#I just had to do this vibe check though because it's so accurate like hot damn | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

dukeoftheblackstar · 1 year ago

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@frostycatblr-fandom-files

First off, I've pushed reading this for so long because I'm a picky reader in a way + the busiest of schedules lately. I've also had vision problems (I think) so I've recently stopped reading as much until I get my eyes checked. However, I have had this bookmarked on my 'to-read-post-haste' folder.

That said, apologies for the late review and the fact that this requires more than just kudos but notes and praise because this was just such a 'darling' read.

Also, sorry because this review is long and I cannot be stopped. Cheers ♥

Master Plo has decided that the best use of the day today is to do… nothing at all.

Yes. I don't even have anything coherent to say about this because the truth is too evident in this statement, all I can muster is "Yes".

The Triumphant looms imposingly above, just out of reach of the planet's atmosphere and gravitational pull.

Megapoints because my love for the Triumphant knows no bounds. Big boy absolutely did not get obliterated. Thems just be idle gossip ♥

Surely the Commander was being a little overboard about all this…

Love the whole vibe of just being so familiar with Wolffe's usual briefing that you get the hint just by some passing words within earshot or probably even reading his lips if the bucket's off.

You let him take one of the pencils to examine, noting how Master Plo takes such care with your personal property. "These were a gift to you, you said?"

By now you should know my attention is solely on Plo Koon, so excuse me if I'm reviewing bits about my husband than Wolffe. I am as sorry as I am not ♥

But yes, Plo being very curious and reverent on your personal property is so Plo. ♥ Man's perfect ♥

I'll probably be a little rusty. That's okay. Just give it a shot. Maybe I'll surprise myself.

This is so adorable though!!!

The General repeatedly invites him to have a seat and clear his mind for a moment, but he is turned down time and time again, politely but curtly. "No thank you, General Plo."

AHHHHHH. MY KINGS. I love this. You know Wolffe can't relax for a hot minute and Plo just out here not giving two fucks ♥ LOVE 'EM TO BITS!

ALSO. SCREAMING BECAUSE ALL THE BOYS BE HERE.

We got Sinker and Boost. Looking forward to see Comet come up here but doubtful you would have included my Warthog

"Am I in your way, Arcadia?" he asks, one of his eyebrows lifting just slightly with the question.

SIR. QUIT BEING SO HOT. OKAY? YOU CAN ASK QUESTIONS BUT LIKE, TONE IT DOWN. SHEESH.

The General is enjoying himself, and looks to be spending a little time with some of the other troops, showing them how to calm their minds with meditation. You heard one of the shinnies ask Master Plo about it not too long ago, and he was happy to oblige.

I know, I know. He's not the main boo in this fic. But.. dreamy sigh Plo just.. hnnng.

"Unfortunate." "Mhm…"

THE UNRELENTING SEXUAL TENSION IS SO PALPABLE AND SO SHARP, IT HAS CUT ME INTO A PLETHORA OF FROZEN GOO.

"… it does have maroon."

EXCUSE ME. EXCUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUSE ME. I DID NOT EXPECT HURT FROM ALL OF THIS, OKAY? THERE IS SO MUCH HURT NOW. SO MUCH. HURT. LIKE HURT. IS NOT EVEN THE CORRECT WORD.

Let me just cry over the fact that this was such, as I have stated above, a 'darling' fic. We all know the boys need some wind down and when the opportunity presents itself, you just can't switch solider mode off — which was so beautifully included in here with Wolffe being overly himself, briefing the troops, and the fact that it takes him a good hot-fucking-minute before he sits his stressed ass down.

I'm also screaming at you with how you portray Sinker and Boost to be so accurate because they're pretty lax compared to Wolffe and would definitely indulge beloved, beloved, ever-present, ubiquitous Plo Koon and him just being cute AF — sorry, I am unhinged for my Kel Dor King ♥.

The overall sketch-concept and the tension you've so deliciously added between Wolffe and Arcadia is bliss for me. Absolute, please-just-kiss-but-also-angst-me-tf-up-with-your-mysterious-reserved-persona-Wolffe.

I also adore the fact that she doesn't know about the color vibe. That that simple interaction of asking about his scar wasn't so detailed and overwhelming in this fic and that 'just the right amount' of tidbit to make sense of it all is perfectly balanced. It did not give away that the ending would lead to that, it did not give a predictable assumption of sorts that 'oh, it's gonna be one of those fic', — rather, it kept the mystery in tact.

I also love how you portrayed Wolffe here because you have to write him in a way that he's not overly doting, he's not overly intimidating, and he's not overly social, but enough to indulge or at least TRY to be social with his troops.

This is one of my favorite aspects to look for when I'm reading 104th-based fics or Wolffe-based fics. I'm all for not following cannon because it's fiction, but the closer you get to making it seem canon even in the smallest of gestures, the faintest of meticulously selected words, and even the situations you put him into gives that satisfaction and implication that it was indeed Wolffe who did all that and "not the writer" — the whole "a story writes itself, the artist just did the writing' vibe.

And now for the ending.

An alternative is quietly pointed out. "… it does have maroon." Your heart hangs heavily in your rib cage knowing what you do now. You can only imagine his own heart will be heavier still. You have never seen the 104th battalion in that color of paint; only ever heard the tales of their escapades and exploits when their armor must have gleamed in that handsome and deep, warm red. But tragedy and loss has stolen the color out of their coats, and they move in shadow. Now when the Wolves run and hunt and fight, it is only in gray.

I love angst. So much so that I ship Plo to characters that would give me such a heartache that'd last a month. Be it bad or good angst, smutty, or any kind of angst because it's the comfort that comes with. The more dire you angst shit up, the greater the return is be it comfort, or just plainly seeing how it unfolds.

And in this case, the comfort or return is the understanding Wolffe more than the grumpy boy that he is. The return is having that deep reverence and new found admiration for how the boys in red became the boys in grey and the tribulations they went through; the heartaches, the heavy burden, the forced laughter and smiles they had to indulge themselves, the need to cope, the retention of sanity, the deepened bond, and the fact that this is not the end.

Not the end of strife and possibility of losing more of his men, his General (cause you know, Order 66 — which totally didn't happen <: ), all things encompassing the unknown and yet the only choice is to move forward and not abandon the now.

And in more ways than written, the only choice was to pick maroon in the absence of grey; to pick moving on in the absence of surrender.

Add that fact that all of these will be immortalized in Arcadia's sketch and @frostycatblr-fandom-files, let me just say that the entire thing is just beyond-beyond beautiful, tragic, and one of the fics that will definitely in my recommendations for anyone who'd ask.

A bajallion kudos is not enough to convey my thanks for the experience of reading this masterpiece.

Love, love ♥ - Duchess ♥ Plo Koon's Toxic Little Bitch Wife

Poets and Painters (Early Morning) - Wolffe x Reader [Mature Fic]

Warnings and Information: In desperate need of just one day to take his and his men's mind off the war, Plo Koon orders that everyone make a stop on a relatively uninhabited planet in a peaceful sector of the galaxy to… have a picnic? Just what does he have in mind? A certain flint-gray Commander is finding it hard to believe that they're just on the planet for a day of R&R in the middle of a war, so he isn't letting his guard down. Perhaps someone will help Commander Wolffe find some way to help him relax before the day is over… 2nd person POV. Reader is undescribed save for minor details like personal touches to a uniform, and has a gender-neutral alias. Allusions to canon-typical violence, mention of injury and loss, and Plo just being a dad to the 104th Battalion in the background. Swearing. Discussion of more adult themes and some lewd jokes the more the fic progresses (this is not an Explicit fic but it is Mature; Minors please DNI). Takes place on a fictional planet.

Word count: 4,390

Early Morning

It's unclear if someone perhaps made the suggestion to the General, or if he devised this idea on his own, but Master Plo has decided that the best use of the day today is to do… nothing at all. You are drifting through space in an area of the galaxy that has been seldom touched by this war. You didn't even recognize the name of the planet when you regarded the astronav aboard the bridge of the Jedi cruiser. Small, and relatively unpopulated according to what the scanners had picked up. There was hardly any record of this planet being here, in fact. It was puzzling to mostly everyone.

"Yeah, well it was the same for Big Stormy in the Jedi archives according to the General, but Kamino was still very much there…" one trooper complains to his brother in the chair beside him with an unimpressed roll of his eyes, his arms laced tightly across his broad chest. "Who's to say other planets won't show up on the kriffing maps if not a lot of people come here?" His neighbor glowers at him in warning, hissing back under his breath to shut up or he's going to distract the General.

To this, Plo Koon encourages the two young troops to settle themselves before Sergeant Sinker tells them to cut it out. "Come now, young Tack. Orchid is right, in a sense. There are perhaps even other galaxies we do not know about, or have a way to get to. This planet… Little Archossi… seems to be safe. We'll set down on the planet, away from what appears to be one of the settlements, so as not to disturb the inhabitants." Inhabitants that are assumed to be humanoid and sentient, but they have no way of making contact with them. Everyone is cautioned to not appear threatening to them should these Archossi (Archossian?) make an approach.

They would surely notice a ship of this size over their home planet.

The Triumphant looms imposingly above, just out of reach of the planet's atmosphere and gravitational pull.

Disembarking the gunships, you step into the soft, springy grass of the large clearing on this forested planet. The atmosphere is breathable, and it's welcomed after so long in the presence of oxygen recyclers.

The air is cool, and fragrant with a diverse bouquet of blooming wildflowers. Some are familiar, others are surprising and entirely unknown. Clone researchers, though they are not asked to, task themselves with determining these botanicals out of caution. "Just being preemptive, General Plo." Tack explains when the Kel Dorian Jedi comes to remind him that the Clones and crew of the Triumphant who joined him on the surface of the planet are here and meant to relax. "Just in case these flowers turn out to have irritants or strange pollen. Don't want any surprises, sir."

Plo hums thoughtfully, the sound a deep, warm rumbling. "Very good, Tack. I hope you find what you are looking for soon so you may join your brothers." One of his steady hands makes a slow, sweeping gesture out to another part of the clearing, where several other brothers of the 104th battalion have gathered around the Commander.

He appears to be laying out a few ground rules with his men, from where you sit on a small, grassy knoll here in this break in the trees. You can catch words and small fragments of what he's saying, but you don't pay him much attention. Being just one of the crew aboard the cruiser, words like emergency flares and what must be the word holster don't pertain to anything you've brought along with you. There's no expectation of danger from the native people, but they say you can never be too prepared. Well, you're not too sure about that when you hear what was definitely the words stun setting and do not stray far.

Surely the Commander was being a little overboard about all this…

But that's not your business. You turn your attention back to the small canvas bag at your feet and root through it to find the personal belongings you've taken with you for today just as the researcher named Tack assures his General once again that he's perfectly content to spend his day like this.

"Don't worry about me, General. I never mind spending a day researching things. Besides, I'm not the only one who's brought my usual gear with me. Looks like Arcadia brought their own datapad." Hearing your name, you pause just as you're pulling out the datapad since putting the spiral-bound sketchpad and graphite pencils you've thrown in the bag in your lap, meeting Tack's eye.

"Oh this is just in case I want to read later," you explain with a laugh. "My, uh, older family members gave me some serious art supplies to take with me before I joined aboard the Triumphant and I just haven't had a chance to use 'em yet. Figured while we were on Little Archossi I'd give them a try."

"Cool, cool. Have fun with that." Tack replies, smiling as he turns back to a dazzling blue flower with thin, silky petals. You've caught the interest of the Kel Dor, and he makes a request to sit beside you for the moment. You've been told by others that this Jedi Master makes a point to try to get to know as many people who serve alongside him as possible, that he's polite and seems to just radiate calm and wisdom.

"Yes of course, go right ahead." you tell him, moving the bag to the other side to make room beside you on the knoll. "Here."

"Thank you," he starts, dipping his head in a slow gesture of gratitude, "I won't take up too much of your time Arcadia."

"I don't mind if you do, General. I don't really know what I want to do with… all this." you assure him with a mild laugh, indicating the spiral-bound and the pencils resting on the thighs of your slate-gray, form-fitting uniform. You chose not to wear any of your casual-wear today, though it would be more comfortable in the long term. You were due to wash your uniforms soon enough, spending a day on a strange planet would expedite the need to do so in case of any contaminants.

You let him take one of the pencils to examine, noting how Master Plo takes such care with your personal property. "These were a gift to you, you said?"

Your head bobs in answer. "That's right. I guess they thought I'd have a lot more opportunities to get back into artwork or something while I was stationed with the one-oh-fourth on the cruiser. But maybe I'll break in the new sketchbook today, with a little, uh… oh, what do they call it? Plein air sketching." You imagine the inquisitive blink of his eyes under the anti-ox mask and eyewear worn by the General when he does not say anything at first, and can only guess there is some sort of smile before the pencil is returned to you. "Most intriguing. Perhaps I will have to come by another time when you have made some progress."

"You're certainly welcome to."

"Thank you, Arcadia. I believe I should warn young Soapsuds to remember the Commander's warning about not straying too far…" There's a shared chuckle between you. Soapsuds is a darling, and a very courageous soldier for what are nicknamed "shinnies", but he can be a little bit forgetful. Perhaps with the Force, Plo Koon can sense what you can only assume: Commander Wolffe is having some difficulty with the primary objective for today. "Until later."

You bid him farewell for the time being, too, and tuck back the cover to the sketchbook. The pages are surprisingly thick, and if you had a more serious artistic inclination, you could guess that the pages of this book could take a variety of mediums. Graphite pencil, for certain, and perhaps a number of other dry mediums like pastels or charcoal or coloring pencils. You're not certain it would do well with wet mediums at first glance. Maybe a layer or two of gouache? Looser styles of watercoloring? But probably not oils or acrylics, they would likely warp the pages and make everything tacky.

It's admittedly been some time since making any use of traditional supplies for anything other than scribbling down a note to pass to a colleague, or taking records of serious instructions on the bridge. Before putting the pencil against the page, you mentally coach and coax yourself to take the plunge.

I'll probably be a little rusty. That's okay. Just give it a shot. Maybe I'll surprise myself.

The lead within is buttery-soft, and lays down a bold line without any skipping after it sweeps over the fine, toothy hills and valleys in the texture of the page. Oh. Oh wow. That's quality. You'll have to thank the gift giver for their generosity, and you promise yourself in a moment of wishful thinking to never use this for anything but artistic endeavors in the few fleeting chances you'll get for it.

(Would you keep this promise in a standard week from now, or a month at most? Unlikely.)

There's a groan of great annoyance from Tack to your left, still studying the beautiful blue flowers. "Not having any luck, Tack?"

"No. It's not showing up on any of my catalogs."

You frown sympathetically, lifting your head to meet his eye. "I'm sorry."

"I'll figure something out…" Tack grumbles, lightly raking his nails along the back of his neck. "I just don't want to find out that this can make anyone sick, or something, before it's too late."

"That's very sweet of you, Tack." you tell him with a kind smile as you continue to sketch loose shapes and lay down lines to break in this first page. Tack was rough around the edges, and could frustrate easily, but did not back down from a challenge just because he met a little resistance. "Say, can I ask you something?"

"Shoot."

"Does the Commander seem on edge to you this morning? I have to admit I'm having trouble telling." You feel you need to tread a little cautiously with this question. If you express that you think the leader of the 104th with a silver, cybernetic eye and a prominent stripe of scar tissue down his face is being a bit overbearing or uptight in any way when you don't know him quite so well, it would not make for a great first impression should word get back to him.

Tack shrugs after a moment of thought. "Oh, Commander Wolffe? Yeah, I suppose so. He's a rather diligent man. Nothin' wrong with that of course-"

"Of course, no." you cut in hurriedly. "I was only curious."

"Don't know him so much, I'm guessing?" Tack makes a sound of understanding as you shake your head, "Ah, well, you haven't been here that long. Not many of us have been either, truthfully." He lays down a short summary of the battalion's history to you, answering questions best he can. Things changed dramatically after the Battle of Abregado; they lost so many brothers, there were only a few survivors of that encounter, and they were not always the flint gray they are now.

"Maroon? Really."

"Mhm."

"I see… And, his scar?"

Tack suppresses a deep wince, but only just. "Sith."

Your veins turn to ice momentarily in spite of the gentle warmth of the nearest star. "Maker."

You've had your fill of the questions for the time being, wishing him luck as he tries his hand once more at identifying his mysterious flower. You're going to do your best not to stare at Commander Wolffe as he paces the perimeter of the clearing, keeping a vigilant watch for trouble. The General repeatedly invites him to have a seat and clear his mind for a moment, but he is turned down time and time again, politely but curtly. "No thank you, General Plo."

The trooper you know to be Sergeant Sinker thanks to the pale, silver hair leans in closer to whisper something to the General, which only makes Jedi shake his head almost pityingly. "I was afraid of that… Thank you, Sinker."

"Don't worry, General. He'll probably only pace for so long," Boost says in an attempt at comfort, "if the people of the planet were gonna come and investigate, they'd've done it by now. But we know to show them we mean 'em no harm."

So was the Commander pacing the perimeter because he wanted to see any approachers before it was too late? Would he be keeping this up all day when they were meant to clear their heads for a change? Yes, they were advised to be aware of their surroundings, but securing a boundary might be a little much. What was driving him to be so watchful and defensive on a sparsely inhabited planet?

Paranoia? Selflessness and love and concern for his brothers? Was this perhaps a sacrificial gesture: pacing and patrolling the circumference of the clearing to ensure that his soldiers, and some of the crew of the Triumphant, could be out here largely undisturbed without any rest for himself?

If that was the case, it did not tug at your heartstrings gently.

For someone with such a gentle name, Orchid has one of the worst swearing habits in the one-oh-fourth. "Oh karking Maker, the Commander finally sat the kriff down." Tack warns him to keep his voice down in a sharp-ish manner, and to take it easy on the language.

You were glad that the man did finally decide to rest his legs and perhaps finally enjoy the day with the rest of you, but not so much where he decided to sit.

You'd been trying to draw one of these interesting trees here on Little Archossi, where the sprawling crown of the canopy cascades down in thick, full plumes of leaves in multiple shades of red and orange. You had a few pencils for coloring in the bottom of the bag, and a decent pen that you could add a little ink to the page to outline some of the details, but now Commander Wolffe has plunked himself squarely in the middle of what you have been trying to draw for the last hour and a half.

Of all the hills in this clearing, this is where he decided to sit? In front of the one tree in this entire area largely free of them? Everyone else has stayed clear of it when they realized they would be getting in the way of your artistic subject, apologizing and instead coming to sit beside you to watch for a few minutes. But he doesn't seem to notice you just across the way, just on the other hill.

Well… it's not what you had in mind, but, maybe you could make this work, still. The armor and the anatomy won't be perfect by any means, though. You're thankful you kept your pressure light on the page, making it easier to erase a large area of the trunk you'd drawn previously and fill that space with the Commander. You just had to hope he didn't get up anytime soon.

Most of his body and the basic shapes of his armor are sketched out before the ceaseless skritch of the graphite must finally catch the Commander's attention just as you're warring with yourself on the matter of the codpiece.

How much detail do I include here? Oh Maker if he sees this he'll probably realize I've been staring at his crot-

"What are you doing over there?" The voice from across the other grassy hill jolts you from your thoughts, and you are grateful you did not have your drawing implement against the page in that moment.

Oh, Maker, please do not let your face be red. "Ah, just doing a little outdoor sketching, Commander." Please do not let him ask you what you're drawing…

"What of…?" The Commander draws out his question, pausing when he probably does not remember, or know, your name. That's not super surprising, you tell yourself. You're just a crew member, and not one of his many men he interacts with on a regular basis. He not knowing your name is by no means personal.

"Call me Arcadia. And the tree, sir."

"Am I in your way, Arcadia?" he asks, one of his eyebrows lifting just slightly with the question.

"No, sir. You're not. You're included with the tree." you answer, stretching the truth. You have to hope that it doesn't come across in an unsettling or creepish fashion to the Clone Commander. Good impressions. Good impressions were important. "I, um, hope you don't mind." You don't want him to get up when he's just sat down. You don't want to feel like you're doing something unwelcome either. Something that would disrupt his enjoyment of this rare occasion in wartime; a peaceful day, among flowers and a grassy, hilly field surrounded by trees on all sides. His brothers are enjoying themselves, laying on their backs in the grass, faces warm in the golden sunlight with the day just beginning.

Commander Wolffe should get to enjoy this day, too.

"I don't mind." he answers. The tonal quality of his voice does not suggest begrudging agreement, a thinning veneer of patience, or complete indifference. "How long do I need to hold still?" He asks, the same eyebrow as before lifting again.

"Not very," you reply, quickly returning your pencil to the page to begin sketching him again now that you were assured he would not be opposed to this, "the idea is to be quick when drawing outdoors, for the most part."

"And why is that?"

The graphite continues to skritter and skritch along the surface of the page, you do not stop what you are doing to answer him this time. You will get this done quickly, and you will take your work somewhere else to add color to it. "No two days will ever be the same, sir. Plein air painters and artists only have one day to complete what they work on." One day that you did not want to force being a live subject upon him. Agreeing to let you sketch his likeness into the sketchpad is one thing. Asking him to stay there as you added layers of color and ink to the page would be taking advantage of his agreement. His "day off".

Resting his head back against the scale-patterned bark of the tree, Wolffe nods slowly in contemplation, closing his eyes. "And which are you, Arcadia?" You missed the question, so absorbed in the general shape of his face, and recalling that in order to draw eyes you need to keep them an eye's distance apart.

"S-sorry, sir?"

"I asked which one you are. A painter, or a different kind of artist."

You shake your head softly, doing your best not to stammer terribly in shame for not hearing him. "Oh. I-I'm not much of a painter."

"So a different kind of artist then," he suggests, tilting his head back just slightly for a moment while adjusting his legs in front of him, "a sketcher, perhaps."

Your eyes meet with his for a fleeting moment when you glance back up from the page to finalize a few details of the position of his legs, the width of his tights, and once again do not linger on the codpiece. "Um, I suppose? It's been a long time since I…" you trail off and shrug half-heartedly, unsure how to explain. Or if he even wants to hear it and is just making conversation to be polite. A man of his position and status in this war is busy, his mind must always be occupied with stratagem and contingencies and, recalling what Tack has said… loss.

The Republic did not win that battle, and Wolffe lost so many brothers on top of it all. And an eye to a Sith. How much more would he lose? How much more would this galaxy take from him?

You frown, brow furrowing, at the thought.

"What's the matter?" the man on the other hill asks you, expression neither puzzled or concerned.

Quickly, you look back down at the page in your lap, and you choose something to lie about. "The detail on your shoulder plating. Unfortunately I think a lot of the finer details will be lost in the sketch."

"Unfortunate."

"Mhm…"

You are thankful that you got most of the details down already. What you are not expecting is that when you look up again to make sure you have what you're looking for, you are now almost eye level with the white codpiece and the belt which his kama hangs from. Your heart is now hammering madly in your throat, and the rush of blood pounds steadily against your eardrum. Much like the silhouette of the Triumphant above Little Archossi, Commander Wolffe stands above you, and you feel small and almost frightened. (Almost.)

You hadn't meant to, but you flinched to find him looming over you. He frowns. "Did I scare you?" You admit that he had, yes. You didn't even hear him move from under the tree on the other hill and come up to the top of this small knoll for all the armor he wore. "You need to pay attention to your surroundings at all times." Wolffe replies coolly, now dropping to sit next to you on your left. He removes the shoulder pad from his right upper arm, and holds it up beside your sketchpad.

It feels a little insulting to be talked to like that, like one of his soldiers, when he told you to pay more attention. How dare he? "Sorry..." you mumble as you use the sharpest side of the pencil to try to copy down the wolf icon from a side-view on the graphite likeness of the man now next to you. "I didn't think you'd be moving so soon."

More like at all.

Maybe he can sense the subtext, and he becomes slightly apologetic. "Only thought it might help you to see it closer, Arcadia." Wolffe explains. He does not watch you, or respond in any way when you give a short sort of oh sound in reply to that; instead he visually sweeps the clearing for dangers or signs of trouble. You know he's listening to you, at least. The sound of short and terse scratches and more drawn-out, fluid, sweeping marks against the page keeps the moment from completely collapsing into uncomfortable silence.

"...thanks."

You've done the best you can to capture the face of the wolf, and the crescent moon-like shapes of the pad closest to you. You could probably stand to fine-tune Wolffe's face on the page, but that seems daunting to ask him to return under the tree on the other hill now just so you could get the proportions right. It wouldn't exactly come across well, you imagine.

Thank you for showing me your shoulder pads up close and all but could you kriff off, now?

