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catsplushellhounds · 3 years ago

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favorite headcanons (and theorys?) of glee that i created

i was thinking if i really was going to write this, but im bored so lets go, this got so long and i am so sorry (not really it was fun and i liked it, if you like big metas you probably gonna like this)

*this can have some triggers for some people because i will be talking about bullying, abandonment, depression and violence*

(also i would like to say that most of this are things that i like to believe happened, and idk if the rest of the fandom agrees or if someone said it before and this is all blaine related, i left it glee on the title because it sounded better idk)

- blaine's dad is filipino and he left after blaine came out

i know that blaine said he was there in shooting stars, but hear me out

first of all, to me his name is tod anderson, dont ask me why it just makes sense and i like how it sounds.... so

in sexy, blaine tells burt that his dad tried many times bonding with him, but apparently that didnt work, because he also says "you think my dad built a car with me because he loves cars? i think he did it because he thought getting my hands dirty might make me straight." and after 4x18, he is never mentioned again? and he wasnt on his son's wedding too

so my theory here is that he never accepted that blaine is gay, and all of his "efforts of bonding" were actually because he thought he could "fix" blaine, and when that didnt worked he left, (that also explains blaine's abandonment issues) but he did came back im the shooting episode because he felt guilty for what he did, but after he saw it was a false alarme he went back on pretending he didnt have a gay son

to be really honest sometimes i pretend that his dad wasnt on the shooting day because i feel that it doesnt fit that well into this and i really like this one because its kinda obvious to me that blaine have daddy issues??? so usually i just put on my character-backstory that blaines dad left after he came out and never came back

for the first year that he was gone, blaine spended every night trying to contact him. sometimes he just texted, but most of the times he called and left a message crying begging him to come back and tell him what he'd done that made his father hate him so much, his dad never called or texted back

- blaine's parents

(im not sure if this is canon but blaine's mom is named pam)

i know that technically i've already talked about blaine's family when i was talking about his dad but that is so complex i felt i had to do a topic exclusive for that

i believe blaine has and always had a good relationship with his mother, yes she was usually gone because she works selling a really famous cosmetic line she created (to me the andersons are a really known name) that would explain how blaine could study in a school like dalton (he said so himself that dalton isnt a school that anyone could afford), and why she is never there

but despite her being busy with her job, she always tried to keep im touch with blaine, texting him, and calling and skyping

blaine always missed her, but he tried to not make her feel guilty about working too much, because she loves her job

sometimes he got really depressed, because he wished she could be there to see him sing with his friends, or just be there so that he could hang out with his mom like all of his friends did with their parents

his das was a businessman, i dont know why it just fits to me, also idk what kind of business because i dont understand any of it so thats up to imagination

before he came out, he and his dad were super close, sure his dad a lot of the time was busy but he was at home more than his mom, his dad was the one that introduced him to liking sports, and they always watched games together (cooper would join in too) and his dad always let him have a sip of his beer, blaine always loved those moments and his dad was like a hero to him, he was sure that coming out to him would be easy, because he would love him no matter what

all of the andersons have always been brodway babys, all 4 of them liked to sing, tod was a little bit more serious and didnt dance around the house like cooper, blaine and pam but he enjoyed seeing them having fun

the andersons were like the perfect family of the neirbourhood, all 4 of them are very good looking, talented and educated so yes everybody thought they were perfect

they all lived in the philippines until blaine was 5, and then moved to ohio because tod got a really good job offer there

after blaine came out, his parents argued A LOT. tod would ask himself and pam of what he had done wrong and pam would say its nobodys fault and thats just how blaine is

(to me that was the time tod was revealed to be an asshole and not long after he divorced pam and stoped talking to all of them, except for cooper, he and cooper still talked)

- blaine's bullying

the bullying blaine went through was a lot like kurt's, people laughing at him, shoving him around, beating him up, etc

he tried putting a brave face through it but he started losing all of his light, even more when all of his complains didnt matter at all

it only got sort of better when he met skylar (thats the kid he went to sadie hawkings with, i read in a fic that was his name and stuck with me so im calling him skylar)

skylar was going through the same thing he was, and one time blaine saw him getting shoved at lockers, and helped him pick up his books and thats were they started talking

maybe they liked each other, they never got to find out because after the bash, skylar never spoke to blaine again

blaine was in a 2 week coma after getting beat up, and the first thing he said when he woke up was "where's my dad" and his mom had to gently tell him his das was not there. that was when blaine realized he actually meant nothing to his dad and that broken him even more

he was bashed about 3 months after his father left him, and for the rest of that school year he was homeschooled by a teacher his mother hired

- blaine joining dalton and the warblers

so, since blaine is a year younger than kurt, in my head goes sorta of like this

he came out when he was 13, that was the time he was bullied, beaten up abandoned and homeschooled, and he joined dalton when he was 14, but to be a warbler he had to be a little older than that, so he had to audition to join (im guessing you dont have to audition to be a warbler, just to have a lead, i mean kurt didnt auditioned, right?) and and trent auditioned together, they became friends and were roomates (dalton is a boarding school DONT @ ME EVERYBODY KNOWS ITS TRUE)

it took blaine a while to take the step to audition, because he was still scared, but wes and david helped him and gave him a little seed of the confidence he pretends to have later on, but when he sang for the warblers for the first time they were all blowed away by how good was his singing voice even if he was only 14

after he felt comfortable in the warblers, he became friends with nick and jeff, and they were a trio of dumbassess, wes and david (usually the most mature of all the warblers) sighed everytime they saw nick, jeff and blaine doing something stupid

trent joined in sometimes but he always had been a really chill dude, and he saw blaine as a older brother (even tho blaine is younger than him)

jeff, nick and blaine pulled pranks on wes and david like hiding stuff from them and act all inocent when they asked if they saw said thing

the warblers had a bet going on how long would it take for kurt and blaine to start dating (and yes all of them shipped klaine, and even after kurt and blaine went to mckinley the warblers still kept hearing about them and seeing them on jacob ben israel's blog)

jeff, nick, trent, wes and david were the only real friends blaine had there

wes and david has already gratuated when the slushie happened, and nick, jeff and trent all apologized to blaine after that (even though they had no idea that was gonna happen) but their friendship was never the same

- blaine and cooper's relationship

as we know, blaine and cooper didnt got very along when blaine was growing up, cooper is 9 years older than blaine, and has always been really hard on him and thaat made blaine really dislike cooper, even tho he really wanted for them to be friends, he always has bitter feelings towards him duo to all of the pressure and expectation he was under because cooper was the oldest, and blaine felt like he had to be just as good or better than him, so he also had a lot A LOT of jealousy

but that started to change after "big brother", when they talk things out, cooper finally realizes how blaine feels, and starts doing his best to be best brother to blaine

they dont become besties immediatly, blaine helps him with his audition (which makes kurt really proud and happy seeing cooper being all excited talking to blaine, while blaine is trying to pretend like hes cool but actually hes just as excited), and they start to talk more and more after that

after finn dies is when they start getting actually close, after the funeral, he calls cooper but dosent say the reason why, he just says that he loves him and that he misses his big brother, they call and talk to each other a lot more after cooper finds out about finn

when cooper has a son, he and blaine teach the little guy how to dance and they play a lot of happy and fun piano songs to him

- the anderhummel family

blaine and burt are actually really close, they both like sports and beer so they watch games together and bet about whos gonna win, burt sorta of became the dad blaine lost, but in a non weird way, because they both agreed that blaine calling burt "dad" after he married kurt was just... weird

finn and blaine played a lot of videogames together, sam and puck played with them too, but when kurt was helping on dinner or more interested in a magazine or trying to convince carole to let him do a makeover on her, finn and blaine played videogames and maybe sometimes gossip about kurt and rachel (after he became besties with sam he did that same thing but hey playing videogames and talking about your s/o is fun!)

carole took care of blaine when he was in the hospital for the eye surgery, and when he was hangover at kurt's after biota she helped him with all the vomiting and headaches and all of that

pam met carole and burt when blaine got slushied, blaine was already like family to the hudson-hummels at that point, so when burt found out what happened he ran to the hospital, (carole was already working there anyway) and thats where they met, it wasnt ideal and all of them wete stressed and worried but they got along pretty well

pam, burt and carole werent really close since pam was usually out working, but the few times they sat down to talk to each other they really liked. pam thinks burt and carole are a sweet couple, that raised two wondeful boys and burt and carole think that pam is a sweet and funny lady, they all exchanged embarassing stories about kurt and blaine (that made them go "MOM DONT TELL THEM THAT" or "DAS STOP I WAS 7")

pam absolutely adores kurt, he was fascinated when he found out she had a line of cosmetics and spended hours talking to her about skincare routines

blaine can always make carole laugh, she thinks hes a sweetheart and usually keeps burt from bursting into the room when the door of kurts bedroom is closed ("i told them already, leave at least 2 inches open, is that really so hard??" "honey, relax they're just watching a movie" "im going in there" "no you're not leave the boys alone")

burt has walked in a few times on klaine making out on the couch and he always makes a joke about it to not make it awkward

burt was thrillled to know he was gonna be a grandpa, and he spoils tracy anderson to OBLIVION (blaine doesnt argues because he sorta of does the same thing)

even after both breakups, burt and blaine had always kept in touch, maybe it wasnt what it used to be when he and kurt were still mad at each other, but once they go back being friends, blaine is a little more comfortable in hangin out with the hudson-family

- blaine's depression in s6

i think is canon thay blaine had depression and anxiety during the whole show, right? it just got worse in s6 because kurt breaking up with him was sort of what pulled the trigger

it begun when his father neglected him, and it only got worse and worse, he was abandoned by his father and sometimes felt like by his mother and brother too, he had anxiety and it got worse after sadie hawkings, then kurt and him broke up for the first time, and he kept bottling it all up until it all reached the boiling point and it all exploded when kurt broke up with him

(side note, i think that when kurt started pulling away from him in s6, it reminded him of his dad pulling away too, his dad tried to bond with him but i feel that as harder blaine tried to make his dad stay, didnt matter and his dad kept pulling away until he was gone, that makes a parallel to s6 breakup, and why blaine was trying so SO hard to make kurt stay, because he had been there before, and he wasnt good enough for his dad, and he really wanted to be good enough for kurt)

so, after they breakup, blaine stays in a cheap hotel, not getting out of bed and feeling empty inside, his phone buzzed a little with missing calls from his friends but at some point the batery died and he just ignored, he only charged after 2 days because he probably had to let people know he's still alive

he went back to the loft in the afternoon, because he knew kurt wouldn't be there, he was going away and leaving nothing behind when kurt showed up, blaine was kinda of embarassed because he was probably stinking and his hair and clothes were a mess

im not sure if they talked at all after the breakup night, but i kinda feel that blaine might have said to kurt something like "you think i'm broken? when are gonna realize the problem here isnt just me? i should have known, everytime things get serious and scary between us you run, you're so afraid of something and honestly i have no idea of what, please just stay away from me" (i dont knooow he was angry and being all cold to kurt and shit i think that happened and maybe thats what made kurt go to therapy)

he got kicked out of nyada because he didnt left his hotel room for anything other than food, and he felt even more lost after receiving the email saying he was no longer a student there, thats when he decided to go back to lima

in lima, he barely left his room, he didnt ate for days and when he wasnt crying he was sleeping, his friends would call, text and sometimes try to visit him but he never texted back, answered the calls or opened the doors for them, sam was the only one that had some success because he was living in lima too and could go to blaine's house more often, sometimes he got lucky and blaine would open the door for him

at first he tried to do pep talks to help his bestie get better, but nothing helped so at one point he just sat there with blaine and did nothing with him, because at least like that he wouldnt be alone

one day blaine felt a little better and started trying to be okay again, it was never easy but he got a job at breadsticks, and even tho he would much rather be in his bed he kept working because at least like that his mind was busy with something

after he started therapy, he still felt empty inside, the world was still sorta of grey to him and he didnt felt like doing anything, so he had to take meds for that, and kept taking them even after kurt cane back (but as blaine was getting better they slowly became less and less needed)

when blaine started working at dalton, he was already in a much better place that he was when he came back, and throughout s6 he was still battling depression, and wasnt always okay, sometimes he would still want to just be alone and dont talk to anybody or do anything, and if that happened when he was surronded with people he would just be more quiet, that sometimes got rachel and kurt's attention, because they're not used to this "new" blaine and when they asked him if he was doing okay he would just say "yeah, im just tired" sam later on explained to them what that usually meant, it meant that blaine needed some alone time because he was draining himself a lot

- blaine at nyada vs blaine at nyu

soooo i have a good theory about this one, at nyada blaine was constantly surronded by people who would probably kill someone to get at the top, to be the best

and was such a competitive place, that ended up being toxic for blaine. i used to think that he didnt fit there because he always was one of the best in show choir and dalton and he was always *that* guy, but now i think he didnt fit there because actually he dosent like competition that much

okay, sure, playful competiton with your friends its fun, show choir competiton is fun, fighting with tina, mercedes, rachel, santana and unique about solos was fun because it was serious but he was with his friends so okay, whatever

but the competition they had at nyada was just SO MUCH, and lets agree nyada is kinda of a toxic place in general, people made fun of kurts face and clothing there, rachel's "friends" ditched her when she lost the diva off to kurt and started kissing up to him, and (im not sure about this one but like 99%) people laughed when blaine lost to kurt at combat's class

my point is, in nyada, people only like you if you do well in classes, there's a lot of lying and backstabbing going on and c'mon blaine pratically grew up like this with cooper

always not good enough, always behind, always made fun of, never being great at anything, so maybe thats why blaine felt so stressed at nyada, and why he gets so insecure in 5x16, seeing kurt being praised and getting all of that attention might have reminded him of the years he and cooper didnt get along so well

he didnt found himself at nyada, mostly he was there because it was said to be the best school and rachel and kurt were there, so great, right?

but i get the feeling that at nyu things were a little lighter, not easier, but lighter, it didnt had so much toxic people, it wasnt a place where it was kill or be killed, people helped each other when needed and yes there was still competition, obviously but (almost) nobody made fun of people for failing

(i said almost there because im sure there was some douchbags there too, they're everywhere, but i hope you got my point)

- blaine's friendships

i am almost done i am so sorry this is so long i've been here for like 2 hours

i have some small headcanons about blaine's friends, because we did NOT get enough of his friendships (im leaving kurt out of this one because maybe one day ill do a meta/hc/theory about klaine....... maybe)

mike and blaine were besties on s3

they both like to dance and sometimes they+brittany would do a dance number together, sometimes for the glee club to see, sometimes only to themselves because thats fun

mike talked with blaine after the its not right but its okay number to see what happened and if he was okay (actually it was mostly blaine just venting about it "AND THEN HE SAID HE WANTED TO MAKE KURTS VOICE HIS RINGTONE I MEAN WHAT THE FUCK????????")

blaine talked to mike about mike's dad because he knew what mike was going through and they both agreed thay family sucks sometimes

after mike graduated he and blaine kept têxtil each other and sometimes sending gifs or videos of dance moves to each other

santana and blaine were actually really good friends

after the glee club found out about what santana's grandmother had done when she came out, when they were alone blaine told santana about his dad, even tho he was afraid she was gonna tell everyone because he doesnt like talking about it, just so that she would know that shes not alone and its not her fault, santana never once teased or told anyone about this, she always sorta of liked him and thought he was nice but that moment she started seeing him as a friend

while preparing for the new directions vs warblers in 3x11, santana tried helping blaine bring out his inner bad boy, she helped him pick his outfit and they planned together the whole performance

(im stealing this one from a post i rebloged i guess a day ago? i didnt found the blog to tag but this is the post) > santana and blaine are friends on facebook, and follow each other on twitter and instagram, and they always spam on each others profiles because they're comfortable to do that with each other

santana kinda sees blaine as a male version of brittany, so she has this need of protecting him (which is kinda why she was super invested in getting him justice for his eye)

speaking of his eye, when he was at home before surgery, santana went there and told that she was gonna make sebastian confess what he'd put on thr slushie, blaine asked her how she knew where she lived but she cut him off, she also came back there after and told him everything, and she and kurt asked him what he wanted to do about it

brittany and blaine really were sunshine twins

they always liked each other, blaine didnt get her at first, but he got used to it

she always talked to him about cats, and what lord tubbington was up to, she tried inviting him to fondue for 2 but he knew that she would ask some really private questions so he always came up with an excuse

after he almost went back to dalton, she (alongside with tina, sam and marley) tried to make him feel as welcome as possible

when she was dating sam, sometimes the three of them would go to her house after school and cuddle in her bed with lord tubbington while watching a movie

when britt was planning their weddings, she asked blaine to try up some suits (with the excuse that she wasnt sure the one she picked was right), but she asked him that like a day after he kissed kurt at rachels party so she could tell he was kinda sad and asked him why, he told her and she said it was gonna be okay because their love was magical (it was weird but it did made blaine feel good, so...) she was also the only person he told that

blaine and britt always have ideas like "we should totally put glitter in the entire room to celebrate our wedding aniversary!" kurt and santana shut down the idea at the same time

blamtina were like 3 chaotic brothers

sam and blaine would have a dumb idea that would result in absolute chaos (but funny tho) and tina always plays along with them even if she thinks its a bad idea

the three of them are completely harry potter nerds, sam and blaine are hufflepuffs while tina is a ravenclaw, in a halloween party in s4 they went as the golden trio

after graduation, sam and blaine still skyped tina and told her all about ny, and she would tell them all about her collage

sam kept his promise of sending his imitations to tina and blaine sometimes would call her to vent about a fight he and kurt had

blaine read all of the harry potter books to sam

after sam talked blaine into staying at mckinley, sam and tina would always be with blaine, always talking to him, and spending time with him, thats how the 3 of them got so close

marley and blaine were good friends

when marley joined the new directions, blaine was one of the first to make her feel welcome

when blaine almost left for dalton, she tried make him see that she liked him in the nd too, and would randomly start talking to him so that he wouldnt feel alone

she would rant about jake to him sometimes, like how he wanted to have sex but she wasnt ready, and blaine told her she should do it only when she felt comfortable

after she got suspended, he apologized for yelling at her because of the performance, and remembered mr schue that she was recovering from an eating desorder and that he shouldnt be so hard at her

unique and blaine were "frenemies"

they started off not liking each other, since they both wanted it to be the new rachel, even after blaine won, he and unique still were kinda competitive with each other

but eventually they became sort-of-friends, they sang together sometimes when no one else was there, and they liked to pretend to not like each other but yes they did and it was just their thing

sometimes marley would do a sleepover and she would call blaine, unique and tina, while marley was talking about jake or tina was talking about missing mike, blaine would braid unique's wig and she would try to convince him to let her see his hair without gel

when the whole plot of unique and the bathroom happened, when mr schue told everyone he couldnt give up twerking, blaine stood up for unique saying that wasnt fair and mr schue should try harder to help her, he also held her hand (alongside with marley) when she was scared of having to go to the bathroom again

blaine and mercedes talked to each other more than twice :O

lol ok im not sorry for that title

mercedes and blaine LIVED together people, she used to be kurts best friend, and sams girlfriend are you telling me they barely talked to each other? no

in fact, they really like each other's company, blaine is kinda of a goofball and mercedes thinks its funny

he would ask her to talk to sam when blaine wanted something from him, and mercedes did the same with kurt

sam and blaine would do stupid things together (like dance around their house in their underwear) just to make mercedes laugh, they swore to never tell anyone, and they never did

sometimes at 3 am when no one could sleep they would all have a little dance party until they got tired

blaine and mercedes are junky food addicts, they eat healthy and stuff but they love some cake at 5 in the morning

one time when kurt and mercedes were arguing about the tots, blaine sided with mercedes and told her he agreed that tots are delicious

#ok i think thats it #if you read it until the end.... are you okay?#i had some more but i want to post this today and i want to go to sleep so lets leave it like that #maybe i should have splitted in 2 parts???? its so long 😳#i hope this didnt get to tiring to read #anywayyyyy #glee #blaine meta #blaine anderson #blangst #ps if you see some mispelling ignore it im kinda sleepy so... hehe

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snowbellewells · 4 years ago

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Do as the Romans Do

A @captainswanmoviemarathon fic by @snowbellewells

((((I made a first attempt at creating my own fic art, but for whatever reason, I can’t get it to post in my story. It’s on my page, but for whatever reason, I can’t get them both in one!)))

Hello there! Welcome to my little Roman Holiday-inspired AU for the @captainswanmoviemarathon! There were some scenes from the original movie that I was simply too enamored with not to include, so those I am sure you’ll recognize those, but I’ve also let this version of Killian and Emma wander off on their own when they wish to change the script a bit. I’m envisioning this being about three parts - today’s shorter introduction to set the scene, a larger part two with the bulk of the plot, and then a shorter conclusion to wrap things up. We’ll see how it goes (or if it grows on me beyond that!) Please enjoy, and I’d love to hear what you think…

Part One

*Press Release*

From the Royal Italian Embassy this 4th of September, 1953, Princess Emma Ruth Nolan, Crown Princess of the small nation of Misthavia, only child of Queen Margaret Mary Blanchard-Nolan and King Consort David Nolan visits us here in Rome for a brief stop on her first solo goodwill tour.

Already, she has made stops in Copenhagen, Prague, Vienna, and Geneva, and will attend a state dinner, tour local businesses, preside over a medal ceremony, christen the children’s wing of a hospital, and hold a press conference in her three days here before heading on to Paris and London to complete her journey across Europe. Lucky indeed are those who have an invite to one of these events and will have a chance to meet the Princess in person!

The receiving line outside the embassy dining room had long since passed from lengthy to trying and on to interminable as Emma prayed her empty stomach would not begin to grumble aloud before she was finally able to find a seat at the head table and at last enjoy the hard-earned meal. As always seemed to be the case at these formal events, meeting “just a select few” somehow turned into glad-handing with a neverending line of people she would never remember or hope to keep straight from one another.

To think she had initially been excited about this particular event! At least she had thought there might be the chance for some entertainment and dancing after dinner. Now that she stood in one place for so long, she was regretting the posh new heels she had paired with her full-skirted ballgown for the occasion. If she ever got to move from her spot again, Emma was not at all sure that her feet would actually support forward motion any longer; they might well be broken inside the three-inch heels.

Hoping to do so without being noticed, Emma stealthily shifted most of her weight onto one foot, lifting the other slightly beneath her skirts and flexing her toes in the hope of bringing feeling back to the extremities. She bobbled a bit, but thankfully her press secretary, and closest friend since nursery school, child of palace staff or not, was standing beside her. Surreptitiously, Emma caught Ashley’s arm to steady herself. The other blonde made no comment, merely offered a reassuring sidelong glance and tiny smile without the disapproval that Emma knew she would have received from the Countess on her other side - a retired former nun who had been her main chaperone and minder of all the etiquette and behavior since Emma’s first official public appearance years go. The Princess could practically see the woman’s pinched disapproving mouth, admonishing eyes and warning tone - even in Mistress Blue’s absence.

