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hopetofantasy · 4 years ago

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Culture, parallels & meta - S3 E1

Previous season Prologue: Vlogs (1) - Vlogs (2)

Zaterdag 21:43

The time lapse already showing us a string of places that will be important later, like the dark alley, the Meir with Noor’s workplace, the university neighborhood, the Scheldt river where the boys hang out, ...

Perfect parallel:

The second season starts Zoë’s POV with a (washing machine) door, whilst the third opens with a door to a party that Robbe attends.

Robbe glances back at Noor passing through the shot this episode, an action he repeats when he spots Sander in the second episode. - A very subtle hint to where his love life may lead.

The first one starts with two unknown LGBT+ girls kissing at a party, the last episode shows two known LGBT+ boys (Sobbe) kissing at their own party.

The aerial shot through the floor to introduce us to Robbe’s POV here and the aerial shot through the roof to say goodbye to him in the last episode.

Moyo saying “No one would do you” to Aaron in this episode, Aaron realizing “No one here wants to do me!” in the last.

Where’s Wally? Noor greeting Marie, accompanied by Jana and Britt. Max dancing with Keisha in the crowd.

How ‘meta’ of you: Newsflash, yes you are!

Nod to the OG:

The deliberate messy POV: following everyone that we know already and then slowly settling on the Isak version in a tub.

Robbe saying Noor looks like ‘Natalie Portman’, which is what people said to the OG Emma when they flirted with her. Everyone, except Isak, that is.

Oop, there it is, the homophobia / heteronormativity: Moyo keeps pressuring Robbe into explaining what type of girl he likes. The boys laugh it off when he answers that ‘he doesn’t have a type’.

Lost in translation: Moyo mocks Noor’s Dutch accent, making his ‘g’ and ‘st’ sound harsher, while also adding ‘hoor’ at the end - a typical word used by the Dutch to emphasize a point.

Blink-and-y’ll-miss-it: Jens is playing with the weed bag. Keisha is one of the girls that Moyo mentions as Jens’ ex-girlfriend or ex-fling. Not only did Noor nót flush the toilet, but she didn’t used any toilet paper either!

Zaterdag 22:44

C is for culture:

Noor rescuing Robbe on her scooter - In Belgium, you’re allowed to drive a moped or scooter once you’ve reached the age of 16. Nothing is needed if the vehicle doesn’t go above 25 km/h. If it stays between the range of 25-45 km/h and max. 50 cc, you need to pass a theoretical exam, 4 hours of driver’s ed and a practical exam to get the license. Anything other than that, has a whole new set of restrictions, types of driver’s licenses and minimum ages. Noor and Robbe are, however, still breaking the law. As long as you’re not 18, you’re not allowed to have an extra passenger with you. Especially if they’re not wearing a helmet. (Plus they ignored a red light. Those rebels!)

“You do know that you always have to have it with you?” - The Belgian law states that everyone above age twelve, has to get an ID to identify themselves. Some might have had a Kids-ID already - for travel purposes - but that’s not mandatory. However, once you're fifteen years old, you’re obligated to carry your ID with you at all times.

Perfect parallel:

Luca being all jealous whilst staring at Noor and Robbe making out in S3, her glaring at Maud and Robbe every chance she got in the last season.

Robbe and Noor having fun on the scooter while screaming and Robbe filming their adventure in this episode. Robbe and Sander doing a similar thing, but on their bikes in a later episode.

Wink to other remakes: Robbe sporting a brown jacket. (Eliott, anyone?)

Surprise bitch, guess who: It’s Willem Chanterie, the on-set costume designer and social media production assistant!

Blink-and-y’ll-miss-it: Noor has a ‘Fuck Trump’ sticker on her helmet. Robbe says “Hey, it’s red” in a very clear Antwerp accent.

Zaterdag 23:11

Hello from the outside: The garbage truck they sprayed, still drove around the city regularly. The art piece itself is named ‘#Genoeg mama' (= ‘#Enough mommy’). It blames the consumer society as toxic, making young people its victim.

Oopsie: Inside the graffiti den, Noor suddenly sports a tote bag with supplies, even though we never saw her wearing that in the previous shots.

Blink-and-y’ll-miss-it: Noor has black combat boots. The photographer is obviously Sander, in case you have missed that subtle clue.

Zondag 13:41

Lost in translation/Oop, there it is, the homophobia / heteronormativity:

“Check die pekie’s”. The word ‘pekie’ is actually Amsterdam slang for ‘beautiful girl, girlfriend’. In recent years, more and more Dutch slang are making their way into the Flemish dialect, because of the Dutch rap songs gaining popularity with the youngsters.

“Vamos, flikkers”. The word ‘flikkers’ can mean ‘wussie’ as well as a derogatory term for ‘homosexual’. Again establishing the fact that the boys use a lot of homophobic or toxic words for each other.

Robbe’s clumsiness meter: +1, him tossing the bag behind Jens instead of into his hands.

Blink-and-y’ll-miss-it: There is a football right next to the skateboards.

Maandag 16:04

C is for culture: “The whole art school was talking about it” -

Secondary school is divided in four sections: general, technical, art and vocational. Which section you choose can have effect on further education. In one of these sections, you pick what you want to study from your first to last year (‘directions’). That means that you have some courses purely focused on the direction and others that are obligated for everyone, regardless.

Art high schoolers can choose to go to work or study a specialization afterwards. Their coursework isn’t solely art based, there are general required courses too. That’s why some foreigners - including the Dutch - come to Belgium, since they’ll get a more rounded and higher level of art education than in their countries. ‘de!KUNSTHUMANIORA’ is the high school in Antwerp Noor goes to and is known for having students with unique styles.

Perfect parallel:

Noor waiting outside the school for Robbe and him reacting somewhat confused here, Sander doing the same and having an instantly happy Robbe in a later episode.

Robbe having no problem kissing a girl ‘as a straight guy’ in front of the gates in this episode and scared for what might happen if he kissed a boy ‘as a gay guy’ later on.

Blink-and-y’ll-miss-it: The insta caption underneath the art work says ‘An inspirational message on a Sunday! Just discovered this in Antwerp city today. Artist unknown... Can you remember when you last called on your mother?’ (That last sentence, oooofff, the symbolism!)

Dinsdag 14:57

C is for culture:

“Yes, mini enterprises are so chill.” - Mini enterprises are often used as a tool for Economics in the fifth/sixth year. The goal of these is to ‘learn whilst doing it’. Like the name specifies, mini enterprises are actual miniature companies set up by a group of students. During the school year, they’ll try to work together on commercializing a product. All aspects of entrepreneurship are at play here: writing a business plan, holding meetings, doing bookkeeping, marketing the product, produce and sell it, ... If the enterprise idea is good or well executed, it might even win a national prize by the company making this education formula.

“What if he contacts child protection services” - Actually, those services doesn’t really exist in Belgium. There are, however, other youth organizations for these types of things, like JAC - Youth Advice Centre, CLB - Centre for Student Guidance and the Centre for Mental Healthcare.

Perfect parallel: The boys hyping Aaron up to walk over to Amber and talk to her - yet he fails in this episode, them doing the same and he succeeds (after some fails) in the last episode.

Oop, there it is, the homophobia / heteronormativity: Jens saying “Damn, seems like someone is on his fucking period”, after Robbe snaps at him due to the difficult telephone call with his dad.

Lost in translation: Jens saying “Mijn kop staat er niet naar” (= “My head’s not standing there”) can actually mean different things: I’m not in the mood, it’s not the right time, I don't want to do it, my head’s all over the place, ... It depends on the context, on which interpretation would suit the situation the best.

Blink-and-y’ll-miss-it: The girls are all fawning all over Britt’s cellphone, so there is a good chance that they’re discussing (pictures of) her boyfriend, Sander. Also, Jana’s braces are gone!

Donderdag 17:13

Perfect parallel: Robbe stating that he can’t talk to his dad or he’ll fight and Zoë getting that, as she said a similar thing to an understanding Senne about her parents in S2.

How ‘meta’ of you: Ah, yes, fandom ship names in SKAM. We applaud!

Oopsie: If you look really hard, you see that the body type and hair of Robbe’s dad, doesn’t correspond with the version waiting at the restaurant later on.