"You're welcome. Do you need anything else, Arcadia?"

"No sir." you lie to the Commander through your teeth. You're just going to have to make do. This hill is taller than the other, and from here, you can see the whole clearing. This probably makes for an excellent vantage point with his strategic inclinations. "Thank you. I think I've gotten the right amount of detail, now, before I want to add some color." you continue, praying to all manner of galactic deities that you can now excuse yourself without any issue. But no such luck: you start to gather your datapad and other things, and he puts a stop to it with a single, simple question.

He'd like to watch for a moment, if that's alright.

Shit.

"Sure."

You put aside the graphite, and root through your bag for the coloring pencils. The bag has been largely untouched since it was given to you, but through one mishap or another the package of coloring pencils has been damaged, and the contents are now scattered in the bag. You have to hunt down all the necessary colors you need before any progress gets made. Sage will have to do for the grass, and Fawn will be your closest match to the color of the bark. For the leaves of the tree, Terra Cotta, a deep Marigold and Sunflower are your best choices. Regarding the Commander's armor…

There's no gray. There is not a single gray pencil in the entire package. There's Lamp Black. But no gray.

"Oh, kriff me sideways." you swear under your breath, forgetting the man beside you for the moment in your frustration. "Are you kidding me?"

Wolffe just believes for the moment you can't find something, and takes the canvas bag from at your side without a word of permission. "Are you missing something?"

You let it go that he's taken the bag to look, it's not that big of a deal. He's only trying to help. "Yes and no. I need gray for your armor, but the package doesn't have it." Giving him the broken carton, you let him see for himself that trying to look in your bag is a kind, but ultimately fruitless effort.

An alternative is quietly pointed out. "... it does have maroon."

Your heart hangs heavily in your rib cage knowing what you do now. You can only imagine his own heart will be heavier still. You have never seen the 104th battalion in that color of paint; only ever heard the tales of their escapades and exploits when their armor must have gleamed in that handsome and deep, warm red.

But tragedy and loss has stolen the color out of their coats, and they move in shadow.

Now when the Wolves run and hunt and fight, it is only in gray.

Note from Frost: I, uh... hoo boy. I don't know how to explain where this one came from. I feel a little out of my element, here, knowing what's coming and how under-practiced I am when it comes to writing more mature themes. Any pointers and/or feedback at all would be appreciated, honestly. Appreciate anyone who took the time to read this, too!

Don't have a fic taglist for the time being, but I'll likely start one soon if I can figure out how to make those forms some people have since I write a variety of stuff. For now, though, if you'd like to join a taglist for specific types of fics (example: just TBB-centric or just TCW-centric (or both)) don't hesitate to ask. 🩷

[Masterlist] [Midday] [Late Afternoon] [Evening]

#plo koon #recommends #duch recommends #104th foolishness #104th battalion #this is going in my #read in case duchii depresso

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fiftysevenacademics · 4 years ago

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Warrior

By chance, I learned about a show called “Warrior,” originally on Cinemax and now streaming on HBOMax. The basic premise is that a martial arts prodigy immigrates to San Francisco Chinatown in 1878 and is quickly sold to a tong that is on the verge of going to war with a rival tong. The dearth of movies or TV shows set in pre-earthquake (1906) San Francisco always baffles me, given how incredibly socially diverse, violent, raunchy, crime-ridden, wealthy, and often lawless the city was. Portions of the waterfront were even built in abandoned ships. Imagine the amazing sets you could design! I’ll watch anything set in pre-quake San Francisco, especially if it’s going to tell the story of characters, such as Chinese immigrants, that we almost never see in Westerns or other films set in this era.

So I was already in before I saw that the show is based on an 8-page treatment by Bruce Lee and related notes his daughter, Shannon Lee, found. She is also an executive producer, along with Justin Lin. I’m not a huge fan of martial arts movies in general, but this one had a lot of potential so I checked it out and got immediately sucked in.

I’m not going to spoil the plot but it gets convoluted quickly. Probably about 2/3 of the scenes end up with fighting and there is plenty of sex, too. Is it a little trashy with all that sex and violence? Yes, but GOOD trashy, with characters that are multi-dimensional, well-written, directed, and acted, though the costuming leaves a lot to be desired and, somewhat stereotypically for the Western genre, most scenes occur in brothels or barrooms and there are a few historically improbable relationships. But OK, this is borderline pulp fiction and the story is exciting so whatever.

What I love most about the show, however, is how well it portrays a totally neglected aspect of California and American history: How virulent anti-Chinese racism shaped white working class politics in the West. It is the only show I’ve ever seen that directly addresses the cultural climate and politics leading up to the Chinese Exclusion Act from a Chinese point of view. One of the central conflicts in the show depicts how white laborers brutally intimidated and assaulted Chinese workers and their white employers, and how politicians used the “they’re taking our jobs” rhetoric for political gain. One of the main antagonists is a ruthless Irish labor boss called Dylan Leary, who is obviously a fictionalized version of Denis Kearney.

The show mostly accurately depicts how Chinese were sequestered in Chinatown by a combination of laws that prevented them from owning property or becoming citizens and a campaign of terror led by white vigilantes, making it easy for white business owners to extract grueling labor for hardly any pay. The combination of exploitation and exclusion the Chinese immigrants face in American society intensifies a “get rich quick and get out” mentality among some Chinese immigrants, who are more than willing to do anything they must to their own people in order to send money home, make enough money to go home, or to become the most powerful people in Chinatown. Limited opportunities for economic and social advancement outside of Chinatown drive some to organized crime gangs called tongs that have turned this ethnic enclave into a haven for opium, gambling, and prostitution. While the show is set in this sensationalistic criminal underworld, it’s clearly contextualized-- If these guys had the same opportunities as white people, they’d become industrialist tycoons, too. You just don’t see stuff like this on TV!

The ghost of the Civil War is never far from the action, either. The irony of people who held strong views and fought against slavery going West and then oppressing Chinese workers, many of whom were also enslaved by debt bondage, is not lost on this show.

It’s tempting to think that the show is retroactively putting contemporary anti-immigrant policies into the past to make a point. But the point is actually that things really were like this in the 1870s and remain to this day at the heart of American politics. As a show that fits into TVs “Western” genre, it is unique in its point of view and how much detail it goes into about actual racial politics of the era as well as the hopes, dreams, and disappointments of people who have to build their own community in a society that hates everything about them except their strong arms and backs.

Speaking of which, part of the show’s appeal is how generous it is to viewers of its many very hot actors and actresses! It manages to have sweaty, shirtless martial arts sequences and exotic, langorous, opium-enhanced brothel sequences that don’t feel exploitative or one-dimensional because they are just parts of a much bigger, well-rounded world the characters inhabit.

And I totally lost my shit when there was a scene set inside a business inside an abandoned ship in San Francisco’s infamous, utterly lawless Barbary Coast. I don’t honestly know how many businesses continued to be operated out of abandoned ships in the 1870s but surely there were some and I don’t even really care because I was just so excited to see something like that come to life.

One review wrote, The vibe is very much “What if Peaky Blinders was racially diverse and half the characters could roundhouse kick you in the face?”

Another review wrote: There’s a lot about the show that will be recognizable to fans of today’s dark antihero dramas: The gangster storyline feels like a plot from Boardwalk Empire or Peaky Blinders, the frontier fable of capitalism resembles Deadwood, and warring factions vying for power recall similar conflicts on Game of Thrones. But what sets Warrior apart is its focus on a fascinating chapter in the American story that’s often treated like an afterthought in history books. And it wraps that history lesson in an enticing action-thriller package with nods to spaghetti Westerns, the kung fu cinema of Hong Kong, gangster flicks, and exploitation films, as well as other grindhouse genres.

I discovered Warrior thanks to this essay by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. Here’s a quote: The real issue here isn’t just adding more Asian American characters, it’s about the kind of characters portrayed. Two important areas that are deliberately overlooked by Hollywood are Asian Americans as romantic leads and as heroic leads. Few series dare to have an Asian American man as the object of romantic desire, especially by a white woman (are you listening, Bachelor/Bachelorette franchise?). Fewer have Asian American women as leads prized for their intelligence and outspoken strength rather than their svelte figure and flirty smile. There are exceptions: the wonderful Cinemax series Warrior, based on a Bruce Lee treatment, focuses mostly on tough and sexy Chinese men and women fighting for survival in San Francisco’s Chinatown in the 1870s.

“Warrior” currently has two seasons. It was canceled when Cinemax ceased producing original content. But Shannon Lee and Justin Lin are hoping that with enough fan support, HBOMax will agree to make more seasons. Check it out!

#warrior #warrior cinemax #i also recognized two of the actors from Vikings #Dianne Doan is great in this and she also played a slave girl that bewitched Ragnar in Vikings #i might switch teams for Chao #and Jason Tobin steals the show as Young Jun #Ah Toy is a great character based on a real-life woman #so many good characters

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carnationcreation · 4 years ago

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Hey there, I love you and your work so so much!!

I was wondering if you could write a Mighty Ducks imagine, about your favorite duck-i just low key wanna know who your favorite is- that is set in the second movie where the reader is new to the team and it kinda starts off as them not liking each other to them kissing? If you need any more ideas I’d be happy to help!!

TITLE: Pride (Adam Banks x reader)

✌🏻Masterlist Taglist, Requests, and Works in progress!

Request: Hey there, I love you and your work so so much!!I was wondering if you could write a Mighty Ducks imagine, about your favorite duck-i just low key wanna know who your favorite is- that is set in the second movie where the reader is new to the team and it kinda starts off as them not liking each other to them kissing? If you need any more ideas I’d be happy to help!!

Prompt/summary: Adam finally has to admit to his pride after he’s injured.

Word Count: 1,298

Authors note: Set in D2! Also I had such a hard time picking cause I love Charlie, Adam, and Luis but I decided to go with my first boy crush from the films! For the vibes listen to Take Yours by Matthew Mole it’s so cute!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

My laces were tied so tight I could feel the pressure right on top of my foot as I charged Julie in the goal, she barely caught the puck from my slapshot to the top right corner.

“Ugh, almost had it,” I groaned.

“Maybe one day (Y/l/n),” Julie said. I couldn’t see her face because of the goalie mask but I’m sure she had a shit-eating grin on.

I never thought I would make it here, representing my state for the US youth hockey team for the Junior Olympics. The day I got the call I almost passed out from the excitement and anxiety, and today I almost puked getting out of bed as I thought about how I needed to be on my best game if I wanted to make a good impression on the team I would be joining.

I saw the whole team walk in, the green jersey was almost a threat. Something I could join but never truly be a part of. I felt that anxiety build up again when I saw they were watching me as I skated down the ice.

Tibbles began to introduce each of us giving us a chance to show off our best skill.

Julie went first, her speed and accuracy in goal made her a vital member to the team. If we were going to stand a chance against Iceland then we needed her.

“And that’s (Y/n) (Y/l/n), everyone calls her Sharpshooter though.”

“Why’s that?” Bombay asked.

“Just watch,” Tibbles nodded, “She’s the only person that’s been able to score on Gaffney.”

My heart raced as I skated quickly up to the goal, aiming on Julie’s stick side, right in the corner I knew she was weakest on.

“Cheap shot (Y/l/n)!” she yelled causing me to laugh as I threw my arms up in victory.

Tibbles waved me over.

“So what makes you so important?” Bombay asked me, “We have about 3 sharpshooters on my team. Why do we need you?”

I stood there in shock, not able to respond as I racked my brain for an answer, “I- well have any of your boys managed to score on Gaffney yet?”

“No, but they will be able to.”

“After how long? I’ve known Gaffney for maybe 30 minutes and I’m already scoring. From what I can tell your boys rely mostly on strength, put anyone up against me and I can show you how accurate I am.”

Bombay smirked, “I like this kid.”

I couldn’t help but smile as Tibbles let me skate back over to Gaffney.

“Look at the boys,” she smirked.

I gave her a confused look.

“Attractive, presumably single hockey players? Might be able to get ourselves a date.”

“Oh shut up,” I shoved her shoulder, “We should be thinking about Hockey, not getting some stupid guys to go out with us. Besides, dating a teammate would just be... weird.”

Julie rolled her eyes, “Oh whatever.”

I laughed and gave the team one final look. My eyes fell on two boys standing near the edge of the group, I assumed one, if not both, was the captain.

“Who’re those boys? Near the edge?”

Julie smirked, “Conway and Banks. The two star players.”

“Oh.”

“Who do you think is cuter?”

I swallowed hard, “Honestly hard to tell. They both give off different vibes.”

“I thought you said dating a teammate would be ‘weird’“ Julie laughed.

“Listen,” I smiled, “I can look at the menu, I just won’t order.”

Julie let out a cackle and skated away.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The tension between the groups finally bubbled over and I was swept in by someone insulting Julie.

“She’s a lot better than you bus boy!” I yelled in the other goalies face.

“I’d block any of your shots any day (Y/l/n)!” he said.

“Wanna test that theory?” I said, apparently I had this fiery look in my eyes cause when Julie pulled me back I saw how terrified the goalie looked causing me to laugh.

Banks skated over, “You really think you’re hot shit huh?”

“Oh please,” I scoffed, “I know I’m hot shit. How many state titles have you one pretty boy?”

I mentally slapped myself. Pretty boy? Really? Best you could come up with?

Adam smirked, “I’d take you on anytime princess.”

“Bring it on.”

Eventually Bombay broke us all apart.

“Now we didn’t come here to fight! We came to play Hockey. We’re team USA. You represent your country!”

Julie and I giggled at the looks on the players faces.

Adam turned to me, “SHH!”

I rolled my eyes in return.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

After the first practice we all seemed to get along better. The girls all went out shopping together on the weekends leading to us getting close quick. Adam and I had a competition going of who could make the best trick shot, which Julie kept saying was ‘tension’.

We finally made it to our game against Germany. The summer had seemed to go by in an instant and I knew after the championship I would have to be bussed right back home to Boringtown USA.

I walked into the locker room after workouts, I stayed afterwards to work on my shot more. I turned the corner and saw Adam wrapping his wrist up, he winced.

“Adam?”

He jumped and looked up, “It’s not- (Y/n) don’t you dare tell coach.”

“What’d you do?”

Adam sighed, “In the last game, the dude that hooked my wrist with his stick. It’s just a little sore I promise-”

“Adam,” I said gently grabbing hist wrist to examine it, “You might’ve sprained it. If you keep playing on it it could get worse, you might not be able to play anymore.”

“It’s fine. I’ll get it checked out after the seasons over with.”

“That’s self destructive. You can’t set aside your pride for a minute just to get it looked at?” I knew to get him to see how ridiculous he was being I’d have to rile him up a little.

He scoffed, “I’m prideful? Have you even looked at yourself sharpshooter? You think you’re better than everyone and-”

“Adam this isn’t about me, or even you. It’s about the team. And if you have to get benched for longer than necessary just because you ignored an injury than that’s gonna be the whole teams problem.”

Adam sighed, “Fine. But I better not hear a word from you about it.”

“And on the topic of me being better than everyone, I’ve never thought that. I just didn’t feel like I fit in.”

“What are you talking about?” he said, “You fit in fine. You’re just constantly pushing yourself to where everyone feels like you’re full of it. A lot of people are jealous.”

“Jealous?” I cocked my head to the side.

“Yeah.”

I looked at him confused, “Of what?”

“Just- you’re constantly finding things to improve. You’re just the person who doesn’t realize just how good you are sometimes. To the point where it’s almost annoying. Yeah it’s like you think you’re better but at the same time you’re never the best. And it’s infuriating when all I can think about in practice is impressing you-”

“Impressing me?” I smile.

“I- uh. Yes. Impressing you.”

“Adam,” I chuckle, “Everyone on this team thinks you’re amazing. Myself included.”

“Amazing?”

“Yeah,” I chuckle.

He stands up and walks over to stand in front of me, I look up into those bright blue eyes I could never seem to avoid. I gently grab his wrist, “Let’s go get this checked out by the trainer okay?”

“Okay,” he says as I started to lead him down the hallway, “And (Y/n)?”

I turned back to him.

He quickly leaned forward to press a quick kiss on my lips, “I think you’re pretty amazing too.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

*If you signed up for my taglist but don’t see your name please message me!

Taglist: @thebookwormlife @talksoprettyjjx @coolreallyfuzzystudentuniverse @igotabadfeelingabouteverything @larrystylinson-sus @lovesanimals @aunicornmademedoit @thexhotmess @ssprayberrythings @registerednursejackie @nicolewithasoul @homealone200 @hemmingsness @persephonequeenofthedead @bookfrog242 @julieandthephantomsblogduh @fangirling-allday @drxgxnslxyer @schnapp-my-neck @blue21727

#the mighty ducks #the mighty ducks imagine #TMD imagine #Adam Banks #adam banks imagine #adam banks x reader #disney #disney imagine

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edna-skiffens · 4 years ago

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Teacher’s Pet - Harrison Osterfield Headcanon

Teacher’s Pet - Harrison HC

A/N: I was working in a school until a tornado came through last week and damaged it and now it’s closed until further notice and I can’t work there and see my work crushes and have to find somewhere else to work and there are a lot of ...um… hot, young teachers and the other day I was thinking about what it would be like to work in a school with Harrison as one of the fellow teachers. Which created this:

You and Harrison both taught at a High School

You were the new Lit teacher (because what do you think we do on this website)

And Harrison taught History

He could teach about the monarchy and Prince Leopold and WWII

Bonus: Tom would teach science

Because Peter Parker vibes

Harrison’s classroom was down the hall and he was always there anytime you needed help

Whether it was finding your way around, getting the copy machine to work, needing him to watch your class for a quick restroom break, knowing which substitutes were the best, which meals to avoid in the cafeteria, how to handle certain students, etc

He was more than helpful

His helpfulness turned into a friendship which turned into a flirtationship by the end of your first year

When your job was renewed and he was tenured at the end of the school year he asked you out to celebrate

You wouldn’t tell anyone when you first started dating because you didn’t need teenagers gossiping about their teachers

Much less your coworkers gossiping in the break room

But things were going very well so eventually you each told your classes

“Yes. The rumors are true. Mr. Osterfield and I are dating.”

Cue the little squeals and awes and trying to settle down the class

You would ride to work together and leave together most days

Nights of grading papers and making tests together

Asking for opinions on projects and assignments and how you handle certain students and their parents

If there were any unruly students you would discuss with each other how you handle them

“Oh that doesn’t work for them. You have to tell their coach. Or send them to me next time. I’ll handle it.”

The students ‘oooh’ing at you two anytime they see y’all together

Even if it was a simple work related conversation, everyone in the school loved to point out y’all being together

Eating lunch together in one of your classrooms

Because you sponsored the Prom Committee you had to be a chaperone and find other chaperones

He obviously was going to chaperone with you but he didn’t just tell you or sign up to volunteer

One day after school, you’re both in your classroom grading papers and you get to the bottom of the stack where you notice a paper in his handwriting

“Miss Y/L/N, Will you go to prom with me? Circle Yes or No”

Fighting a blush you circled ‘Yes’ and walked the paper over to the desk he was working at, placing it down, then giving him a brief kiss on the cheek

You both agreed PDA needed to be kept at the bare minimum while at school

During prom night you were both dressed up and went to a nice dinner before and had some drinks after

He managed to pry you away from chaperone duties for a dance

You would show school spirit and go to different games together to support your students

Dressed out in school colors and cheering along with the band

The kids loved seeing y’all out of the classroom and more of a couple

Loved teasing is probably more accurate

He would coach the track team and you’d go support his meets

And if you thought he looked good in his teacher clothes

Well..

He certainly looked good when he was in coach mode too

If one of you had to be out sick or something the other would check in on the substitute and the class

“Now, you know I’m going to tell Mr. Osterfield if there were any issues so you might as well behave.”

The students honestly loved you both though

They were your little spies around the holidays

He told them to sneakily find out what you wanted as a gift when they were in your class

But teenagers weren’t the most subtle and when half of your class suddenly took an interest in your holiday wish-list you knew something was up

During teacher workdays you tried to each get stuff done in your own classrooms but inevitably ended up in one another’s room talking

You were certainly glad you had chosen this career path that led you to this school and then Harrison

You always had been a Teacher’s Pet. 😌

A/N: I only really know how schools work in the U.S. so if it doesn’t make sense for where you live, I’m sorry. But I’m over here simping for Teacher!Haz and I feel like there’s plenty of room to explore this so if you have a request for more of any of this please send it in!

I miss my school. My kids. My work crushes coworkers.

#harrison osterfield #harrison osterfield x y/n #harrison osterfield one shot #harrison osterfield headcanon #harrison osterfield blurb #harrison osterfeild imagine #harrison osterfield fanfic #harrison osterfeild fluff #harrison osterfeild x reader #teacher!au #teacher!Harrison #teacher!reader #au!harrison #teacher!harrison x reader #teacher!harrison x y/n #tale teller #may she rest in peace #lol #edna skiffens writes

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svtwritess · 4 years ago

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Chapter 4

➫ word count: 7.6k

➫ pairings: wonwoo x female reader, mingyu x female reader

➫ genre: fluff, angst, smut

➫ college!au, vampire!au

➫ warnings: alcohol, mentions of food, swearing, sexual content

A week had passed since Wonwoo’s outburst, and things had returned back to normal. Minus the fact that you had to consciously stop yourself from telling your best friend about Mingyu. It was hard since he was your only form of social life outside of Wonwoo, but you sucked it up for the purpose of the deal you made with him. You had spent so much time with Mingyu and you were extremely happy about it. He took you out to lunch after the class you had together and mentioned that he wanted to make it a weekly thing, to which you happily agreed. He had also picked you up from each of your classes, waiting outside the door with your favorite coffee in his hand, prepared to walk you to your apartment. He would usually stay over until right before Wonwoo was supposed to come home and much to your delight, things usually got relatively heated for at least a little while. You didn’t know what you did to be treated so well, but you were in far too deep to question it.

You were currently on the phone with Mingyu who was trying his hardest to convince you to go to another party, one that was happening that night, and you were refusing profusely.

“I’m sorry but no! Why can’t we just watch a movie or something?” you whined, picking at the fur on one of your stuffed animals as you sat on your bed.

“Because my friends are gonna be there and I really want you to meet them! You don’t even have to dress up, just wear jeans or something.” he whined back, his pleading tugging at your heartstrings very effectively.

“Well if I’m meeting all of your friends, I’m gonna wear more than just jeans.” you smiled to yourself, feeling happily defeated.

“Soooo is that a yes?” you could hear the cheeky grin on his face from through the phone.

“Yes, now tell me when and where it is before I change my mind.” you giggled, standing up and walking over to your closet. You opened it excitedly, knowing exactly what you were going to wear.

“I’ll pick you up at 9 okay? Meet me at the entrance to your place, and try to stay awake until then.” he teased and you nodded, forgetting that he couldn’t see you.

“Will do, see you later.”

“Byeee.” he said, ending the phone call in just as much of an endearing way as he started it.

You checked the time on your phone before locking it and tossing it on your bed. It was 8:10, giving you a little less than an hour to get ready. If there was something you’d learned about Mingyu in the past week, it was that he was very punctual, and very proud of the fact.

You took the dress you were going to wear out of your closet, admiring it for a moment. It was a dark pink color, flowers scattered here and there, with a high v-neck and short sleeves. It hugged your body in the most flattering way and fell to your mid-thigh, but those were the only ways in which it was revealing.

You took your shoes out of your closet as well before going to get your makeup bag. You only planned to wear a small amount, just enough to make an… impressive first impression.

You played some music as you got ready, taking your time getting dressed and applying your makeup. You even put on some of your favorite perfume before slipping on your socks and shoes. You grabbed a small purse from one of your drawers and threw your phone in it, preparing to put your keys in it as well. You stepped out of your bedroom and went to grab your keys that you knew were on the counter by the door.

“Where are you going?” Wonwoo asked from the couch, his glasses resting on the bridge of his nose with a bowl sitting in his lap.

“Just… out.” you shrugged, throwing your keys into your bag and heading out the door. You knew if you went to explain further you would end up saying more than he needed to know, so you decided to skip it. Wonwoo would figure out who you were with soon enough.

As you walked toward the entrance to your apartment complex, you saw Mingyu’s tall figure approaching. He was dressed in a thin black sweater that was made of slightly see through material, light blue jeans that made his thighs look amazing, and black sneakers. You were finally close enough to hear each other and his eyes widened.

“Wow…” Mingyu breathed out, “This is casual for you?” he laughed in awe as he pulled you in by your waist, his brown orbs full of admiration.

“Maybe, is that an issue?” you asked, running your hands up his arms, admiring the way the black of his shirt complimented his honey-colored skin.