The end of the receiving line was at last in sight, and Emma let out a breath that she hoped went unnoticed, trying as hard as she could not to let her eyes roll back in her head at the momentary relief she had gained for her aching feet. Intending to put the first one back into its pretty little torture device and flex the other similarly, she continued blindly offering her hand to the passing dignitaries, murmuring greetings and shifting to her other side gingerly.

Unfortunately, just as her foot returned to its shoe, a flashbulb went off unexpectedly and much closer than any had been so far. She blinked, momentarily blinded, and her balance wobbled; the hidden empty shoe tipped over on its side before she could slip her toes back into it. This made her dip unexpectedly to the left, and she felt herself falling, despite all her natural grace and her practiced poise. Cheeks already flushing, Emma’s tongue was too tangle to call out, knowing her one bare foot and her impatient lack of polish was about to be exposed before she even hit the floor. A gasp escaped Ashley on her other side as she realized too late what was happening and tried to catch Emma’s hand, but instead, what arrested her fall was the interception of two warm, firm hands at her elbows, halting the topple which had seemed inevitable only seconds ago.

Suddenly braced by the solid forearms in a lean, handsomely suited man standing there before her, Emma blinked, reorienting herself to the fact that he’d spared her a rather embarrassing incident, she wouldn’t be humiliated on all the gossip shows that evening.

“Th - Thank you, Sir,” she breathed tremulously, quickly fishing her toes into her shoe and righting it at last before straightening and looking up to meet her rescuer’s eyes.

Bright, crystal blue met her inquisitive green as she did so, a twinkling of mischief enlivened his expression even further against the heavy dark brows and the rather rakish appeal of his unshaven cheeks and jaw. For a moment, the breath nearly rushed from Princess Emma’s lungs again - for a completely different reason.

A gentle chuckle rumbled from this undeniably handsome stranger’s chest as he dipped his chin in the slightest of acknowledging bows. “Think nothing of it, your Majesty. I’m simply glad I was here.”

She nodded in mute agreement, wincing again at how she’d nearly made herself a laughingstock. It was one of the things she hated most about her life as a monarch - one silly mistake, unimportant in the grand scheme of things, could undo or overshadow so much good, so much hard work in a mere instant.

With a rather devilish wink, the man before her, bowed his head over her hand, now more delicately cradled in his own larger one and place and brazen kiss to the back of it, his whiskers prickling her skin and sending tingles all along her nerve endings. “After all, it isn’t every day one finds a princess in his debt,” he murmured silkily.

She blushed brighter, knowing they were beginning to hold up the line and draw curious attention now, but not wanting him to move on. “Is that so?” she replied with equally humored stealth.

“Indeed.” He sketched on more quick bow, then added, “Killian Jones, at your service, Princess. And if you are safely in your shoes once more, I suppose I must be going now.”

