚛𝚊𝚞𝚍𝚎𝚛𝚜, 𝚂𝚕𝚢𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚛𝚒𝚗 𝚂𝚔𝚒𝚝𝚝𝚕𝚎𝚜, 𝚃𝚑𝚎 𝙶𝚒𝚛𝚕𝚜, 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝙲𝚘 𝚊𝚜 𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚗𝚐𝚜 𝚖𝚢 𝚏𝚛𝚒𝚎𝚗𝚍𝚜 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝙸 𝚑𝚊𝚟𝚎 𝚜𝚊𝚒𝚍

Marlene: Mouth, boob, same thing.

Sirius: I wanna be a shrimp.

Evan: You scared the living crouton out of me!

Regulus: Somebody just fuck me into sleep.

James: Please spank me with a paddle.

Marlene: Literally until now I thought a jester was a fancy stripper.

Pandora: Time is like a fruit loop. It’s non-linear and it doesn’t taste as good as you would except.

Sirius: It escalated from a knife to a staircase very quickly.

Alice: Do you mind if your socks are aged differently?

Regulus: Unlike Loki, I do like hurting people.

Dorcas: I don’t want a chunky bubble blanket.

James: Oh, I got eaten by a bathtub.

Sirius (talking about Remus): I’m gonna play with this old man.

Lily: I want my tits to be feather dusted.

Barty: I wanna be fucked by a feather duster.

Regulus: I want someone to choke me while kissing me.

Alice: I love Honey Nut Cheerios. It gets the tough stains out.

Barty: If I was a stripper my name would be Roxanne.

Regulus to Sirius: You’re so desperate for human contact, you would cuddle a cactus.

Remus: I give you permission to kill Sirius. Or me actually, I don’t really care.

Mary: Don’t let it marinate in your bra.

Marlene: My mouth is too cold for bare naked ladies.

Regulus: You have pretty eyes. Can I stab it?

Alice: I like killing the beans.

Sirius: Speaking of Almond milk, are you gay?

Regulus: I need water, I’m drowning.

Peter: Where’s the teacher? I need to wash my eyeball.

Mary: Your eyes are really pretty. They’re like, sparkling with tears in them.

Marlene: I hate fucking balls.

Remus: You’re breeding violence?

Sirius: Wow. Gay milfs.

Evan: I don’t want to die… well actually… wait, never mind.

Pandora: Nice people deserve nice bodies.

Dorcas: Weird question, are you gay?

Regulus: Yes.

Marlene: Cool, we’ll take all the girls you don’t use.

Lily: I don’t want the fish to choke so I’m feeding them grapes.

Sirius: Someone drew a penis on a sponge. So unoriginal.

Peter: I think my cat is a pterodactyl.

Sirius: Guys, my elbow pit is sweating!

Frank: Be gay on your own time.

James: Sirius is freaking out, help!

Remus: It’s because of me isn’t it?

Sirius: What’s the key to happiness?

Regulus: Ignorance.

Regulus: I’m gonna apologize for existing. That should cover all the bases.

Lily: I have to go hurt my sister.

Remus: My children are all guinea pigs and I’m still a shit parent.

Barty: My grandma’s not dying, she just had a birthday.

Evan: Yeah and it’s probably her last.

Marlene: A nose just hit my face.

Sirius: A baby would look good in a thong.

Lily: I can’t finger any more women because my finger’s broken.

Dorcas: No old men are invited.

Alice: Can I peel your skin off?

Regulus: I like making people think they have a chance at winning and then crushing all their dreams.

Barty: Being hot gives me motivation to clean my room.

Peter: I need a tracking app for my tracking app.

Pandora: Dying is fun if you’re scared!

Lily: I inhaled flowers.

James: Are you a beaver cause damn.

Marlene: Math was so much easier before they added numbers.

Alice: Noises of death.

Evan: That’s your leg? I thought it was a demon.

Lily: Sometimes I feel like killing people and then I remember that murder is illegal.

Remus: Flirting is just creative complimenting.

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chiseler · 3 years ago

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Larger Than Life

In 1927, Albert Bertanzetti and his three-year-old son, William, were taking a stroll when they stopped to join a small crowd watching a film being shot on the streets of Los Angeles. During a break in the shoot, Albert suggested his son go show the director, Jules White, his little trick. So William toddled over to White and tugged on his pant leg. When he had White’s attention, William flipped over, went into a headstand and began spinning in circles. White was so taken with the trick he gave the young Bertanzetti a small uncredited role in the two-reel short, Wedded Blisters. Afterward, William earned a regular role in the popular Mickey McGuire series of shorts, where he played Mickey Rooney’s younger brother Billy. Taking prevailing anti-Italian sentiments into consideration, in the credits he was cited as “Billy Barty.”

