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s1llydr3amscape · 7 months ago

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LET ME OUT

Looks like someone failed the captcha test to many times!

Anyways I always wanted to doodle this specific pose from Toyless' animation why because I can :]

Extras under the cut :

This was the specific screenshot I based the pose off I love hands grabbing head!!! :

youtube

The original video ^ (I'll be real with yall I was shocked the original song was poppy playtime because my only experience with it was that all my baby cousins loved that franchise. And they would show me vids off it at family gatherings because I was the babysitter. One of em even debated me abt fnaf like chill out bro you weren't even born when it came out!!!!!)

Glitchtrap rambling time woohoo let's go!!!!

-I redrew em again because I think I'm almost 100% happy with its design!!!! Like I don't wanna change their face so much because the way his face is shaped is my fave!!! Like they have the same style of muzzle as sonic characters!!!!!! I just made it rounder cuz its their early days before this au lore

-I just wanna achieve the unnaturalness with their design. Like they don't belong here. They want to get out. LET HIM OUT. type vibe basically like that's why it has like those kind off teeth instead off the rabbit ones. They get those later in the au.

-I fucking love Glitchtrap so much you don't understand they're so peak!!!!!! I jokingly hate him because I despise what it did to Vanny.

-I was a fan since day 1 bro is just so unique like woah a non animatronic for a change?!?!? STRAIGHT UP A FURSUIT!??!?! Color me impressed!!! I love zooming on it its model and seeing everyy little detail!!! Like omg bro is crying and drooling on the suit!!!!! There's also a patch of uneven stitching pattern on the top of their head compared to their mostly symmetrical design!!!

-I was so fixated on em like my level of obsession for him was bad bad!!!! Like yeah it was still there when Vanny came around during the curse of Dreadbear DLC but you don't understand it surpassed all my Foxy art!!! The first fnaf character I fixated on!?!?? Like what and yall can ask my IRLS bro had lots n lots of art!!!!! I have so much trad art of glitchy it's embarassing!!! Atleast I improved tbh!!

-I just really really loved the fan animations were bro got to time travel to the older fnaf animations and fuck em up!!!! Causing them all to glitch out like hello PEAK!?!?!?! No im not biased to rabbit characters with whiskers shhhhh... SHHH...

-Because I know all those animations already and it's like omg omg OMG Glitchtrap kinda expanded my music taste imma be fr... Fnaf autism is so bad I omfg I only listened to fnaf songs and the only time I listened to other franchises songs is because someone animated fnaf over it... like yeah I was an animation meme kid but even then I only remember the lyrics and titles to songs if I saw fnaf on them (cringe!!!!) So yeah thank u Glitchtrap <33333

-I think Malhare is the cooler name but the Glitchtrap name is cool too because when the names end in trap like this it makes me think they're like warrior cats adjacent. So in this one they just fluctuate between either Malhare or Glitchtrap

-Also another reason he's my super fave is because my brain predicted it's gloop form!!!!

-Like no joke literally the same character I dreamt about during the early days before Princess Quest.

-Except mine was a shadow like the shadow animatronics. More wispy than gloopy. I think the reason I dreamt it was because Shadow Toy Chica and fan made shadow animatronics were getting popular!! But legit same character and colors!!!!!!!

-Just a big dark mass with purple eyes surrounding it like literally the same character my brain came up with and I'm just wow <3333 minus the fact my design had really big giant swirly white eyebrows

-However my Shadow Glitchtrap was kinda more wack to say the least. Like heheheh cuz Glitchtraps a fursuit there's no denying that I changed the dream design a bit. In my old Glitchtrap designs they'd have a zipper and so what would happen was they'd unzip and flip their insides into outsides to reveal the Shadow Glitchtrap thing which was hiding inside them.

-Like those plushies that you can unzip to reveal a different plushie design basically!!!!

-TBH I prefer Glooptrap because yeah!!!!! Amalgamation of hate let's go!!!!!! I think with how gloopy he is its just fun to draw I love the fact that the weird Glitchtrap blockers look like that it fits too much with my own preestablished AU lore.

-I feel like Glitchtrap turns into Glooptrap from like the seams of their suit. Like you see that each part the suit got stitched just turn black as black liquid pours out like ohhh that shit haunted!!!! Bursting outta the seams like oh this guy has no one inside they're all just black sludge!!!!

-In this AU specifically (The one with my millions of Vanny designs) is actually a spoof fnaf AU where everyone lives!!! Like I have 3 AUs technically one of them being the fnaf cast in my oc world where they become my ocs basically called Rabbit City. My other one which is my more serious canon adjacent fnaf AU where no silly stuff or shipping happens, and it's just more overall following my own formed understanding of the canonicity and the series of events with me trying to keep the animatronics more game accurate (I dont think ive posted any of that here due to me feeling like my style limits the nit and grit I wanna go with it). And this one I mainly post on here where everything is just silly and bends to my command and everyone lives because I love everyone <333333 Literally playing with my toys type AU where I do what I want which is why a million vanny designs are in this AU specifically. I usually tag it as this 🦭🩷🐇🐰🐇🐰🐇🐰🐯 because the original name of this au is self indulgent and I'm embarrassed but it's too iconic to change it.

-Glitchtrap in this AU is just much more goofy and silly infecting people like a zombie virus and possessing them for his own gain. Weird eldritch horror that came out of a fnaf fangame. Anything goes in this AU so if I wanna make Glitchtrap a mind controlling zombie warlock wizard so be it!!!! Sorry I love zombies soo much you will have to take this trope out of my cold dead hands!!!!! I love rot!!!

-That's why it's wrinkly because they too me are like a rotten banana (Even though his associated smell to me is lemongrass). Imagine squeezing a banana still with it's skin on. That's how I imagine bro turns into glooptrap if they didn't open the zipper in time. Also because I love the design trope of rotting and withering sue me. I love when the flesh sags across the body. Wrinkles are great bro theyre so real!!!!! Also because back then people kept drawing him as skinny as a twig??? Even though they have fat??? So I made them fatter mostly because like I love the gloop part of it hiding inside <3333

-They're more green pink and purple because imma be real my fave color combo ever <33333

-I wanna do an xray piece with them soon to show their insides but I'm still uncertain if I have the art prowess to concoct it exactly like how I envision it yet. Like I need to squash and scretch them more. They need to look more decrepit and horrible!!!!! something like the unknown from dbd!!!!

-They can't actually emote properly stuck in a permanent smile

-Glithctrap and Vanny’s dynamic is like Lord Hater and Commander Peepers in this one. There's more character adjacent to the dynamic between them concocted in my head but I wanna draw a comic abt it :]

-Like yeah one second they're besties and the next they're at each other's throats ready to strangle eachother. Vanny reluctantly trying to help him at first like how she was first called.

-Oh also in this specific AU Glitchtrap isn't connected to William in the slightest more just it's own thing!!!!

-He's like an AI that wants to be human. It believes it is human. They've mimicked people too much that they don't know what they are anymore. Or what it wants anymore. What do they want.

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mrs-gauche · 4 months ago

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So, I *think* I've calmed down enough to form coherent sentences about this trailer now, after watching this about a gazillion times. 😂 There is just SO much in this and I still can't believe it's all real.. I feel like people have already dissected every single frame anyway, so here are just my poor two cents (that's a lie, it's an essay lol), I'm sure 90% of this has probably already been said lol, but I just had to write my thoughts down, so there you go. 🫠

But first, can I just ask you guys this.. Does anyone else feel SO friggin overwhelmed every time something huge like this drops? 😂😭 Like, I LOVE the collective excitement and freaking out over all this with the fandom together in real time, and maybe it's because I'm not a native English speaker, but I'm watching the trailer live and within like fifteen minutes there are already a bazillion notifications, messages, people have already made hundreds of theory posts, edits, fanart and shitposts, meanwhile I'm sitting here still looking at the FIRST FRAME and trying to process what I'm even looking at. lmaoo Like, it takes me SO long to take it fully in, calm down and look at ALL of it in detail, while I go radio silent for like two hours, making people think I just died watching the trailer, I guess. lmaooo So.. sorry if it takes me forever until I even go on here and look at everything you guys are posting. 💀 <3

Anyway, so first of all, I'd like to just generally say... Everything about this blew. me. away.

Look. After like 20 years of watching BioWare's entire animation catalogue of the same 25 movements in every cutscene, that it would make you jump every time a character but even slightly moved differently than everyone else, we're now getting a game that is SO INCREDIBLY CINEMATIC, SO SMOOTH, unlike any BioWare game before. A game where everyone just moves and expresses emotions like their own person, making everything a hundred times more immersive and impactful!!

Not only that but there's a BioWare game now with PHENOMENAL LOOKING HAIR and REALISTIC HAIR PHYSICS. Guys, do you understand this is HISTORY??? lmao We've been asking for this for YEARS and it's happening!! 😭

And the cinematography? THE CINEMATOGRAPHY?? Just looking at that very FIRST LOCATION SHOT alone. The camerawork, the composition, the fluidity of movement, the shift of focus, the lighting, the use of MoCap, the facial expressions... As someone who spent a *LOT* of time using the flycam to make cinematic gifsets of DAI, where - with all respect to the devs - 90% of the camerawork basically consisted of "zoom in/zoom out"... this. blew. my. fucking mind.

Like, they did it. They mastered the Frostbite engine on all fronts. And it truly hurts my heart seeing people compare this to Fortnite or whatever, when in my opinion this time they actually managed to find a perfect mix between stylized and realism, in favor of making the characters even more expressive and this coupled with the use of MoCap and the incredible cinematography will make these emotional scenes hit SO hard and.. ugh, I just love it so much. 🥹❤️❤️

With this being said, let's dive into it!

Okay, so I know this is super random, but it was literally the first thing I noticed about this trailer. lol Did you noticed that it said "BioWare" *before* "Electronic Arts" in the beginning, unlike that first... controversial reveal trailer, where it was the other way around? 😂 Not reading anything into this of course (or do I? lol), but.. Idk, I thought it was.. interesting. 👀

So we start off with the first of many amazing tracking shots, with the camera orbiting around Rook in this place devoid of color or life. The note at the bottom made me chuckle "Game engine footage with some costum camera angles", I was like "Oh, so they used the flycam to make this?". lol So some shots of these will look different in the final version (what kind of spoilers are they hiding?? 👀👀).

I do hope that next shot DOES end up in the game though, because holy SHIT, that FIRST wide shot already blew. me. away.

Look at the COMPOSITION of this.

Actually, you could probably take every single location/wide shot of this trailer and hang it on your wall. lol But seriously, the way this place just looks... dead. It makes me think of "void" rather than Fade.. like an ancient graveyard. The raw Fade looks generally creepy, but this is haunting even for that. There's no life, no color, no motion. It's all broken and crumbled. Almost like it reflects Solas' feelings. People are speculating if this place might change depending on Solas' state of mind.. This is the Fade after all, but Solas is here physically and this being the place that was supposed to be the new prison for the gods.. It's probably different from the rest of it.

We also see all seven statues of the pantheon from the ritual site again. Solas "I have the high ground", *literally* talking down to Rook, while standing on two separate cliffs (how did Rook even get there, I wonder? lol), like there is quite literally a rift between them (for now..!) and Solas is keeping a distance, as always. We still don't know how that connection between the two even works, I assume Rook can only contact him while asleep? But to think that this is the place where he is trapped now, where he is even more isolated than ever before, is making me so emotional. ;-;

I love how it's just black and white though. It gives the scene a destinct atmosphere that might be important, if this is where we get to see Solas doing a lot of introspection. In the art of filmmaking, the absence of color is often used to force the audience to focus on the contrast, textures, and tones present in the image, which can evoke a deep sense of emotion.

And speaking of emotions...

"You have no idea what you have done."

We had already heard that line before, but something about that booming, echoing effect they used on his voice sent a shiver down my spine!

"The blighted elven gods walk free. And all because you disrupted my ritual."

To me, he *sounds* much more frustrated here than he *looks* when saying that. lol He looks incredibly worried though, and just so tired. A moment ago, he was SO close to achieving his goal after hundreds of years of preparation and then he failed again... and now there is this completely clueless stranger who got him in this situation, but who he has to rely on now to stop these gods, when he's unable to trust anyone, and yet he can't even yell at them too much, because he *needs* them. He must be so exhausted.

And yes, it is kinda funny how they put "elven gods" in quotation marks. lol

Thank god he still has his freckles though. ❤️ We're actually seeing a lot more texture on his face here than in the gameplay showcase. And yes, not only did he get his eyebrows microbladed but apparently he's also sporting eyeliner and lipstick now. 😌✨✨ The only downside to the lack of colors here is that his super purple eyes are not poppin' anymore. lol

"You battle against gods. They will not rest until you are on your knees. Fearful. Cowering. Helpless in the face of such power."

I love how they play this line so early on in the trailer, that it makes you go "WAIT... IS THAT- NO WAY" and not until the end do we get the confirmation with the most amazing entrance ever.

We then get a shot of what I think has to be Treviso in flames and Ghilan'nain symbolically coiling her tentacles around a crow statue's head, as she's probably about to take over the city. 👀 *falls on my knees the second I meet her in the game* lol

Then there's the shot of this horrifying Blight.. lump.. growth thing that has completely devoured an elf (and several other bodies it seems) with a hair style that has everyone wondering if this could be Felassan! 🥺🥺🥺 As much as I would LOVE for Felassan to make an appearance.. I kinda hope this *isn't* him.. because good god, whatever happened to this persom here must be pretty traumatizing (are they even still alive?) and also, how do we get them out of there? lol Either way, seeing as there are Harding, Bellara and Neve accompanying Rook here, this might be earlier in the game (and this is them dicovering that the Blight is already spreading rapidly?) and yet it already shows us that this Blight is on a whole other level than anything we've seen before, and it's taking every living thing.

Then we see another snowy place (or might this be within the same area?) that's also in huge parts taken over by the Blight. You can also see a dead(?) dragon lying on the ground at the bottom right corner? 🥺

Then Elgar'nan literally pops up right next to Ghilan'nain, and btw, I love how I can't even tell where her body begins or where it ends in this shot. lmao What ARE you, Ghili?? 💀

It looks to me like maybe she was struck by a bolt/spear from a ballista or something? The Grey Wardens tried to take her out maybe? Looks like the power of Elgar'nan's mere presence blows the Wardens away then lol, like they're just insects to him.. and in the blast we can see a person that looks like Evka?? <3333 (please don't die here though 😭)

Then we're getting a first glimpse of a dragon that shows up multiple times in this trailer. Also, to me, it looks so much like the dragon from the Golden City vinyl cover, which has me like 👀👀👀👀

Next there are a few scenes from the prologue we've already seen in the gameplay showcase, but it's coupled with new lines from Varric, that have me super worried. :(

"Rook, you've got this. I've seen your work. You're clever, adaptable. And you don't know when to quit.

My first reaction to this was "Oh god no, that sounds so much like a "passing the torch" kind of dialogue to me" as in Varric either dies (PLEASE NO but it IS super suspicious how he's not seen or mentioned in any other scene so far) or retires his role as the leader of this group and hands it over to Rook. And he just sounds... weary. 🥺 I wonder what he means by "your work" though? Is he talking about things Rook has done before Varric recruited them? Or is it maybe later down the line, after Rook has already proven themselves to be a great leader? 🤔

Then we get another shot of that one dragon and our first look at Harding with the bruised face (whoever did this, come fight me!) and some poor person tangled in.. something, I'm not sure. lol

Then there's a super quick shot of the floating building in Minrathous, followed by Rook opening a gate Aragorn style, which leads me to believe that this is actually somethere IN that floating building maybe?

But the fact that Rook and everyone else seems to be wearing casual clothes in the following shots, plus the architecture in the background has me wondering if they might be at the Lighthouse actually? 👀

Especially because in the very next shot we see Rook, Bellara, Neve and Harding all in casual clothes again in front of a giant eluvian and I wonder if that's the mirror that we've read about in the Game Informer article. The special eluvian at the Lighthouse that can take you anywhere? :o

Speaking of the Game Informer article, it also told us that Rook, Harding and Neve went back to the ritual site after what happened in the beginning, which is probably what we're seeing here!

"You want allies to go after the elven gods. I've got places to look."

Well, good thing we have a clever detective on the team that apparently knows people who would willingly fight some gods. lol Notice how Harding's face is still injured in this scene. 👀 So I assume whatever happened to her must've happened at the ritual site? Btw, I love how the trailer makes it look like they're all in casual clothes and the second they're stepping through the eluvian, they're in full gear? 😂 (I'm sure those two scenes take place at different times though.) It's crazy how much different the Arlathan Forest looks now, without the cataclysmic storm and all. I love the lighting, the colors and the soft rain! :3

Then we get another gorgeous location shot to hang on the wall. <3 My guess here is definitely Anderfels, given the landscape and those "pillar ring" things we've seen before (I still have no idea what those are, the funniest guess is still griffon training flight path 😂 But something tells me those things will be important.).

"I'll be damned! A griffon!"

Davrin and Assan!! <33333 And the dialogue makes it sound like this might be the first time they meet each other?? 🥹🥹 Followed by a scene of Davrin taking care of business and what might be the return of children in DA?? 😭 Seeing that little girl made me so happy, because that was actually one of the few things on my wishlist for DA4, because I always felt like children make the world feel SO much more real and immersive and besides Kieran, children were completely absent in DAI.

Am I trippin or does it look like this child is smiling here, while running away from a horde of darkspawn?? 😶 Kids in the Anderfels are build different, I guess. lol

"In war, victory."

CHILLS!!