Wink to other remakes: This shot reminding you of a certain S3 trailer? 👀

Blink-and-y’ll-miss-it: The numerous references to Zoënne’s relationship in their room (relationship pics, Senne’s guitar). The paper Milan gifts to Robbe is the written permission by his parent to live with them, as is obligated by law.

Vrijdag 20:04

Perfect parallel:

Senne pulling Zoë up after a kiss here, just like with their first kiss in S2.

Robbe pushing Milan away after thinking he wanted to kiss him at the party in S2, them hugging it out in after talking about it in S3.

Blink-and-y’ll-miss-it: Zoë and Milan making some healthy party snacks like cauliflower and cocktail sauce, cheese with tomatoes and salami squares. She pulls back the bottle of gin that Milan wants to steal. Senne also bought paprika and tortilla chips from Colruyt (a discount store).

Vrijdag 20:54

C is for culture: “Noor, Robbe’s girlfriend” - (Teen) dating culture is different in Belgium. Usually, if you have kissed, hung out, texted or just said/did something to show your mutual interest, you’d pretty much consider yourself in a relationship. It can go from 0 to 100 very quick. Unless there is, of course, an agreement that what you’re doing is no such thing. Also, nobody really ask you to be their gf/bf. It just implied or stated to their family or friends.

Perfect parallel:

A reluctant Robbe pushing himself to do stuff to Noor (playful dancing, kissing, riling her up) as far as putting his hands on her bra here. A totally different, excited Robbe not even thinking twice about doing these things to Sander, even licking his nipple during their reunion.

Noor pushing Robbe on the bed and climbing over him, whilst Robbe looks all sad in this episode. Him pushing Sander on the bed and being happy as Sander crawls over him during their reunion.

Oop, there it is, the homophobia / heteronormativity: Robbe tries to convince himself into liking heterosexual sex with Noor and fake laughs with his friends about having it.

Where’s Wally? Keisha laughing with Amber and later dancing with Marie.

Blink-and-y’ll-miss-it: Jens is talking to Senne. The decorations behind Milan saying ‘Welkom Robbe’ (= ‘Welcome Robbe’). Noor has a beautiful tattoo of a pin-up girl covered with butterflies on her lower arm.

#wtfock #wtfam #skam #skam belgium #cpm rewatch

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cinaja · 4 years ago

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Before the Wall part 49

Masterlist

A/N: This took forever to write again, but I just had such a hard time with some of the scenes. I hope it all turned out okay.

Tw: Mentions of torture in the scene 6 and mutiliation in the scene 7 (towards the end). Also, scene 1 is Amarantha's pov, so it's a bit messed up as usual.

----

Amarantha ordered her soldiers to have their captured enemies screaming day and night, but even the screams now ringing out over her camp day and night fail to ease her fury. Not even imagining that it is Jurian screaming helps anymore, because she knows it is not and she knows that chances of her capturing him soon are low.

She lost her most valuable hostage, her direct path towards revenge. Like some new recruit with only a handful of battles under her belt, she let herself be outsmarted by Sinna of Erithia. Fell for a stupid diversion set with some idiot commander from Prythian as bait and didn’t notice the true plan until it was already too late.

On another day, she might have admired the ruthlessness of Sinna sacrificing hundreds of her own allies to save her new Princess. On another day, she might have been excited, might have started looking for an opportunity to pit herself against the Seraphim general, see which of them is truly better. But today, she is far too angry to be thrilled at the possible challenge.

It doesn’t matter how much she has the soldiers who served as a diversion tortured. Doesn’t matter that she ordered them all killed slowly and had ash bolts spiked through the commander’s wings. All that matters is that she still hasn’t gotten her hands on Jurian.

The very thought has anger flaring through her. Restlessly, Amarantha paces through her camp, looking for something to take her mind off the man who murdered her sister. Her soldiers, sensing her anger, shrink away from under har gaze.

A day spent on the march didn’t serve to improve her mood. But losing Miryam forced her to abandon her position at the Heseia Fort. Now that she doesn’t have a hostage, Jurian would never be stupid enough to attack her at such a secure position. So she had to give up some advantages, make Jurian think he has a chance to push him into attacking. And once he does, she will crush him.

Only she still needs a plan for that. She doesn’t doubt her army’s ability to take on that ragtag group of humans Jurian leads and win, but she can’t take any chances. Not when Jurian has proven more than once that he is clever, and surprisingly resilient for a human. If Amarantha wants to be entirely sure that she will defeat him, she will need some tricks up her sleeve.

“You,” she snaps at the nearest soldier, impatiently waving him over. “I’ll be gone for the next hour. Tell Lexo he’ll head the camp in my absence.”

Without waiting for a reply, she winnows away. She lands in the courtyard outside of the royal palace in Hybern. Distantly, the sound of waves crashing against the cliffs is audible, a seagull screams above.

Without pausing to look around, Amarantha stalks off towards the palace. People move aside to make space for her as she walks past. The slaves especially tremble and shrink away from her, knowing fully well that it is best not to cross Amarantha when she is this angry. On another day, Amarantha might have stopped to have her fun with one or two of them, but today, her goal is a different one.

The guards standing in front of the throne room step forward as she approaches, as if to intercept her. Amarantha doesn’t stop and at the last moment, they seem to think the better of it and jump aside. Amarantha pushes open the high doors leading into the throne room and stalks in.

With her arrival, the room falls silent. The courtiers standing throughout the room pause their chattering and stare at her, then quickly avert their eyes. On the throne, the King turns his dark eyes to her. He watches her for a moment, as if considering.

“Everybody out,” he orders without tearing his gaze away from Amarantha.

The courtiers follow the order hastily, shuffling past Amarantha out of the door as she slowly walks towards the throne. Ten feet away from it, she stops and bows.

“Your Majesty,” she says and offers him a small smile as she straightens again.

“So you deign to answer my summons at last,” the king says. There is anger in his voice, and only now does Amarantha remember that he did send her letters over the past few days. Letters she threw into the fire unopened.

“I apologize,” she says smoothly. “I was preoccupied.”

“So I heard,” he replies. “Ravenia is furious with you for refusing to hand Miryam over, and then allowing her to be freed. She demands your head.”

“What do I care about Ravenia of the Black Land?” Amarantha asks. “A woman who can’t even win a war against one of her runaway slaves has no business telling me what to do.”

“The Black Land is our most important trading partner,” the king hisses, “and you aggravate its ruler with your impertinence.”

He can truly be short-sighted, that king of hers. Does he ever look beyond what’s right in front of him? “The Black Land is done for,” Amarantha says. “It won’t recover from this, and indulging Ravenia’s wishes would have been folly. If we play this smart, though, we might be the ones who gain the power Ravenia won’t be able to hold after the way she embarrassed herself in this war.”

In truth, Amarantha doesn’t care about power, and she doesn’t believe that Hybern will ever become the new Black Land. They simply aren’t powerful enough to actually carve out a position for themselves on the Continent. No, all they’ll ever be is a country of mediocre importance, nothing more. But Amarantha doesn’t care about that, anyways, as long as she gets Jurian’s head.

Her gaze travels to the throne her king is sitting on. It is made from human bones, brown and withered with age. A charming idea, she thinks. Maybe she will make herself something from Jurian’s bones, too, after she killed him. A crown, perhaps, or a collier. Certainly something she will be able to carry around with her, so that she might always look at it and remember her victory.

“My defeating Jurian,” she says, “will benefit us far more than playing nice with some doomed queen.”

The king leans forward ever so slightly. Amarantha can see it in his eyes – he wants the power he is talking of. “Alright, then,” he says slowly. “Tell me what it is you have come here to say.”

Amarantha’s smile broadens. Of course he knows that she only came to ask him a favour. She wonders, sometimes, if he also knows that she doesn’t care at all about his orders and only plays along with his game for the power the position in his court gives her. Perhaps he does. But she is his best general, and he needs her as much as she needs him.

“I can, of course, easily defeat Jurian on my own,” she says. “But I thought it might suit your interests if I made it impressive.”

His eyes narrow. “And for that,” he says, “you need my spellbook.”