Barty had been born in Millsboro, Pennsylvania in 1924, but when it was determined he had hay fever, Albert decided to move the family West, to the dry, clean air of Hollywood. Depending on how you look at it, hay fever was the least of Barty’s problems. Or maybe not, given how things worked out.

Apart from hay fever, Barty had also been born with cartilage–hair hypoplasia, a form of dwarfism. Being extremely small for his age at three (as an adult he stood three-foot-nine), when it came to early film roles he was almost exclusively relegated to playing diaper clad infants. It was a director’s dream—having an infant on set who could not only take direction, but could walk, run, talk and do tricks as well. As a result, along with the Mickey McGuire shorts, he played infants in everything from the all-star live action adaptation of Alice in Wonderland (1933) to Golddiggers of 1933 (1933) to Bride of Frankenstein (1935). In fact Barty, tiny as he was, would play diaper-clad infants until he hit puberty.

Over a career that would span seven decades, along with infants, Barty would play his share of elves, leprechauns, imps, Hobbits, trolls, assorted other fairy tale and fantasy characters, clowns, court jesters, pygmies, sideshow performers and mad scientist assistants. Ironically, for having appeared in over two hundred films and television shows, Barty did not appear in the three touchstones of American Dwarf-centric cinema: Tod Browning’s Freaks (1932), Sam Newfield’s The Terror of Tiny Town (1938), or Mervin LeRoy’s The Wizard of Oz (1939). No, although he would appear in the behind-the-scenes comedy Under the Rainbow (1981), contrary to the general assumption, Billy Barty was never an original Munchkin. There are reasons for this.

In 1932 when Browning was working on Freaks, Barty was only eight, he was not a professional carnival freak, and he was too busy with the Mickey McGuire shorts. And after the shorts’ seven-year run ended in 1934—two years before casting began on Tiny Town or The Wizard of Oz—Albert Bertanzetti, recognizing talent in all of his children, pulled Billy out of the movies and sent the whole family on the vaudeville circuit.

Now, 1935 was hardly the most opportune time to try and break into vaudeville. As an entertainment form it had been on life support for a decade already, with theaters either closing down or becoming movie palaces with performances, almost as a sad afterthought, taking place after that evening’s double feature had ended. Those performers who could were trying to break into pictures, and those who couldn’t were vanishing without a trace. Now here was Barty, who’d been working regularly in films for nearly ten years, trying to break into vaudeville. Nevertheless, Billy and Sisters, as they were touted, marched on, with a musical act featuring Barty’s sister Evelyn on piano and accordion, his other sister Dede playing violin, and Barty himself on drums. They all sang and danced a little, and the adolescent Barty told jokes and did impressions. In his later years he remembered the time fondly, mostly because it gave him a chance at that early age to see much of North America.

In 1942 Barty enrolled in college in Los Angeles and majored in journalism, hoping to become a sportswriter. While there, he joined the football and basketball teams, where he was both a novelty and a ringer. He also played second base on a semi-professional baseball team for a spell, where by his own account he was walked forty-five times.

Instead of pursuing work as a sports columnist after graduation, he returned to show business. Later he was quoted as saying, “You don’t see any little people doing newscasts, you don’t see any doing sports writing, you don’t see any sports announcing, you don’t see any coaches, but there are little people who are capable of doing these things, who have proven themselves.” You get the sense there was a little personal bitterness there, hinting he may have been forced back to Hollywood because that was the only place he could find work.

By 1947, now an adult with a gravelly but high-pitched voice, Barty sported a boxer’s face on a disproportionately large head. In many ways he resembled a diminutive William Demarest, and in many roles would adopt Demarest’s gruff but lovable demeanor. Shedding the diaper at last, he nevertheless picked up where he left off, playing assorted pygmies and leprechauns and elves, usually for cheap laughs.

In the early Fifties he became a regular member of Spike Jones musical comedy ensemble, The City Slickers, and was a big hit on Jones TV shows, where he became especially known for his slapstick, spot-on Liberace impression, and his ability to roll off his piano bench into a head spin, a trick which continued to serve him well.

