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captainsophiestark · 3 months ago

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Partners

Grant Ward x Reader

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Written for Fictober 2024!

Fandom: Marvel

Day Thirty Prompt: "I won't let you down."

Summary: Grant's SO is tackling the biggest project SciTech has to offer an academy student, and he's about to be dragged into helping with it.

Word Count: 2,879

Category: Fluff

Putting work into an AI program without permission is illegal. You do not have my permission. Do not do it.

"Out of every single other member in your class, the board has decided to trust you with this assignment. Do you think you're up to the challenge?"

I kept my face carefully neutral, a skill I'd learned from my Ops boyfriend. Inside, my heart was racing and threatening to make an escape across the room and out the door, but in front of the entire SHIELD SciTech Academy board? I could not let that show.

Instead, I kept my back straight, and forced the slightest of smiles onto my face.

"Yes, ma'am. I am up to the challenge. I promise, I won't let you down."

"Good. We look forward to seeing what you come up with."

I kept the smile on my face and nodded, leaning forward enough to be at the very edge of a bow. Then, I turned on my heel and kept my head high as I walked out of the room. My boyfriend had taught me exactly the body language required to convey confidence, and I was putting all of it to use right now.

The second I cleared the doors, I let everything drop.

I took off at a sprint through the hallways of the main SciTech building, ducking through the hallways I knew better than anywhere else on earth, avoiding anybody that might try to stop or question me. I didn't slow down, even once I made it outside. Instead, I sped up, heading for the edge of the SciTech campus.

I was in my last year at the Academy. I was at the top of my class, so for a final project, the board had tasked me with creating a new tool for Field Agents and Specialists. They wanted something the agents could have on them that worked like an emergency button, transmitting information and location if the need arose. But, they also needed it to be basically undetectable to any sensor, easy for agents in the field to operate and conceal, and durable enough to do its job no matter what punishment it got put through. A nearly impossible task outside of these walls, and despite my preparation, still pretty damn hard for me.

I'd been workshopping a prototype for a similar idea all semester, and the board knew it. They liked what they'd seen, so they'd made it my job to finish a true prototype for them to present and then further develop on Monday. It was currently Friday, and my project still had one gigantic, glaring weakness.

No matter what we could come up with in the lab, our field inventions almost inevitably came back with complaints from the agents who actually used them. We could run simulations and tests and try to recreate conditions pretty well in the lab, but it never stood up to the hardships of actually being in the field like we thought it would. Which meant, if I wanted to keep my promise to the board and my standing within SciTech, I needed to get creative.

Fortunately for me, I happened to be dating the best Operations student in generations. Grant Ward and I had met last year and we'd been happily dating ever since, despite how hard it could be sometimes to spend time with each other from different Academy campuses. We'd found workarounds whenever and wherever we needed to.

Thank goodness we'd both agreed to spend time breaking the rules at the beginning of our relationship. I was on the brink of a crisis, and I didn't have time to try to find a way to break into the Fort Knox that was the SHIELD Operations Academy.

In almost record time, I made it to Grant's dorm, using the routes we'd scouted together forever ago. Luckily for both of us, he was a senior enough student with high enough standing to have his own small apartment. I quickly scaled the wall to his second story window, something else I'd learned how to do from Grant.

I didn't even pause as I climbed through the window, landing in Grant's bedroom. I didn't see him, so I closed the window behind me and then hustled into the small living room/kitchen at a jog. I found Grant in the middle of the room, apparently halfway through walking to the kitchen, but he froze in his tracks and was already looking at me as I burst into the room.

"Grant! Thank god you're home. I need your help."

Before I knew what was happening, Grant had pushed me behind him. He kept one hand on my waist, and when I turned to see what the hell he was doing, he had a gun in his other hand and was alternating pointing it at his bedroom door and the front door.

"What's wrong?" he asked me without turning around, his voice deadly serious. I fought to hold in a laugh and didn't bother fighting back against the smile.

"Not that kind of help," I said. "Sorry for scaring you, though."

Slowly, Grant holstered his gun and turned around to face me. Both his eyebrows were raised in a demanding type of question.

"You run in here like you're being chased by a murderer and it's not that kind of help?"

"No, but it is the kind of help that will determine my entire future and has the potential to ruin me and everything I've ever worked for in my entire life ever."

Grant just stared at me for a moment. He blinked, slowly, then let out a long breath. Finally, he nodded.

"Alright. What do you need help with?"

I blew out a breath of relief, then quickly explained the situation to Grant. He'd heard plenty about the leadership of SciTech and how important it was to me to keep impressing them, so this latest project and its associated stakes weren't news.

"So... what exactly do you want me to do?" he asked once I'd finished telling him about the events of my meeting. I gave him the most charming, persuasive smile I could manage, and he immediately frowned.

"I want you to try out the device I've put together. I have a few prototypes, and it's easy enough for me to make another handful for testing. I need feedback on how well they actually work for the intended purpose, for field and ops agents, in a way that I can't predict or test in the lab."

Grant sighed, then nodded and held out one hand towards me.

"Alright. Give me the thing, let's do this."

I grinned. "I love you so much."

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

Grant and I spent the rest of the day and then some putting my device through various tests. Exactly as I'd been expecting, when Grant took it through various exercises that he went through at Ops, the device had weaknesses I hadn't predicted. From static electricity via crawling across the carpet turning the thing on before its time to the waterproofing failing after being submerged for too long, Grant and I found one problem after another, and each time, I fixed the issue.

"Okay, what if we had standard placement be on the stomach," I suggested, sticking the little round disk of my latest prototype just above Grant's belly button. "Would that protect it from the kind of weapon strikes we don't want it taking on your forearm?"

Grant hummed. "Maybe, but it's no garuntee. Besides, you want an agent to be able to activate the thing when we don't have another option. If my hands are tied behind my back, I won't be able to get to it."

"Dammit. You're right. Okay... what do you think, then?"

"How about the wrist, on the pulse point? I can probably find a way to activate that no matter what, and if a weapon really hits hard there, it won't matter if the device is destroyed."

I frowned. "I hate it when you talk like that."

"I thought you wanted good, honest feedback to improve this device for the SciTech board."

"Yeah, but I still don't like to hear my boyfriend talking about ways he could potentially die." I huffed and crossed my arms. "Still, you're right, and it's a good idea. But... maybe I can find a way to give the device a little death sequence."

"...Meaning?"

"Meaning, if it gets fatally hit like that, it automatically activates. And maybe I could even get it to deploy something that'll have a chance at stopping the bleeding."

"That would be pretty impressive," Grant agreed. I nodded, my mind already whirling with the possibilities.

"Okay. Okay, let's try to add that in, and then we can run it through the tests again."

Grant's eyebrows shot up. "The same tests we just did? Again?"

"Yeah. If I make major changes like that, we need to make sure it doesn't compromise any of the existing systems. Which means re-checking the systems we've already figured out."

Grant let out a long sigh and shook his head. He walked over to me, put an arm around my shoulders, and placed a kiss on the top of my head, then moved towards the kitchen.

"I don't understand why you like all this stuff. But I'll brew some coffee, since you're gonna need it. And I'll make sure the Ops pool is reserved for us when you finish your updates."

I grinned. "You are seriously the best boyfriend in the world, you know that?"

"What was that?" Grant asked, looking up from the coffee pot and feigning innocence like he hadn't heard me. I just smiled and shook my head.

"I said, you're the best boyfriend in the world."

Grant's feigned surprise immediately morphed into the charming smile I loved so much.

"Good. Just checking."

We spent the rest of the weekend like that, making updates and improvements to my little device and then testing how well they worked. Despite Grant's differing opinion, I genuinely loved doing this, more than just about anything in the world. But, even if I'd hated it most of the time, I would've put in the same amount of work for this project. It could very literally save my boyfriend's life some day in the future, after all. Now was not the time to half-ass something and call it good, even without the pressure of the SciTech board looming over me.

Finally, by about two in the morning on Monday, we'd managed to put the device on the wrist through every single test without fault or flaw. It worked as intended, and not a moment before it was supposed to, and if it was destroyed it sent out a final beacon and deployed some emergency blood clotting tech before it went. It was perfect.