Amarantha nods ever so slightly. He allowed her to use the book once before already, during another war a century ago. But witchers are careful with who they allow access to their knowledge. Hoping that he will give it to her now is a gamble, but one she needs to take. Even without being able to use third grade spells, the book’s spells will open possibilities. And she needs those for more than just the battle.

“I would just need to look through it once,” she says.

For what feels like an eternity, the King is silent. Then, he slowly rises from his throne. “Alright, then,” he says. “But be warned, General: If you ever disregard my orders again, I’ll see to it that you regret it.”

----

Jurian has grown tired of waiting.

It’s been almost a week now since he killed Clythia, yet Amarantha hasn’t shown her face around his camp yet. On the contrary, she seems content to do anything but deal with him. From the reports he receives, she seems entirely focused on the war effort, capturing Miryam to get Drakon to give up an important strategic location, then capturing Rhysand and his army. If Jurian didn’t know better, he would think that she doesn’t care at all about him murdering her sister.

With each passing day, he grows more restless. Killing Clythia, especially the way he did it, was meant to put an end to that horrible game of cat-and-mouse him and Amarantha were playing, but if it doesn’t…

Jurian can’t wait anymore. With every day that Amarantha still lives, he feels whatever composure he has left cracking further. He doesn’t know for how much longer he will be able to hold it together, so he has to act now, even if being the one to attack will cost him some advantages.

At least Amarantha left her position at the Heseia Fort. Jurian isn’t sure why, and giving up such an important strategic location seems stupid, but he will take whatever advantage he can get. All that really matters is that Amarantha no longer holds Miryam prisoner, which means that he can attack without having to worry about her.

But at the same time, the situation with Miryam is the one thing that makes him hesitate. He desperately wants to talk to her before he goes to face Amarantha. They said they would talk, before she got captured. Jurian still needs to explain what he did to Clythia, before she gets a wrong impression of why he did what he did. And there was something she wanted to tell him, too, but he didn’t listen to her. Maybe they should have talked then, instead of waiting.

Unfortunately, Miryam is still unconscious. Jurian supposes he could visit, but that would require seeing Drakon, and that’s something Jurian doesn’t feel like doing at all. (He doesn’t understand why they brought Miryam to the Callian Pass, anyways. They should have taken her to Telique.) If he wants to talk to Miryam before killing Amarantha, he’ll have to wait for her to wake up, and he can’t stand to wait any longer. Besides, it’s probably easier if he kills Amarantha first and then talks to Miryam. Having Amarantha’s death to show for will make it far easier to explain why killing Clythia the way he did was necessary.

So Jurian comes up with a sensible strategy. He gets his maps for the area where Amarantha’s army is usually stationed and sits down with his captains to discuss. All of them get strict orders not to tell anyone about their plans, since he is sure Andromache would stop him if she knew.

Five days after Miryam got freed, Jurian is ready. The only thing he still hasn’t figured out is how to get Andromache out of the camp so that he can take his army and go without her interfering, but as it happens, fate is on his side. In the early afternoon of the fifth day, Andromache gets called away to an Alliance meeting, leaving him as the one in charge of the camp.

Jurian allows himself a moment to contemplates whether or not to take Andromache’s soldiers along with him. He could use the additional support, but in the end, he decides against it. Stealing Andromache’s soldiers away from under her nose would be bad form, and her captains would only raise a fuss should they realize that their queen didn’t agree to this sudden change of plans. No, if Jurian wants to go after Amarantha, he’ll have to do so with his own army.

His soldiers, fortunately, are well trained, and in spite of some of his past mistakes, they still trust him blindly. It takes only a few quiet words to his captains and they are off, readying his army for the march. Unfortunately for him, Andromache’s captains are far less willing to simply accept his word.

“And you received your orders from the council?” One of them, a woman named Demetra but whom everyone calls Dem, asks. She doesn’t even bother to hide her doubt.

“Are you accusing me of lying?” Jurian asks pointedly. Sometimes, to attack is the best defence strategy.

“No, General,” Dem says. She scrunches up her nose slightly. “I still need to know if the council ordered this, though.”

“I am a member of the council, and I am ordering this right now.” Jurian says. “And you really don’t have the rank necessary to stop me.”

That’s the funny thing about being on the council: No one can really forbid him from doing things. Even Andromache, in spite of being a queen, has the same rank as him and cannot technically tell him what to do. He reckons Miryam could – or would find some other way to stop him from going after Amarantha – but she isn’t around to do so.

Dem watches him for a moment, brow furrowed. She isn’t easily cowed, neither by his rank nor his reputation, and on another day, Jurian would admire that. Today, though, it’s rather inconvenient, so he is glad when she finally inclines her head.

“Then I won’t keep you,” she says.

“Good,” he says. “I want you to stay here until your Queen returns. She will give you your next orders.” He just hopes those won’t be to chase after Jurian and drag him back.

----

“Shit,” Andromache mutters, letting herself drop onto the cushions in Nakia’s suite. “What a complete and utter mess.”

After three hours stuck in a council meeting, trying desperately to appease the other members and spending each moment hoping that Miryam would be back soon, she finally returned to her camp to find Jurian and his army gone. She had just readied her army to chase after him – either to drag him back or to help him – when she received a directive from the council that her army was to hold positions under all circumstances.

The message didn’t specify why, but it sounded serious enough that Andromache could not risk to disobey. After eight hours of sitting on her ass in the camp, not an enemy to be seen, she finally had Yanis winnow her over to Telique to find out what it was all about, only to hear that the entire message had been caused by some administrative error. Naturally, Jurian’s army was far beyond her reach by that time.

“It’s almost like those bastards did it on purpose,” Nakia grumbles.

Andromache is inclined to agree, but instead says, “Still, please be nice when we meet with Zeku.” She hates having to urge for diplomacy when being diplomatic towards these people who do nothing but make her life more difficult is the last thing she wants right now. How does Miryam manage to do that without hitting someone? “If we want to reach Jurian in time, we’ll need Alliance support.”

Annoying as it is, but without the Fae, they’ll never catch up with Jurian before he attacks Amarantha. Human armies simply aren’t fast enough to reach him in time, so they will need the council to dispatch a Fae army. For which they will need Zeku’s support.

Normally, that would be easily arranged. Zeku is, after all, one of their closest Fae allies, which generally includes mutual support. But lately, he hasn’t exactly been accommodating to his allies’ requests and Andromache doesn’t know why. Six years of working together almost seamlessly, but now, Zeku seems to have decided to be just as difficult as most of his kind.

As if on cue, a knock sounds at the door. A moment later, Zeku enters.

He inclines his head. “Your Majesties,” he says.

“Your Grace,” Andromache replies, inclining her head as well.

“Have you heard anything from Princess Miryam yet?” Zeku asks, gracefully sitting down on the couch opposite them.

Hearing Miryam referred to as Princess is still strange, but Andromache will probably have to get used to it. “There has been no news,” she says. “Anyways, it is not Miryam but Jurian we asked you here to discuss. I assume you already heard?”

Zeku nods. “I have. And what is it you want me to do about this?”

“Get us an army,” Nakia says, which really isn’t the pinnacle of diplomacy. But considering how the Fae, Zeku included, have been acting lately, it’s probably better than he deserves.

“I’m afraid that won’t be possible,” Zeku replies. Nakia looks positively murderous at that, and he quickly amends, “I am truly sorry, but I couldn’t convince the other Fae to send aid to Jurian if I tried.”

“And why is that?” Andromache asks, trying desperately to contain her rising temper. Seriously, how does Miryam do this? In her place, Andromache would probably have committed murder more than once already.

Zeku sighs. “I understand that you humans care a lot about solidarity and loyalty, and it is something I admire about. Still, you will have to understand that many people will rightfully have a hard time understanding why they should risk their lives to get him out of a mess of his own making.”

“Because we are allies?” Andromache suggests.

“Well, there are more and more people in this Alliance who consider whether they still want to be allied with Jurian,” Zeku says. “There has already been talk of having him removed from the council, and the only reason the issue hasn’t been pushed yet is the human side’s continued support for him.” He sighs. “In all honesty, I have long since been having doubt about General Jurian’s ability to lead, and I only kept them to myself out of courtesy to Miryam. But I simply cannot warrant putting my name down for him any more than I am already doing.”

Andromache crosses her arms. Nakia scowls.