Her eyes widened even as her fingers released their grip, and he slipped on through the line, while she extended her hand to shake those of the last few people behind him. He had known what happened all the time! Why did that make her heart beat even faster than it had been already?

~~~*

That night, after a long bath, with her hair brushed, nightgown donned, and her legs tucked under the blankets, Princess Emma still felt her fingers tingling from the remembered grip of Jones’ hand, even as she listened to the Countess’ long list of the next day’s engagements. Emma tried not to shudder as she noticed that once again nearly every moment was spoken for, every word and action, and even thought, seemed already determined for her. That near-fall and the following encounter had been the most excitement she could remember in her meticulously programmed, rote, respectable, predictable life of duty.

What would it be like to simply walk out of such an event, as Jones and all the other attendees had done, and have it simply be over? To return to a normal life? To determine what one wanted to do for oneself, and have no watching eyes to judge or weight the following movements. She could hardly imagine such freedom.

When Emma was finally left alone for the night, she knew she needed to sleep. According to the schedule that had just been droned into her ear, she had an early morning before her. Yet, sleep felt the furthest thing from her mind. Eventually, she threw the covers off and hopped back out of bed, crossing the sumptuous room provided to her by her Roman hosts and gazing out the window to the River Tiber below in the distance. Music and lights reached out to her beguilingly despite the hour, and she wished she could be in the midst of whatever celebration was happening there, a part of the laughter and dancing and raucous joy she could only imagine from the echoes that reached her.

It was not an unprecedented longing, but one that struck her more acutely than ever this night. She was going to have this experience while she had the chance. Mind made up as abruptly as the moment presented itself, Emma flew from the window to her suitcase, quickly shedding her nightgown and putting on her most understated skirt, blouse, and espadrilles. With hardly a look back, shew as soon perched on the window ledge, preparing to climb down the fire escape of the old, sturdy building she was staying in without risk of alerting any of her numerous attendants and guardians.

‘Just one day to herself, to live as she chose,’ Emma vowed, closing her eyes for a moment and then surging forward. ‘Then it’s back to what’s expected, what I’ve always known will be my life…’

As she reached the ground and then slipped through the embassy gates out into the night air and the excitement of a foreign city, Princess Emma Ruth Nolan felt like someone else entirely. Like someone who could breath freely for the first time in her life.

Tagging: @captainswanmoviemarathon @teamhook @revanmeetra87 @jennjenn615 @kmomof4 @searchingwardrobes @whimsicallyenchantedrose @tiganasummertree @lfh1226-linda @optomisticgirl @spartanguard @laschatzi @resident-of-storybrooke @darkcolinodonorgasm @stahlop @hollyethecurious @winterbaby89 @thislassishooked @shireness-says @thisonesatellite

#captainswanmoviemarathon #csmm #roman holiday au #cs ff #part one

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zippiestdraws · 4 years ago

Text

Choking Curiosity Ch 9

ftm reader x Michael Myers

read on ao3

The microwave clock says five-fifty am when Michael creeps into the house. He shakes the dew out of the mask’s hair and reaches for the kitchen towel to wipe off the latex.

The book is new. He saunters to it slowly, leaving it untouched other than plucking the note from the cover. Your request in writing is met with indifference, barely read, but his thumb rubs over the inking of your name at the bottom.

He’d seen it amongst your things, but this trinket he can keep. He pockets the paper, crumpling it in his grip, and picks up the book. Beginner’s Guide to American Sign Language.

Michael snarls under the mask. Past anger wells in his chest at the words, fighting to vent through his fingers. They tried to make him use sign language in Smith’s Grove. He never wanted to learn to communicate better, even if out of spite, it was what he could control. The only sign that really stuck was the middle finger.

Michael climbs the stairs with a harsh grip on the spine, sparing a glare towards your bedroom door and throwing the book into his room before him.

*** You wake up with purpose this morning and only spend half the amount of time as usual sitting in your bed before getting up.

Fussing with the bedhead in the mirror, you brush your teeth when a thought hits you. You haven’t seen your new roommate brush his teeth.

Ew.

You sigh. You’re going to have to get him a toothbrush and some deodorant, you can’t imagine being on the lam has left him smelling decent. You gag. He better not have touched your toothbrush.

The book is gone from the counter, which you count as a win. There’s no response to your note, but you’ll take what you can get. You just need to remember to study your book too, when you get back.

Thinking about the cookout, you stop short.

‘Was I supposed to bring a dish?’

You groan, hopefully they won’t judge you for bringing some chips and dip.

You get dressed what would be considered way too early, but you need to get gas anyway, and luckily you did because, as you leave your house, you see Abtin approach from his yard.

He gifts you a tomato from his garden, to your surprise, and begins to tell you how his plants are doing. He tells you he’s gonna cook the rabbit that keeps eating his cabbage if he catches it, in the way he jokes for shock value.

“So, hey, is that your brother I keep seeing behind your house? He keeps coming and going-”

You choke on your own spit.

“I’m just messing with you, I know what it is.” He laughs and slaps his knee. You don’t know what you would say if you could say something. What excuse could you give? You hope he doesn’t mean what you think he does, but you’re the only person he gossips to anyway.

You’re relieved when he moves on to critique the spray paint still out front, but at least Halloween is next month and then you’ll probably be able to paint the house.

In another ten minutes, you pocket your tomato and make it to your car to drive for the first time in probably two months. Hopefully you’ll have enough gas to make it to a station.

*** You’re lucky you filled the tank before leaving because you got lost twice trying to find the turn off indicated on the map. Finally, on another turn back, you see a faded red flannel tied around a tree, and upon closer inspection, an old dirt road hidden at an odd angle.

When the trees part into a wider clearing down the road, you slow to a stop in the drive of what appears to be a tricked out log cabin. Putting your car in park, you jump at a loud whack nearby, someone splitting logs in your peripheral.

Jake is wearing what looks like a cowboy hat, but you’re more enamored with the way his arms look in his sleeveless vest when he swings the axe. You close your mouth and remind yourself he’s spoken for. Stepping out of the car and grabbing the food you brought, he waves to you, then points to the cabin. Right on time you see Dwight and someone you don’t know lifting a wooden picnic bench, and you jog over to help because Dwight looks like he’s about to get squashed.

At its destination, the other man introduces himself as David and slaps hands with you, throwing his arm around Dwight. It’s almost surprising, the two of them look like a stereotypical high school nerd and bully, but David tussles his hair like an older brother.

After letting go, he pulls you over to where some logs are felled around a firepit to “grab a beer and meet the queers”. You laugh at the overtness of it, and again as a girl with red hair chucks a bag of marshmallows at his head when she hears him say it. Maybe finding someone like you isn’t a lost cause here.

“Hey!”, when David opens the cooler, you look up to see Laurie standing there pointing at you. “What are you doing here?”

“I could ask you the same thing,” you smile, glad to see a familiar face.

“I came with Meg and Claudette,” Laurie gestures at the two other women who nod to you.

“I’m Meg and this is Claudette, to be clear,” the girl with red hair clarifies and nods her head across from her, “and over there is Ace- and so help me, Ace, if you shoot that at me I will roast you over the fire.”

You turn towards who she’s speaking to and see an older man sitting in a blue, plastic kiddie pool struggling to fill a small water pistol while laughing.

“Here you go, mate.” David grabs your attention trying to hand you a beer.

“Oh, no thanks, I gotta drive home tonight-” you put your hand up, but he presses it into your palm.

“Come on, relax, just one won’t hurt. And if you get hammered, you can just camp out here like everyone else.”

It’s in your hand now and you nod at him, but you don’t want to reveal that you think beer tastes like shit.

Dwight returns with Jake and firewood in tow, Ace squirts the water gun at them ‘to cool Jake down’ and you duck out of the way as they drop the tinder into the pit.

“Hey, glad you came,” Jake says, dusting splinters from his hands.

“He brought chips!” You both hear David yell over from the table, presumably with his mouthful.

“Yeah, sorry I didn’t bring something better-” you start to apologize but he tells you not to worry about it, chips are great and you brought enough so that David can’t eat them all. David yells back that he takes that as a challenge.

You can’t remember the last time you’ve laughed this much.

It’s a warm enough afternoon that you don’t need to light the bonfire yet, and David gets the grill going while Jake runs back to his cabin to grab the meat. At this point you remember the tomato in your pocket, pulling it out and setting it on the table sheepishly.

“Nice tomato! I always bring a vegetarian option for everybody too, Jake keeps them separate on the grill for me.” Claudette smiles at you from across the table as she sets down some plates.

“Thanks, my neighbor actually gave it to me from his garden this morning before I left.”

The two of you talk, and you learn that planting marigolds with tomatoes is a great way to prevent pests and Claudette knows a whole lot about gardening because she happens to be a botanist.

Meg sits down next to her and listens happily for a couple of minutes before calling Ace over to challenge him to an arm wrestle.

“Don’t let him near the grill, everything he touches burns…” Meg whispers out of the side of her mouth as he walks over. You catch Laurie’s eye from where she’s standing with Dwight, Jake, and David at the grill, exiting the conversation before swiftly making her way over to you.

“I’m gonna show (Y/n) where the bathroom is.”, her hand lands on your shoulder, you guess you have no choice.

You swing your legs around the bench and follow her off towards the cabin with a shrug. When you’re a few paces away from the group, she hisses to you under her breath without looking and you almost miss it.

“Have you seen him again?”

It takes a second before you register what she’s talking about, but you respond before you come to a full conclusion on what you tell her.

“No, not since the first time.” She opens the front door of the cabin and you avoid eye contact. You hope your body language reads ‘upset’ and not ‘hiding something’. “I don’t want to talk about it right now…”

Laurie lets it drop, but sounds irritated when she points out the bathroom. On the way back you whisper a ‘sorry’ and she responds with a ‘me too’. You scrunch your brows in confusion, but head over to the grill. She disappears from your side but a thirty seconds later a stream of water hits you in the side of the head.

You yelp in shock and duck, but Laurie keeps squirting the gun, catching Dwight in the crossfire.

“It’s on!” David yells, dropping the tongs on the grill and vaulting over the table after her. Laurie runs to the other side of the kiddie pool that you see Ace getting out of, holding a beer aloft.

There’s a stand off on either side of the water, broken by David launching over it and landing one foot in the drink to lunge at Laurie, only for her to jump out of his reach. Almost in slow motion, everyone watches as his one foot slips on the plastic and he goes tumbling down, soaking his pants and getting a face full of grass. Everybody has a good laugh while he climbs out with a flurry of curses and peels off his shirt.

Damn.

Jake calls over as he sets one huge plate of hot dogs and burgers on the table and follows it with one of corncobs and what’s probably the veggie patties that Claudette mentioned. Meg whistles at the sight of the food and starts serving hot dogs after passing the vegetarian plate to Claudette, everyone falling in at the table to eat.

*** You eat until you’re stuffed, unashamed as everyone else does the same. The sun is sinking in the sky now, casting a pleasant glow through the trees. Jake deems it enough to start the fire and you approach to watch curiously as he strikes flint onto the dry brush and blows on it.

When he’s finished he tells the group to keep an eye on it while he fetches the s’mores stuff.

“I thought we put it out right here-” Dwight turns toward the logs, confused, but Jake takes him by the arm to bring him along to the cabin.

“I brought it inside because the chocolate was melting.” Dwight seems to accept this and follows along.

When they're out of earshot, Meg leans in towards the log you’re sitting on from her own.

“Jake is proposing tonight! I think he’s doing it!” She squeals a bit in excitement and tries to look like she’s not watching when Dwight looks back before ducking inside.

You share in their excitement and join Ace in stoking the fire into a roaring flame. You watch the smoke dance and carry some ashes into the air and lean back happily. The sky is turning from purple to deep blue now. The light from the fire dances off the trunks of the trees, and you take in the nature of your surroundings as your friends chatter around you.

You squint at a shape between the trees and it moves behind a thicker trunk.

White mask.

*** Michael would never admit to himself of ever feeling jealousy, but a certain irritation of possessiveness grows as he watches. His stomach rumbles at the food, but it’s of little relevance to him.

He spots Laurie and his knife is already in his dominant hand. The strings are connecting what he’s seeing to the same feeling of what he saw watching the teenagers in 1978. This time Laurie is collateral. Funny.

All he has to do is wait.

He could go after the two that already diverged from the group, but he wanted you separated. He moves closer to where you will see him.

The firelight flickers over your form, creating a beautiful moving sepia of you that reminds Michael of the old photographs in the asylum. As you poke at the fire, it licks towards your fingers and that are drawn back sharply.

What sounds would you make when it touched you?

Your eyes had a dream like quality, observing the realness of your habitat, peering through rose-tinted glasses to only see the welcoming nature when surrounded by the lurking sharpness of it.

He may have felt smug when the illusion broke around his presence.

Michael moves out of your line of sight, but he humors over the way a human freezes like an animal in the headlights.

The annoying man who fell in the pool speaks. Michael doesn’t like the way he looks at you.

“Oi, (y/n), you look like you’ve seen a ghost, what’s got you bothered?”

You snap out of it quickly, looking towards him and then shaking your head.

“Um, yeah sorry, I’m just...cold. I’m gonna go get my jacket from my car, I’ll be right back.”

You skitter off nervously, Michael can see the confusion on some of the other faces.

You make it to your car before scanning the woods and spinning to check your blindspot, but you don’t need it, Michael is already walking toward you and you can see the way the orange of the distant campfire glints off of the knife he’s brandishing. You step back, you don’t want to be intimidated, but you fear for what he’ll do to your friends.

The car door stands between the two of you when you open it, pulling out your jacket without breaking eye contact. It’s seeming like you can’t escape him.

“How did you get here?”, you whisper, not knowing exactly where Jake and Dwight are.

You wait for an answer, and when you give up on one, he turns his head deliberately toward the backseat of your car and back to you.

You’re incredulous, the main question you don’t want to elaborate on is “how?”, but you wave it away to get to the point.

“Please.”, you don’t know what you’re appealing to, but you hope there’s some leverage you have in the way he sees the situation. “Please don’t hurt these people. I’ll-”

What will you do?

You don’t know, but you have to save them from whatever he’s planning.

“I’ll do whatever you want. I’ll-I’ll leave right now, okay?” He just stares at you. He twists his knife once.

“The car is open, I’ll go make an excuse to leave and be right be right back, I promise.” You hold up your hands placatingly.

You do a quick jog back to campfire and it looks like you return shortly after Jake and Dwight.

“So, what’d I miss?”, you hope you don’t enter as clumsily as you feel.

Jake and Dwight turn to you on the log and Dwight is wearing the biggest sheepish smile and looks like he cried a little bit. You can see the little gold band on Dwight’s left hand and smile back, issuing proper congratulations.

You force yourself to say it, feeling guilty for springing it on them during a sentimental moment.

“I wanted to stay for the s’mores, sorry guys, but I gotta get home.” Some sad ‘awws’ erupt from the girls and Laurie looks at you suspiciously.

“What, are you afraid of the dark?”, David jeers as you say your goodbyes.

“No, I just have work tomorrow.”, you grimace.

he responds with a hum of acknowledgement before laughing.

“Hate to see you go, but love to watch you leave.”

You give him a good natured punch in the shoulder before waving to everyone and heading out.

Approaching your car once more, you can see Michael’s silhouette in the backseat and gulp. Sliding in and starting the car like normal, you try not to look back, but in the mirror you see the shadowed eyes watching you.

It’s easy to imagine how vulnerable you are to him in the backseat. The ride home is awkward, but only for you.

#Slashers #slasher x reader #Michael Myers #michael myers x reader #male reader #trans writers #choking curiosity #alcohol tw #but its just a beer mention

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itawonka-creates · 5 years ago

Text

Seabourne Burnouts: Part 5 - Dining

A Maribat! on Deck AU

Start [here] or read [Part 4] [ Part 6]

Marinette looked at herself in the mirror and sighed before turning to Alya and Chloe. “Really? This one?” The other two girls were too busy exploring the suite Marinette was in and Marinette pouted, “Alya! Chloe!”

Chloe didn’t even look back, “Yeah, yeah, you look great. Now how do I get a room like this?”

Alya shook her head and walked over to Marinette, “You look great. You should really wear red more often, it makes you pop!” Alya circled around her before giving a small hum, “Why do I feel like you’re missing something?”

Chloe walked over and looked at Marinette with a critical eye, “You need a necklace or something. Also, curl the ends of that ponytail more. I want to see them bounce.” Marinette moved back to the vanity and Alya took to curling her hair while Chloe looked through the luggage. “Do you not have a necklace?”

Marinette sheepishly answered, “No.” Chloe groaned and walked back over, reaching behind her head and unclasping her own necklace. “Chloe, no-”

Alya moved away and allowed Chloe to put the necklace on Marinette’s neck, “It’s black so it goes with the dress.” She looked at Marinette in the mirror before giggling, “Oh my god, I’m getting Ladybug vibes now.”

Alya shook her head before finishing off Marinette’s hair, “No way, have you seen her walk? As much as I love you Marinette, Nino and I have a bet as to whether or not you’ll fall on stage.”

Marinette stuck out her tongue in the mirror and Alya laughed. “Good to know you guys have faith.”

Chloe helped Marinette up, “Ignore her. Your heels are not that tall anyway.” If you told a younger Marinette that she would become friends with Chloe, she would have sworn pigs could fly. Still, Lila’s grasp over the school threatened Chloe’s popularity and status. Chloe couldn’t figure this new girl out and she was frustrated with the whole situation. The only other people who weren’t wrapped around the girl’s finger were Adrien and Marinette. Chloe really didn’t want to, but Lila wouldn’t Adrien out of her sight and Chloe was getting anxious being by herself. The two girls, though awkward, started to talk and bonded over their distrust of their classmate. Chloe’s disdain for Lila hit it’s high when, as Queen Bee, was told by Ladybug that Lila has been the cause of several Akumas as well as willingly letting herself become an Akuma. Ladybug asked her to be her insider, to avoid letting Lila know that she knows, and Chloe took this role seriously. She would hang around Lila, but for information and nothing more. Chloe always found her way back to her new friend in Dupain-Cheng and here she stood offering her assistance with an outfit. “You’ll be fine. If you aren’t, then we can’t hang out anymore.” Marinette rolled her eyes and smiled.

Marinette stood up and looked at herself before seeing the flash of a camera. She turned and noticed Alya taking photos, “What are you doing?”

“Don’t you want to remember this? When we’re old and frail and living in a nursing home together?” Marinette could hear Alya’s nails tapping against her phone screen, but before she could ask anything Alya laughed. “You’ll give those Wayne boys a run for their money looking like that.”

Marinette could feel her face heat up and shook her head, “What are you talking about?”

Chloe smirked, “I heard from a little birdie that one of the Wayne boys were seen leaving your room by the staff. Who was it and why were we not told sooner? Really Marinette? Making me find out through the help?”

Marinette groaned and rubbed her temples, “First off, let me start by saying nothing happened.”

“So the rumor was true!? Girl, I thought we told each other everything!” Alya threw herself onto the bed and dramatically wailed, “My BFF! How could she leave me in the dark like that? After everything we’ve been through!”

Chloe sat down next to Alya and patted down her hair, “There, there. She didn’t tell either of us.” Chloe pouted, “Seriously though, first the cruise now a romance with a Wayne-”

“I don’t like Tim like that!”

Alya snapped her head up and grinned, “Oh! So it was Tim now? Damn, I thought it was Damian.”

Marinette cursed herself for falling into that one, “Yeah. I got lost and he helped me out. We just talked and he left once it got late. He’s one of the first friends I’ve made since getting on the boat. Him and the Captain.”

Chloe narrowed her eyes at something on Marinette’s desk, “Is that why you have that god awful captain hat?”

Marinette walked over and hovered the cap over her head, “Captain Staller said I was a natural-born leader!”

Alya sat up and nodded, “Makes sense, you are the class president.”

Marinette winked before carefully folding the hat and placing into her purse, careful not to disturb Tikki. “I hope to see everyone at dinner! I want to ask Captain Staller about his collection of boats in a bottle.” Marinette got a wistful look in her eye, “The detail on those things are incredible and I can’t even imagine how they set them up through that tiny little opening in the bottle.”

Chloe groaned, “If she keeps talking we’re going to be late. Césaire, do something.”

Alya felt herself melt into the mattress, “Hm? What?” Chloe grabbed her arm and yanked her off the bed, “Aw come on!”

Marinette laughed, genuinely laughed, for the first time with her girlfriends in weeks. She felt like herself again. The only problem was her dread over Lila’s phone. Tim and Jason swore that everything was going to be alright, Tim promised and Jason was ready to make a blood pact if necessary. Adrien and Dick coaxed her out of curled up position and Adrien took her back to her room. Damian looked at his brothers and a small moment of nonverbal communication passed between them before he left the room. A few minutes after arriving to her room, Alya and Chloe were brought over. Adrien left with Damian and she has not heard from any of them since. In this moment and in this room, laughing and gossiping with her friends, she didn’t particularly care. However, she knew that as soon as she left her room’s door she’d be open and vulnerable. She thought back to Master Fu’s words, about being able to feel with safe people in a safe place, and wonders if this is what he meant.

Chloe grabbed Marinette’s arm and dragged the two girls out of the room, “Let’s go! I am not missing any part of this dinner!”

Marinette and Alya groaned before locking eyes with each other and laughing. Soon, there were three girls, in three different colored dresses, with three different hairstyles, all laughing in the same hallway.

Meanwhile, Adrien was fixing Nino’s collar and struggling. “Come on Nino, Alya will be here soon. Don’t you want to look good?”

Nino, completely with a completely neutral expression, simply said, “If she cares about looks, she wouldn’t be dating me.”

Adrien snorted and nudged Nino, breaking his façade. Adrien looked around the dining hall and analyzed the event before him. He’s been part of fashion galas and fancy dinners, but this didn’t have the same air of tension that the other events held. He didn’t feel suffocated by expectations. He wasn’t here to represent the Agreste brand. He was able to just be Adrien. It was similar to the feeling of freedom he first felt when he transformed. Adrien took a deep breath and sighed. “Do you think tonight will be a good night?”

“I hope so, otherwise Marinette would’ve done all this for nothing.” Nino took a sip from his punch and sat back in his chair. “Where are they?”

Adrien rolled his eyes, “They’ll be here soon.” Adrien’s eyes flickered over to something moving towards him in his peripheral vision, it was Dick. “Hey, I’ll be back in a second.”

“Oh yeah, just leave me!” Nino sniffed and frowned, “My best friend! Leaving me? Oh, what a world.” Adrien pinched the bridge of his nose and smiled at his friend before Nino finally broke, “Okay! Go! I’ll save the table!” Adrien grabbed Nino’s head and kissed the top of it, leaving before Nino could push him away. “Had it not been for the laws of this land, I would’ve killed you!”

Adrien shot Nino back some finger guns before yelling back, “Love you too!” Adrien jogged over to Dick chuckling, “What?”

“Bromance or Romance?”

Adrien posed in a way so others would perceive him to be in deep thought before finally saying, “Bromance.”

“You really had to think about it that much?”

“Well, it would’ve been easier if Alya wasn’t dating him.” Adrien couldn’t help but grin, he was joking around with another socialite and wasn’t reprimanded. He could be himself and he was loving every second of it. Dick handed him a small device, “What is this?”

“An earpiece. Wear it so we can make sure this operation gets done before Marinette even arrives.” Adrien nodded and put the device in his ear.

Soon he heard a small second of static before clearly hearing Tim’s voice, “Lila should be arriving at the dining hall in less than a minute. Everyone ready?”

“Ready.”

“Good to go. Also, tell me again why we aren’t doing the powerpoint.”

“Affirmative and because Marinette clearly doesn’t want to aggravate this girl. Her enemy, her rules.”

“I have it in a flash drive just in case though.”

“Nice!”

“Wait, what am I supposed to even do?”

Dick just smirked, “You’re a model right?” Adrien nodded hesitantly, “On my word, I want you to just smile and look pretty.” Adrien didn’t know what was going on or anything about the plan they had cooked up. What he did know is that the mischief shining in Dick’s eyes gave him a sense of determination only ever felt by the black cat.

“It’s go time.”

Dick motioned for Adrien to follow him as he weaved his way into the crowd. He could see Lila walk in, she looked nice but she looked on edge. “Dick, I think she realized the pictures didn’t go through.”

“Then let’s be quick.” Dick tapped the shoulder of another socialite, older but reeked of old money. “How have you been, David?”

The man’s eyes crinkled as a smile grew on his face, “Dick, my boy! You’ve gotten so big!”

Dick laughed, “Hey David, you still bring a small group of paparazzi wherever you go?”

David laughed, “I don’t like it, but daughter and wife insist. They said I don’t take enough pictures, so might as well pay someone to do it for me. Plus, my wife likes them for her blog.”

Dick pointed at Lila as she walked deeper into the heart of the room, “You should take pictures with some of the kids on this trip! Show that you were just as supportive of this project as Bruce.” Dick leaned in close, “Plus some pictures with some pretty girls will make for some great photos!” Dick pushed Adrien forward and winked, “Take him with you too. Will lessen the creepy factor of your photos with the girl and appeal to a girl audience on your wife’s blog.”

David smiled and motioned for Adrien to follow him. Dick sent a small nod to Adrien and Adrien realized where this was heading. David walked up to Lila and asked for some photos. Lila looked confused and cautiously looked to Adrien for answers. Adrien played dumb, whispering to her that this guy was famous and wanted photos of some good looking kids. Adrien smiled, knowing that what he said caught Lila’s attention and she happily agreed to the pictures. David motioned for a small group to come over and soon the room was full of flashes. Blinding, but being used to being in front of a camera he saw Jason give his own signal to someone behind him. In his ear, he could hear Jason say, “You’re up, Damian.”

Out of the corner of his eye he could see someone grab Lila’s clutch, but she was too busy soaking up the attention and telling David stories of her adventures in Paris. Damian, on the other hand, quickly searched her purse for the phone and handed it off to Dick before closing the bag and handing it to another girl in the class. “Hey, I think your friend over there dropped this.”

The little blonde looked confused before noticing who exactly Damian was pointing at, “Oh, this is Lila’s? I’ll be sure to give it back to her!” The girl scurried off and Damian caught Jason’s eye, giving a subtle nod and giving Jason his cue.

“Don’t mess this up, Todd.”

“Shut up.” Jason pushed through the reporters and stood in front of the three, “Okay! Okay! That’s enough! If you want to take pictures, you can take them outside on the deck! Absolutely no flash photography until the award is given!” The small group huddled together and Jason’s eye twitched, “Did I stutter?!” That definitely got them to scurry off and he turned back to David and the kids. “Aren’t you a little old to be taking photos with children?”

David pulled his hands back behind his back, “Ah, yes. Hello to you too Jason.” The man straightened out his collar before leaving the area.

Lila glared at Jason before someone grabbed her arm, “Hey Lila, you dropped this!”

Lila hugged her friend, “Oh Rose! Thank you, I wouldn’t know what I would do without this! I have my pills for my vertigo in here!”