"Thank you so much for all your help on this, babe," I muttered, the sleep finally digging its teeth into me now that my task had been accomplished. Grant and I had flopped down on the couch while I'd been going over the data, and now I curled against his side, resting my head on his chest. "I seriously couldn't have done it without you."

"Yeah, you could've," he said, stifling a yawn of his own as he wrapped an arm around my shoulders. "It would've taken you longer, but we both know you still would've pulled this off eventually."

I hummed, a smile on my face as I curled further into Grant's chest.

"Thanks, babe. I love you."

"I love you too, sweetheart."

He kissed the top of my head, his arms wrapped tight around me, and that's the last thing I remember before the world faded to black.

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

"Babe. Baby. Come on, you need to wake up."

I groaned, squeezing my eyes shut tighter and rolling away from the voice of my boyfriend trying to wake me up for god knows what reason.

"Sweetheart, you have your presentation today. You need to get up."

And just like that, I was wide awake.

I shot straight up, my heart dropping all the way to my stomach. I was in Grant's bed—I guess he'd moved us before passing out himself—but I had no idea if he'd remembered to set an alarm last night. If I missed this presentation, after all the work we'd done-

"It's okay, you have plenty of time," Grant said, probably reading the panic on my face. "It's six thirty, you have another two and a half hours to get ready and get back to SciTech."

I turned to Grant with a scowl.

"You woke me up at six thirty in the morning?" I demanded.

"...You wanted me to let you sleep later?"

I huffed and threw the covers off my legs, scowling as I stood.

"No. I need time to wake up, get back to SciTech, get ready, put together my presentation materials, practice my presentation... I need the two and a half hours. But I'm still mad you woke me up at six thirty."

Grant snorted, but I caught him staring at me with a fond smile in the reflection of the bathroom mirror.

I moved as quickly as I could, gathering the materials I needed and that I'd brought with me to Grant's apartment, then giving him a quick kiss and heading back to the SciTech campus. I showered, put on my most impressive professional outfit, and then spent almost all my remaining time putting the finishing touches on my presentation. Luckily for me, I knew the device in and out after how I'd spent my weekend, and I was absolutely confident in what it could do. Both things helped immensely when it came to giving a good presentation.

I walked into the main building of SciTech with my head held high, and this time it wasn't an act. I found the board waiting for me, and I didn't hesitate to launch into my presentation with absolute confidence. The surprised, excited reactions came almost immediately, and they only fueled my confidence and excitement.

Of course, everyone had a few questions, but I answered them easily. When I'd finished answering questions and officially completed my presentation, the board literally clapped. I beamed at them; I wasn't sure they'd ever done that before.

"Excellent work," said the SciTech chair, her smile beaming. "This is above and beyond what we could've expected. We'll put it through a few final tests, but honestly, I don't expect it to need much. I know you're in the middle of your final semester here, but be prepared to take a trip to the Hub before graduation to help us present this development to Director Fury himself."

My heart exploded in my chest, and I couldn't wipe the smile off my face as I shook hands and said thank yous before heading out of the room. I had a slightly dazy smile on my face as I walked through the SciTech halls, and my shoulders were relaxed for the first time in days as I stepped through the front doors and into the bright sunlight.

"Hey!"

I jumped so high I might've cleared the first floor windows at the sound of a voice coming from the bushes. I whirled around to find Grant crouched there, lurking in the shadows like a murderer.

"Grant? What the hell are you doing?" I demanded, trying to keep my voice low. He wasn't technically supposed to be on our campus, and I didn't want to get him caught, but he'd also just given me a damn heart attack.

Instead of answering, Grant reached up and grabbed my forearm, pulling me into the bush with him. I landed hard against his chest, but I didn't totally mind it as he wrapped his arms tightly around me. Still, I met his gaze with a slightly raised eyebrow. He just smiled.

"I wanted to know how it went. And maybe get a little payback for the heart attack you gave me on Friday."

I huffed a laugh. "Well, mission accomplished."

"Great. So how'd it go?"

I grinned. Grant smiled back, his arms tightening around me, but he waited to celebrate.

"It went amazing. They loved it. I'm gonna help them present it to Fury sometime in the next few weeks."

Grant's eyebrows shot up, and he actually took a shocked half-step back from me.

"You're going with them to present it to Fury?" I nodded. "They never let recruits do that!"

"I know!"

I squealed and jumped up in the air, and a moment later, Grant caught me. He let out a breathy laugh as he spun me around, and neither of us let go for even a second when he set me back down on my feet.

"We need to do something to celebrate," Grant declared, his low voice right beside my ear. "Are you working on any world-changing inventions this weekend?"

I leaned back just enough to grin at him. "No. For once, my schedule's actually pretty clear."

"Good. You wanna come to me, or you want me to come to you?"

"Mm, I'll come to you. As much as I love what I do, I also wouldn't mind a little break from all the work I've been doing lately."

"It's a deal. Come over after your last class on Friday. I'll take care of the rest."

Grant and I shared a smile, then we closed the distance between us for a long, sweet kiss. From making out in the bushes to letting me test my most important projects on him, Grant was always there for me. And no matter what else came out of my career at SciTech, in the Academy and as an agent afterwards, the relationship Grant and I had built together would always be my proudest accomplishment.

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

Everything Taglist: @rosecentury @kmc1989 @space-helen @misshale21

Marvel Taglist: @valkyriepirate @infinetlyforgotten @sagesmelts @gaychaosgremlin

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atsadi-shenanigans · 5 months ago

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Snnippet Sunday

Thank you for tagging me, @nyx-knox!

She’s bleeding. Of that he’s certain. But if it’s not an injury… When it finally dawns, he feels an utter oaf. Dearest leader is a human. And he knows she’s got a cunt (he felt it that night in the woods) and humans have a moon blood. And then he realizes she has a moon blood and almost trips over his own feet. Gods. She’s not the first he’s come across in such a condition. Living in the crush of a city means being overwhelmed by the scent and, frankly, stink of thousands of other people. Some of them bleed regularly. He’s always wondered what that would be like. What it would taste like. Dalyria, Aurelia, and Violet—as undead creatures like himself—no longer bled, and all of them were forbidden from drinking from thinking creatures. But that didn’t stop them speculating. Dal in particular had theories. As did Petras, but that man was an idiot and no one gave his ramblings much weight at all. But never has Astarion been in such close proximity to someone on their cycle and been off the leash, so to speak. And he cannot ask for one, little taste, because she’s angry at him, and he with her, and gods. Humans bleed for days, don’t they? He’s going to have to plod along behind her, pretending he doesn’t smell that feast. Pretending he doesn’t know that she hates him. He wishes he’d had the fortune to have landed next to the wizard.

TFW it's the first feast day but your movable feast is mad at you so it's actually Lent.

Tagging: @britonell @britosia @sasseffects @shewhowas39 @mutualcombat and @lyzelky

#these two shitheads #what shall we become #astarion #bg3 astarion #tavstarion #astarion x tav #he's not having a good time #vampire shenanigans #the forbidden feast

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pursuitseternal · 6 months ago

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“Mine for Eternity” ⚜️Chapter 5 of “A Night with the Ascendant”⚜️

Ascended Astarion x OC (Lumina) | E | 3.9K

🎨 by @nyx-knox

Summary: Lumina’s true nature won’t keep her enemy from picking a fight. Fortunately Brides aren’t without their Sires for long…

CW: Jealous female antagonist, Possessive Astarion, flashbacks to the Rite, mentions of Astarion’s past abuse, mentions of OC’s past abuse [there’s smut I swear], body worship, cunnilingus, possessive romantic missionary

Previous Ch | Ao3 link | Masterlist

“What… did you say?”

Lumina’s head spun, her world narrowing down to a single word as she was still in her restraints.

That word… Bride… it sliced into her, cutting through vague notions and guesses to pierce into her heart and soul.