“It would be political suicide,” Zeku adds with a rueful smile. “I’m sorry.”

----

“Alright,” Jurian says, standing in a hastily-erected tent an hour away from Amarantha’s camp. “Here’s the plan.”

His captains, standing around the camp, look back at him expectantly. After more than a day spent on the march, they all seem worn out, but there is a light in their eyes like they, too, can’t wait to finally end this. Jurian likes to imagine that they sense the importance of killing Amarantha, that they are driven by the same frantic energy that keeps him from feeling any tiredness.

“Amarantha likely knows we’re coming,” he says. Her spies must have reported to her the moment their army left its camp, and Jurian didn’t have the magical means to cover their march. “Still, I would like to have gain some advantages for the attack, so we split our army up.”

He points to the map that lies on a makeshift table between them. Amarantha’s camp is marked, as well as all the information their scouts could gather. Amarantha made camp by the spring of a small river at the side of a hill. The position is good, but not all that strong, its biggest advantage lying in the fact that any enemies will have to attack from below, leaving her soldiers the high ground.

“Xeni, you take half my army and stage an attack from the front,” Jurian says. “You do not need to engage in battle, just make enough noise that Amarantha thinks you are the main attack. Meanwhile, I will take the main part of the army around the hill, and then, we will attack Amarantha’s forces from behind. That way, we’ll force Amarantha’s army to fight on to fronts, and we’ll gain the high ground.”

Xeni nods, surveying the map. “Amarantha will notice if my part of the army is smaller, though.”

She’s a good soldier – smart. Jurian would have made her his second months ago already, but he could never quite bear to give Tia’s position to another. Maybe after the battle is over, he will finally do it.

“The trees will provide cover,” he says. “Ideally, Amarantha won’t be able to get a solid count of our numbers during the battle, and my part of the army will only start moving once yours attacked and Amarantha is distracted.”

That means there will be a dangerous moment where Xeni’s army is forced to hold Amarantha off on her own. It’s a risk, but it will likely take a while for the battle to truly get heated, and by then, Jurian’s army should be there to provide reinforcements.

The battle will without doubt end in a duel between him and Amarantha. This will be the fight that decides the outcome of the battle, Jurian is sure of it. And he is equally sure that he will win. Amarantha will be driven by fury, and angry people tend to make mistakes. Jurian will use that. The only thing that might become a problem is that she has magic – however little it might be – and he does not. But Jurian picked up a few small tricks from Miryam over the years, and he wove spells into his armour that should be able to ward off most attacks.

It will work. It has to work.

----

Drakon genuinely hates the Callian Pass.

Everyone always talks about how hard it is to take it, but no one ever mentioned to Drakon that once you have taken it, it is near-impossible to get away from it again. Jurian is facing Amarantha in battle, he might be dying right now, and he is stuck in this cursed castle, unable to do anything. Miryam is still unconscious, and while the healers assure him that she will be fine, they aren’t entirely sure when she will wake up. (Apparently, there is some difficulty with estimating how quickly her body heals, given that she is neither fully Fae nor human, and half Fae healing abilities might fall anywhere in between.)

Drakon feels stuck in some never-ending nightmare where the people he cares about are always facing some kind of danger, and he is stuck here, unable to help. To make matters worse, Artax now has his soldiers probing the walls day and night. They still haven’t attacked outright, but they certainly have a knack for making everything more stressful.

Right now, Artax just finished his sixth pseudo-attack on the castle for the day. Drakon is standing on the battlement, flanked by Sinna and Helion, and looks down at the retreating soldiers below.

“What is he playing at?” Drakon asks. “Why won’t he just attack, put an end to this?”

“Because he is smart,” Sinna says. “He is trying to wear us out, make us expend our resources and keep us on our toes so that when he finally attacks in earnest, his own casualties will be lower.”

“That’s stupid, though,” Drakon says. “He only has the advantage as long as Miryam is out of the game.”

“I doubt the possibility of a human woman ever being a danger to him so much as crossed Artax’s mind,” Helion says, smiling slightly. His smile fades, though, as his attention returns to the enemy army. “And much as I admire Miryam’s abilities, I honestly cannot say his assessment is wrong. I doubt she would stand much of a chance against him.”

Drakon looks down at the army camping below, at the red flags flying in the wind. “I wouldn’t be so sure of that,” he says quietly.

Artax is, without doubt, the most skilled witcher of their age. He has centuries of practice on Miryam. But Drakon has seen the way she looked at him during their last meeting, eyes burning with so much hatred that they seemed to glow from within. Drakon may not know what Artax did to her, but he knows that Miryam hates him just as much as Ravenia.

So far, they never faced each other in battle. Should it ever come to that, they might just rip apart the world between them. But in the end, Drakon doesn’t think that Artax will walk away triumphant. Or walk away at all, for that matter.

“Let’s hope you’re right,” Helion says. “Because I certainly can’t take on Artax, and I don’t know anyone else on our side who can.” He pushes off the stone railing he was leaning against and inclines his head to Drakon. “I’ll go inspect the wards again,” he says, winks at Sinna and walks off.

Sinna rolls her eyes at his retreating form. It’s not that her and Helion don’t get along – as far as Drakon knows, they work together quite well – but they are simply very different people with very different styles and preferences. Helion realizes early on that it is very easy for him to get on Sinna’s nerves, and he seems to enjoy occasionally poking fun at her. Drakon finds the entire matter amusing, and he suspects Helion does, too.

Down below, the retreating soldiers have now reached their camp again. Drakon leans against the stone balustrade and stares down, but his mind is on a different battlefield, a different army. He hates that Jurian is facing Amarantha without either him or Miryam around to help him. It’s not that he doesn’t trust Jurian’s abilities, but lately, he has been reckless in his decisions, especially when it comes to Amarantha.

“You’re worried,” Sinna says. “About Jurian?”

Drakon nods. “I feel like I should be doing something to help him. It isn’t right that he has to fight Amarantha on his own.”

“You want my opinion?” Sinna asks.

Drakon hesitates, then gives her a half-smile. “Actually, probably not,” he says.

Sinna has the tendency to be honest about things, and in this specific case, Drakon doubts her honestly would be particularly pleasant to hear. After all, Sinna told him over a year ago already to press for Jurian’s removal from the council and the war, likely to avoid precisely this outcome. Besides, she doesn’t like Jurian, which is likely to make her judgement of his actions rather harsh.

“Probably smart,” Sinna says.

Drakon is almost tempted to ask her for some reassurance, but in the current situation, that would basically come down to asking her to lie to him. Which is something he definitely does not want. Besides, reassurances are never quite as convincing if you have to ask for them.

----

Rhys doesn’t know how long it has been since he got captured. Days, weeks, months. It all blurs together. All he knows is that he’s in pain, so much pain that he can’t even think straight. The constant screaming of his dying soldiers rings through the camp, piercing his head like knifes.

He can’t take it anymore. All he wants is for it to end. But there is no end. The soldiers who are torturing don’t even ask questions, so there’s nothing he can do, nothing he can says, to make them stop. If there was anything they were asking, he knows he would have given it by now, if only to buy himself a moment of peace.

There’s only one thought that ever manages to pierce the haze of pain in his mind, and that is the thought of revenge. He will kill Amarantha for this. Kill her for what her soldiers are doing to his, to him, and for the fact that she doesn’t even seem to care. He will kill her. And if it’s the last thing he does.

They tied him up between two trees and spiked ash bolts through his wings. He’ll have to tear them free if he wants to fight, destroy his wings in the process, but that doesn’t matter. If he does manage to kill Amarantha, he will be killed soon afterwards, anyways.

As long as he just manages to take her with him, it won’t matter.

Still, he hesitates. Again and again, he tries to summon the courage to tear his wings free from the spikes, but his muscles refuse to obey his commands. He can’t. He loves his wings, loves the sky, and he can’t bring himself to destroy this.

And then, suddenly, it is too late. A horn blast rings out, followed by a second one, then a third, louder than the screams. Slowly, painfully, Rhys looks up.

From where he is chained up, he has a clear view over the camp, so he can easily see the army that is stepping out of the forest in the valley below and approaching.