Growing up, Barty said, he had no idea he was different, that his parents never told him there were things he couldn’t do because he was too short. By the time he was thirty, however, he’d come to learn the rest of the world was not quite as accepting as his parents. In 1957, Barty put out a call for little people from around the country to join him for a get together in Reno. Only twenty people showed up to that first convention, but it became the foundation for Little People of America, a support and advocacy group pushing for equitable treatment and civil rights for dwarfs, midgets and other people of unusually small stature. His aim was to ensure little people across the country would be treated fairly, would be able to get jobs, and would be granted the same accessibility rights afforded the normally-sized. It always struck me as a little odd that, for all his tireless efforts lobbying to normalize perceptions and treatment of little people throughout American culture, Barty, without much apparent gumption, would continue to take roles some might call demeaning, or at the very least helped cement those stereotypes he was fighting so hard to break. Perhaps to him it was simply paying work, it was showbiz, and he knew full well what his role was within that world. But the apparent ironic contrast between his activism and his work would lead to a public tiff in the Seventies with fellow small actor Hervé Villechaize of Fantasy Island. Barty, who’d appeared on the show, felt Villechaize was undercutting all his work when he said bluntly that people like him and Barty “were midgets, not actors.”

After the second annual Little People of America convention, Barty began courting Shirley Bolingbroke, a little person who had attended the meeting. When he proposed, however, she declined, telling him she was a devout Mormon, and so would never consider marrying anyone outside the faith. In 1962 Barty relented and converted to the church of Latter-day Saints, and the two were married. Although Mormon insiders and publicists have made a big deal of Barty’s enthusiastic True Believer status within LDS, it would be many years before he agreed to get baptized and receive full member status, and then only to participate in his son’s baptism.

Around the time of the marriage, as Barty was making regular TV appearances on various comedy and variety shows (including a recurring role on Peter Gunn), he also began hosting a weekday afternoon local kid’s show in Los Angeles which was called either Billy Barty’s Big Top or Billy Barty’s Big Show, depending on who’s doing the remembering. That stint may well have brought him to the attention of the sinister Sid and Marty Krofft, who in the late Sixties conscripted Barty to become a regular on several Krofft shows including H.R. Pufnstuf, The Bugaloos, and later Sigmund The Sea Monster, where he played the titular sea monster opposite Rip Taylor and aging child star Johnny Whittaker.

For all the low-brow antics and his uncredited roles in Elvis movies, it must be said Barty was always a compelling and charismatic screen presence, a, yes, larger than life character. In those few rare instances when he played roles that made no references at all to his height—like Abe Kusich, the shady drunken cockfighter in Day of the Locust or Ludwig, Rod Steiger’s sidekick in W.C. Fields and Me, he proved himself an electric onscreen presence who could dominate any scene.

(Just a quick aside, in 1980 Ralph Bakshi rotoscoped Barty to portray both Bilbo and Samwise Baggins in his animated version of Lord of the Rings. I wasn’t aware of that at the time, but thinking back on it now, the way both characters moved, it seems so obvious I was watching another Billy Barty performance.)

In 1975, around the same time he opened a Southern California roller rink he called “Billy Barty’s Roller Fantasy, Barty established The Billy Barty Foundation. As an adjunct to Little People of America, the Foundation aimed to provide practical assistance—money, adaptive equipment, etc.—to little people in need, particularly children. And after campaigning for George H.W. Bush during the 1988 presidential campaign, he sat on a panel of advisors working to hammer out the details of the Americans with Disabilities Act, which President Bush signed into law in 1990.

At the same time he was sitting on that panel, Barty was also producing, directing and starring in Short Ribs, a syndicated sketch comedy series featuring an all-dwarf cast including Patty Maloney, Jimmy Briscoe and Joe Gieb. The show, which was modeled after SCTV and SNL, only aired in the Los Angeles area and ran thirteen weeks. After the show went off the air, Barty was slapped with two lawsuits, one from the show’s co-producer William Winckler and one from the show’s co-writer Warren Taylor, both of whom claimed Barty owed them money. The suits ended up, inevitably, in small claims court. Barty lost both suits, and even though few people had ever heard of, let alone seen the show, news of Barty in small claims court was too much for reporters to resist, and the case received smirking national attention.

After the suits were settled, Barty continued to work, but a bit more sporadically. He had one-off roles on Frasier, Jack’s Place, and a few low-budget quickies, and seemed to be edging more into voice roles, providing characterizations for a Batman cartoon and The Rescuers Down Under, to name a couple. But he was still working until the end, when he ended up in the hospital with cardiopulmonary issues in late 2000. He died on December 23rd of that year at age 73.