Setting down the cup on the bedside, Morana glared and her tail twitched, irascible and annoyed. “Don’t play games with me. You won’t win. There is no one who has served Lord Astarion longer, no one who knows him better. I was there in the aftermath two centuries ago when the Netherbrain fell. I was his first spawn, at his side through… everything,” she hissed the final word.

Her dark eyes glinted with hatred; what once lingered beneath the surface of her cool exterior seethed over.

And it made Lumina nervous. Bride or not, she didn’t know any of her strengths, aside from also being able to daywalk. But her quick mind rattled down a list of things she should be strong enough to do…. Could she beat Morana in a fight? Perhaps if she were well fed. Maybe she could compel Morana? Unlikely. If only Astarion was here…

She thought of him, the feeling of his skin, the smell of his musk, the glint in his eyes and on his fangs…

A tremor raced down her spine. Something hard and magical.

Whatever it was. It wasn’t enough to save her. Lumina tugged at her bindings, feeling more like prey in this Tiefling’s presence than she ever did with their Master. Even the way her tail twitched was predatory, stalking closer and closer.

“It’s good he’s seeing fit to keep you chained in his bed. I would hate to think what might befall you if you crossed paths with any of the Spawn now… You would probably have a dozen sets of fangs in your flesh, just to catch a taste of the Master from your skin.”

“Don’t be disgusting,” Lumina barked, finally finding purchase to sit up on her heels. “You know that the Master does as he wills.”

The Master… the mere thought of Astarion seemed to tug some tether inside her. Like ripples in the water, it pulsed out from her mind.

And something… someone… pulsed in reply.

“And it seems all he’s doing is you,” Morana sneered, her pointed teeth glinting in the firelight. “It’s not fair to the rest of us.”

Lumina’s stomach churned. “No it’s not, but it’s not my fault, nor is it anything I have the power to fix…”

“A convenient excuse from the one who has gained… everything,” she snapped. Closing in, her tail wagged back and forth, predacious, assessing. “If I could kill you…”

“Mor…” that rich, honeyed voice purred, instantly sending shivers down Lumina’s spine. Astarion entered on silent feet, his brows canted, quizzical and amused as he assessed his oldest Spawn. “Tut, tut, you should know better by now not to be so insolent.” One long, elegant finger wagged in the air between them, and instantly the Tiefling cowed, horned head bowing, tail tucked between her legs.

Sufficiently pleased with her submission, he crossed to the bed, the chain on Lumina’s hands unlocking and falling useless with a mere brush of his touch. Astarion reached behind him, fetching the chalice of blood and offering it to Lumina. His Bride struggled to sit, trying to tuck her legs under her without exposing her naked lower half to both of their gazes.

“If there a reason you strayed up here, Morana?” Astarion’s question sliced through the heavy silence. “Need something… or did you just miss me?” He leveled a wicked glare at his Spawn, her dark blue skin turning to gooseflesh under his gaze.

Lumina’s stomach curled at the malice… even if it was protective. Protective of her. She busied herself from the awkward tension by burying her face in her cup. The second she smelled the liquid inside, her heart skipped an undead beat.

His. Again.

A flicker passed between them before she drank. That same rich rush of power, of his very essence and presence invaded her. From her stomach to her veins, he was inside her, and with that brief flash of fang-toothed smile, she suspected he felt it too.

“My lord,” Morana began to speak, “you should know your other devoted servants are…”

He leveled his gaze at her, waving his hand in dismissal. I have much more pressing matters. The rest of my children know that what I do for this city and my own needs come before any of theirs.”

Her tail twitched dangerously fast. “So you leave us locked away to wander your halls once the sun has set like prisoners?” Her nostrils flared, fists clenching at her side. “Like slaves…”

“Careful,” Astarion bit, instantly rigid at the single word. “You are far from being slaves. Even now, your so-called torment is a far cry from what I endured for centuries,” he snared, spit flying as he spoke forcefully and deep. His hands fisted at his side, long nails digging into his own flesh.

Morana just shook her head. “You’ve changed from those first days when I was your only Spawn. You were magnificent and ruthless and hungry. Your companions cowered at your Ascension. They wouldn’t recognize you now, this limp excuse for the Ascendant with his Bride in his bed and a dungeon of Spawn. Thank the gods they are all dead so they can’t see you become just like Caz—”

Astarion leapt to his feet, hand reaching for the Tiefling’s dark blue horn. “Silence!” he bellowed, yanking her roughly. “You dare speak of him? After all that you know and have seen?”

He was monstrous and feral, every muscle in his neck strained, the sinews of his hands popping against his pale skin and whitening his knuckles as he gripped his Spawn by the horn. Fangs glinted, eyes glowed scarlet, and down their bond, Lumina felt every bit of rage and bloodlust that coursed in his veins. Closing her eyes, Lumina pushed deeper, images flashing from his memory to hers.

She could see it all from two-hundred years ago…

Glowing scars on his back as fear gripped his heart, frozen by infernal magic by his old Master…. Faces in the distances of beloved friends fighting to free him until… She watched it all unfold. Some decrepit man lay at his feet, glowing red eyes glazed with fear and disbelief, black hair scraggled as his blood pooled over Astarion’s hands, a strange dagger clutched tightly. A matching set of ruins in his old Master’s back, and suddenly all she felt was the memory of her love’s victory, the thrill and relief and freedom that came as scarlet light bathed his world and infernal power burst through his body.

In a blink, the memory passed, but it was enough to push her own emotions back in reply.

She countered that blinding bloodlust with something she wondered if he would even recognize…

Pity.

Compassion.

Love.

His hand instantly eased, sending Morana flailing backwards, almost landing on her tail. “My lord,” she growled, her pointed teeth snapping as she collected herself.

“Leave me,” he hissed, turning his back on her abruptly. Head hanging, he even avoided Lumina’s look of concern.

But Morana only glared harder, tilting her head and aiming her dark glinting gaze right at where Lumina still perched on the bed.

“I said… leave!” he snarled, rounding once more, drawn to his full height and eyes blazing. Invisible tendrils of his influence crept up her spine. Her back stiffened visibly as he compelled her. “Leave, Morana. And tell the others they may venture into the city tonight, a special treat so long as they behave themselves.” I raised his finger, wagging it as he stared her down. “But not you. For your insolence, for dredging up memories that you have no right to, you will remain here in the palace.”

The Tiefling bowed her head slightly, her dark blue skin shining with sweat as she suppressed her anger. One last deadly glare at Lumina and she disappeared.

The moment the door shut, Astarion’s shoulders bowed under some great, invisible weight. His hands ran through those long, unruly curls, tugging them back from his gaunt face in desperation. Hands clasped together, he sat on the edge of the bed and leaned forward. He couldn’t bring himself to look at her. Not yet. Not when he knew so much of who he once was had flooded from his mind into hers.

It was a strange mix of embarrassment, of vulnerability… and, if he was honest, relief. It helped not having to tell that tale again, not again after so much time, after all of his companions now mouldered in the ground. Gone to their gods.

He could feel her sharp gaze on his back, could sense her concern and curiosity wafting in waves from her heart down their bond. A bond she was now aware about, he realized. “So you know what you are?” His voice was heavy, amused and burdened in equal measure.

“Your Bride,” she whispered. “Morana told me,” Lumina dared to reply, creeping closer beside him. Her black tunic now pulled down over the little pert curve of her ass.

“Morana opens her mouth far too much, thinking that information and ambition carry greater value than… than feelings, than intimacy.” Astarion turned, wrinkles lining the corners of his eyes as he winced. It was a look that bespoke guilt, that signified he felt responsible for her ambitious desires.

Lumina scoffs, “Clearly she knows much about you from before…. You and your companions…”

He bristled, muscles straining in his neck as he craned forward. “What did you see?” His question was pointed, his tone tense.

Lumina closed her eyes, summoning the images and emotions from that fateful day. The day of his Ascension. “You felt so… free. So vindicated and avenged… I could taste blood in the air…”

“What did you see?” he repeated.

“Everything. Your companions, I saw them all as they fought to free you from your Master’s power. I know them from the pages of history, the Blade of Frontiers, the Wizard of Waterdeep, the Daughter of Darkness. They all cared… so much.”