Adrien slowly backed away and made his over to Jason, “Where’s the phone?”

Jason walked with Adrien over to a secluded area of the hall, “I think Tim’s working on it right now.”

“You mean Tim’s done with it right now.” Adrien looked over to see the other three brothers gathered around Tim as he worked on the phone. Tim shut off the phone and handed it over to Adrien with a grin on his face, “No photos or anything else that could make Marinette look bad.”

Adrien was surprised, “She had more?”

Damian frowned, “She had a folder.”

Tim shrugged, “Nothing bad, just could be embarrassing.”

A smile suddenly spread on Dick’s face as he stared at one of the entrances, “There’s nothing embarrassing about that.” They all turned and saw three girls walk into the room. On the left, the blonde walked in a yellow and black dress with a haughty elegance about her. Still, the way she carried herself was not unapproachable and, in fact, rather inviting to those close to her. On the right, the redhead walked in with a nice orange dress that beckoned the eyes of those in the room without being desperate for attention. She was open, laughing, and proud of herself and the other two girls in her cohort. In the middle, the girl wore red with black shoes and accessories, smiling brighter than anyone in the room and clinging to the two girls beside her. She drew everyone’s attention while being completely unaware of her effect in the room.

Adrien smirked and mumbled to himself, “A little on the nose, don’t you think?” He was about to turn to the other boys to suggest greeting them, but was surprised as Jason ran over and picked up Marinette.

Even with the music and chatter, you could clearly hear Jason yell, “OH MY GOD, YOU LOOK SO CUTE!” Marinette’s face lit up a soft pink, but she laughed as the other girls laughed with her.

Tim shook his head, “Jesus, what the hell is wrong with him?”

Dick shrugged, “Maybe he has withdrawals from not using his guns?”

“Guns?”

“Ah, yes. It’s a hobby of his.” Tim sighed and stared at Damian, “Hey.” Damian didn’t hear him and Tim rolled his eyes before snapping his fingers in front of his face, “Hey! Earth to Damian! Hello!”

Damian blinked a few times before shaking his head and shoving away Tim’s hand. “What?”

“Go say hi to her.” Damian, in possibly the rarest show of emotion ever in his 15 years, blushed. Very subtle, but still a noticeable pink dusted his cheeks. “Oh my god, he feels.”

Dick had a look of nostalgia wash over him, “Oh my god, he reminds me of when I first saw Kori.”

“Shut up, both of you!” Damian turned to Adrien and snatched the phone away from him and handing it to a waiter, pointing at Lila. The waiter nodded and walked away before Damian suddenly pulled Adrien along as he stomped over to the girls. “Let’s go say hi already.”

Adrien felt a hilarious mix of joy and pity, he knew what it was like being so smitten by Marinette’s charm. About a year ago, when Hawkmoth and Mayura started to up the ante, Cat Noir and Ladybug had a very serious talk about responsibility and work ethic. Cat Noir realized two things that day. One, as much as he loved her, the crush wore off and was now left with a platonic love that knew no bounds. Two, he would still lay down the line for this girl despite the loss of feelings. They were partners and they needed to get better for Paris’ sake. Plagg supported his holder through the mixed feelings towards his lost love until he finally was at a spot where he accepted their new dynamic. It was healthier and he couldn’t be happier.

Despite the scowl on his face, Adrien could tell the boy was developing some kind of feelings. It radiated off of him, a sense of warmth that was only felt when he was around Marinette. Even when he fought her in the rec room, the feelings were there. If anything, they grew after she pinned him down. Adrien looked over and noticed they moved Nino to a bigger table and he yelled, “I’m back bro!”

Nino drew his eyes away from Alya and his expression softened, “Bro!” Nino threw himself at Adrien in a way that would suggest they haven’t seen each other in years while Alya scoffed.

“Are you sure I shouldn’t be worried about him?”

Nino pulled away, “Yeah, you should be. Don’t mess up, I have options.” Adrien snickered and Alya just stared her boyfriend down until he sat back by her side. “You’re my first choice, though.” Alya rolled her eyes and kissed his cheek.

Chloe ran up to Adrien and began chatting, leaving Damian on his own to figure out how to approach this situation. He noticed Jason and Marinette sitting next to each other, deep into a conversation and he saw it. The same glow he saw from the pictures way back before anything with Lila happened. For some reason, he felt anxious approaching the two. Jason suddenly looked up at him and motioned for him to come over. Marinette turned her head and she smiled at him, Damian tensed but willed himself to walk over. Jason suddenly pointed at Marinette’s dress, “Can you believe she made that?”

That snapped Damian out of it, “You made it?”

She whined and hid her face behind her hands, “Jason, go on stage and tell everyone. I don’t think the fish heard you.” Jason was about to get up and Marinette pulled him back down, “No, Jason!” She turned to face Damian, “Thank you for getting those pictures off of Lila’s phone. I don’t know how you did it, but you guys seriously saved my social life.”

Damian rolled his eyes and sat on the other chair beside her, “So you make your own clothes?”

Her eyes lit up, “Not all of them, but I try to push myself to make more and more until my closet is completely filled with my own designs.” She played with the hem of her skirt, “It’s my dream to have my own fashion line. It’s dumb, but-”

“No, it isn’t.” She looked up and Damian shrugged, “It’s not. It’s your passion, so follow it.” She didn’t respond so he took it as a cue to continue, “If you find a reason to continue moving forward, then hang onto it. If that reason to continue moving forward when times are tough is fashion, then don’t be ashamed of it. Be proud.” He rested his chin on his hand while looking at no one in particular, “If you lose it, whether that means you lose interest in fashion or you feel like you’ve made it as far as you could in your career, then you just find a new one. Those reasons may change, but I think your reason works with who you are.” He thinks about his reasons. His original reason was leading the League of Assassins with his grandfather and mother. His next reason was to be the best Robin Batman ever had in order to take up the mantle. Now, he really didn’t know what it was, but he hoped to find that reason soon. He smiled and turned his head slightly to Marinette, “Not all of us have that reason. A lot of us are still looking. You found your reason, be proud of that.”

Marinette wasn’t expecting that answer at all. She was expecting the Damian who yelled at her for being passive in her methods for dealing with Lila, not the one that showed her the stars on the helideck last night. She tried to wrap her mind around it, but Alya interrupted her thoughts with a picture. Marinette blinked at the sudden flash, “Alya, what did you-”

“My best friend is flirting it up with Damian Wayne and you really expect me NOT to document this?”

Marinette tensed, “ALYA!” Her friends laughed at her and Damian noticed three figures coming towards them.

He knew who it was and tapped Marinette’s shoulder, “Hey Marinette, I’d like you to-” Marinette held up a finger and started drinking the water in front of her to help with the cottonmouth Alya caused her. Marinette turned slightly and, if you asked anyone there, you could see the moment she began to panic realizing Bruce Wayne was standing practically behind her. Marinette spit out the water and began having a coughing fit. She stood up, eyes watering as she tried to not choke on her drink, and ran to the nearest bathroom.

Bruce looked amused, “That was my fault, wasn’t it?” That prompted Marinette’s friends to laugh hysterically and they all sat down.

Alya tried to catch her breath, “No! No! Sir, she has been freaking out for hours over what to do when she meets you. She just thought she’d meet you on stage.”

Chloe wiped a tear from her eye, “Yeah! You coming out of nowhere not only ruined the confidence boost from her pep talk in the mirror, but you scared her half to death!”

Jason bit his lip to keep from laughing before turning to Damian, “I said this once and I’ll say it again. She’s a total spazz and I LOVE that for you!”

Nino caught his breath and registered what Jason just said, “Wait, two questions. One, I know Bruce and Jason, but not the rest of you. Two, what do you mean? Is he-”

Damian’s voice rose as he tried to defend himself, “I am not! Todd, I already warned you.” Damian turned back to Nino and pointed, “Dick Grayson. Tim Drake. I’m Damian Wayne.”

Jason cut in, “Yes he is. I’ve never seen him this worked up, even when we-”

“Jason, enough!” The table turned to Bruce and he sighed, “You don’t want to embarrass your brother too much. Not tonight.”

Jason coughed in a clear attempt to gather his bearings but continued, “Anyway, yeah.”

Dick chuckled, “It’s kind of obvious you like her.”

“I don’t like her!”

“Why not? Everyone likes Marinette.” Alya pointed at her boyfriend, “Nino had a crush on her for a while.”

Nino nodded, “Don’t forget Nathaniel.”

Chloe laughed, “I think Kim liked her too. You know, before meeting me.”

Adrien rolled his eyes and thought for a moment, “Yeah, and Luka.”

The kids had mixed reactions before Alya sighed, “That poor boy.”

Adrien shrugged, “At least she set him up with Kagami and they make a really good pair.”

Nino laughed and looked at Alya, “It was also kind of her fault we got together too, babe.”

Alya rolled her eyes before nodding, “She set up Nathaniel and Marc too.”

Chloe snapped her fingers, “Oh! Don’t forget Ivan and Myléne!”

Adrien laughed, “Oh my god, I almost forgot about them!”

Damian could feel himself tense and Tim snickered, “Well baby bird, looks like you have competition. Either you’re going to have to fight off guys to get her to date you or she’s going to set you up with someone else.”

Alya sympathized with him and noticed the red accent on Damian’s suit, “Oh!” She turned to Tim, “Is that why you asked for the picture of the dress?”

Tim winced and Dick groaned, “Tim what did you do?”

“Nothing! I wanted to make sure he matched with her!” Damian didn’t even realize it. He was so focused on getting Lila’s phone that he didn’t even question the clothes Tim handed him. “It looks good on both of you.” The table nodded in agreement before meekly Tim added, “Also, I promised Alya a small interview with Bruce Wayne.”

The other boys glared at their brother and Bruce rolled his eyes. Alya sat up excited, “Don’t worry it will be quick. Just a little something for the Ladyblog.”

Before he could respond, a sudden burst of red ran past them and to Bruce’s side. She stood there, completely rigid, and before Bruce could ask anything she bowed and started rambling, “I am so sorry! I just got really surprised by you and I guess I just panicked! I was NOT prepared to meet you off the stage! If I messed up anyone’s clothes I can fix them or just throw me overboard! And-”

She felt a hand on her shoulder and she looked up at Bruce, who held a patient smile on his face. “Miss Dupain-Cheng,” he held out his hand, “It’s a pleasure to finally meet you. I read your paper and think the work you and your class do for Paris is very impressive. Especially so young.”

Marinette didn’t know what to do until Dick poked her side and she jumped, “You shake it.” Marinette blushed a bright red before putting her own hand out. Bruce’s hand gently engulfed the young girl’s and she visibly relaxed. Another flash went off and the two turned to Alya.

She sent a thumbs up, “I’m sending that one to your mom!”

Marinette realized she hadn’t let go of Bruce’s hand and jumped back with a small squeak. “Thank you, Mr. Wayne, for picking me and allowing us on this boat.” Bruce nodded and motioned for her to sit. She took her seat between Damian and Jason, the blush never truly fading.

Jason finally spoke up, “As entertaining as it is to watch Marinette freak out, I would much rather have dinner and a show.”

“Oh yeah, when does dinner-” As if on cue the dining bell rang and food was brought out to each table. Waiters hustled and bustled around each table, setting plates down carefully and taking requests for drinks or food alterations. Marinette suddenly found herself sitting in front of a plate of delicious-looking food and as surprised as she was, the boys seemed to just talk as if nothing extraordinary was happening around them. Adrien and Chloe also seemed unfazed while talking to Alya and Nino.

“First time seeing something like this?”

She turned to Damian and nodded, “It’s crazy how they don’t bump into each other. I would’ve fallen by now.”

“You can’t be that clumsy.”

Marinette snorted, “Alya and Nino have a bet going to see if I fall on stage.”

Damian smiled, “If it makes you feel better, my brothers made a bet to see who I would threaten first when on this trip.”

“Was it Jason?” Damian nodded and she smiled, “Your family’s great.”

“Your friends seem nice as well. You look close, you know, now that they’re actually around.” Marinette cringed and he was quick to apologize, “That was stupid. I-”

“This is the first time in weeks that I’ve felt like this.” She picked at her food and her expression displayed an expression of melancholy, “I love them. Sitting like this, eating together like this, talking like this, I haven’t gotten to have any of it for a while.” She looked over at Damian, “I feel like me again. I should thank you for bringing them over to my room.”

Damian shook his head, “You don’t have to.”

Marinette shrugged, “I want to. I wanted to thank you for showing me the stars too. Please?”

Watching her head tilt slightly almost did it, he almost gave in, but Dick mercifully chimed in. “So what is that I hear about you making your own dress?” Marinette’s eyes lit up as she started to talk about her dress and her passion for fashion. Her classmates joined in and shared pictures of previous pieces they’ve commissioned over the years leading into their own stories of Marinette in school. Jason and Dick wasted no time in telling their own stories of Damian while Tim looked for photos of Damian that went along with each story. Damian and Marinette were in a loop of listening, laughing, listening, hiding from the other due to embarrassment, listening, maybe a bit of arguing, and more laughing.

Bruce watched the group in front of him, it was a good dynamic and everything seemed peaceful. Normal. Just looking at Damian now he could see significant signs of improvement in his mood and overall behavior. Bruce also noted the way Marinette and Damian would steal glances at each other throughout the conversations. He noted the way Jason playfully fought for Marinette’s attention, like a child craving attention from a sibling or parent. He noted Tim looking rested and putting more energy into the conversation. He noted Dick observing Marinette and Damian fondly. Lastly, he noted how relaxed he was with this group of children in front of him – Jason and Dick included. It was full of laughter and warmth.

He looked at his watch, “10 more minutes. Marinette are you prepared for me to give you the honor and award or do you want to run a rehearsal by me.”

Marinette sat up and frowned, “I did not rehearse!”

“HA!” Jason nudged Marinette, “I’ve known you for about a day and I know for a fact that you’ve rehearsed.” Marinette glared at him and pouted, “See, I’m right!”

“You’re the worst.”

Dick smirked, “Got you there, Jason.”

“Screw you.”

“Oh yeah, Marinette do you have your speech prepared at least?” Marinette froze and just stared at Tim.

She looked like she was about to cry, “Please, tell me you’re joking.”

Damian rolled his eyes, “He is.” Marinette immediately relaxed before throwing her spoon at Tim’s head.

Tim ducked and looked back, “One, rude. Two, I’m not picking that up.”

Marinette huffed and crossed her arms, “You’re just lucky I’m not sitting next to you.”

Tim smirked, “It’s like being threatened by a puppy.”

“Careful Tim,” the table turned to the blond just watching the interaction with an amused look on his face, “she’s not one to mess with.”

Dick laughed, “No kidding. She made friends with captain grumpy in like no time at all, which for those who don’t know that man only ever smiled at his niece. If he likes Marinette, he’d throw any of us overboard if he even caught wind of someone messing with her.”

Marinette looked around, “Where is Captain Staller anyway?”

Bruce took another bite of his food, “He said he had to look something over in the main control room. Although he should’ve come down by now. I’ll have someone check up on him.” Marinette nodded and relaxed, she’d been scanning the area occasionally for him since arrived to the dinner.

Jason side-eyed her and they locked eyes. It took a whole second before she realized what he was about to do. “Jason, no-”

“She pinned Damian down in the rec room without breaking a sweat.”

Bruce’s eyebrows shot up, “Really?”

Jason pulled out his phone, “I have a video.”

Alya perked up, “Please send that to me! I’d pay to see Marinette do something like that.”

Marinette groaned, “I know this is being shared on our terms now, but can we not show your dad how I wrestled his youngest to the ground?”

Bruce grabbed the phone and watched carefully, “Have you been trained before?”

“No, I just go head to head with a lot of Akumas.” Marinette rested her chin in her palm and sighed, “Everyone at this table has in one way or another.”

Chloe smirked, “As Queen Bee, I have a duty to protect Paris and will gladly defeat any Akuma.” Tim made sure to make a mental note of that tidbit of information. While it wasn’t exactly a secret the mayor’s daughter occasionally help Paris’ heroes, the fact that she is so open is new to him. He’d find it refreshing if it wasn’t so dangerous.

“Weren’t you akumatized twice while Queen Bee?”

“Weren’t you minding your own business, Nino?” The small group laughed, completely missing the way the Wayne family looked at each other. Concern, tension, fear for their new friends, a new need to protect, guilt for not knowing more about the situation; all of it was passed in that one moment between the five men.

Bruce cleared his throat and the five got up, “It’s time.” Marinette nodded and got out of her chair, clearly nervous but excited all the same. Bruce will admit he forgets how resilient regular kids can be when in tough situations. Bruce thinks back to his boys and briefly wonders if they would’ve persevered through their various hardships without his influence. He shook his head and realizes he knows they would have, with or without Bruce or Batman being part of their lives. That’s just how kids are. They live, they move forward, they have their moments and may breakdown but some of them just get back up and keep moving. His boys were some of those people. Marinette and her classmates were some of those people too. He was one of those people too. The boys walked on stage first, standing in a very clearly designated line, and Bruce turned to Marinette, “You ready?”

“As I’ll ever be.”

Bruce nodded and motioned for her to wait as he got on stage. The crowd clapped politely and settled down once Bruce got to the mic. “Thank you all for coming here tonight. We are gathered here to award the first annual Wayne Enterprise Service Award.” The crowd gave a small round of applause before Bruce continued, “My father had a saying: ‘Tomorrow is one dream away’. Sentimental words, but they stayed with me long after their passing. Rather than focus on the darkness and everything wrong in the world and in Gotham, I decided to focus on how exceptional Gotham actually was and how much better it could be. I wanted to show my appreciation to the youth of today who embody that philosophy and dream in their own communities. Imagine my surprise when I get an approximate 30-page paper from a fifteen-year-old girl in Paris about all the things she and her classmates have done over the past few years. Each one in their own ways doing their part to help Paris as it deals with their own super villains and at such a young age. It’s quite the responsibility, but from what I can gather from this paper each and every one of these children take it on quite admirably. Each one of these children here tonight embody the spirit of a better tomorrow and their class president just had to praise them for their efforts. After reading her paper, I completely understand why. The volunteer work, the charity, the overall improvements they helped make to their community is astonishing to me and I’m a millionaire. I’ve seen it all!” The crowd laughed at the small joke and Bruce smiled, “However, I will say this. I have never read a paper as inspiring and heartwarming as the one the award recipient submitted to our contest. She shows signs of a clear leader. Giving credit where credit is due, organizing groups of students and projects, and working alongside her peers even when she isn’t expected to. She’s exceeded any previous expectations I had for any winner and set a new bar for next year. It is my pleasure to honor and welcome our winner of this award to Marinette Dupain-Cheng!”

The crowd erupted into applause and Marinette chanted to herself, “Please, don’t fall. Please, don’t fall. Please, don’t fall.” Bruce offered her a hand and she gladly took it, if only to stabilize herself. Bruce handed her a framed award with her name and the name of her class written clearly and bolded. She could feel her cheeks hurt from all the smiling and for a second dare to sneak a glance at the four brothers. Tim threw a thumbs up her way. Dick continued clapping and watched her with pride. Jason looked like he was about to cry he was so happy for her. Then there was Damian. He was clapping, sure, but the way he looked at her with not only pride but admiration really threw her for a loop. She looked back to the crowd and saw her classmates cheering and taking photos.

She felt elated until she locked eyes with Lila. Lila stared her down with a grim look and Marinette felt time stop for her. Everything around them faded out and she could feel her heartbeat become erratic as Lila continued glaring at her. Marinette didn’t know what was happening, but she couldn’t move or look away. She was unable to take a deep breath and felt disoriented the longer Lila locked eyes with her.

The thing that broke her out of it was a loud bang. Everyone froze and murmured wondering what just happened until they heard it again. Another bang, closer than the first rang out. The vibrations caught everyone off guard before realization set in and people started to panic.

The ship was under attack and, being at sea, they had no way out.

*******************************************************************************************

Tag List (Bitch I have a tag list whAT!?!?!):

@maribat-archive @ozmav @thornangelic727@imfreakingmagical@constancetruggle @chloe-bourgeois-is-big-gay@someone-ev @zazzlejazzle @tinybrie @mewwitch @rhub4rb@saphiraazure2708 @never-neverland @unholykrow @slytherinhquinn @literallytryingmybest @redscarlet95 @grimmhallow31 @fandomkitten9653 @myriad-of-passionate-pettiness @fanboy7794 @mystifiedgal @shizukiryuu @ vixen-uchiha @resignedcatservant @mystery-5-5 @miraculousl4dybug @blackcanary13 @origamieater @moonlitarchangels @mochinek0 @imfreakingmagical @you-will-never-know-how-i-think @derpingrainbow @unabashedbookworm @skyel0ve @northernbluetongue

Let me know if I missed anyone! I will now be posting my work on this blog just to keep it all in one place as well as make it easier to find!

Also, I asked an AMA so if you have any questions or comments or anything you want to say to me I’m up for it! (Also a fun little challenge in it too!)

#Seabourne Burnouts #idea: maribat! on deck #maribat #marinette x damian #damian x marinette #daminette #marinette dupain cheng #maridami #batfam #fanfiction #au

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jmeddows2 · 5 years ago

Text

Guaranteed to blow your mind (Roger Taylor smut)

Notes: Bear with me, this is my first ever smut. I’m sorry for mistakes and bad writing. English is not my first languages. Inaccuracies can occur concerning the band. (including Deaky joining Queen). I’m also planning on making more parts of this including sub!Roger. Let’s see how this goes :) Feedback is always appreciated, so I know how to improve my writing.. ALRIGHT let’s do it Summary: Felicity is a well known and experienced groupie. Roger a rock star on the rise. Words: 3.7k+

Warnings: cursing, sub!Roger smut: a tiny bit of edging, blowjob, unprotected sex

Felicity, also known as 'fizz Fliss' in the Rock N‘Roll scene always knew what she wanted. She knew it since the day she moved out from her parent’s home at the tender age of only 16 years old. School had never been one of her interests, instead she loved getting in trouble and the feeling of adrenaline rushing through her veins.

Fliss had a big dream, as well as many fantasies. Being a groupie.

Chasing rockstars from city to city, spending the whole night in clubs, drinking, doing hard drugs and having the time of her life with the musician of the night afterwards. She followed bands and artists such as Led Zeppelin, The Who, David Bowie, Aerosmith and The Rolling Stones, just to name a few.

At only 20 years old, she had already made a name for herself. Everyone knew her. Women/ girls wanted to be like her, and men longed to spend a night with her. The 'groupie chasing rockstar scenario soon changed to the opposite. It was the most famous men in rock that all wanted a piece of her and they somehow always gave her a piece of themselves in the form of presents. There would not pass a day without a few parcels delivered to her doorstep, containing the latest fashion, lingerie, makeup, booze, sometimes just money. Most of the parcels had a long journey behind them, many hadmade its way all the way from America and Australia to her flat in London. Besides the adoration and money that was spent on her, Felicity was the muse of many songs that later went on to become classics. When you asked her about how she attracted the attention of all the musicians, she simply claimed that it was all about the glam rock inspired clothes she wore. Beside her well known reputation as groupie, she wasn’t just a typical groupie you’d fuck and chuck. Felicity was often photographed alongside other rock musicians for magazines and ads.

Summer of 1971

It was very hot day when Fliss stepped into the De Lane Lea Studios in London, to meet up with a band she’d been following since the beginning, which happened to be ‘The Who’. They’d been there to record their fifth studio album titled ‘Who’s Next’.

The room where the mixing board was situated was already filled with clouds of smoke, as she emerged and was quickly greeted with a hug.

“Ahh finally. Glad you could come. Missed you, love, how have you been?” Roger Daltrey, the lead singer greeted her with a quick peck on the cheek, while bassist John Entwistle beside them was just about to snort a line of cocaine from the tabletop, that was else covered in bottles of heavy alcohol. Glyn Johns, the producer had already been fiddling with some of the buttons on the mixing board, adding finishing touches to a record from a different band. It surprised her, knowing that Roger (D), John (E), Keith and Pete never liked sharing their studio time. They always used it to full extend, no matter what.

“you really thought I would miss the opportunity to watch you guys record, huh? I wouldn’t even think about it. besides, I wanted to personally thank Keith here” she was pointed her finger into the drummer’s direction “ for the beautiful necklace. It must have cost you a fortune.” she laughed, clasping the little diamond that graced her decollete and she approached the drummer to place herself in his lap, wrapping her arms around his neck.

“yeah it actually did, honey.. but you‘re totally fucking worth it” he replied with a smug smile on his face, caressing her cheek with one hand.

“now come on, baby” Keith fiddled with the pocket of his jacket, only to pull out a pack filled to the brim with white powder. Fliss was quick to realize his intentions, so she pulled her top over her head and tossed it to the floor, leaving her in a red lace bra, another precious present.

“fuck, see that‘s what I‘m talking about, baby” bringing his hand to lightly grope her breast

“I‘ll buy you 10 of those necklaces. No, I‘ll buy you anything you want, honey” he mumbled and managed to pour a line of the white gold onto the space between her breasts and rolled a 5-pound note to snort it from there. Keith didn‘t manage to catch all of the white powder at once, so he leant his head forward to lick the rest off and rub it on his gums. Their little get together was soon cut off by a loud thump as the door opened and 4 men stood there, totally caught off guard. 4 rather shocked faces. Newbies.

“seriously guys? Have you switched to male groupies now? “Fliss laughed sitting herself up in Keith’s lap, to get a better look of them.

The men at the door seemed really embarrassed, with their heads turning as red as a tomato, except for one guy with long, dark brown hair and high cheekbones. He managed to step forward: “sorry are we interrupting something here? We can come back later?!”

“no, no, come in it‘s alright. Suit yourself” Roger (D) invited the men in with a gesture towards the little table with booze, cigarettes, pills and cocaine.

“Fliss, baby, may I present to you, her majesty: Queen, they‘re new, have some potential AND they are here to record some stuff today” Pete chuckled and winked at her.

“oh really? And why haven‘t I heard of them yet?” she laughed while studying the men who were still stood by the door having not moved in the slightest. They seemed intimidated. It felt like a game for Felicity and hell, she loved to play. It was true, the band had only started to rehears songs for their first album a few months prior and received a little bit of recognition by playing rather small gigs. They were young, on the rise, seeking attention and where else could you get that from if not from one of London’s most iconic and definitely loudest rock bands of all time?

“hey hey, I know you. Fuck dear, no I adore you... you are Felicity? Living the dream, right? damn... I bet this was also a present” he winked pointing at her bra. “I‘m Freddie by the way” he took a few steps forward to shake her hand, then heading back to his band mates who still haven’t moved in the slightest..

“this is her Rog, the girl I told you about the other day” Freddie whispered to the blond-haired boy, gently nudging his side, he just nodded with flushed cheeks. His wavy, dirty blonde hair barely touched his shoulder and his bright blue eyes didn‘t quite know what to focus on, trying to play off the embarrassment. An awkward silence filled the room, until Freddie decided to plunge himself down next to Pete on one of the leather couches trying to lighten the mood.

“and the others? Do you also have any names? “Felicity stood up from Keith’s lap and made her way towards the men as they introduced themselves to her as Brian, Roger and Mike. Mike was Queen’s bass player at the time and was very soon after replaced by our precious Deaky.