In the late Eighties he told an interviewer, “I’ve never looked at acting as ‘Ahhh!’ and ‘Gee!’ I started in vaudeville when I was five and for me it was just walking on a stage and I’m gonna perform. Later on I was impressed by many things, like when I worked with Burt Lancaster and Kirk Douglas in Tough Guys. That was an ‘Ahhh!’ for me. When I look back, even today, I guess I can go ‘Ahhh!’ because I worked with Ruby Keeler and Dick Powell in Gold Diggers of 1933 when I was nine. Then they were just grown-ups on the stage. As I look back, I’m more awed now than I was when I was actually doing it.”

Those who knew and worked with Barty always recall what a joy it was, how kind and enthusiastic and funny he was, a real spark who could enliven even the most questionable production. I would never deny that. I’ve always loved and admired Barty, and have sat through countless godawful films and TV shows simply because he had a role, no matter how small.

That said, I do have to wonder if at the end, after all his decades of work fighting for the dignity of little people everywhere, he felt like a bit of a hypocrite for spending those same years and more cementing the stereotype in the American consciousness. I also wonder if he died still wishing he’d become a sportswriter for a Des Moines daily instead.

by Jim Knipfel

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lizzybeth1986 · 6 years ago

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Quick Thoughts on TRR Book 3 Chapter 20

• Note: Screenshots for Hana are from @kennaxval , HIMEME YouTube Channel for Drake and Vika Avey YouTube Channel for Maxwell. Alright. Looks like this book will take another two chapters, fam!

• I feel like one will be for the final showdown between Liam and Anton, and the eventual aftermath, and the last one will be an epilogue of sorts, where the MC either has her coronation or is honoured in a special ceremony for her bravery. But I could be wrong, so don't take me altogether on my word.

• Wanna know how to be friendzoned by your spouse at your own wedding reception? Be Hana.

• I'm serious. Even if she's fucking married to you she's still expected to play the part of Professional Best Friend™. She acts more the bridesmaid than the actual bride.

• Title: A Warm Reception. Well that reception is about to get scalding hot by the end of this chapter!

• The chapter begins with a lovely sweet scene with your husband/wife (it's so nice to finally say it!!) and what they're looking forward to at the reception. In the options you get to hint at the main course you picked (if you paid the diamonds) or the cake (if you paid the diamonds) + the toast (for which you will now pay diamonds).

• We meet Ana de Luca at the boutique and she shows us a dress that...still looks like it would be more suitable for a wedding instead.

Okay maybe a little risque for a wedding...but still. I guess I'm more used to the bride changing into a different colour for the reception (for us Malayali Christians, we usually change into saris of whatever colour - but mostly red - after the wedding and the mass is over).

Well of course I'm choosing this. The other option is the dreaded LBD (alright not that dreaded. It's a lot better than Bluebelle, after all).

• Madeleine is extra snippy and snarky compared to her usual, and is determined to change her job description from Press Sec to Professional ClamJammer/Cockblocker™.

• Look, you lucky sods who did the fling option. My MC has had no sex since Valtoria and SHE. IS. THIRSTY.

• So we enter the hall, congratulated and complimented like any regular wedded couple, our friends surrounding us with joy and promises of a good time. Court members like Kiara and Penelope confess to crying over your vows (I'm guessing this crops up only if you chose the vow diamond option in Chapter 18).

• Boy they really are laying it in thick with Liam's heartbreak if he's not marrying you aren't they. Like they HAVE to drill it in you that THIS MAN STILL LOVES YOU AND IS IN PAIIIIIN before this entire betrayal fiasco occurs. They're like a few lines short of literally writing it on the poor man's forehead.

• In each playthrough, once you're done getting felicitations from everyone, you then get to meet the rest of the groom/bride's families.

In Liam's playthrough Regina and Leo tell Liam how proud they are of him, and Leo is impressed at his wedding taking place in Bossina Cathedral (hinting at the fact that if you married him in RoE, he was one of the few royals who did not get married there). In Drake's playthrough, the MC meets Bianca, and we find out more about both her and Jackson (Jackson wasn't a big fan of big events with lots of people, and Bianca can't wrap her head around the gazillion spoons and their purpose on the dinner table. Don't let your future son-in-law Bertrand catch you saying that, Bianca!). In Hana's playthrough, Xinghai and Lorelai sound nostalgic, and Lorelai tells Hana that she wishes Hana had let her braid her hair. Hana tenses up at the comment, but given the speech Lorelai gives later on, it seems more like a sentimental moment she wanted to share with Hana before the wedding. In Maxwell's playthrough, the family members are Bertrand, Savannah and Bartie, and Savannah uses her time with the newlyweds to...make pointed remarks about "how hard it is to take the leap" and give Bertrand shade for taking their relationship further yet. Um. Okay Savannah.