A wave of grief down their bond stole her breath as he cradled her cheek and brought her closer. The contact made her eyes flash open. “What else?” he whispered more in her mind than outloud.

A shaky breath, she leaned into his palm. “I heard it all, the words of the Rite, the screams of the Spawn, the scent of your old Master’s blood…”

Images of that haunting face— of glowing eyes and cruel smiles and long black hair shook her to her core. The barest flicker of hatred filled her mind, and she could almost feel the blade of a knife carving the intricate lines and whorls in her own back as the memory barreled through her.

“Stop,” she sobbed, not even realizing the depth of suffering she had shouldered. Her red eyes looked into his, brimming with tears. “I… I can’t believe you suffered so much. No wonder you wanted to hear him scream and send his soul to eternal torment. He was… horrible to you. Wicked.”

Astarion smirked, trying to hide all that unsettled him behind that desirous mask. “Am I not a little bit of a wicked master to you, my Bride?”

Lumina shook her head. “Morana couldn’t be more wrong… you weren’t evil and blind for ambition. You were… afraid. You were denied blood and power for so long. You stared down total annihilation under the Absolute. One sacrifice, and you called down revenge on your Master, received power to destroy the army of your enemy and satisfy your hunger forever.” She met his intense gaze. “I would have done the same. I wish I still could…”

Eyes flickered down to her lips, then lower to the v cut of his shirt still on her body, resting finally where its hem stopped just at the top of her thighs. “That is why I made you mine, my Bride. You and I are not so different after all. Being with you makes… makes me feel that same belonging I once shared before all… this.” He gestured to the walls around him. “After my Ascension, no one understood. I was a monster in everyone’s eyes, power hungry and wicked. So a monster I became. That was the man Morana thought I was. Only a few of my old… companions still looked at me with the understanding of who I was and what I had endured.”

His thoughts wandered to places he had long thought buried, the rush of memories stopping his now beating heart.

The cool touch of a hand pulled him back to reality, her fingers stroked his cheek. And for the first time, she breathed his first name. No titles, no fawning. Just her light voice whispering, “Astarion.”

Not for centuries had he felt so vulnerable. But then again, not for centuries had he been this close to someone… someone he could call special.

Someone he could call his Bride.

As if hearing his thoughts, Lumina shifted closer. “What does that mean for me, now that I am a Bride?”

“Not just any Bride, my sweet,” he turns, the full intensity of his gaze boring into her. “My Bride, the Bride of the Vampire Ascendant.” He inhales her scent, a little hint of rosewater yet on her skin beneath the lingering musk of sex. “There is none like you, and there never will be again.”

Lumina grinned shyly to herself, glancing out the window into the night sky. “So, the strength, the heightened senses, the day walking… how else have you corrupted me?” she taunts him, a glowing light in her eyes.

“Corrupt? Tch, hardly darling.” His fingers press under her chin, drawing her closer and closer until she was lost in the crimson of his gaze and the warm wash of his breath. “You are beautiful, and you will be beautiful forever. You will be swifter, stronger, even more of force to be reckoned with,” his voice dripped with pride, tantalizingly sweet like spun sugar. “My heart beats in your breast, my blood flows in your very veins. I have remade you in my image and likeness.” That tender touch drew her lips to his, her skin warmed with the flush of his power and life from the blood she had drunk. “You were made to kneel in worship at my feet. Make no mistake,” he rasped, voice thickened with lust and something darker, “you are made to be my servant, and I…” He trailed off, angling back to lock her in his gaze, “I am now made to be yours.”

The mattress rose as he slid from it, his lean, corded body nestling between her thighs. He knelt for her, the Vampire Ascendant groveling at his Bride’s feet. Warm and reverent, his touch guided her to the edge of the bed, one hand pulling the black silk of his own stolen shirt from her lithe, pale torso. Hungry, possessive, his eyes locked on her pert breasts, the perfect height for him. A lick on his lips, and he leaned in, a thumb teasing one nipple to pebble-like hardness while his mouth sucked and swirled the other. “Mine,” he growled, the pink flesh of her nipple gently pinched between his teeth. “Mine for eternity,” another rumbling claim tickled her flesh before he sank his fangs deep into that sensitive mound.

A cry tore through her throat, lanced with pain at first, a sharpness that quickly melted as he suckled from her. His tongue worked the blood from the bite marks, his mouth devouring her nipple until it couldn’t harden more. Mewling, she clutched into the shoulder-length tendrils of his hair. Gathering them in her hands, she dared to do something, an impudent grin on her face…

…she yanked him off her by the hair. Blood trickled from the corner of his lips, a wild light in his eyes as he knelt between her thighs. “What do you wish for me to do, my lady?” he purred, supplication coloring each syllable.

Lumina’s gut dropped to her knees, his ruinous body pressed against her thighs and her cunt, his skilled, dexterous fingers teased the skin of her back in ways that stopped her undead heart. He was… hers—her Sire, and she was his Bride. “M-Master…” she stuttered, only to have the word stifled on the tip of her tongue by his lips.

“Right now, you are my Mistress, my Bride, and I am here to please,” the words are grounded out, thick with lust. The depth of his need for her smacks into her chest, a wave of pure desire down their bond. With the next breath, those lips and tongue dive for her cunt as he spreads her out. Wet slurps, husky growls, she can almost hear the sounds of his pleasure inside her chest. It’s all she can do to hold on to the long strands of his silver curls lest they be caught in the onslaught of his pleasure.

Pitiful and indulgent whines poured out of her throat. Her nails dig into his scalp, woven through his long thick curls. Scoring their touch up her thighs, his fingers dragged their heat higher until he gripped into her ass firmly, pulling her flush against his face as he ate. The bed beneath was soaked, spit and arousal dampening it. Ruining it. But Lumina only laughed, reveling in the mess he was making of her. Sweat gathered on her brow, her mouth watering and eyes tearing as her orgasm coiled in her belly.

“M…M… Mas…”

He pulled away, cum stuck in strands on his face as he bared his teeth. “Say it,” he ground out. “Say my name, not my title, Little Light.”

Her breasts heaved as she looked down at him, heart pounding against her ribs. “Astarion,” she breathed, his name a beautiful incantation on her lips.

He wiped his mouth on the back of his hand, crawling to cover her on the bed with predatory grace, each movement of his arms, his legs, calculated to push her down and spread her open. “Say it again,” his voice scoring like gravel in his throat. “Say my name once more…”

Lumina bit her bottom lip, entranced as she watched one hand free his beautiful cock from the band of his trousers. She could feel the dark delight twisting his lips as he gave his length a few teasing, lazy pumps. Gripping her leg, he lifted it up, resting it on his shoulder, his cock gliding in effortlessly. Soaked for him, she sighed his name as he lowered his body, his mouth brushing hers with teasing kisses, coaxing the sounds and words from her mouth he so desired.

His name peeled out from her lips over and over again, the syllables of his name each filled with longing and devotion… with love. He would devour every sound she made, lips and tongue and fangs dancing with every movement of her mouth. He swallowed every sigh, consumed each moan. Gods, did he feel… alive. Bound to another soul in ways he had not felt for centuries.

Every undulation of his hips drew her closer, every rock of her body in his arms united them heart and soul until there would be no delineation. No separation.

Only her absorbed into his very being, and him lost in the depths of her love.

“Come for me, my Bride,” he gave a husky, low growl against her lips, her breath ragged as she struggled for air. “Tell me, show me how satisfied I make you feel…” One more thrust to bottom out inside her, and she screamed, her spine curling into his chest, her fangs sinking into her own lips with the force of her climax.

He wanted to fight the pull of his own orgasm, wanted to keep himself on the edge until he made her unravel over and over again, but she was too warm. Too tight.

Too all consuming as her walls fluttered and squeezed his cock.