As the tension and embarrassment settled, the "new boys" managed to get comfortable with a little booze. A magic recipe that always seemed to help loosen everyone up. Roger Daltrey was like the dad of the group, he didn’t take any hard drugs, just sleeping pills, but who didn’t? He also occasionally did a little pot. Roger Daltrey always felt the need to be the tough one, to look out for everyone. He had to, dealing with his bandmates which basically consisted of three addicts. Pete was an alcoholic, John (E) was an alcoholic. All three of them were doing speed and every other kind of drug you could imagine. Roger (D) never touched any cocaine, never had a try of it. He always felt responsible, as singing was his ‘instrument’ in the band and he felt like he would have never been able to master his skills while intoxicated. He tried to lead Fliss into another direction many times, away from her lifestyle, stating points that she would not have a future continuing like this, if she ever got out alive. He just wanted the best for all them, treating them like children of his own somehow.

“what’s it like, darling?” Freddie asked curiously, he took a sip from his vodka-soda. “I want to know the details, any weird sex habits out there in the world of Rock ‘N’Roll? Any new kinks to know about “he asked flashing his unique, bright teeth at her with a smile.

“Fred” Brian warned by shooting him a glare.

“Oh, come on Bri, stop acting as if you’re not interested in what this hot little thing here might have to spill” Freddie turned his attention back to Fliss. “besides I think my good friend Rog here also might be interested” Freddie pointed in his direction, but his blond friend was too occupied having a chat with Keith. It was obvious that one of his ears was always curiously listening to what she might have had to say. Roger’s eyes also betrayed him by stealing little glances, when he thought that she wasn’t looking.

“ok well... so sorry to disappoint you, but a lady never tells, but” she winked at Freddie and his eyes widened for more gossip as she continued.

“there’s loads of traveling, fine booze, the best cigarettes, expensive clothes and meals, you know the drill” she made a gesture at her body signaling great sex. “a real killer queen” Freddie smiled at her while pouring yet another glass for both of them and they clinked them together, getting lost in another conversation about antiques and all things expensive and glamorous. All of which Freddie admired. “Splendid! I already know we are going to get along perfectly, darling.”

Freddie moved on to talk to his own band mate Brian again, but the spot beside her on the couch was soon filled by Roger. He clutched his whiskey on the rocks in his hand and was quickly caught off guard.

-Aren’t you a little too young to drink, Roger? I mean how old are you? 16? 17??? - Fliss asked loud enough for the others to hear as she placed her feet onto his lap, resting them there, while the others started to laugh once they overheard her assumption.

“no...no I.. I‘m actually 22” he nervously stuttered.

“Hah I never thought to see the day that Rog can‘t get a word out to impress a girl” Freddie laughed, taking another sip from his alcoholic beverage.

“no wonder. He‘s probably starstruck, keeps all your pics from the newspapers in his bedside drawer, ever since Fred told him about you” Mike laughed loudly while Roger was getting slightly embarrassed and his cheeks turned pink. No, not embarrassed, he felt humiliated.

“oh, is that so Roger?” Fliss said as she got up with a G&T in her hand.

“don‘t mind, do ya Rog?” batting her eyelashes at him, he shook his head and she placed herself onto his lap. Once she was situated comfortably, she smiled at him.

“hi” threw her arms around his neck and gave him a quick peck on the cheek. “hi” he smiled, wrapping his arms around her waist. Her touch burned into his skin and within seconds his semi could be slightly felt on her thigh. The effect she had on him made her want to play this game even more.

“oioioi, someone‘s gonna get lucky, huh?” Pete teased, making her playfully shake her head and roll her eyes. “And he might be the only one tonight” she replied, making all of them go quiet. Felicity felt kind of bad for all the teasing Roger had to bear. It was meant to be her job. Hers only.

“I’m not making you feel uncomfortable, am I?” she asked the blond boy with a hint of concern in her voice, brushing his soft hair over his shoulder.

“nnn no, not at all. I’m fine, perfectly fine” Perfect.

Roger was quiet and frozen as Felicity constantly shifted in his lap. It made him even harder, painfully hard. Of course, she knew exactly what she was doing, as teasing was her specialty. But this boy was different, quiet, nervous, a perfect prey.

Roger’s eyes nervously scanned the room, silently praying that no one would notice his now throbbing bulge in his pants. Felicity saw it all and felt him violently throb against his pants as her core was pressed up against him. So, she decided to fuel the fire even more. Another specialty of hers.

She scanned Roger‘s face with her eyes, then slightly started nibbling his ear, which earned a light moan from him. She continued kissing along his jawline, making his eyes tightly shut. He was trying his best, not to buck into her. “you’re almost too pretty to be rockstar” Roger opened his eyes as she caressed his right cheek, while her other hand was playing with his hair.

Roger swallowed hard, trying not to moan any louder. He was frustrated that he couldn’t do anything about his miserable situation, the fear of getting caught any second creeping up on him. His only goal at this point was trying not to come in his pants right then there.

- Oh I.. I.. thank you.. you‘re p..pretty- he stuttered.

She continued lightly bouncing in his lap, purposely grinding her ass against Roger‘s clothed length, while the most innocent look on her face. A smirk was plastered on her face as she earned another groan from him.

"What‘s wrong, Roger?" she asked innocently.

"You alright, mate?" John (E) asked from the sofa on the opposite side, he answered with a little nod, trying to keep it together.

Leaning closer to Roger she whispered in his ear: "you‘re so hard down there, huh? Do I really have such an effect on you? I didn‘t even do anything."

Felicity kept tracing patterns into the skin of his neck and chest, which was exposed due to his unbuttoned shirt. It was cute how every little touch and pattern traced along his sensitive skin made him shiver.

- let‘s go out to eat something, guys, we‘ve got the studio all day long, you can record later- Roger (D) clapped his hands together and jumped up from his seat.

“Roger are you coming or you glued to that couch? “Freddie joked as Roger glared back at him. Roger knew that he couldn‘t get up, not like that, not with a massive hardon. That would be too embarrassing, and the boys would forever pick on him.

“actually, we‘ll join you later, King‘s pub it is?“ Felicity asked, shooting them a wink.

Keith nodded, leaning down to her: “alright, honey, take care” the brunette drummer said as he stole a kiss from her.

A wave of relief rushed over Roger as there was only him and Fliss left in the room. Well, as much relief as he could possibly get, despite the problem in his pants.

“so, are you a bassist? singer? “Felicity teased as she brought her face close to his, caressing his right cheek, lightly rubbing circles with her thumb.

“no I‘m m.. 'm the drummer” he stuttered nervously. “you know it‘s not very nice to not look at me when you’re talking to me” she shifted even more back and forth in his lap, feeling his hard cock through his pants. “you’re lucky, I have a thing for drummers” speeding up her movement, adding even more friction.

“uhh please” Roger groaned looking deep into her eyes. “what Roger, what do you need?” leaning forward, breathing into his ear. “Is this what you need?” she placed a kiss on his left cheek, he violently shook his head in response.

“what have been doing with those pictures your band member mentioned earlier, huh? Have you been a naughty boy?” she teased, continuing to torture him further, pressing even harder into him.

“y.. yes, been naughty, touching myself to your pictures...want you.... wanted you since the first time I saw you” he whined, eyebrows knitted in frustration.

“oh really?” Felicity definitely had her fun with this. She often adopted the role of the submissive, in fact, a willing sub. But dominating a guy, making him practically melt in her hands, was just another level. Nothing could ever compare to that.

Roger didn‘t manage to get a word out so she grabbed his cock through his pants, palming him that it nearly made him jump out of his skin. He never felt like this before, never this intimidated by any girl, he usually was the one to charm them, tease them, make them squirm.

“yeah, yeah” he finally admitted “was so bad, wankin’ my cock every time to you mmmm, please, please, want you so bad” Roger cried out, but she brought her face close to his, kissing soon turned into a quick but heated make out session. Her hand made its way between their bodies into his pants, slowly starting to pump his bare length with her hand, brushing her thumb over his tip, making his eyes roll back.

“alright pretty princess, let‘s see”

Felicity got off his lap, kneeled down in front of him, he lifted his hips for her to remove his pants and underwear all at once.

Roger’s cock sprung free, hitting his tummy, the red, swollen tip leaking pre cum already. He was slightly bigger than average with a perfect girth, which surprised her, due to his overall tiny frame.

“fucking pretty cock, princess” his cheeks turned pink once more. It was the most vulnerable state, being all exposed in front of her. She ghosted her hand over his length, making him squirm even more and buck his hips. He was frustrated. But she kept on admiring his cock, taking her time. “Please, please I’m begging you! DO something. I- I can’t take it anymore” Roger whined.

He hissed loudly when her hand was suddenly wrapped around his length, his eyes falling shut.

“ fuck.. fuck feels so good mmm” he moaned in ecstasy.

Roger’s moans were music to her ears “look at me, princess” his eyes fluttered open and she leaned forward to kiss the tip of his cock gently, staring deeply into his eyes. “mmm more please”

She licked the salty pre cum off that was already dribbling off the tip due to his horniness and it spread on her lips. Licking it off, tasting him. Salty and sweet at the same time. Felicity used her tongue to gently lick his frenulum, making Roger cry out her name. She lowered her head once again, taking all of him into her mouth, rubbing his tummy with her right hand.

“oh yess, fuuuuck feels so good, your mouth... you do it so good I’m not gonna last.. mmm” Roger groaned.

Having him beg for her, motivated Fliss to go not even faster, but also deeper, bobbing her head up and down, having him down her throat. Thanks to much practice, her gag reflex was gone, giving him the full experience.

“fuck m’ gonna c..cum m’ gonna cum” she pulled away, earning a disappointing groan. “You didn’t think I was going to let you come that fast, did you?” his eyebrows knotted into a frown. “Please, I was so close” “aww look at you, all red and desperate to finally get off, princess” Rogers hair was sticking to his sweaty forehead as she was undressing herself. “Roger” he flinched,letting his cock fall from his hand as she caught him pumping himself in a fast motion while watching her naked frame. “I’m so sorry, please, do something. It’s really starting to hurt now. It’s way too much” salty tears started dribbling down his cheeks. He was so desperate for her. “ok baby” she climbed into his lap, taking his thick cock into her hand rubbing his tip through her folds and the tears kept streaming down his face. She sank all the way down on him, staying there a few seconds to adjust. Roger rested his head on her shoulder as she managed to swipe a few of his tears away with her thumb. Fliss started bouncing up and down his cock, Roger’s breathing slowly got louder when he was nearing his orgasm for the 2nd time that night. He felt weak, too weak to be able to thrust up into her. “Fuck Roger, I’m close. You’re filling me up so good” she groaned, speeding up the tempo and circling her hips with one of his hands resting on her hips for support, the other on her breast, toying with her nipple. “mmm coming, you need to get off” “Come for me, princess” tangling her fingers in his blond locks. He started to whimper at the feeling of her still on his cock, one final bounce and she sank all the way down on him, sending both of them over the edge. Roger came with a cry of her name as he released warm, thick ribbons of cum inside of her. His eyes were fluttering, head on her shoulder, as he slowly came down from his high, relishing every wave of pleasure, not wanting the moment to fade away.

Roger was snapped out of his little trance when she released his cock, making his him squirm at the sudden loss of contact. Being the little tease Felicity was, she reached down between her thighs, capturing some of Roger’s thick, sticky cum and brought the finger to her mouth to taste it. “so good” she hummed against her hand. “Fuck, you look so hot right now” he watched her in awe, mouth slightly open, not believing his eyes, making his cock twitch one final time.

(kind of inspired by this min 3:00) “Marry me” Roger blurted out. She looked at him, expecting him to be joking but his face remained serious. “You’re fucking nuts, Roger” she laughed as they both dressed themselves again, trying to hide every evidence of their previous studio ‘adventure’. He took a seat on the couch and pulled her into his lap again, giving her a passionate kiss. “Will you at least stay with me tonight then?” “Sure, Roger." he held her close, making the throbbing problem in his pants reappear.

#roger taylor #roger taylor smut #roger taylor fanfic #the who #Queen #freddie mercury #Brian May #queen + Adam Lambert #roger taylor fanfiction

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paralysis-comic · 5 years ago

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yourocsbackstory week 3: education

@yourocsbackstory || [read on wattpad]

so this ones kinda long huh. tw for ableism, self injurious behaviour, just a lot of crying

But Not Too Familiar (Baby Blues: Interlude)

September 2009

The word school has been fucking you up for a while now. Mum says that’s just how school is. Dad says she’s wrong.

He came into your horrible little room one evening and said he was very sorry for not being a good dad, that he’d promised your previous dad to do a better job, that he would show that bastard Atticus, that he’d get you through school no matter what, all of it, right up to uni. You didn’t really know what uni was.

John said school is designed to make you think you’re meant to be learning French and Geography and stuff, when they’re really sorting you into popular, unpopular or medium. The medium ones, he said, make the best adults. He said occasionally, you get these edge cases—kids who have so many friends that they can’t imagine anyone not liking them, and the ones who don’t have any so no one bothers trying to find them some—those, he said, never last. He wrote all this out on a piece of A5 paper in his own horrible little room, while writing at your mutual parents about things that nine-year-olds don’t concern themselves with.

He also told you not to bother with uni.

•

And he says it again as he pauses outside the gates.

You look around. Ysgol Blodeuwedd Tudur—or Blodeuwedd Tudor Primary School And Nursery, as it says underneath—is bigger and shinier than you imagined. John’s staring at it too. Mum sort of shepherds you both through (is it shepherding if you’re both willing to go? And if theres only two of you?). You can’t see her face from where you are, but she sounds weird, both crosser and gentler. You stop for a second and turn around. She’s got her hand on John’s shoulder and keeps glancing at the other mums.

You’re not yet sure who you’re supposed to know and who you’re not. Maybe the girls who just came out from amongst them and are hugging you. They have nice vibes, rather than the ok and oh no vibes that everyone else has. According to their book bags, they are Cerys Thomas and Louise Yang. They are decent.

The sound of tiny little footsteps brings your attention away from them. You look up to see a stocky, curly haired boy sort of skid to a halt beside you. He raises his arms to wrap them around your neck, then stops.

“Do you remember me?”

You look down. You do remember Diane. Kind of. You don’t remember his middle name, his birthday or his favourite colour, but still…

“I remember you’re my best friend.”

He goes blank for a second, then he hugs you harder then you’ve ever been hugged in your life this year.

“We missed you SO MUCH Mrs Davies was being REALLY MEAN they haven’t changed the REGISTER yet and we thought you moved SCHOOLS—“

“Son, we don’t talk about that in public. And why don’t you let go of Iffy, you’re wobbling her crutches.”

He rearranges his arms into a position more accommodating to your unipedality.

You’re having a hard time thinking; partly from the dread-induced skeletal inertia and enteral pain, partly because there are at least five conversations going on around you (four spoken, one written). John holds this morning’s piece of paper in your direction.

she thinks letting me stay over therell make her look like a bad mother

any idea why she touched me like that? almost rather her wheeling me herself

You read it a few times (sometimes his handwriting is too neat) and shrug. You can’t talk in front of all these people and, well, you can’t write in front of anyone. Before you can dwell on how you’re gonna get through Year 5 if you can’t write, he pulls you over to the patch of concrete by the main doors. Mum hurries after you. She tells him off very quietly while you steal his headphones. He says you used to do that every day before he moved to London. You’re not sure about his taste in music.

•

In Year 1, no one was sure whether you were Iphigenia St. David or Iphigenia Richard or Iphigenia Henderson, so they put you at the top of the register. In Year 5, that means you sit right by the door, on a table with Stacey Ashton, Calum Beddoes, Dai Borgstein and Tonya Bufton. It’s the only table here with 5 seats instead of 4.

And it’s right by Mrs Davies’s desk.

She’s doing the register silently, so no one has to say why Gellert and Harvey and Suzie and Hector aren’t here. Sometimes she looks up sharply at you and raises her eyebrows in a way that says you should be focusing on doing your mental maths. Occasionally she says, “Do you want anything?” in a way that says you shouldn’t be wanting anything at all, no, not you, the girl who could walk and talk and write just fine in Year 4, what makes my class any different, Gina?

But the paper in front of you is evading you right now. Actually, no, it’s not the paper, it’s the white noise of 23 nine-year-olds (and Stacey) not quite whispering, it’s Mrs Davies clickiticlackiting on word or whatever, it’s stacey asking you if you need any help in that loud, over-enunciated way that girls whose birthdays are in September have, it’s the girls on the next table gossiping with Tonya, it’s Tonya turning to look at you and looking back at them and laughing, it’s Calum asking you why you can call Dai Diane and he can’t, it’s everyone calling you Gina, it’s not remembering what your name is meant to be, it’s everything else in your head that’s not letting the mental maths in, it’s everyone telling you things that apparently happened, things that you did, horrible things, things that will keep you up at night for years, it’s Calum snapping his pencil because he knows it makes you cry, it’s the feeling like you’re falling, and you might well be, who gives a f—

It’s Mrs Davies clicking her fingers in front of your face.

Everyone’s staring at you. You don’t move. You don’t say anything.

You can’t.

“Well?”

You don’t answer. Partly because no, you’re not well, anyone can see that, but mostly because… you have no idea what she’s asked of you.

“You know what perimeter is, Gina. D’you want to tell me?”

OK, sure, yeah, you know what a perimeter is. You know how to spell it, you know how to work it out, you know the relationship between it and area (John told you), you—

Maybe you don’t know what perimeter is.

And that’s not the voice she uses with Stacey. Or Tonya. Or anyone else. That’s not even the voice she used in assembly, when all the Key Stage 1 kids were there. That’s the voice that…

Fuck.

“No. Don’t.”

You try and let the sound of your breathing take over the giggling and the eyes upon you, and it kind of works because you’re breathing so loudly. Every muscle in your body is tensed to stop you rocking back and forth.

Or worse.

“Look at me.”

Huh? No. No, you’re not doing that.

“Gina.”

And that’s not your name. You don’t have a name anymore.

Something happens right by your ear, but you can’t identify it amongst everything else. Your eyes squinch shut and for a moment you can see her leaning over you.

You go cold.

You whimper slightly, pulling away, expecting your head to hit metal but theres nothing there. No, god, don’t fall, don’t-

You’re jerked forward, upright. You open your eyes to make sure you’re definitely in the classroom. There’s a voice to your right.

“Mr Lloyd never did that.”

“Well, I’m not Mr Lloyd.”

The hand around your left bicep moves to raise your head.

“Look at me.”

Your head comes up, and you look at her.

And now you are screaming.

“No. we don’t do that.”

You wrench your head to the right to look at Diane, but you can’t look at him, so you stare at the wall like you’re looking for something very specific on the Roald Dahl poster. The wall is too white and too far away. It hurts like hell.

Diane moves somewhat into view. He’s a bit close, bless him, but the blurry shape of his face and hair are easier on your healing eye.

He looks up at Mrs Davies (still shouting, but you’re trying to block her out) and moves away with a start. You can see his expression more clearly now; he’s worried, really worried, but you can’t work out why exactly. No one else seems to be.

After a moment of dithering, he gingerly takes hold of Mrs Davies’s left hand and prises her index finger off you. Something moves in your peripheral vision and you instinctively look back at her. She snatches away her hand, gouging her fingers into your flimsy little arm, feeling the bone. The force almost launches you at Calum. She lunges at Diane with what can only be described as teacherly incredulity.

“Uh-“

That noise. It’s familiar, but you can’t place it. It reminds you of the noise your dad makes when you start crying, but scary. Like she wants to collect more tears from you, not wipe them away. Well, you’re crying now. Is that what she wants?

“Dai?”

Some of the other kids do that fake-gasp-and-real-titter that kids are wont to do when someone’s properly getting what for. A few of them gasp for real, the ones in the quagmire between friend and stranger that bullies so often occupy, the ones that have forgotten that Diane isn’t his real name. Matthew Powell says they’ll do you for saying that to a pupil. Stacey asks if you’re alright again. You certainly don’t look alright—you’re shivering all over now and you’re not sure why. Diane starts crying as well.

Mrs Davies takes her hands off you and frowns at him.

“We don’t need that from you, Dai.”

All the tension from being grasped drains out of you and you flop down onto the table. You try to convince yourself that you’re somewhere else, but you don’t have enough memories of nice places yet. You’re having the same overwhelming sadness as you did when you first got home, but you’re too tired to cry now. Diane isn’t.

You want to comfort him, but Stacey is doing that already. She doesn’t look very good at it; he’s crying in a different way and he keeps reaching out to hold your hand. Mrs Davies says not to give you any attention.

You pretend there’s no one in the room except you and him.

He says your name. Maybe he wants you to look at his face again. You try, because you want him to know you’re alright, and then maybe he’ll be alright too.

But god, you can’t. You just can’t.

He raises his hand again, and Stacey grabs it back.

“No,” she says.

You go cold again.

For fuck’s sake.

•

Mrs Davies sits down at her desk and tells everyone to be quiet and do their work and to Not Give You Any Attention. Even Stacey. Even when you’re making all this noise. And, for the first time today, you remember why you are.

And you don’t fucking like it.

Diane nudges you and gestures to his worksheet. The old John Fairfax manoeuvre.

do you want me to tell her ?

You nod. He wipes the tears of his face and puts his hand up. How does he compose himself so fast?

A few minutes later, you look out the window to the hall. You’re still crying and shivering, so Stacey tries to pull you back down. Diane and Mrs Davies are heading towards reception. A thought occurs to you. Calum grabs one of your crutches and you fall against the bookcase. Mrs Davies turns around, sees you and starts shrieking at you for some reason. You look at Diane and gesture to the Year 1 class as much as you can with no free hands. He gets it.

When Mrs Davies gets to you, she runs her hands down her face, makes a frustrated noise, and drags you out into the hall. You drop your crutches. She makes you sit down (you can’t get back up on your own), puts your worksheet in your left hand (you don’t have a thumb on that hand) and your pencil in your right hand (you’re left handed). She goes back into the classroom. She throws your crutches in your general direction. She slams the door. Fuck, it’s really gonna be like this every day, isn’t it?

You’re really crying now. Your throat has been hurting for quite a while. When you were in the classroom, it hurt to swallow, and now you can’t even feel yourself swallowing. Especially with your prosthetic tongue. and you’re tired as fuck.

You wait for Nesta to come out of Class 1, or at least for Diane to come back. Anyone. There’s a clock at the far end of the hall, but its too far away to see. Whatever. Time is a mystery to you anyway.

All this fear is making you feel like you’re about to both hurl and shit yourself—and to be honest, you wouldn’t really care if you did. You look down at yourself. At your hands. For a second, you swear you’re in hospital again. You emit a blood curdling scream and throw yourself to the side like you normally do, but instead of a mattress or a rail or thin air, there’s just floor.

You see legs.

Nesta says a long something to Diane while you continue to scream, and he starts to go inside. He pauses and turns around. Nesta takes out her notebook, scribbles some stuff down and gives it to him. Hey, you recognise that notebook. While he’s gone, you start to really miss him. You snuggle up to him when he comes back. You stay like that while Nesta goes to reception. You calm down a bit. Mrs jones comes out with her and stalks over to you, telling you to get up. She shuts up when she notices your missing leg and the bruise on your face. She says she doesn’t think you’ve got a concussion, but she’s not sure. Nesta says your dad’s coming to pick you up.

You don’t think school is meant to be like this.

#writeblr #writerblr #writing community #yourocsbackstory #actuallyautistic #paralysis tiwh #mariums

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leta-the-strange · 6 years ago

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A far too long, fever-induced Unpopular Opinion, likely first of many, (keeping in mind that is it an opinion and not expressed at all in mean spirit): The casting/character ages in Fantastic Beasts.

Again, this is likely a wildly unpopular opinion because I’ve never come across anyone who has even touched slightly on the subject, but it is an, admittedly minor, detail that got me thinking a little. Again, in the grand scheme of things, it doesn’t matter a great deal and I’m sure I’m still going to enjoy the series either way but it’s just a personal opinion I’ve had nonetheless.

I do understand the organic nature of film and the flexibility you need to allow. Sometimes the character will be pitched or imagined as a certain age, but it doesn’t translate into film well (think LOTR or GOT, etc) or the casting directors like an actor who is obviously much younger or older so much that it trumps the desired age bracket. And most times, it is purposely done that way especially in teen-based movies and tv shows (90210, Smallville, Gossip Girl, PLL, etc, etc) which lead to wildly inaccurate expectations of what teenagers look and act like (in my high school experience anyway). Sometimes for legal and professional reasons, its more convenient to have adult actors portray younger characters.

Often pre-imagined characters evolve and change to fit the actor that is set to portray them whether it be gender, race, age, hair colour, eye colour, relationships, characterisation, etc. Sometimes this is celebrated, goes unnoticed or is a disappointment.

I suppose what I’m trying to say is that I understand that it comes down to a matter of priorities.

Neville, Petunia and Dudley were all blondes in the books. Did it really matter that the actors weren’t (and didn’t dye their hair for the role?) IMO, nah not really. I know a lot of people still can’t forgive the ‘you have your mothers eyes’ issue. I can. Partially. Personally, I didn’t mind Harry’s signature “green as a fresh pickled toad” eyes being blue in the film because Daniel Radcliffe couldn’t wear the contacts. Only auditioning actors with green eyes, the rarest eye colour on the planet, would exclude a lot of talented actors and potentially perfect Harry’s. I don’t believe green eyes were essential to Harry’s character (but I can’t speak for everyone), I think there were more important qualities. Geraldine Somerville, who played the older Lily Potter, also had blue eyes. But then, after making a huge deal over Harry having his mothers’ eyes, they cast young Lily, with whom they do close up, full face scenes of, with big brown eyes. I’m not saying she didn’t do an excellent job – she did wonderfully. I suppose it was just a strange decision in the eyes (pun not intended) of a lot of fans that the casting of a two or so minute role precluded what seemed to be such an integral theme that had been woven through each book and movie so frequently. This is just an example of the questionable, dare I say for lack of a better word ‘lazy’, ‘just imagine for the sake of the plot that he/she…’ attitude that I get from HP/FB at times.

Getting back on the topic of age, one thing I did have a problem with in HP was James and Lily’s age. I don’t think I’m entirely alone in this. 21 seemed old when I was a wee one reading Harry Potter for the first time. It was only when I got older that I realised how young they were and how it added quite fundamentally to the tragedy of their short life and death. It was heartbreaking either way, don’t get me wrong, but seeing (an actual 21-year-old actor portraying) a 21-year-old young mother slain in the first flashback in Philosophers Stone would have been truly shocking. It would also add to the tragic aftermaths of Sirius and Remus too. However, I did later realise that this was probably due to having to match Alan Rickman’s casting as Snape, and later, Gary Oldman and David Thewlis (which I think were all fantastic in their roles). So, they sacrificed the canonical age of James and Lily for the casting of Snape and the Marauders (possibly). Whether this was something the fans agree or not, they prioritised what was most important, in their eyes, to the film. But then, after all of that, for some reason they keep James and Lily’s age of death as 21 on their gravestone??? Therefore, casting two barely-speaking roles to a 43 and 34-year-old who they expect the film going audience to believe are 21??? I assumed that when they did the full casting and knew that Alan Rickman, Gary Oldman and David Thewlis would look far too old for their long-deceased classmate counterparts they would just make the characters older in the films but now I think they wanted to keep film Snape, Remus and Sirius in their early to mid (and eventually late, by the end of the books) thirties and didn’t want it to look painfully obvious. I think a lot of films and tv shows do this to try and pull off the age differences. A 27-year-old actor portraying a ‘high school student’ can often pull it off until you stick them next to a real life 15-year-old. I like to believe it’s that or something other than lazy writing but I can’t know for sure.