• We then move on to the main course. Now if you didn't buy the group scene at the festival in Castelserraillian, you do have a main course - they just don't specify what it is. If you do, however, the main course you chose will unlock a scene with the LI that recommended it. The chicken tagine unlocks some playful dialogue between Liam and Leo about how much Liam disliked this dish and how much his tastes have changed since then. The ash-e reshteh unlocks a cute scene between Hana and her parents about their experience in Iran during the Persian New Year, including a sweet story about how Lorelei had lost her bag and ended up walking around in a t-shirt instead. The feijoada stew doesn't give us any extra stories, but it does unlock a funny scene where Bertrand looks suspiciously at the stew ("It smells like...Drake". Bertrand Bertrand Bertrand. If only you knew how much grovelling you'd have to do in front of Drake later), Drake encourages him to try it, and Bertrand is bowled over by the taste. I guess that's to be expected, considering Drake only specified that he liked the taste of the stew rather than assign any personal connection to it. Overall...nice touch having the food item connected to the LI that suggested it to you, and it makes me a little sadder about the fact that they didn't assign one to Maxwell at all.

• The LI you married gives their speech for free, each in their own unique style, each giving us an insight into their individual stories:

In their individual ways, each LI stresses on how their love story wasn't expected to work out, but did despite all the odds. Both Maxwell and Drake are self-deprecating: one speaks of how he - even now - cannot imagine that this beautiful feisty woman would choose a 'cynical bastard' like him, while the other highlights how fairytale-like her journey was expected to be and how he was the court jester who shouldn't have been getting the girl, but did. (Lol I also noticed that the married Drake now calls his spouse "Walker" 😄 Edit: Looks like this is by option. @i-dream-so-i-write tells me that in the carriage scene post the wedding, you get to choose what he should call you, which I missed. Nice touch!). Hana speaks of how her feelings towards the MC gradually developed over time, becoming stronger and more difficult to ignore even though she knew they were both supposed to be here on the same purpose (ie. vying for Liam's hand). Liam's highlights his constant fears that their relationship would be brought to an abrupt end several times, but above all, he speaks of her as Cordonia's Queen, reminds his subjects that she has proved her worth as a leader time and again. This is important, because it's a reminder that Liam will always belong to two: to his country, and to the woman who marries him.

• You then get a diamond option to hear the toasts of all your friends (the remaining LIs + Olivia) + a family member of that particular LI. In each playthrough, there are discrepancies: ones that seemed odd and confusing to me at first but that clearly show a pattern. Each LI will have just one fellow LI who will speak about them as well, rather than just the MC, and a family member who will reflect on that person's growth. Out of all of them, Olivia addresses only one directly with substantial attention to the LI: and that is Liam (she has a line directed to Drake that is doubtless funny but actually doesn't add anything and could have been done without really). Each one ends with a final toast from Bertrand. So here's what the breakdown of the toasts in each playthrough:

Liam: Toasts given by Drake, Olivia, Maxwell, Hana and Bertrand. Family member: Leo.

Leo's speech is primarily about bringing us back to the roots of the TRR story (his abdication and the aftermath of it all is how this story begins, after all), and reminding us of how it all began. He acknowledges the toll his decision must have taken on Liam, but also makes it clear that the MC has helped Liam find the balance between his duties and his needs that he so clearly needed.

The LI who focuses on Liam is Drake. This is but natural, given their deep bond and personal history. He speaks of Liam's "heart of gold" that matches the literal gold he's got around, and considers him his brother.

Maxwell and Hana focus on the MC, and only cursorily mention Liam (Maxwell does cute finger guns though lol).

Olivia's toast is special to the MC because it's where she makes clear her respect for her, and confesses that though she hated her in the beginning it turned into respect. Liam is perhaps the only LI Olivia properly acknowledges:

In the rest of the playthroughs, Olivia may end up being Liam's eventual Queen, but in this one - she is affirming that whether he belongs to her or not, he remains her inspiration and she will always care for him. Kinda like a fitting goodbye to that dream I guess? Comparatively, she ignores the other LIs, except for Drake whom she baits and then declines to make a toast for.

Bertrand speaks of his personal journey with the MC, but does not make more than a cursory mention of Liam and the fact that the MC is now Queen.

Drake: Toasts given by Liam, Hana, Maxwell, Olivia and Bertrand. Family member: Savannah.

Savannah's toast is more centered around the MC than it is Drake, and possibly gives the MC more credit than is wise. Like yes, if the MC chooses she can convince Drake to actually reach out and talk to his sister, but she wasn't the one who - in Savannah's words - "found" Savannah. That was all on Drake. Drake was the one who found the address. He was the one who took initiative to check it out and see who stayed there. All the MC does is maybe give him the required push to stay, and even that is optional. In any case...when Savannah does talk about Drake it is to reaffirm his deep denial that there was anything between them up until he was able to get engaged to the MC.