“Not at all.” he smirked, placing a quick kiss on your lips. “You ready?”

You nodded happily and reached down to take his hand in yours. “Let’s go!”

You walked in silence toward wherever the party was, it seemed like it was in a similar spot to the previous party location. Though when you arrived at the house, it was much smaller than the one last weekend and it seemed like there were way less people there. Upon entering, it felt more like a get together than a party, but you almost preferred that.

There were still people dancing with cups full of alcohol in their hands under low, colored lighting, but the environment was much more relaxed. Mingyu led you down to the basement where there were people sitting on couches and conversing, a thin layer of smoke covering the room. He walked you over to a small leather couch in the back corner where 4 men around your age were seated, two on the loveseat and two on the floor.

“Y/n, these are the guys.” he motioned outward with his hand and they all looked up at you, eyes wide. They stood up frantically and straightened their clothes out before smiling at you. The first 3 were giving you sweet, cheeky smiles, while the other was smirking at you with his arms crossed over his chest. “This is Chan, Vernon, Jihoon, and Jeonghan.”

You couldn’t deny that they were all attractive, but not as attractive as Mingyu, at least in your opinion. Chan and Jihoon had an endearing, youthful vibe to them, while Vernon seemed very chill, and Jeonghan seemed… unique.

They all said their hello’s and you said hi back, your nerves suddenly settling in.

“So this is the girlfriend huh?” Jeonghan said, a cocky tone to his voice. Your cheeks heated up as you held back a smile, and just as you were about to protest, Mingyu spoke up.

“I guess that would be the best way to describe it, yeah.” he laughed nervously. Your jaw dropped slightly and looked up at Mingyu in disbelief. Your entire face was now red, not expecting to gain that title this evening, even if he seemed a little apprehensive about it. You were itching to have that conversation, but you knew you needed to save it for after the party.

“Well good for you guys. Are you hanging out with us tonight?” Jihoon said as they all returned to their places on the couch or carpet.

“We were planning on it, if that’s okay.” Mingyu replied. They all nodded, Chan still with a small smile on his face. Mingyu led you to the wall opposite of where you were standing and sat down against it, patting the spot next to him. You sat as appropriately as you could, with your legs bent so that your knees pointed toward Mingyu. It wasn’t comfortable, but it was the only way you could sit without flashing the entire party. Mingyu put his hand on your thigh and smiled at you.

“Here,” Jeonghan said as he held a jacket out to you, “for your legs.” his voice was quiet and he almost seemed shy, which was a huge contrast to his smug presence you had just witnessed.

“Thank you,” you said appreciatively before draping the coat over your lower body. Your “boyfriend” seemed happy about the interactions that had happened thus far as his thumb rubbed your leg comfortingly.

“So, Vernon over there is dating a guy named Seungkwan, he’ll be here later. You know him?” Mingyu asked and your face lit up at the mention of a familiar name.

“Oh yeah! I only met him once, but I think he knows my roommate. He seems really nice.” you said, a small smile on your face. You were happy someone you actually knew would be joining you. Even if you only met in passing, seeing a face you’d seen before would further comfort you.

“Oh he’s nice, and have you seen his ass?” Jeonghan said playfully before Vernon reached up and hit his arm, though Jeonghan simply laughed as he rubbed the spot. You laughed at the exchange, seeing Mingyu smiling at you from the corner of your eye.

“Well I’m gonna go get a drink, you want anything?” Mingyu asked.

“One of whatever pleeease.”

He kissed the top of your head before standing up and exiting the basement.

“So you know about the, you know, thing, right?” Chan asked once Mingyu was gone, sitting criss-cross applesauce on the seat of the couch.

“Th-the thing?” you questioned. You assumed he meant Mingyu being a vampire, but you weren’t sure if they knew he was as well.

“Yeah! Being dead, not being able to go out in the sunlight, can only be killed by wooden stakes, that stuff?” he said way more casually than you would’ve expected him to.

“Yeah, yeah he told me about that,” you nodded, trying to match his level of calmness, “but is all of that really true?” you asked, genuinely curious.

Every single one of them laughed out loud.

“Well we’re dead, sure, but that’s about the only thing that’s accurate.” Jeonghan replied. Did he say… we?

“Wait… are you all-”

“Yeah, we are,” Vernon stopped you, “Jeonghan here is the oldest, then Mingyu, then me, then Chan.”

You nodded in understanding, not really sure how to react. You now had an apparent vampire “boyfriend” who had 4 hot vampire friends. You wouldn’t have picked Twilight to be the book your life turned into, but admittedly you weren’t complaining.

“So… does Seungkwan know too? Just so I know if I should bring it up or not.”

“Yeah, he knows. He was really cool about it too.” a small smile made its way onto the 2nd youngest vampire’s face as Mingyu re-entered your corner with 2 red cups in his hand. He handed you one and you thanked him before he returned to his spot next to you.

“Have there been people who weren’t cool about it?” you asked out of curiosity, not realizing the true weight of the question. Mingyu had a confused look on his face as the other 3 looked at each other, puzzled.

“Well, yeah, but that never ends well, so we’re glad the two of you were accepting of it.” Jihoon told you, a dismissive look on his face. You so badly wanted to know exactly what he meant by that, but as it was only your first time meeting him, you didn’t push the topic.

You took a sip of your drink, your tastebuds instantly captivated by a yummy vodka and punch mixture. Mingyu returned his hand to your thigh, though this time on top of the jacket.

“Is it okay if I ask how old you guys are? I thought Mingyu would be older than he actually was.” you told the group and they all chuckled.

“I’m 212, give or take a few years. Keeping track gets hard after a while.” Jeonghan answered. You chuckled lightly before Vernon spoke up.

“I just turned 100. Not gonna lie it feels really cool to say that.” he smiled confidently at his own words.

“I’m 22. I haven’t even been turned for a year yet, so I’m still learning,” he said shyly with a small shrug. He was so cute.

“You remember that crash you heard on the phone the other day?” Mingyu asked and you nodded. “That was him.” he pointed at Chan, causing Jeonghan to poke at him teasingly.

“So Chan’s your roommate?” you turned to Mingyu and he nodded. You were really glad you got to meet his friends and you were really glad that they were nice.

When your eyes left Mingyu, you saw Seungkwan walking toward your group. He had on a white sweater and black pants, his hair looking fluffy and as if it would be soft to the touch.

Vernon stood up and greeted him with a hug before pecking his lips and plopping back down on the couch. Seungkwan took a seat on his boyfriend’s lap and Vernon wrapped his hands around Seungkwan’s waist. Their position caused your mind to flash back to when you saw Wonwoo and coffee girl, who you still refused to call by name, at the last party. You tried to suppress the memory as best as you could.

“Seungkwan, this is Y/N.” Mingyu said as he motioned to you. Seungkwan’s jaw dropped slightly and pointed at you with his eyebrows furrowed, as if he was thinking, then he smiled.

“Oh you were with Wonwoo! At the party last weekend! How are you?” he asked cheerfully, getting up from Vernon’s lap and walking over to you. He bent down to give you a hug, and had you known that’s what he was doing you would have gotten up to greet him as well. You hugged him back as your heart fluttered at his kind gesture. You already hoped you could be friends with him.

“I’m good, thanks. It’s really good to see you.” you said as he pulled away and his grin only widened.

“You too!” you expected him to go back to where he was sitting, but he stayed standing in front of you. “Are you guys just gonna… sit here?” he asked, motioning to the small area you were sitting in with his hands.

“I mean we could do something, but what?” Chan questioned.

“Oh! Let’s go play beer pong!” Mingyu came alive as he put his idea out in the open. You had never played it before, but as long as you were in good company, and you were, you didn’t care what you did.

“I’m down. As long as you guys are prepared to lose.” Jeonghan said, his cocky side returning.

“Me too. As long as you’re prepared for the ass beating I’m gonna give you when you cheat.” Mingyu spit back at Jeonghan, causing everyone except Jeonghan to laugh.

“Let’s go!” Vernon said before everyone stood up. Mingyu offered his hand to you and you took it, allowing him to pull you up with essentially no effort at all. You tied Jeonghan’s jacket around your waist and followed the others to the back patio.

The back of the house reeked of weed, but you hoped that your nose would simply get used to it. There was a ping pong table on the concrete, and right when you began to question where the beer pong stuff was, Vernon and Seungkwan appeared with cups, beer bottles, and ping pong balls in their hands. You asked if you could help set things up, but Mingyu insisted that you didn’t need to, so you stood back and admired Mingyu’s active form from a distance.

With so many of them putting the game together, it was ready to play in no time. You were on a team with Mingyu and Seungkwan and were playing against Jeonghan, Jihoon and Chan. Vernon told the lot of you that he was fine being the referee.

“Everybody play fair now,” Vernon said, not-so-subtly looking at Jeonghan longer than he looked at everyone else. The older male rolled his eyes at the glance and grabbed a ball, determination in his eyes as the game began.

The first round was atrocious for your team. You could tell Mingyu was doing his best to keep his cool as he knew you had never played before and knew that Seungkwan didn’t play often, but it was clear he was unhappy with the terrible result of the initial match. That led him to challenge the other team to a second game, in which you totally kicked ass. The opposing team tried to call it beginners luck, but as you’d already played one game, you knew it was just the fact that you’d finally gotten the hang of it, much to Mingyu’s delight. Seungkwan never really got better, which was okay. You learned that he’s an amazing cheerleader.

The third game, however, was just one big mess. Jeonghan continuously smacked ping pong balls that were about to score a point away from the cups. He also kept moving cups around and when you accused him of cheating, him and the rest of his team would act like they had absolutely no idea what you were talking about. That being said, you lost the last game, though very unfairly, and decided to end the playing there before you, Mingyu and Seungkwan became too aggravated.

You went back inside, all of you stopping in the kitchen to grab a drink before returning to the couch in the corner of the basement. You were only feeling slightly tipsy from the beer you had drank, and truthfully you didn’t want to get any further than that.

This time around, Mingyu sat on the couch and pulled you down on his lap, one hand wrapped around your waist and the other around a beer bottle. Seungkwan sat next to you on Vernon’s lap, and Jihoon managed to squeeze onto the armrest by the wall.

You got caught up in conversation with the group, mostly talking to Seungkwan about how crazy finding out that vampires were real was for the both of you. Seungkwan said he freaked out a bit at first and was surprised to hear that you didn’t, but he understood. He said that though he was scared of everything he thought he knew about vampires as a species at the time, he wasn’t scared of Vernon in the slightest. You thought their relationship was really cute in an opposites attract type of way.

You also found out that Jihoon was really into writing music, Chan was really into dancing, and Jeonghan was really into simply having a good time. You were glad you got involved with a guy that seemed to have such great friends, even if they weren’t exactly alive.

Though you were having a great time conversing with everyone, you noticed that Mingyu had barely said 3 words since you came back inside.

“Hey, you okay?” you said as you looked at him. He nodded passively as he looked past you and further into the room. The look on his face was serious, almost as if he was on the lookout for something. You turned around and tried to follow his eyeline. It seemed as if he was staring at another male attending the party, one that looked oddly familiar.

“Do you know that guy? The guy you’re staring at?” you asked him quietly, not wanting the others to hear.

“Uhh yeah, just someone I used to know. He doesn’t usually come to these types of things.” he replied. You turned back to the man and looked a little closer, trying to remember how you knew him.

“Oh!” you faced Mingyu again, “He’s the cashier from the supermarket I go to.” you said calmly, though Mingyu’s eyes darted to you as they widened.

“You know him?” he asked urgently.

“No, he just rang up my groceries one time. Why?” you were getting suspicious.

“I just… I don’t trust him, okay? Stay away from him if you can help it.” he gripped your waist tighter and you nodded reassuringly. Even though you, again, had many questions, you kept them to yourself. You mostly wondered if he meant “knew” as in he knew him from this school or if he meant “knew” as in he met him a century ago.

You turned to look at Mingyu’s nemesis one more time, but this time, his eyes were looking back at you. The small mole by his lip was only more defined as he smirked at you before running his hand through his light brown hair and turning away. Mingyu must have seen the exchange, because he very suddenly stood up, causing you to fall forward slightly.

“I think Y/n and I are gonna head out.” he announced abruptly. Admittedly you were annoyed, you were having a good time, but you would address that when you left. It was getting late anyway and you knew you would see the group again sometime soon.

“Oh! Okay, well it was really nice seeing you Y/n.” Seungkwan said, just as surprised as you were.

“You too, Seungkwan. It was really great meeting all of you.” you said, and they all replied with scattered smiles and “you too’s”.

Mingyu put his hand on the small of your back and quickly rushed you through the house and out the door. Once you reached the front porch, Mingyu stopped.

“Listen, I’m sorry, I just really don’t like that guy and when he looked at you like that I snapped,” he said, clearly frazzled and a bit frustrated. Though just a few seconds ago you were ready to put him in his place, you were now feeling rather sympathetic.

“Mingyu it’s okay, but if you want me to understand what’s going on you need to tell me. Not knowing just makes it easier to get angry and I don’t wanna get angry at you.” you rubbed his arm comfortingly. He groaned as he hid his face in his hands then ran his hands through his hair.

“I can’t tell you, at least right now. Believe me I want to, but please trust me okay? Avoid him at all costs, it’s just to keep you safe.” he pulled you into a hug and you wrapped your arms around him as well. You were beyond confused and you wanted to ask if he was really that dangerous, but with the way he was acting, you knew that was a stupid question. He wouldn’t be so adamant about it if it wasn’t that serious. You simply nodded against his chest before you let each other go. “Now let’s get you home.” he smiled sweetly and you returned the expression.

You walked hand in hand to your apartment, a comfortable silence filling the air. You were admittedly a bit tired, so you didn’t feel like talking. The walk felt short, but as your eyelids felt heavier with each step, you were okay with it. You reached your residence and pulled out your key before unlocking the door and stepping inside. Though as soon as you did, you heard unmistakable noises.

A female moan followed by a groan from your best friend.

You immediately shut the door and stepped back outside, bumping into Mingyu in the process.

“Ew ew ew ew ew!” you exclaimed, moving your hands around frantically, not exactly sure what to do with them.

“What? What is it?” Mingyu asked frantically.

“Wonwoo! Making noises! Having sex God ew!” you cringed.

“Huh? Are you sure? Why would he do that if he knew you were coming home?”

“I don’t know but I hate it! Make it stop make it stop!” you covered your ears as if you could still hear it. The sounds kept playing over and over in your mind. Why? Why on earth could you still hear them? It wasn’t so much the fact that you heard him having sex, but the fact that you knew who it was with sent chills down your spine.

“Okay okay listen, just come home with me, it’ll be fine, I promise” he rubbed your upper back as he tried to comfort you. You simply nodded, face still contorted in disgust, and let him lead you to his apartment.

“God why would he do that?! He could’ve at least told me not to come home! Or to come home late, anything!” you yelled as you walked, still unable to believe his indecency. “I know we agreed to not talk about our love lives with each other, but if the roles were reversed? He’d be pissed! He would’ve walked in there and kicked you out or something!”

“So what I’m hearing is that your hypothetical scenarios, I’m the one you’re fucking?” Mingyu said smugly and all you could do is glare at him.

“Mingyu I’m serious. Is that not super wrong of him?”

“It is but come on! It’s not like you didn’t know he was getting some.” he shrugged.

“I know, but I didn’t need to hear it, that’s all.”

“What? Are you mad you’re not getting laid? Cause you could be.” Mingyu said matter-of-factly, a smirk on his face.

“Oh really? By who, Jeonghan?” you teased, causing Mingyu to stop in his tracks, his jaw nearly on the ground. You couldn’t help but laugh.

“Come on! You know I’m joking. Now please tell me we’re almost there?” you grabbed his hand and pulled, his feet eventually stumbling forward.

“Actually, we’re here.” he smiled. You furrowed your eyebrows and looked ahead, your eyes only being met with a cute, white brick house.

“You live… in a house? In college?” you tilted your head in curiosity.

“Let’s just say I have business with the owner,” he kissed your cheek and walked you toward the door. Though the outside of the house had a vintage charm to it, there was a keypad to get inside instead of the normal deadbolt. Mingyu entered the code and turned the handle, a beautiful, modern house coming into view.

The brick walls were a beautiful cream color, metal shelves and cute hanging plants filled the entrance. Your face must have shown how impressed you were.

“You like it?” Mingyu asked as he kicked his shoes off.

“It’s beautiful, did you decorate it yourself?”

“Oh no, we hired someone for that.” he chuckled.

“You care enough about your house to pay for an interior designer? Nice.” you smiled as you took your shoes off as well, sliding them so they were next to his.

“I’m a vampire, not an animal. Let me give you the tour.”

You exited the entrance of the house and he took you over to the kitchen. It was very open and was connected to the living room. The kitchen had sleek black cabinets and white granite countertops with a large stainless steel refrigerator and stove to finish it off. The living room contained a grey sectional couch, a black coffee table, and a TV that was at least 60 inches mounted to the wall. There were small knick knacks all over the house that made it even more charming than it already was.

He then led you down a hallway that had 2 doors on each side. The first one was Chan’s room. It was definitely the room of a young guy, but still pretty neat and tidy. The next room was the bathroom, it doubled as Chan’s and the one that guests used. It was also nicely kept.

The next one was another bedroom that had been converted into a movie/ gaming room. There were LED lights attached to the ceiling, a leather couch in the center of the room, and a TV even larger than the one in the living room sitting on a large, sturdy- looking table.

“This is my old room, but we renovated it when I upgraded.”

“Upgraded?” you asked, excited to finally see Mingyu’s room.

“There’s a third bedroom that we added onto to make it bigger, so I took that one.” he told you as he closed the door and led you to the last room in the hallway.

“Prepare yourself.” he smiled as he opened the door and a room seemingly bigger than the rest of the house combined came into view.

The floors were a dark grey tile and the walls a lighter grey. There was a bed to the left and it was easily the biggest bed you’d ever seen. The headboard was a regal looking, plush white one with a perfectly made grey bedspread, decorative pillows covering almost half of it. A TV was mounted to the wall in front of it and there were nightstands with beautiful metal lamps on them. There was a chandelier in the middle of the ceiling, and to the right there were 2 chaise lounges that matched the bed frame and another TV in an entertainment center with a gaming console below it.

“Two TV’s? Really?” you judged only slightly.

“And that’s not even the best part.” he booped your nose and sauntered over to the bathroom; the entrance was covered by a large barn door. He slid it opened and what was quite possibly the nicest bathroom you’d ever seen came into view.

The walls were a matte tan color, there was a large white bathtub in one corner, a shower with glass doors and the walls decorated with beautiful glass tiles. A double vanity and a wood-framed mirror sat in between the two. The shower head was about a foot long on each side and hung from the ceiling and there seemed to be jets of some sort on one of the shower walls

“So when were you going to tell me that you basically have money coming out of your ass?” you inquired as you took in the elegance of the bathroom. Mingyu didn’t dress rich and wasn’t as much of a dick as lots of rich people were, so you were taken aback to say the least.

“Technically it’s not my money. My parents were rich back in the day, owned a lot of property, and when they died they left all of it to me. So now all the money that people pay when they rent or buy their properties, it comes to me.” he shrugged as if it was no big deal, but your eyes were wide in shock.

“Okay then Mr. ‘not-my-money’, this place is still amazing.” you told him, but he just chuckled in denial.

“Thanks,” he rubbed the back of his neck, “Do you wanna shower or something?”

“Um, in that fancy monster of a shower? Yes, yes I do.” you smiled and Mingyu was already walking over to the closet like he knew what you were going to say. He opened the door and grabbed a towel before tossing it at you.

“Don’t take too long,” he pointed at you as he exited the bathroom and left you alone. You felt like you’d only seen showers this nice in movies and in pictures of mansions, never in real life, so needless to say you were excited. You turned the water on and stripped down quickly before excitedly stepping into what your mind had decided to coin the Tranquility Haven.

The warm water that fell from directly above you felt euphoric, covering your entire body at once. You honestly felt like you could fall asleep in there, but sadly you did not feel like turning into a prune. You washed yourself leisurely, enjoying the luxury and anticipating the fact that you would probably smell like Mingyu when you were done.

Your mind thought back to when Mingyu said his parents owned property “back in the day”. Did he mean… the 1800’s? His parents were rich in the 19th century? If they were loaded then, you couldn’t imagine how loaded they’d be now. You wanted to know how much Mingyu was making from his parents’ properties, but you would feel inappropriate asking. You knew it had to be a lot, though.

After a while, you begrudgingly turned off the water and stepped out of the shower before grabbing your towel. You dried your hair off a bit before wrapping the towel around your body and stepping into Mingyu’s room.

“I’m just saying, she could be doing way be- Jesus Y/n!” Chan yelled as he stood up and turned around. He had been sitting on Mingyu’s bed talking until he saw you and jumped up in fear.

“We’ll be out in a minute,” Mingyu laughed as he ushered the younger male out of his bedroom. He turned to you and leaned against the door, his arms crossed.

“See you didn’t give me clean clothes when I slept at your place, so I’m wondering if I should even consider giving you some.” he raised his eyebrow at you, his tongue poking at his inner cheek.

“What? You want me to walk around in just a towel?”

“Oh I’d prefer much less than a towel,” he retaliated, causing you to frown at him. After a few seconds of staring at each other, he finally broke. “Fine, but only since Chan is here.” your expression turned into a smile as he walked over to his closet that seemed surprisingly small compared to the rest of the house. He pulled out a t-shirt and handed it to you as he walked back to his bed and laid down. You thanked him and went back into the bathroom.

You hung the towel up on the hook that was on the back of the door before slipping the shirt over your head. You put your underwear back on and picked up your clothes and bag from off of the floor, then walked over to the mirror. As you ran your fingers through your wet hair in an attempt to make it look decent, you realized something.

“Mingyu!” you stormed out of the bathroom, “This shirt is pretty see through and I’m guessing you knew that when you gave it to me?” you put your things down on the ground and crossed your arms. All Mingyu did was shrug and try to hold back the smirk he so badly wanted to display. “Whatever…” you muttered as you took your phone out of your bag.

“Chan’s waaaaiting.” he sang, getting up and waiting for you by the door. You kept your arms crossed, phone in one hand, as you followed him to the living room.

“Y/n, I’m sorry, I promise I didn’t see anything, Mingyu didn’t tell me you were here.” Chan said frantically as soon as you came into view, his eyes full of concern.

“No no no, it’s fine. Really, don’t worry about it.” you reassured him, and he nodded gratefully.

Mingyu sat down on the couch and you sat next to him. He laid down and rested his head on your lap, causing you to frantically pull at your shirt, trying to loosen the top part so that Chan wouldn’t see anything. Once you had accomplished that, you placed your hand in Mingyu’s hair and began playing with it, only slightly annoyed at his outfit choice for you.

You made interesting conversation with Chan, talking about what he liked and didn’t like about being a vampire for the most part. He asked about how you liked school and if you had fun at the party, and before either of you realized it, Mingyu was fast asleep on your lap. A light snore fell from his lips and you admired his calmed features.

“Y/n…” Chan said, capturing your attention, “Can I ask how serious you guys are?” your cheeks heated up at the question. No one had ever really asked you about your relationship before, besides the whole ‘is this the girlfriend’ thing that Jeonghan pulled, and he was talking to Mingyu then anyway.

“Um, I don’t really know. It hasn’t been very long, but I… I really like him.” you tried not to gush too much, “Why do you ask?”

Chan was smiling at your admiration for his friend. “Mingyu would kill me if he knew that I told you, but he talks about you a lot. Like, almost all the time. I don’t think he even realizes he’s doing it, but yeah. I’ve only known him for 6 years or so, but I’ve never seen him like this.” he explained, and your cheeks turned even rosier as your stomach did somersaults. Chan didn’t seem like the type of guy to lie, and why would anyone say something like that so randomly if they weren’t really eager to tell you?

“I- thank you for telling me, Chan. It means a lot.” you nodded and he smiled at you, flashing his pearly whites.

“Of course. I’m gonna go to bed now, but I’m glad we got to talk more. You seem really good for him. Good for all of us actually.” he stood up and stretched. “Goodnight.”

“Goodnight.”

Chan disappeared into his room and you just sat there, reveling in Chan’s kind words and not wanting to wake Mingyu. You picked up your phone, feeling surprised when you saw you had a text from Wonwoo. It was only one, but that was enough to make you nervous and excite you all at once. You opened the message and were faced with a few simple words.

from: wonu

12:34am: did you stop by earlier?

You simply rolled your eyes and began typing.

to: wonu

12:34am: yeah and i know we agreed not to talk about our love lives or whatever, but you could at least tell me to sleep somewhere else for the night if you were planning on fucking someone. loudly.