Distantly, Rhys is aware that he should be glad. If Jurian and his army has arrived, if they are going to defeat Amarantha, he will be saved. But all he can think is they are stealing my revenge.

----

Sneaking through the forest with a thousand soldiers in tow is precisely as challenging as it sounds. It is made harder by the fact that there are magical traps and wards throughout the entire forest, and they keep having to stop and wait for the few Fae or humans with distant Fae ancestry in their group to disable them. They do their best to hurry, but they can’t risk setting off an alarm, so they are still slower than Jurian would like.

It takes them precisely fifteen minutes to walk around the hill and another five to climb up again on the other side. It isn’t much, but still, Jurian’s stomach clenches with worry with every moment they waste. With only half of his army, Xeni won’t stand a chance against Amarantha. They need to hurry.

Finally, they make it to the top of the hill. Jurian holds up a hand, commanding his army to stop, and steps forward until the edge of the forest. From there, he gets a good view of Amarantha’s camp lying a bit below, and the battle that’s raging at its edge.

Jurian can make out Amarantha amongst her soldiers. Her red hair is like a flag in the slight wind, clearly marking her where she stands, dressed in dark armour, at the centre of her troops.

Further down, he can see Xeni’s part of his army. They keep their position at the edge of the forest like he told them to. Jurian is about to give the order for attack to his army when Amarantha suddenly turns around towards him. Jurian freezes, sure that she has seen him, but Amarantha merely surveys the trees they are hiding in for a moment before turning back to the attacking army. Jurian could have sworn she smiles before she does, though.

A shiver runs down his spine. His gut tells him that something is wrong. It is too late to go back, though, and anyways, Jurian didn’t come this far only to turn back at a mere feeling.

He turns around to the soldiers waiting behind him. He opens his mouth to order the attack, but before he gets a word out, a slight tremor runs through the ground below. Jurian spins back around to the battle. His eyes immediately find Amarantha, who has raised her hands high above her head and appears to be chanting something.

Another tremor runs through the ground. But that isn’t possible. Amarantha isn’t a witch, and none of Jurian’s reports on her hinted at her having any affinity for spells. Her king is a witcher, but Amarantha, as far as he knows, rarely ever relies on magic in battle. Still, she is clearly casting a spell now. Jurian takes a step forward, as if he’ll be able to stop whatever she is doing.

Just below Amarantha’s camp, the ground bursts open. Behind Jurian, someone gasps, and he takes another step forward. But there’s nothing he can do as a fountain of water shoots out of the ground. Drops glitter in the moonlight, and for a moment, it almost looks pretty.

Then, the water goes crashing down into the valley in a giant flood wave.

Jurian is distantly aware that he screams something, but the sound is drowned out by the roaring of the water. The wave is high enough that he can’t even make out the tips of the trees anymore.

“No,” Jurian whispers. He can’t believe what he is seeing. There’s no way Amarantha just summoned a flood wave from nothing, there’s no way she… “No, please.”

His fingers begin to tremble. Below, the water recedes slowly, rushing further down into the valley. In its wake, it leaves trees torn from the ground, bent over and broken. There is no sign left of the army that was standing there until a moment ago. Jurian’s entire body is shaking now.

Amarantha turns back around, and this time, Jurian is sure that she smiles at him. He realizes that he is no longer hidden behind the trees, that he is standing in plain sight, but he can’t bring himself to care.

No. No, this can’t be real. His soldiers are fine, they will be fine. They didn’t… Half his army. He can’t have lost half his army in under a minute. It simply isn’t possible. And yet, his soldiers are gone, and he knows, deep down, that they won’t have survived this.

With shaking hands, Jurian reaches for his sword. As soon as his fingers close around the hilt, his mind stills. His senses seem to sharpen, and his focus zeroes in on Amarantha. Slowly, he draws his sword.

“Attack!” He shouts, raising his sword into the air.

Around Jurian, the battle rages. He is only distantly aware that his side is losing, that they are sorely outnumbered and don’t stand a chance. In his mind, he still sees the wave rushing down into the valley. He lost half his army in under a minute.

Amarantha. He needs to find her, needs to kill her. As soon as she is gone, it will… it will all be fine, then. He knows it will be. But the battle is so chaotic, and he has no idea how to find her. He simply keeps fighting, killing his way through the enemy soldiers, hoping he will find her somehow.

In the end, he isn’t sure if he finds Amarantha or if she finds him. But suddenly, they are standing mere feet away from each other on the battlefield. Around them, their soldiers part, as if to make space for them. Jurian barely notices. All he can see is Amarantha, standing there, mere feet away from him.

He thinks of his soldiers, mutilated beyond recognition and left for him to find. Of the flood wave crashing down into the valley and killing half of his army. Of all the pain and guilt and suffering, all caused by Amarantha. It will end today. He will end it all, here and now.

“I’m going to kill you,” he says very softly, not caring if she hears him or not.

A smile twists Amarantha’s mouth. “You are welcome to try,” she replies.

They both attack at the same time. Blades flashing in the air, they circle each other, jump forward and back as if caught in some twisted form of a dance. Amarantha is faster and stronger, but Jurian knew that in advance. She is also undoubtedly good, her technique nearly flawless, but like he estimated, she fights angry instead of smart.

Anger seems to dictate her every movement. She puts too much force behind her blows, and takes nearly every opening Jurian gives. She’s like a wild animal, eager for his blood, and it makes her reckless.

In the end, it is him who lands the first blow, a slice across Amarantha’s shoulder. She snarly at him for it, as if she is truly more animal than person, and Jurian grins.

Amarantha raises her hand and sends a flare of dark power shooting towards him. Jurian dodges, but not fast enough to avoid the entirety of the blast. The fringes still hit – and bounce off harmlessly at the ward that jumps to life around Jurian. His entire body seems to vibrate under the power, but the ward holds.

“Learned some tricks from that witch-friend of yours?” Amarantha hisses. “Maybe she should have taught you how to counter my flood spell.” She laughs. “But wait. You’re human – you couldn’t have.”

Jurian charges. This time, he is the one whose attacks are fuelled by anger, and he forces Amarantha back a few steps. The laugh vanishes from her face as Jurian’s blade slices through her armour and into her arm.

In answer, she sends another wave of power shooting towards him. His wards crack under the assault, and he can almost feel them splinter. Amarantha might not have much magical power to call her own, but it is more than Jurian can counter with the few tricks Miryam showed him. Under her next attack, his wards shatter entirely and he gets thrown to the ground. He only barely manages to roll aside in time to avoid Amarantha’s sword shooting for his head, and jumps back to his feet.

“Are you so pathetic a fighter that you need magic to defeat me?” He shouts at her.

“I’d defeat you even unarmed,” Amarantha snarls back at him.

“Go ahead, then.” Jurian laughs. “Drop your sword.”

She doesn’t, of course, but she doesn’t use her magic again, either. For a moment, they simply circle each other. Jurian looks at Amarantha and sees his own anger reflected on her face. She loses her patience first and charges. Jurian manages a slice to her cheek, although she moves aside quickly enough to keep it shallow.

But to his dismay, Jurian notices that he is beginning to tire. Amarantha is faster, stronger, and with each moment the fight lasts, he is finding it harder and harder to keep up. He needs to end this before he becomes too exhausted to keep fighting, but while she makes more mistakes than he does, she doesn’t give him to opening he would need to win.

They break apart again. Circle each other before attacking once more. This time, Jurian is a bit too slow in his reactions, and she manages a cut to Jurian’s side. Her sword slices through his armour and bites into the flesh below. He barely feels the pain, but the blow still makes him stumble.

Amarantha is already moving again, so quickly Jurian can barely follow. She brings her blade down in an arc, metal glinting in the moonlight. Jurian jerks his own sword down in an attempt to counter the blow, the movement far too sloppy. He only barely catches the blow, and with his sword’s hilt instead of the blade. It isn’t a clean parry, and Amarantha’s blade slices his leg as she swings it around.

Jurian changes his grip on his sword to meet her next attack, but the hilt is suddenly slick in his grip and the sword almost slips out of his fingers. He looks down and finds his hand drenched in blood. It is running all over his sword’s grip, dripping down the blade. So much blood… Jurian blinks down at his hand, suddenly dizzy. It looks wrong, under all that blood. Almost like…

Jurian stares and stares at his hand. The hand that is now missing three fingers. His index finger is gone entirely, and from there, the slice goes diagonally over his hand, severing most of his middle and ring finger. Then, as if it had been waiting for him to realize what had happened, the pain hits. Jurian gasps, tears making his vision go blurry.