The LI who focuses on Drake is Liam. He speaks of their long-standing friendship, how Drake deserves happiness, and hints at how much he has sacrificed for Cordonia without taking anything in return.

Again, Maxwell and Hana do not mention Drake except in passing, and their toasts are mostly dedicated to their friendship with the MC.

Olivia's toast is basically added here just because Olivia-roasting-Drake is popular, and I think it falls a little flat really.

Bertrand, being Drake's future brother-in-law, speaks briefly of his affection for the Walker family and therefore affirms his respect for Drake based on what he has heard of him from Savannah.

Hana: Toasts by Maxwell, Liam, Drake, Olivia and Bertrand. Family member: Lorelai.

Lorelai's toast ties in with what she tells Hana at the beginning of the reception. She brings up the way she used to braid Hana's hair as a reference point to her childhood, speaking at length of how close they were even if the relationship was a strained one. She speaks of how afraid she was of losing Hana, and how she is now coming to terms with the fact that by setting her free she is actually becoming closer to Hana than she ever imagined. Which is nice...but as with most things Hana related...it's a whitewashed pretty picture that really doesn't delve properly into this relationship as it has been depicted before.

The LI that focuses on Hana is Maxwell. It's clear that there is a tiny element of hero-worship there ("when I grow up I want to be like Hana Lee"). He acknowledges her particular manner of caring for people, her amazing dance skills and her kindness. It's quite sweet, even though frustrating because I've seen more of the LIs laud Hana's perfections in lieu of proper characterization. But that aside. It's sweet.

In this case, it is Liam and Drake who do not focus on Hana, instead stopping at their toast to the MC. Olivia does not directly address Hana either.

Bertrand, as with Liam's playthrough, doesn't have much to say about Hana the way he does about Drake and (understandably) Maxwell.

Maxwell: Maxwell's has only four options - the remaining LIs and Olivia. This is because Bertrand, Maxwell's brother and only surviving family, is also the MC's sponsor and speaks in that capacity as well. In the case of Maxwell's playthrough, he represents both the bride and the groom.

Bertrand's toast here is pretty much an extension of his toast in the other playthroughs, with him exploring his history with his brother. He recognizes Maxwell's gifts, acknowledges the childlike quality that is a part of him, confesses there is so much about Maxwell that he doesn't and may never really understand, and apologizes for making him feel like he deserves less than to know his brother is proud of him. It reflects on the journey the Beaumont brothers have taken, and how he finally realizes Maxwell's worth.

The LI that focuses on Maxwell is Hana. Like Maxwell she speaks of his excellent dancing skills, but then again she also speaks of his zest for life, his sense of humour, his playful spirit.

Liam and Drake focus on the MC instead of Maxwell, which feels a bit odd since they've known him for long enough as well, but I can appreciate that Liam and Drake are closer to each other than to anyone else in the group, and so are Hana and Maxwell.

Again, Olivia does not say anything about Maxwell either.

It looks like they decided to center the toasts around the MC for the most part, with a few insights on the LI from those closest to them. They spread that out by including a family member and an LI close to to them, and additionally in Liam's case, Olivia.

• Seeing Hakim try to say "WOO" and then ask if he's doing it right if you ask everyone to say make some noise, has to be the cutest thing about this chapter xD

•

Yes Esther. He picked the song. From the HSS soundtrack.

• Each LI then speaks about/alludes to their previous dances with you. Liam recalls the first dance at the Masquerade, Hana alludes to the many dances they have done over the course of the story (mostly because dancing with her is optional), Drake speaks about wanting to get things right especially on their special day and Maxwell speaks about having the right mood and music depending on the situation. Quite sweet.

• Once the wedding dance is done, the LIs dance in a group together. Liam twirls Hana, Hana performs ballet, Maxwell challenges Drake to do spin kicks, Drake does some killer spin kicks, crediting self-defense with teaching him those moves. Penelope (and Kiara, very cautiously once she realizes Maxwell is volunteering to coach because she clearly wants all her bones intact by the end of the night) is so impressed she asks to be coached. Maxwell does the coaching.

• Olivia is not here, and Maxwell assumes she's gone to check out the hors d'ouvres. Hmm. Hmm.

• Cake cutting time! Now technically, if you didn't buy this option, it still happens - you just don't get to see what they're cutting. Choosing your cake allows you to see it and (more importantly in my opinion) gives you some lovely food descriptions. You also get gag options for cake cutting and for either feeding the cake to your spouse or smearing it all over their faces.