Then we see Assan again, who is pinning down a.. thing I can't identify. lol I'm very curious about all those cages in the background though.. 🤔

We then get one of the shots that made me freak out the most, because it's a flippin *underwater* shot of elven ruins??? 😱😱

We know it's elven because if you look very very closely, you can see a Halla statue in the distance, to the left side. I'm immediately reminded of the stories about Arlathan having sunken to the ocean floor! There's also still all that mention of Ghilan'nain's grey "goop" that smells like the ocean and another shot later on of a dragon (Elgar'nan?) emerging from the ocean! 👀👀👀

And aside from all that, it's just such a sick level design!! 😍 What do these ruins look like if you enter them in the game? How do we get there?? There's an eluvian in the middle of the ocean on the newest map that's included in the Collector's Edition! 👀👀 If that one flippin theory of mine actually turns out to be true and there are somehow two parts of Arlathan, one on the ocean floor and another in the center of the Fade/the Black City, I'll do a triple backflip. lmaoo

Then Lucanis jumps in with some incredibly smooth fighting moves against the Venatori... and PURPLE WINGS!! So we were right with our speculation about the reveal trailer! Why does he have them? Is it some connection to a pride demon that revived him? 😂 I don't know, but it looks SO cool!! And after showing off, we hear his first line "I'm ready" with that sweet sweet accent, which is just the cherry on top!! <333

What the heck is up with the sky in this one?? My first thought was the Lighthouse?? 😍😍 Because if you look closely, there are a few wolf head ornaments on the walls? 👀 And this could be in the Crossroads and just like a real Lighthouse, there's a light on the top..? 🥹

Then there's Bellara using some magical device, that looks super similar to the things that were next to the big eluvian in that other scene!

Which makes me think that this might be where we help Bellara find this artifact in order to get the eluvian at the Lighthouse to work properly (since it doesn't seem to work right without Solas, according to the Game Informer article).

"I've never seen this before. There's something kind of exciting about it!"

Not gonna lie, that line and that weird looking device gave me Peebee flashbacks from Andromeda, which I honestly wasn't the biggest fan of. 😂 But Ghil Dirthalen (member of the community council) responded to me a few weeks back on twitter and confirmed that Bellara is nothing like Peebee at all. lol So that's a relief. 😂 I'm really looking forward to learn more about her and every time I see her magical gauntlet, I'm reminded that we're *definitely* not in Ferelden anymore. lol

Anyway, we then get a few shots of the Deep Roads?? Kal-Sharok??? 👀👀 And of course, there's Harding's big reveal of her new magical powers! The animation on this looks sooo amazing!!

Like many suspect, the Titans' awakening might have something to do with this! I totally agree with what Ghil Dirthalen said on twitter recently and, rather than this being Harding having Solas' petrification powers, it's actually Solas who has the powers of the Titans/stone sense/whatever Sandal did to those ogres back then lol. (I need Sandal to return and be her "teacher" or something 🙏❤️) We know of Solas' orb, which was likely created by obtaining the heart of a Titan. And if the Titans are connected to the Forgotten Ones, Fen'Harel was once considered their ally in Dalish legends. 👀

Also, if you look closely, you can see that the moment her powers are triggered, we see the blue glowy effect all over her body, like glowy lyrium veins almost?

And that in turn could hint at something in connection to her blood? So that big injury we see on her (which is still visible in this scene btw!) was maybe the moment her blood came in contact with something that awakened these powers? (We need Valta back to explain! lol)

"What is happening to me?"

That delivery gave me chills again... She is frightened. Ali Hillis is so good. 🥺🥺🥺

Next up is the Grand Necropolis and people have already pointed out that the ceiling we see at that entrance hall or something looks like a GIANT rip cage?? 💀 (What kind of creature would be THIS big???)

First look of Emmrich in-game!!! And he's wearing a fancy new outfit!! And I paused at the perfect moment to catch Rook already falling in love with him, clearly. lmao

There are two characters next to the gate that could be anybody, really. Myrna from Tevinter Nights or Joanna from the short story "The Flame Eternal"? The guy on the right is actually giving me Executor vibes?? 👀👀👀

Then there's Giant Skeleton Monster (Manfred's mom?), and don't even ask me what this could possibly be. 😂 I just hope we don't have to fight THAT (we totally will 💀). I got flashbacks of the Human Reaper endboss in ME2. 😭😭

"Let the Fade draw close!"

There's something kinda... posh about the way he says this? 😂 Like, he's not really intimidated by Giant Skeleton Monster and it's just another Tuesday in the Grand Necropolis and Professor Volkarin is just doing his every day job. lol

Then there are two shots of what I think is somewhere in the Anderfels but snowy again, like that area in the beginning where Elgar'nan and Ghili showed up? And a destroyed watchtower that is occupied by the Wardens. Then we get a *third* and final shot of this beauty again.

"Draw the dragon out into the open. Then attack."

I assume that's Taash?? Sadly, that shot of her drawing her weapon is all we got from her in this trailer, but she looks awesome!! <333 We're gonna be Lord of Fortune buddies, even though we might disagree on the matter of dragon hunting lol (look, I don't want to *fight* dragons, I want to be *friends* with them 🫠😂❤️ I want to see them live their best lifes.. for the most part (I get to the Elgar'nan dragon and the blighted "twin dragons" in a second lol))

We see the docks of Minrathous for a split second and then a first glimpse at a romance scene between Rook and Neve? 👀 At the Lighthouse maybe?

"You and me Rook. Maybe that's what scares me."

What does she mean by that exactly? Does Neve have commitment issues? lol Or is this more like a "We're a dangerous match, Rook. We'll be too powerful of a couple. Like Bonnie and Clyde." kinda statement? 😂

And THEN... Well, then we get probably THE most badass looking introduction/entrance of any character in DA yet. lol And YES, I freaked out SO hard.

SHE'S BACK. Returning like the QUEEN that she is. 🙏 And of course, she has to come down a flight of "stairs" again. lol (And no, Claudia Black did not lie, she just wasn't contacted at the time. 😁) Gosh, that transformation is so SMOOTH. I could watch that forever, it's so darn beautiful. 😍 Again, the way this is done, cinematically.. just *chef's kiss*.

In retrospect, it seems almost like a given that she would be back because.. well, everything about the way DAI ended. lol Flemeth wanted her to inherit her "godhood", and she looks more than ever like her mother now. Remember the designer notes on that last scene in DAI.

Flemeth intends to let Solas have the power, so long as she can pass the essence of her godhood onto Morrigan, a gift Flemeth had always planned for her daughter yet one Morrigan misunderstood as hostile possession.

So, what exactly is she now? Did she receive whatever Flemeth sent through the eluvian at the end of DAI? Does she carry Mythal now?? If so, does Solas know (I NEED a conversation between those two technically "half-siblings", because Flemeth/Mythal is both their "Mother"? 😂)?? Remember when I said that this one dragon that appears multiple times here reminds me a lot of the dragon on the vinyl cover with the Golden City, which is very likely Mythal? So my very first thought was that the dragon is actually Morrigan?? lol Just throwing that out there.

It seems to me that she is with the Dalish/Veil Jumpers in the Arlathan Forest now? (Btw, if you look closely, you can see elven mosaics in COLOR in the background? :O)

"These are the times in which legends are born or slain."

That line goes so HARD aHhhh. Also, speaking of slain, that new outfit is slaying too. <33 Her return also means that the Well decision and potential consequences are back on the table, which will definitely keep me up at night again. 💀

That moment right there. She is everthing. ❤️❤️❤️ I wonder if we're gonna see Kieran again?? 🥺🥺

We then get the most impressive tracking shot and choreography of what I think is Teia and Viago fighting some Venatori?? <333333 Like, seriously, the way the camera is following his movements in this shot without a single cut, makes me think of something like flippin Games of Thrones' Battle of the Bastards. 😱 And those hair physics on Teia as she's swinging around?? Absolutely amazing.

Followed by Lucanis and.. is that Zara Renata (the character with the best name ever lol)?? Fighting over an ominous glowing staff. lol We know these two still had unfinished business with each other after the Wigmaker Job in TN.

Then we get our first in-game look of my man MANFRED (🎉🎉🎉🎉), proving yet again to be the most fashionable character in the whole game, using his pelvis effectively. lol I love him so much.

Then there's another terrifying shot of Giant Skeleton Monster, which almost looks like it's in command over the crowd of people here, like they're possessed or something? Uhg.. As if this thing wasn't scary enough. 💀

"Our gods are back. Our gods! How do we stand up against that?"

Again, CHILLLLS!! Chills all over. It's gonna be so interesting to hear what the Dalish, Bellara or Davrin think about all these revelations!

Then we see the Wardens again, confronting one of the super duper blighted "twin dragons" we see at the end (more on that later).

We see Neve using a barrier or something against a guy who wears the same armor as her, so maybe the Shadow Dragons are corrupted, too?

Then we see Rook dramatically tossing a sword on a table at Weisshaupt? And holy moly, Davrin in that new armor here looks FINE. 😍

Back in Treviso, we see a cool finishing move from Rook, obliterating a poor Venatori guy. That bow on Rook's back though (I need it)! :O

"I believe in all of us. So let's get it done."

That little pep talk from Rook certainly worked for me. lol Like, whatever it is we're doing here, I'm so pumped, let's gooooo!

Then we get literally a millisecond of a frame, where you can see Ghili lying on the floor.. with the lyrium dagger stuck IN HER CHEST??

EXCUSE ME?? They wouldn't just spoil her death like that, right?? lmao Also, that adds another billion questions about this damn flippin dagger and at this point the list of questions is getting so long that I've completely given up speculating. 😂💀 We see how Rook tries to retrieve(?) the dagger but the power it emanates pushes them back?? What the heeellll.

And then I died. No, really. lmaoo

What can I say.

I cried. I screamed. My soul left my body. It happened. We FINALLY saw him. The Dreaded Wolf, He Who Hunts Alone, Roamer of the Beyond, God of Rebellion. The one everyone's been talking about since flippin 2009. And by GOD, he lives up to his NAME.

He's dreadful, he's horrifying. He's a monster, a nightmare. He's perfect. And just like Solas, he's just a Little Guy and bald. 😭😭😭

...At least in comparison to this dragon!! Look at that friggin SIZE DIFFERENCE. Someone measured the size by comparing them to Rook, who we see for a split second before Fenny leaps in. So, make no mistake, Fen'Harel IS the size of a high dragon, like he was described in Tevinter Nights... It's just that this blighted dragon is HUMONGOUS. lol That dragon, let's call him Elgar'nan, because we all KNOW, right?? Who else could it POSSIBLY be?? He's got the horns, he's the dragon on the vinyl cover with the Blighted Black City, he's ENORMOUS!! I've been saying this forever. Fen'Harel vs Elgar'nan, Battle of Gods was all I ever wished to see and FUCK, I CAN'T BELIEVE THAT WISH CAME TRUE. 😭😭😭

And look WHERE they are fighting!! It's Minrathous, you can clearly see the floating building in the background!! Which means the Dread Wolf is OUT. He's no longer trapped, or in the Fade. Remember Sandal's prophecy "When he rises, everyone will see". And he HAS RISEN. lmao And look at the lighting!! It's the same dim, gloomy RED we've seen at the end of the reveal trailer with the eclipse. "AN ECLIPSE AS FEN'HAREL STIRRED". IT'S HAPPENING. Remember the 2020 teaser MURAL.

Is this the Black City or is it the floating building?? Either way, it's BLIGHTED. In the trailer, Minrathous has clearly been completely taken over by the Blight. "All the world will soon share the peace and comfort of my reign", that's what Elgar'nan said at the end of the 2023 teaser, and what better way to take over the world than to start with the biggest capital in Thedas, a nation which built their own empire over the ruins of Elvhenan, ruled by the most powerful mages!

And I am SO scared. You can see Elgar'nan snapping Fenny. The dragon is blighted, and maybe so is Fen'Harel. He's also clearly been through so much. "The Wolf chews his leg off to escape the trap.", is what Cole said in Trespasser. I don't think he always looked like that. In the murals and the 2022 cinematic, he has a lot more fur. And I can't help but think about the devs saying that Solas wasn't always bald either. lmao How are they connected.. are they one and the same.. are they bound to each other.. we still don't know. But I'm SO. F*CKING EXCITED. TO FIND OUT.

Those few seconds of this scene were breathtaking and whoever made this trailer knew exactly what they were doing, because the editing is so perfect as Fen'Harel charges at Elgar'nan in slow-motion and the music cuts out completely while that beautiful wolf howl can be heard and you can almost HEAR everyone's jaw dropping on the floor. lmao THAT's. how. you. do it. *standing ovation* *sobbing*

Okay. Breathe. Moving on. We gotta get to the end. lol

The very next shot is SO funny to me, because we literally just got to see Elgar'nan, the biggest flippin dragon we've ever seen in DA and it's followed by a shot in which Elgar'nan looks SO tiny next to Ghilan'nain. lmaooo

His ego doesn't allow to appear small though, I guess, so he f*cking levitates to top her in height. lmao These two ancient clowns are already killing me.

What's interesting though is that this is the exact same angle from which we left off in the gameplay showcase. And Solas is nowhere to be seen, so... did he literally just "poof" away right there into that Fade prison?? lmao

We get a quick montage of all the lovely monsters we will face. Like I mentioned, there's the Elgar'nan dragon taking a swim in the ocean, I guess? (I hope he drowns. lol) And a shot of what I think is Irelin (from TN and The Missing) doing.. something with some magical device. Someone fighting a magical "automaton" in the Arlathan Forest. lol Harding doing her THING again, acting like Toph from Avatar, literally bending the flippin earth, like a true Child of the Stone!!

And right before the end, there's one of my personal favorite shots, Rook basically bitch slapping a Pride demon into full K.O.?? lmao

The trailer ends with a final beautiful shot of Pokemon Ruby & Sapphire. lol No, seriously. A SUPER blighted pair of angry dragons, seemingly at the same snowy place that Elgar'nan and Ghilan'nain popped up earlier in the trailer. 👀👀👀

So, they might have something to do with this? There was a dead dragon lying on the ground in an earlier shot, so maybe the elven gods revived them? If I see Blue and Red, I'm of course immediately reminded of lyrium.. whatever that means. Or, given that they seem to be attacking Grey Wardens in this place... maybe we are looking at an altered form of Archdemons?? Or something similar to Corypheus' dragon? 👀 There is an interesting theory floating around that Ghilan'nain might look like *that* because she somehow merged with her lover Andruil. As I mentioned in the beginning, Ghilan'nain seemed to have been struck by a spear or something.. and in this shot, you can see that the red dragon is pulling a spear out of its body! Sooo... maybe that actually IS her?? And she somehow transformed into two different blighted dragons, representing herself and Andruil??? The tinfoil hat is strong with this one. lol

ANYWAY. The release date is revealed to be 31st of October, making this the best Halloween of all time!! Not only is it perfect because of its origin, Samhain, the thinning of the Veil between the living and spirits.. But also because we all get a chance to dress up as Manfred, walk into the store, buy the game and then go Trick or Treat (but mostly trick) in the name of Fen'Harel, the Trickster God. 😂😂💜💜💜

And that's it!! Now we only have to wait two months before we can all lose our collective shi— NO WAIT, OF COURSE WE'RE NOT DONE YET.

WHAT THE HELL

IS THIS

EXCUSE ME, how do you throw this in there in the background at the very last second, HELLO??? A rocky object, split in half. HUH, WHERE HAVE WE SEEN THAT BEFORE.

Oh, you sneaky sneaky people. The mural depicting a Titan's death.... Remember the description of this place in DAI's files.

"A final eluvian is situated in a beautiful bolt-hole where Solas has painted murals. Fen'Harel was here and wanted to make sure nobody ever found what the other gods were doing. This place was the breaking point for him that turned him against the gods."

Whatever this is... I think it might be the very reason why all of this is even happening. The Evanuris mined the Titans' blood and "something else" before they collapsed and sealed the Deep Roads with stone and magic.

"Terror, heart-pounding, ice-cold, as the last of the spells is cast."

"What the Evanuris in their greed could unleash would end us all. Let this place be forgotten. Let no one wake its anger. The People must rise before their false gods destroy them all."

I'll leave it at that. I'm so so so flippin excited. I want to thank all the devs involved, I'm so full of joy and can't wait to finally return back to Thedas in October. 🥹🥹🥹 (And if anyone wants to get me that "Rook's coffer" collectibles thing for my birthday two days after release, my address is— naah just kidding!! ..or AM I?? 👀😂😂)!! 💜💜💜💜💜

#dragon age the veilguard #dragon age the veilguard spoilers #tinfoil time #datv #datv spoilers #solas #da4 #and now I go lie on the floor lmao #until October 31st lol #*crying of happiness*#the hype is REAL

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kalims · 2 years ago

Text

⊹ㅤfor you | equestrian club

premise. in an annual tournament they scoured the crowd for a sight of their favorite person. once they saw you—they knew. and the moment they win, it would dedicated to you.

note. this is gonna be a little series I guess? next is basketball club lol but I'll probs work on 'kiss your bestfriend' for scarabia before that

riddle rosehearts

resolve to win is basically rock hard once he saw you in the crowd cheering so loud that he knew you were gonna lose your voice the day after. if riddle wasn't confident he was gonna win he certainly is now.

if he didn't he doesn't know how he's gonna recover from the embarrassment.

I mean of course he's a little pressured now knowing that you're watching so the stakes are a little higher than usual. on the opposing horse, the other person is probably equally confused and mortified by the change of look in his eyes 😰

it's sharper, and definitely most focused. if they didn't know any better, riddle would definitely do anything to snatch that win.

he's torn. like, lowkey; fuck morals and the rules I will run over this sign to get a short cut. cause he really wants to impress you but figured it's a less,,, modest way of doing it.

the other is like normal riddle; how could I ever think about breaking the rules 😡

suprise suprise. his demeanor alone intimidated his opponents and threw them off so he won!

there's over 3 awards from tournaments like these in his dorm but he can't but feel like this one was more memorable than ever.

surpassing his usual limits. it's all because of you, because you pushed him over his bounds this win is for you. he thinks. riddle smiles with his cheeks.

to celebrate... shouldn't he take you out tonight haha...

ㅤ

silver

despite being a little woozy on a horse, silver proves to be a strong contender. lowkey pissing off his enemies with how little regard he seemed to give the competition.

I mean man just looked fresh out of a nap on that goddamn horse!

even though silver looks like he's trying his best (of which you know he is.) comparing him to his teammates would result in silver landing a close second in regards to focus. riddle of course first, he's taking it seriously. sebek on the other hand is confident enough in his abilities to know he's gonna win, therefore he doesn't really care.

silver? well he's just in the silver lining (ha, ha.)

though all the sleep seems to have left him the moment he catches your eyes in the crowd. there's quite literally hundreds of other people and even you don't know how he saw you. he just did, silver admits you have some kind of pull to you that he can't rid of.

which he of course doesn't wanna sever! he's just saying.

even from a little distance you can see his beautiful eyes sparkle in recognition and joy. hell, it's one of the moments you've seen silver express himself even if it isn't verbally. his lips quirk up, his eyes grow a little bit wider and his shoulders square up higher.

as much as silver would just love to relish in his happiness he had a competition to win.