A movement at the corner of his eye catches his attention. At the last moment, he jumps back, only narrowly avoiding being beheaded by Amarantha’s blow. He nearly drops his sword in the process, though.

Amarantha bares her teeth in what might have been a smile. “Already done?” She taunts.

Jurian grits his teeth and changes his sword hand, doing his best to ignore the pain, and the blood still gushing from where his fingers used to be. The sword must have gotten heavier in the last moments, though, because he can only barely lift it.

“Not yet,” he manages through gritted teeth.

But he is done. He feels it with every blow he manages to execute only sloppily, with every too-slow reaction. His body is trembling and he can only barely hold onto his sword. He does not land a single hit, and with each moment, his vision swims more and more. As Amarantha continues to attack, he has to yield step after step.

Amarantha smiles at him. “Oh, I think you are done,” she says.

The force of her next blow knocks Jurian’s sword straight out of his hand. He stumbles back, loses his balance and falls to the ground. The impact knocks the air straight out of his lungs and for a moment, Jurian simply blinks up at the dark sky above, unable to so much as move.

Amarantha’s face appears above him. She still has her sword, and its tip is now hovering only an inch away from his throat.

No, Jurian thinks, this is all wrong. This isn’t how it was supposed to be. But he can’t even summon the strength to move. His mind is moving too slowly, he has a hard time holding on to individual thoughts. He is strangely cold, and everything hurts. Maybe he will die from blood loss before Amarantha manages to kill him.

Slowly, he tears his gaze away from Amarantha and towards her sword, its blade painted red with his blood. If he is going to die, her face isn’t going to be the last thing he sees. His thoughts drift to Miryam. He should have waited to speak to her before rushing off to face Amarantha. Now, he won’t get the chance. And his soldiers… he led them to their deaths, all of them, and then, he didn’t even get the chance to avenge them. When it came down to it, he failed. He failed all of them.

His vision blurs further, but still, he keeps his eyes trained on the sword, waiting for the blow to come. What is she waiting for?

“I won’t kill you,” Amarantha says.

Jurian refuses to look at her, won’t give her that satisfaction. He keeps his eyes trained on her sword, still waiting for it to fall in spite of what she said.

“No,” Amarantha says softly, almost gently and moves her sword up towards his face. “I won’t make it that easy for you.”

The sword comes down and Jurian screams.

----

Jurian faced Amarantha in battle and lost. Most of his soldiers were killed, he himself captured.

The news arrived two hours ago, brought by one of Grand Duke Zeku’s spies, and the Alliance has been in an uproar ever since. It is almost worse than when Miryam got captured, although this time around, most people seem more concerned with the lost battle than the fact that a member of their council got captured by the enemy. In fact, most of the Fae don’t seem to care about Jurian’s fate at all. At least that’s the impression Andromache got after listening to the council’s endless arguments for the better part of an hour.

Only a week without Miryam around to deal with the council, and she already feels like she is slowly losing her mind. With every passing day, she hates the council more and more. Their endless quarrelling, the needless arguments, the fact that they never ever do what it takes without at least an hour of arguing in advance.

But what annoys her the most is the lack of loyalty, of principle. Andromache is human, and if there is one thing she learned, it’s that you always stick together. You have each other’s back. Most of her Fae allies seem more inclined to put a knife in her back the moment she lets her guard down, though, and loyalty seems to be a foreign concept to them as they prove again and again.

“Amarantha is no longer at the Heseia Pass,” she says slowly, trying hard not to let the annoyance creep into her voice. “An attack could be executed with little risk, especially with Amarantha so focused on Jurian that she likely doesn’t pay attention to anything else.”

She tries very hard not to think about what Amarantha’s focus likely looks like. She has seen what Hybern does to their prisoners, and Amarantha will likely think up something especially gruesome for Jurian. Andromache needs to get him out somehow, but the council is blocking her at every turn.

“How many times do you wish to go over this, Your Majesty?” Shey asks. He actually has the nerve to sound like she is the one who’s being difficult. “We do not risk lives unnecessarily to free captured commanders.”

And this is exactly Andromache’s problem. These are their allies they are talking about. It is their duty to do everything in their power to free them, and even though Andromache isn’t in favour of sacrificing many lives for one, this is hardly the case here.

“It isn’t just about Jurian,” she says. “It’s also about all the soldiers that got captured with him, and about the Night Court soldiers.” She hesitates. “Rhysand,” she adds, because it is entirely possible that the Fae will care more about one of their own than about a human and because she knows Mor cares. “And about the chance to win a big victory against Hybern. Why are you so opposed to this?”

She looks around the table, desperately searching for support. But the only Fae who seems to be on her side is Drakon, who winnowed over from the Callian Pass specifically for this meeting. (Unfortunately, he didn’t bring Miryam along, which would have made things easier for everyone involved.)

“We simply cannot spare the troops right now,” Shey says. Complete and utter bullshit, of course. The war is going well enough for them that they would have the troops to spare, and easily.

Andromache shoots a helpless look at Drakon. He just lifts his shoulders slightly and turns to Zeku with a pleading look on his face. The Grand Duke ignores him, as he ignores most of their problems lately. Andromache will need to have a word with him. Or better yet, she will ask Miryam to have a word with him once she returns, since she will probably be more diplomatic about it.

Andromache considers calling for a vote, but what use would it be? She already knows the outcome. She probably shouldn’t have hoped. If their allies weren’t willing to save Miryam, odds of them moving a finger for Jurian, whom most of them don’t even like, were slim at best. Still, Andromache had hoped… But she should have known better.

Abruptly, she rises to her feet. “If you insist,” she says, and now, her voice is sharp. “I certainly won’t forget your generosity.”

With that, she stalks out of the room. She only barely manages to keep from slamming the door.

By the time she reached her room, she at least managed to calm herself down far enough that she can offer the guards a smile. Inside, Mor is waiting sprawled on the couch in the drawing room. When Andromache enters, she straightens.

“Anything?” She asks. Andromache knows that her concern is probably more about Rhysand than Jurian, but that’s only fair, since Andromache is certainly more concerned about Jurian than about Rhysand.

“No,” Andromache says, letting herself drop to the couch next to Mor. “Fuck each and every one of these bastards.”

Andromache’s calling, she decides, does not lie in diplomacy. She thought she was good at it, and before this war began, she never had any trouble, but these days, she feels more like screaming at Shey with every passing moment.

“Shit,” Mor says and buries her face in her hands.

She worries about Rhysand, enough that she barely sleeps anymore. Andromache cannot claim to care a whole lot about the heir to the Night Court, but she cares about Mor, so she keeps reminding herself to also care about Rhysand.

“We’ll figure something out,” she says and puts an arm around Mor’s shoulders. “Rhysand is still alive, I’m sure he will be fine.” Even though he’s currently being tortured, as both of them know. It makes her reassurances far less convincing.

Andromache’s thoughts drift back to Jurian. The report they received said nothing of what state he is in, only that he’s alive. Andromache privately thinks that it might have been better for him if he hadn’t survived the battle. Now, he will still die, but Amarantha will likely find a way to make it slow and painful. And Andromache won’t be able to stop it. They got lucky with Miryam, but Andromache isn’t stupid enough to believe anything like this will happen again. Not when Amarantha has likely been planning Jurian’s death without pause for weeks.

A knock sounds at the door and one of her guards pokes his head in. “Your Majesty?” He asks. “Prince Drakon is waiting outside, he wants to speak to you.”

“Sure, let him in,” Andromache says.

Drakon enters a moment later. Both his feathers and hair are slightly ruffled and he looks about as tired as Andromache feels.

“Hello Only Fae Council Member I Can Currently Stand,” she says. “Could you pass me the wine from the cupboard?”

“Sure,” Drakon says. He walks over to the cupboard and searches around a bit before fishing out a bottle of wine. “I can’t find glasses,” he says.

“Doesn’t matter,” Andromache says.