A groan tore from his throat as he slammed into her, haphazardly and forceful. A swallowed snarl, and he spilled into her, shuddering as his cock twitched pump after pump of his cum until he was spent. Hungry, aching, he captured her bleeding lips, licking and suckling her essence as it welled from her wounds. “Perfect,” he crooned as he sucked, “you deserve every good thing I can grant you, my love. We’ll have a party, a ball, a grand affair to show the realms the woman at my side.” He pulled back, pinning that adoring and intense stare on her flushing face. Cheeks flushed from his blood in her belly, skin glistened with sweat and blood drops, all the marks of his possession. “The world will stir to behold your beauty.”

Lumina bit her swollen lip, eyes lowered in coyness. “My lord, I’m just an urchin… a servant and slave, I don’t need…”

Warm fingers clutched around her chin, his strength pinching her flesh as the force of his emotions flooded into her heart.

“Nonsense,” he purred, outwardly controlled as inwardly he bristled in annoyance at her lack of self worth. “You know my past now, you should know origins do not define greatness.” His gaze roamed over the gentle curves of her face and her bright, attentive eyes. “You are my Consort, my Queen, my Bride. All will hail you as such.”

One little blonde brow arched wryly. “Even Morana?” A tone of twisted delight, of victory, echoed in her words.

“Of course,” Astarion preened, thumb tracing the blush on her cheek. “So long as she is my Spawn, she will obey me. She can do you no harm, no matter what pretentious, ambitious drivel she spouts.”

Lumina fell into an uneasy silence as he pulled out from her, resting his head on the pillow of her breast. His voice became a drone in the background of her thoughts, his need to share every idea that crossed his mind about the details of her ball would not abate. He just wouldn’t stop discussing every little thought of his; for a man who proclaimed himself as a poor planner, he certainly held many varied opinions on food and decor and music and dress.

It was just din as her mind spun, meaningless words she nodded along to as her own thoughts consumed her. Thoughts she kept deep in her heart, in the shadows of her own past. She guarded them from him, those past visions of her own suffering and torture as a slave. Despite the warm, comforting weight of his body nestled on hers, the ghosts of lashings and burns, of cruel hands and lascivious patrons seemed to crawl over her flesh.

As Astarion nodded off into a peaceful trance in her arms, Lumina kept vigil, mulling over his past and hers.

She turned it over in her mind again and again… until she knew one more thing would need to be done for her to finally feel worthy of his love and the incomparable value he put on her worthless existence.

Same as him, she would find freedom, she would have blood…

Revenge, she could do.

A/N: Who hates Morana? And who thinks alumina is about to get into heaps of trouble?

Also, what kind of wife/bride would she be if she didn’t pretend to listen to her husband as he went on and on about something 😅

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a-ramblinrose · 8 months ago

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JOMP BPC || June 30 || Read In June:

Lumberjanes Vol. 2: Friendship to the Max by N.D. Stevenson ★★★

The Girl Who Drank The Moon by Kelly Barnhill ★★★★ [RR]

The Tea Dragon Festival by K. O'Neill ★★★★★

The Deep Dark by Molly Knox Ostertag ★★★★

Night Sky With Exit Wounds by Ocean Vuong ★★★★ [RR]

The Book of Songs translated by Arthur Waley ★★

The Husky and His White Cat Shizun Vol.4 by Rou Bao Bu Chi Rou ★★★★

Heartstopper Vol. 2 by Alice Oseman ★★★★

Heartstopper Vol. 3 by Alice Oseman ★★★★

The Empress of Salt and Fortune by Nghi Vo ★★★★★

Honeycomb by Joanne M. Harris ★★★★★

Hand In Hand With Love edited by Simon Avery ★★★★

Batman: Wayne Family Adventures Vol. 3 by CRC Payne ★★★★

Monstrous Regiment by Terry Pratchett ★★★★★ [RR]

The Magic of Spider Woman by Lois Duncan ★★★

#books #jompbpc #justonemorepage #book photo challenge #book photography #read this month #2024 reading #Not out of void but out of chaos

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hyperraduo22 · 2 years ago

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my long list of random dps headcanons

+ includes spencer and stick !! :))))

• neil only has problems with reading in one eye and still to this day cannot figure out why. he assumes it’s genetic atp

• meeks and pitts do not like excessive gore in movies although pitts is more prone to dislike body horror— they won’t get physically sick from looking at gore they just generally don’t like it and get easily squeamish from it

• pitts likes pink lemonade simply cause it’s pink

• whenever knox gets a fortune whether from a fortune cookie or one of those mechanical tellers, he takes it so seriously for the next two weeks

• meeks and todd are slow eaters

• neil is the pickiest eater out of all the poets although he’s slowly learning to get over it and try new foods. cameron and meeks try to encourage him little by little since they used to be picky as well but got over it

• todd has sensory issues when it comes to texture. if he feels something he doesn’t like for a long period of time, he could possibly get anxious and start crying from it. example: he absolutely hates the feeling of shedded snake skin and will never ever stick his hands in those “guess what you’re touching” boxes at those wilderness exhibits— bro is traumatized from it

• despite popular belief of neil hating roller coasters, i think he has a neutral opinion on them and there’s some he can tolerate and some that he does like. although he’s very picky with roller coasters and there’s some he absolutely refuses to go on even with todd

• cameron actually likes trains a lot and hyperfixates on them (and yes there’s a bittersweet story behind it from his childhood)

• pitts loves anything s’mores flavored

• stick knows how to bake really well and the dps always ask (more like beg atp) to be his personal taste testers cause they know the finished product will be delicious

• meeks cannot eat spicy food for the life of him. he tried cajun food once and he loved it but some of the cheyenne peppers knocked him tf out- like his face was redder than his hair

• knox loves rooftop dining (rich bastard)

• charlie has a personal barber that he always goes to even when he becomes an adult

• todd’s mom is a lesbian (( i wanna post my dps family headcanons so bad cause this deserves context😭 ))

• pitts grew up with a compromised immune system and spent his days inside a lot during late elementary school and a little bit into middle school. since meeks was also pressured to do good academically at such a young age and ended up staying inside more often, the two bonded over that and meeks didn’t mind taking care of pitts when he got sick<3

• charlie and cameron are really good at golf

• cameron prefers taking chewable pills whenever possible since he has trouble swallowing larger pills

• meeks can name the 50 states in alphabetical order off the top of his head

• todd and pitts have that friendship where they always support each other no matter if they both know what they’re doing/saying is dumb and absolutely wrong by all logical standpoints

• pitts is better in biology and anatomy. the only reason why he’s passing chemistry is cause he’s good with remembering chemical reactions and organizing his work during lab projects. otherwise stoichometry fucks him up badly

• todd chews on the ice whenever he has certain cold drinks

• stick crochets in his free time— he even crocheted a blanket for spencer and spencer still uses it to this day :(((

• spencer can get really invested in dramas or sports shows and end up having really dramatic reactions at the things that happen on tv— stick has witnessed this once and bro was dying laughing the entire time. every since then, the duo watch tv together and it feels like a therapeutic bond between the two

• ^speaking of spencer and stick, they’re childhood besties!! they have that bond where even when they separate for long periods of time, they’re able to reunite and catch up/have nothing change between them

• because todd loves bird watching and meeks loves stargazing, they invite each other whenever they’re doing those activities and hype each other up whenever they spot something rare (ie. rare bird species or a rare celestial event) <3

• because stick likes to feed hummingbirds around the campus from time to time, todd sometimes joins him so he can also appreciate the birds

• whenever he reads up that an eclipse is coming up, meeks gets all the poets together on the rooftop to watch it

• pitts actually knows how to play a few songs on piano but hasn’t touched a piano in a very long time

• charlie learned to play clarinet in a orchestra/symphony that played for the town and raised money for local charities—that’s right. he’s so rich that his parents didn’t enroll him in private lessons but rather a more professional band class with other kids. he originally wanted to try out the oboe just cause (he also secretly loved the oboe solo in that one tchaikovsky piece) but his parents obviously made him do clarinet instead. he would later teach himself saxophone

• charlie has an immunity to ibuprofen and some other over the counter drugs (don’t ask why. he’s probs the type of person that gets headaches or body aches easily- whether self induced or not- and took so much ibuprofen over the course of a month that it doesn’t work anymore)

• cameron has sensitive teeth and gets toothaches easily from cold foods like ice cream. therefore, he’s careful with his portions when eating certain desserts, takes smaller sips when drinking water at restaurants (or he just asks to have no ice in his drinks), and he prefers drinking room temperature water

• stick is scared of butterflies- like i’m talking bro has a full on phobia of them cause of some traumatic childhood incident- but still thinks they’re really beautiful :(((

• ^because of this- when walking outside, spencer will make sure there aren’t butterflies nearby for stick. he’ll either swat them away or gently pick them up and make them fly away elsewhere like the true best friend he is🫡

• no matter the circumstance, spencer just does not give two fucks about true crime whatsoever. you can make him watch a true crime doc and he’ll either get bored or be like “really? that’s all the killer can do?” “…couldn’t they like- i don’t know- not enter a complete stranger’s home??” “i could’ve beaten up that guy you know.”