(oh god he had a competition to win! and you're literally in the stands.)

with more fervor anyone's seen in a while it's like his horse understands his sentiment because it quite literally makes a loud 'neigh' battle, war cry of sort and zoom past everyone else.

silver doesn't even approach the stage because once he crosses the line he casually leaps off and jogs towards you. completely disregarding the host in hand with a trophy and medal that would have rightfully belonged to him.

why would he? the only embodiment of his win is right over there. (you.)

ㅤ

sebek zigvolt

of course the statement a few bullets I made over this one is not to underestimate the unmistakable fact that sebek does take the competition more seriously than he let's on.

in terms of focus he just gets distracted but he's going for the win.

but.

out of everyone sebek is most confident in the fact that he'll win. not because the equestrian of NRC has won plenty of times in the past, but because of the fact that it means that as a fae, he'll be representing briar valley in a way.

and in a way he's representing malleus draconia and sebek would never do anything to shame the young master. because all of his wins are dedicated to his glory.

but as many wins he's dedicated to the young lord he can never seem to catch him in the crowd.

sebek does not hold that fact against him. never, because he knows the hassle of being a heir to a kingdom and if attending his competitions meant stealing away the young lords precious time then he won't care. (though sebek believes that his master's faith will be with him without a physical form.) besides, lilia is there and that's all he needs.

he would like to convince himself that when he sees you he bubbles in what he called 'annoyance'. (later on lilia tells him how pleasantly surprised he was with a giggle.) he grips the bridle tighter with an increasingly warming face.

the onlookers spare him a weird look once they realize his tightly contorted face.

what in gods name are you doing here?! sebek never invited you!

agh whatever! he doesn't have time to ponder about a human out of all things. if he wastes it then he'll lose right here and then. sebek doesn't question the sudden burst of energy that accompanies his core but immediately huffs proudly when he crosses first, riddle passing by a few seconds later and sparing him an acknowledgement of a nod.

(interesting. in equestrian sebek has never gotten that much precise control over the path of his horse, which meant versus riddle he never won.) except this time apparently. riddle wonders what changed.

sebek doesn't spare you an action of a turn because he can hear you with his glorious ears from the fae lineage. he casts you a smirk. "did you see me? that is the glory of briar valley," he says simply. "and we do not need your support to win," he adds even though it was not needed.

you raise a brow. "we?"

"yes! were you not cheering for silver and rosehearts just now?" he shakes his head at you. oh this idiot.

"sebek," you say seriously with a laugh. "I went here for you, silly,"

oh.

steam comically pours out of sebek's ears as he bursts into a fit of splutters and denial. for the first time sebek is flabbergasted by the fact that someone came to cheer him on besides lilia and his admittedly huge signs.

point is you were here and for a moment sebek forgot about his constant wonders of malleus' whereabouts. because you were here.

for once sebek thinks he's won something not in the face of his master nor home. he flushes with a furious look on his face. it isn't so bad...

yes it is!! a part of his mind replies.

notes. OK OK so last song reccs post I had was quite a long time ago so here I am :)) these are more calming songs to listen to but definitely bangers

not proofread

#twst #twst x reader #twisted wonderland x reader #twisted wonderland #twst fluff #twst scenarios #twst headcanons #twst imagines #riddle x reader #riddle rosehearts x reader #riddle rosehearts #silver #silver x reader #sebek x reader #sebek zigvolt #sebek zigvolt x reader #ㅤ◜◡◝ . . signed !#Spotify

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taradactyls · 1 month ago

Text

The research that went into the Chapter 40 journey from London to Pemberley, as promised. With photos, maps, and a tangent or two!

I wanted to sprinkle in a few names of real places into Elizabeth’s journey, similarly to Pride and Prejudice, but for that I had to do some research. In the book she and the Gardiners take a scenic route further to the west, whereas this needs to be more direct, so I couldn’t copy those references. Unfortunately, we don’t know the way that they returned from Pemberley after Lydia’s elopement, because most of that would be the same (reversed) as what I needed.

So, I set out to find out what would be plausible.

‘Aw, the author did a little bit of research, that’s nice,’ you might think.

No. I did an excessive amount of research. Of the ‘it has consumed my entire soul and I need to know this information even though it’s barely relevant’ variety. When the toddlers went to bed and I was too tired to write, I did this. For weeks. It was basically the only time I could devote to this story, as the illnesses going around prevented me having time to actually write.

For context, I had ZERO background knowledge on this topic, and my first google search was to find out where Derbyshire is in relation to London.

Luckily, there was a road that seemed the most obvious direct route! But, following it closely to see what was nearby, I saw it avoided most of the villages; which is the exact opposite of what horse drawn carriages (which need to rest and water the horses, or switch them out entirely) would do. Sure enough, the M1 is a 20th Century road. So, then I went down the rabbit hole of seeing if the A5 or anything like that has older roots (it does) but after some more research into 18/19th C roads I realised I should be looking for turnpike roads/Post roads. Whichhhhh don’t exist in that form anymore.

And that’s where the fun began.

Warning, for a VERY long post.

FINDING THE RIGHT TURNPIKE ROADS

I couldn’t find an online list of which modern roads used to be turnpike roads, because it turns out they were managed in sections by turnpike trusts. And so, one half of a road might not be one and then the other half would but perhaps broken up into three different sections managed by different trusts (or the same trust but still separately, because local management was easier, I imagine).

I mostly wanted maps though, so that wasn’t a problem. Then I started searching for maps… and searching… and searching…

Basically, I looked at a lot and met a lot of dead ends but I’ll share some of the stuff that was useful.

I found a source which is all about research into turnpike roads and has an 1830 map.

But the map doesn’t have much detail so I can’t really tell much. Still, if you want to learn about turnpike roads have a look. I tried to compare it to other maps to see if I could figure out where those roads were but it just wasn’t detailed enough for me to be sure.

Then I found this old map of English towns and roads:

Which is comprehensive and amazing except for being blurry as anything when you zoom in, but does help give me a basic idea of what existed (though doesn’t specify turnpike vs … normal? roads). And I was able to track basic paths and use other maps and google maps to help me actually read the names of places. But It’s absolutely going on my wish list (along with that map of 1804 London I’ve linked before) of things I would like to have full sized posters for if I ever have space for a study. If I start writing regency novels as an actual occupation (around when I started this fic I also began planning a P&P sequel trilogy – though something tells me this fic might end up with nearly as many words as the whole trilogy combined) I shall insist I need the maps for work.

Anyway,

I eventually stumbled onto the pot of gold!!! Maps for each county with the roads and towns clearly marked! The dates are not all there, so I can’t say it’s 100% accurate, but it feels better than my other options.

(Not posting individual images of each county because you’ll see them altogether later, but I do recommend checking them out if you find this interesting, there’s places mentioned there that get omitted in bigger maps.)

I cross referenced with this map:

To double check they’re post roads (aka they had stops every 10 miles or so to switch out horses, and I did my best to find villages that had post houses or coaching inns).

Of course, those detailed images of counties are all separate, and for my own sanity I need to see how they link up. Going back to google maps to see what counties I would need I pretty quickly noticed discrepancies between the map borders and google maps. Turns out the counties changed in 1974. So, I had to go find an old map of British counties. That was the easiest part of my research, and I used this one:

Using that, I decided to print out, with a view of physically sticking them together: Middlesex, Hertfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Bedfordshire, Northamptonshire, Warwickshire, Leicestershire and Rutland, Staffordshire, and finally Derbyshire. Because when the map you want doesn’t exist, sometimes you just have to collage together your own.

THEN, of course, it was brought forcibly to my awareness when I tried to make the different borders align, that old maps often have inaccuracies.

There were little knobbly protruding bits of counties that were claimed by both neighbours in their individual maps, and random gaps which weren’t claimed by any. Counties were too long or too wide and sometimes too just entirely distorted to make the borders fit together as they should, and then the alignment of the roads would sometimes not match the alignment of the physical characteristics and it would get even messier.

I gave up on that idea less than halfway through cutting and sticky taping them together.

But all was not lost! Husband has a photoshop account through his work! I have a very basic understanding of photoshop thanks to taking graphics in high school, another one-off lesson for a Communications elective at uni, and then experience with similar programs for digital art. My confidence thus knew no bounds and I was certain I could photoshop a suitable map together in 30mins or so!

I was half right: I absolutely made the map, but it took me a few hours one night and I went to bed late.

We must all suffer for our craft, and sometimes my craft is niche research that I refuse to simplify BECAUSE I’VE COME TOO FAR TO GIVE UP NOW AND I WILL NOT ACKNOWLEDGE SUNK COSTS FALLACY TODAY!

Here is my beauty:

(You can see I didn’t care about all the dates and names of the turnpikes, but if you do, definitely click the link above which has the counties individually. It also gives you an idea of just how the same road could be divided into multiple trusts.)

I had to warp and stretch some counties pretty drastically to make them jig-saw together enough to be useable, and when clashes between making the roads or the borders line up I prioritised the roads. Seeing them aligned was the whole point of this, after all, but if you look closely, you can see some weird spots between counties where there’s a void or overlap from not quite matching up properly.

I printed this off and did some highlighting of potential routes from London to Derby, which I figured they would probably pass through on the way to Pemberley (more on that later). I ended up with a few slight variations which are all, to the best of my knowledge, feasible options. There seemed to be mostly an obvious route with options for variation, which I labelled option a, option b, etc. (this will help you understand my notes later). If road quality, or inn quality, etc., would create a decided favourite in late winter of 1812 nothing had popped up in my research and, honestly, did I really want to open that can of worms after all the hassle just to get to this point?

I then took my highlighted routes, and kept the individual maps of the counties, and the really huge complete one of Great Britain, up on my computer so I could zoom in for greater detail, and went to Google maps. I had to do a lot of cross-referencing with the various old maps with google maps so I could figure out which roads I were meant to be following, since not only have their names often changed but the settlements along the way have considerably changed in shape too. I felt a little bit like I was doing forensic work to identify what in the old maps lined up with the modern day, especially in places like Leicester which have grown so much larger in the 200+ years since. It was very satisfying when I was able to find the roads I needed.

There were three things I determined would decide which route I went with:

Was there a village (and better yet, evidence of a coaching inn) every 10-15 miles?

Did this route remain consistent with Pemberley being 150 miles from London?

Does it have interesting places I can mention in the narrative?

I started with the first two, since they were the options which could veto pathways or mark them for further research. I figured that out by going onto google maps and using the measuring tool, and then jotting down my notes in a word document. This is what one optional path from that research looks like:

Route a)

Edgeware 9 miles

Stanmore 10-11 miles

Watford 16 miles

St Albans is 22 miles

Redbourn 27

Flamstead 30

Markyate 31

Dunstable 34-36

Hockcliffe 39 miles

a)d)

Woburn 44

Woburn Sands

Newport Pagnell 53 miles

Stoke Goldington 57

Horton 61 miles

Hackleton 62

Northampton 67 miles

a)d)e)

Chapel Brampton 72 miles

Spratton 75

Creaton 76

Thornby 79

Welford 82 miles

Husbands Bosworth 85 miles

Arnesby 91 miles

Leicester 100 miles

To Derby following a)d)e)

Mountsorrel 106 miles

Quorndon (Quorn now) 108 miles

Loughborough 110 miles

Hathern 113

Kegworth 117 miles

River Trent 120 miles (actual river, and means definitively in Derbyshire)

Shardlow 121 miles

Derby 127

I fairly quickly learn that pretty much every option I had drawn on the map could work with both the distance and requirement to change horses, so I definitely would not declare that the route I ended up choosing is *the* route Mr Darcy would travel up to Pemberley on. My choice came down to what locations I thought were cool and useful.

As a side note: during this plotting of the miles on the map and keeping track of every 10-12 miles, I was initially very surprised by something.

Without fail, no matter how blank the countryside had been, there would be a village or larger town there. It really made me realise for the first time just how much English settlements along throughfares grew because of the needs of horses. It makes total sense, travel times stayed largely the same and reliant on horses or feet for thousands of years until trains, but it never occurred to me. It’s so entirely different to my own city, Brisbane (yes, the one from Bluey).

With Australia being such a recently colonised country the permanent British settlement that became Brisbane wouldn’t even come into being for more than a decade after the events of Pride and Prejudice. It would be decades more until the penal colony became big enough to warrant a proper name and municipality. Even Australia only officially became a country instead of a colony in 1901. As the best way to reach Brisbane from the other colonies (like Sydney) was by boat, consideration for horses travelling really hasn’t dictated much here. Instead of different settlements within (at least) about 10 miles of another we ended up with basically one settlement surrounded by vast amounts of farmland and nothing else the settlers considered civilisation (we all know how native peoples were viewed by colonising nations).

The fact that we didn’t have another settlement 10 miles (or really, at all,) nearby meant that that extensive farmland ended up being included as part of the Brisbane city border – which is why area-wise Brisbane is the third largest city in the world despite our population not even getting to three million. Even without traffic I could easily drive for an hour in one direction from my home and still be within Brisbane.

Looking at all these tiny English villages so reliably spaced just feels like a whole different planet to me. And crossing so many shires! From Brisbane to the top of Queensland (our state) is a 31-hour drive along direct highway. Which, for context for my American and European readers, Google Maps says is the same driving time (not distance) as London to Greece, or New York to Montana. Size wise, Queensland (which is our 2nd largest state) is 215 times the size of North Yorkshire, more than 3 times larger than France, over 100,000km2 larger than Alaska, and more than 2.6 times larger than Texas. I’ve never before really understood that Australia (and parts of the USA) don’t adhere to the old rules of human settlements and travel because our cities are crazy new.

Well, now we all know. Back to the research.

With a focus on information about the actual places near my potential routes, I returned to google maps, zoomed in real, real close, still using the measuring tool so I could keep track of every 10-15 miles, and noted every landmark and village that popped up. I was then doing lots of googling and searching Wikipedia to discover what I could about each location so I could figure out which one I preferred to use. I learnt a lot, particularly that English villages are very proud of how many Indian restaurants they have and often list it on their Wikipedia page, but I only recorded the bits I felt might be relevant to the story. Here’s an exert of my notes with that research when added to the distances:

Day 1 (more exploring allowed)

Edgeware 9 miles

Stanmore 10-11 miles

Watford 16 miles

St Albans is 22 miles

Lizzy seen before. Casually mention St Michael’s church and the ruins

They then follow the old roman road of Watling Street (to Hockcliffe?)

Redbourn 27

(important coaching station – ‘Owing to its proximity to London, Redbourn became an important coaching station in the 17th and 18th centuries, and it was known as the "Street of Inns", with at least 25 pubs and inns at its peak.’)

Talk about stopping for a meal here? Mention Dunstable might serve better, for it has the chalk escarpments?

Flamstead 30

Markyate 31

Markyate's position on Watling Street made it a coaching stop on the stagecoach routes from London to Birmingham and Holyhead, especially after the road was upgraded by Thomas Telford in the early 1800s, when it became known as the Holyhead Road. At one point Markyate had over forty inns and public houses along the main road.

Dunstable 34-36

has chalk escarpments (Chilton Hills/Dunstable Downs)

with barrows!! (though maybe too far south?)

Highest point in Bedfordshire (at the time? Pre changed borders?)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunstable_Downs

market town

priory

very ancient façade

where Henry VIII’s annulment from Catherine was delared

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunstable_Priory

They think they might as well explore here a long time because there is nothing more exciting awaiting them in their final two stops for the day

Hockcliffe 39 miles (where they leave Watling Road?)

Woburn 44

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Woburn,_Bedfordshire

Near Woburn Abbey (Family seat of the Duke of Bedford) Darcy could show no inclination to see it – though Elizabeth knows she might have if she were travelling with others. As she does not much mind seeing stately homes she does not care. Could tease him about whether he’s worried that a duke’s home will make his own seem unimpressive? Mention his uncle doesn’t like John Russell, 6th Duke of Bedford due to clashing in the past in the house of Lords

During the English Civil War, the Cavaliers burned down much of the town and in 1724 a third fire destroyed much of the town, which was rebuilt in the Georgian style that remains today

important staging post on the London–Newport Pagnell–Northampton turnpike. The town had 27 inns and the first 24-hour post office outside London.

Bolded locations are where I theorised made the most sense to change the horses. I did this more casual research for multiple places, and then once I’d decided which was the most enticing for me, I had my turnpike roads from London to Derbyshire. Now I had to make it interesting.

THE LOCATIONS I CHOSE TO SHOW

First, I did the whole confirmed route again in google maps with more in-depth research. This involved a lot of google street view, as well as finding local webpages for villages and the more historical buildings. I have now virtually driven through dozens of little villages and I CANNOT believe how much history and prettiness is just right there as part of everyday life??? Australia doesn’t have history like that in our random small towns or big cities (the ancient sites we do have from 60,000+ years of aboriginal Australians living here weren’t the sort the settlers would respect or even noticed in many cases during colonisation). We have amazing things that I have travelled to see, don’t get me wrong, but of a different sort than still-habited buildings and not so ingrained into our ‘normal.’

Luckily for me the English are very proud of their buildings and natural sites and this bit of research was really easy and straightforward. I’ll just show you the locations I focused on in chapter 40 (and very slight spoilers for the start of 41, too). Everything I talk about is real (though the great house with a drive straight off the village road I mention in passing no longer survives, and other things look different), so if you want to explore the places mentioned in the fic but I don’t show here, google maps and Wikipedia will help you get started. In the order that Elizabeth and Mr Darcy explored them, we have:

The Dunstable Priory

This is exactly the view of the building that I imagine they had during their conversation about the history and impressiveness of a place. It really is VERY grand.

Other views of it:

The interior has changed since the 1800s a little, but the bones of the building are the same.

The Dunstable Downs

Those are the sorts of street view photos that made me want to use it; but honestly, I don’t think I can possibly show you enough to do it justice. See what I mean?

I like hills, and that’s a good one.

The Wikipedia page has cool information about it if you want a starting point for learning more about the barrows or stuff I didn't mention.

Hardingstone Eleanor Cross

The research told me it looked a little different in the early 1800s, which is why this photo doesn’t have the Malta Cross I mention in the chapter.