This brings us to my current thoughts about Fantastic Beasts which has some of the most wildly strange actor vs character casting age I’ve seen in some time. As a quick refresher (or if you don’t know…) here are the actors ages vs what their characters age is (if I’m not mistaken)...

Eddie Redmayne - 36 / Newt Scamander – 29

Zoë Kravitz – 29 / Leta Lestrange - 29 (probably given that she was in the same year as Newt)

Ezra Miller – 26 / Credence Barebone - 18 (from an interview but still unconfirmed from filmmakers)

Katherine Waterston – 38 / Porpentina Goldstein - 25

Alison Sudol – 33 / Queenie Goldstein – early 20’s/hopefully not late teens (she’s younger than her 25-year-old sister so 24 at the absolute most but I’d say younger given the dynamic). I haven’t found a confirmed age anywhere.

Dan Fogler – 42 / Jacob Kowalski – 26

Callum Turner – 28 / Theseus Scamander – 37

Try and keep in mind that there is no mean spirit intended in my opinion on this. My opinion on the acting ability of each of these people isn’t necessarily relevant to this particular discussion though I do commend actors who can convincingly pull off different ages though I certainly can’t fault actors who can’t as there is only so much you can do sometimes. This is purely about what is most important – character or actor – and the relevance of it.

Eddie Redmayne, in my opinion, seems to have features that allow him quite an amount of leeway in terms of age. He starred in the mini series based off one of my favourite books, Pillars of the Earth (definitely an underrated series I heartily recommended) where he portrays his character as a teen all the way up to a man in his forties/fifties and, in my opinion, is quite believable. I think I have more trouble believing that Eddie Redmayne is 36 than I do believing Newt Scamander is 29/30 (as his birthday is in February, I’m assuming he is 30 during Crimes of Grindelwald) and even if that weren’t the case, I think a six-year difference at those ages can be neither here nor there with some people especially with the right clothes, mannerisms, etc...

Zoë Kravitz – hold on to your hats, a 29-year-old playing a 29-year-old. I haven’t done my in-depth research on the other actors not aforementioned, but I believe this may be the only occurrence of this happening in this film series.

Ezra Miller said that Credence was 18 in an interview. This is probably true, and I would’ve guessed around that age anyway. I think I double checked it on the characters wiki and it matched. As a side note, as a general rule I don’t tend to take the actors words as gospel truth until its confirmed by the writer or director. I feel like, in this film series, there are some actors that get maybe somewhat carried away and speculate rather a lot about their character and sometimes it isn’t entirely accurate. Of course, actors are usually allowed some creative control over their characters and often get little titbits about their past/future that help with their portrayal, but I have noticed some actors’ thoughts about their character don’t add up at all to what the filmmakers have also said and I know which side wins out. A lot of actors are shocked/surprised/disappointed/elated when they find out developments about their character - not even they always know what’s around the corner and sometimes what they think isn’t necessarily true. No matter how deserving, creative or insightful they are about their character, it doesn’t solely belong to them. I think a lot of fans forget this. They go on about ‘so and so said this’ and ‘so and so literally said…’ while blatantly disregarding anything J.K or the FB filmmakers say and again, I know which ones actually run the show. This has nothing to do with Ezra, to be honest, it’s just a quick observation I’ve noticed. I’m so off topic! Anyway, Credence I would’ve put as a late teen/20-year-old at most from his character and I think Ezra has one of those faces that, like many, can float around in the weird young adolescence stage that you can can’t quite pinpoint whether they’re late teens or mid-twenties (I’m in university and pretty much anyone between 18-27ish is indistinguishable to me). Either way he’d be carded at the uni bar. I think if I met a modern-day Credence Barebone I wouldn’t think twice if he told me he was 18.

Katherine Waterston is the one I am most anxious writing about and the one I’m sure a lot of people are cocked and ready to come after me about. She’s probably also one of my two biggest irks with the age issue. Just to get this out the way, I am not the biggest Tina fan (yet). At first, it was casual indifference. I didn’t (and don’t) hate her, I just didn’t really take to her in the first film (I already have hope that the new film may sway me). It really started as simply as that. I will write a separate post on all my thoughts revolving around this because there are many. All I will say is that if you don’t love Tina or ship Newtina based on the first film, it is a very cruel and vicious fandom to be part of. At least in my experience. But that’s a different issue. Let me say firstly that I think Katherine Waterston is very beautiful and I would be happy to look like that at 38 (obviously not the same as she is very Caucasian and I’m a nut-brown Maori, but you get my point). Obviously, I don’t know how the story will unravel and how important it is but was it absolutely necessary that Tina had to be 25? I think 30 would have been passable. Or even better, she could’ve been a little (or however much) older than Newt? Normalising relationships where the woman is older than the man is something I’m here for (my sister is two years older than her boyfriend – 19 and 21 – and it’s so controversial to people??? But I know lots of relationships in the reversal). That would’ve been my ideal scenario if they had Tina originally set for 25 but discovered they really loved Katherine Waterston and decided it would be inconsequential if they wrote Tina a bit older than originally planned. However, I do think it might be the other way around. Maybe it is important that Tina is 25. This might be one of the reasons why I haven’t yet meshed with this character or either of the Goldsteins for that matter. I do admit that I forget that they are in their early and mid-twenties. I do forget that Tina is (apparently) only 25. I honestly believe that I would have liked – or at least had a lot more understanding and sympathy – for Tina’s character had it been obvious she was so young. I will explain more thoroughly in the separate post I’ll eventually write that, had FB been a book before a movie, I would likely have really enjoyed book!Tina. Please understand this particular opinion isn’t about the actor. I’m just saying that I, personally, feel like it was easy to lose sight of the fact that this character is only 25 when the actor playing her is nearly forty years old. Please don’t twist this and interpret it to being me ‘coming after’ the actor. I don’t know why age is regarded as such an insult. It’s the most beautiful, natural thing. Katherine Waterston is 38. There’s nothing wrong with that. She’s healthy and pretty and could easily pass for younger if she so desired. But again, I think sometimes why I don’t find Tina endearing at all (yet) is because I see (not in terms of the actor, the character) a 38-year-old (or round about) woman acting like a 25-year-old. This might be even harder for me to combat in the next film as she is supposed to be quite younger than newcomers Theseus and Leta (ridiculously younger than Theseus) whose actors are both twenty-somethings joining Ezra as the babies of the cast. Don’t come at me about insulting her about her age. Carmen Ejogo is 45 and she cancelled everyone in FBWTFT. A lot of people grow more and more beautiful with age. Older doesn’t mean less beautiful so let’s put that to rest immediately.

Alison Sudol looks like a fucking earth angel and she was a great Queenie. I loved Queenie’s character. Did I love Queenie as a person? No. There is a difference – again, that ties in with what I’ll eventually write about my feelings about those two. I don’t know Queenie’s age, but she is younger than Tina so at the absolute most she would be 24 but I would wager given the big-little sister dynamic they seem to be following, there’s likely more than a year’s difference. I wouldn’t have thought Queenie was so young had I not known otherwise. There are some who find her character a little more annoying than cute, but I think if she were portrayed by someone who was in fact in their early twenties, she probably wouldn’t have come across as so naïve and a little airy. A lot of development occurs in your twenties and there is a tremendous amount of personal growth by the time you hit thirty. The same issue with Tina I suppose. You can forgive a lot of Queenie’s quirks when you remember how young she is but sometimes it’s easy to forget when physically she seems older. I will have to keep in mind how young and impressionable she is still while watching her actions in Crimes of Grindelwald because again, I think I forget sometimes.

I had no idea how old Jacob was, admittedly. I guessed anywhere between 32-40 (I assumed Jacob and Queenie had a bit of an age gap either way) but I was way off. Apparently, he’s 26. My head is in my hands at this point. I know Jacob’s been through a lot (and I’m not saying Dan Fogler isn’t a cutie!) but if some guy told me he was 26 and I arranged to meet him and Jacob Kowalski (again, based on first impressions. I love Jacob) walked in, I’m calling the fucking police. There is no way he is TWENTY-SIX. I love Jacob and Newts relationship, but I never saw Jacob as being the younger one. The fact that he is younger than Newt, Leta and Theseus (again! 11 years younger than Theseus!) when he looks like he could be their fucking uncle is unreal. I don’t really know why they made Jacob so ludicrously young when there was honestly, in this case, no need. I had to track down his age because it had zero (0) relevance to the film. Only thing I can think of is maybe to make his relationship with Queenie not come across as creepy? Who knows.

This one really hurts me. Theseus, my poor boy. The FB team really are just gonna swing around and do THAT. Callum Turner is, in my opinion, a great Theseus from what I’ve seen so far. From interviews, it looks like he adores Zoë and he has great chemistry with Eddie. They’ve also done well to find an actor with similar physical characteristics and mannerisms as Eddie Redmayne making him a very believable casting for Newt’s brother. Though later it was revealed that Theseus is supposed to be eight years older than Newt making Theseus 37/38 which I think was completely unexpected for most people. We knew from the first film that Newt was the youngest brother and even with Callum Turner only being 28, I thought with the right clothes and such they could make him look older – or at least old enough to look like he could pass as Newt’s older brother. But nearly forty? With the kind of trauma Theseus has been through not to mention the likely constant drama of his troublesome brother and fiancée (and his brothers’ new friends and extremely messed up future brother-in-law)? Does he exfoliate with the Philosopher’s Stone? Drop that skin case routine, Theseus. Again, I don’t know what the film is going to bring. Perhaps Theseus must be significantly older than Newt for plot related reasons. Maybe for the sake of the story, he had to be old enough to not attend school with Newt, or maybe their father died early on and Theseus had to grow up quickly to fill a father figure void (that could explain the complicated nature of their relationship) or it might be for any number of reasons. My only hope is that it is specifically relevant to his character and not an inconsequential detail that could easily have been adjusted when they cast such a young actor. It can be a risk having a cast of actors in their thirties and forties playing a cast of twenty-somethings convincingly, and I’ve mentioned why, but it can be pulled off though I think it’s a strange move casting an actual twenty-something year old, one of the youngest cast members, to play a character 10+ years older than some of the oldest cast members characters. I think, like with the Goldstein’s, I will have to be constantly reminding myself when understanding the character that Theseus is that much older than Newt and Leta and even more so than Tina, Queenie and Jacob.

Again, I’m not saying the actors haven’t done a good job with their respective roles, it’s just my 4am cough medicine powered thoughts on how they’ve made some interesting choices regarding what age they’ve kept the characters vs the actors real life ages and how it, for me at least, has affected the way I’ve interpreted the characters and would I feel any different about them had they made the characters similar ages to their actors or vice versa. I might be the only person who has thought about it and it’s not even a complaint on the cast itself (it’s a great collection of actors), it’s just an observation not at all eloquently put by a flu-riddled person.

#the crimes of grindelwald #fantastic beasts #newt scamander #jacob kowalski #queenie goldstein #tina goldstein #theseus scamander #leta lestrange #credence barebone #gonna pass out for 12 hours and probably wake up to a lot of people telling me to fuck off #fantastic fevers and how to alienate yourself from a whole ass fandom

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vicstoriies · 6 years ago

Photo

2009.

"What brings you here today?" The question feels loaded and she doesn't exactly know how to respond. She didn't want to come here, but it was David who suggested that it was a good idea for her to talk out her past experiences so she can learn how to move on from them. It was difficult for her to get used to life without DC there, hovering over her just waiting for her to fuck up by his standards. She was also have a difficult time adjusting to becoming less of the shell she'd turned into. His incarceration was probably the best thing to ever happen to her and even with his mistreatment of her as his wife, she hates to feel that way about him. After all, she was married to him for nearly twenty years of her life... and even with all the bullshit and the pain, she did love him. That was her problem. Victoria shifts uncomfortably in her seat before finally responding to the question, "I'll be honest with you, I didn't want to come here and I wasn't going to. It was my co-worker who convinced me that it was a good idea." She watches as Dr. Larkin scribbles in her notepad and feels herself becoming even more uncomfortable. It's then that the room gets warmer, like the temperature was raised about ten degrees too high. She pulls the sweater she's wearing by the collar, away from her neck, in an attempt to cool herself down. She's nervous and it shows in how fidgety she is. Dr. Larkin looks up from her notebook with the look of neutrality that David explained to her when he suggested therapy. Apparently, it was effective to speak to someone who had no emotional ties to either parties. More often than not, Victoria was left to fend for herself over the yeas. It was a long, lonely ride but somehow, she'd made it. This was just another step in the right direction, David would say. "Why do you think that is?" "B-because of..." She struggles because she can't help the bitter taste of betrayal that forms on her tongue. She feels that by telling her story, any part of her story, she's betraying him. Hurting him in some way and convincing herself that she's no better than he is by badmouthing him to some stranger. It's not gossip though, it's truth. Her truth, for once. "━because of my husband. Well, soon-to-be ex-husband." "And what is your ex-husband's name?" "Declan, but he goes by DC." Dr. Larkin writes it down. "And why would you be here because of Declan?" "He was..." she struggles once more, this time breaking the minimal eye contact she already had with the doctor to drop her gaze down to her feet. "It's okay, this is a safe place. You're safe here. Nothing leaves this office. What did he do?" "He was... abusive." She looked back up at her, "... very abusive." "Abusive, how?" "Seriously? How are they usually abusive?" "Abuse could be physical... emotional... mental..." "I guess I'll take option D for 'all of the above'..." "Mrs. Deschaine━" She corrects her, "Victoria. Mrs. Deschaine is my mother-in-law." Dr. Larkin continues with a nod, "Victoria, why don't you tell me about the first time you started noticing his negative behavior?" "Like, the first time he hit me?" It was something she longs to forget, but her memory has always been very good. She remembers everything, especially the bad, details and all. not even a few knocks in the head could make her forget the moment when she realized she'd made a mistake. "Perhaps, instead, tell me what he was like when you first met? We'll start from the beginning." There's a soft chuckle that escapes her when the memory came flooding back to the forefront of her mind, "Oh, when we first met... he was a dream." Th room around them seems to fade, bringing her back to many years prior when she was still in high school. When all of her hopes and dreams for her future might be like were open to endless opportunities, before things got really bad. I was pretty popular in high school because I was a cheerleader, she begins the story, but I didn't thrive on the popularity like other people did. My close group of friends weren't involved in any of the sports at school but were creative, imaginative people. I dated a football player for two years before Declan, but I broke up with him when I found out that he was cheating on me with a girl on the cheerleading squad because I wouldn't put out for him. She laughs, thinking about what she'd ended up with instead. Everyone knew of DC and his family. The Deschaines are like Limbo royalty. He wasn't involved in any athletics or school activities either, but he was popular with everybody anyway. Uncommon for a group of delinquents who hung around wearing leather and riding motorcycles, isn't it? She shrugs, But Declan, he was charming. He had a charisma about him that made him irresistible to those around him, especially the girls. Me? I wasn't too interested... my dad was the Chief of Police and he warned me against that group of people daily. I was a good girl. I listened, until I didn't. I remember it was a graduation party that DC was also invited to, although he dropped out of school a year prior. Rumor was that it was so he could prospect for the local motorcycle club, DC confirmed that after we got together Anyway, I was actually kind of bummed about graduation because I knew that it meant change. Friends would lose touch and college was right around the corner. I was still unsure of what I wanted to do with my life. I spent most of the party in the corner of the room, feeling sorry for myself, with a drink in my hand that I barely touched. Everyone else was having a good time and celebrating their success. But I remember the first time our eyes locked on each other's. Every feeling I felt is still so vivid. He was so handsome and he had a smile that made eighteen year old me so weak in the knees, that I had to brace myself against the wall behind me so that I wouldn't fall on my ass. It was the first time I understood why all the girls fell over themselves just to impress him. I was the first one to break the eye contact, but I know DC took his eyes off of me. I was probably as red as that shirt your wearing, she nodded towards the shirt Dr. Larkin had on, I was so embarrassed. But he walked over to me, confident as ever. I remember my... he would be my future brother-in-law, Marc, trailing behind him until DC told him to stay back. I swear, my hands were shaking so badly, I'm so sure he noticed. "What're you doin' here all by yourself?" He asked with the biggest grin stretched across his face, like talking to me was equivalent to winning the lottery. He closed the space between us some, but I noticed he kept enough distance not to make me uncomfortable. "I'm not alone. Just not really in the partying mood." He looks down at the drink in my hand and I feel pathetic for not having taken more than two sips from it. He doesn't seem to care though and he looks back into my eyes and I swear, I could get lost in his. "How 'bout you dance with me? Maybe that'll help you get in tha' partyin' mood?" "Oh, I'm not a dancer." I lied because I actually wasn't bad at it, I was just too nervous to accept the offer. I knew I'd embarrass myself. All DC does is laugh, while he takes the cup from my hand and sets it down on a nearby table. He takes my hand and leads me towards the dance floor. "You're a cheerleader, that's close." I didn't expect him to even know who I was, let alone that I was a cheerleader. He must've noticed the look of surprise contorted into my features. "Don't think I don't know who you are, Victoria Anderson. I've been watchin' you for awhile." His fingers intertwine with mine and he pulls me close. I remember the song being a fast one because I made a comment about it, but he insisted on a slow dance anyway. It was more intimate, he said, and he wanted to be close to me. I could hear whistling and shouting from his friends somewhere off in the distance when his forehead rested against mine and he let go of my hand briefly, probably to flip them off. "You cut your hair," He points out. "I remember it bein' longer." He traces a finger down my spine and stopped at the small of my back. "'bout this long, wasn't it?" I didn't realize until then just how much he paid attention to me. I was so taken by him. My own sisters barely noticed the haircut and they saw me everyday. "Um, yeah, that's right. My mom told me that it was getting too long and said it was time for a trim... and well, the lady at the salon kind of got scissor-happy." "I liked it that long." I suddenly felt silly for listening to my other, but it would grow back. I'd only spoken to him for a few minutes by then, but I already felt like I was falling in love with him. I don't remember it being that way with my ex-boyfriend. We were just kind of together because that's what made sense. But DC? DC made me feel like I was looking at my soulmate. We actually ended up spending the rest of the night together and eventually we ended up leaving the party. It was the first time I'd ever driven on a motorcycle. He took me to his favorite spot, we talked for hours, I missed my curfew for the first time ever. I felt like I'd known him forever, he was so captivating to me. The last thing he said to me that night before he kissed my cheek was, "'m gonna marry you someday," And all I could do was laugh, but inside? I was a wreck. It felt like a fairy tale, like I was watching myself in a movie. All of it felt so surreal. He felt too good to be true. Reality set back in and she watched as Dr. Larking continued scribbling everything down. She wonders briefly what her notes say. "... turns out, he was too good to be true." she swallows hard. "Funny thing is, looking back now, I feel like even then... he gave me no choice but to fall in love with him. Like from the very moment he set his sights on me, I was his. That probably sounds stupid." Dr. Larkin shook her head, "Not at all, Victoria. This was a good start. Our session is almost up, but I would like to continue seeing you.How does next week, same day and time sound?" Victoria nods, "Sure."

#｢❀ ♡ * ｣ DRABBLE » victoria&declan.#｢❀ ♡ * ｣ DRABBLE » victoria&antoinette.#｢❀ ♡ * ｣ DRABBLE » therapy sessions.

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sunnysynthsunshine · 6 years ago

Text

The Stage Manager: Chapter 1

Y/N watched the comic strip since the early days so they decided to be a stage manager being a stage manager already involved hard work like fixing cables and props but can they fix the problems of a cast member as well?

1989:

The First gig, the comic strip and the lord of misrule you met because of it

It was night time on the cold, colourful London streets

The bright buildings made the sights look like something from a 1960s painting

You had been wandering for a while and felt bored

Yes you did buy that one shirt just because it had ziggy stardust on the front

Television was dull anything that wasn’t a music-related or to do to with game shows you’d skip over

looking around the city of Soho when you came across the Raymond Revue bar

It looked dull at first when to the corner of your eye you could see people chuckling as they walked downstairs.

Overhearing the sound of an audience and strange sound effects you went upstairs and realised what the commotion was.

There were some comedians performing, Young comedians with new innovative material drawing inspiration from slapstick legends like laurel and hardy to “alternative comedy” jabs of political satire they were called The Comic Strip Presents.

You could hear two blokes who had a blues brothers type performance called the outer limits, a duo called French and Saunders and many others including Pamela Stevenson, Keith Allen and a communist satirist influenced by the Monty Python days called Alexei Sayle.

The night sounded enjoyable the last time you had ever heard good comedy was through the old porridge and Fawlty towers tapes.

Then another performer walked onstage he had pigtails, a red communist berret and a black jacket decorated with political badges.

“I don’t know if any of you are into poetry at all” he addressed the audience, scrunching up his nose smirking.

He then performed a monologue about theatre “Theatre! What are you? Theatre”

When I’m nearta the theatre “I ask myself this question I don’t know perhaps I should ask Vanessa Redgrave”

He shouted “But I don’t know Vanessa Redgrave” before he smirked again at the audience “And neither do you theatre”

When his monologue finished you were jaw dropped this bloke had so much charisma and energy in his performance his snarky attitude was funny and it looked like he was self-aware just having good fun with his audience.

Arriving home you couldn’t get his words and face out of your head even when looking at your old records of The Damned and Madness you’d just see his face in your mind.

With your knowledge of Performing Arts after a few years you decided to volunteer you asked Alexei Sayle if you could do some “behind the scenes work” he agreed.

The first day was something you rattled your teeth about on the way there but once you arrived the atmosphere was easy to adjust to, being an assistant stage manager was like being a bartender sometimes you’d just be fixing cables and preparing props other times you’d overhear the daily gossip but usually you’d only keep it to yourself or you’d joke with Keith Allen about it over a few drinks.

You once observed Pamela Stevenson being mocked about by the catty duo from before

Saying nothing because you left the drama in your secondary school years and you wanted to keep it that way.

However, when you’d see her in the staff room you’d try to chat.

She’d enjoy the conversations but you learned that she felt more left out when they did tours

She felt like the boys could impress the audience in ways she couldn’t and even on the female performer's side she felt like they were just competitive sometimes you’d also run into the duo that made fun of her but you’d just laugh along about it.

Sometimes while fixing cables or props you’d talk to a bloke called Ade he was another performer you’d talk about life with, you’d talk about punk music, your school years and he’d mention the one time there was a technical fault on a Dangerous Brothers skit where he was on fire and the producers didn’t notice.

Peter was one of those outer limits sometimes it would just be him other times Nigel would join usually you’d discuss a film with them or you’d help out with the technical side of their performances.

These were all interesting people who you would talk about many topics with….then there was him.

You’d see him on stage, you’d arrange technical effects for him and other times when everybody else was busy you’d talk to him

It was that day after a performance the others were having drinks and while he would sometimes be the person to be the social butterfly this time he was just there drinking while he frowned

You looked at him, he stared back soon a conversation was started once you agreed you’d talk with him in his dressing room.

He sat there frowning looking in the mirror and then glancing at photos he had of his heroes Little Richard, Ronnie Barker and Tommy Cooper.

“Hey!, (Y/N) as a performer you’ve probably seen me when I played that poet character or Kevin Turvey those years ago Alexi had said you had seen us before.”

You nodded

“Well I’m happy that we were able to amaze you so much that it made you want to be a part of *The Experience* he said, excitedly making mime-like gestures with his hands”

You noticed he had that same aura about him that David Bowie had when he’d talk in interviews about Ziggy Stardust and how there was a big difference between chill laid back bowie and the loud flamboyant Ziggy you could see in his tired eyes that he was stressed

You asked “I might be happy but I’m not sure you are, is there anything going on that is stressing you? being a star carries a lot of hard to fulfil expectations if you don’t want to say that’s ok but I can see you're still trying to project your stage self instead of your real self.”

He blinked a bit surprised of how perspective you were “What nonsense, I’m happy I’m Rik Mayall I make people happy and when I perform I am happy” his smile became a frown, “Well I try to be”

You stared folding your hands as he then started to explain,

“I admit times have been crap recently, the new show I did for Ben Elton wasn’t successful enough so we’ll have to cancel it, while I love my new wife years ago I did make the mistake of being with her at the same time of being with my girlfriend Lise who co-wrote The Young Ones with me and it just feels empty on stage I have something I have my characters I have my jokes but to be honest I feel boring there are some good days and other times where I rip myself apart if I mess up my lines.”

You nodded as you processed his rant

“I feel like all the people and critics will think of me now because of that show is “oh look there’s that bloke who isn’t funny anymore” I’ll be nothing, I don’t work with Ben much anymore..I-I’ve been thinking of being a drama teacher”

You blinked you couldn’t believe that he would think of such a suggestion

putting your hand on his shoulder.