Drakon sits down on an armchair opposite them and hands the bottle to Andromache. She takes a swig, then passes it to Mor. They end up passing the bottle around, although that strategy is hardly very effective since neither Mor nor Drakon can actually get drunk on human drinks. Andromache for her part could theoretically get drunk, but she takes care not to drink too much. There might be developments at any moment, and she needs to keep a clear head.

“I keep feeling like we should have done something,” Drakon mutters. “I mean, we all saw this coming, we should have…” He shrugs. “I don’t know.”

“We should have taken away his command position,” Andromache says. “Months ago already.”

Drakon wraps his wings around himself like some kind of blanket. Andromache wonders if it’s as comforting as being hugged. If it is, she finds it extremely unfair that she doesn’t have wings – she could certainly use a hug right now. As if sensing her feelings, Mor moves closer to her and wraps an arm around her. Andromache leans into the embrace, immediately feeling better.

“I tried to talk to Zeku after the meeting,” Drakon says. He sounds miserable. “But he wouldn’t listen to me.”

“He doesn’t listen to me either,” Andromache says. “You wouldn’t by chance have any news regarding Miryam?”

Drakon shakes his head. “Still unconscious.”

“Damn,” Andromache mutters. Miryam might have been able to somehow turn this around. And if she would have had to cleave the world apart to do so, she would have found a way to save Jurian. Andromache rubs her hands over her face, sighing. “One army. We’d only need one army and we could free them.”

One army capable of travelling more swiftly than humans are able to, unfortunately. Andromache could take her own army and go – considered doing just that more than once already – but Amarantha’s spies would see them coming from miles off, and any chance they might have had of freeing the prisoners would vanish. Even if Andromache should win, chances are Amarantha would kill Jurian and Rhysand before she allowed them to be freed.

“I have an army,” Drakon says, “but…” He shrugs helplessly.

“You can’t, I know,” Andromache says. “There’s nothing any of us can do. We’ll just have to wait.”

----

A/N: This chapter was originally meant to go longer, but I had to split it up for pacing reasons (and also because of the length). This means that the next chapter is already mostly written, though, so I should have it done within a few days.

Tags: @croissantcitysucks @femtopulsed

#writing this was PAIN #😭#still not entirely satisfied with how some parts turned out but ig that's just how it is sometimes #before the wall #miryam #jurian #drakon

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writingquestionsanswered · 5 years ago

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Hey, this question might be a bit unusual and I already appreciate all the help. I don't seem to be able to actually write my story (stupid mechanical writers block), but I do like to still do things related to my story. I have done moodboards and casting and a few other things. But I want to do more things, but I don't know what. Any tips on book-related things I can do while trying to overcome writers-block (besides moodboard and playlists)? Sorry if this is a bit confusing :)

Getting Unstuck: Motivation Beyond Mood Boards & Playlists

1) Draw a Map or Make a Layout - try making a map of wherever your story takes place, whether that’s a town, kingdom, or a whole country or world. You can even draw layouts of things like high schools, houses, or other buildings in your story. Not only are they fun to do, but it can be a helpful tool for visualizing your setting, and sometimes it can lead to ideas about scenes or plot points.

2) Do a Character Interview - imagine that you’ve pulled your character out of a story into the room and now have the opportunity to interview them. What questions would you ask them? What do you want to know about them that you don’t already know? What do you think the reader would want to know? What might be pertinent to the story that you haven’t thought about yet?

3) Do a TV Crew Follow Around - no matter when or where your story takes place, imagine that you’ve dropped an invisible TV crew into your story’s world to follow your character around through an average day. Follow them from the moment they wake up until the moment they go to bed that night. What are they like when they wake up? What is their morning routine? What do they eat for breakfast? How do they get ready? What do they do throughout the day? Who do they interact with? What else do they eat and drink? What do they do for fun or relaxation? How to they make money or meet their basic needs? What is their bedtime routine like?

4) POV Character Switch - take a scene in your story and try writing it from the perspective of a different character in the scene. If you do it with a scene you’ve already written, it can help you understand your characters and their relationship better, and might even give you things you can use in other scenes. If you do it with a scene you haven’t written yet, it can help you understand the scene better, make you excited to write it from the planned POV, and can even potentially help you get unstuck.

5) Story POV/Tense Switch - try rewriting a scene or chapter using a different POV (try first-person or third-person limited if your story is in third-person omniscient.) Or, try switching the tense. If you’re writing your story in past tense, try writing a scene or chapter in present tense. This is really just a fun exercise, but sometimes you may find that a different tense or POV actually works better, and that can sometimes be the thing that gets you unstuck.

6) Letter from One Character to Another - choose a moment or event in your story that you haven’t written about yet, but which you have pretty well planned out. Now, imagine that one character in the scene writes a letter to another character in the scene, but it’s a letter they never plan to send. What would they say to that character about whatever happened that they wish they could tell them but can’t?

7) Try a Writing Tool - there are all kinds of interesting writing tools out there, both online and things, apps, and physical things. Story Cubes, plot generators, plot twist generators, the Storymatic, StoryForge, Story Dice, tarot cards, the Writer’s Toolbox… just to name a few!

8) Do a Writing Prompt with Your Characters or Setting - look for some good writing prompts, then try doing one but use your character/s, setting, or both. You may have to augment the prompt a little. The point of this is just to open your mind to things you might not think about in the realm your story currently occupies.

9) Do a Favorite Character/Story Swap - Try swapping one of your characters into a scene in a favorite story, or try swapping a favorite character into a scene in your story. Once again, this kind of exercise can get you to thinking about things that wouldn’t occur to you that might actually benefit your story in the long run.

10) Figure out what’s making you feel stuck - Loss of motivation is pretty common when writing, but it can be caused a lot of different things. If you can figure out what’s holding you back, fixing it can get you back on track again.

Story needs more planning - some stories require more planning than others, and some writers just aren’t good “pantsers” and always need to plan. If you’ve lost motivation in your story, it could be because you’re feeling lost, not really knowing what should happen next. In that case, it can be a good idea to take a step back and do a little planning. Have a look at different story structures and story planning methods (like Save the Cat! and The Snowflake Method) to see if they can help you plan things out a little better. Just remember, you never have to stick to a template or method exactly. Use them as a guideline but make them work for you.

Something isn’t working - sometimes we lose motivation with writing a story because something about it isn’t working, and we may be well aware of that fact or it may be something we’re only aware of subconsciously. Either way, it can help to go back through what you’ve written so far and see if there’s something that’s just not pulling its weight. It could be an unnecessary character dragging the story down, a subplot that is cluttering up the story or drawing attention away from the main plot, or it could even be a scene (or multiple scenes) that don’t add to the story. It could even be a combination of these things, so if you can figure out what it is and fix it, that can often rekindle your motivation.

“Life stuff” is interfering - one of the biggest motivation zappers writers have to deal with is general life stuff. If you have a lot going on at the moment, such as a hectic time at work or school, are in the middle of a big project, you or a loved one are sick, or you’re dealing with anxiety and/or depression, you may simply not be in the mood to work on your story. Writers love to pump ourselves and each other up by saying things like “are you writing” or “get your butt in the chair” and talking about how we need to write every day, but the truth of the matter is there’s no shame in not writing if you have other things going on. Just promise yourself you’ll recommit to your WIP as soon as things calm down.

You’re distracted - if there are other things competing for your attention, like that series you’ve been binge-watching, that new book you bought, or that other story idea you came up with, it could be zapping your motivation. In this case, you just have to figure out how to plan your time so that you can indulge in the thing drawing your attention away while still having time to write. If it’s another story idea, you may not want to start on another project while in the middle of your WIP, in which case you should just take a little while to write down everything you’ve already got in mind, then set it aside someplace safe so you can come back to it later. Quite often that’s enough to get it of your mind.

You’re just bored with your story - if you’ve been working on a story for a long time, it’s pretty understandable that you might feel a little bored with it. In this case, keep trying the exercises I listed above.