Highgate House, Creaton

That’s the view from the road, on the left is where carriages would enter and that’s the front courtyard Elizabeth walked in.

And there’s the south side of the house, with the more impressive architecture that Elizabeth mentions.

Unfortunately, it’s raining in the street view photos, so you can’t see any of the countryside that Elizabeth was looking at when Mr Darcy found her, but here’s what the view of the same is from one of those upper story windows she ponders about:

Minor Places Elizabeth Sees (in chapters 40 or 41) that I Liked

The Glimpse Elizabeth got of the Newarke Gateway:

The Cavendish Bridge as I believe it was at the time (it’s been replaced twice since):

The view of the Derwent from the centre of (the then, very new) Duffield Bridge:

St Aulkmunds Church, Duffield:

Black Rocks, which Elizabeth only saw from the road but here’s the view anyway:

At the end of all that exploring as I travelled the route I ended up with google maps looking like this:

Each of those little circles is a mark I made on the map, because I really wanted the distance to check out. And honestly, I was pretty pleased at this point. It took a lot of unexpected effort to get here, but in the end I did it, and the locations and distances worked out SO satisfyingly for me. Not that it’d be noticeably different if it didn’t, but I know.

It was great to see I was following fairly closely the path of the Eleanor crosses, because it confirmed the route I chose had historical basis. To the best of my knowledge, there is nothing glaringly implausible about this being a pathway that Mr Darcy might use and thus the sights that might be seen along the way.

Of course, it’s very possibly not what Jane Austen (or someone actually living in 1812 England who has more baseline knowledge of this than me) would do. I’m confident that I did my best, but not confident that my understanding of this subject is good enough to have made me come to the right conclusions. But I am writing fiction, not history, so this level of research is sufficient for me to go on.

But now that I’ve gotten to Derbyshire, I’ve realised it’s a very big place. Derby is ‘only’ about 127 miles from London, Pemberley is 150, that’s a lot of distance that is unaccounted for.

Where would Pemberley be, based on the book’s clues and the distances possible with the research I just did?

FINDING PEMBERLEY

So, Firstly, I want to make it clear that I don’t think we will ever be able to point to a place on a map, say ‘this is where Pemberley is’ and have it work perfectly with both the book and the real world. Nor with any of the other locations which aren’t preexisting real places. As grounded in reality as Austen’s works are, they are still works of fiction, and I keep that in mind when applying real-world nuance to the locations, distances, and finances mentioned. I also generally don’t want to mess with headcanons too much, nor stray into territory where glaring errors can be made, as well as honouring that Jane Austen liked to keep locations vague.

That’s all why (in chapter 41, so very mild spoilers) I only definitively mention Duffield (5 miles North of Derby) for that last leg of the journey. Even that Black Rocks Promontory I showed you above is vaguely enough mentioned to be elsewhere. I’m happy for Pemberley to live as a place of suspended reality in my mind, but for the sake of this research I wanted to define a specific patch of Derbyshire which I would use as a vague location in my fic. Also, when it comes to research, I Have A Problem and I justified it in this case by wanting to know what was plausible just in case the only places it could be were in the south-west or north-east of Derbyshire and that might alter the pathway. This was done at the same time as a lot of the other research, but that would’ve gotten too messy to explain so I chose to detail it all here instead of interspersing it.

But how exactly to pinpoint likely locations?

Note: I am sure this is going to overlap with research others have done before me, but I have my own goals (for setting it somewhere for a fic) so I stayed away from other reasonings as I might value things differently. I’ve got to do this myself.

Luckily, Elizabeth mentions “before we left Bakewell, we understood that you were not immediately expected in the country,” (Ch. 43) so we can assume the village they discover that in, and depart from the following morning before soon reaching Pemberley and then going on to Lambton, is Bakewell. A real location!!! It’s about 22 miles north of Duffield (which checks out with the distances already measured) and puts us firmly in the peak district.

It's also just to the south-west of Chatsworth, which I calculate to be barely over 150 miles from London. Adding more credence in my mind to the idea that Jane Austen used it as her true idea of Pemberley – even though the real thing also exists in the book. But though it might be her base for Pemberley I’m not about to replace a very well known and book-canon location (though feel free to continue imagining it to be so, I don’t contradict the possibility, I even looked at Chatsworth floorplans for inspiration for describing Pemberley’s interiors) so I’m going to find what else might work.

Now, from what I could tell, Bakewell isn’t included in the modern-day ‘Chatsworth Core Estate’ (see the map on page 46).

It might not have been the case two centuries ago, but I’m going to presume it hasn’t changed, so basically, I can pick anywhere from the north-west, sweeping down west and south, until the south-east, safely without infringing upon Chatsworth. All the other, lesser-known landowners of the era we shall pretend don’t exist. I’m more going for a general area, anyway.

The Gardiners were likely travelling with considerable economy, and not changing horses every hour, so Pemberley can’t be a far distance away from there (if we want to mirror Chatsworth, 4-5 miles is best). We don’t know when they left Bakewell or arrived at Pemberley but it seems likely it was fairly early in the day, given how much time they spent there and then still drove on Lambton afterwards. So, we can look at places that are within a few hours journey from Bakewell for the Gardiners (let’s say 20 miles as an absolute maximum) and cross reference that with what is about 150 miles from London.

A brief note on the ‘150 miles’ number – the way I round numbers makes me think this is anywhere between 145-154 miles, but Jane Austen does seem to work in quarters rather than tenths, (approximately 25 miles from Meryton to London, 50 from Meryton to Rosings, 125 from Meryton to Pemberley, etc) so it might be fairer to say the distance from London is too much to be called 125 miles, but too little to be called 175. Which, assuming normal rounding of numbers, is 137-188 miles from London. For this estimation, I’m going to be sticking closer to my initial, tighter, understanding; but the possibility of the distances being broader than I interpret is worth mentioning.

Given all of those considerations, here is the area that I chose for Pemberley to be set within for the fic:

The Blue highlighted area is a general area that I think Pemberley House could be situated in, and probably Lambton too. The Estate itself can stretch beyond the borders, this is only for the house/park.

Bakewell is just above that section, and I’ve highlighted the other places mentioned in Pride and Prejudice as being part of the Northern Tour. White peak being the only option for ‘the Peak’ as far as I know. Fun fact: in my version of Pride and Prejudice (Penguins Classics 2003), and another online copy I used, Jane Austen has a spelling/consistency error by saying ‘Dovedale’ first and then ‘Dove Dale’ soon after. It’s a little comforting for me whenever I see that even my favourite author makes mistakes she misses despite all her reviews and rereads.

Anyway, there is a bit of a conflict for me with this location (as well as the location of Chatsworth, and any other places around 150 miles from London and still in the Peak District) when we take into account that Elizabeth and the Gardiners saw those highlighted places before going to Bakewell. It seems a very circuitous route, whatever order those sights are seen in. The best I can imagine is that it goes Dovedale (which I think should always be first, given the places we know they visit on their way to Derbyshire), then a more southern, partially unseen on that image, road to Matlock, followed by Chatsworth, the Peak, and turning around there and going back to Bakewell via a different road.

If Elizabeth’s trip to Derbyshire was based on the real travels of Austen or someone she knew, I don’t have knowledge of it. So, if there is a definitive pathway that’s agreed she intended to be followed that could change my deductions.

But as it is, with what I presume in mind, we might even be able to narrow down that blue area more, ruling out the most south-easterly portion because otherwise why wouldn’t they have seen Pemberley on their way to Matlock? If we were really looking for other ways to narrow it down, we might say that Dovedale and Matlock, which Elizabeth and Mr Darcy discuss at Pemberley, were the chosen subjects because they’re quite close to the house, and so that might place it in the south or south-west section of that blue area. I don’t think the latter concern does mean much: Chatsworth is also very close by but not discussed; and if Chatsworth itself is Austen’s location for Pemberley, then neither of those places are closer than the peak so the topics can’t be based on proximity. Perhaps they’re just what was seen most recently (implying an odd pathing of the Peak, Chatsworth, Matlock, Dovedale, and then way back up to Bakewell); or, as I think most likely, just mentioned to give vague specifics of the conversation and the locations chosen randomly out of all those that could be said.

And there we are.

I have a basic location for Pemberley and the journey thither that works for my fic and matches the book and the real-world as much as my knowledge of distances and turnpike roads allows. It’s not relevant enough for it to matter if you veto this idea and instil your own headcanon for Pemberley as you’re reading the fic, I certainly leave it open enough for other interpretations. But I did the research, and I must share it, because it took a lot of pain and effort to get to this point.

Thank you for sticking with me until the end, I hope you found it all interesting!

#I sometimes say 'thank you for coming to my TED talk' but this time it's not half joking #with a wee bit of tweaking this is big enough to be a TED talk #I kid you not this is over five thousand words #OF RESEARCH NOTES AND EXPLANATIONS #I cannot be stopped #at least there are pretty pictures to break up the text lol #jane austen #pride and prejudice #research #history #trying to tread water #fic:t3w

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httpiastri · 1 year ago

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paul aron's hair throughout the 2023 season 💁‍♂️

(also known as jack being obsessed with a certain blonde curly-haired boy)

hello hello 👋 i knew i wanted to do a longer post about paul's hair but i wasn't sure what to do... at first, i wanted to make compilations of just his different kinds of hair; like how it's sometimes super curly and sometimes flat, how it looks when wet and from behind & the side and so on. but then i decided to instead do one collage per round in the f3 championship (+ abu dhabi and one extra)(and some gifs... scroll all the way down, you won't be disappointed) !!!

the main conclusion that i came to when making this was that he's got soo MUCH hair? it's so thick?? poor boy must be sweating so much during the summer :( disclaimer: this all comes from someone who 1. has 0 experience with curls (my hair is as flat as a wall), and 2. has no knowledge of how boy hair works. or anyone else's hair for that matter, i only know my own hair. anyways...

on the collages with many pics, pls zoom in because you'll notice so many good details 🫡🫡 also, my hyperfocus/hyperfixation and time blindness rlly went crazy when i was making this last night, all of a sudden it was 5am..... so apologies if i use the same pic twice, i was a little tired when editing 😶

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bahrain

bahrain was a very cute round. paul's first f3 points in the first race was very comforting, and the curls he showed off were just as heartwarming 🤭 very messy hair this round, the curls were everywhere. but they also looked super pretty, like in the last pic (where i purposefully cut out his abs because. this is a hair post, not a thirst post… i would've gotten too distracted if i hadn't).

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australia

australia hair was very fluffy. it was pointing out in all kinds of directions, especially after racing sessions. in the four pics on the left, there's exactly 0 control of the hair hehe. the two pics on the right show off so much volume and just 🤯 also, the wind enjoyed blowing it in weird directions (check out the top right gif).

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monaco

buddy had a lil haircut before monaco? it looks kinda neatly trimmed in the back, and slightly shorter in the front – but still very long and fluffy. looks like it's easier to handle! but still many many curls, and it still lives its own life after sessions. 🤭 the podium hair! flat and cute. and the post-quali hair (fourth column), very strange but very cute.

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barcelona

the little hairband he got from simone 🥺 the two pics in the bottom left corner… not sure what his hair was doing in that part of the video, he looks like a maniac (endearingly!!). also, this was a weekend of many different hair colors; very golden in the bottom right pic, almost dark brown roots in the pic to the left of it, almost white/gray/blonde in the top left two pictures.

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austria

not a lot of hair content in this vid? a lot of paul content bcs of his win but he's wearing his helmet or the winner cap most of it. very soft and bouncy as usual though. i really wanted to include the middle picture because he's in the air mid-jump lol

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silverstone

yet another weekend of mixed colors and volumes. very shiny & light blonde in the sun/under lamps, but very dark blonde in other pics. also, why is his hair so straight in the bottom right pic? like compared to top right? they're just hour apart, both after the race…. idk the hair in the top right pic has such a hold on me (because i wanna have a hold of it).

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budapest

budapest hair was very chaotic at times… and looking like it's been growing out quite a lot! the middle pic (and the one above it) 😭 not only does he sound so cute when he's telling his little story about his former soccer career, but the hair…. literally everywhere 🫠 so cute :(( also the top left picture has such a chokehold on me, idk if i've posted it before but it's one of my faves. not just for the hair, but the neck and the chest and just-

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spa

yet another little trim? shorter in the back and more tidy + less dense in the front? i still refuse to acknowledge the fact that the feature in spa happened but at least he was cute during the weekend 🤭 the little curl in his forehead in the middle pic 🥺 and please what's going on in the middle left pic 😭 i have a gif from that later in this post, cracks me up every time ngl

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monza

paul has got so so much hair!!!!!! especially noticeable in the middle column, especially in the middle middle pic. wow. so thick. him resting on the floor with his headphones and the hair is just everywhere :( the little curls falling into his eyes despite how short is looked just a few weekends before in spa… so pretty. love how the curls are so noticeable from the side too!!!

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abu dhabi

was this peak broccoli in the season? probably. especially in karl's story with the broccoli emojis, and in the top right. and then, we have bottom right, where it's so flat? how?? anyway, he was glowing this weekend and his hair was so cute. always super fluffy, always super curly, always just sticking out everywhere. also love how the like ends of the curls are very straight out in the air (does that explanation make sense?), especially in the interview picture !! 🥦

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pre/post/mid season

a lot to uncover here. first row = macau (except for top right which was abu dhabi, but wearing his macau shirt…). very messy curls but not too long? very cute. and i would guess that it's karl's hairband-thing because that's like the only time i've seen paul wear it but i see karl wearing it all the time. either way, it must feel nice for him to finally have all that hair out of his face, finally he can see properly 😭

second row = vacation hair!! the horse riding hair, very cute and so long in the front, curls in his eyes definitely. the wet hair is so so flat, can imagine it just feels good to cool it down in the hot summer too. and the mirror selfie, very short post-spa but very very curly!!

third row = gala/ceremony hair + his vacation with ralf. a lot calmer, especially the 2nd pic (!!! so flat, but the little curls in the tips…. adorable). idk it just looks pretty styled like that.

fourth row = extras lol. first two are zandvoort, no? i think so. veryyy curly. the first pic is so cute because it looks like his hair is literally floating on the top of his head, not around it. like it looks like someone just flopped some wig on top of his head and called it a day 😭 third pic from working out with karl or something, idk he just looked so cute. and then his investment pic or whatever i should call it 😭 so blonde in the tips but dark roots? cute

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i also wanted to make some gifs to show off how his hair moves because i think it's super cute 🥺 esp like the one where he's running, and all of the bottom row gifs.... so much hair!!!

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if anyone actually made it this far, thank you for reading/looking at the pics with me 🫶🫶🫶 hope you've maybe started to like his hair even more after this hihi

#i had so much fun making this teehee #mmmm i love paul #i was like 'okay i gotta stop thinking so much about paul"#and then i rewatched the lap videos again and fell in love all over again #what am i gonna do when he's not a main character in lap next year? :(#f1 #f2 #f3 #paul aron #prema racing #mercedes juniors

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brighter-by-the-daly · 1 year ago

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Rachel Daly x Reader

Part Twenty - On Top of the World

The team had settled into camp and were into the second week of training, the first game against Haiti was fast approaching. You had started a vlog to keep yourself busy while the girls were in training and often sat on the sidelines watching. After training you went to wait for Rachel outside, picking up a drink you laid down on the grass to soak up some sunshine while editing today’s videos. Flicking through the close ups of your girl, you didn’t see her approach until she slumped down beside you with a thud. Giving her thigh a squeeze she leant down to kiss you “you’re so sexy in your kit baby” you chimed showing her the videos you took of her, “look at those legs!” Zooming in on her muscles showing thanks to her new short socks trend, you rested your head on her thigh. “I can’t wait til they’re wrapped round my head again” looking up at her with a cheeky smile to see the reaction your statement had caused. Rachel instantly shot you a look with a serious expression trying to hide her smirk, “stop now” shutting you down bluntly. You giggled knowing you were both finding it hard not being intimate, it’ll be worth it though. It’s giving you time to get to know each other without every day starting or ending with sex, thus making your relationship stronger with every day.

“Aih up!” Millie’s voice turned both your heads away from the dirty thoughts in your minds. She threw her bag down next to you as she laid her head on your arm, “what we doing?” she asked rolling up the sleeves on her top. “Getting a tan, I’m not going back until I look like Beyoncé” you laughed, putting your arm next to theirs to compare skin colour. “What’s next on your agenda for today girls?” you asked, wondering if they had anything else scheduled for today “Nothing, we’re free to enjoy ourselves before the game tomorrow” Millie said delicately unfolding the time sheet in her pocket. The paper was barely held together and was on its last legs, you wondered how it was possible to even read it with how crumpled and faded it was. Throwing around ideas of how to spend their spare time, they asked you what you wanted to do. You’ve been on a few of Katie Zelem’s tours but haven’t explored with your people yet and asked to check out Sydney.

Walking along the harbour and seeing a seagull you couldn’t help but shout “MINE” repeatedly like the one in Finding Nemo which caused the others to start flying quotes from the Disney movie around too. All giggling your way along the harbour towards the Opera House arm in arm until you spotted a paraglider. Eyes flickered between each other’s face like you were thinking the same thing before sprinting towards the boat, climbing aboard and sailing out to sea. You were all strapped together before being lifted into the air - Rachel had her selfie stick, Millie had the go pro and you were just happy to be there. The driver dipped your toes in the water then lifted you all high up into the air so you could see for miles. Your spontaneity soon disappeared as the rope reached the full distance, Rachel and Millie were excitable until they noticed your silence and quickly clutched your hands to point out the dolphins down below. They reminded you it’ll be over soon and this is your only time to enjoy it, your hands in theirs blowing the anxiety away. “That was incredible! I can’t believe I just did that, in Australia of all places!!!” you screamed once you feet touched back down on the ground, your hands shaking from the adrenaline. You grabbed some dinner in a restaurant that over looked the harbour and watched the boats come and go until you spotted Mary, Jordan and Lucy getting on the paraglider too. Millie texted them when they came off to join you for a few mocktails, bringing with them an announcing that Sarina had planned a surprise at sunset.