“Look you had an unsuccessful show, there are many bad shows out there but filthy,rich and catflap isn’t the worst, and that won’t be the main thing you’ll be associated with your an actor,you're a singer in that BAD NEWS band and your the most talented comedian I’ve ever seen, critics will be critics unfortunately, but your Rik Mayall you’ll find your spark again you’ll find another show or film you be in that will have the same memorable characters,settings and stories that your other successful works have”

he nodded still frowning looking away

“Yeah your right sometimes the spark goes out and other times the energy arrives back, thank you for the advice..still what show can I do that isn’t a flop I have the qualification I’d be a great drama teacher”

You smirked at him “a drama teacher who makes telling knob jokes and ranting about politics part of the lesson”

He cringed a little before he chuckled “I wouldn’t do that in front of children (Y/N)! politics though is in everything theatre, history, television you can’t escape it, I’d let them make their own decisions knowledge and freedom is what they need but half the time it’s swayed by the opinions of their parents, the fascist pigs or of their teachers”

You were puzzled “Who are they?”

He then got up from his seat and smiled making more hand gestures before he rambled cheerfully

“Children, they are influenced by what they see and what they hear with all the political rubbish there needs to be some sunshine in the storm, children are smart but too many people including people in the television business take advantage of them, bastards! Children have thoughts and wide imaginations, they should be respected they should be able to see the good in the world and the media should be providing that.”

You clicked your fingers as you got an idea “Hey Children's Programming you should do that! You were excellent at jackanory when you appeared on there you should do that again your great at narrating stories maybe you could create your own storytelling kids to show what stories would you read?”

He liked the idea “Fairy tales it’s the tales they are most familiar with because of Disney, funny because the original Grimm tales were very dark”

You said “Well how about you make this series about the Brothers Grimm fairy tales but it doesn’t have to be the glamorised Disney versions or the gritty originals it could be a sort of modern but original take on the stories and maybe you could add animation in there so each story would be different and it would give a chance for different animation companies to show their skills to a wider audience so not only would you be entertaining them but also teaching them about these timeless tales”

He agreed “The show will be called Grimm tales, I’m working with ITV at the moment so I could ask them about the idea thank you (Y/N) this is brilliant when I was little I loved seeing my heroes like Ronnie Barker read out stories and now I’m doing just that”

You smiled but still felt unsure about his other problem….the relationship problem

“Uh, Rik what about your relationship?”

He had a thought for a while and then said “I’ll try to repair relations between me and Lise if I want to move on from my mistakes I should take responsibility for them”

He grinned as he packed his belongings and headed home

#rik mayall #x reader #british comedy #1989 #1980s #grimm tales #the comedy store #comic strip presents

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llantano · 4 years ago

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Turning Leaves, 12. No More Babies

Their meeting had gone better than expected and Dorian was chipper. They had stayed on topic, fielding questions about the economy and job security, and Dorian was so relieved that there were still constituents who were concerned more with her professional plans than her sexual orientation.

The sky had darkened and the temperature had fallen when Amelia walked her to the door that evening with her planner in one hand and her laptop bag in the other. They'd dropped David off for "first dinner" at The Palace. The stillness in the air was broken when they walked into the foyer. "Langston!" Dorian called out. "I'm home!"

Amelia smiled to herself. Dorian always made an entrance.

Dorian slid her coat off and Amelia took it to the closet as Starr rushed down the stairs. She stopped when she reached the landing, standing in front of the campaign poster that now covered the painting on the wall. "Aunt Dorian, please don't shout. I just got Hope to sleep!"

Dorian balled her fist and pressed it to her forehead. "I'm sorry, honey," she apologized, looking up at Starr with sincerity. "I keep forgetting."

Starr slumped her shoulders, exasperated. "Old habits die hard, I guess." She relented to her aunt's apologetic gaze. "It's alright. She's probably getting used to sleeping through all the shouting around here anyway."

Dorian smiled at Starr as she pulled her gloves off. "Starr…." She looked around the room. "Is Langston still home?"

"Oh. She left about a half-hour ago, but she put her article in the other room." Starr gestured toward the door to the sitting room. "It's really good," she encouraged before disappearing back upstairs.

Dorian nodded and waited until Starr was gone before tossing her gloves onto the table and rushing into the other room to find Langston's work.

Amelia followed and draped her own coat over her arm as she propped her bag against the back of the couch. "Dorian… I want to apologize to you."

Dorian paused just long enough to ask, "For what?" before continuing.

Amelia wondered if Dorian had forgotten their exchange the night before. "It's just that I shouldn't have questioned you like I did yesterday after John McBain was here. It wasn't my place."

Dorian was distracted. "Already forgotten."

Amelia watched Dorian. "Do you mind if I stay and read through it, too?"

Dorian welcomed the opportunity to showcase Langston's writing talent. "Of course not – please do!"

The campaign materials that had littered the room before were cleared away, and Langston's article was bound in a purple folder with a pastel pink sticky note attached to the front of it. "Sorry I missed you," the note read. "Hope the meeting went well. Let me know if this needs to say more – or if I said too much." The note was signed with a large cursive "L" and a heart shape.

Dorian ran her thumb over the "L" before she flipped the folder open and read to herself. She stood in the middle of the floor as she poured over the editorial, so anxious to read it that she didn't take time to sit down.

Amelia stood nearby and smiled as she tried to interpret the expressions on Dorian's face. From what she could tell, Langston had written something that Dorian not only approved of, but also was touched by.

Dorian pursed her lips and released a long exhale as she paused to look up at the corner of the ceiling for a moment. When tears came to her eyes, she pretended to pace so that she could turn her back to Amelia and continue to read.

Amelia furrowed her brows in momentary concern. If Dorian had a weakness in this election, it was her girls, and Amelia knew it. The "Cramer women" were Dorian's soft spot, and the biggest threat to Dorian following through on her commitment to their upcoming gay nuptials. David was not much of a threat, as long as Dorian was on board. Amelia figured that between her own dedication and Dorian's pandering to his whims, David wouldn't be that hard to keep in check.

Still, it was heart-warming to see the secret, gentle side of Dorian. Amelia knew Dorian had turned her back on purpose so she took the hint and pulled out her laptop. She placed it on the small desk near the doors and acted as though she wasn't paying attention to Dorian.

"It sounds cliché, but words like concerned, compassionate, giving, genuine and aware are all words that describe mayoral candidate and my mother, Dorian Cramer Lord.

To many citizens of Llanview, Doctor Lord's reputation precedes her. Gossip about her past, personal life, recent political alliances, and her liberal stance on a number of relevant issues seem to be distractions.

However, long-time citizens of Llanview are also aware of the many services she has sponsored and volunteered her time to throughout the years - serving as both a doctor and the chief of staff at the hospital, playing a key role in prison reform, sponsoring various art exhibits, organizing civic functions to raise money for good causes, and representing our town and our nation as an Ambassador. She also supports the local economy through various business endeavors, and is a strong advocate for responsible family planning - supporting a woman's right to choose for herself what is best for her own well-being, as well as accepting that a strong family and a good home can define many different - even unconventional - groups of people.

What most people do not know is that Dorian Lord, despite her active involvement in her community, is an avid and passionate supporter of her own family, in every circumstance. Throughout her life, she helped care for her sisters and her nieces as well as rearing her own three daughters - including me.

As with any normal family, we have our disagreements, but I can honestly say that Dorian always has the best interests of those she loves at heart. Some might even say Dorian Lord is overzealous and overprotective when it comes to her family, but her youngest daughter could not be more grateful for those characteristics.

When I lost my parents, I was alone in the world and unable to deal with my grief. I didn't want to be alone, but at the same time, I didn't want anyone to know how alone I was. I knew that in order to survive, I had to be strong. I had to stand up, and I had to hide.

For a long time, I stood up, all by myself. Then the Cramer women - Dorian's family - found me. They taught me that I didn't have to be alone anymore, and when family services was about to remove me from my home, the town I grew up in, my school, and my friends, my best friend's Aunt Dorian learned of my situation and she stepped in without hesitation. After she brought me into this family, Dorian taught me that I could be strong, but still trust in other people who cared about me.

Simply adopting me to prevent an unpleasant circumstance was not Dorian's intention. As she has with all of "her girls," Dorian Cramer Lord opened her home and her heart, loving me with a devotion and passion that could only be rivaled by that of my own (biological) mother.

She is the core and the strength of our family. We depend on her and we take a piece of her strength with us every day. I absolutely cannot imagine myself with any other family, and I couldn't ask for a better mother.

I truly believe that, as with her family, Dorian Cramer Lord has continuously displayed her concern for, devotion to, and interest in the community of Llanview - a place she and her family have called home for many years.

Her stance on equality is no different, but that cause alone is not what defines her. What defines her is her strength and devotion to what is most important, and I can personally assure you that she has her priorities straight.

What can you say about a woman who will step in and take care of a person before they even realize they need help? How do you describe a person who goes to extreme lengths to protect the people and causes she loves? How do you characterize a woman who wants equal justice for all? What do you do to convey her relentless and generous devotion to her family, friends, and neighbors?

Are those not the qualities that this town needs to nurture it back from its reputation of corruption and the scars it garnered under recent leadership? I am here, as a person who knows Dorian Cramer Lord better than most, to tell you with complete sincerity that she deserves your vote for Llanview's next mayor."

Dorian took a deep breath and let it out as she admired the paper. Perhaps Langston had overused the word "family," but the piece was loving and very personal, and Dorian appreciated the comparison of Langston's situation with the state of the town. It filled her heart and bolstered her courage, though she could not help but wish that her Pulitzer Prize winning husband were there to read it, too – for many reasons.

A few moments after Dorian seemed to be finished reading, Amelia inquired, "Is it good?"

Dorian bit her lip as she smiled and nodded, and dabbed the corner of her eye before turning back around with a confident air. "She said I was as devoted and passionate as her biological mother," she gestured at the paper, "and that she couldn't imagine being in any other family than mine." Dorian grinned at Amelia.

Amelia returned a smile and nodded, allowing Dorian to keep the true depth of her emotions about Langston tucked away. She changed the subject. "The proofs are online if you want to check them out." She offered Dorian the use of her laptop in exchange for the purple folder.

Dorian sat down at the desk, proud and graceful, and gazed at the computer screen. She scrolled with the up and down arrows on the keyboard.

Amelia slipped to the back corner of the room to read Langston's article. She didn't expect to be as impressed with it as Dorian had been.

Dorian felt a tinge of headache at her temple and squinted as she repositioned the angle of the computer screen. She took a deep breath as she scrolled down the page of pictures, which all had neat, strategic watermarks.

She adored the second pose, in which she and Langston looked like honest-to-goodness family, with their dark eyes and hair and hands folded on top of each other. It looked traditional, even Victorian. Langston's light curls fell over her shoulder, capturing the hint of innocence and youth that still lingered in the sophisticated young lady.

There were several pictures that were similar, including one where she had taken Langston's hand and they had smiled at each other. When Dorian saw that shot, she was sure she wanted to order it and managed to use the track pad to check the box next to the picture.

She looked around at Amelia, who was leaning on the back of a chair and appeared to be in deep contemplation as she read Langston's article. She took a moment to inspect Amelia's expression, and decided it was one of interest.

Amelia was not just interested in Langston's words, but enthralled by them as she sat down to absorb what she was reading.

Being a part of Dorian's family had fulfilled the same need in Langston that being an active part of the LGLA had fulfilled in Amelia. She snuck a glance at Dorian out of the corner of her eye. If Dorian could be that person to a young girl in need of a family, she could sure as hell be an icon to people fighting for equal rights.

Without anyone even realizing it, Amelia had just bonded with Dorian. She nodded and raised her eyebrows, inspired and motivated in a way she hadn't been before.

The campaign was no longer just about helping Dorian win an election so that Amelia and the LGLA could use their candidate for their cause. She understood now that Dorian would stand up for them as long as they had her back.

It wasn't a chess game. It was a real, heart-felt, passionate fight for equality – as long as Dorian agreed. And if Amelia hadn't been convinced that Dorian was the right person for the job before, she sure was now.

Dorian was busy inspecting the next couple of pictures – the ones in which she and Langston were hugging. They were almost identical, except that in the second picture, her own eyes were closed.

Her brows furrowed and she tilted her head as she realized that she had lifted her heel to lean on her tiptoes and that Langston had bent her knees just enough to compensate for a difference in height that had been caused by the taller heels in Langston's shoes.

She frowned. The photographer should have caught that. She decided that he had seen it after the fact, since there was a cropped version of the picture that showed them from the back up.

She scrutinized the picture. It appeared that they had hugged each other with open palms that were settled on each other's backs. One of Dorian's hands had strayed upward to caress the back of Langston's head. Langston's head was turned and tilted toward Dorian's arm just enough that both of their faces were visible.

Dorian's was more of a profile – her eyes closed as if in grateful prayer or silent love as she relished the moment in her daughter's arms. Langston was smiling and looking up as if in love or inspired, happy to be receiving Dorian's embrace.

It was absolutely beautiful – a perfect moment. It took Dorian's breath away. She stared at it for a while, keeping diligent control of her emotions, in awe, until she noticed Amelia standing over her, observing.

Startled, Dorian offered her first thought. "I want this picture on billboards." She meant for it to come out as a strong statement, but her voice was quiet.

Amelia grinned and nodded as she leaned over the desk beside Dorian and moved the cursor with one hand on the track pad. She checked the selection box next to the picture and gave Dorian a concerned look when the woman sighed. "Hey, are you okay?"

Dorian nodded and smiled. "Oh, I'm fine," she offered. "A little tired. What did you think of Langston's article?"

Amelia laid the folder down next to Dorian and took her laptop to the couch. "It's great," she emphasized without elaborating on the details. "I want to sit down with her sometime tomorrow and have her stress some of the good points she made … if that's okay?"

Dorian nodded. "Why not tonight?"

Amelia looked around. She was sure that whatever movie Langston and Markko had gone to see couldn't be over yet. "When do you expect her home?"

"Oh." Dorian sighed as she held her arm out and her head back to check her watch. It wasn't even nine yet. "Well … she has been staying out all hours as of late." She scowled with disdain. "Ever since Markko and Cole got that apartment." She stared at the phone but reminded herself that Langston was a responsible young lady.

Amelia traced Dorian's gaze to the nearby phone. "Are you sure you're alright?" she asked again. "You seem a bit … on edge? You're not worried about the press, are you?"

Dorian jerked her head toward Amelia. That thought hadn't even occurred to her. She rubbed her forehead and then sighed, gesturing at the laptop Amelia held. "Langston is all grown up."

Amelia wondered, looking between the computer and Dorian's wistful expression. The wheels in her mind turned as she contemplated her new understanding of Dorian's family, and the fact that Langston and Starr were the same age. She hesitated before making the suggestion that popped into her mind. "Did you ever think about adopting another child?"

Dorian was taken aback by Amelia's suggestion. Her initial response was, "Of course not. I love my girls … my family … and the last thing we need…." She let her mind catch up before she finished her sentence. She did not want to imply that having a baby in the house was a burden. She also considered the reasons that Amelia would make such a suggestion.

Amelia lifted her brows, noting Dorian's thoughts. "You do love children. I know adoption and foster care are of concern, and it would be a good way to pull attention away from this whole marriage thing."

Dorian stood and crossed the floor to look out at the darkened terrace as she spoke. Her voice was terse. "Not to mention – yes, detracting attention from our gay marriage, but putting the focus right back on gay families and parental rights." She shot an accusing glance over her shoulder at Amelia.

"It would be putting the focus on family values. Your very strong family values," Amelia tried to convince Dorian, pointing at Langston's editorial.

Dorian slapped the top of the nearby bureau, rattling the number of small, framed pictures and vases on it. "Amelia, you're forgetting, aren't you … that we – you and I," she gestured between them, " – are lesbians together…?" She shook her head and threw her hands in the air, exasperated.

"Oh, that's right," Amelia argued with sarcasm, nodding her head at Dorian dramatically. "Right … we're lesbians … so even if we wanted to adopt a child together…."

"Oh, cut the crap, Amelia," Dorian interrupted, scolding. "Face the facts. No matter what I do – no matter how well intentioned – at this point, it is all going to be seen as one big, fat, gay political agenda! And that part ...is not-my-fault." She ran the last three words together, emphasizing them with a finger in the air.

Amelia stood and took a step toward Dorian, turning her chin as she eyed her. "How does that feel to you?" she asked. "To know that just because people see you as a lesbian, everything you do is defined by that?"

Dorian gave in and looked down at her fingernails. "Point made." She swallowed. "But." She lifted her finger back into the air as she looked up at Amelia again. "If I ever adopted again, it would be out of love – not for any agenda or election." She paused in thought. "Besides, it would be a far better strategy to adopt right before my second term, and use it to get re-elected."

Amelia grinned, very amused. "Yep," she nodded in agreement.

Dorian frowned again, frustrated and annoyed at herself for entertaining the thought. "I have a headache. I wonder if we still have those Belgian chocolates I ordered." She reminded herself not to shout as she headed for the kitchen.

Dorian could drive a person crazy, but it was endearing when it wasn't infuriating.

Amelia massaged her own forehead in thought as she turned to place the order for the photographs. She was still working on sending the order when she heard a buzzing noise coming from the foyer.

A quick investigation proved that Dorian had left her cell phone on silent mode. Before Amelia could decide whether to take the phone to the kitchen, she noticed the name on the screen.

Curious, she looked around the room and waited for the voice mail icon to appear. She moved to the far side of the stairs and tucked herself in the corner as she tried the V-pattern she had seen Dorian punch in a few times, starting with two ones.

It took a few tries to crack the code – one one zero six.

There was a long pause on the recording, as if the call had been accidental, but after several seconds a deep voice with an impatient Latin accent broke through the silence. "Dorian, I need you. You have to pick up the phone sometime. Please return my call."

Amelia's eyes widened. His request sounded more like a demand. Her mind raced in slight panic. Dorian's insistence on dodging the subject of Ray Montez was rooted in her actual avoidance of any contact with him. It seemed there was much more to it than a simple parting of the ways.

A sinking feeling in Amelia's gut told her that Ray's attempt to reach Dorian did not bode well for their campaign – or future marriage. The world slowed around her as she scrambled to delete Ray's message and the record of his call before anyone saw her with Dorian's phone. She felt justified in the fact that Dorian was already evading the man.

She gasped a sigh of relief as she placed the cell phone in the exact place on the table where she had found it and returned to her laptop to finish the order she was placing.

She wondered if she could broach the subject of Ray Montez before the night ended. She had to wonder about the terms of his departure, and she was more uneasy about Dorian's reluctance to discuss him … among other things … than ever.

#OLTL #One Life to Live #Turning Leaves #A/U #fanfic #Dorian Lord #Amelia Bennett #Langston Wilde #Starr Manning #Ray Montez #Election Storyline

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mayasshitposts · 5 years ago

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The New Queen : A musical (Queen Fanfiction) Chapter 1

Author's Note: Welcome to Chapter one of The New Queen: A Musical. I hope you have fun reading this first chapter, which will act more of as an introduction to the characters and plot. This chapter itself is divided into two parts, the first is a fe highlights of the last few years of the 1990s, where the original Queen went through some major changes. The second part is an introduction to the main characters of our story, as well as the first song of the musical. Have fun and enjoy my darlings! If you see bold brackets pop up, they are a mini author's note, and the italic quotes are the lyrics. The brackets indicate backing vocals, and I will mention who's singing backup vocals within the story so here goes.

November 24, 1991

The world was in shock. The world of rock was devastated. They had just lost a legend of rock n roll.

The rock legend Freddie Mercury had just died, at the young age of forty-five. This date was etched in the hearts of all those who knew the legend, personally, professionally and the billions of fans who loved this man.

However, this date not only saw the death of the legendary singer but Queen also lost their genius bass player, John Ricard Deacon who made fewer public appearances and eventually retired in the year 1997.

The legacy of Queen rests on its remaining members, Roger Taylor and Brian May, who work tirelessly to keep Queen alive. Little did Freddie Mercury know that he had impacted so many budding musicians. Especially one aspiring rockstar.

Present Day

Fast forward to the year 2018. It has been twenty-six years since that day. Freddie Mercury is still remembered as a legend and a mentor for many aspiring artists in the field of music.

Seventeen-year-old Amyra was in the basement of her friend's house. They had been jamming to a few rock songs, all a part of their set for their school's annual talent show. Shreya, Amyra's friend was on the bass. Their friend Raghav was on the drums, while Adi, Shreya's brother played the electric guitar.

Meanwhile, Amyra found herself with a microphone in one hand and hips slightly swaying to the beat of the music, singing the lead vocals. She had convinced her friends to perform with her, as a tribute to Queen.

Amyra had always loved the world of rock n roll. David Bowie, Pink Floyd and Led Zepplin being some of her biggest influences, however. she loved Queen the most. She loved, no idolized their lead singer Freddie Mercury and tried to imbibe all of his little qualities on stage.

If there was anything she wanted more than becoming a rockstar herself, was to meet the members of Queen. She wanted to go back in time and meet Freddie Mercury.

Adi started to play the opening chords to the song, "Crazy Little Thing Called Love."

(you may play the music now)

Amyra closed her eyes and started to sing the lyrics.

"This thing called love

I just can't handle it

This thing called love

I must get round to it

I ain't ready

Crazy little thing called love"

Amyra sang to the verse, putting her heart and soul into the lines written by Freddie. She imagined him at the Live Aid concert in 1985, and the many others he performed this song in and started to move around the room as if it was a stage, hoping to capture the attention of her imaginary audience.

"This thing(this thing)

called love(called love)

It cries(like a baby)

In a cradle all night

It swings, (woo woo)

It jives(woo woo)

It shakes all over like a jellyfish

I kinda like it

Crazy little thing called love."

Amyra now moved and swayed to the music, starting to feel the sensation of the lyrics. She wanted to make Freddie proud. The band plays its instruments. Her voice, the backups and the instruments seemed to blend in perfectly.

"There goes my baby

She knows how to Rock'n'Roll

She drives me crazy

She gives me hot and cold fever

Then she leaves me in a cool cool sweat

I gotta be cool, relax,

Get hip! get on my tracks

Take a back seat

Hitchhike

And take a long ride on my motorbike

Until I'm ready

Crazy little thing called love"

Amyra continued to sing her heart out as the band moved to the last part of the song. They repeated the chorus and ended the song.

Amyra took a deep breath once they finished, earning a few quick words of encouragement and praise from her friends as she went to sit down. Her friends huddled together and gossiped, as it was their last bit of practice for the day. Amyra, on the other hand, was silent. She thought about Queen and Freddie. "Oh Freddie, I wish you could watch this show." She thought to herself.

Little did she know that a certain queen was watching her very closely.

#Queen #Freddie Mercury #brian may #crazy little thing called love #Fanfiction #The new Queen

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bvtterflyeffectxx-a · 6 years ago

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♡ ━ NO CHOICE.