• If you're getting married to Liam and bought the gastrodiplomacy scene in Castelserraillian, you get an extra chocolate souffle. I wasn't sure they would remember this one post hiatus, but looks like they did. Now if only they'd remember Hana was an actual character deserving of a good arc with that much accuracy...

• If you bought the cake scene, you also get to surprise your spouse with an extra dessert. Liam is willing to share his baklava with you after being outed by his brother as being a Joey (I DON'T SHARE FOOD), Hana loves the hot chocolate and wants to refine her recipe based on it, Maxwell calls it the "second best cake" he's had (the first being their wedding cake). Drake's is the s'mores, but the playthrough I saw shows him enjoying the Cordonian Ruby pie (which honestly looks more like its been filled with berries than apples) and speaking of how nice it is to have one down-to-earth dessert. I'm guessing he must have either a similar reaction to the s'mores, or there's some reminiscing of the time he prepared it for her back in Book 2.

• The scene now shifts to BertVannah, who are having an argument. Savannah looks pissed off about Bertrand not calling and informing her about the attack in the boutique (gee, I wonder how that conversation would've gone. "Hey honey. At the brink of death here. Toodles!"). But her real ire is because she wants to take things to the next level but is getting mixed signals from Bertrand. She tells him she will probably be joining her mother in Texas instead. The timing of all this is supposed to be terrible, because Bertrand was planning to propose. With that ruby ring from LoveHacks.

• What ensues is a diamond scene to help Bertrand give Savannah her fairytale proposal, one last exercise in teaching Bertrand words and this couple to hold hands. Whether you choose it or not, Bertrand proposes, Savannah says yes and we find out her middle name is Jane.

• The diamond scene itself is quite sweet. It begins with Bertrand buttering up to Drake to get his approval, the highlight of which is him imitating a chicken to prove to Drake that he would do anything for Savannah. It then moves ahead to the Cordonian barbershop quartet (Liam, Drake, Maxwell, Bertrand) agreeing to get together after their last appearance in Book 2 to help him with the proposal, which will be sung to Savannah during the bridal bouquet toss.

• Somehow, no matter what, the TRR writing team have to remind us that they don't consider Hana a bride at her own wedding:

They somehow forget that Hana is a bride in this part of the Hana playthrough, have her round up the bridesmaids when that should be done by someone else (Madeleine or Kiara or literally any other woman), and make her stand in her fucking wedding gown in the line with the other bridesmaids. It's bad enough that she remains the "professional best friend" even after you're engaged, has to wear black at her own bachelorette and a glitch in the game during the ceremony directly affects her fans more than anyone else. Like if I were Hana I would circle the photo album of this day and mark it WORST WEDDING EVER. Yes. In red 😠

The MC is really out there treating her bride like a wedding planner on their wedding day. So much for making this wedding Hana's dream wedding, MC. Such love much wow.

• Proposal done, it's now time to give the LIs their gifts. Very nice, very emotional, they all love what you got them and they're all adorable.

You get the usual with the remaining LIs, and some extra kissing with your spouses. Overall, quite nice.

That's a lie Hana and you know it.

• So Olivia is completely MIA post the toast, Gladys is walking around looking poker faced, Bastien is taking Mara's place while (I'm guessing) she recovers...and Madeleine is still being a colossal cockblocker/clam jam.

• You get a few last minute conversations with Kiara and Penelope, including a default acknowledgement of how much Kiara sacrificed to be here and how tough it was for her (nice try, PB, but I'm not forgiving you for Lythikos).

•

We get a lovely call-back to the first chapter of Book 1, by having Not Henney be part of our wedding.

• Regina then comes up to talk to you, admitting that she was wrong in thinking that the MC would be "dangerous for Cordonia", and is now happy you're here.

• Gladys then comes and asks us to accompany her because someone is "impatient" to be with us.

• Uh huh, uh huh, I thought. Time for a diamond sex scene?

• But nope. It's free. (Waiiiiitaminute. Something is not quite right about this. We can't be boinking with our fiancé/es for free. What's going on!)

• ...oh. OH.

• Shame on you Gladys!

• When I asked you to call me Lamb Shawarma I didn't mean for you to turn me into one!

General Thoughts:

• If you're marrying Hana, Drake or Maxwell, they are lured into the maze first, and used as bait to catch hold of the MC. If you're marrying Liam, however, you're the bait.