Flagging down a taxi you bundled inside and headed over to the meeting place and were in shock as you turned into the car park. Seeing helicopters lined up in a row with Sarina standing next to them made her look even smaller than usual. Standing back to take photos of the girls with one of them you were shocked when the coach asked if you and Rach wanted to go alone or with Millie. “I’m not part of the team Sarina” you said to her, not expecting to be including in the club outing. “Maybe not, but you’re part of this family” she insisted as Millie shouted “I’ll go with you then boss!” dragging her over to one too. Sarina felt like a mother to the team and she wasn’t going to have one of her children left out.

Taking off felt a little wobbly but you couldn’t wait to see Sydney from above again! It was as mesmerising as you had imagined, higher up than you were earlier your fingers interlocked as Rachel pointed out where different things were. You tried to take everything in knowing you’d probably never do this again in your lifetime and wanted to be as present as possible.

Arriving back onto land Rachel held out her hand for you to jump from the helicopter back onto the ground. Stumbling a little as she steadied you, tucking your hair behind your ears that had flopped in front of your eyes. Rachel stroked your face then cupped your cheeks, sharing a silent intimate moment. Gazing up at your girl you have never felt more loved by a person, she made you the happiest you have ever been and you couldn’t imagine doing all these things with someone else. “I’m obsessed with you” she admitted resting her forehead on yours making a smile spread across your face. Losing yourself in her beautiful blue eyes, a wave of emotion washed over you making your eyes well up. “Hey what’s this?” she pouted cutely, lifting your chin so she could study your face. “I’m just so happy it makes me want to cry” you told her between little sobs. “I guess that’s allowed” she said wiping your tears away and kissing your forehead. Wrapping her arms around your shoulders she pulled you into her chest as your hands rested on her hips. And that’s where you stayed, for how long you’re unsure, it could have been seconds, minutes or hours but what you did know is that you wanted to spend the rest of your life in these arms. You turned your head to kiss her bicep then lifted your chin to kiss her deeply, never loosening her grip around you. “I’ve never loved anyone as much as I love you (y/n)” she whispered between kisses. “I’ll love you forever Rachel Ann Daly” “til the world stops going round” she finished with a kiss on the tip of your nose.

You were both too wrapped up in each other to notice the club photographer was capturing your moment from afar. Neither of you were fans of PDA so as the rest of the team started to land you broke apart, switching to simply holding hands and joining the group who were reeling from the excitement. Thanking Sarina as everyone dispersed back to the bus the photographer approached you. “I hope you don’t mind but I thought these were beautiful” showing you her camera screen as she flicked through the photos of you both standing in front of the helicopter with the sunset in the background. “These are absolutely gorgeous!” you gasped in awe of her talent. On the drive back to the hotel she sent you the photos to admire, the bus was loud with chatter after an adrenaline filled day but Rach’s head was resting on your shoulder as you admired the candids in blissful silence.

Once back at the hotel you had made your way back to your room, laying on your bed you chose which photos to upload and captioned it “I’ve never felt more alive than I do with you 😍💜” As hundreds of comments flooded in thick and fast there was a knock at the door, opening it to see Rachel’s cute little face. “Hello love of my life” she said seductively stepping towards you which made your heart skip a beat and a sigh leave your lips in adoration for your girlfriend. “I can’t wait to go away just us after this” you pandered pulling her by her shirt into the room as she wrapped her limbs around your body. “Me neither, we still haven’t decided where” plastering your neck with kisses. Slipping out of her grasp to avoid being turned on you lead her to the sofa, draping her body on top of you to flick through holidays on the tablet. You landed on Jamaica which you both agreed on, booking it then and there making you both excited to spend some quality time with each other with no distractions. Stroking her hair she slowly succumbed to napping on your chest, watching her for a little while before giving in to your heavy eyelids too.

You awoke at a knock at the door and Millie shouting that it was dinner time from the other side, you both stretched and rolled off the sofa to get ready to go down. Spotting Mary you ran over to her showing her a tiktok dance you’ve learnt while they were training yesterday and asked if she wanted to do it. After dinner the four of you all filmed together, laughing at Rachel’s moves every time which took you ten times longer to film. “Are you feeling ready for Haiti tomorrow?” you asked after you all collapsed on a heap on the floor. “We’re ready for anything!” they chimed in unison, “Haiti ain’t gonna know what’s hit them!” Gathering yourselves up off the floor you made your way back to the rooms and congregated in Mary’s for a while before going back to your rooms for an early night. Rachel walked you back to your room talking about how her and a lot of girls stay off social media for the tournament but you can continue posting as normal. She asked if you’d manage her socials for her too which you agreed to.

She stood back to watch you open your door before losing control for a second, pushing you inside and against the wall kissing you passionately. Her hands roamed over your body making you forget where you were for a moment and enjoy the intense encounter. You had longed for this for weeks but you have to obey Sarina’s rules as you didn’t want to get kicked out. Reluctantly pushing Rachel off of you, “we shouldn’t be doing this” you said regretfully. “There’s nothing wrong with a kiss is there baby?” she said slowly between neck kisses making you smirk as you shook your head. Her lips finding yours again in an uncontrollable exchange until you both called it quits before you got carried away. “Good luck tomorrow, not that you need it” you poked her stomach, “I’ll see you at the game, score for me yeah?” planting a subtle kiss on her cheek. “Anything for you (y/n/n)” raising your hand to her lips and kissing it gently before heading back to her own room. Not long after she left your phone pinged that Rachel tagged you in a post, using photos from your trip already she explained she was passing over the controls to you for the tournament.

Sure enough the first game of the tournament, your girl scored 3 out of 5 goals against Haiti, Mary didn’t concede any which lead them to top their group. Rachel came away with the match ball and was interviewed after the game which was played out to the stadium, she thanked her team for allowing and assisting with her hatrick but your ears pricked up when you heard her cheeky voice over the tannoy - “this ball is for my girlfriend, she told me to score for her today so this is rightfully hers.” You chuckled to yourself knowing everyone back home would have seen that and messages would be flooding your phone soon. A short time later Rachel came skipping over, presenting the ball to you while leaning in for a kiss. You found out later than someone behind you had filmed the exchange and posted it to tiktok as ‘POV: Rachel Daly is your girlfriend’. As has come to be expected, Rachel took you back to the changing room with her where she was greeted with cheers, the party in full swing, the team recording on their phones which meant you were in the background of most making you more visible on social media. Sarina gave a match review and discussed the next game against Denmark - a team they know very well.

Back at the hotel, you joined Rachel and Millie in their room, tossing the match ball between your hands you asked what players do with them - you’d been wondering that for years! “Usually just stuffed in a cupboard” Millie laughed, “we should display them in our future house, we could get plaques for each one - what game, score, maybe get the team who played to sign? I think that’d make a cute display yknow” you pondered, flopping down on the bed. “Not a bad idea that, you don’t like my house then?” Rachel laughed “well that’s yours isn’t it, not ours” you said shyly, second guessing your words. “Oh I see, a ball isn’t enough for you anymore” she joked with a silly voice, “well I can’t wear a ball on my finger can I!” your announcement made everyone laugh, “she’s got a point there Rach” Millie backed you up.

Part 21 - Power Couple

#rachel daly #lionesses #woso x reader #woso masterlist #rachel daly x reader #millie bright #woso fanfics #lionesses x reader #england wnt x reader #mary earps

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fullscoreshenanigans · 2 months ago

Note

When do you think each of the fullscore trio realizes their feelings for each other?

Copying from this post but I generally hold these sentiments:

Sometimes I go back and forth on this with Emma realizing it earlier but keeping it to herself so the boys have more time to digest and put a name to their feelings so as not to pressure them. She has a very acute emotional awareness.

…except maybe when it comes to herself, lol. Feel like the comparative obliviousness on the matter is the final roadblock for most of her ships with her Type A personality. If she’s aware of it and knows it’s mutual, it’s so hard to see her not just going for it, especially with these two with how badly they can get stuck in their own heads.

As for when exactly it happens, Ray realizes Emma and Norman are special to him early on, though he doesn't conceptualize that love to the full extent it would eventually become. Again borrowing from earlier posts, but:

(Chapter 181.1 | Chapter 93 | S1 Episode 6)

He loved them more than he feared the consequences of revealing what he knew to Isabella. They comforted him when he'd have nightmares that left him screaming and crying in terror, even when they couldn’t understand what was upsetting their friend so badly and he couldn’t articulate to them what was wrong.

But he's also the last to act on his feelings after years of self-loathing and his firm commitment to ensuring Emma and Norman survive as a set.

(2020 Exhibition Interview)

One of the immutable truth's of his universe is the two of them belong together, and he would never do anything to jeopardize that, even if it meant remaining silent about how he felt.

Norman feelings for Emma are evident by his eleventh birthday in the fourth story of the first light novel, "A Gift from the 39th Girl."

He admires her deeply, and she inspires him to do better and strive for the seemingly impossible.

(Chapter 14)

With Ray, Norman always had someone he could show his more prideful and impish side to.

(S1 Episode 2 | Mystic Code Book Chapter 2)

I disagree on the wording a bit here because it's not that Norman doesn't show his true nature to Emma, but that the two of them are seeing different facets of a multifaceted person. Emma sees Norman caring for and helping their siblings all the time, and he's not disingenuous in those actions, even if in his pragmatism his mind immediately jumped to just him, Emma, and Ray escaping after being confronted with the truth. Ray was someone he valued and trusted enough to show aspects of himself that he didn't share with anyone else openly at this point in his life.

But it's after two weeks of hating Ray's guts that Norman discovers the true motivation behind Ray's plan at Grace Field:

I adore the way the anime adapts his realization of this, further discussed here:

(S1 Episode 5)

Norman reaching the same conclusion is one of humbling, relief, and grief. Since Krone first arrived at the house, he suspected Ray was the traitor. He hated himself for it, but that didn’t change the conclusion he drew, and he spent two weeks stewing around in those negative, vindictive thoughts. This is the only time I believe Norman ever truly hated Ray as a person. His being aloof and withdrawn might have been annoying and frustrating when they were younger, but he still accepted Ray as he was and didn’t hate him. This development, however, was infuriating. Norman would have been willing to sacrifice Ray, like Ray tells him he should have done, if he hadn’t talked to Emma in the flashback from the manga that instead plays out chronologically here. It isn’t stated by him directly how he aspires to be like her, but it does cause him to pause, reevaluate, and take a step back from adhering to his more rigid sense of morality. And then he realizes Ray’s true motivation and is humbled even further. In the final seconds of the song, the distorted crackling cuts out, and we’re left with the last rueful notes of the string instrument as the camera zooms in on a single child’s drawing, one that we know is Eugene’s based on the chapter 31 extra of the Grace Field House art gallery… …A good use of resources to convey to the viewer the same affirmation Ray had given to Norman: whatever his machinations might entail, his motivation has always, always been his two most precious friends. There’s relief in that realization: Ray isn’t out to maliciously harm them, but there’s also grief in how Ray doesn’t see himself as worth saving. A very humbling experience when just a few hours ago Norman had been so willing to throw him away, just like Ray wanted.

This settles something in Norman—that Ray is once again firmly in the "dear friend who must be saved and protected at all costs" category of his mind, reflected in his resolute stare in these two additional frames in episode 11 of season 1:

Ray intends to die. From what he said, he's doing it so you and I don't get killed. He didn't include himself in the numbers. He's not escaping. Ray has decided to die inside this house. He's going to set himself on fire to distract Mom in order to let us run away. That's his entire plan. But I won't allow him to do that. Not ever.

But it also leads him to begin reexamining what exactly that all entails, and he has over a year to pore over those thoughts in Lambda.

By the time he razes the facility to the ground, he recognizes that he cares for Ray in the same way he cares for Emma (@vinokurinner conveys it beautifully through this comic)

Emma's cherished the boys as her best friends her whole life at Grace Field. As they're inspired by her, she in turn is inspired by them.

(Chapter 5 | Chapter 88)

But when exactly she consciously puts a name to those feelings and recognizes them in their totality, I don't have as specific of period for because I like to play around with it.

(Chapter 123)

But there's the beat of pronounced, wide-eyed clarity when Ray mentions Norman's special to both of them.

(Chapter 153)

There's her bold declaration of "I'm never letting you go!" to Norman, firm in her conviction that she'll won't let him sacrifice himself or be separated from them again.

(Chapter 161)

There's the faith that now that she has both of them at her side again, they can achieve the impossible.

(Chapter 180)

And there's the visions she has of them in her dreams after they arrive separately in the human world and she's lost her memories, because not even a god can remove the place they hold in her heart.

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gear-project · 10 months ago

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Annon-Guy: What's your stance on the character intros and outros in Guilty Gear StrIVe and GranBlue Fantasy Versus?

Even if you don't know the cast, can you get good impressions based on her animations and personality triats?

For example, Sol is very gruff and not extravagant as for his intro, he just calmly walks onto the stage while his outro just has him turn his back on the opponent and smirk at them while criticizing them.

With Bedman?, it features Delilah walking by herself until Bedman? appears behind and places a protective hand in front of her and in the outro, Bedman? raises Delilah up in a brother love like fashion with It's hand with Delilah smiling back at It.

In GranBlue Fantasy Versus, most of the unique interactions mostly occur from the 2P side as the 1P side is mostly them just walking in or standing in position as they get ready and even then, the 1P side has some good moments of characterization.

Like, for Djeeta, on the 2P side, she mainly talks about the opponent with Lyria and Vern, but on the 1P side, Lyria is clutching her dress in concern until Djeeta puts a reassuring hand on her hand before Vyrn and Lyria wish Djeeta luck. With their outro, it mostly features the three joining in a triumpht cheer and arm pump.

And even though 2B's dialogue is mostly reused, she has good animations that remain true to her series and express her character. Her Pod analysis' the opponent in both, but where her 1P side just has her walk in, her 2P side has her come out of her Black Box in an epic fashion to show you that a YorHa Android is not to be messed around with. Additionally, both Intros have her adress the fighters by their In-Game Titles, which is a good forth wall break without intending to be so, which a nice touch of detail. And while 2B's outro isn't too special, she checks in with her commanding officer, showing that 2B is a loyal and just soldier.

What do you think though? Got some characters that stick out in this department?

Give me a minute to read all this:

I'm gonna say that both Strive and Granblue (and well, MOST 2.5D animated fighting games come to think on it) suffer from "Talking head syndrome".

Phase 1: Character 1 walks on stage, does some dynamic thing by themselves.

Phase 2: Closeup of character talking.

Phase 3: Character 2 walks up and responds to Character 1.

Phase 4: Zoom out and fight starts.

It's been like this since Mortal Kombat 9, to be honest… and all it really does is illustrate the idea that fighting game characters in 3D have a very hard time in production to be animated in interactive dynamic ways.

I think Tekken 8 is literally the FIRST 3D fighting game to legitimately feature "clash intros" between rival characters ever since the days of Guilty Gear Accent Core and Street Fighter Alpha had their famous "2D clash sequences".

To give you some keen examples:

Here's the BlazBlue equivalent:

youtube

The overall structure of modern fighting game intros puts emphasis on Player 1 initiating the conversation while Player 2 reciprocates.

(For a Strive example, Baiken's Intro is very long and dramatic, but if you switch to Player 2 side, Baiken's intro is much shorter... )

But in older games there was more of a balanced back and forth between characters.

Characterization is often predicated on the way a character's body language introduces them, though many intros are "bombastic", they are mostly tied to the character being introduced... that character does "not" interact with the other character physically until the fight actually begins...

Compare/Contrast Sol's Intro and Outros from previous games:

(By the way, it's not shown, but Sol bites the bullet, lighting it up with his flames, then flips it in to his weapon's gun chamber, spins it, and swipes his sword outward, creating a shockwave in his Xrd intro. This was a dual nod to an older intro where Sol would throw his sword in to the air and catch it as it came down in front of him.)

That's what I mean by "talking head syndrome"... it's just two characters talking, they aren't actually making contact with one another.

Mortal Kombat 1 features both characters clashing ala Injustice 2 style clashes, but in terms of a gimmick, it's a universal clash mechanic (meaning it isn't very unique or special between two specific character rivals, even if the dialogue is original between them).

It's been a long time since Street Fighter Alpha 3:

That's not to say that current intros don't ideally express a character well... it's just not on the same level as 2D fighting games of long ago that carried that dynamism.

What is "outstanding" in terms of character expression ranges from exaggerated sweeping movements to subtle adjustments to a character's hair as it blows in the wind.

Your mileage of opinion may vary on this.

For example, Ramlethal's outro where the Dog climbs on her and licks her face... while that's a cute freeze-frame moment, it's not QUITE as heroic-looking as Nagoriyuki's outro which shows his jacket flowing in the wind as he sheathes his katana as his mask opens to reveal his face.

Another example is Bedman's intros and outros in Xrd:

You will literally see Bedman flying around the screen with a white backdrop like he's a ghost out of a horror film... Delilah's outro with the Bedframe evokes a completely different set of emotions.

In terms of Granblue intros, while there are some good ones out there (like Vaseraga and Beelzebub), they are still very limited by the basic rule that "Character 1 does something only Character 1 can do, while Character 2 reacts to it".

While there are some personal quotes between rivals/friends, and they range from highly amusing to world-immersing, I often find that the broader "character expression" in these games lies within the music:

Take this song for example:

youtube

At first glance you might not know, but this is Zeta versus Vaseraga's Rival Theme (the intro builds up a bit quicker in-game though).

Even Sol and Ky have had rival themes for many years, if that's not obvious enough.

youtube

I'd say, getting a "full impression" of a character nowadays is a LOT harder than it used to be... and not just because of animation differences.

It's also heavily expressed in the story-writing: intros alone won't tell you a character's full story... especially if they are a complex character.

Young players might make the mistake of relying heavily on first impressions to judge whether or not a character "looks cool", but in most cases, game developers pull out ALL THE STOPS in order to achieve great things with their designs.

By and large, it mostly means that character design in fighting games is always very LAYERED... there's lots of minute details you will probably miss if you don't study the game carefully.

Are there "outstanding designs" out there? Likely true, but from my perspective, I favor the whole tapestry to simply looking at one square of the quilt.

It isn't JUST the fact that character A is cool and character B is also cool and their rival... it's so much more complex than that.

Character A has several rivals, there's an SS-class bounty on their head, and everyone's out to kill them, so they have unique intros with everyone (for a famous example).

Does that always get expressed well? Not always, but I think the attempt more than makes up for it.

Nowadays even fans are making fan-made clash intros!