He read your text immediately and the three bubbles popped up at the bottom of your screen, indicating that he was typing. However, the longer you waited for his response, the more you realized that it likely wasn’t coming. You were much more unpleasant with him than you wanted to be, but the noises you heard when you entered your apartment weren’t by any means pleasant either. Truthfully, you wanted to say more, but you figured you’d rather have that conversation in person.

At a few minutes past 1, you decided it was time to stop anticipating a reply from Wonwoo and try to sleep. You locked your phone and set it beside you before leaning your head back on the couch and drifting off to sleep, the feeling of Mingyu’s head in your lap making the position significantly more comfortable.

You woke up with your head on the softest of pillows and your body under the comfiest of blankets; Mingyu must have moved the both of you at some point during the night. A decent amount of light shone through the windows and the soft sound of the television rang throughout your ears. You looked to your side and saw Mingyu sitting with his legs crossed, eating a bowl of cereal. He noticed your stirring and turned his attention to you.

“Good morning,” he said to you, mouth halfway full and in the shape of a smile. You returned the expression and sat up on your hands.

“Good morning.” you replied happily. He leaned over and pecked your lips lightly. As you went to get out of his bed, you remembered something.

“Did you say I was your girlfriend last night?” you asked in disbelief. He looked at you with wide eyes, his cheeks still slightly full of food.

“I- well, yeah. That seemed to be the best way to explain it, we’ve never really talked about it.” he shrugged shyly.

“Well, do you wanna talk about it?” you questioned as you got back in his bed fully, sliding closer to him.

He shoved the rest of his cereal in his mouth and drank the milk quickly before setting his bowl and spoon on the table beside him. He sighed as he faced you again.

“It has nothing to do with you, I just, don’t really like labels? Every time I’ve had a relationship with one it just kinda… fell apart.” he played with the blanket on his legs and avoided eye contact, his voice only getting quieter as he spoke. “I want us to last, so I don’t wanna call us anything. At least not yet.” He nodded as he finished, looking up at you with puppy dog eyes and awaiting your response.

You smiled at his explanation and put one of your hands on top of his. “So other people can think our relationship has a label, but we know that it doesn’t?” you asked and Mingyu nodded. “Is that enough? Just us knowing the truth?”

“I really don’t care what other people call us, so yeah. It’s enough.” he smiled sweetly and got out of bed. You followed suit and went to change your clothes as Mingyu picked up his bowl and walked it to the kitchen.

You quickly threw on your clothes from the previous night and slipped on your shoes. You picked up your bag and noticed that Mingyu had placed your phone on the nightstand. You grabbed it and checked the notifications; still no response from Wonwoo, though you weren’t surprised.

“Leaving so soon?” Mingyu asked with a pout when he reentered the room and saw you fully dressed. You frowned, not particularly wanting to leave yourself.

“Sadly. I’ve gotta pick up some stuff for the apartment and do some serious job hunting. I’ve been putting it off for way too long.” you sighed. Your words left Mingyu with a confused look on his face.

“Job? Why get a job when you have me?” he wrapped his arms around your waist.

“Oh you mean you and all the money that you don’t claim as yours? Thanks, but I’ll pass.” you pecked his lips and as soon as you pulled away, he pulled you right back in. He kissed you deeply and meaningfully, causing you to smile. He smacked your ass lightly before pulling away with a smirk.

“I’ll walk you out.”

You rolled your eyes, though trying to hide a smile, as you headed for Mingyu’s front door. Chan was nowhere to be seen, so you assumed he was still asleep. When you reached the entrance of the house, Mingyu kissed you one last time before opening the door for you and, begrudgingly, letting you go on your way.

You practically pranced to the grocery store, still on a Mingyu high that you didn’t want to come down from. You couldn’t believe someone, just one person alone, made you so happy, especially since that someone was technically not even human and kept way more secrets from you than you would like them to. You didn’t know why the secrecy didn’t bother you, but you didn’t think about it for too long.

Your brain that seemed to be wired so that you would expect the worst from every situation because you were also subconsciously awaiting the moment when things would turn to shit. It may not go to complete shit anytime soon, but you were definitely expecting an argument of some sort to happen soon, much to your dismay.

You tried to shake your negative thoughts away as you approached the door of the supermarket, picking up one of the baskets that sat by the entrance. You only needed a few cleaning supplies, some fruit, and some more ramen. You decided you would take your time, though, as you were slightly nervous to see Wonwoo.

You strolled through the produce, deciding on buying a few apples and a bag of grapes. You then moved to the aisle that the ramen was on, buying 2 value packs of your favorite brand. You finally made your way to the cleaning aisle and grabbed a container of disinfecting wipes, but you couldn’t seem to find the dish soap that you usually bought. You looked at the shelf curiously and took a step closer, when suddenly, you heard a voice speaking to you.

“Need any help?” you heard. It was a sweet sounding voice, one that definitely belonged to a male. You turned your head toward the voice and nearly jumped when you saw who it belonged to; it was the guy from the party. The one that had rung up your groceries a few weeks ago, the one Mingyu told you to stay away from.

“O-oh, no thanks, I’m okay.” you replied. You hoped he didn’t recognize you, but then you remembered you were wearing the exact same thing that you were wearing last night when he saw you. When he smirked at you.

“I apologize if this is weird, but you’re much prettier up close.” he smiled and you felt your cheeks heat up slightly, but hopefully not enough to be noticeable. You decided to play it off like you didn’t know him, figuring that’s what Mingyu would want you to do.

“Sorry? I-I don’t think we’ve ever met.” you said, hoping he would give up and leave you alone.

“Ah you don’t remember? I was at the party last night, I’m pretty sure we saw each other.” he crossed his arms with a determined look on his face, but you just shrugged, wanting your conversation to end more than anything.

“Well, anyway, my name is Jun. Let me know if you need anything, anything at all.”

hi everyone! i’m so, so sorry i was late uploading this, everything totally glitched out. but i hope you all enjoyed this chapter :) and if any of you beloved readers haven’t already, please fill out this survey regarding content you’d like to see from me! thank you all & stay safe <3 https://forms.gle/rEWqGcTckFvDBULa9

#mingyu #wonwoo #minwon #meanie #mingyu vampire au #wonwoo college au #wonwoo fic #wonwoo imagine #wonwoo scenario #mingyu fic #mingyu imagine #mingyu scenario #seventeen #seventeen fic #seventeen imagines #seventeen scenarios

86 notes · View notes

shhhlikeme · 4 years ago

Note

Hi love, just wanted to say that you’re so gorgeous and have a lovely smile. I’m a dark skin black girl and have often been told/read hurtful posts about us, but now I’m more confident than ever about being a dark skin girl 🥰.If it’s not too much to ask could you do any character you want with that has a date with his s/o and when he arrives she just glowing in her yellow dress. Like idk if you get the vibe I’m tryna put down but the melanin is hitting different 🤤

Thank you so much for the compliments omg ❤️❤️❤️

BLACK IS BEAUTIFUL. YOU ARE beautiful! I know black women don’t hear that a lot and that’s why I will tell y’all everyday if I need to. Also, today is national economic blackout day for the culture, therefore I waited to post this today.

& as per your message I absolutely get the vibe!!!!! And you know I had to choose the GOAT Akaashi for this since you left it up to me👀

Here goes:

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Akaashi Keiji x Black Crush In a Beautiful Yellow Dress (Fluff)

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Akaashi was NOT ready.

You and Akaashi had been besties for 10 or so years, because your moms have been in the same book club since elementary school

Even though you recently graduated from to different high schools, you both had a good and healthy friendship

You knew that he wasn’t big on talking a lot but you spoke even less than him so it honestly worked well

He was into volleyball and you were really serious about dance

Your moms would always say you just “get” eachother

To Keiji, he was content with having the best of both worlds as best friends: Bokuto: the loud boisterous one, and You: the quiet, beautiful one

Wait did he say beautiful? He meant um... the quiet, wallflower one. sure

Nah he definitely meant beautiful too.

Tbh, Akaashi was very attracted to you via your personality because you were thoughtful, intelligent and relaxing to be around

He thinks of you as the human embodiment of a warm bath at the end of a moving day

And as for your looks.....

Bokuto put his best friends physical attraction to you into words best when he said:

“You want to have Y/N’s babies, don’t you Akaashi? Hmmmmm?”

Akaashi, deadpanning asf, would always answer

“No I do not.”

But when Bokuto would continuously catch him on your instagram page he would keep asking like the pushy friend he is.

At Bokuaka sleepovers, or when they were completely alone is the only time Akaashi would reluctantly but honestly respond to Bokuto’s question with a:

“I wouldn’t mind.”

which is basically undying admission of love by Akaashi standards

Basically, he was crushing on you hard

He admired your dark hair that you always changed into different styles because he never understood how you made them all look attractive

He admired your full lips that he always seemed to have to internally yell at himself to stop staring at when you spoke

He admired your kind and gentle spirit that always seemed to gravitate toward earth tones in attire-expression and he never seemed to understand why

He guessed that being the wallflower that you are; dark colours like black, brown, beige, grey, moss, etc. Acted as a shield as to not bring too much attention to you

He didn’t really care that you stuck to wearing earth tones because you looked beautiful no matter what you wore

But in his dreams he’d always pictured you in bright pink, blue, orange lingerie shirts

He was curious so he asked one day

totally not because he wanted to know how realistic his dreams could be

“Y/N, why do you only wear dark colours?” Asked the most beautiful guy in the world Akaashi as he turned the steering wheel making a left onto the parkway.

The two of you were going to his brother’s wedding rehearsal dinner. You had decided to wear a simple dark button down blouse tucked into a grey pencil skirt. Your curly hair was up in a messy bun and you had your glasses on. You thought you looked whatever.

Akaashi, on the other hand, thought you looked stunning. And like a hot librarian. He tried his best to keep his eyes on the road and not your exposed legs as you sat beside him in the passenger seat.

“Do I?” You looked down at yourself and sighed. You’d never really noticed before, but he was right. You just felt more comfortable in tones that didn’t make you stand out.

“Yeah. Why don’t you try wearing a bright colour sometime? I think......I think you’d look really nice.” Keiji’s eyes looked unaffected as ever but inside he was kicking himself for flirting with you, knowing how shy you are.

“Oh, okay.” Your heart fluttered at your friend’s compliment and you distracted yourself by taking your eyeglasses off and using your blouse collar to clean it where it opened on your chest.

Akaashi almost crashed because when you did that your blouse opened more exposing your glowing chocolate skin. In his mind, his imagination took over and he pulled over to ravish your beautiful skin by ripping open the blouse and kissing your gorgeous dark skin. His eyes glazed over as he imagined you telling him that you want him closer than this car allowed and so he dropped your seat down and got on top of you, kissing your delicious lips and then going back to taste your delicious skin. You were moaning in his ear which was the best sound he’s ever heard and then it was his turn to moan when you reached down to stroke his hard........

“KEIJI-SAN WATCH OUT!”

Keiji was thrust back into reality when he rapidly swerved back into his own car lane. The first thing he did was check to see if you were okay and he was able to breathe again when he saw you looking back at him laughing that angelic laugh. You placed your glasses back on your beautiful face and Akaashi apologized. He asked if you were scared and wanted him to stop driving because he was obviously a new driver. You only placed a hand on his arm and shook your head, assuring him in your quiet voice.

“It’s okay Kashi’, I know you’re a great driver. I trust you.”

“Y-you do?”

“Of course. I trust you more than anyone.” You gave him that smile that he thinks about before he goes to sleep every night and just like that he relaxed and all was well in the world again. He thought back to Bokuto’s daily question, admitting to himself that he not only wanted to have your babies, he wanted to have the pleasure of calling you his girlfriend or anything higher. He’d definitely accept wife.

“Maybe I’ll go shopping with my mom and find a colour to wear to the wedding, you know, take your advice.”

“That would be great.” He pulled into the beach wedding venue parking lot. “I’m ready to see the new Y/N.”

But Akaashi was NOT ready

He was absolutely the furthest thing from ready, 3 weeks later, when he picked you up on his brothers wedding day.

He knew you were still getting ready inside and so he decided to enjoy the weather and lean on his car hood to wait

You never took long because you were a natural beauty, but you put on a little bit of makeup today

You grabbed your clutch and touched up your edge control before spritzing yourself with some of Akaashi’s favourite perfume

You went outside and locked your door.

Turning around, you literally wanted to freeze this moment in time, because THE Keiji Akaashi—literally the most stunning boy 90% of girls have ever seen—was standing outside of his car, much to your surprise

He had his navy blue tuxedo jacket folded over his left arm and he wore a light grey dress shirt underneath held together by a black bow tie. His disheveled hair looked like he had sat in the barber chair of Jesus himself and he hadn’t noticed your arrival yet since you were still on the steps of your deck.

You took a second to compose yourself before stepping toward him as if everything was normal—as if you weren’t lawlessly crushing on this man.

Hearing your heels clack on the smoothed pavement, Akaashi lifted his head up to see you

Remember when I said he was not ready?

Allow me to show you exactly what he wasn’t ready for:

Akaashi felt as though all the air left his lungs when he saw you.

He told you to wear a bright colour but he didn’t know the yellow dress and your dark skin-combo would make him feel like crying

After seeing you in greys and blacks and dull nudes his whole life and still looking pretty, he couldn’t handle himself when you wore a colour that accurately communicated how he sees you: like his literal light

“Good God,” Akaashi gulped.

Keiji is a well-known quiet guy, but even his loudest friend Bokuto wouldn’t be able to beat how loud his emotions screamed at him from inside when he looked at you. You literally had him by the heartstrings, looking like that.

He realized that he is embarassed to admit all that he would give to see you in a yellow bra and panty set.

You smiled up and him and did a spin, so he could see the full picture of the dress. His eyes missed the dress because he couldn’t stop looking at your face.

“I saw it on a mannequin at the mall the other day and never thought my skin would go with it... but after what you said I went back to get it and—“

“Y/N. You— you look—-that colour—-your skin—-You—I—Good....God,” he repeated himself. Akaashi was only slightly disappointed that he couldn’t express to you how much your skin tone WAS MADE for this colour. You were magical.... a queen.

He didn’t want to go to his brothers wedding anymore. He wanted to stand there and stare at the way the sunlight hit your complexion and glistened. He wanted to stand there and have you spin around for him again. He wanted to have your mf-ing babies.

“You’re doing that thing again, Kashi. The thing you did in the car? Don’t we have to go pick up Bokuto, now? Let’s go!”

You gave him a ‘chop chop’ snap and climbed in the car.

When you got in you were so thankful for your dark skin because your blush wasn’t showing. The way your best friend has been looking at you was too passionate, too deep, too full of emotional and physical desire. It made you want to tell him your feelings.

outside, Keiji had still been in a trance, letting out one more “Good.....God,” before he had to literally slapped himself and hopped in the car.

Think of Bokuto Think of Bokuto Think of Bokuto, he chanted internally before pulling out of your driveway.

Speaking of the devil......

“AKAAAASHI!” Yelled his grey-headed best friend as he pulled open the back door of his car. “And, who’s that—wait—Y/N?!”

You gave your best friend’s best friend a weak smile. You were so embarassed by the way he was looking at you.

Bokuto slammed the door behind him and applauded loudly. “Now, I’ve always been jealous whenever you take my Akaashi away from me because he wants to spend time with you, but now I understand why. You’re a 10 when you aren’t hiding behind those freaking vampire colours!!!”

“Bokuto.” Akaashi reprimanded his annoying friend and Bokuto pretended to zip his lips and throw away the key.

Meanwhile, you were regretting wearing this colour. It drew the attention that you always tried hard to avoid.

Akaashi noticed your internal regret, even while driving....so he reached over to place a hand on your thigh.

“Y/N, you said you trust me right?”

You looked at him for a second before nodding.

Keiji elevated at the admission. “Then, trust me when I say you look beautiful. I’m so happy you wore that dress today.”

You smiled, that smile only reserved for him again, and he just about proposed on the spot.

“AWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW!!!!! Hey, hey, hey! Maybe you two love birds should be the ones getting marr—“

Akaashi deadpanned in the rear view mirror, catching Bokuto’s eye immediately. “Bokuto.”

Frightened, Bokuto muttered a quick “Shutting up.” Before actually doing so.

Don’t get him wrong. Akaashi was happy to have his best guy friend at the wedding.

Very happy.

Because Boku was like an alarm...warning him whenever he was acting like a freak around the the girl he has a crush on

Bokuto would just nudge him and smirk whenever Akaashi was drawing attention to himself because he was looking at you in the crowd when his attention should be on his brother and his fiancé saying their vows.

When Akaashi saw you and your mom run over to dip your feet in the water on the beach, then run away because a cold wave hit up to your shins, your smile radiant and your yellow dress flying in the wind, Bokuto nudged him again because he was staring when he had to take pictures with the groom

At night, when Keiji was throwing back shots way more than Bokuto knew his best friend to even like, simply because one of his brothers groomsmen had been talking to you for the better part of the hour and he didn’t fucking like it, Bokuto not only nudged Keiji but he told the bartender to cut him off.

“Go talk to Y/N.” Bokuto grabbed the drink out of Keiji’s hand and drank it.

Akaashi shook his head. “No. S-she’s out of my league.”

Bokuto scoffed. “You do know that you’re literally the best looking person I’ve ever seen in my life right? Like seriously. You look like your face was made in a fucking lab. By chicks. By hot chicks, like Y/N, working together to come up with concoctions to Science their way to make the best looking dude—“

Keiji rolled his eyes. “Is there a point coming at the end of this?”

“Yeah. There is, impatient pants. I was going to say that I wonder if the hot chicks who made you wore bikinis the whole time while they leaned over eachother fighting over the pencil for the blueprint sketches—“

“A point about Y/N, Bokuto! Y/N. The only girl I care about. The only girl I want to talk about. Come back down to this earth. Where. Is. The. Point?”

“Oh. Yeah. Geez, take a chill pill will ya?”

“Bokuto......” He warned. Already on edge because you were now slow dancing with that guy at the wedding instead of being the wallflower you usually were. He liked it better when he was the only one who noticed you. In a way.... But then he remembered how colourful you looked when you got complimented all day and he immediately retracted the thought. Akaashi wanted nothing more than for you to reach your fullest potential, and wearing colours that expressed your beauty would be step one. He yearned to be the one who could bring you up the rest of the steps, because he’d tell you everyday how damn amazing you are. He just wished you weren’t so damn alluring to the majority of men.

Bokuto held his hands up in surrender. “Damn! Okay. Look, my point is...that it doesn’t matter how good looking you are or Y/N is, because everyone knows that even if you two were fugly you’d still have the love story of the generation because your connection is on a whole other level.”’

“What?” Keiji jeered. He didn’t like the idea of your name and ‘anything but beautiful’ being in the same sentence.

“Man, chill. Look, I won’t say anything else. I’m just going to grab Y/N from Mr. I-Didn’t-Make-It-To-The-NFL-But-I-Can-Still-Pull-A-Trophy-Wife over there. When she gets here, try not to ‘Good God’ her to death, hm? She’s gorgeous, yes, but like I said—so are you. Inside and out.”

Without listening to his denial like always, Bokuto somehow slipped in to the dance you were currently having and began dancing with Y/N

As a dancer, you loved moments when you could do it, and Akaashi was falling harder for you every time you spun around elegantly

Bokuto made some bs excuse about not being able to dance for long and waved his best friend over

Akaashi’s legs moved automatically because he has been wanting to be near you the entire night.

Like a fairytale ball sequence, Bokuto handed you off and you were now met with the waiting and hesitant arms of your best friend

Keiji asked if it was alright to touch your waist and you smiled and said yes

As you two danced, you going at the pace you knew Akaashi would be best at.....you took a second to really feel the energy

Your bodies were like magnets and you two were feeling the pull like never before

you leaned forward to rest your head against your best friends chest as you settled into a simple back and forth sway

As he held your waist closer and rubbed his thumbs soothingly in the crevice of your back dimples......

You understood that what you were now feeling was love

What you’ve been feeling for months, what you felt when you spoke to him of trust, when you watched him drive, when he put an extra blanket on you when you two watched movies, when he looked at you in your yellow dress, when you rested your head on his chest.....your mind, body and soul were all telling you one thing. They were louder than ever now. Shouting at you to tell Akaashi those 3 magic words so you two could see where the next level of your relationship would take you. It wouldn’t take much to say—

“I love you.”

Flabbergasted with yourself, you jumped back from his chest so you were looking at him. You couldn’t believe you had the audacity to say it!!!!!

Your mind now jumbled, you thought of an excuse to blame it on the 0% alcohol you had had before you realized..........that you don’t have a deep voice............nor have you opened your mouth since you rested your head on your best friend’s chest.......

“Wh-what?” You asked breathlessly.

Akaashi was looking down at you, confident that he had made you wear a dress that brought out your beauty so fiercely that it ultimately forced him to confess.

“I love you, Y/N. And if we’re always talking about trust......Then trust me when I tell you that I think I always have.”

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I find I enjoy writing both nsfw and fluff equally and you guys request it basically half and half, so the next post will be much more smutty cause you know--balance.

#black reader #akaashi keiji #akaashi x reader #akaashi x y/n #akaashi x you #fluff #sfw #haikyuu requests #haikyuu!!#haikyuu boys #haikyuu romance #black lives matter

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valkblue · 4 years ago

Photo

Being a Behavior technician requires a certain amount of dedication to the job — the rigorous type, bordeline rigid. That’s what is expected to be at peak efficiency regarding analysis protocols and diagnostics for host service and calibration.

For that, Vivian thinks she might be the worst tech in her department.

— masterlist, AO3

Chapter 1 on 12

Chapter wordcount: 2,486 Story status: Complete Rating: General Warning: people swear a lot, technobabble counts as swearing as well (believe me)…

Author’s notes: This is the first time I post a fanfic online. A real big one I mean. Not just crackfics... I’m emotional. I don’t know what the schedule will be yet because my queue is acting up, but everything should be out regularly, or something that looks like it. This first chapter is an intro to the main character and what she does, and I hope you’ll enjoy this story and its characters all the way! Also, I really want to thank @pheedraws and @something-tofightfor for their heartwarming feedback on the whole story. Thank you SO much!!

Have a good time reading, and my askbox/messages are open! 💙

— Chapter 1

Now wasn’t a good time to yawn…

And yet, Vivian had nothing else to do but wait right now, wait while the progress bars slowly filled up on her tablet screen.

Now wasn’t the time, simply because some of her colleagues were passing through the hallway, behind the glass panels of her cubicle, and among them was the head of Behavior department — incidentally, her superior.

No doubt they were all about to grab a bite at the restaurant and Vivian held back an almost envious mumble; she was starving! But before she could go eat anything, she had to finish with her last subject on her morning schedule; host ID#DH410829420391, named Mildred.

And Mildred was back at the lab on account of a negative report about her response time during interactions with other hosts but also with guests. A lag that only happened in character mode, not in analysis. So, Vivian started with refreshing her lexical base and improvisation engine. It took some time to check the entire tree but as of now, it was done.

"Can you confirm if the update’s complete?"

"Confirmed," Mildred answered right away, her voice flat and her look vacant.

"Back in character mode."

Mildred seemed to wake up and blinked once before focusing her attention back on Vivian.

"Mildred?"

"Oh, I’m sorry," she answered with a hint of a shy smile. "I must have drifted off, I believe… The working hours at the farm are ungodly sometimes!"

The response time was more than good, now. The improvisation too.

"I was wondering if there’s a lot of clients at the farm these days," Vivian asked.

The answer was not long to come.

"Certainly! Our cattle sure gives the best milk there is. No matter what the competition says!"

"How many green bottles are standing on the wall?"

Questions and procedures were always more or less the same to determine which bits of code, settings or values could cause an issue or start to glitch like crazy!

But today, for Mildred — and Vivian — everything was back in order, and each/both of them could soon return to the the usual course of their scheduled day.

It was about time for Vivian to take a break, if she was reduced to that kind of wisecrack…

A glance at her wristwatch, even while her tablet displayed a more accurate time than the watch hands, and Vivian concluded her analysis. She folded the tablet, slid it back in her jacket pocket, and left the large glass room after one last embarrassed look at Mildred she was leaving there, naked in the dark. Vivian didn’t even fight down a shiver. It was actually freezing cold in there!

She comforted herself with the thought that Mildred didn’t feel anything in this state, disconnected, and that a team wouldn’t take too long to come get her, do her hair, dress her up and put her back in rotation in no time. Barely as much as Vivian had for her lunch break… and that was just enough to go all the way up to the hub restaurant. But the bosses here didn’t care much about how long the lunch breaks lasted, as long as the work was done in time.