• knox and spencer have a brotherly relationship and have known each other since middle school. knox would invite spencer to tag along with him and charlie, obviously tease him in the middle of class, and he’d ask for help on school work. plus knox and charlie have stood up for him on multiple occasions and help raise his confidence in social situations

• stick has hypoglycemia (low blood sugar) episodes from time to time. sometimes they sync up with spencer’s random nosebleeds and they both sit in the nurse’s office together.

—————

okay now i wanna post dps family headcanons and stick and spencer headcanons now🏃‍♂️🗣️

let me and todd’s lesbian mom cook

#dead poets society #dead poets headcanons #i love stick and spencer #dps fandom #dead poets fandom #dps #dps boys #dps hcs #todd anderson #charlie dalton #neil perry #steven meeks #gerard pitts #knox overstreet #stick dps #richard cameron #dps spencer #spencer dps

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natequarter · 1 year ago

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you wonder why the scots were so unstable, then you look at their monarchy and realise they had seven child monarchs in a row. oh your king's a twelve-year-old? that sucks. what, he's been assassinated? huh! good thing his heir-- HE'S SIX? good thing he isn't going to die a ridiculous death like getting blown up by a cannon any time soon! BUT NOT FOR LONG! what, he was actually blown up by a cannon? wow. anyway, we're leaving the throne in the capable hands of a nine-year-old. that won't go wrong! OR SO WE THOUGHT! well, at least it wasn't a cannon that took him out this time, just a little bit of rebellion and war. and we're leaving the throne in the capable hands of a competent and popular ruler.

BUT NOT FOR LONG! this idiot gets absolutely wrecked at the hands of the english. and by wrecked, i mean killed. great news for henry viii, terrible news for little one-year-old jamie (his nephew, i should point out), a.k.a. your highness, and fifth in a long line of idiots called james. (you'd think they'd learn to pick another name.) things work out eventually, right up until henry viii's lot come back onto the scene and get into a bunch of fights with the scots. unbelievably, things are about to get so much worse. in a real smart move, james dies at the grand old age of thirty. (i feel the need to point out that none of these jameses lived past the age of forty-two. and that's being generous.)

enter mary. she's catholic! she's not called james! she's the queen of scotland! and guess how old she is? six days! yes, you heard that right - six days. (and you thought six years was bad.) she's eventually whisked away to live in france and later marry the dauphin, handily solving the problem of the english trying to kidnap her and marry her off to edward vi. (she's five at this point. edward is ten. françois, the dauphin, is three. don't think too hard about any of that.)

they grow up. edward dies at fifteen. mary i, best known for her fondness for barbecues, dies five years later. françois, sensing a trend, dies two years after that at sixteen. mary returns to scotland, and all is well.

OR SO WE THOUGHT! whilst england was busy being torn apart by religious matters, scotland was busy being torn apart by religious matters. (you'll never guess what's happening in france.) mary, of course, is a devout catholic. some of the scots, who have spent twelve years without a monarch, let alone a catholic girl raised in france, are... not. rebellions! political instability! back to the status quo, basically. john knox is not happy, but when is he ever? elizabeth i kindly tries to help things by sending her bestie robert dudley (yes, that robert) to marry mary. this, unsurprisingly, does not go down well. fortunately, mary solves all these problems by creating a new one: she marries her half-cousin, henry lord darnley! yuck! i mean, yay! more rebellion (led by mary's half-brother)! henry turns on mary because he wants more power! he allies with the protestant lords, and they stab mary's private secretary to death in front of her whilst she's pregnant! the usual.

BUT NOT FOR LONG! mary and henry escape, they have a lovely little son called james (they still hadn't learn their lesson about scottish jameses), and they all live happily ever after until henry's house is blown up and he's found smothered outside in broad daylight. suspects include: everyone in scotland. but mostly lord bothwell, who proceeds to kidnap mary and marry her. now, you may struggle to believe this, but things go downhill from here. mary is eventually forced to abdicate, and flees to england. bothwell is imprisoned in denmark, and later goes insane. as for james, now the one-year-old james vi (anyone sensing a pattern here?), well, he's probably too busy learning to speak to care. because, you know, he's one. some people never learn.

from this point onwards, mary's kept under house arrest by elizabeth i. in a display of gratitude towards elizabeth, mary promptly spends the rest of her life plotting against her. or being involved in plots. in the meantime, james's regent, also called james stewart (mary's aforementioned half-brother; the name is cursed), earns the dubious honour of being the first head of government to be assassinated with a firearm. eventually, after mary, that virtuous angel, actively tries to kill elizabeth, elizabeth gets fed up and drops a sword on mary's neck. james, who last saw his mother at the age of zero years old, must have been devastated.

you all know what happened next: elizabeth died at the grand old age of sixty-nine, and james inherited the throne. thus followed decades of religious instability, parliamentary infighting, and stubborn monarchs who refused to listen to reason, which were surely new to the elizabethans. james, who was what is commonly known these days as a "hot mess" or "bisexual disaster" - don't quote me on that - was nearly blown up in a plot masterminded by a guy called tosser. sorry, i mean a tosser called guy. he also pissed everyone off by being a bit too buddy-buddy with several men, possibly lovers. (probably lovers.) that was not the end of the curse of james stewart (see: james ii of england), but it did at least put an end to mary queen of scots. oh, and england and scotland were united. that too. cue much chaos with a man you've probably heard of, named oliver cromwell... the rest is history. i mean, all of this is history, but you know what i mean.

and that's the story of why having seven child monarchs in a row is a really fucking bad idea!

#historyposting

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foone · 1 year ago

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Goldfinger is the most Bond movie, fight me.

Bond blows up a drug lab and then goes for vacation in Miami. He's told there's a gold smuggler there, so he stops him cheating at gin rummy by seducing his spy? Then Bond is talking shit about, of all hands, the Beatles, and then he's knocked out. When he comes to, oh no! The spy girl is dead. She was killed with BODYPAINT. No, not poisoned body paint or anything, the film just says that body paint itself can kill you.

So Bond goes back to London, and they send him to learn more by playing golf with Goldfinger, the smuggler. Goldfinger tries to cheat, Bond stops him, then Goldfinger's henchmen shows how strong he is by crushing golfballs.

So Bond goes to Switzerland and meets a girl who turns out to be the sister of the dead body painted spy girl, and she's trying to kill Goldfinger. She fails, dying to the henchman's DEADLY HAT, and Bond is strapped to a table about to get his dick lasered off. He lies that his organization knows something they don't, so Goldfinger decides not to kill him.

Bond gets flown to a stud farm in Kentucky by a pilot named Pussy Galore. Bond wakes up, hears her name, and goes "I must be dreaming"

At the stud farm, Goldfinger is telling a bunch of mafia guys his plan: he's gonna use knockout gas on the whole city where Fort Knox is, then run off with the gold reserves. The mafia guys say "this is stupid", one leaves (he gets put in a car that goes through a car crusher) and then Goldfinger gasses them all, to death.

Bond goes to Goldfinger and points out this is an impossible plan: they'll never get all the gold out in time, the army will just show up from some other town and stop them. Goldfinger goes "of course! That would be silly. I'm just gonna nuke the gold."

Yeah he's already got a lot of gold, which will be much more valuable if a huge portion of the world's gold gets blown up/irradiated. And that knockout gas? It's just deadly poison.