I'll leave this here for you to ponder:

youtube

#Character Intros #Character Rivalries #Sol versus Ky #Ky versus Sol #GG Rivals #GG Rivalries

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jaswantakula · 3 months ago

Text

टाइपोgraphy

Hii, myself jaswant this is my blog and it is a part of my typography assignments. So, I am going to showcase all the work which i have done in this module and my understandings from each one of them.

So, yaa this is my first assignment which was just for understanding the basic elements of typography like ascender, descender, baseline they are also called anatomy of typography. For this assignment the brief was to just present the understanding from the lectures so this was a last minute poster which i made and submitted as there was a deadline :(

The second assignment was that we got a font/typeface which we have to do research on and make a presentation on which was fun like when you sit and do a research about a font or a typeface you go deeper into exploring it knowing about it searching for the details and comparing it with different and similar types then seeing the same font on social media and observing it, its so fun to do so.

So this was the part of this assignment

The brief given was to make a motion poster on the font which was given and i mad it also and got approved but the bad luck is that i can't able to export the gif file :( it was out of my storage but i made the animation(the motion image above the poster) so what i tried to show in that was so basically it is a typeface named ARCHER which was designed by Tobias Frere- Jones and Jonathan Hoefler so they both made this typeface, it is a slab serif font, now slab serif fonts have thick block like structure which makes them different and why do they have that structure it is because this typeface emerged in the early 19th century so it was the time of industrial revolution so they wanted some bold and eye catching fonts in there posters and signages and that's the reason why it was created and when it comes to archer typeface it was released in 2001, it is known for its boldness which it carry from the slab serif and it has the round terminals and curves which can be seen if you notice the typeface so that shows how it is approachable and friendly so i tried to show that in the animation when the letters get zoomed you go through the main changes or can be said differences which this and other slab serif typefaces had.

Now comes the third assignment

This was the class work and the brief was that we have to write our name in a way that should depict the topic which is shown here my assignment is not accurate but the first one was written in different styles in which I wanted to show that I am a graphic designer, in the second one I tried to merge my native language telugu which is curvy so I tried to use it because I had to show where I am from, the next one was what is my favourite wildlife animal and it is cheetah so I tried to make spot like structure on texts and it was made like that, after that the next one was i have to show I love himalayas and I made that which shows that the form of melting and some sharp edges which may show it but i feel like its not good enough and the next one and the last one is I have to write that I hate this exercise and I tried to write it in that way. So this was the assignment and the next one is magazine layout

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1g-1oE37RQGeFBnnKUqyF35RXTpBhgHke/view?usp=drive_link

This is the bloom magazine layout.

so this the link for the magazine layout which i worked on for the word bloom so this assignment was that we can take a random word which we have to make a text as image like its is something like expressive type we need to express the meaning of the word with the image so it was that and we have to click images and arrange the images and make the word so it was something which should be included in this magazine.

This is the image which was finalized as the text as image so i have to make this on the basis of the main meaning of the word bloom means growing or can be said like its going to grow so I used kind of graffiti style to show that as it is more famous in the young age group which in some sense means in future there will be growth or its growing so I used it.

next one is experimental layout so on this one i tried 6-7 rough layouts and these are the finalized ones

This is one of it

This is the second one and

this one is still needed to work on but yaa these are the layouts which I worked on lately so the brief for this one was simple we need to experiment and explore what can we do with the image and text but the catch was that we need to add text about 50 to 100 words or more then that.

Now the next assignment which we got was to redesign the price tag of any clothing company so I took Lee Cooper price tag and it was my first time to make something like that and I enjoyed making, trying and experimenting it.

So this was it.

Now its the blackout poetry

it is a famous and very interesting activity to do not only as a designer but also when anyone is free then he/she can do this activity, so what we have to do in this activity is we have to take a newspaper sheet not only that anything like book, magazine etc, we have to take some specific words and darken the remaining sentence and the words which we have chosen that have to make some meaning like

Yaa so we need to make it like this.

So, these are the assignments which were given in this module of typography, this module not only talked about the type/font it gives a whole new perspective the next time we see any text or any poster or any billboards anything if it have text we observe it and try to recall what kind of font or family it belongs to and is it good or not what will be the pair for that font how it will be if we used another font on the same background and there are lots of stuff still to learn I am still reading and observing(trying too) and knowing things and that's it this was my work i mean this whole month work i worked on.

Poster Design

Here it comes the second module 'POSTER DESIGN'.

What we learnt so far in this module:

Posters have played a significant role in communication for centuries, going through different cultural and artistic movements they had been part of various things.

There are different types of posters, as we go more deep into this topic we can get to know about evolution and history of posters. They have changed time to time according to the periods which they were on. Still reading about it :)

So when it comes to the principles of designing a poster or things to keep in mind while designing the poster are

We should keep at least 1 inch margin on each sides of the poster for the text.

Text on the poster should be lesser as its just the brief of a particular event or product and also it depends on where is the poster going to be sticked and also who are the targeted audience and what is the purpose of the poster.

When designing a poster we should keep in mind about the texts readability and legibility.

Posters are mostly center aligned.

These are some of the rules we should follow while creating a poster.

Now comes the 1st assignment

This is the first assignment of the module where we have to form a group of 5 people and make a poster and the theme was Social Justice and Equality and we had to show Figure and ground in it. So in this poster we showed that both social justice and equality go hand in hand here we used Swiss design in this poster.

Here comes the 2nd assignment

This is the second assignment which was also a part of group project but it didn't workout so I made this poster on Social conflict. So in this poster we had to take news of any topic and team will be divided on the basis of that and we had to do research and find a common topic in our group and e had to make a poster so in my team the topic which we finalized was social conflict and here is the poster for it.

The third assignment was interactive poster

this was a group project and my group mates where Anumeha, Anisha, Nandini, Ayushi.

This the next assignment one teaser and one final poster

This is teaser poster

This is final poster

and this was also a group project and my group members were

Kalyani, Anushka, Raunak

next one is one word and one concept.

So these are the assignments of poster design module.

#design #calligraphy #graphic design #lettering

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tejvirani · 28 days ago

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Lokni rattled through the campsite as Tej looked on, leaned to a side like a heavy-branched willow. A report came back. The initial suggestion to double check through the immediate campsite was meant to allay fears. Unfortunately, the lack of physical evidence cranked up the creepy factor tenfold.

"Nah, saw nothing strange." Not on an island where everything was out of the ordinary. If Lokni still had an inkling Tej might be involved in silently transporting a 1000 lb horse all the way out there, alive or otherwise, well. The guy would be highly disappointed in the end. "I'm still trying to figure this place out, Lokni," said weary and almost equally as exasperated. As a kid in Seattle, he was never far from a trail, a park, a wooded area. Someone always lived on the edge of a little wilderness, and it wasn't so unusual to traipse off. Create your own adventure, even get lost for a whole hour or two.

He was a grown ass man and this was some real shit. "If anything happens, if I end up out here..." Unintentionally ominous. For a moment Tej wished the words had never left his mouth, to be carried by the wind and picked up by some hidden microphone. His voice dipped low. "I want to be able to know my way around." As solid of an explanation as he could give. (Protection? Was there anything left to protect?) Oh. The horse, Lokni's horse. He remembered the photo. Not owner and beast but a team, affection and pride seeped through an image shown from a cell phone once. Fucking hell. His gaze followed Lokni's verbal overlay of Chenoa and compared to the lifeless animal on the ground. A realization filled him cold, sharp in his mouth as ice and razor blades.

If people can get spirited away... A pause, and then a reluctant nod. "I don't think it's out of the question at all." Tej himself was nothing more an apparition. Dead and gone with his old life six months (or more) ago. He could still be offended on Lokni's behalf, that shock rolling out fresh. But when the tower was brought up, his eyes snapped over quick to meet Lokni's. "Too fucking bad. Shouldn't have brought us here in the first place, yeah? Some of us aren't gonna cooperate all that easily." The ghost impression of the piece of the tower was felt in the palm of Tej's hand. Stored away safely for now, and he'd never hand it over.

Lokni wore obstinance well. "Alright, fair enough. Still gotta do something about the horse. And at least set up some type of security..." Tej trailed off, dark brows drawn tight, head tilted slightly as Lokni reached for something. A blink. "Is that a spear?" An excitement spilled down his spine, warm as blood. He admired without touching. "Those are really beautiful. They look so light too. Are they?"

Wind picked up. Hair whipped over his eyes. Once he pushed it away, Tej saw those infernal drones flying in. "Oh, shit." The punctures on his sides from a sting began to ache, a reminder of a vicious sting. And a very unwanted vision.

Tej grab a rock or something. After a short frantic search around, he found a couple. Luckily, Tej was a fairly decent shot. Aim, then fire. He launched the first stone and managed to strike the corner of one of the face-screens. The glass splintered and the monitor 'neck' drooped like a dying bud. The drone bobbed through the air off-kilter and zoomed off to circle back. Lokni spun a net overhead, like he was in some kind of sci-fi rodeo. Quick, impressive to Tej.

"Your net! Throw it on the wings!" Not a lot of time to swap strategy. But if the netting became tangled in those silver fluttering wings, the bugs would be forced to the ground. One downed, and advantage to the upright humans, he thought.

Tej hefted the other rock in his hand, and was rewarded with a harder and more precise smack to another screen. This time, the struck hornet swerved around part of the camp site, sailed high, and cleared the trees.

Tej hauled ass for better weapons: a couple of those spears. A dive bombing hornet was barely avoided as he ducked and dashed back over to Lokni. A spear handle was offered. No better time to use.

"I gave the area a look over, aside from this-" Lokni took a moment to stumble over to his campsite. The sounds of clamoring filled the air as Lokni began to rummage through meager belongings, trying to see if anything was out of place. Since coming to the island he had managed to compile a couple things; the broken compass, fishing net, some foraged items from Zaid, clothes from his ship excursion with Alex, a whole ramshackle collection of items ranging from useful to simply sentimental. Unfortunately, Lokni didn't have a good enough memory to remember exactly what was where. Anybody could've moved something- To his relief however, there didn't seem to be any new footprints in the earth around where he had set up his meager stores. Whatever had been there wasn't human.

Tej may have jested about magic, but with the lack of evidence and nothing making sense since gettin' here, Lokni truly began to wonder. Magic? Purgatory? Eternal punishment for being mediocre? Who could say? "Nothin' seems to be moved, and I can't find any handprints, blood, none of that," Lokni groaned exasperatedly. Then a thought occurred to him, "Tej, while you were on your way over, did you see or hear anything out of the ordinary? How'd you find this place to begin with?" The last question was more out of curiosity, not really pertinent to the situation at hand.

Thankfully, Lokni knew for a fact that there were no cameras in this vicinity. That's why he had picked it to begin with. He couldn't be bothered with some creeps keeping an eye on him. Although, he had nearly fallen out of a tree while climbing up to investigate the surrounding area. "No cameras out this way, from my knowledge at least, I was thorough when choosing this place." It was a secluded place, the waterfall close enough to get fresh water and get cleaned up at. The trees offered coverage to the opening of the cave that he had stumbled upon. It didn't go back deep or lead to anything, but it offered shelter from the elements that otherwise Lokni would have had to build.

Tej's pensive silence was a mercy as Lokni came to the revelation that this horse was about the same size as Chenoa, and female for that matter. Whoever was keeping them here at least did very thorough background checks. After a moment of hesitation, Lokni cleared his throat, embarrassed by how far-fetched this assumption seemed, "it's about the same size as my mare back at home, the hips are wide enough that I can tell it's female- there aren't canine teeth either. I kept my mare barefoot for health reasons. A lot of stuff is too similar for my liking. I know it sounds crazy, but this might even be her. If people can get spirited away to this island, it's not out of the question for it to be possible for animals too, right?" Lokni paused, looking to Tej, trying to gauge if the artist thought he was a raving lunatic or not. "Feels like they're trying to tell me that my old life is dead- or that I may be soon, could be anything if it's a message. Don't think they took too kindly to us poking 'round that tower."

Tej was right, Lokni would have to be out of his mind to spend the night here again- and yet- he didn't want to budge. These captors of theirs were constantly giving incentive to move them like pawns around the board. The last thing Lokni wanted to do was give in to their threats and attempts to get into his head. "I ain't goin' nowhere." Lokni spat defiantly, "they want me to move, they're gonna' have to come out from hiding and drag me where they want me. It ain't happening." Tej made a good point though, this was a threat, so if Lokni was going to stay, he was going to have to be prepared for whatever may come next. "I'm gonna prepare for when they come. Gonna' see if I can find out just who is behind all of this shit." Lokni said, the wrathful bite in his voice growing stronger with frustration as he began taking some of the makeshift spears that he had sharpened and began to take stock of what he had available.

If time had been on his side, maybe he could have set up a more sufficient defense. Just Lokni's luck, however, time wasn't on his side. A low whir filled the air, and the trees began to sway as if a helicopter was making a pass above. It was at that moment that Lokni realized that he had made a massive oversight. To Lokni's horror, a swarm of the strange contraptions that had stung Selin swooped down over the treetops. Sure, Lokni had taken on one, but a swarm? This wasn't going to be like last time. "Tej grab a rock or something-" Lokni shouted as he grabbed up his fishing neck that had a large stone already wrapped within from his harrowing experience with Selin. The hell hornets were already closing the distance between themselves and the camp as Lokni began to swing the net 'round and 'round, like a lasso. The moment one hornet got too close, Lokni loosed the net in its direction, the rock smashing into the static-filled television screen with a metallic cascade of chittering.

#lokni 02 #panevent 02

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bbhyeoliskooks · 3 years ago

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your reqs are open so can i request txt crushing on the reader during a fanmeet? i know youre probably busy so do it in your spare time! if youre uncomfy doing it i dont mind you ignoring this!! take care ilysm <333

꒰ "𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗙𝗲𝗲𝗹𝘀." ꒱

How is it possible that TXT caught the feels for you, even if they've only saw you once?

◌ Genre: Lots of fluff <3

◌ Warnings: One swear word 😭👍

◌ Song: The Feels

ꗃ YE♡NJUN: it was like a dream talking to him.

◌ In the thousands of faces that Yeonjun had seen all his life, possibly even millions, he couldn't shake the flutters his heart created when he first laid eyes on you

◌ He couldn't understand why his heart was zooming so fast and why everything felt hot in the chill, wide room

◌ It was actually possible to say that he hadn't seen anyone similar to you before; you were just... special, to put it in little detail

◌ The whole time he could only focus on you and how pretty you looked

◌ He felt guilty that he wasn't putting his whole effort into the fansign despite trying his hardest to concentrate on having a decent conversation

◌ A couple times you caught your bias staring at you, but you looked away too quickly to see him wink at you every time

◌ Yeonjun wondered what he was doing wrong since you always looked away. Was he being a creep?

◌ Little did he know, you were freaking out inside from the attention he was giving you and you thought you would get a heart attack before meeting your idols

◌ When it was finally your turn, you locked eyes with Yeonjun and his eyes seemed to beckon you over, and so you did

◌ Politely he asked for your name first, breaking out into a wide smile when you told him

◌ It was like the whole world was spinning around for you, and it felt like a dream talking to Yeonjun until you had to move on to Beomgyu

◌ But before you did Yeonjun grabbed your hand, his own laying gently on top of it.

"Hey, Y/N? Do you have an extra piece of scratch paper? Anything like that?"

◌ You weren't expecting the question so you panicked for a little second before Yeonjun laughed in amusement

◌ "It's okay; you don't have to fret about it, Y/N! Just make sure to check the album later, yeah?" He winked before you ultimately had to move on to Beomgyu who was calling for you

◌ Later you found Yeonjun's signature in the album... and unexpectedly, his phone number too with a few words that said, "text/call me when you get the chance, beautiful!”

ꗃ S♡♡BIN: how would he ever get to tell you?

◌ Soobin wasn't sure how it happened but every time he saw you, the feelings he unknowingly had grew stronger and stronger

◌ First it was the way you acted when you saw him, waving over at him when you noticed he was looking at you for quite some time

◌ Second it was the way you talked, giggling at his stupid jokes and being polite as ever when the time called for it

◌ Third? It was how you worried about him, asking about his day instead of giving attention to yourself and what you did without him

◌ Sometimes he found himself getting sad when he noticed you weren't at the fanmeet and longed to know where you were

◌ Curiosity managed to keep him awake every night before he went to sleep and yet when he closed his eyes, he would always see you

◌ Did you think of him like this too? As funny as it sounded, the Choi Soobin of TXT fell in love with a MOA

◌ But how would he ever get to tell you?

◌ You were such a dedicated fan so he couldn't help but feel grateful, but... he wondered what more secrets you could hide in those eyes which frequently smiled at him

◌ Nevertheless, he didn't want to be weird and ask if he could see you in any other way than the fanmeet

◌ It would be too much to ask... and you would think he needed you for something else compared to just talking

◌ When he saw you at the next fanmeet, he was incredibly bright and happy; so much so that everybody could notice it

◌ "Y/N?" He tried once you got to his spot, and you grinned since he always remembered your name

◌ "Yeah? What is it, Bin?"

◌ "Um... do you think we could maybe get some coffee sometime? I want to get to know you a bit more and likewise... if you wanted, you know."

You nodded happily, heart bouncing with excitement as you were in favor of his idea. Well... there was no way in hell you could say no to that!

ꗃ BE♡MGYU: can’t take my eyes off you.

◌ Beomgyu swore he wasn’t able to take his eyes off you at the fanmeet, even if it was only the first time he saw you

◌ The way you smiled and the way you teased him, almost matching his energy... he knew that you had him at hello

◌ There were countless other MOAs who teased him as well (if you combined all the fanmeets ever), but you? You were special, a breath of fresh air actually

◌ He longed to know what kind of person you were, and though he was getting an idea through your words, he wanted to know more and more

◌ However all you did was talk about him, him, and of course him since it was only a one in a chance lifetime opportunity

◌ It’s not that you were annoying- it was quite the opposite- but he wanted to at least get your name, number, anything of the sort

◌ There was a choked smile on your face and you shyly gathered your things

◌ “So, Mr. Beomgyu,” you teased, “is there anything else I can do for you before you never see me again?”

◌ Never see you again? Crap, he had to do something!

◌ “Um- uh,” it was like his mind went blank before he cleared his throat aggressively, “what’s your name?”