So, Vivian didn’t hurry to get to the elevator she shared with two co-workers who only interrupted their chitchat about hockey results for a vague greeting.

At this hour, the restaurant was a bit more crowded but it still wasn’t too hard to find a seat in the large and relatively peaceful room. The whole vibe in it was corporate though, even in that staff only room; every dish were stamped with the park logo and name — from the bottom of the plates to the salt shakers — and a flat HD screen displayed a bunch of Delos branches ads that looked much weirder without sound.

After a while, one didn’t really pay attention to all this anymore… A few months was enough to make it all part of the landscape and for the mind to simply stop noticing it.

And Vivian had been working here for three years, now.

However, she was still bothered by a few details sometimes, such as the huge white walls that spanned all the way up a balcony floor and a domed ceiling or the fact that the stalls were lit with a pale light under which the food turned to a sickly colour.

Hopefully, under the less saturated lights of the main room, the Caesar salads and the turkey-tomato sandwiches were back to a more appetizing hue.

Her tray loaded with a potato-corn salad, a big glass of water and a piece of bread, Vivian walked towards the tables, eager for her potatoes to lose their blueish glint. Just shy of the screen, she recognised a familiar face, Margaret’s, another Behavior tech from her team. Both were on friendly basis now, where it was possible to enjoy some time together and to laugh a little, even if it took them a whole year to finally break the ice.

Margaret waved at Vivian when she saw her pick her way across the room, inviting her to join them — them being Margaret, and three other guys from their department.

"Did you hear the latest, Vivian!?" she blurted. "I’ve been told that Damon Dyers is in the park, at this very moment!"

"Damon… Dyers?"

Vivian didn’t even hide her puzzlement while sitting in front of her.

"The actor," one of the three guys — Luke — pointed out. "Marge was just exposing how she’ll mooch the control room techs for a footage…"

"Listen, if you were as thirsty as I am about this guy, you’d understand!" Margaret replied.

To that, he quipped:

"My husband would be pissed!"

All chuckled in approval before returning to their almost emptied plates, while Vivian had barely touched her own.

"Can you imagine," Margaret daydreamt, leaning back in her seat as in a comfy armchair, holding her Pyrex glass like a snifter of bourbon. "Damon hunting down Escaton in the hills…"

Vivian scoffed; she could imagine, indeed.

At the table, Charles, Thawal and Luke didn’t pay any more attention to them, carrying on with their chat about retro gaming. Vivian would probably have preferred to be part of that conversation; not that she didn’t know shit about movies and their actors, but more like aside from a few exceptions on which they got along swimmingly, she didn’t have much taste in common with Margaret. But she listened to her friend anyway as she kept going after a sip of sparkling water:

"How am I not supposed to be hot on the idea!? I’ll deadass find someone to bootleg me some footages!"

Vivian smiled out of politeness, not saying much, as always. Her mouth was full anyway.

"Oh, by the way!"

Margaret took another swip of her glass before putting it down on the table and leaning towards Vivian.

"Apparently, they’re going to burden us with a whole new bunch of hosts in two or three weeks," she said, with all the serious she could muster. "I heard that from Elsie. Narrative must be trying to compensate for something, if you know what I mean…"

Vivian knew very well.

"We barely have time to light a fag between two sessions already and they plan to add another hundred on our backs!?"

She snorted disdainfully.

"Don’t know what they’re spicing their coffee with but it isn’t doing them any good."

"No shit," admitted Vivian, a bit testy at the idea. "Unless they also plan to hire? Did Lowe say anything about it?"

Margaret shrugged.

"No idea, I haven’t talked to him in a while."

She patted her blazer pockets then sighed softly; Vivian understood her attitude as relief, and a craving, even a need to light a cigarette.

"You should ask," Margaret pointed out with a smile a tad clenched in the orbicularis muscles. "You like him, right?"

Vivian approved; she admired his thoroughness, his love for details… A lot could be learned while working under his care and Vivian found him both spirited and friendly.

Margaret didn’t quite share the feeling, however; in her own words, he was giving her the heebie-jeebies.

"Anyway, I’m off," Margaret stated with an even greater impatience in her voice. "I gotta light one before the crazy afternoon waiting for me!"

She gathered her cutlery on her tray, adding:

"Not giving up on the idea to come across Damon fucking Dyers, though! At least in video recs. Wish me luck!"

Vivian nodded and Margaret put her tray away on the sideboard before hurrying to the exit.

Her colleagues had changed topics next to her, and now they were talking about cars, motorcycles and mechanics. As she didn’t know much about that topic, not as much as in computers, she listened only a little without taking part.

Then, Vivian finished wolfing down her potato salad and her glass of water; she would soon return to her shift and examine a series of hosts, the characteristics of which she overviewed on her tablet from her timetable’s folders. It was simply routine checks, and Vivian liked that kind of sessions; it was like meeting with a friend, just to catch up with them.

But for now, she would take a few minutes to get some air and natural light on top of the hub before diving back into the high tech depths of the Mesa.

At seven in the evening, closer to eight, Vivian was glad to be back to her on-site apartments. Once again, she had grabbed a snack at the restaurant but the room was much more crowded than it was at lunch and came close to a headache before reaching "home". She could have dined here, cooked something on her induction hob but she was so tired — or lazy — that, tonight again, she still choose to eat at the restaurant over having to do the dishes!

Now, she was getting out of the shower in her bathrobe and throw herself on her bed.

Living like this, it was like being a teenager all over again, back at her parents’, or at the dorm… but once she closed her apartment’s door, Vivian was totally free to do whatever she wanted. As long as it didn’t involve wrecking the place!

But now, even if she wanted to, Vivian wouldn’t have had the strength to break any chair, nor even to make a mess of the bed… About that, she was actually planning on laying there, and falling asleep in her bathrobe while watching a movie or reading any book she had available on her personal tablet. A tablet that was nothing close to the one she was using every day in the Behavior department labs, but a tablet anyway.

She swiped the covers without any real interest; in all honesty, she was feeling too tired to read. Even something she had already read. And she cringed a little when the minimalistic cover with her automatically signed name appeared.

Yeah, even too tired to read her own words!

Besides, it wasn’t great literature at all — a fanfiction. Two, to be precise. Both about the hosts and their narratives as she could have written about a movie, book, or video game’s characters.

Vivian grumbled, letting her tablet fall flat on her stomach, and she stared at the white ceiling before closing her eyes while nibbling her lips. She had written this almost six months after she started working here, taken over by all the motivation, excitement and creativity around her!

She refocused on herself since but, in the meantime, she wrote these. And even though Vivian considered herself to have a fertile imagination, she still commended herself about how better for everyone it was she hadn’t applied for a job in Narrative…

Rising her tablet up again and tapping on the lit screen, she entered the file and skimmed through it, trying to ignore the grammar mistakes she stopped committing since; and mistakes aside, her stories had nothing exceptional, totally influenced as they were by her mood and the not-so-new-but-still-trendy storyline — Escaton’s and his bandits, essentially…

Over a very short time, when Vivian was still more or less trying to fit into the life of the facility and social circles of her co-workers whose names had yet to be caught, she had heard so many comments, appreciations and reviews for this narrative that she looked into it first.

After all, the park afforded Lee Sizemore, renowned author who made a big name for himself with a "hot and grimy" historical saga, a few years back before running out of puff under his editor’s pressure. And a juicy offer by a video game studio to adapt it.

She understood; everybody, whether staff or guests, was more or less hyped by the brute force brought by Hector Escaton — virile and dark male figure — to the relative tranquility of the park’s starting point.

And Vivian had been no exception.

If her first story was only about made-up characters to explore the pleasing and well rounded context of Sweetwater, her second, on the other hand, was more audacious, altering shamelessly the story from what its authors had surely intended; victorious over the town after killing the sheriff and all opposition, Escaton and his gang enjoyed their plunder at the Mariposa where Hector fell for one of the saloon girls.

That being said, Vivian remained very proper — maybe totally prudish — in these sort of narrative fantasies of hers; nothing turned freaky or utterly violent…

All she did was throwing a few sentences on her writing app for some evenings, when inspiration struck or simply because she urged herself to follow through with what she started. All on her personal tablet. She knew better than to write that on anything system-tethered. Imagining that a bored somebody could just hack into the system all the way up to her personal data… and end up on that giddy nonsense, made her wants to puke!

Not to mention that it might also be forbidden. Even though she never planned to, she knew she couldn’t share it with anyone, nor anywhere. Not as a park employee. If the guests were writing critiques and other reviews online about their stay, herself couldn’t talk about it from the inside. Confidentiality and shit…

Her texts would remain secret, and her silly fantasies with them. In any case, it wasn’t as if she intended to try anything for herself, and even less with Hector Escaton, all the more since he wasn’t even part of the batch her team had in charge. And also, rumor has it that fantasies aren’t always good when act upon!

With a lazy tap, Vivian quitted the reading app and dropped the tablet on her sheets before burying her face in her soft pillow. She let out a deep sigh in it, relaxed, and in fact, she fell asleep almost right away.

#ocs #oc:vivian #my writing #fic:improvisation only #westworld fanfic #full diagnostic series #westworld fic #westworld

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cherryblossomshadow · 4 years ago

Text

Wonder Woman 1984 review

Long, rambly, and spoilery. You’ve been warned.

I saw WW84. I had thoughts. Let's talk about it.

I want to preface with the fact that it's amazing that we have another female-led superhero film! I loved Patti Jenkins' work with the first Wonder Woman (and this one too) and I'm so glad she's back for this one. There's obviously a lot to pick through, but first, a couple reminders.

No film will ever be "perfect."

Not every film is made specifically for you.

It is okay to vibe or disvibe with something. But that does not make it trash.

Also, please, keep in mind, what I'm expressing are my opinions. I'm entitled to mine as you are entitled to yours. I hope you have a lovely time on the internet, and I hope you wish the same for everyone you interact with.

Oh, and spoilers obviously.

Okay, with all that out of the way, let's dig in.

My overall experience with the film is positive! I had a great time watching it, it got me emotional, and I definitely want to watch it again. That said, I don't think it's better than the first one (although that would have been quite a feat), and that's ok. It's a continuation of a story we've already started, and it doesn't need to outshine the first.

Okay, after all the hyping up and disclaiming I've done, let's dig into what I didn't like about the film.

Number one is pacing. The storyline felt very erratic to me? Part of that, I feel, is because we have three (four?) main characters, and we jump between them pretty abruptly.

Number two is the themes. Now I do like the themes of WW84 (truth and sacrifice), I just don't think they were worked into the film as cohesively as I would have liked?

Number three is perceived character changes to Diana. And really, some of this is kinda circumstantial, I just thought it deserved its own bullet point. You'll see what I mean.

So, on Pacing.

We jump between Diana (and Steve), Barbara, and Maxwell pretty frequently. And before I talk about that, I have to talk about my view on the characters.

a. Now, I love the Mandalorian, but I was not personally invested in Maxwell's arc at all. Again, this is my take, and I know people disagree. Many people feel like Pedro Pascal carried the film on his shoulders. That's cool. He's a great actor. I'm glad he was in it. I just kinda checked out of every scene he was in (when he wasn't with his kid) because I wasn't invested in him. He played a sleazeball on purpose, and it worked. I was sleazed. So the movie kinda dragged for me whenever the camera panned to him.

b. I loved the focus on Barbara. I don't know Cheetah from the comics, so this is from a movie-only perspective. But I know one of the criticisms of the first film was that Diana didn't really talk to women after she left Themyscira (even though there was a perfectly good villainess sitting right there for her to converse with and have morality debates/fights with! Even Steve Trevor got to talk to Dr Poison!), so I thought it was great that 1) they set up a villainess for her to fight and 2) it was a villainess that she knew, she had talked to, she had formed a relationship with. It honestly surprised me that Barbara was helpful for so long (bc I had seen the trailer and got spoiled that she would become a villain), but I love that she genuinely did want to help Diana, up until she hit her hard limit (giving up her powers). Now, that being said, the Nerd Girl Makeover has been done a thousand times. I knew what her vague trajectory would be from the second she appeared on screen with frizzy hair. I did like that her motivation was not solely "pretty people are mean to me, and I want revenge and/or for this hot guy to like me," but specifically, "I want to be like this really cool girl" and then "I don’t want to be like anyone else; I want to be the best/number one" for myself." But I felt like the absolute inattention that she was shown at the beginning and the absolute worship Diana and later Barbara would get was ... highly exaggerated? And I know this was another criticism of the first film, that yeah "Diana did so well in the real world because SHE'S HOT and that's actually not empowering to women" or something. But like. Watching that part made me uncomfortable instead of seen. Pandered to, instead of impacted. Showing how looks change how society treats you is important, but not to this caricaturized degree.

c. (and d?) And lastly, Diana and Steve. Or more accurately, Diana and Steve's soul or memories or ??? that has been transplanted into some random man's body with absolutely no one's consent (I don't believe that Diana "consented" when making the wish, because she didn't know 1. That it would even work or 2. HOW it would work.). So ... Yeah. The first problem with this (chronologically, not by importance) is that it's really unclear what's going on? Some rando is reciting Steve's lines from the first film, then all of a sudden he turns into Chris Pine? (Fun fact: my aunt actually recognized the actor from Hallmark 😂 Could you imagine being the guy who gets replaced by Chris Pine for half the movie? Like "yeah, I played Steve Trevor, but they had Chris Pine do all the important parts" 😂😂😂). So, Diana and Steve finally figure out that he's inhabiting some engineer's body because of the wish she made. And then they bang. Or do they bang before they figure it out? Either way, yikes 😬. Not a good look.

To be clear, the yikes part is that Steve is inhabiting Engineer Dude's body without their consent (without his own either tho so that part's not really his fault), but then he chooses to do things sexually with that body that Engineer Dude didn't consent to (because he's like, literally not home. Whether he's been subsumed into Chris Pine or taken out or dormant or whatever). Oh, and then like, probably doing death-defying stunts with his body is also yikes. I'm not really sure what the rules around body possession are. Cuz you know.

Anyway, that is a huge issue that is literally not addressed. At all.

Again, I think they may have been trying to address some criticisms from the first film about Diana "getting rid of the dreaded V-card so quickly in Wonder Woman and then pining after Chris Pine (lol) for the rest of her long life" and how that sets back female sexuality and stuff. Which I get. They actually lampshaded it in WW84, how Chris Pine wants her to move on because "the world deserves her." Which I know what they were going for in the scene, but I feel like they didn't flesh out the journey from Hippolyta's "the world doesn't deserve you Diana" to Steve's "the world deserves you (to date them)" enough. But I digress.

I'm gonna talk a little bit more about the possession and that "the world deserves/doesn't deserve you" line in my Themes section, but honestly? From the previews, I assumed that Chris Pine was revived from the dead via time travel or something. Body possession was NOT in the the trailers. I think the Dreamstone could have created a body for him out of nothing. Or like "time-traveled" him into the future. So like. Why didn't they? Why introduce body possession at all? So they could make fun of the dude's clothes?

Okay, back to the pacing part of the pacing section. These three (four?) characters have completely different things going on in their lives (I actually forgot to talk about Maxwell, but he wants to "be the best," and he's gonna do it by giving people what they think they want (maybe) and then taking from them whatever he wants. Yeah idk). And all three do interact at the beginning (brownie points) even if the attempted seduction of Barbara by Maxwell makes me want to throw up. But the themes aren't worked in as cohesively as I would have liked, and the tone changes were jarring, as the film switched between them all.

Another facet of the movie is that the Dreamstone is kind of a mystery. And that was a deliberate Choice™, not a mistake. We're guessing at what the rock is doing and how and why and by who and all that stuff, and that's on purpose, but that makes for a confusing experience. Their approach is to throw something confusing at you and then explain it later. Which is great for worldbuilding. But not always for the Movie-Watching Experience™. So to recap, we're switching tracks and characters with their own separate stories while also setting up several confusing plot points that take a while to unravel. This all contributes to the Experience™, good or bad.

Honestly, I wonder how much Covid affected this movie? My dad felt like a lot of scenes probably got cut for various reasons, and it probably affected the flow of the movie. If so, it could have affected thematic coherence, too. Speaking of...

So, Themes.

The themes that I got out of this film were Truth and Sacrifice. Maybe I missed some; I'm not an experienced Media Critic™. But these are the ones I noticed.

And actually, these themes are really strong. Universally applicable, and used in all three character arcs. It's just tied in a bit ... erratically?

So working backward, knowing that the Dreamstone is giving you a lie, you need to renounce your wish and accept the Truth™. This is echoed in Diana's flashback, where she needed to accept that she didn't win.

Working backward again, Sacrifice was a big part of the story for all three characters because Diana was willing to sacrifice her power to keep Steve, but he wanted her to sacrifice him so she could save the world. Barbara was willing to sacrifice her "humanity" or "empathy" or whatever she lost for the power and influence she got by emulating Diana, and she was unwilling to sacrifice that to save the world. Maxwell was willing to sacrifice time with his son to "become the best," but he did sacrifice that to save his son's life.

And then, full circle, he confessed to his son that he wasn't the best, he's actually a filthy liar. Which, yes, kudos for the themes, be honest with your children, but you can still sanitize it a bit. That speech alone would have traumatized the kid.

Speaking of speeches, Antiope's speech confused me in a similar way? Like, she stops Diana from "winning" the tournament after cheating, and goes on this weird rambly rant which goes from "accept that you're not a winner" to "cheating is bad and so is lying." Which yes, cheating is bad, but it's weird that she wouldn't have been disqualified at this point for not shooting that last target? Like, did she need to be tackled? Idk, I felt like they came up with the line they wanted Antiope to say first, and then just made her say it. (And also, in other stories, Diana would have been praised for being "clever" and "never giving up without a fight." So like, I needed a bit more preparation for which take they were going for, because the anti-cheating spiel felt jarring to me.)

And again, I wonder if this is a response to a criticism of this first film. (Warning: WW17 rant gearing up)

When Diana has her big motivational flashback during her fight with Ares, she thinks about Steve, this dude she just met a week ago, saying he loved her. When she could have been thinking about literally any of the women who had raised her. I personally think it would have been cool to hear some of Antiope's words at that point. Since they set up Hippolyta and Antiope to have conflicting ideas over whether Diana should fulfill her humanity-saving destiny, it might have been cool to see her saying something about humans and how they need her or how she should help them or something. They could even have done the whole thing with not being able to hear Steve's last words, but with Antiope since she dies earlier in the film and doesn't finish speaking. I also think it would have been cool for them to expand Hippolyta's earlier line about "They don't deserve you, Diana," here to like "They need you, Diana," or something. And then Steve's line in WW84 could have been something like "They're with you, Diana," or "They could get to know you, Diana," and her character arc could have been about actually living among society and maybe getting to know these humans that she's saved so many times (which they kind of alluded to when she and Barbara had their little date at the beginning of the film). But I digress.

So, yeah, I found both of these speeches to be ... Not great? Like I can tell what they're going for and how they tie into the themes, but they're so heavy-handed and they don't actually fit in too well to the moment they happen in. Like as soon as the speech starts, you realize that they started going meta on you. The character isn't really speaking to the other character, they're speaking to us, and they're telling us how this scene ties into the greater themes of the film.

Oh and they have this great quote from Antiope "greatness is not what you think" and then Maxwell's son wishes for him to be "great." And they do nothing with it :(

As promised, I want to talk about the body possession a little bit more. So again, one of the recurring themes is Truth™. Which is a great choice for Wonder Woman, what with her Lasso of Truth.

But it's tied in a bit haphazardly. They force it into a conversation about cheating in a flashback at the beginning of the film. And then they talk about how you need to accept the Truth™ in order to defeat the Dreamstone. I already talked about the cheating, and how the "accept that you're not a winner" was kind of a weird path to take to get your point across to a ten year old girl.

But the Dreamstone. Oh, the Dreamstone. I said before that the movie is a mystery. It shows you things but doesn't explain them. Well, this is a bit of a problem. Because they never actually explain that the Dreamstone is giving you lies. To my eyes, the Dreamstone is changing reality. Steve is back, Barbara is powerful, and Maxwell is doing whatever he wants with the powers of the Dreamstone. THIS DOES NOT LOOK LIKE A LIE TO ME. THERE IS NO "TRUTH" TO ACCEPT, JUST YOUR NEW REALITY. And that made the film less thematically strong (to my eyes, anyway. Other people probably picked up on stuff I didn't). But I feel like this might have been an easy fix? Like you already have Chris Pine in someone else's body (oh! So that's why they chose body possession! Because he's a Lie™! ... Still don't like it) I still think he should have manifested his own body or something but whatever. Barbara's appearance hardly changed at first. If they had people reacting to her as if she was hot when she really looked the same as she always does, then I would have bought your "but the Dreamstone only gives you lies." Instead, Barbara gained the power to walk in heels and then hotness and then the literal power of a God™ (a la Diana) which makes me think the Dreamstone is changing reality. Not bringing lies.

Oh, also, they could have had Diana's Lasso of Truth stop working for her. I thought that's what they were going for at first, but it turns out that Diana is just losing her powers. They also started with "the Dreamstone will give you what you want most," but then Maxwell started using it to clear traffic? Which by the way, is NOT an illusion. That is reality-bending.

There were just so many ways to make it obvious that "the Dreamstone is giving you lies," but they didn't use them. Or at the very least, they didn't commit. I felt like they used a little bit of "be careful what you wish for" (mostly on randos that Maxwell is duping), a little bit of "what are you willing to sacrifice," and a little of "you can have what you want, but it won't be real." All of which are valid ways to take a Dreamstone kind of story, but if they wanted to rely so heavily on Truth™ as the main theme, then I feel like more of the wishes should have been showcasing that. Instead, it felt like a jumble of all the kinds of messages we're used to seeing with Wish-Granting Objects, with no emphasis on specifically the "it's all a lie" part.

Ugh, I'm actually mad now, because I'm trying to think of a story I've heard where this magical thing is granting wishes but they're Explicitly Not Real. Like all the money gets turned back to leaves or whatever (kinda like Cinderella's pumpkin lol). Oh, Aladdin does this, too, because yeah Genie is granting wishes and changing reality, but not permanently? Like, almost all of the stuff he uses magic to do dissolves as soon as we're looking away from it or gets fixed by the end of the movie? And the film is very very clear on the fact that Aladdin is not factually a Prince.

But this film doesn't do that. They make it seem like the Dreamstone can change reality, then berate the characters for not Accepting the Truth™ about themselves. Maybe if they had made a bigger deal out of Steve coming back in someone else's body, it would have been 1) less confusing, 2) less icky (provided they don't do the sex in Engineer Dude's body), and 3) more thematically coherent.

Lastly, Diana's perceived character changes.

This one is probably the most subjective. Diana, as a character, in the first film was very morally grounded and motivated. The Diana in this film felt ... different. Again. Subjective. And also circumstantial.

Diana is still morally grounded in this film. But she's also willing to sacrifice the world to keep Steve Trevor around. Which feels like a jarring change from her characterization in the first film. She was so idealistic and optimistic in that first film, I couldn't imagine her making that choice. It just felt like such a tone change for her character. How did we go from "Who will I be if I stay?" to "Why, for once, can't I just have this one thing, Steve? ... I can't give you up. I can't. So I won't."

Also, her motivation in this film seemed to center around her loss of Steve Trevor and wanting him, and less around "save the world." Which, to be fair, I'm all for women being selfish in film. Give me women of all motivations and desires. I don't want Diana to be Perfect™. I just want her to be consistent. And I didn't think this characterization was as consistent as I expected. Was her life so terrible without Steve (even though they only knew each other for a short time)? Not to say this couldn't be a valid take on Diana (reminder: I haven't read any comics, so maybe it's not in character at all 🤷‍♀️), but if that's what they were going for, they should have developed the journey from naive idealist to jaded romantic more in order to justify this character change.

Also, the body possession thing. She's really okay with her boyfriend possessing somebody else's body. I did like the "All I See Is You" line, since it's romantic, but up until that point, we as viewers aren't really sure why Chris Pine and Hallmark Dude are both playing this guy. Then we find out in a romantic line that Chris Pine is just Wonder Woman's view of him. He still looks like Engineer Dude because he is Engineer Dude. At first, I thought that they used a different guy for the first meeting because Diana didn't recognize him. That this was her perception of him until she realized who it was. (I thought this was supported by Chris Pine's more rugged look in this film. But actually they were probably matching him to the body he was inhabiting, since the character really didn't look like himself). Leverage does a similar thing in the Rashomon Job. All the characters saw each other at the same event, but they didn't know each other back then, so they had different actors play their parts until it's slowly revealed that actually the random people at the event were the characters we know and love. It's great. Anyway, that's not what they're going for here, and the ambiguous framing along with Diana and Steve's chemistry is supposed to make you forget that he is possessing someone else’s body! Against their will! (Again, Steve and Diana didn't consent to the initial possession either, but they absolutely consented to what they did together. Engineer Dude did not.)