• Prior to this, Olivia is missing as well, possibly for Anton to establish his "rightful" claim over his wife (good luck with that, buddy. I'd love for this to end with one of her knives on your throat) in the next chapter.

• Which is probably why Liam having feelings for the MC keeps coming up so much in the final few chapters. It propells him into anger either way, and seeing Olivia in a danger as well allows Liam to finally wake up to his possible feelings for her in the other playthroughs (I hope?)

• I think there will be a duel. I think it will be a parallel to the Costume Gala duel between Drake and Neville, except here the stakes are much much higher. Which is why Neville is shown in the chapter, after a long time of not being shown at all even though it's clear he's still part of the tour. He's probably there as a way to foreshadow what is to come. Also, it works as a bit of an inverse.

In the Costume Gala duel, Drake was clearly the underdog, and Neville clearly the noble who needed to be taught a lesson. Drake has spoken about agreeing to the duel to prove that as a commoner he has his worth and dignity, and it doesn't need to be trampled on.

In this duel, Anton appears to be the underdog fighting valiantly against the king of a "tyrannical" dynasty, and this is a rhetoric that at least some people take seriously, as we saw in the riot in Chapter 17, and in a little of what Gladys says before the betrayal.

But here...the tables are turned. Anton is the power-hungry candidate for the throne who is willing to destroy the livelihood of Cordonia's farmers and throw the economy of the country into shambles (ironically, since his father was part of the Sons of Earth), to get access to the throne. Liam has been established over and over as someone who genuinely cares for his people and wants them to prosper with him, not have himself prosper at their expense. So in this case, the non-noble here is established as the one who would be absolutely wrong for the country, and Liam as the monarch Cordonia needs and deserves.

• I wonder how much of this chapter will the actual duel take. I'm guessing half of it, with the LI, Liam, Olivia and the MC then going through the aftermath, and then eventually moving into the Coronation/honouring ceremony of the finale in another chapter.

• There will (hopefully) be some focus on Liam's emotional state? That man has been through way too much shit minus any space to actually talk about what he's been through. It's high time he gets his space to really open up about his trauma and actually get to heal, because this book has been keeping his state of mind in limbo for way longer than it should. It's been poorly worked on and poorly built, his overall crisis arc, but I'm hoping this coming chapter will make up for that.

• I deserve TWO sex scenes for the kind of crap I have to put up with at my own fucking wedding. An attack the day before! An attack before I dress! An attack at my reception! What BRIDE goes through this shit!

I'd better get great lingerie and explosive sex for the kind of stress getting married in Cordonia takes out of me.

• So technically Gladys is supposed to be our surprise element this chapter, and I guess it makes sense, since she is a recently introduced character and you can push her forward as shady without making it very obvious because she only enters the story when the book is close to being done.

• One thing I did find interesting is that if you choose to thank her while she leads you to the hedge maze, she looks sad and speaks of how "the nobles are usually too busy thinking of themselves on a night like tonight", leading the MC to feel sorry she's had such a bad experience. Which kinda gives us a hint why she might be in cahoots with Anton in the first place. Anton is not a nobleman (though he is married into a noble family), and seems to be preying on commoner emotions to get support for overthrowing Liam's government. I'm sorry Gladys, but I think you've been fooled.

• That's it for this chapter, guys. On to Chapter 21!

#the royal romance #long post #liam x mc #king liam #drake x mc #drake walker #hana x mc #hana lee #maxwell x mc #maxwell beaumont #olivia nevrakis #bertrand beaumont #savannah walker #trr quick thoughts #quick thoughts

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chiseler · 6 years ago

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LARGER THAN LIFE

Instead of pursuing work as a sports columnist after graduation, he returned to show business. Later he was quoted as saying, “You don't see any little people doing newscasts, you don't see any doing sports writing, you don't see any sports announcing, you don't see any coaches, but there are little people who are capable of doing these things, who have proven themselves.” You get the sense there was a little personal bitterness there, hinting he may have been forced back to Hollywood because that was the only place he could find work.

In the late Eighties he told an interviewer, “I’ve never looked at acting as ‘Ahhh!’ and ‘Gee!’ I started in vaudeville when I was five and for me it was just walking on a stage and I'm gonna perform. Later on I was impressed by many things, like when I worked with Burt Lancaster and Kirk Douglas in Tough Guys. That was an ‘Ahhh!’ for me. When I look back, even today, I guess I can go ‘Ahhh!’ because I worked with Ruby Keeler and Dick Powell in Gold Diggers of 1933 when I was nine. Then they were just grown-ups on the stage. As I look back, I'm more awed now than I was when I was actually doing it.”

by Jim Knipfel

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