◌ Your eyes widened and you looked down, not expecting anything like that. Why would he be interested in you? You were pretty sure there were other MOAs he could ask if he was curious

◌ “Oh, my name is Y/N! Don’t forget it,” you added with a wink before moving on to the next TXT member

◌ With that small piece of introduction, he wondered if he would ever get to meet you another time, maybe a place in private where he would get to know you more

◌ But what were the chances of ever seeing you again?

◌ The only thing Beomgyu could do all day was think about you and your precious smile, whilst getting frustrated in himself that he never asked you out

ꗃ TAEH♡UN: you’re pretty.

◌ Although it was incredibly surprising, Taehyun wasn’t afraid to say that may or may not have gotten a tiny little crush on you

◌ He always loved doing fansigns since he could meet a lot of his fans, but there was no one like you

◌ Taehyun wasn’t able to describe it, but your vibes and everything about you...

◌ He was breathless when you finally came up to him, shining with something nobody else could possibly have

◌ When he saw you smile at him, the butterflies in his stomach doubled

◌ He could barely concentrate on what you were saying to him, only focusing on your voice, your gestures, and of course your beauty

◌ Before thinking, he said something he probably should’ve stopped before embarrassing himself

◌ “You’re pretty,” he suddenly admitted as his cheeks turned red, and your heart dropped straight into your ass

◌ Did he just-? HE DID NOTTTT

◌ “Oh, uh- thank you so much; I don’t even know what to say!” You managed to squeak out, looking away from his eyes so that he wouldn’t be able to see how flustered you were

◌ Taehyun decided to keep going, finding amusement in your adorable reactions

◌ He waved his hand so that he could bring you closer before leaning into your ear

◌ “Why are you embarrassed? You are pretty and... if it’s okay with you, I would like to get your number,” he whispered, making sure that nobody else could hear

◌ You almost gasped out loud before giggling and nodding your head. You simply couldn’t believe this was happening!

◌ “Thanks,” he flashed a smile (the most adorable thing you had ever seen) and later that day, you heard his voice once again... but over the phone, making a plan to meet up

ꗃ HUEN♡NGKAI: the one and only person your heart grew fond for.

◌ During the whole fansign, Kai was stuck in two choices that would determine his fate

◌ To ask the cute person he just talked to for their number or not?

◌ It wasn’t a hard decision considering he was a famous idol- someone who could get the heart of basically anyone through their looks, skills, or personality- but Kai couldn’t help but doubt himself

◌ He probably wasn’t your bias and with his four “brothers” surrounding him, there was no way he didn’t feel insecure

◌ You moved on to Soobin while Kai was left going back and forth in his mind if he should go ask for some information or not

◌ He sighed quite a lot, causing Soobin to worry and ask what was up

◌ Kai confessed everything quickly, knowing that he didn’t have much time left before he had to talk to another MOA

◌ “I don’t know, Hyung... maybe they don’t want to talk to me since I was too scared to ask myself,” he sighed, losing all hope

◌ But Soobin wouldn’t allow this, not when there was still a chance of trying!

◌ Just before you were about to go, packing all your things-

◌ “Wait!” Soobin almost yelled before you left for Taehyun and you turned back with a shocked expression

◌ “Make sure to call this number later,” he handed you a slip of paper and you were going to ask who until Kai waved at you

◌ Kai? The one and only person your heart grew fond for?

◌ You pinched yourself to make sure it wasn’t a dream, for how could something amazing as this happen to a mundane person like you?

◌ There laid the biggest smile on your face and perhaps you would call him later as promised, despite the quick tempo of your heart

♡ — — — — — ♡ ♡ — — — — — ♡ ♡ — — — — — ♡

Released: January 1, 2022 (4:20pm)

Thoughts: I’m so sorry for the delay! I had no clue my schedule would be packed before New Years, which is why I wasn’t able to work on this reaction much. I really hope it wasn’t too repetitive or anything like that; it was a bit difficult to think of what I could do differently T^T I still really loved writing it though!! Anyway sorry for the super long wait and I hope this made up for it!

Taglist: @dj-fart

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suffering-and-happy-about-it · 3 years ago

Text

The Man Behind the Myth (Love’s Wrecks, Part 4.)

Description: Heartbreak is one hell of a bitch. And one Edward Teach could tell you all about it. Yet thanks to Fate being a little trickster, there’s a person who enters his life to remind him of how nice it is of having someone he can confide in, someone he can care about, and someone he can trust. To remind him, what it means to have a friend for better or worse.

Part Summary: While life moves forward on board the Revenge, you learn a lot about the crew, their former captain, and the relationships on the ship. And just as your life seemingly moves forward with every sunrise, someone else's life is falling more and more apart.

Word counter: 5.7 K

A/N: I really, really think Edward is the type who shows affection through physical tough and also best receives it that way - he's just touchy-touchy all the time. And I'm pretty sure he'd also be clingy most of the time (just like when he almost climbed into Stede's lap during the kiss). For him, it's just the easiest way of showing/receiving affection or emotions I'd say. Also I’m a huge Gentleman Jack fan and I kinda imagined that the song hits by the end of the part, the camera would be zooming out of frame... Ah, that would be adorable. Also inspired by 2 Arabesques, L. 66: No.1 in E Major (by Claude Debussy)

Tagging: @missdictatorme, @soliyra-the-sunbringer

Series master list: h e r e | Series play list: h e r e

After shaking the initiative fear off, everything suddenly became strangely easy. It was easy to spend time with all the crew members, it was easy to bring Blackbeard his teas every single morning and evening, and it was easy to learn the basic rules the crew had (as well as the relationships between all of the men), it as was easy to remember all of your tasks, it was easy to learn Frenchie’s favorite songs and it was so stupidly easy to slip into a strange kind of routine.

Who would've thought? Slipping into a routine in the middle of nowhere, sailing as 'a captive' on a pirate ship. If you were to tell anyone about what you've been doing, they wouldn't believe it. No way. This resembled a fairytale child would listen to before going to sleep. But for you, it became a reality. At first, you were terrified - the men were pirates, after all, weren't they? How long until they'd stop with all the politeness and actually start acting like they were supposed to according to your book? How long until you'd be curling in fear hoping they'd leave you alone? How long until they'd get blackout drunk and start being aggressive? But to your surprise... None of that happened.

With each passing day, your relationship with the crew grew stronger and stronger - after a week and a half spent together, you’d swear you knew these guys all your life. You've listened to an enormous amount of funny stories, the men told you about their hometowns, about how they found themselves on board the ship. You've been getting to know them better and better, just like they were learning all about you. Soon, you began to pick up on their patterns, good habits, bad habits, and all the other weird thing that were specific to them and them only. Truth be told, you grew on the men just as much as they had grown on you. Fairly soon, it became clear that the crew had a soft spot for you; compared to them, you’ve been seen as a much smaller, gentler creature and you've also been sensitive to pirate humor. They accepted the fact that you’re something that needs to be protected to one degree or another. You've been self-sufficient and handy, of course, and you've been capable of finishing tasks on your own, but they were willing to accompany you or help anytime you'd ask them.

Wee John loved it when you just sat down and let him help with sewing. Roach welcomed you to his kitchen with his arms wide open and made sure to joke around a lot to make you laugh, and Frenchie talked to you about his time as a servant (which you had in common). Olu seemed to be the voice of reason, he was very intelligent, had good common sense, and was very calm - naturally, you've been genuinely surprised when you learned how short-tempered and hot-headed Jim could be at times. And yet, the two of them simply belonged together. Out of all the people on the ship, you most enjoyed your time hiding with Lucius and Pete, on occasion. Lucius had some strange aura around him, an aura of charm and wit, something that you couldn't quite put your finger on while Pete was a good, calm soul. You've even managed to grow onto Blackbeard's men - except Izzy. Fang and Ivan saw through the ploy rather quickly; seeing you interacting with the rest of the men with ease and calmness made them aware about you not being "a very valuable captive" as you first presented yourself; yet since they both despised Izzy just as much as the rest of you did, they swore to keep the ploy a secret.

It was very fun trying to portray the role of a scared posh lady captured by pirates; anytime Izzy was around to watch over you, which that little rat did rather often, you and the guys agreed to portray him a little over-the-top fuckery to keep the conviction alive. The conviction of you being someone who doesn't belong and is beyond terrified to be there was possibly why you were still. And as far as it worked, you weren't too worried about telling Izzy the truth. Sure, you were aware that one day, you'll be sold off to slavery... But from what you've understood, the captain didn't plan on anchoring the ship anywhere anytime soon. So far, you've been safe and taken care of way beyond your wildest expectations.

The only thing you've been prohibited from doing, quite logically, was joining the crew during various raids and scavaging. The captain told you not to even think about joining his men - he intended to keep you alive until the point he can get successfully rid of you (preferably sell you for some money). The sweetest part about this prohibition was nothing else than the pirates themselves. The boys usually made sure to sneak in something they'd later give you. Sometimes it was luxurious clothes or an exquisite piece of jewelry, sometimes it a piece of fresh food they'd found aboard the other ship, other times it was various books; anything from collections of law, which you didn't understand at fucking all, to fairytales and novels. Each book you've been given was hidden away in your secret stash located in Lucius' hideaway.

The men also made sure you’re feeling safe when you slept - you’d usually be cuddled into a tight ball laying amidst all of them. They made sure you had enough blankets to cover yourself in and a comfy pillow to lay on; that was all they could do. Anytime you'd start furrowing and mumbling in your sleep, indicating you weren't sleeping well, at least one of them would wake up to calm you down. That was usually Swede's time to come in. This dude might not have been the one to have deep late-night conversations with, but he could sing like an angel - over the first week, he successfully lulled you back to sleep five times. Only when you'd start breathing heavily again he'd go back to sleep himself. One night, when you couldn't get your eyes shut, he spent most of it talking about his home (which made you smile while you listened to him) and his scurvy (which made you so disgusted, that you actually planned on jumping overboard for a split second).

Even though life was moving forward in its own place, there was still a ghost of the past luring on the ship; it was the ghost of the former captain. And its presence was felt on each step you took. The ship itself was indicating many things about Stede Bonnet. Simply the fact that he was able to build an entire ship using his own funding meant that this man was rich and liked a luxurious, sometimes a bit lavish lifestyle. The wood was expansive, the ship was well equipped, the pirates had anything they could possibly need and even the remnants of Stede's decorations were very luxurious. At first, you'd assume that Bonnet was just another bored rich boy who thirsted for adventure. But the men talked about him a lot, changing your opinion a lot. They adored him if you were to exaggerate a bit; according to the crew, Stede was a lovely, mannerly man with a kind soul and even a kinder heart. He might've been a weakling, a coward, but he always had the best intentions in mind. Over the time spent with the crew, you’ve managed to learn a lot about the man; and when you said lot, you’ve meant a lot.

Stede Bonnet was undeniably a gentle soul brought up in luxury, never feeling any sort of shortage. And even though he himself was not well equipped for the life of a pirate, he learned from his crew just as they learned from Stede. The former captain taught the boys many manners about which normal peasants could dream about, the man was willing to talk everything through and he even approached piracy itself with manners, sense, and tenderness that was absolutely unheard of. The crew told you a lot about the various trinkets that were used to decorate the ship, about his rather extensive library formerly located in his cabin, his over-the-top wardrobe, and all of the small particularities the ship was built with. Stede himself sounded very particular; you could barely imagine what the man looked like, but you were interested in meeting him.

One day, while visiting Lucius, you've been handed Stede's diary - it was a transcript of everything that had happened on the Revenge before Blackbeard went on a rampage. Even that time, just as you were about to learn about the relationship between Blackbeard and Stede, you’ve been interrupted from actually learning anything. Lucius tore the book out of your grip due to Pete’s eyes widening as he looked up; first, you wanted to ask about what’s he doing, but Lucius put his palm over your lips, pointing his finger upstairs. The wood was creaking under someone’s steps, and a loud argument could be heard coming from up there. Someone was pacing around the room, yelling at the other party. Listening in, you recognized Izzy’s voice; anytime he was upset, his voice got a few octaves higher. Izzy usually sounded like an upset woman, but this high-pitched squealing was beyond everyone’s comprehension. All three of you sat on her floor silent as mice until you heard a loud bang - someone, presumably Izzy, just shut the door.

“Whoever he’s looking for is in deep shit.” - Lucius muttered, furrowing as he looked at you. - “I’ve heard him this upset once. It was when he and Ed had that big argument. You remember that, babe?” “Oh, yeah.” - Pete breathed out, shaking his head at that memory. - “We all thought Blackbeard was doing better. He came to see us after weeks, sang us a song… We don’t know what Izzy told him that evening, we only heard this god-awful screeching.” "Oh lord, I can only imagine what is going on. I hope I didn't clean the storage room poorly, hm?" - You said as you tried to lean closer, trying to reach the diary in Lucius' arms. The last few pages were very exciting, right out of an adventure novel - it was talking about how the two captains met. Stede was stabbed by the Spaniards and he was bleeding out... Suddenly, when all hope seemed to be lost, Blackbeard and his crew saved everyone. You stopped right before Stede was about to wake up after his fever dreams and you wished to learn more. Yet as soon as Lucius noticed that you almost held the diary in your palm, he snatched it out of your reach and gently slapped your palm away.

"Unbelievable. If you read it all now, Y/N, what will you read the next time you'll come for a visit? Anyway, you two should go now." - Lucius breathed out uncomfortably. The man loved your frequent visits and he hated when he had to send away. This time, you really couldn't overstay your welcome. Usually, Izzy was hardly anything more than a harmless barking chihuahua, but he could be ready to bite any moment now. - "The ship isn't that big and soon, he'll run out of places to check. Maybe he's looking for one of you." "Or, maybe, Olivia shat on his boots again and he's actually looking for Buttons. Buttons is surprisingly good at hide and seek, to be fair." - Was your answer as you picked yourself up, stretching your back with a quiet moan. Lucius snickered while hiding the diary away. Olivia shat all over Izzy's leather boots, you said? Dear Lord, Lucius would give anything just to see that happening. - "The bird did what now?"

"Oh, it happened two days ago. Izzy was yelling at Buttons because the rope wasn't rolled up properly... And, you know how usually Buttons gets when he's upset; he started mumbling all sorts of mumbo jumbo to his bird and the next thing I know, Izzy is yelling on top of his fucking lungs like a little girl." - This truly made Lucius laugh from the bottom of his stomach; he could imagine the whole scene playing out right in front of his very eyes. - "I had to polish those fucking boots for three hours, but damn, wasn't the look on Izzy's face worth it? He was as red as a tomato." "It was pretty funny." - Pete agreed, chuckling as well. After that, you smiled at the pair and turned your back to them, pulling the wooden panel down. You've heard them saying their goodbyes as you crawled up the tiny staircase; you've knocked on the other panel with your knuckles, waiting for Roach to pull it away.

As soon as you saw Roach's expression, you could tell that it was him and Izzy who had been arguing. And by the nervous tic on his face, you also knew that your name must've been mentioned. "Right hand was looking for you just minutes ago. That rat couldn't find you anywhere and he is pretty upset about it." - The man started explaining while helping Pete to step out of the wall. Oh, shit. So it was you who was looking for, huh? Izzy was Izzy, there was probably nothing to be worried about, but... Your heart grew heavier for a second. You didn't do anything wrong, you've made sure all the tasks are completed perfectly before taking any sort of break, and the captain never complained about your teas... What happened, then? For all you knew, you could've been a walking corpse by that moment and the captain could've decided to kill you out of pure whim.

"What the fuck did he want? I did everything he asked me to do this morning and I told him, very slowly and calmly, that I'll start working on the rest in the evening." "Oh, yea, you know... We might be best friends, but Mr. Rat wasn't too specific with me. I'll ask him next time tho, don't worry." - Roach answered with pure irony in his voice, putting all of the barrels back in their place. Upon hearing that tone, you just rolled your eyes, sighed, and waited for the rest of what he had to say. - "Listen, I don't ever remember seeing him this upset with any of us. Like... Ever. Are you sure you haven't forgotten about anything today, Y/N? Did you get captain his morning cuppa?"

"Was I thrown overboard?" - Your answer had the same amount of irony in it. - "Of course, I got the captain his cup of tea. And I am pretty fucking sure I haven't forgotten anything from the to-do list. I guess I'll just go and find him, eh?" - You guessed, starting to leave the room while following the sound of high-pitched screeching. Why would he be so upset with you? You got used to his tone-deaf jokes that overstepped any boundary you possibly had, you knew that anything you did was never enough in his eyes, you got used to his pissy voice and face and you even got used to his terrible impressions of the crew. But he never disliked your presence so much that he'd simply explode out of nowhere. You must've really fucked up. "You better move your ass. Izzy isn't too far from going on a rampage and searching through every inch of the ship. He could potentially discover other hidden passages." - Pete told you with a serious face. He didn't even have to say the rest to understand. He could discover Lucius by accident. You took a moment to look Pete in the face, furrowing until the furrow changed into a small smile; the man standing in front of you was so much in love and you found it adorable. - "Don't worry Pete, I won't let that rat find Lucius just because he has one of his moody days. Promise." - Quickly, you patted his shoulder and walked out of the kitchen.

You managed to find him on the deck, just as he was scolding another person just because you were nowhere to be seen. Izzy was leaning above Swede, spitting at least forty various curses onto that poor innocent soul. The blonde man looked at you, his blue eyes widened, but you shook your head. The rat must've been scolding that poor guy just to let the steam out of the system; dear Lord, you owed Swede so many apologies. Roach? Ah, he was fine, he was just very dramatic and he secretly loved to argue with Izzy... But Swede was the type that never argued with anyone. Gulping, you saluted and took a deep breath in. - "Sir, I'm sorry for all the trouble I've caused you. I was cleaning up the infirmary and the toilets and Roach sent me here as soon as we bumped into each other." - It was nothing more but mere whispering coming out of your mouth. But at least, it was enough to make Izzy straighten up and adjust his hair a bit. He was mad, you could already tell; the long sigh was a giveaway.