Yikes 😬

I will say, she didn't kill innocents this time. One of my critiques of the first movie was that she was so willing to kill Germans. And I get it, Nazis are usually an "acceptable" target in American media. But as a character, she believed that they were innocents who had been manipulated by Ares. And yet, she was slaughtering them en masse. But, in this movie, they're really careful to make sure that she's nonlethal.

And yeah, that's it.

Asteria was of course awesome. That bonus credit scene was 👌

I'm glad they got Linda Hemming back for costuming after the disaster of Justice League. Unfortunately, being set in the 80's, the outfits are not quite so modest as the first movie. But the important thing was the lack of male gaze in those shots.

The movie definitely hit me in my emotions. I cried three times: first during the tournament, watching the Amazon's being awesome. Then during Diana and Steve's fight, and when Steve convinced Diana to let him go. 😭

As I said, I definitely plan on rewatching. It makes me sad to see how much negative press that the movie is getting when it's one of so few female-led blockbusters. A lot of people are comparing it to the original or to the comics or TV show, when those are just not valuable comparisons. Comic books and TV shows are completely different mediums. And a successful sequel CONTINUES a story, instead of rehashing it. And also, not all films are created specifically for YOU. A lot of the 80's references went over my head, but that's ok. They weren't for me. I don't begrudge their existence just because I don't vibe with them.

Again, no film is perfect! I think I talked through a lot of its weaknesses pretty thoroughly, but I still think it's a strong film, and I want it to succeed.

Anyhoo, I hope you had fun watching the movie (even though it's not perfect) and I hope you had fun reading my commentary.

(Fun fact: I actually ran out of space in my notes app and had to stretch it across two notes)

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blorbosexterminator · 4 years ago

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AND I am back. Once again on this lovely day to give my review for the EPISODE 24 so, here we go :

Agustin is squinting his eyes at him, as Sergio keeps muttering that Agustin has in fact done what he just mentioned he did and which both of them have known for years.

Federico is 99% dead?! Damn, what is Sergio's gonna do?! Make it 100% ? 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

(I got a feeling that Federico is the kidnapper or atleast a very important lead to them)

Btw, WHO IS FEDERICO?! Tatiana's alive husband?!

(Look at me, hoping like a moron she aint dead

My dog : Yep, total moron 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

Me :

Me : NOBODY ASKED FOR YOUR BITCH-ASS OPINION, YOU DUMB-FUCK DONKEY!!!! 😡😡😡)

Martin, my darling, my sweetheart, my poor angel. Nada, some help? Atleast gimme some tips, bruh, come on, you cant desert me like that. Not when I need to help someone 🙁🙁🙁

since, drunk, the last idea he got was that Laura turned out to be completely insane and kidnapped Andrés to marry him

🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣 Martin, honey, stop drinking. This getting out of hand 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣. But then again, Andres is so hot poor thing keeps on doubting.

As Roci said in one of the tags, his wives deserve the highest civilian award for putting up with him.

(Although, I just had a frisky thought. What if Sergio wanted Andres away from Martin, not because he cared bout his hermano but......😳😳😳😳😳 *whispers loudly* he wanted Andres all for himself? In *frantically looks around* INCEST WAY?!)

(Calm down, my deranged mind, you went too far 🤣🤣🤣)

Who knows, it could be the professor he punched in the middle of an exam once. Martín doesn’t think he has forgiven him.

Mood, bruh, such a mood 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣 NO, OMG 😆😆😆 I didnt do it, but I do kinda have a beef with my Organic prof. I'll go off tangent again, so tell me if you wanna know the story.

He sent Silene in disguise to collect the cctv from the nearby shops and streets. His own cctv has been disabled since the IT bitch ruined it, Martín will kill him when he gets them back.

I think if and only IF Silene finds something good, her % of redemption will increase.

(Raquel s2e7 deja vu, I see what you did there 😏)

And Martin about to go John Wick on anyone & everyone. I tell ya Keanu Reeves will be crying when he sees Martin go nuts. I am willing to bet he'll pull a gun on the poor milkman, who just wanna do his job 😆😆😆

So he calls Bogota, with a little (not that little) handwritten list in his hand with the names of people he thinks he might have ruined their life in the past.

Martin : Okay, I'll just take out the list and

*the paper rolls out the door, travels around the world for 5 times and comes back while going over top of Everest and bottom of Marina Trench*

No, it’s because when he hated Martín, he had always hated him openly. If he wanted to hurt him, then he’d just try to stab him in the middle of the living room.

🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

“Bogota, did Tatiana have any family?”

“No, who of us did, Martín?”

“You literally have 7 children and 7 ex-wives.”

COMEDY GOLD, NADA 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

“Those kids are ungrateful bastards, if I fall dead tomorrow they would just run to see what they’ve inherited.”

Aka THE PLOT of 70% Indian Telenovas 🤣🤣🤣. Also this line alone has so much soap opera vibes 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

He has no choice but to go to fucking Sergio Marquina. And if it’s his wife, then even better. Keep your friends close but keep your enemies closer.

For fuck sake, Martín, Ive been telling you from last 2 ep

Stop. Blaming. Raquel.

Also, 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣 damn, these 2 assholes cant keep away from each other. Nada, are we sure these 2 married the right people? As much I am a Berlermo ship stan, this here is just smth else 😆😆😆

Uh-oh 🙁 this asshole son of a bitch just poked the mama bear. And if ANDRES of all people narrows his eyes at you, You are, quoting Martin from last ep, truly, utterly, entirely, thoroughly and wholly fucked.

“Do you know him?”

“Oh yes, a childhood friend, I stole his pencil once and he never forgave me. Have you heard this Paula? Don’t steal your friends’ pencils, they will never get over the betrayal. You could steal the teacher’s ones though.”

“Why did you steal his pencil?” Paula asked seriously, with a delirious tone, and too tired to even move her head upwards. Raquel is gonna kill every single person involved for doing this to her daughter.

🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣 Sassy Andres = Best Andres. Words that should be written with GOLD. Wisdom passed onto generations

Poor Paula 🤣🤣🤣 I just imagine this in some other situation :

Andres : *saying smth smth*

Paula : *taking notes & asking questions*

Raquel after seeing her daughter :

Look what you made me do

🎶But I got smarter, I got harder in the nick of time

Honey, I rose up from the dead, I do it all the time

I got a list of names, and yours is in red, underlined

I check it once, then I check it twice, oh!

Ooh, look what you made me do

Look what you just made me do🎶

(Look what you made me do by Taylor Swift)

I am telling you Nada, by the time Raquel will be done with everyone, Uma Thurman will cry buckets because no one, okay?, no one can compete with A MAMA BEAR RAQUEL MURILLO.

“Poison is a woman’s choice of weapon, Anibal. Don’t be disrespectful.”

Again, words of wisdom. Only time hes not being a misogynist.

Also, Andres, my dear, are you speaking this from experience?

(Why do I think that Martin got Tatiana killed cause she poisoned him and Martin had to watch Andres fight for his life in hospital?)

“He won’t say anything, Mama. He’s the one who kidnapped grandma with Silene!”

Is anyone gonna listen to her? Or do I need to bonk Raquel myself? 🤦‍♀️

“Silence!” she screams. “I need to know everything that happened, if we’re getting out of here alive.”

FINALLY!!!! SOME COMMON SENSE!!!! WE THANK THE LORD FOR MERCY!!!

And as for me, its time for me to say goodbye and goodnight (Cause its quarter to 12 rn in my watch)

AND ILL SEE YALL TOMORROW 🤗 BYE!!! 🙋‍♀️

I'm back as well! And we've finally caught up with each other.

Valid reaction. Sergio is also slowly going insane. Love that for him.

He's hoping he could. We all know this family has beef with that last one percentage.

(we'll see👀👀👀)

Hope is all we got at this point afabgs.

Now, now, don't speak to him like that. He has valid criticism.

I'd help him if I could, but alas (lmfao no, I do love them suffering)

Same recommendation. But he just, poor boy, could nothing to think of. So might as well be Laura. (also fair, who knows, maybe Andrés gets constantly kidnapped and forced into marriage)

Definitely, she's 100%. I really don't know how they do it.

Avsnsjsvjshsjs all theories are valid. Maybe Sergio does want Martín or Andrés, who knows what goes in the head of that fucker.

Seems like an interesting story! I never got along with my chemistry teachers. (Got one once to tell me that he's still not kicking me out of class only because he feels bad for my parents that they have to deal with me and they'll be the ones who will have to deal with the mess lmfao.)

Yes, have some faith in her!

100% accurate. Martín is this close from just shooting random people in the supermarket because they also could be the ones who kidnapped Andrés.

HAHAHA YES. This is exactly how the scene went.

We stan honesty in this house.

So happy you found it funny!!

I can confirm! Like 70% of all Egyptian drama as well.

I don't think he's hearing you well. But afnajscsgsh SAME. Okay look, now I really understand show runners with super homoerotic ships that they refuse to make canon. You try and make two male characters hate each other so much for plot then it slips and gets homoerotic.

Totally agree. This guy isn't making enemies with the right people (they are all dumb, but also none of them have anything that even resembles a moral compass)

Totally agree. This guy is honestly super amusing to watch and it's mainly because he's incapable of taking any situation in life seriously.

This family is really iconic. (love the song agsnsg) but also like Raquel would basically tell her after writing done his notes just put the title on top: things to never, ever, do.

I believe you! They really fucked with the wrong dumb family.

I mean, he's still a misogynist. Maybe some of us really like dagger, has he considered that?

That's as valid theory as any right there.

Hopefully Raquel will finally start listening to the child!

Raquel is the only one with a semblance of common sense.

Hope you had a good sleep! I'll see you tomorrow!

#thanks again kal!!#lovely review as always #Ramadan Telenovela #A Spanish Tale

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monsieur-hadrien · 4 years ago

Text

Quarantine Harry Potter Fanfiction *READING LIST*

I’ve spent the past months reading copious amounts of fanfiction and now my amount of AO3 bookmarks is absurd. I really need to share these because if I don’t I think I might implode. Drarry-centric but not all!

These are in no particular order nor is there a particular time frame that these were all posted. I have a little bit of everything in here just you wait.

On Punching Gods and Absentee Dads by Enigmaris

56 Chapters, 247k Words, Complete, no slash, T Rating

Marvel, Norse Mythology, Harry Potter Crossover

TW: Past Abandonment

Harry finds out that his dad is alive, has been the whole time. Instead of being overjoyed, Harry's disgusted. His dad left earth and abandoned his friends. Every painful thing he's ever gone through can be traced back to one man. Now Harry's got super strength he can't control and an almost unnecessary amount of magical power. His dad might be living it up with the Avengers now but not for long. With the help of his friends, Harry comes up with a plan for revenge. Get ready Avengers, Harry's out to punch a god.

We’re starting off strong with a Marvel crossover fanfic wow. Who knew that crossovers could be done tastefully as 2013 Wattpad kind of ruined it for us. However, this fic changed my mind! This fic is funny as fuck and is just a goodass time. I love a good multi-chapter fic (as you’ll soon see) and this one is a showstopper.

The Man Who Lived by sebastianL

42 Chapters, 254k Words, Complete, Draco/Harry, E Rating

TW: Major Character Death, Graphic Deptictions of Violence

Draco breaks a cup, and one thing leads to another. A story of redemption, tattoos, dreams, mistakes, green eyes, long conversations, and copious amounts of coffee.

With all of the Black Lives Matter protests happening right now, I think that this fic is super relevant. Draco has moved to New York City and is working as a receptionist at a tattoo shop and a mentor for inner city kids, but he accidentally gets forced to work out his differences with Harry, who at this point hates his guts. This fic is pretty serious, tackling themes of mental health, suicide, and police brutality. Every OC in this story is completely lovable and I cried my eyes out many times. When people ask me for a fic reccomendation this is the one I give people. Dare I say that this is my all-time favorite fic.

Warm Bodies by Betty_Hazel

Work in Progress, 37 Chapters as of 6/12/2020, 108k Words, Draco/Harry, E Rating

TW: D/s Dynamics, Graphic Porn, Dubious Relationship with Food

Draco Malfoy has spent his whole life wanting to go down on his knees for other men, and that's by far the least of the depraved things he fantasises about. He's wanted it all for so long that he's stopped believing that there might be someone out there who might be able to give it all to him; it comes as something of a surprise to find that maybe Harry Potter can, and that maybe Harry's looking for something too.

ALRIGHT MY PORN LOVERS THIS ONE IS FOR YOU! Don’t lie I know you’re horny. Somehow this fic is so fucking gorgeous and sweet yet so sinfully hot. It’s literally two boys who have never felt like their emotional needs have been satisfied learning to help and love each other like how much more wholesome does it get. I mean it’s all fine and wholesome until you get to the kinky sex which is WONDERFULLY WRITTEN MIGHT I ADD! I always say that if porn can make you feel something other than just horny, you’ve found a winner, and this story does just that.

Definitely check all the tags and I mean all the tags before you read this, but this is definitely one of my favorite porn with plot stories.

Running On Air by eleventy7

17 Chapters, 75k Words, Complete, Draco/Harry, T Rating

TW: No Archive Warnings

Draco Malfoy has been missing for three years. Harry is assigned the cold case and finds himself slowly falling in love with the memories he collects.

Might I just say that classics are considered classics for a reason. This is one of those stories that has the vibe of high school summer after senior year where all you do is try to escape reality and figure out your place in the world. While the plot is wonderful and the characters are great, I think what shines the brightest from this story is the writing style. It’s so enchanting and poetic with the best one-liners that make your heart hurt. On my AO3 bookmark i captioned it, “This just ripped my soul in half and restitched it together again,” and I still stand by that.

Lokison (Series) and How To Train Your Godling (Series) by sifsshadowheart

Main Story (Lokison): 33 Chapters, 244k Words, Completed, Harry/Various Characters, E Rating

14 Spinoffs/ Sequel Stories, Completed, Harry/Various, Various Ratings

Norse Mythology, Harry Potter, Percy Jackson, Various Fandoms Crossover

TW: Major Character Death, Graphic Violence, Underage Sex, Spiralling Mental Health

James and Lily Potter had a secret, one which led to Thanatos saving young Harry from a dreary life with the Dursleys and changed the face of the Second British Wizarding War before it ever began.

This story feels much more like a 12 season television show than a two hour movie if you know what I mean. The plot is pretty slow going but the character development and interation makes it worth it. The story blends the lore and events of the HP and PJO to make a completely new story without making it feel like a goddamn recap. The reader follows Harry from when he’s young all the way into adulthood and it’s a fun time to watch him grow as a character and bond with his parental figures. Also some of the spinoffs are really wild and I never would have thought of the pairings but they just work somehow?? My personal favorite spinoff is the Pirates of Caribbean/Calypso and Leo arc like HELLO?! hot pirates. The total word count of the two series is 465k so beware it takes a hot second to chug through this one.

This Worship of an Extinct Fire by Lomonaaeren

Oneshot, 30k Words, Draco/Harry, M Rating

TW: Graphic Depictions of Violence, Emotional and Physical Abuse, Deppression

Unspeakable Draco Malfoy has planned for nearly six months how to take down Thomas Linwood, a man who has discovered the secret of converting wizard bodies to pure magic. He was prepared for anything--except the discovery of the missing Harry Potter in Linwood's compound.

This one, I don’t know how it’s not considered a classic. I’ve seen it floating around on drarry tumblr and wow is it good. I especially like the detailed magic system and mechanics that Draco is investigating. How the author managed to have so much detailed and gracefully planned out backstory in 30k words is beyond me. Also gentle Dracoo Malfoy is my favorite Draco Malfoy :) absolute angel mode.

Little Compton Street (One Rainy Night in Soho) by LLAP15 and Writcraft

Oneshot, 66k Words, Draco/Harry, Past Sirius/James, E Rating

TW: Implied/Referenced Homophobia, Light D/s Dynamics, References to Cancer, References to HIV/AIDS

Draco is lonely, Harry hates the press and it won’t stop raining in London. Harry discovers a magical street that’s close to disappearing forever and Draco realises he’s one rainy night in Soho away from finding everything he’s been searching for.

This fic is, in every sense, a masterpiece. Especially for pride month, the story surrounding LGBTQIA+ activism, the AIDS Epidemic of the 80s, and the gentrification of historically queer communities is one that should be read by everyone. Every single place, OC, and historic event has real world ties and is historically accurate, making this fic even more enchanting. Everything about this fic is graceful and slow burning I can’t help but fall in love with it. I’ve only seen this fic once on HP tumblr, but I feel like it should be considered a classic as it is truly a moving piece. This fic is one of the biggest reasons why I became so enthralled with LGBT history and am writing a fic that takes place in a wizarding version of the AIDS epidemic.

Sensitive Touch by Raserwolf

45 Chapters, 194k Words, Complete, Draco/Harry, E Rating

TW: Racism and Racial Slurs, Homophobic Slurs, Ablism and Ablist Slurs, Rape and Sexual Assault, Sensory Overloads and Mental Breakdowns, Extreme Bullying and Hate Crime, Past Abuse, Anxiety Disorders, PTSD wow this is a long list

When Draco Malfoy encounters a struggling and frustrated Harry desperately trying to tie his shoes after a meltdown in the Great Hall, his curiosity regarding the incident leads him to seek the help of the two people closest to Harry: Ron and Hermione.

After even they are shocked to hear the extent of Harry's issues, though Hermione had her suspicions, he discovers more about the man than he ever thought he knew before.

As a Neurotypical, I found this fic to be absolutely wonderful. I don’t know much about the typical traits of those who are one the autism spectrum and how they affect their everyday lives, but from what I was reading in the comments from those who are on the spectrum or who have family who are, this fic was pretty accurate and realistic. Harry, who lives with aspergers, goes without a known diagnosis until 8th year and it’s just heightened by his PTSD and anxiety and ugh I just want to hug the boy. The story follows Harry and Draco and the rest of the 8th year gang through the year and has multiple arcs in which the wizarding world are just dumbass bitches who can’t fucking seem to accept people for who they are. Not only is Harry on the spectrum but he’s also Desi with a purpose and not just mentioned and forgotten which is wonderful. The boys go through a lot of trauma in the story but there’s also a lot of teeth-rotting fluff that I live for. This is one of the fics that I have read and reread because I love it so much.

This definitely is not my full list I have a ton more stories in my bookmarks if you are curious. I’ll probably post a part two to this just cause I have so much and read so often. These, however, are definitely the biggest highlights.

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seijorhi · 4 years ago

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asks :)

once again i am bad at answering things on time, so have a bunch of asks below the cut

logically speaking, if devil kuroo and fallen angel reader had a baby...

*BD chanting* Hellspawn! Hellspawn! Hellspawn! But no, that would be a big yikes 👀

the fall was SO GOOD!!!!! so in the story we are a fallen angel? and we had witchy friends hide us? also is kuroo jealous of witchy friends for being close with us as just friends or👀👀 also what happened to readers wings if kuroo wasn’t the one who took them?

Thank you, bby! So yes, it’s kinda vague in The Fall because i didn’t want to bog down the fic with backstory. But yeah essentially after being cast out from Heaven, Kuroo stole the reader, who later escaped. It ain’t easy to hide from the Devil, so she find a witch to help keep her hidden from him with the wards - flash forward a hundred or so years and Kuroo finally finds the witch and your other friends, tortures and kills them in his hunt for the reader. He would have killed them regardless for helping the reader, but jealousy is what drives him to take his time, to be cruel.

Also, the reader had her wings ripped off by the other angels after they find out she fell in love with the devil (even though she didn’t know that)

DEVIL KUROO HAS ME RUNNING LAPSHSISBSUS im curious, how did he meet the angel?

DEVIL KUROO IS SOME GOOD FOOD!! I wanna know how he tricked us and then I want devil kuroo smooches

So I’m gonna answer these two together because they kinda go hand in hand. First of all, thank you, bbies! I’m glad y’all are as horny for him as I am! Basically, without going into the full backstory that I worked out in my head - Kuroo meets her on her first time on earth. I like to imagine that she was all soft and innocent and perfectly naive and caught his attention. He comes to her as ‘Kuroo’ and pretends that he was an angel cast out from Heaven (which isn’t technically a lie 👀) in order to manipulate her. At first it’s more of a game - he’s not as interested in her as he is in corrupting something so pretty and perfect. He wanted her to choose to fall for him, to take something from heaven and ruin it - before casting it aside and leaving it to suffer, but along the way he became a little too invested and caught feelings. Not healthy, good feelings, but feelings nonetheless.

Of course, it’s only a matter of time before the others notice you keep slipping away down to earth, and when they realise who it is you’re with (not nearly so easily fooled by the devil’s tricks) it doesn’t matter - they tear off your wings and cast her out, leaving Kuroo to come and sweep her right up.

The Fall was such a tease, I thoroughly enjoyed it! I totally pictured Kuroo in his JVA outfit when you described him, with volleyball shoes and all 😂 - @itadaklmasu

Lmao I am snorting at the image of Devil!Kuroo wearing volleyball shoes

lol i saw that ask about the person saying they don’t even watch bnha or haikyuu and i’d just to say, same. Idk how i came across your blog but even though i don’t know anything about the characters, your writing absolutely hooked me and i’m so invested in your blog

Sehfblvehjrwkl bby this is so sweet, thank you so much!! Tbh you probably don’t even need to watch the series to read my stuff - just trust me when I say that they’re hot lmao

Okay, first off, I legit check your page every day, and I’m totally in love with your writing. Second, I’ve been simping for Tsukki lately, and I think as a yandere, he would be so good at gaslighting. Like telling you that you aren’t good enough to mean anything to anyone and that he pities you enough to care about you and that he’s the only one that does. Idk how accurate that is, but I feel like he would just be super mean. Don’t forget to rest and take care of yourself!!

💕💕💕 ahh thank you sweetheart!!! Honestly Tsukki would be a really scary yandere to have because he’s cold and mean and super into degradation. Don’t get me wrong, that boy is obsessed with you, loves you - in his own little way - but you’d never know it from the way he treats you. But yeah, he’d manipulate the absolute shit out of you.

Hi I just wanted to say that you are literally my go to for soulmate Aus. Honestly your pieces are some of the best writings and I adore them soooooo much. I love how they have a lot of depth and emotion behind them and how you incorporate how reluctant the reader is to even want a soulmate sometimes lol. This is my nth time rereading all of your soulmate fics and I swear they get better over time so I just wanted to thank you for taking the time to write them!

Bby, keep talking like that and i’m gonna melt!!! I do have a soft spot for my soulmate au’s because there is just something about that whole concept that just gets to me - especially when you throw jealousy, obsessiveness and a whole bunch of possessive vibes on top. It’s my happy place 😌

Not a request, but I just read Untouchable and I was wondering, how would Aizawa punish the reader now that he has her back?

I don’t think he’d be super into the physical punishments - though he might break a leg to keep her housebound and reliant on him. He’d take away all of her ‘freedoms’ - lock her in the basement with barely enough food and water to survive until she remembers how good she had it before. Of course, once he did let her out, he’d fuck her nice and rough - marking her up so she doesn’t forget who owns her, mind, body and fucking soul.

#ask #anon #not a request #BD answers #fic q's

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thedarkknights · 5 years ago

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⊰ H E L L B O U N D ⊱

❥ (A/N): Hey guys, I wanted to apologize for taking so long, it’s just that I tried my best to keep the jokers in character which is rather difficult and time-consuming given that Heath is an unpredictable little fuck while Joaquin’s Joker, which I will refer to as Arthur throughout the story, is still unfamiliar territory to me. Anyways, this chapter will give a backstory in regards to how the reader met the Jokers; that being said, there won’t be much interaction between the reader and the jokers since, y’know, they’re barely meeting. Also, this is the first fic I’ve ever written so please don’t flame me too hard, although I am more than happy to receive constructive criticism! In any case, I hope y’all enjoy it :D

❥ Pairing: Heath Ledger Joker x Reader x Joaquin Phoenix Joker

❥ Summary: Don’t walk by yourself at night; you never know who or what you might come across.

⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀— ♡ —

Tonight was just like any other night — nothing out of the ordinary. Well, at least when it came to your daily “game plan,” which merely consisted of waking up, prepping for work, trying to maintain a straight appearance through your 12-hour shift, and coming home to attempt -and successfully fail- to get a decent amount of sleep. What kept gnawing your mind day and night, what kept you troubled throughout your workday and kept you up at night for continuous hours, was the constant reminder of how boring to life was. Devoid of any emotion that didn’t consist of the empty and dreary feeling of complete dissatisfaction. Every morning you’d wake up at 6:15, take 5 minutes to reflect if attending to your measly job as a waitress for Gotham’s oldest diner was worth it, and after accepting the fact that despite your job being utter shit you needed your weekly check to help pay for your rent and college tuition, you leave the warm comfort of your bed and head towards your closet to pick out your white long-sleeve shirt and black skirt of a uniform. Afterward, you make your way down to your restroom, and just before entering the shower; you take a good look at yourself in the mirror; you can’t help but notice how your dull eyes, once full of life and hope, reflect just how exhausted you are. The answer to your dilemma was simple, really, your life lacked inspiration. Excitement. Thrill. You didn’t have that little spark in you that everyone else seemed to have. After every completed day, when the sun would set, and darkness reigned the atmosphere, you reminded yourself that some desires are unattainable. Every night, rather than sleeping as an average person, would you’d lie awake, contemplating your day while staring at your ceiling. You fulfilled your daily requirements of serving ungrateful customers their once-canned meals because you needed to pay $442 per month for your college tuition alone; a degree in biological sciences? Yeah, right. Sure it’s what you aspired to receive, but you come home at 8 pm feeling wholly drained from energy, so you only study 4 hours, at best, per week. Life here in Gotham was fantastic, that is if you were Bruce Wayne. Maybe you should just marry Bruce Wayne and let him be your sugar daddy for the rest of your life. Sure. Besides, money can’t buy happiness. But it sure could buy you some more hours of sleep, right?

So here you are, walking towards Gotham’s subway to go to your apartment after a long day at work. Like a wish come true, the stairwell comes into view, just a block away. Just then, you distinctly heard what you made out to be a car burning rubber on these lonely streets, which was out-of-the-ordinary considering that Gotham wasn’t the criminal-infested, fast-paced and hectic place everyone claimed it to be. As you turn your head toward the source of the shrilling noise you saw what you considered to be a bomb get thrown out the front right window of a black vehicle which was now at least two blocks away; you couldn’t decipher what build or make the car was, but from the looks of it, it looked like a busted old-school Cadillac. While the classic car captivated your sights, the bomb detonated which scared the living shit out of you, to say the least; as if the reckless black Cady weren’t enough to alert you to get the fuck outta there and run towards safety, the massive explosion sure was. You start to run for the stairwell frantically, the harsh contact your black pumps makes with the concrete resonates within your eardrums; the staircase that ensured your safety was now just a crosswalk away. A step into the pitch-black street was all you were able to do before the black vehicle screeched to a stop at just an arm-length from you, blocking the entrance to your safe haven.

The driver’s door was busted open as a tall man rapidly stepped out, and suddenly all attempts to escape from this gut-wrenching situation vanished; you stayed frozen in a mixture of awe and fear, gazing at the man like a deer caught in the headlights. The street lamp provided a streak of faint light, so you weren’t able to get a clear view of what the man was wearing other than a long, dark-purple trench coat, but that wasn’t what completely hypnotized you, no, it was his face. The stranger’s face was coated in poorly applied white makeup resulting in visible creases along his forehead, black smudges of paint framed his eyes up to his eyebrows, and a smear of contrasting blood-red lipstick forming a sinister smile; it was apparent he had worn this particular makeup for days. While lost in thoughts of the man before you, you failed to notice his accomplice stepping eloquently and unwavering out of the vehicle, it was until he vigorously slammed the door that you turned your attention to him. As he made his way around the front of the Cadillac, you noticed he had a stern look in his face, one that failed to project the light-hearted vibes that were usually associated with the classical clown makeup that decorated his face. The dim-yellow lighting provided by the street lamp prevented you from pinpointing the correct tone of the tuxedo this man was sporting, but there was no mistake in the coloring, it was red. Red like the devil himself. Your eyes wandered from his green locks downwards until you reached his hand, it was then you realized he was holding a bazooka. You practically felt the intense panic born from this observation ooze from every pore of your skin, your eyes never losing sight of the firearm in trepidation of what might occur next.

“Well, hello beautiful” chirped the man before you in a playful tone, a tone that was unaccounted for, given the current circumstances. In any other situation, you would’ve welcomed the words with a warm smile, but that was an impossible task this time around; you slowly turned your head toward the source of the voice only to find the purple-clothed clown visually-inspecting you. He closed the short distance between the two of you all while lifting his hand and resting it upon your shoulder, giving him easy access to your ear; he wasted no time and whispered into your ear, “I’ll get back to you in a second, excuse me.” His hot breath made contact with your sensitive skin sending chills down your spine, your uncovered skin betraying you by exposing the goosebumps that rose all over your skin. There was something about this mysterious clown that aroused your senses, and even though you probably wouldn’t ever admit it, his brief contact left you desiring for more. Why did this menacing individual have such an effect on you? Immediately after, he spun to face his partner and pointed his index finger towards him, “y'know, for a man who loves to play with guns, you sure have terrible aim” he said teasingly only to radically change his tone into a relatively dour one within a matter of seconds, “try not to miss this time, will you?”, and just like that he began to march forward. Curiosity got the best of you as you turned in his direction, and it was then you noticed a caped-man riding a dark-colored opaque motorcycle towards the joker; the clown hunched his shoulders down as he came into an abrupt stop, clenching his fists as he daringly stared forward at the caped crusader. Then it hit you at once, the bomb previously thrown was used to create a divergence between the caped crusader and the jokers, which only meant that the bazooka was to be used for him as well. Your jaw dropped in horror, and your knees were seconds away from giving out until you heard a soft, tender voice utter, “you might wanna duck here, doll”; you flipped your head towards the formally dressed clown only to find him down on one knee, resting the bazooka on his shoulder as he tried to get an accurate hold of his target. Without a moment’s hesitation, you threw yourself onto the hard asphalt and quickly shielded your head with your arms allowing your forearms to cover your ears as you tightly shut your eyelids.

All was quiet for a couple of seconds until a loud, monstrous blast resonated within the lonely streets of Gotham; your eardrums produced an eerie ring that made your skin crawl. You gently rose onto you knees and slowly opened your eyes taking notice how your knees were scrapped due to the savage manner in which you threw yourself on the road; realization hit you like a train, and you hastily turned towards the raging flames produced from the explosion, your eyes desperately looking for the joker and the motorcyclist. You registered how the motorcycle was bursting in uncontrollable flames, and in that instant, you felt a sharp pain in your stomach, causing you to clench the bottom of your dirt-stained shirt. You then turned your head downwards in shock and defeat, taking notice of your lightly bleeding palms; as you faintly began to message them to prevent yourself from crying, you heard a fit of hysterical laughter. In alert, you frantically searched for the source of the sinister guffawing, but a particular silhouette interrupted your plans as it captured your complete attention; Just like a soldier valiantly rising to face their opponent once again after receiving a severe beat down, the masked individual arose with great exhaustion from the pavement, having to use his right knee to leverage himself upwards. Your eyes widened in sudden realization of who this masked man was; he was none other than the infamous crime-fighting vigilante known as the Batman, the dark knight willing to sacrifice just about anything to provide security and restore hope to the citizens of Gotham. You couldn’t control yourself any longer and finally permitted your eyes to release tears full of joy and relief, relief that your hero, the man capable of helping you escape this horrible situation, was still alive; the moment truly felt like a divine experience until a low, diabolical growl made itself present within the corner of your eye.

You cautiously faced the clown as he strode towards the Batman.

“Y’know, I would’ve thought that after the death of your little boy-scout buddy, Robin was it?, you would’ve learned your lesson,” he said viciously as he reached for a crowbar hidden within the inner pockets of his coat, “but no, you just have to have things your way, don’t you? Guess history really does repeat itself, huh?”

“You’re an immoral scum with no respect for anyone or anything, not even for human life”

“that makes two of us, doesn’t it? You’re no different than me, you broke your one, golden rule with Harvey. In fact, I think you and I are so similar that we deserve to share something more than just a flawed moral status, don’t we? How ‘bout some scars, huh? Here I’ll help get you started,” and with that, he grasped the crowbar and charged at Batman with full force, directly striking his forehead, which sent him crashing right into the dark asphalt.

The Joker swung at him repeatedly, his strength increasing exponentially after each impact when suddenly the Batman caught the head of the crowbar and jerked the metal backward sending the opposite end crashing down onto the Joker’s lower rib causing the clown to curse and bend in pain; he remained in that position for a fraction of a second only to straighten back and expel a wicked laughter from his throat that caused your heart to halt for a second. There was no doubt in mind that The Joker was like no other man, and you knew things were only going to take a turn for the worst; you wanted to help Batman, you truly did, but what exactly were you going to do? What could you do? Run up there and scream at the Joker to stop? Put your non-existent strength to the test and take a few jabs at the clown? As the Batman said, The Joker was a man that had no rules, that lived to put every belief into question, that took pleasure in demonstrating how any moral code was ill-founded; a man that had no real purpose in life other than to create absolute chaos. Just his mannerisms alone reflected how mentally unstable he was, the way in which he would roughly clench his fists that he would crack his knuckles, how he repeatedly licked his cherry-red lips in anticipation for havoc, how he snarled so ferally his whole body vibrated. Your head fell sideways in defeat, you felt as if you could cry once again but instead of releasing tears of joy, they’d be salty tears of incompetence.

“Oh, you…you really are a stubborn person y'know that? Let’s play for a while longer. Then we’ll be able to see just how tough your little act of courage really is,” the Joker barked bitterly.

“You can entertain yourself with me all you want Joker, just let the girl go. That’s beneath you,” Batman said in genuine fear of what a low-life criminal like the Joker could do to a defenseless woman like yourself, the pain of his previous beating evident in his strained voice. Your ears perked up at the mention of your presence, a feeling of disgrace washing over you as you cognized how willing the Batman was to save you despite his helpless state.

“Oh, you mean the little poodle? No, no, we got plans for her. But don’t worry, Arthur here will take good care of her,” the joker replied in a mischievous voice as he turned to face someone behind you, tucking his bottom lip below his upper lip.

It was then you realized that you had been so absorbed within the Batman-Joker ordeal that you completely disregarded the menacing clown behind you. And you really had failed to notice the way he observed you with lustful eyes, how he quietly took notice of every breath you exhaled, of the lock of hair you hid behind your ear, of the thin-layer of eyeliner that framed your eyes and the lip balm that moisturized your lips; he visually measured your breast size, picturing his hands softly caressing your breasts. Arthur didn’t fail to overlook how your tight, black skirt slowly rose from your knees up to your thighs, secretly worshipping your newly exposed skin.

You whipped your head to face the clown, your pupils dilating in fear as you make direct eye contact with Arthur, who sported a wide grin across his face. Like a rabbit after spotting it’s stalking predator, you desperately tried to create a distance between the two of you, your plan being to rush to the Batman for safety despite knowing his current condition. Unfortunately, Arthur caught you from behind, imprisoning your arms and waist with his left arm all while covering your nasal and oral airways with a damp cloth using his right hand.

After writhing under his unforgiving hold for what felt like hours, you fell limp under his firm clasp, feeling yourself slowly descent into a state of light-headedness due to the suffocation. As your body started to slump back onto Arthur, you were able to appreciate how comforting it felt to be under his hold, how warm his arms felt around your body. It was rather alarming, to say the least, how this man was able to put your mind in ease; it was as though something about him was able to fulfill that empty feeling in your chest. No longer in a state of panic, your muscles relaxed as you started to slip into an unconscious state, the last thing your mind was able to register was how the Joker ferociously thrashed Batman with his crowbar, which was now dripping in blood.

A wave of sorrow washed over your body, and then that was it; everything just stopped.

Everything simply got dark and quiet…

➳ Tag List: @aethersghoulette @tsukiakarinobara @lasquadrahoe @geronimosanna @clownboi24601 @justahyena @the-fanficcer @khasoa @mimas749

#heath ledger #heath ledger joker x reader #joaquin phoenix #joaquin phoenix joker x reader #arthur fleck #arthur fleck x reader #heath ledger joker x reader x joaquin phoenix joker #the dark knight #joker #joker 2019 #joker x reader #joker fanfic #joker headcanon #the dark knight joker #*mine #HellBound

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snowdice · 4 years ago

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Study Fic Chapter Names

Hi everyone. I want to have chapter names for the current study fic and I have some ideas I want your opinions on for when I’m editing them. I’ll put chapters 1-3 under the cut so you can see them easier. Feel free to suggest any other names for the chapters! I’m not at all decided.

I decided to name the fic Folds in Paper (for reasons yet to be made clear).

Chapter 1:

Burnt Rubber Poptarts (Because Janus saying how he can’t even tell the difference between the burnt rubber and other flavored poptarts really brought home his current mental state.)

Chapter 2:

Paper Faces on Parade (Line from Masquerade from the Phantom of the Opera. Wouldn’t work well with the Eye of Gold chapter 3 title because they’re both from the same song)

Green Light (Green lighting the mission as well as Janus saying he had ‘all green’ which we’ll talk about in chapter 4, but basically means he’s had no incidents unlike the yellow, red, and black designations. Also alludes to the green light in Great Gatsby which symbolizes Gatsby’s love for the unattainable Daisy.)

Chapter 3:

Eye of gold; thigh of blue. True is false; who is who? (Line from Masquerade from the Phantom of the Opera.)

It’s a lopazoo. (Line from The Charleston. There isn’t really a strict definition for ‘lopazoo,’ but you can kind of get the vibe just from reading it.)

Our dance is surely a comer (Line from The Chareston except “our” replaces “that.” Comer means a person or thing likely to succeed.)

Chapter 1

The words in front of him seemed to squirm back and forth across the screen as he watched, despite the fact that he’d bought this screen to prevent that exact thing from happening. The ‘d’s and ‘p’s and ‘b’s seemed to blur together into a sludge of incomprehensible nonsense, just like the voices around him seemed to. He wasn’t quite sure how long he’d sat there staring at this report. Time itself seemed almost like the words and the people, it swirled past him in a blur of sounds and colors, but he never could quite grab ahold of it.

Something smacked him in the forehead, and he startled, looking up. “Remus,” Janus sighed. He picked up the projectile that had just been lobbed at him. “Did you steal paper from the 20th century supply again?” he asked, staring at the folded-up piece of white paper in the shape of a crane. It was one of Remus’s favorite designs. “That’s not what it’s for.”

“There’s a message inside!” Remus replied, happily.

Janus glared at him and carefully unfolded the paper. He squinted at it, and yeah, that was way worse than the screen. Maybe it was worth his money. Or maybe Remus’s handwriting was just horrendous.

He squinted at it for a few moments and then looked back up. He blinked at his surroundings. The note had said ‘Go home. Work ended three hours ago.’ and that certainly seemed accurate considering he and Remus were the only people left in the office.

“I still have to finish this report about the New Easter Island mission,” he said to Remus.

“I’ll do it,” Remus said. “You’ve been working without a break for hours, and I probably owe the agency some time since I took a coffee break to 22nd century France this afternoon.”

“You what?” Janus asked.

”They have the best coffee,” Remus said, and then grinned wolfishly, “and the best guys.”

“Stop doing that stuff,” Janus hissed. “Your lucky I haven’t reported you already.”

“You wouldn’t,” Remus said, very sure of himself. “You like me too much. Plus, without me, you’ll forget to go home and sleep every night. So, it’d be a loose-loose. Now up! It’s time for you to go home.”

Janus sighed and stood. “Fine,” he said. “I’m going, but that report better be done like you said or I will report you for your coffee excursions.”

“Sure, you will,” Remus said. “Now shoo.”

Janus spared him one more glare before standing from his desk and waving his hand through the air. The machine at his wrist buzzed softly and the display screen lit up around him. He jabbed a finger at the last of the three pre-set locations and, with a feeling like he’d just stepped into a pool of softened butter, he was home.

He groaned and fell back onto his couch immediately. “Time?” he asked.

“1:57am,” a soft voice said from his ceiling. He groaned. Considering the agency liked to keep their schedules aligned even though his house sat almost 2 millennia before the agency even existed, he’d have to be up in 4 hours to head back to work. They said it was to ‘stop them from experiencing time jet lag’ and ‘maintain their circadian rhythm,’ but with Janus it usually just ended up with him ‘not getting enough sleep’ and ‘suffering greatly.’

Sure, he had been fine with it, encouraged the policy even, when the agency was created, but that had been before he’d had to live it.

His stomach suddenly grumbled, reminding him that he hadn’t eaten since before the mission he’d been on earlier that day. He was exhausted, but he also knew trying to go to bed this hungry would result in him not being able to sleep at all. He dragged himself to his feet and into one of the barstools at the kitchen island. He didn’t want to wait for the auto cook feature to cook him something and he especially didn’t want to cook something himself, so he pressed a few buttons on the side of the counter and a protein infused, still cold pop tart popped out of the table.

He thought it might be a Hot Fudge Sunday one, but he honestly couldn’t tell. The protein infusion made all of them taste rather horrible. For all he knew, it was one of the Burnt Rubber pop tarts Remus had once snuck into his pantry. To be fair, he hadn’t even noticed until he’d went to go stock his pantry and realized that there was half a box of those things. It was just another example of Remus using time travel for things he shouldn’t. They were a year 2513 delicacy.

The 2510s were an odd set of years.

He chewed on the possibly chocolate, possibly rubber flavored pastry and glanced out the window. Though it was dark, one could still see the water of the man-made lake his home sat on thanks to the floating lights that hovered above it. Each agent working for the TPI received a home and alternate identity in a time and location of their choice. (Within reason, that is. Remus’s request to live among the dinosaurs was quickly denied and new rules were put into place immediately after.) Janus had chosen the late 24th century with a moderately sized home on Lake BlueBox. He didn’t have many close neighbors, but the ones he did know thought he was an accountant who went by the name of Declan Banks.

No, he had not chosen the last name. Yes, everyone got those types of names. The Agent Management Office had a sense of humor or were just not creative. Janus only knew one employee in the AMO and he’d been avoiding him for the past three years as much as possible. Cowardly, maybe, but he knew if he gave the man too much information about his general lifestyle, he’d be dragged into the AMO to talk about his mental state and feelings, and honestly, that would make everything worse.

As soon as he finished the poptart, a glass of water popped up from the table making him jump despite the fact that he had been the one to set it to do that automatically years ago. He downed half of the water and picked up the glass to take it to his bedroom. He should probably clean himself off before bed, but he couldn’t be bothered today, and just stripped off his uniform and collapsed into bed in his underwear. The morning was going to come far too soon, he knew. Yet, his mind would not quiet. His brain kept filling out the report he trusted (well, hoped he could trust) Remus had already finished by now.

He eventually groaned and rolled over in bed. “Play something,” he requested. The screen by the side of his bed lit up.

“Randomizing the ‘Something’ video playlist,” the soft voice said from the ceiling.

A dance recital which he knew had been recorded in 2033 started playing. The images moved on the screen in front of him, but the sound drifted from all around him. He let his eyes linger over the way the dancers’ bodies moved as the sounds washed over him. The image of elegantly twisting limbs remained in his head long after his eyelids drifted shut and he finally fell asleep.

Chapter 2

The morning was just as torturous as Janus had expected it would be. He chewed through another poptart, this time bothering to actually check and see that it was a cinnamon-sugar one and drank three cups of caffeinated orange juice. Then, he waved his hand through the air and selected the 1st saved location on his device. He popped up directly behind his desk where he’d been standing the night morning before.

Someone, probably Remus, had shut his integrator down. He swiped a finger across the power button, and it flickered back on, scrolling through its morning start up routine.

The machine scanned through all of the data in the three main system it was connected to and sorted all information into things that concerned him, could concern him, and did not before then sorting the first two categories into order of importance. As it did, he set up his screen reader so he would hopefully not start the day with more of a migraine than he already had. It took about 3 seconds for everything to turn on and settle.

Sitting down in his desk, he dismissed the notification that Remus had finished and submitted the report from their mission the day before.

A mission had been scheduled for him today, and the details were in his inbox. A piece time travel technology had been accidently dropped by an archology student in the 1890s during a trip. It was an earlier model of emergency time travel given to time travels that would dump them back into the Registration Office in the year they originated. It wasn’t extremely dangerous, but could pose some problems, especially if someone who didn’t know what it was activated it.

Surveillance agents had tracked it down and found that it had been picked up by a local and sold. Though no one from that time had known what it was, they had identified that it was made out of a precious metal and it had been crafted into an expensive necklace. Janus and Remus were supposed to retrieve it today. It had been pinpointed that the most opportune time for the extraction was 1923 during a masquerade ball held by those who had bought the necklace.

It was a fairly low stakes mission. He wasn’t set to leave for another couple of hours, so he clicked through the rest of the important notifications and then set off to meet his missions coordinator, Rhi, in her office.

Rhi and Janus got along fairly well. She was a well put together woman who took her job incredibly seriously. It was fair as her job was to organize all information and materials from every other department and make sure the agents she was assigned to got and understood all of it. A mistake from her could lead to an agent’s death or something far worse.

This, of course, made her relationship with Remus… interesting to say the least. Janus could never place whether they were nemesis, frenemies, or mortal enemies, and he doubted he would ever know.

“Okay, but it’s the 1920s America,” Remus was already in her office arguing when Janus arrived. “There were so many gangsters! I could be a gangster. I would make a fantastic gangster! Just give me a gun, a snazzy suit with a white hat, and a buttload of alcohol. I will be running Chicago with Al Capone in five minutes.”

“Al Capone didn’t become a crime boss until 1925 and you are going to 1923,” Rhi said, sounding bored, “you aren’t going to Chicago, and as I have already stated, your cover is already decided.”

“But-”

“It is nonnegotiable, Agent Clockson,” she said firmly. Remus pouted, but seemingly accepted his fate.

“May I come in?” Janus asked.

“Please do,” Rhi said. “You have been to the 1920s before, correct?” she asked Janus.

“Yes ma’am.”

She tapped the screen on her desk in response. “In the last two years?”

“About two months ago,” he responded. She tapped something else.

“Any blacks, reds, or yellows?” she asked.

“All green.”

“Great. Do you need a refresher course on basic cultural or linguistic procedures?”

“No.”

She pushed one more thing and then swiped the check-in document over to him. He glanced at the report stating he’d had no incidents of any level the last time he visited the 1920s and had opted out of the optional refresher course, and then pressed his finger against the screen to sign it with his fingerprint.

The document returned to her side of the desk automatically. “Okay,” she said swiping another document from her left over to be in front of her. She twisted her wrist to copy it and slide copies to Janus and Remus. “Here are exact details on the time, place, and event you are going to, as well as details about your cover.” Janus scrolled through his quickly. It wasn’t as detailed as some he’d had considering this was a brief in-and-out missing, but he still took care to memorize everything on the page.

As he and Remus read through their things, Rhi got to her feet and turned to the storage compartments behind her desk.

She grabbed out two packages and when they’d both signed that they’d read and understood the paperwork, she slid them across the desk to them. “These have everything you need,” she said. “Clothes, money, and an invitation to the party you’re off to attend. You are to get changed now, have a last check in with costuming to make sure everything is in order, and then report to decontamination in 23 minutes. Your set to leave in 38 minutes. Any questions?”

“How much-?” Remus started.

“None, agent,” Rhi said.

“But-”

“No alcohol,” Rhi said. “It is the prohibition era in the United States anyway.”

“Like there’s not going to be alcohol at the rich people party,” Remus said sullenly.

She pressed her lips together. “It is an in-and-out mission,” she said to both of them, and then turned to glare at Remus. “Do not get arrested.”

“I don’t know,” Remus said joyfully. “I think I still have room for a 1920s mug shot on my wall.”

“Behave,” she said, “or I’ll report you for the cat you smuggled in from the 1800s.”

“You’d never,” Remus said. “You enjoy the cute pictures of Diesel Fuel I send you every day too much, and you know it!”

“Just… don’t get arrested.” She turned to Janus. “Don’t let him get arrested.”

“I’ll do my best,” Janus promised, standing. “Now come on, Remus, we need to get changed.”

“You just want to see me naked,” Remus replied with a wink, but he did stand.

“If I see you naked one more time in my life Remus, my eyeballs will fall out of their sockets,” Janus said, waving to Rhi as he pulled Remus out of the door.

“Kinky.”

Janus’s eyeballs almost did fall out right then and there with how hard he rolled them.