Anyway the plan is launched, and Pussy Galore's All Female Flying Circus sprays gas over the city and we see all the army guards falling over dead, and Goldfinger's minions place the bomb in the vault of Fort Knox... Then the army guys get back up! They're not dead!

Yeah it seems Bond seduced her and convinced her to tell the authorities about the plot and also swap the Deadly Poison for something harmless.

Bond gets locked in the vault with the nuke and deadly hat guy, as Goldfinger's minions fight the army, with Goldfinger dressing up as a US Army general to escape.

Bond manages to kill the hat guy by electrocuting him through the hat, and Bond rushes over to figure out how to stop the bomb, as the timer counts down. He's lost, but fortunately a specialist from the army comes in and just hits a switch, stopping the bomb at 007 seconds to go.

With the army in control of the situation, Bond gets on a plane with Pussy Galore to go meet the President (given when this film was made, that'd be Lyndon B. Johnson) but then Goldfinger pops up. He's hijacked the plane, and he's got a gun!

They fight for the gun, and a window ends up getting shot out, and Goldfinger (who is not a small man) gets sucked out the plane window.

Bond and Pussy parachute out, and decide to ditch THE PRESIDENT in order to have sex in the woods, even as a rescue helicopter flies over them.

Credits roll.

It's just endlessly silly and over the top and fun.

Two final notes:

1. The whole thing of stealing vs nuking the gold is a change from the book. In the book, he was just gonna steal the gold, but the movie changes it to the nuke plot, but puts the idea to steal it in the film as an "obviously silly idea that would never work", which is slightly hilarious to me

2. The film also drops the fact that Pussy Galore is supposed to be a lesbian. This is certainly for the best, given that Bond still seduces her into betraying her boss. It's still somewhat implied in the film, though.

#James Bond

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snowfolly · 7 months ago

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✨WIP Wednesday✨

Thanks so much for the tag @vixstarria !

This is from the upcoming chapter of Endlessly:

“Fortune has not…” The vampire trailed off, glancing down in surprise when he felt Tali’s gloved hand grab his own, leather on leather — and his eyes shot back up to gaze at the bard in surprise. Tali made no notice of Astarion’s reaction as he continued scanning the terrain, his little bantam rooster legs working double time to keep pace with the taller party members.

Despite the gloom surrounding them, the corner of the vampire’s mouth curved up into the slightest grin. This wasn’t the first time Tali had grabbed hold of his hand, but it was the first time he’d shown such affection in front of the others — aside from frivolous flirtation. The simple gesture took him by surprise; Tali was as endearing as he was ridiculous.

“You know you need to keep that free hand ready for your weapon, sweet,” Astarion said, giving Tali’s hand a gentle squeeze as the elf looked up at him sheepishly.

“I just… I know. I just hate this place and…” Tali’s voice waned as he made to pull away from Astarion’s grasp, but the vampire held tight. He cared not for being touched, but holding Tali’s hand was… different.

No pressure tagging (for art or writing!) @seaofdaydreams @ollysoxisfree @mj-bites @tallymonster @nyx-knox (and sorry for any repeats ;-;)

#bg3 #baldur's gate 3 #astarion #astarion x tav #astarion fanfic #astarion fanfiction

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ravensandthekeys · 7 months ago

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Theories/rambling about tgg and questions I have for the next book. Enjoy the insanity ahead :D (spoilers)

I did not check the grammar on this, so apologies in advance

So we have kind of a repeat situation with the whole idea of "legacies that shouldn't be pass down/have to bear".

With the old man we get the responde in tfg :

"left me his fortune so that if and when his enemies descended after his death, they would descend on me."

So we could say in theory that Odette also has enemies that could potentially come after her family should she have won the game. She said she made the decision after the lights went out.

Who are those enemies? I suppose it is Alice Hawthorne with the whole Omega thing (which I suspect could be some kind of organization/group like the Devils Mercy). It could also be Eve but she is a bit more of a wild card in my opinion, she could be working for someone else but also just for herself. Maybe she's now part of the Omega.

On a side note, I wonder why Jameson and Avery haven't told Grayson about Alice. It's been a year.

I think is pretty obvious Lyra was brought by the Omega. And if Eve is part of them, the person that put the notes would be Slate.

The lily is must definitely a symbol of significance for the Omega. AND CALLA, I feel she's Emily but worse, because she's probably a part of the Omega.

And we get repeated all the time that Lyra was holding a Lilly and a candy necklace. Odette draw specifically a Calla Lily

AND THIS, three will mean something, but I have no idea what. Maybe is part of a saying/rule in Omega.

I also wonder what the old man did to Odette. What was so important for Alice to literally come back from the dead to ask him a favor? Like, that's quite the unhinged behavior, girl. Could it be that Odette left the Omega and whatever Alice asked for was a repercussion for that?

Why was he disowned? Why did Calla tracked him down? By the way, fuck you Brady like he just told Knox their mentor was dead and lied about his mother having cancer. What the Thorps relationship with the Omega (guessing by Calla's name)? Why did Knox accept working for them? He said it was for the money but what did he need the money for?

Because he insisted that he shouldn't be trusted but the way I see it, he ended up being way nicer than Brady, so idk if he would have a shallow reason. I mean he's clearly a loyal person but something happened with Calla (which by the way, we're assuming he actually talked with her but maybe he just got shot and have no idea why) and with Brady that he betrayed him. So clearly he was desperate.

Random panic: WHY DID SLATE KIDNAPPED GIGI? OMG I ship them so hard tho

And last but not least, who the fuck is The Watcher?

#the hawthorne legacy #the inheritance games #jameson hawthorne #the final gambit #avery grambs #the grandest game #rohan tgg #tgg spoilers

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charliethomascoxuniverse · 2 years ago

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Charlie Cox: ‘I love being a superhero — I thought that ship had sailed’

Charlie Cox on the return of Daredevil, the joys of sea swimming in Dalkey and his rewarding character-driven work in RTÉ’s Kin

Kirsty Blake Knox April 27, 2023 (X)

Charlie Cox is a busy man; he smiles widely from the back of a car as it ferries him from a physical therapy session to the set of Disney’s Daredevil.

“We’ve just kind of started, it’s really great. Pretty intense, hence the physical therapy,” he says.

Cox has returned to play Matt Murdock, the blind lawyer-slash-superhero.

The show started life on Netflix and ran for three seasons before it was cancelled in 2018.This resulted in an online #SaveDaredevil campaign which resulted in 400,000 signatures begging Marvel to bring him back.

It took a little time; a contractual clause prevented any characters from the Marvel-Netflix shows from appearing in any non-Netflix projects for two years after cancellation.

And now Cox is suiting up again in his Spandex costume, running around punching people in the face and fighting for justice. It’s a demanding shoot — the series is 18 episodes long. And he is a fan of doing as many of his stunts as possible.

“I kind of get involved as much as I’m allowed to and is appropriate. Obviously, the stunt team are professionals and there are things they can do that I can’t even get close to,” he says. “I feel like the name of the game is to get as involved as you can… it makes the scenes more realistic.”

Cox took on the role, which had once been played by Ben Affleck in 2015. At the time, landing the role came as a shock.

“I never thought of myself as being appropriate casting for an American superhero. That never really occurred to me,” he says. “And in my 20s, a lot of my friends, and a lot of British actors, had gone and done that already. So when I got to 30 I was pretty confident that ship had sailed. I was very fortunate to get a character that I’ve now been playing for almost 10 years. It’s unbelievable.”

Cox is a father to two young children (seven and three) but they are a little young to fully grasp the role their dad plays in the Marvel Universe.

“I’m not sure they quite understand… One of the books we read him (his three-year-old) is called Superbat. A bat who is a superhero. But that’s his only real understanding. And so he thinks that I’m Superbat,” he laughs.

Cox realised he wanted to be an actor while in school and studied at Bristol Old Vic drama school. His first big break came in 2007 when he starred in Stardust alongside Robert De Niro and Michele Pfeiffer.