"Mrs. Trott, you seriously have zero ideas about how long I've been looking for your damn fucking ass. And you!" - Izzy spat in Swede's direction for the last time. Izzy's nostrils were widening so much that there was nothing more than two enormous black holes in the middle of his face and the vein on his forehead was pumping alarmingly fast. - "If I come back and won't see my reflection crystal clear on the deck, you'll be without rations for a week, do you hear me?" "Yes, sir, I do, I do." - Swede answered quietly, soaking his rag in a soiled bucket right next to him. - "Thank you, I'm sorry sir." "Follow me." - The rat commanded you, walking to the other side of the deck at an insanely fast pace. You could feel your palms getting sweatier with each step you took, and your stomach was shrinking as you walked further away from any crew members. This was it, you thought to yourself, you'll be thrown overboard. The captain finally had enough of you, right? Why would he continue feeding you just so you could fetch him a cup of tea? He wasn't charity - he was an insane, bloodthirsty pirate.

"What I'm about to tell you is deeply personal and confidential. If you say a word to any of these idiots, I'll make sure you'll hang by the sundown, are we clear?" - The rat-man spat into your face, yelling and whispering at the same time. Since you expected to be thrown overboard immediately, your expression turned into pure confusion. Why was he so stiff and angry if he was to let you die anyway? You'd presume that something similar to a bit of murder would make his day absolutely wonderful. Without a doubt, Izzy would be walking around the ship, humming a tune with a smile on his lips and he'd be even more mocking than usual. - "Do you hear me, woman?" - He snapped after you've continued to stare down at him for another few seconds being absolutely dumbstruck. "Sorry, sir. I hear you. What's the matter? Are you unhappy with my work, did I do something wrong, sir?" "Ah, you only think about cleaning. I mean, your work could be done better, of course, but it's not the worst either...." - Izzy hissed at you, still whispering; he seemed to be calming down a bit, though. The man leaned his forearms into the wooden railing in front of him, watching the waves crashing. - "Forget about your duties now, wench. That's not why I needed to talk to you. It's about the captain." - Suddenly, he stopped himself, stretching the nape of his neck while taking a deep breath. The captain. Did he wish to talk about Blackbeard? That lunatic was alive and well as far as you could day; you've seen him earlier that very morning. - "Surely, you had to notice that I and you are the only two people he's come to contact with ever since you've been captured, right?"

Without answering a word, you watched Izzy's profile getting softer than usual. You've seen that motherfucker doing a lot of various faces, anything from grinning through evil laughter to just pure mockery, but you've never seen his features growing... Softer. This stuff was, indeed, personal to him. - "I've noticed that, sir. Is there anything wrong with how I present him his teas? Would you like me to change it up?" "No. Captain Blackbeard is in a very bad mood tonight. Just bring him his tea, as usual, but don't react to anything you'd hear or see inside the cabin. It is absolutely necessary that all of his stays a secret, do you understand?" - And for the first time, the man looked at you with a serious gaze; there was no sign of hatred or contempt, but there were hundreds of pleas present in it. And so, you sighed and nodded. - "You can trust me on that one, sir. I promise I won't talk to anyone about it..." - Then, you grinned with faked bitterness. - "Not like I can tell anyone, huh?"

Even though the last part was an utter lie, you didn't tell the guys what Izzy asked of you. And trust me, there had been chances to talk about it. The crew was curious about Izzy’s sudden outburst and none of them understood what you had to do with any of it. They’ve been trying to make you talk all afternoon long and there were a few moments when you almost let it slip past your lips. As soon as you realised that you almost blew it, you just started talking about Izzy not being happy with the way you're cleaning the toilet. It was a weak cover story, but a good one nonetheless; you’ve theorised about the guy hating your cleaning to absolute bits. As usual, the tea was ready by the time sky started to darken and the stars started the shine. This time, you took your time preparing the tea yourself (choosing a fine brew of fruit, sweet tea). To top it off, you put small pieces of chocolate and dried raspberries into the small bowl. - “I’ll be right back, the time has come.” - You told all of the boys with a smile, picking the tray up after you put your white apron on. The crew was playing various card games while sitting at the table, enjoying their break to the fullest. - “And don’t let Frenchie cheat! I saw the card he’s hiding in his sleeve!” - You added before waltzing out of the room. With laughter, you’ve listened to yet another argument caused by nothing more than a stupid joke.

The weather was beautiful that evening; it was warm, gentle breeze was blowing, the sea was calm and the air smelled nice and fresh. You didn’t stop to take the view in, though, you had more imports things to do. When you knocked on the captain’s door and waited for anyone to respond, there was nothing more but dead silence for a fairly long time - but just as Izzy told you, you opened the door and carried the tray in, pretending it’s just any other day. - "Captain? Hello? Your evening cuppa is here!" - You tried calling out into the pitch-black space around you, not seeing him anywhere in the shadows. You kinda expected another of his edgy performances, maybe a bottle flying by, but this time, it was different.

The windows were completely covered under the rugs of the heavy red fabric; there wasn’t a chance there would be a single ray of sunshine slipping through it this time. The fabric wasn’t covering the view this neatly ever before. Blackbeard must’ve spent hours pinning it down. As far as you could tell, he wasn't even present in the room with you; there was no huffing or breathing that could be heard and your surroundings were completely still and lifeless. There was only one lit candle in the room and it was the one standing on his table as an invitation for you. Since you didn't know where he was or what was going on, you carried the silver tray onto the table and started gathering all of the dirty dishes laying around so you could wash them later. That was when you first heard it. At first, you thought you must be wrong; it was a quiet, muffled sob coming out of inside the cabin's walls. Ignoring it, you put the usual seven spoons of sugar into the empty cup, preparing everything for him. That was when you heard it again; the sobbing and quiet shuffling. And this time, it sounded more real. This time, your brain made you aware of that sound not being made up.

For a slight moment, you made your body anything you’ve been doing just so you could locate the source of the sounds. Looking around the pitch black cabin, you’ve been surely alone inside of the room. That also meant that whoever was crying, must’ve been shying away in yet another built-in room. Leaving the preparations, you started walking around, t trying to find the entrance just to see who was it and what was going on. You had your, pretty solid, guess - but you were still intrigued by this unexpected situation. First, you walked behind the desk to inspect it further back; your eyes had been trailing on the floor for any sort of discrepancy. Not finding anything back there, you walked around the entire room, searching for any sort of panel; that was when another sob came through, telling you that you were walking further away from the person. And then, all of a sudden, you could see a small ray of dim light coming from yet another loosened panel built into the wall next to one of Stede’s former libraries. So this was what 'captain is in a very bad mood' meant? The myth itself, the legendary captain Blackbeard, was having a breakdown in his small sulking room? That was pretty surprising if you had to be honest. You’d expect finding the man burning someone alive, you’d expect him to throw knives at you or shoot at you, you’d expect scolding and mockery… But you’d never expect anything like this.

With all the willpower you found within you, you decided to continue with serving the tea. Just as Izzy instructed you, you didn't react to anything you heard. It was incredibly uncomfortable for you, though; as you finished the preparations, the sobs were started to get more raw, even more painful. There was definitely some sort of hurt in the sounds. And not just any kind of hurt; the man was suffering inside. You've heard this kind of sobbing just once, a long time ago... And it was still making you physically sick, even after all those years.

For a moment, you didn't know what should be your next step - your head was telling you to leave the cabin, to leave the captain alone in his despair, to get the fuck out of there as Izzy instructed you - but your heart... Your heart was saying something entirely different. As your fingers started to pick up the tray, you stopped yourself and put it back down. To dry your palms from cold sweat, you quickly wiped them on your upper thighs, then you cleared your throat and started walking towards the loosened panel. With a small sigh, you dared to open it; and the sight simply broke your heart. No matter what kind of fucker Blackbeard was, there was no doubt in your mind that he's also in deep fucking shit. At that moment, his mental stability was thrown out of the window and the man was left alone to face his deepest demons. The misery and pain were emitting through the entire wardrobe while the man himself was curled up into a small ball, hidden away in one of the corners. His hair was let loose, his brown eyes were red from crying and there were small red maps all over his cheeks. The man was dressed in a pink robe, hiding away in that enormous piece of fabric. - "What the fuck are you doing here?" - Blackbeard spat in a weak, broken voice. No matter how scary and terrifying he was attempting to be, this couldn’t be further away from his mythical persona. This man, whoever you’ve been looking at, was nothing but a pathetic doppelgänger. - "Stop staring at me like that and fuck off. Go away."

And even through this clear warning, you continued to stand still while holding the panel in your palm. It was heartbreaking, to stare at that small ball of fear and agony. The man attempted to throw a bottle your way, making you step away a bit. It didn't break apart this time, but the rum spilled all over the dusty wooden floor. Looking around, you realized this must've been Stede's closet. It was mesmerizing and full of his clothes; everything from summer linen to winter coats, captain Bonnet had it all. - "I told you to get lost!" - The man yelled in your direction; and as soon as he did, he curled into the ball once more, pushing his face into his knees to hide away from you. It would be wise to leave, so fucking wise, you admitted inside your head. Yet the longer you stood there, watching him in such pain, the less you wanted to leave him like that. It wasn't morally right to simply turn your back on what you've been seeing. And so, you made the first step forward. Without saying a single word out loud or touching him, you decided to sit next to him, looking in front of you. And for a long time, you've been just sitting there, staring in front of yourself.

You've been so caught up in staring into the pitch-black dark cabin that you didn't notice the man raising his head up, watching you with interest in his eyes. It was for the first time in the last few months he was feeling something else than rage; did you really just sat down next to him? He was a bit wonderstruck, unsure of what to do; he scared you to death not too long ago and he ordered you to leave... Why the fuck were you still sitting next to him like that, not saying a word, not trying to cheer him up or talk to him? Anyone else would leave as soon as he'd order them to, they wouldn't make a single sound and they would, without a doubt, let him fall deeper and deeper into the black hole he had inside his chest. But by doing this, you offered Edward company and encouragement. In the end, no matter how hard he tried to keep all of those emotions in without anyone noticing, you were there to go through the rollecoaster with him.

To be honest, you looked bored to death.This small token of empathy, was enough to make him cry even more. Edward would never suspect to act this kind towards him. Especially knowing you couldn't have any idea about what kind of man he was. And yet, there you were - waiting for him to say anything he needed to. If you'd noticed that Edward was staring at you for quite some time with a deep frown, you'd also notice the man shuffling a bit closer to you, searching for even more company without saying a single word out loud. If you paid attention for at least a split second, you wouldn't get freaked out when the man hugged you emotionally, pressing his head onto your chest, starting to cry again. You've been kneeling on the wooden floor with your arms risen above your head, gasping for air - the man was holding you tight, pressing your body onto his. There wasn't a single affectionate emotion in that touch, though, it was pure desperation, almost as if he was drowning and you were the only thing he could hold on to. Slowly, very slowly, you lowered your hands down and put them on Edward's shoulders, just to see how he'd respond.

The man pressed his ear into your chest even more firmly while he closed his eyes and listened to your heartbeat, basically climbing between your legs like a small boy terrified by a nightmare. Furrowing, you embraced him a bit more; your palms smoothed Edward's shoulders and his upper back, traveling through the silky pink fabric. This reciprocation was telling him that whatever was happening at that moment was alright, even if neither of you understood how it happened. It was human to need someone's company in times of hardship, it was normal to need to feel some kind of emotional connection and support from another human being, and it was perfectly fine to be vulnerable around someone else; even if the state was just a momentary one. For a second, you realized something.

The man holding onto you for his dear life wasn't the Blackbeard you've heard stories about, it wasn't even the captain who threw a bottle right next to your head in the heat of the moment. It wasn't the man who had each member of his crew shit in their pants upon hearing his name, it wasn't the barbarian rumored to murder hundreds upon thousands of innocent people. No. This person had nothing to do with Blackbeard. The man in your arms was Edward. Ed and no one else. And just when the realization hit you, you realized the man was now breathing heavily with his head still pressed onto your chest; there were no sobs, no crying. Edward fell asleep in your arms, which was both a nice and a bad thing. But Izzy can kiss my ass and wait until the morning, you thought to yourself as you leaned your chin on top of Edward's head, closing your eyes as well.

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imkylotrash · 4 years ago

Text

Darkness Hides Our Flaws

Pairing: Aleksander Kirigan x reader

Requests: She is a Tidemaker. No one knows they're married just that she's extremely powerful. She feels insecure with the whole Alina thing but she goes along with it cause it's part of the plan. She uses his real last name so people don't suspect them. Anonymous And She's the second in command. They've been together for a couple centuries. Alina does something to make her angry and she attacks her during training. The darkling and her get into a fight because she thinks he loves Alina. She’s sent on a mission cause of what happened with Alina. Her group is attacked and killed and everyone thinks she's dead but she was kidnapped by Fjerda. Anonymous

Tagging: @bitchwhytho @music-of-melody @shadowhuntyi @alice-the-nerd @bshelley322

A/N I wasn’t sure if you meant his name in the Netflix show or his name in the book, so I did both.

You hate her from the moment she arrives. You’re not supposed to. She’s the Saint Aleksander has been waiting for. It’s a good thing she’s here, but you still just hate her. There’s something about the way he watches Alina that makes you cringe. It’s that pent up hatred towards her that makes you snap when he asks you to train her.

“I love you, Aleksander Morozova, but I will not spend any more time with her than needed.” You slip on your blue kefta taking a final look in the mirror before turning towards the man you consider the love of your very long life. His eyes are soft, but you know what hides within him. He’s angry that you’re refusing him.

“I beg your pardon?” He moves toward you with the kind of grace you’ve only ever seen a Shadow Summoner possess. It’s as if he moves with the shadows.

“You heard me. I know she’s part of your plan but I don’t care for her.” You don’t admit the insecurity you feel watching him with her. You’re a Tidemaker and she’s the Sun Summoner. The final piece of his puzzle to control the Fold entirely. Sometimes he looks at Alina as if she truly is a Saint.

“I’m not asking you to care for her. I’m asking you to train her.” You’re really not proud to admit that you’re jealous of her. You’ve been alive for centuries and still, you feel threatened by a whining, little girl. You let him cup your cheek with his hand but it doesn’t change anything for you. Alina will have to train with the others.

“Don’t force my hand. It won’t end well.” He kisses your forehead with such tenderness, you know that you’ve already lost the argument in advance. You’re his second in command, his right hand, and you can’t deny him. Of course, you’re right when you say that it won’t end well. 10 minutes after she arrives in your private training quarters, you’re fighting the urge to drown her just for the sake of it.

“How long has Aleksander-”

“I will not be discussing General Kirigan. If you wish to know, ask him.” You signal for her to come at you again but it’s just too easy. The girl has no idea how to pack a punch, and you feel a little better for every slap and punch you hit her with. You know it’s an awful thing to feel, but you’re not hurting her - it’s nothing compared to what the Fjerdans would do to her.

“Do better,” you say blocking yet another of her attacks. She’s only using half of her strength, but you’re not here to let her hold back. The sooner she learns to fight, the sooner you can go back to avoiding her.

“I think I enjoyed practice with Aleksander more.” She doesn’t understand the impact of what she just said but you see red. He never told he’d been training her. Your hands shake as you manipulate the water from the ewer forcing it down Alina’s throat. She’s drowning in a matter of seconds.

“What did you just say?” Unfortunately, this is how he finds the two of you. Alina choking on the water you’re controlling. His presence makes you lose focus, and she start coughing up the water immediately. He doesn’t have to say anything for you to know just how angry he is right now.

“My office. Now.” He helps Alina stand letting her lean on him as they walk out the door. You’re ready to drown yourself rather than face his rage. You just risked the life of his stupid Saint, and you know he’ll berate you for being foolish. But you’re not expecting the level of cruelty when you enter his office. Shadows surrounds you and while they don’t hurt you, you still feel fear kick in.

“It’s not nice to choke on others’ ability, is it?” You keep quiet instead taking a few steps forward. The shadows follow you preventing you from seeing anything.

“She said you’d been training her already. I don’t like feeling like a fool.”

“I trained her abilities, not her fighting skills.” It doesn’t make you feel any better because it still means he’s spent days and nights alone with her without bothering to tell you.

“Let me go.” He doesn’t retract the shadows, but you don’t need to see to feel the water in his body. It’s fun being a Tidemaker when you start thinking about just how much of one’s body consist of water. It’s almost too easy to reach out and grab hold of his lungs. It doesn’t take long before the shadows retreat, and you instantly let go of your hold over his body. You hate fighting with him.

“I’ll need you to lead a team up North. We’ve got a lead on the stag.” It’s an excuse to send you away, and you both know it. But you’re happy to go. At least, you won’t have to watch him fawn over Alina then.

“Fine.” It’s the last word you say to him before leaving. None of you expect Fjerdans to find you and actually manage to kill five Grishas as well as take you prisoner. You can only imagine how distraught he’ll be when he hears everyone is dead. But Fjerdans don’t know Small Science, and you do. It’s almost too easy once you slip out of the entrapment they’ve made for Grisha. You take pleasure in their screams, as they run for their lives. Unfortunately, you’ve never been good at showing mercy.

You’re half dead by the time you make it back to the Little Palace. Fedyor is the first to find you convinced he’s seeing things.

“We thought you were dead!” he exclaims catching you as you collapse. Later, you’ll find out that there was a ceremony to mourn you and the group of Grishas lost, but right now you’re struggling to focus on Fedyor’s face long enough to realise his mouth is moving.

“... to the infirmary.” You zoom in on the sound of his voice still not able to catch all of it. At one point, you lose consciousness and when you wake up, he’s sitting right next to your bed in the infirmary.

“I thought you died.” You’re surprised to see his eyes glistening. He’s never shown this much emotion outside of the privacy of your own quarters.

“You’re not getting rid of me that easily.” You try to smile but your muscles refuse to respond. Your body is simply too tired.

“I sent you on that mission. My love, I am truly sorry.” No part of you feels angry with Aleksander. You’re just happy to be back with him.

“It’s not the first time Fjerdans thought they could kill me,” you say earning a tiny smile from him. You don’t even care about Alina anymore. You just need to feel his warmth surround you in every way. He must sense your need somehow, because he crawls into bed with you wrapping his arms around you.

“We have about 20 minutes before the guards return.” You snuggle up even closer closing your eyes.

“I love you, Aleksander Morozova.”

“I love you more.”

#shadow and bone #shadow and bone imagine #shadow and bone series #shadow and bone blurb #sab imagine #sab blurb #sab #the darkling #the darkling imagine #the darkling blurb #the darkling x reader #aleksander kirigan #aleksander kirigan x reader #aleksander kirigan blurb

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