They got changed quickly, Remus complaining and saying if he couldn’t dress like a gangster, he should at least be allowed to wear a flapper dress. Janus had long ago learned to ignore his ramblings. He did seem enthused about the included mask for the masquerade. It was a silver fox shaped mask with green accents that reminded Janus of the Egyptian God Anubis.

Janus’s own mask on the other hand, was only designed to take up the left half of his face. It was mostly golden with a black swirled design. Attached to the side there was a plume of golden tipped white feathers. He had to give it to the costuming department, they did have good taste.

Once they were both dressed, they were poked and prodded by one of the costumers to make sure everything was accurate, fit right, and had been put on correctly.

After that, they went to the decontamination area to have themselves and everything they were taking with them sterilized so they didn’t accidently take any pathogens to the 1920s. They also received an oral vaccination to be sure they didn’t pick up anything from the 1920s and bring it back.

Then they were ready to go. The correct time-space coordinates had already been sent to their timepieces. With a push of a button, they were off.

Chapter 3

Janus and Remus both appeared at the same moment a couple of feet apart in what looked like the inside of a garden shed. There was already a man waiting for them a few feet away. “Sup babes,” Remy said, just like he always did. The T-Agent looked their costumes up and down and whistled. “Now that,” he said, “almost makes me want to be one of you time jockeys.”

“They wouldn’t let me have a gun or a canister of moonshine,” Remus pouted.

Remy snorted. “Sorry, babes, but that makes my job a lot easier. If I’ve gotta fish you outta the 1920s criminal justice system, I’d rather it not be because you shot someone on accident ‘cause you don’t know how to use the safety.”

Remus groaned dramatically. “Everyone is lame.”

Remy just shook his head. “Meet back here when you’ve got the necklace,” he said. “Don’t make a move until after 11:05pm and before 11:17. That’s your window.”

“We know,” Janus said. “See you then.”

“Have fun at the party boys,” Remy said and then lowered his shades to look at Remus, “but not too much fun.”

“Yeah, yeah,” said Remus, already towing Janus out of the garden shed. The way had been specifically cleared for them, so they met no other people before they’d rounded the house the party was taking place and had gotten onto the driveway in front of the house.

Without missing a beat, they strolled up to the front of the house, just as a car pulled into the end of the driveway. Janus rang the doorbell, and a few moments later, a man who was clearly the butler answered the door. They handed over their invitation, and the man immediately let them in.

The party had already started when they slipped into the medium sized ballroom that had been decked out in streamers and other decorations. Janus’s nose immediately wanted to scrunch as the smell of sweat from all the dancing already going on as well as the too strong perfume meant to cover that stench wafted over him. It was by far not the worst smelling time period, but he was pretty sure some people still weren’t aware deodorant had been recently invented.

He checked his time piece which had been disguised as a fancy wristwatch for this trip. “Okay,” he said. “We have about two hours before we need to make our move. We should…”

Remus’s attention was already being dragged away by a young man who seemed to be providing guests with food. “I’m going to go ‘mingle’,” he said, winking.

“No!” Janus hissed. “Re- Richard! No!”

Yet, he was already disappearing into the horde of stinky bodies, likely to go scandalize a bunch of rich folks, and leaving Janus alone. Janus mumbled a curse under his breath that he was sure no one around him would understand even if they could make it out.

Unsure what to do with himself, he wandered over towards where the live musicians were playing jazz music, being sure to keep out of the way of the dancers. He was edging around the makeshift dancefloor, when one of said dancers must have misstepped and knocked into another one. The second man stumbled right towards Janus, arms pinwheeling. Janus reached out on instinct to catch the man as he fell.

There was a moment where the two of them just stared at each other, surprise evident on the other man’s face. He was wearing a mask that just covered the area around his eyes and the top of his nose, revealing a smattering of freckles across his cheeks that Janus imagined extended to his nose.

The mask was a light blue velvet with a flower stuck on the side near his right ear, and a trail of curled golden ribbon bobbed down around his chin. The party continued on around them, a blur of movement and sound.

“Are you alright?” Janus asked.

The man blinked up at him and then tilted his head slightly to the side as though confused, before a smile slowly grew on his face. “Oh, I’m fine Dove.”

“Dove?” Janus asked.

He giggled. “You have dove feathers on your mask,” he explained, reaching up a hand to touch one. His finger brushed the tip of Janus’s ear, “and I don’t know what else I am supposed to call you.”

“My name is Lee,” he automatically lied.

“Is it?” he asked, sounding amused. “Doesn’t seem to fit you well. I like Dove better.”

“Oh?” asked Janus. “And what’s your name so I can not call you that?”

The man chuckled. “Call me Pat.”

“Hello Pat,” Janus said.

“I thought you didn’t want to call me by my name.”

“I changed my mind.”

“Hmmm,” Pat said, finger tracing idly across Janus’s forearm which was when Janus realized with a start that he was still holding the man in his arms. He quickly went to release him, which Pat allowed with clear amusement.

Yet, instead of completely stepping away, Pat grabbed Janus’s arm. “What are you doing all the way over here by the way?” he asked. “Don’t you want to dance.”

“Oh,” Janus hesitated. “I don’t really dance.” Or at least not in the way the people around him were. He’d had basic training for this style, but it had been a while and he was a bit rusty.

“Everyone dances Dove,” Pat claimed. “At least if they know the steps and have the right partner.”

“But I don’t know the steps,” Janus said with an eyebrow raise.

He hummed. “Well, I know the dance pretty well by this point,” Pat said. “Why don’t I teach you how it goes.”

He was agreeing with the soft beseeching tone before he even realized it. Pat pulled him into the middle of the throng of people. He seemed to think, bopping his head to the music playing for a moment, before looking back at Janus. “Heard of James Johnson?”

Janus inclined his head.

“Well, have you heard his new song? Because there’s a dance that goes with it.”

He took a few steps away from Janus and started to dance. Despite his claim to know the steps, he wasn’t particularly good, but he made up for any loss of rhythm with pure enthusiasm.

Janus found himself smiling at the man, and after a few moments, joined in with the dance. Despite his lack of practice, he ended up having a better natural rhythm than Pat. Pat didn’t seem to mind that he was being outperformed, however. On the contrary, he giggled at himself the couple of times he stumbled.

When he fell into Janus’s arms for the second time that night, Janus decided he’d probably had enough dancing for the moment and pulled him off to the side to get something to drink and cool down a bit.

He watched the man take a snack and some punch from one of servers and thank him happily before turning back to Janus. Pat was easily able to keep Janus’s attention as they chatted. He was bubbly and soft, and Janus found himself enchanted as they talked.

He was explaining the steps of a different dance, a couples one. “Knowing how to perform the tango will entrance any girl you want,” Pat said, something mischievous sparkling in his eyes. “Assuming you’re that type of fella.”

“As opposed to what?” Janus asked.

Pat leaned in a bit closer. Not too much, but enough that he was definitely in Janus’s space. “A different type of fella,” he said simply, before smiling and leaning back.

Janus let out a shaky exhale and took a sip of punch. He glanced over at Pat. “Tell me about yourself, Pat,” he said.

Pat hummed in contemplation. “Well, I went to France recently.”

“You did?”

“Oui, c'était amusant, mais j'ai eu des ennuis”

“What kind of trouble?” Janus asked curiously.

“Oh, the kind with a pretty boy and crepes that were way too sweet. Anyway,” he continued. “Other than that, I mostly help out my friend. He’s an inventor.”

“And how do you help him.”

He shrugged, “Running errands mostly, and making sure he gets enough sleep, because otherwise he gets distracted and forgets. And you?”

“I’m a banker,” he said, remembering his cover, but felt compelled to add, “but I like to travel as well.”

“You do look the type?”

“And how is that?”

Pat shrugged. “I can always tell a wandering spirt from the masses, and you are easy to spot.” Pat looked at him then with a secret smile on his face, and Janus felt suddenly known, like the man in front of him had known him for years even though they’d only just met. Looking at him then, he wanted suddenly for that to be fact and not a flight of fancy.

He was brought firmly back to reality in the next moment. “Lee,” a pointed and familiar voice said. Janus’s head snapped up to see Remus, staring at him. He tapped his wrist. Janus glanced at his own wrist: 10:58pm. He just barely managed not to curse.

“I,” he said looking up at Pat. “I’m sorry, but I have to go.”

“That’s okay,” Pat said easily. “It is getting rather late.”

“Yes,” Janus agreed. “Well… goodbye.”

Pat, titled his head, a half smile on his face. “I’ll be seeing you around.”

Janus nodded, and turned away from him towards Remus. He didn’t look back as they excited the ballroom. They snuck into a small side closet for coats that wasn’t being used as it was summer.

“So,” Remus said when the door closed behind them.

“Don’t,” warned Janus.

“I’m not one to judge,” Remus said.

“Shut up.” He glanced at his watch. It was 11:02. “We’ll go in 5.”

“I have to give it to you. He was very cute.”

“We’re not talking about it.”

Remus just laughed joyfully, and Janus did his best to halt the blood rushing to his cheeks.

At 11:07, well into their window, they slipped back out of the closet, and towards the stairs as the party raged on.

Despite how Remus usually never shut up, he was able to be quiet when it counted. They snuck to the master bedroom of the home’s owners in silence. The door was already wide open by the time they got there, and Janus didn’t think anything of it. At least, he didn’t until they entered the bedroom, and there was someone already there.

He turned from the dresser he’d been standing in front of to face them, sending Janus the same smile he had down in the ballroom. Janus and Remus both froze. “Sorry, sweetie,” Pat said. “Were you here for this too?” he held up the necklace they’d been sent for. He closed his fist around the charm made out of time travel tech.

“What?” Janus said.

Pat giggled and winked. “Unfortunately, I need it a bit more than you at the moment. So, I’m gonna have to go.” Janus stepped forward, not really sure what he was intending to do, but Pat just smiled. “See you some other time, my Turtle Dove.” With a snap of his fingers and loud crack, he disappeared. The mask he’d been wearing fluttered to the ground.

#study break stories #not writing #folds in paper #folds in time universe

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coffeeandcalligraphy · 5 years ago

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Teeth Marks, Empty Nest, Picking Ritual | Writing Update

Hey People of Earth!

It’s been a hot minute since I last wrote a Moth Work writing update, and so here we are again for the final countdown! Today’s post will be covering everything related to chapter 12, 13, and 14. Let’s start with Teeth Marks, which I wrote probably sometime in February.

Teeth Marks marks the third part of Moth Work, called Wings, and the first chapter back in Harrison’s POV. I honestly can’t remember much of the writing process as it’s been a while, so let’s dive straight into the scene breakdown!

Scene A:

We start in the doorway of Eliza’s apartment where Harrison stands shook because a) his boi Lonan has answered it (scandal) and his mother, who he has been estranged from for the last four years, is also in this apartment (EXTRA scandal). Eliza ushers Harrison inside (and this is probably the only *nice* interaction they ever have, spoiler alert!)

Harrison is very shook, and also a little angry, and also a little confused! He doesn’t know why his mother is here, and doesn't understand why Lonan wouldn’t contact him to tell him she is here.

Him and Eliza get into a bit of a scuffle where Eliza is protective of Lonan and is like “who are you mate” and Harrison’s like hahahHA pardON. This leads to Lonan kicking them both out even tho this ain’t even his house!

Scene B:

We now move to the stairwell right outside Eliza’s apartment where she and Harrison have been sitting in awkward silence! Harrison notices she’s wearing his guardian angel necklace (which Lonan mistakenly took back in chapter 6).

This scene is instrumental in setting up how these two interact, which in short, is not! fun! for! either! They try to be civil but can’t help but be protective over Lonan for different reasons. Eliza because they are now sort of in a relationship, and Harrison because hahaha he’s been there, and also because Eliza is Lonan’s father’s ex! Why!

Lonan interrupts this conversation and him and Harrison have a lil private moment even tho Eliza is standing right there aahaha. Eliza leaves which prompts Lonan to go after her, and we end with Harrison all alone in the stairwell like a proper sad boi.

Excerpts:

I previously wrote some mean things about this chapter and am editing it out cuz we tryna be positive! Here’s some tender romance because why not! For context, Harrison has asked Eliza how much she knows about the nature of the boys’ relationship (she knows nothing!!)

He could tell her the truth. About the polaroids left back in Boston. What it felt like to kiss him underwater. What it felt like to dance with him, his clumsy instep. What it felt like to trace each notch of his ribs in the off moments he’d sleep and how wonderful it was, to touch the places his hunger would go.

Some more romance because yesss:

He pretends they’re alone at the cabin, somewhere on the water, sharing a sleeve of crackers, looking at the moon like it’s the other’s iris, somewhere where constellations read less like hieroglyphics and more like sonnets.

Let us move onto chapter 13, Empty Nest!

Scene A:

Harrison sits alone at the dinner table watching a TV show in a language he doesn’t speak. His mother interrupts this *chillin* and they get into a heated conversation.

This ends badly for Harrison, to which Lonan (who is presumably arguing with Eliza in her bedroom) comforts him and yeets the two of them outta that apartment! Knight in shining armour babyyyy

Scene B:

Lonan takes Harrison to chapter nine’s beautiful place (the cove).

They chat about their (fallen) relationship and Lonan + Eliza’s relationship that is apparently now flourishing (hahah it actually isn’t)

This turns romantical very fast!!! I am guilty of self-indulgence!!

Excerpts:

EDIT: I originally had an edit in here saying I didn’t have the mental spoons to edit this chapter which is why I wouldn’t share a lot of excerpts! This was very true haha, as I was amidst the worst mental health week I’ve had in years, but guess! who! tried! to! edit! anyway! This obviously was not the best idea and I pushed myself too hard. This led to me doing some crying and beyond that, a decision to take a few days off of writing (despite the fact that I didn’t want to). I’m feeling great now which I’m so grateful for, but just a note! Anyhow!!

This excerpt makes me laugh because it gives me “lonely man sitting on his porch in the prairies” vibe:

No one eats together. Lonan and Suzanna have already taken their pick, and Eliza eats in her room. Harrison hasn’t seen Lonan since he followed Eliza’s empty trail back into the apartment, and he hears him now, between the drone of infomercials and advertisements on the Spanish TV station he doesn’t even understand. Coming from her room, he can picture him, the way Lonan argues, competitive like he’s trying to win something. Suzanna sits on the balcony, maybe hiding a smoke, or something more ridiculous, new age, like an essential oil pen. Ribbons of grey luminescing in the neon lights. Maybe it’s more accurate to say Harrison eats alone.

This is the excerpt that I had a breakdown editing lmaooo I think it’s cute tho!!

Somewhere better is a beach. Hidden in a cove, the stones arched over seafoam. In the moonlight, sand glitters, water trills, a night owl in the distance wails. Lonan leads him to the cove’s heart, a bullet of clearing that reveals constellations neither recognize. Lonan’s brought a basket with him, unfolds the checked blanket across the shore. Harrison sits first, and observes as Lonan travels the cove’s perimeter, collecting driftwood as he goes. He stacks them into a pyramid at the shore’s lip, pulls out a lighter.

He starts the fire easily, cups the flame like it’s a jittering organism, coaxes it until it expands. The flame tints his jaw gold, glares in his eyes so they look like blue fire. The night halos around Lonan, burnishes the cove walls, turns the sand into a mirage. As Lonan nurses the fire, Harrison traces his face, the violet impasto around his eye. Lonan has always looked like a masterpiece to him, damp black hair that almost looks navy blue, a smile so subtle, it’s almost acquired. He holds the fire so it toasts his chin, his focus a delicate, paternal thing.

Picking Ritual is chapter 14 of the book! I wrote this during reading break, and it’s one of my faves a) because of the title and b) because Harrison and Eliza FIGHT (I’m here for the tea).

Scene A:

Lonan and Harrison get back from their self-care-gone-romantical escapade to drunk Eliza creepily sitting in the dark!! Harrison’s mother has left, which Eliza uses as cruel ammo (don’t we love her)!

This is where we really get to see Eliza’s other side as she gets gaslighty as a response to Harrison’s very true callouts

Scene B:

Later, Eliza may or may not purposefully leave her bedroom door open while mildly unholy matters occur that’s all I’m gonna say about that!!!

Scene C:

Eliza leaves her room to “get some orange juice” (she’s trying to get a rise out of Harrison, which works). They roast each other endlessly until Harrison asks her to play a game with him.

Scene D:

This game is a game of cards, which is actually Harrison choosing four cards (king of spades = Lonan’s father, queen of hearts = Eliza, the joker = Lonan, and a jack = Harrison) so he can learn more about each one he chooses for her.

This is where the chapter title comes from!

Excerpts:

The following is a self-roast because my house does all the following (besides magnets on ALL four corners of dishcloths, there’s currently just one. ;) Lonan in this scene is Fiona in that scene in Shrek 2 where Shrek and King Harold are arguing over dinner (CW: there’s a description here that could be potentially triggering for self-harm!).

Suzanna is gone when they get back to Eliza’s apartment. No jacket on the coat hook. No shoes on Eliza’s straw-woven welcome mat. The kitchen has been picked over, each plate, fork, back in its strangely correct place. Eliza keeps her cutlery in jars, and her pans in the oven, her dish cloths magnetted to the fridge by all four corners, a pristineness that feels chemical.

Just as he’s about to comment on it, a light from the living area flicks on, and underneath sits Eliza, paging through a book in the dark. Spots like wine stains on her cheeks shine glassy under the harsh lightbulb.

“She has a place twenty minutes from here. By the public gardens,” she says, running her fingernail against the ribbed spine of the hardcover. Harrison can’t make out the title. When he stares blankly at her, examining the patches on her skin until he’s memorized of their surface area, she clears her throat and shuts the book. “Your mother?”

“I know,” he says.

“That your mother has a place twenty minutes from here?”

“That you were referring to my mother.”

“So you didn’t know?”

ugh I love Harrison and Eliza arguing it’s my fave dynamic:

Eliza stands, and smooths the silk of her night dress, though one crease continues to bunch. She folds her hand into a fist, and brings it to her mouth, biting on her knuckles as she paces. Harrison and Lonan watch her, and Lonan’s about to step toward her when she nods and directs her gaze straight at Harrison. “Did that upset you?” she asks, peeling a sliver of skin up between her teeth, letting it snap back. “The way I spoke of your mother.”

“I don’t care about anything you have to say.”

Oof oof tensions be RISING:

Lonan knocks on Eliza’s door a half hour later and doesn’t come back out. Harrison watches the shut door like he can break through it from the couch, how heavy it sits in its frame like they’ve taken turns smearing caulking in its seams.

The nightglow decolours his chin, his eyes, and he stares at the stars as he did an hour ago with Lonan. He touches his lips, hoping something divine will reappear on his fingers, something divine enough to anoint himself with. Nothing does, of course, but he tries, dappling each groove of his mouth.

Here’s some Eliza being Eliza :)

He should tell her to buy some curtains. The sliding door’s glass opens to her balcony where his mother stood, pouring onto the busy street below her apartment complex. He can almost perfectly replicate the image of his mother with just his fingertip, a familiarity of her unknown, but unconsciously memorized by him. Suzanna has traded her only pair of shoes—a dingy set of floral flip-flops—for boots with silver zippers, steel toes, heels perfected by a designer she has a connection to. He thinks of his mother with sour precision, a sugary glumness that makes his mouth heavy.

He still wears the angel Lonan re-fastened around his neck and examines it against the belly of the two-seater Lonan once slept on.

She’s lost a stone from where he threw it, almost unnoticeably in the corner where her wings meet her back. He runs his finger over the empty spot, a nearly undetectable groove, and wonders how difficult it would be to find it in the tooth of Eliza’s hardwood.

Just as he’s prepared to get up and find out, the heavy door jars open. Wider than he’s expecting, so he can see Lonan from the couch. Arranged against a pillow, his hair disappearing into the dark wood of Eliza’s bedhead. His eyes closed, a tremor that rocks through his forehead every few seconds. And then quickly, Eliza shuffling through the opening. She wears a kimono patterned with koi fish, the fabric rustling against her bare thighs as she enters the kitchen.

Harrison watches her through his eyelashes, her half-up hairdo falling toward her face, the flash of skin pale, like the peel of the moon.

She grabs a glass he washed and fills it from the sink. Once a bulb forms across the surface, she tips it to her lips, and swallows deliberately.

Harrison watches as she checks the sink for unwashed dishes she knows aren’t there. As she adjusts a placement on her table that doesn’t need adjusting. As she spins herself on her toes around the kitchen island, her kimono splaying so he sees flashes of her thighs again. She dances like this back to her bedroom, where she sets her water glass on the dresser, and keeps the door wide open.

I can’t not share this part I apologize there is some spice but also Harrison’s iconic Gay (TM) takedown at the end brings me so much joy:

Eliza exits the room a half hour later, except this time, doesn’t dance. Still, she steps carefully, her toes taut as she patters against the floorboards. Harrison watches her with his arms crossed, and stays like that, even when they make eye contact.

She startles and re-adjusts her kimono, so the clip of her skin disappears. She’s combed her hair since she and Lonan finished, and it sits gauzy over her forehead.

“Have you ever thought of buying a deadbolt?” he says, watching carefully as she turns and grabs a glass from a cabinet.

The refrigerator thrills when she opens it, a wash of gaudy tungsten yellowing her face. She sucks on her lip as she pulls out a bottle of orange juice, glugging a cupful into her mouth first, and then into a glass.

“A deadbolt,” she says, a lightness in her voice—false innocence. “Why?”

“I’ve heard good things. Security. Privacy. You live alone, don’t you?”

She juts the orange juice to her lip fast, her chin bucking like she’s taking a shot. “I do.”

“You’re planning on keeping it that way?”

Eliza drains the last of the orange juice and rests the glass in the sink. She flicks on the tap so a stream splashes into its mouth like somersaults, diluting the juice until the glass cleans.

“There must be someone,” Harrison elaborates. He shifts, so his legs hang off the couch’s edge. The hardwood is cold, and for a moment, he feels like he’s stepping on water. “You’re seeing people, aren’t you? You live in Las Vegas. Good job. Decent apartment.”

Eliza shakes off the wet glass and sets it on the drying rack. “Are you interested?”

“I’m gay, but thanks. How does that work, anyway? Dating you. Would I send in an application? Self-addressed stamped envelope and all? Email?”

ugh more iconic Harrison I love him:

Harrison’s eyes focus on the lip balm and he imagines Lonan putting it there, his finger moving across her mouth and then down, like an anointment. “Isn’t that such a coincidence, then? You’re so selective, yet you manage to date two members of the same family.”

Her smile fades. Eliza clucks her tongue and wipes her mouth quickly with the back of her hand. Thoughtlessly, she refills the clean glass with more orange juice, and only realizes her mistake after the liquid sits precisely at the rim of the cup.

“Shit,” she says, wringing her hand out. “Shit.”

“I’ll drink it,” he says, and is already up and at the kitchen island before she puts another hand on the glass. Eliza almost scowls, but chews on her gums when she catches herself. She slides the glass across the granite, and a blip of orange juice jitters onto the surface. Harrison dabs his pinky in it and sucks it into his mouth. “I want to ask you a favour.”

“I’m not doing anything for you.”

He puts a hand against the fridge before she can move past him, and Eliza sighs, weaves her arms haughtily over her chest. “Cards.” The fridge rumbles to life under his fingertips, and Eliza jumps. “Play a game with me,” he says.

Sharing because of Harrison’s roast at the end, it’s really just one of those days:

Eliza’s a good shuffler. Easily, she dices the cards, the hard split of their edges when he usually shuffles almost non-existent. He’s only ever met one other person who can shuffle like her—his mother.

Harrison sips the orange juice as she shuffles the deck. In all truth, he doesn’t need the cards to be shuffled—he knows exactly which ones he needs. But her ease intrigues him, and he can’t help but feel mesmerized with each flitter of the deck.

“Where did you learn how to do that?” he asks after another long pull of juice.

She cuts the deck and continues. “My father.”

“I didn’t know you had parents.”

“I didn’t know your mother had children.”

“I don’t think she knows either.”

Eliza rests the shuffled deck onto the countertop and nudges it toward him. He hasn’t told her what game they’re going to play, and as Harrison searches for his necessary cards, the prickle of her gaze deadens. He keeps at task, combing each card and pulling out the needed.

“I would’ve liked to know.” Eliza says this nimbly. “You look like her.”

Another pick. “Every son wants to look like their mother. What a dream.”

“I meant that as a good thing.”

“And I meant what I said as a bad thing.”

What a way to end this update lol!

I’ll be back soon with an update for the final chapter in this book! I hope y’all have been okay in these times, I know it’s not easy. Let me know what you’re working on!

--Rachel

#writing #amwriting #writeblr #writerblr #writingupdates #mothwork #fostered

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