━ 2009 ; NEARLY A YEAR INTO DC'S INCARCERATION. ( therapy session 01. ) "What brings you here today?" The question feels loaded and she doesn't exactly know how to respond. She didn't want to come here, but it was David who suggested that it was a good idea for her to talk out her past experiences so she can learn how to move on from them. It was difficult for her to get used to life without DC there, hovering over her just waiting for her to fuck up by his standards. She was also have a difficult time adjusting to becoming less of the shell she'd turned into. His incarceration was probably the best thing to ever happen to her and even with his mistreatment of her as his wife, she hates to feel that way about him. After all, she was married to him for nearly twenty years of her life... and even with all the bullshit and the pain, she did love him. That was her problem. Victoria shifts uncomfortably in her seat before finally responding to the question, "I'll be honest with you, I didn't want to come here and I wasn't going to. It was my co-worker who convinced me that it was a good idea." She watches as Dr. Larkin scribbles in her notepad and feels herself becoming even more uncomfortable. It's then that the room gets warmer, like the temperature was raised about ten degrees too high. She pulls the sweater she's wearing by the collar, away from her neck, in an attempt to cool herself down. She's nervous and it shows in how fidgety she is. Dr. Larkin looks up from her notebook with the look of neutrality that David explained to her when he suggested therapy. Apparently, it was effective to speak to someone who had no emotional ties to either parties. More often than not, Victoria was left to fend for herself over the yeas. It was a long, lonely ride but somehow, she'd made it. This was just another step in the right direction, David would say. "Why do you think that is?" "B-because of..." She struggles because she can't help the bitter taste of betrayal that forms on her tongue. She feels that by telling her story, any part of her story, she's betraying him. Hurting him in some way and convincing herself that she's no better than he is by badmouthing him to some stranger. It's not gossip though, it's truth. Her truth, for once. "━because of my husband. Well, soon-to-be ex-husband." "And what is your ex-husband's name?" "Declan, but he goes by DC." Dr. Larkin writes it down. "And why would you be here because of Declan?" "He was..." she struggles once more, this time breaking the minimal eye contact she already had with the doctor to drop her gaze down to her feet. "It's okay, this is a safe place. You're safe here. Nothing leaves this office. What did he do?" "He was... abusive." She looked back up at her, "... very abusive." "Abusive, how?" "Seriously? How are they usually abusive?" "Abuse could be physical... emotional... mental..." "I guess I'll take option D for 'all of the above'..." "Mrs. Deschaine━" She corrects her, "Victoria. Mrs. Deschaine is my mother-in-law." Dr. Larkin continues with a nod, "Victoria, why don't you tell me about the first time you started noticing his negative behavior?" "Like, the first time he hit me?" It was something she longs to forget, but her memory has always been very good. She remembers everything, especially the bad, details and all. not even a few knocks in the head could make her forget the moment when she realized she'd made a mistake. "Perhaps, instead, tell me what he was like when you first met? We'll start from the beginning." There's a soft chuckle that escapes her when the memory came flooding back to the forefront of her mind, "Oh, when we first met... he was a dream." Th room around them seems to fade, bringing her back to many years prior when she was still in high school. When all of her hopes and dreams for her future might be like were open to endless opportunities, before things got really bad. I was pretty popular in high school because I was a cheerleader, she begins the story, but I didn't thrive on the popularity like other people did. My close group of friends weren't involved in any of the sports at school but were creative, imaginative people. I dated a football player for two years before Declan, but I broke up with him when I found out that he was cheating on me with a girl on the cheerleading squad because I wouldn't put out for him. She laughs, thinking about what she'd ended up with instead. Everyone knew of DC and his family. The Deschaines are like Limbo royalty. He wasn't involved in any athletics or school activities either, but he was popular with everybody anyway. Uncommon for a group of delinquents who hung around wearing leather and riding motorcycles, isn't it? She shrugs, But Declan, he was charming. He had a charisma about him that made him irresistible to those around him, especially the girls. Me? I wasn't too interested... my dad was the Chief of Police and he warned me against that group of people daily. I was a good girl. I listened, until I didn't. I remember it was a graduation party that DC was also invited to, although he dropped out of school a year prior. Rumor was that it was so he could prospect for the local motorcycle club, DC confirmed that after we got together Anyway, I was actually kind of bummed about graduation because I knew that it meant change. Friends would lose touch and college was right around the corner. I was still unsure of what I wanted to do with my life. I spent most of the party in the corner of the room, feeling sorry for myself, with a drink in my hand that I barely touched. Everyone else was having a good time and celebrating their success. But I remember the first time our eyes locked on each other's. Every feeling I felt is still so vivid. He was so handsome and he had a smile that made eighteen year old me so weak in the knees, that I had to brace myself against the wall behind me so that I wouldn't fall on my ass. It was the first time I understood why all the girls fell over themselves just to impress him. I was the first one to break the eye contact, but I know DC took his eyes off of me. I was probably as red as that shirt your wearing, she nodded towards the shirt Dr. Larkin had on, I was so embarrassed. But he walked over to me, confident as ever. I remember my... he would be my future brother-in-law, Marc, trailing behind him until DC told him to stay back. I swear, my hands were shaking so badly, I'm so sure he noticed. "What're you doin' here all by yourself?" He asked with the biggest grin stretched across his face, like talking to me was equivalent to winning the lottery. He closed the space between us some, but I noticed he kept enough distance not to make me uncomfortable. "I'm not alone. Just not really in the partying mood." He looks down at the drink in my hand and I feel pathetic for not having taken more than two sips from it. He doesn't seem to care though and he looks back into my eyes and I swear, I could get lost in his. "How 'bout you dance with me? Maybe that'll help you get in tha' partyin' mood?" "Oh, I'm not a dancer." I lied because I actually wasn't bad at it, I was just too nervous to accept the offer. I knew I'd embarrass myself. All DC does is laugh, while he takes the cup from my hand and sets it down on a nearby table. He takes my hand and leads me towards the dance floor. "You're a cheerleader, that's close." I didn't expect him to even know who I was, let alone that I was a cheerleader. He must've noticed the look of surprise contorted into my features. "Don't think I don't know who you are, Victoria Anderson. I've been watchin' you for awhile." His fingers intertwine with mine and he pulls me close. I remember the song being a fast one because I made a comment about it, but he insisted on a slow dance anyway. It was more intimate, he said, and he wanted to be close to me. I could hear whistling and shouting from his friends somewhere off in the distance when his forehead rested against mine and he let go of my hand briefly, probably to flip them off. "You cut your hair," He points out. "I remember it bein' longer." He traces a finger down my spine and stopped at the small of my back. "'bout this long, wasn't it?" I didn't realize until then just how much he paid attention to me. I was so taken by him. My own sisters barely noticed the haircut and they saw me everyday. "Um, yeah, that's right. My mom told me that it was getting too long and said it was time for a trim... and well, the lady at the salon kind of got scissor-happy." "I liked it that long." I suddenly felt silly for listening to my other, but it would grow back. I'd only spoken to him for a few minutes by then, but I already felt like I was falling in love with him. I don't remember it being that way with my ex-boyfriend. We were just kind of together because that's what made sense. But DC? DC made me feel like I was looking at my soulmate. We actually ended up spending the rest of the night together and eventually we ended up leaving the party. It was the first time I'd ever driven on a motorcycle. He took me to his favorite spot, we talked for hours, I missed my curfew for the first time ever. I felt like I'd known him forever, he was so captivating to me. The last thing he said to me that night before he kissed my cheek was, "'m gonna marry you someday," And all I could do was laugh, but inside? I was a wreck. It felt like a fairy tale, like I was watching myself in a movie. All of it felt so surreal. He felt too good to be true. Reality set back in and she watched as Dr. Larking continued scribbling everything down. She wonders briefly what her notes say. "... turns out, he was too good to be true." she swallows hard. "Funny thing is, looking back now, I feel like even then... he gave me no choice but to fall in love with him. Like from the very moment he set his sights on me, I was his. That probably sounds stupid." Dr. Larkin shook her head, "Not at all, Victoria. This was a good start. Our session is almost up, but I would like to continue seeing you.How does next week, same day and time sound?" Victoria nods, "Sure."

#♡ » declan ‘dc’ deschaine / ( connection. )#♡ » drabble / ( writing. )

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sobdasha · 4 years ago

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library book haul

these are all many months out of date

Conservation of Shadows, Yoon Ha Lee This sci-fi and fantasy short story collection is Good Shit. Plus it includes my favorite short-story-collection thing, aka Author's Notes on the stories, which enhances the experience even more. So: I tried to read this in the previous batch with Lee's other work, but Lee's work requires your full attention and is not suitable for reading in the breakroom at work, where people come up, see you with a book, turn on the TV, and then proceed to ignore the TV the entire fucking time while they talk excessively loudly with the other people in the breakroom. I've been enjoying the fact that they put a real chair in the department so if I don't work the morning shift I can take my break in the department where the din from the customers is, in fact, quieter. And I don't have to walk to the literal opposite corner of the store, wasting time and chronic pain! Anyway. So I waited until I was on vacation, and had large stretches of quite time, to read this, and it was amazing. I did not do the write-up then because I am lazy. However, I am in the middle of rereading now, and I can tell you that these stories only get better the second time around. I was a little worried it'd be like Shakespeare--you have to read several Shakespeares before you finally get into the Shakespeare zone and can actually, like, read the Shakespeare. These stories, on the other hand, remained accessible and are enhanced by having half a clue where the story will go. I like them all, but some of my top favorites: Ghostweight--Lee says this was the second-hardest story to write because it took months to nail the intro/outro of the story. Well, it pays off. The Bones of Giants--Lee says the fantasy equivalent of mecha is to dig up some giant skeletons and apply necromancy. I'm bad at recognizing "zombie" when you don't use the word "zombie", so like the Abhorsen series I don't really consider this "zombie lit which I would hate." Mostly it's just a little soft and when I'm reading I picture big sweeping landscapes, like a Studio Ghibli film or Breath of the Wild. The Unstrung Zither--Lee just talks about the music stuff, but this one feels to me like Gundam Wing if I'd actually finished watching Gundam Wing because Gundam Wing had turned out to actually be anywhere near as interesting as the quantum versions of it I'd imagined. (Thanks to Lee's other stories, I'm now using "quantum" instead of "noodle incident".) Well, now I no longer feel any need to actually go back and watch Gundam Wing. Cool! It's occurring to me that Lee's works mostly fall into the category of: soft; this is the literal cost of genocide and occupation; and both at once. It's a hell of a lot better than ~the glory of war~. Anyway as I said it's all good.

Always Coming Home, Ursula K. Le Guin I actually quit reading this one pretty early on. Not exactly a quit, though. I wasn't in the right mindset; I just couldn't get through it and realized what I was in fact craving was Adventure. So I went on to reread The Prydain Chronicles instead and I'll pick this up again sometime later when I am in the mood for something quiet, reflective, domestic, and not big on plot.

Ursula K. Le Guin: The Last Interviews, ed. David Streitfeld This was interesting! Although I always have mixed feelings when I'm reading about authors talking about the craft. IDK I think it's a me-thing. Like, I pick up this essay expecting the author to tell me what works for them, and then I get annoyed because I decided the author was telling me "this is the only way" when that's bs and now I want to rebel??? Or maybe because Le Guin talked about how even a novel ought to be poetry and as someone who understands the theory of meter but has been flunking everything related to meter or stress since grade school in the practical sense, I find that idea Highly Overrated. I honestly don't remember what else was in here, because I waited for many months to do this write-up. I didn't actually hate reading this though so.

The Prydain Chronicles, Lloyd Alexander These are Peak comfort food to me. All I want to say this time around is, I should write some fics as Alexander's penance for making Eilonwy Very Cool but mistakenly doing so by making her Not Like Other Girls. (Crying and having feelings is gender-neutral in these books; what's portrayed negatively about Eilonwy through Taran's view, despite the fact that she's objectively better than him lol, is her ~chattering~. Which is annoying because not only does Eilonwy internalize that into putting down non-sword-women for "clucking like hens", Fflewddur chatters at least as much as Eilonwy, if not more, and because he's a guy it's never phrased that way even though we're all aware he's super flighty. I really wish this had been done with more nuance, because Eilonwy also has internalized misogyny about things like dresses and washing your hair and sleeping in a comfortable bed, and Fflewddur again is always the first person to be like "um but I would like to be comfy tonight though.") Anyway I just think that after Taran is king, if he wants to go someplace and keep his hands busy to think, presumably the gardens and fields are enough out of the way that this would make your king difficult to find. So instead, I propose that he goes to the spinning and weaving rooms, because that's literally in the castle, easy to find, he knows how to do that shit, Dwyvach schooled his ass good about how work doesn't have a gender in book 4, and he did enjoy weaving, and as a bonus he can realize that "chattering" is not bad and gossip is a good way to learn things you, as a king, probably need to know about the working of your castle, and Eilonwy can join him for bonding and realize this is not so terrible after all, and we will all value these women who spend a lot of fucking time and effort making sure you can have some goddamn clothes to wear. THE END.

The Last Unicorn, Peter S. Beagle Everybody really loves The Last Unicorn, by which I think they mean the movie? And I thought that I did as well, even though I remembered exactly nothing from it save for the title when we watched it once in either kindergarten or first grade in place of recess for a week because it was, idk, cold?? raining nonstop??? Anyway I always thought that I loved it and then I finally rewatched it as an adult and it was. Not. Great. And then I forgot and watched it again a few years later and was like Nope, still Not For Me. And now, finally, I decided to get off my bum because for me books are almost always better than the movie, and lo and behold, it is. From what I can recall, the movie is the general plot structure of the book portrayed as an Adventure, stripped of the thoughtful, reflective narration and the deeper narrative themes. Which is 100% why that movie appears to me to be some kind of acid trip. I wish I had read this as an early teen, so that I could have absorbed some of Beagle's writing style, his turns of phrase in simile and metaphor. "His scimitar smile laid its cold edge along their throats," etc. He never really makes it seem like Too Much. (Side note, that's something I notice about Yoon Ha Lee too. Very lush and descriptive similes and metaphors, very much get the job done and are not things you have ever heard before. Although Lee's tend to make me stop and go "wait what???", and catch me off guard. I suspect it's a mix of innovation and cultural difference, whereas for Beagle everything sounds so exactly right and smooth and perfect probably because everyone else has been copying off him for years and I'm familiar with diluted versions. Anyway what I'm trying to say is, I got a bit away from that in my writing, but dang I am gonna have to up my game and purple my prose a little bit more because I really love what these guys are doing!)

Trail of Lightning, Rebecca Roanhorse Okay so Ann Leckie recommended this book to me, both in a general sense and also in person. And I looked at the description and thought, "Well, it's not my genre but it probs can't hurt me to pick it up and try." And so I finally did. Reading this was an interesting progression (probably most especially for my roommate who gets my live-reading reactions while she's trying to DnD) of watching me go from: "It's not my genre but it's not like the writing sucks so it's not bad" to "Well it is engaging and I do like garbage loner protagonist is a woman instead; I'm not compelled to buy this but I will read the rest of the series as it comes out from the library" to "Oh snap I love it when the critical reviews of a book were actually recommendations for me to read it" to "*weeping* Kai is a soft good boy and I support Maggie and her Emotional Support Shotgun, I will buy ALL THE BOOKS" At one point there was a perfect place, in the midst of a discussion about how you can like flamethrowers and makeup at the same time, Maggie, just because you don't like makeup, etc, to insert a joke about "it's called flaming gay for a reason". BUT in Rebecca's defense the entire scene was great anyway. The whole book was great. It's great. Read it. Oh speaking of the critical reviews, one of them was like "the protagonist claims to be unable to cook and then a few paragraphs later makes a 5 star meal, so this book is garbage." Lol was the reviewer confused because the word "bread" was used, and believes that bread is an art form unable to be accomplished by mere mortals (which, I mean, is how I feel about the idea of babying a loaf of bread all day)? Because bread only has to be "I made a paste of flour and water" which this. Basically was. Fried in a pan. And then the side dish was a can of beans with a can of chiles thrown in for fancy. This is literally the definition of can't cook, because you can't exactly order takeout on the reservation after the apocalypse when you prefer to live in a trailer in the middle of nowhere. I'm just saying, this scene was perfect. Also this was the point in time where I started summarizing all apocalyptic books as "After the events of the year 2020" to my roommate. It. It continues to hold true. Every year for like the past five years we've been saying maybe next year will be better, but I'm gonna be honest, I'm terrified of what 2021 will bring. One final visual: me, unable to pronounce Navajo words to my roommate when reading select passages, and also not being able to spell them on account of not knowing the names of accents in English: "so it's c-h-apostrophe-i accent aigu cedilla-i cedilla-polish l with a line through it…" (not an actual word, I don't remember the actual words, I returned the book to the library long ago, this is for illustrative purposes of my ignorance only)

To The Lighthouse, Virginia Woolf I tried to read this because Le Guin praised it a lot in The Last Interviews, and it was on the Wizard's Library shelves and I thought maybe I should broaden my horizons. But I quit early on because I, a disaster of run-on sentences, could not parse half of these and I was not invested and if I don't have to read ~classics~ for literature class it probably won't ever happen. Honestly a lot of the contemporary literature I'm reading is better for me anyway.

Sunlight and Shadow, Cameron Dokey This was also on the Wizard's Library shelves and I like fairytale things in theory and despite reading the wiki summary on various occasions I really don't know anything about the plot of The Magic Flute, which is this a retelling of. This book queerbaited me. It's unfair of romances to always put more chemistry between the people who aren't getting together than who are. In this case, both girls and both boys, who were to pair off into het couples. There's literally an entire chapter of Gayna going from "You've ruined everything!" to "I wish I could hate you!" to "Oh no you're hot!" to "And that doesn't actually make me jealous oh shit!" to "Okay I'll help you" to "Oh no she smiled and my heart skipped a beat huhhh!" about Mina. The word gay is even in her name!!! What is the author doing with her choices??? Seriously what is the author doing with her choices, in the author's note at the end of the book I learned Statos (Monostatos) was originally "evil character just because he's a Moor" so Dokey Fixed It by making him just a guy who wanted Things like the rest of the characters want Things and he just happens to come off as bad because he's not aligned with them and also he's very, very white. Noooooo that's not how you do it, that's not how you fix racism, you redeem him while keeping him black. I also, as a rule, dislike first-person-narration-that-changes-each-chapter, especially when you're not skilled enough/don't care to write in such a way that the narrator can easily be identified, so basically for a long chapter and a half I assumed Lapin was a girl and when the Queen of the Night was like "fuck you, boy!" I assumed it was a sick burn and Lapin just ~wasn't pretty~ but it turns out he was, in fact, a boy. Also for a book that points out that you can be perfectly happy settling with a decent person and marrying your not-soul-mate (Lapin's parents and grandparents), it's awfully insistent that the main characters all be properly paired with soul mates. HM. Basically this is marketed as feminist but I think it fell pretty damn short on that mark.

#sobdasha booking

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aion-rsa · 4 years ago

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How Batwoman Takes on Policing and Social Issues

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Police brutality has gone from a niche concern – one most white people considered impolite to bring up at dinner parties – to a compulsory national conversation. It’s long overdue, which has left many playing catch-up, especially white folks and popular media. As David Dennis Jr. pointed out in his excellent Twitter thread (seriously, go read it!) superhero shows have an especially tall order, given that they rely on portraying lawlessness and a fictionalized criminality that the hero can then clamp down on. But that image is out of touch with reality and can send damaging messages.

We’ve long discussed this problematic aspect of the genre in our reviews and features, whether it’s Barry Allen’s personal private prison kept in the basement of STAR Labs or Oliver Queen’s incredibly short-lived interest in reforming the prison industrial complex…before he went right back to adding more people to it. But Batwoman has taken a different tack that other comic book shows could learn from.

Batwoman has, to greater and lesser degrees, explored gentrification, corruption of police and the legal system, police brutality/the lawlessness of privatized law enforcement, and the wrongful conviction of a Black man. The show is not perfect, and it must be stated that no other show is doing quite what HBO’s Watchmen did in terms of exploring this country’s legacy of race, anti-Black violence, and policing. But Batwoman is a superhero show that spent the last year actively engaging with questions like “was that an appropriate use of force?” and “isn’t this a gross violation of the civil rights of the people of Gotham City?”

In the Gotham of Batwoman, a private security firm called The Crows operates with near-impunity within the city, keeping the incredibly well-heeled secure while everyone else hopes for the best. Gated community is an understatement, and frankly, the firm is closer to a mercenary paramilitary operation.

By the end of the season, The Crows have expanded their reach through an app that’s available to all Gothamites, even those who aren’t clients, so anyone can call in the mercenaries if they see big bad Alice and her brother Mouse, or Batwoman, whom Crows head honcho Jake Kane views as equally villainous. It’s easy to imagine the Crows’ app going the way of SketchFactor in DC and other IRL safety apps, which quickly turned into racial and socioeconomic maps, with white and upper class folks flagging anything that made them uncomfortable – namely, Black neighborhoods.

Replacing Kate Kane on Batwoman Season 2 is a Terrible Idea

By Lacy Baugher

Sophie Moore, a high-ranking agent with the Crows, continually pushes back against their use of force and in several circumstances when the Crows overstep the rights of citizens, to the point where she is sidelined, suspended, and eventually kicked off the Crows. She questions her mentor Jacob Kane in his vendetta against Batwoman – for whom there is no arrest warrant, the shoot-to-kill order on Alice that comes and goes throughout the season, and the extreme blanket use of surveillance on average citizens. If you’re worried about police breaking the law or the militarization of the police, try the privatization of a police force on for size. While the writing on Batwoman clearly raises concerns throughout the season, Sophie and Kate are among the only people able to effectively check the Crows’ power, largely due to their personal and professional relationships with Jake Kane.

One of the show’s greatest assets has been the willingness of its writing and its hero to give the supposed villain of any given episode – who is often disenfranchised in some way that turns out to be connected to how they have lashed out at the system – the benefit of the doubt. It’s a benefit that our legal system is based on, but one that we know many people do not get – and one that the Crows don’t often give to suspects. Some so-called villains have turned out to be innocent people manipulated by others, or victims of systems that eroded their humanity.

For example, the season finale deconstructed the media and law enforcement trope of the giant invincible Black man, using the show’s own gossip host (voiced with juicy irony by longtime Batwoman comic fan Rachel Maddow) to introduce a suspect with barely-coded language. The show goes on to deconstruct that narrative, introducing the audience to his brother, who worries about his sibling who was nothing like the man described on TV. Gotham’s professional football league used him for entertainment and several people in positions of power abused their privilege to do serious harm, in this case irreparable CTE that turned a gentle man into someone who literally couldn’t feel pain, yet another harmful stereotype of Black folks that has caused harm from slavery to the medical field.

Gotham’s actual police force is so incompetent as to be a non-factor. They only come up in maybe a handful of episodes, but they feature prominently in one of the season’s best arcs: the wrongful conviction for Lucius Fox’s murder. His father’s murder was a defining moment in Luke Fox’s life.

Normally the calm, logical, emotionally removed man behind the comms and tech on Team Bat, we watched Luke put together the pieces and realize that a fellow Black man had been set up to take the fall for his father’s death and then pursue the real killer. This wasn’t a clunky after school special one-and-done story so the creators can check a box. The arc was allowed to breathe over many episodes, giving actor Camrus Johnson the space to show the complex and often-changing swirl of emotions his character was experiencing.

Batwoman Showrunner Addresses Kate Kane Season 2 Departure

By Kayti Burt

Nothing about the writing or the performance was straightforward or easy. It’s the kind of ambitious writing and gnarled injustice that real people actually face, the sort of thing that we actually need real heroes for. It was a high point of Camrus Johnson’s excellent, season-long performance.

It’s worth noting that simply having the male lead – number two on the call sheet, Batwoman’s professional other half – played by a Black man, makes a big difference. But while other Arrowverse shows have had prominent Black characters – John Diggle on Arrow and Iris and Joe West on The Flash come to mind – Batwoman is different. For one, the writing has made explicit that Luke and Kate are partners, whereas for all that he came to eventually love and respect them, Oliver fought Diggle and Felicity every step of the way, and The Flash has always felt like a lead singer with a backing band. Even then, there’s a hierarchy, and a quick spin around the internet will produce ample evidence that neither Iris West-Allen nor Candice Patton have received the kind of treatment that a show’s leading lady would normally expect.

At the root of this is the writers’ room. Batwoman is written by a diverse group of people that represents the issues discussed on the show. It includes queer folks, women, and BIPOC. Actors can do their best to convey the work with skill, sensitivity, and depth. But talent behind the scenes needs to be diverse as well, otherwise they’re still going to be talking about Grandma Esther’s noodles.

While there’s a lot we don’t know about Batwoman season 2, namely the LGBTQ actor who will play the new lead and how they will be written in to pick up the threads from last season, I hope Batwoman will continue working with “villains” who are more complicated than we’re used to seeing on shows with tights.

I also hope they’re able to portray more of the income inequality that showrunner Caroline Dries discussed in an interview with Den of Geek earlier this season. “One thing we had in Gotham City is this idea of the ‘us-versus-them’ in the districts where people are protected and then other districts where they’re left to their own devices because they can’t afford private security.”

Dries told us that, unfortunately, this wasn’t as emphasized as she would have liked, due to the limitations as production.

“In a perfect world, you’d have a bird’s eye view of the city and you would actually be able to see districts,” Dries said. There were some references to this earlier in the season with checkpoints between neighborhoods, but as the season went on, Dries said those little bridge scenes were the first to get cut due to time and money. Fortunately, it sounds like it will still be part of season 2, and likely more pronounced.

“If I had all the time in the world and all the money in the world, I would have been able to dramatize that disparity better and the segregation a little bit better, visually,” Dries said. “But we’re going to continue to keep that alive, especially now as we’ve seen the Crows sort of becoming more heightened in their power and becoming more authoritarian and scarier.”

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Moreover, homelessness has been part of the show’s narrative since the very first teaser, but Batwoman has yet to engage with the issue of economic inequality or with actual people experiencing homelessness as individuals, rather than as an abstract concept. Even if it’s simply by having Mary, Luke, or the mysterious “Ryan Wilder” develop a relationship with someone who sleeps rough outside Wayne Tower or their apartment building, or if Mary’s clinic starts back up again and a character or two is differentiated that way, it would be nice to see humanity and individualism, rather than a monolith.

Finally, while it’s not an issue involving our carceral systems, it must be said that Batwoman has provided the space for Meagan Tandy’s Sophie to have a truly lovely storyline about her sexuality. While Kate Kane/Batwoman has basically always been out and accepted, that’s not everyone’s story. Not everyone has accepting parents and a family fortune to fall back on if they’re kicked out of the military. Sophie’s journey as a queer Black woman has been allowed to progress at her own pace, allowing the character to unpack what it means for her relationship (she starts the series married to a man), her identity, and her family as she explores who she is and what that means to her. Not everyone’s path is the same, nor do they have to express it the same way. While it’s great for people to see Kate Kane as a role model, I imagine there are far more people who can relate to Sophie Moore.

As television reorients itself around a long overdue reprioritization of Black lives, the landscape will shift, in some cases dramatically, as with the cancellation of long-running show Cops. But for other shows, like Batwoman, there’s an opportunity to continue pushing even further forward on the very social issues that once caused trolls to review-bomb the show with so much online hate. Heading into season 2, as the social and cultural landscape shifts, Batwoman should continue Kate Kane’s legacy of fighting injustice intersectionally, centering the marginalized while upending comic book tropes about law and order.

The post How Batwoman Takes on Policing and Social Issues appeared first on Den of Geek.

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