He has performed on the West End and Donmar Warehouse, in dramas like Treason and took on the role of Owen Sleater in Martin Scorsese’s Boardwalk Empire. For Irish viewers, we can see Cox on our screens every Sunday night, as Michael Kinsella in gangland drama Kin.

It’s pretty unusual for Marvel Universe actors to appear in a homegrown Irish drama. But Cox’s wife is executive producing the series. When another project he was attached to fell through, he read the scripts and felt compelled to be part of it.

“I’ve been working probably 20-plus years, and there’s a handful of times where I’ve read a script and felt like I’m reading something written by a truly brilliant writer,” he says. “And that quality of scripts never ceased. Sometimes you can get a really good pilot episode. But then as you get deeper into the season, some of the writing starts to disintegrate a little bit, but with Peter (McKenna) that was never the case.”

Obviously, the scale of production is a lot smaller on Kin than other productions, but he says these productions can be just as, if not more, rewarding to work on.

“If you have a limited budget, the way you handle that is you write long character-driven scenes… So weirdly, the lower budget stuff often is more appealing. Because you get to really get deep into the character and the relationships and the dynamics… it’s sort of like theatre. So, from my point of view, sometimes that stuff is more appealing.”

He continues; “I’ve learned I’m not precious about my character’s involvement. I don’t care much if my character does cool stuff … what I care about is, ‘are they moving?’”

He says this is some of the appeal of playing Michael.

“This life that he’d come from…and now he’s trying to rekindle a relationship with his daughter. [The] vulnerability, and the desire, and the need to fundamentally change his nature. That was really exciting to me.”

Cox perfected his Irish accent by listening to the voice of former Dublin goalkeeper, Shane Supple. He got up to speed with Ireland’s gangland scene by listening to podcasts featuring award winning crime journalist Nicola Tallant.

“I was kind of blissfully ignorant of the whole thing,” he says. “When I actually read the first two scripts, I just thought it was all fiction and then I agreed to do the part and I started doing my research. I was like, ‘oh, shit, this stuff is happening. It’s current and it’s happening right now.’”

Despite the violent nature of the series, he found filming and living in Ireland to be idyllic.

He and his family were based in the seaside village of Dalkey — where Matt Damon was holed up during lockdown. Cox became a sea swimming fanatic while residing there.

“I absolutely loved being there… I had conversations with my wife about moving to Dublin because I loved it so much. It’s not really viable with my job… Season one, we’re in lockdown. We lived in Hanover Quay, which was delightful…

“Season two, we moved to Dalkey. I felt like it was one of the best kept secrets in Europe… I was swimming in Vico every day… I found it to be like a haven. And I would love an opportunity to go back at any stage.”

Cox is extremely polite and amenable. And modest — despite his success, Cox says he still suffers professional insecurities.

“I never think I’m going to be hired,” he laughs. “I read years ago that Christopher Walken always thinks his job he’s doing is going to be the last time he is hired. I don’t quite have that, but I certainly identify with it. I’ve never felt like ‘Oh, I’m always going to be hired.’”

He says this comes with some advantages, as it makes him more present.

“I’m filming in New York and I’m lucky enough that I’m still able to play a kind of a lead in a TV show,” he says. “You know, the time is ticking on that in a big way. And so I certainly don’t want to wish that away.

“It would be easy to kind of bemoan the amount of hours you have to work, and missing the family, but there’ll come a time where I would kill to be able to be the lead in the TV show. I think the trick is to really enjoy it while it lasts.”

As he makes his way out of his car and towards his makeup chair, I ask if he has any projects outside of Daredevil coming down the tracks.

“I’m going to be doing this until the end of the year. And then I’ll be back on the panic station wondering if I am ever going to work again,” he laughs.

~*~

#finally a new interview at last!!! 😁💗✨#I just spent the last hour running this through at least half a dozen applications to get around the damn paywall #I was starting to worry nothing was going to work 😬 but it finally came through \^.^/#charlie cox #michael kinsella #matt murdock #kin amc #daredevil #daredevil born again #interview #article

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toddandersonsyawp · 4 months ago

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I haven't done a post like this in a while, but I just came across a dps edit on Pinterest (not sure if the op made the edit, I've asked them for proper credit- will update if I get an answer) it was called "The Beauty of Dead Poets Society." Here:

(if you get a notif for my acc, dw I didn't doxx myself- it's an alt. just ignore it ^^)

Whether it was just the nostalgic visuals, the song playing in the background (September Song by the talented Agnes Obel), or a mix of both- it honestly invoked a different view of the film in me.

The story of these kids finding passion admist suppression - I applied it to a larger picture. I think that the whole film/book was an overarching metaphor that mirrors our lives as human beings living in modern societies.

We are the kids. No matter our ages. We all come from different backgrounds and have different specific struggles, but in the end, are our struggles as a whole that different? Look at Neil and Todd, for example. Todd is the other sibling; he'll never be his older brother in his parents and society's (the school's) eyes. He carries a burden and an immense amount of pressure. And Neil? Different situation. He is the golden/only child; he carries that on his shoulders as well. Although their situations can be deemed opposites, they both are similar in the way that society has put massive pressure on them. Sound familiar? Yeah, one of the main reasons most of the dps audience can relate to them so much (and ALL of the other kids) is because of how much of a burden our society throws on us even as we grew up.

Notice how there are so many different personalities in the students; from anxious Todd, confident Charlie, rule-follower Cameron, to even Hopkins (unleash your inner "a cat sat on the mat"), I feel like everyone watching the film can relate even in part to at least one of these characters. These kids are a perfect way to express different types of people put under societal pressure and how they react differently (more on that later)

Queue Mr. Keating! Ah yes. I think we all have or will have a Mr. Keating in our lives. Mr. Keating symbolises pure inspiration. Our first and strongest taste of "what could be" if we only took the burden of society and threw it out the window. Despite the school (which represents society as a whole) trying to enforce its normalities and trying to fit us in a single tightly-packed conformity, we have that one inspiration admist the system that gives us passion. Does the system like this? No, not at all. This taste of freedom, that is already limited, is giving us reasons to be curious: "What could I become, who could I become, if I didn't conform?". Curiousity can be easily concealed, luckily. Confidence is what the people in control see first. Our "paces" change.

Confidence mixed with curiosity is the most powerful weapon against a static society.

We all don't react the same to this mix. Some of us take a path of full rebellion. Those people are able to break out of the system successfully when they want to. This is the path that Charlie Dalton symbolises. All he needed was that spark of inspiration (again, represented by Mr. Keating) to completely face society head-on, smirking. He got expelled from the school on his own accord. (I will add, I'm not saying this path is easier than the others. How you react to inspiration does not equal the burden you took on prior or during exposure to it) Some also have a path of confidence- however, they don't make the best decisions with their new freedom. This is a result of being oppressed for so long; the explosive taste of "possibility" clouds their judgement. Knox, fortunately, learned along the way, as most people who take his path do.

Probably the most explored in the film: others, well, they don't face societal expectations head-on. They want to. With every fibre of their being, they need to. They can go on either path; play by the system's rules until they acquire more freedom (Todd), or give up. Neil; he couldn't break out of society, but he couldn't live in it either. His method of escape was not like Charlie's. Neil believed that society was a heavy curtain draped on all people and couldn't be lifted up to let them breathe. Suffocation. Many people take this path. We see it everywhere.

Dead Poet's Society is full of so many different paths taken by so many of the students and those around them - it's all to show how we react differently to the world's pressure and burden.

Inspiration (Mr. Keating) is a spark that spreads across so many of us. As I've discussed in a previous post, inspiration has no end; it can reach those who are bound to and/or enforcing the system (the Latin teacher). It reaches out to our lives; how we react to it and use it against its inverse- society (Welton/ the parents)- is dependent on all of our own individual paths (represented by the students). The Dead Poet's Society itself represents the people who dare take control of their lives with passion and inspiration. This "society", in every way, is what our society should be.

#oh how I love rambling #dead poets society #dps #dead poets fandom #dps fandom #neil perry #todd anderson #mr keating #writing #ignore the queue instead of cue I can't change it 😭

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