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Have a question? My inbox is always open, but make sure to check my FAQ and post master lists first to see if I’ve already answered a similar question. :)

#writing #writing tips #writeblr #writing advice #wqaadvice

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lilikags · 4 years ago

Text

When Mom Tricks Come Handy

ೃ‧₊› a b o u t t h i s p o s t° ➮ Pairing: Kenma Kozume x fem! reader ➮ Series: Back to Me ➮ Tags: fluff, royal au, reincarnation au ➮ Part: 6 ➮ Word Count: 2962

--Your POV--

This was just like a job interview. You were dressed up in something nice, and you came prepared to show yourself off to your "employer". Of course, this would obviously last much longer than a job interview, but you could just think of it as an extended one. It was just about the same nervousness, the same confidence you had when you applied for a job during your third year of high school.

The moment you entered the room where you met the Queen, most of the confidence hid away somewhere in you and humbleness stepped forward in its place, sitting on top of your feelings of nervousness's lap. You looked down at the marble freshly polished floor, the carefully painted ceiling, the intricately carved patterns on the walls...

"It's a pleasure to see you, Lady (l/n)," her majesty started off. She had entered the room without you knowing, which startled you. Oh gosh, I need to start paying more attention to my surroundings. "Ah, yes, it's quite a pleasure to see you as well, your majesty," you greeted the empress along with a small curtsy. Her majesty always started with light greetings, promptly followed by a short and straightforward talk. You had talked to her a few times before, and she was definitely an intense person. "As you know, if we are on the same page, I have called you here to give you the details of the first test," she started, and you nodded. "I will have you manage the Archon Palace in the North for an entire month. I will visit you every so often, so please be prepared to greet me. You are to be assessed based on your skills in managing the palace both during events and on a daily basis. I have an informant who will inform me of the details. Your test will start when you arrive at the palace and end exactly a month after. That is all."

You quickly thanked the queen and curtsied, then was escorted out of the room by a servant, who led you to your carriage. You were going home to pack your things and get ready for the test. You hopped into the carriage and sighed, thinking about what you were going to do.

The test was like an open notebook test, used to only assess the application of the knowledge studied. You were definitely nervous; you had never done anything on this scale and it was very new to you. Your mother managed all the household affairs for you, since you had quit studying it a long time ago. But you did manage to go over it over the last few months of cramming, and you could probably relate it to some skills you saw at night.

The (y/n) in your dreams had at least basic skills to survive on her own. Of course, she was taught how to cook and clean and make the place all tidy and presentable. Well, you figured you would use those tips later when you managed the castle, so you wrote down a list of what you could remember and placed it with some other important documents you planned on bringing.

You wanted to pack your things yourself. There was just something special about it; perhaps it gave you the right temporary goodbye to your home that you needed. Or maybe you just wanted to do it because that girl always did it herself, but this is what you wanted to do and you were going to do it. It was definitely weird though, in other people's eyes. Anyone of your status would just tell their servants to get the things they needed and get on their way, unless they were hiding something. Well, you guessed you were hiding something, but it wasn't even in the baggage anyways.

You bid your parents a short goodbye as you left for the northern palace, and you slept to the bumps of the road as you made your way there. As soon as you arrived at the palace, you really knew it was really meant to be a long assessment, not some 10-minute pop quiz. The place was a mess- well, it still functioned, but it was still a mess. There was not an ounce of organization to be seen and you instantly wondered who had been in charge of the place before you arrived.

You were escorted to your room; it was actually quite nice. After all, this was a palace. It was made for the royal family, who always lived in such luxury. It was clean enough; the place looked clean and simple, with it just being very clean. That was one thing you liked about this palace, it was clean. There was no dust laying around, no rodents running around, no random stuff sitting around. It was clean and simple, in contrast to the elaborate paintings on the walls and ceilings; you'd have to fix that.

After taking the day to settle in, you familiarized yourself with the place and the staff. You had one of the butlers show you around, taking you to every place on the map you wished to see. It kinda felt like busy work, but it's not like you could back down now. All that cramming was for this, so you were going to do it. You attempted to speak to the staff, have a nice conversation with them, but nobody bothered to answer respectfully. They gave the shortest answers possible and continued working while you were talking to them. Well, they must be dedicated to their job- or perhaps they were told to act this way, who knows.

At the end of the day, the place was still pretty new to you, but it didn't feel completely foreign anymore. You were able to assess the situation, and in the morning, you'd tell them what they needed to fix up on- and it was a lot.

The next morning, you got up as the sun rose and you changed into something you had brought from home. It wasn't too fancy, but still presentable enough for the staff. Honestly, you wanted to wear (your comfort clothes) but you had appearances to keep up. Anyways, after getting ready, you headed towards your new office space. It was pretty nice, you had to say- especially the chair. It was comfier than any of the chairs you had at home, which was awesome. You then wrote out your entire script for what you were going to say to them. You weren't always up for "public speaking", but you were in the mood to get things done, so you were going to get things done. Simple as that.

Then, you decided to set up your simple system. Yes, you were going to make a system for these employees. Having good employees was one thing, but managing them was another. If you have good employees, but no organization, no sense of community, everything's going to be all over the place and nothing will get done. Well, that's what managers are for, right?

You ordered for the things that needed to be brought to be brought and called all of the servants over. You held your short script that you had made earlier this morning and took a deep breath as everyone piled in.

"Good morning, everyone. I have called this meeting to inform you of the new changes, which will start in three days, as I have supplies that need to be sent here. Now, as I was walking around the palace, I noticed many things about organization that need to be addressed immediately. I understand that it is very different than what you have been previously doing, and I hope you understand how this makes the process of doing your work much more manageable and efficient," you started. You looked at the faces of the servants. Some of them were intrigued, others looking away and not caring at all.

"First of all, I would like to address some of the organization issues you have here. Everything is all over the place, so I would like you to organize them. First, keep things in one place. Every time something is used, it is to be put back in the same place when it is finished being used. Next, I would like to invest in making the storage rooms much nicer. I saw them yesterday, and they are horrendous. I have just ordered some baskets; use them to organize the items in the storage rooms. Label them as well, so that everyone knows what basket is for which items. I will have Cain (the butler) handle the baskets," you explained, knowing this seemed pretty new to them. No one was particularly happy, as things were changing to something a bit different, and that was expected. As long as they did their job properly and followed the rules, everything would be fine.

"Next, I would like to introduce a new system. By my office, there will be a large board, where you can sign up for the tasks that need to be done that day. There will not be a set number of tasks you need to complete, but you must all complete everything by the day. I will also assign a leader to each group of servants, who will write me a report every 3 days on the work everyone has been doing. It does not need to be long, but make it a bit detailed; it just helps me make sure everything has been done well." You heard some sighs, and you knew full well it was more work for them, but you couldn't be going around all day and staring at them doing their work.

So, you put the system to work, and when the baskets and things arrived, you looked over everything. Honestly, there wasn't much to do then, if all the reports were all good. Well, that gave you time to plan for the decorations for when the queen would come visit, and so you spent your time doing that.

You researched different popular themes for the palace and selected one you thought her highness might like, though it required the place to be clean. There were way too many items in this palace, for sure. Of course, you could throw away many of them, but that would be such a waste. You could already think of uses for many of them. So, you decided to buy more baskets and hide them in plain sight. That way, you could keep them, and her highness wouldn't have a clue. It wouldn't hurt her if she doesn't know.

∞ ₒ ˚ ° 𐐒𐐚 ° ˚ ₒ ∞

Long days, always. Living in this place was lonely. Sure, there were tons of servants around, but you never felt much of a connection with them. You needed someone you trusted, someone you knew and someone who knew you. The first person you thought of was Kenma, but you weren't allowed to correspond with him during this time. The Queen would think you were trying to cheat, even if she read what was inside the letters. After all, you hadn't tried to prepare for years, and suddenly you're trying when you find out you're the prince's soulmate.

You were just about to go to bed. It was about midnight, a bit late, but not really. You were tired from dealing with all the servants; there was a huge fuss about a maid breaking an expensive vase. All of them in the room pointed fingers at each other, and after listening to everyone's stories, it was so clear that everyone was lying about something. No one's story matched up with the another's, so obviously everyone was twisting it for their own sake. You decided that you didn't like any of the girls in the group and seriously considered just firing the whole lot of them and hiring new ones. Well, in the end, you just let it all go with a warning. All that was really damaged was the vase; that could definitely be replaced. It wasn't like your budget was too tight; actually it was quite good. The only thing that concerned you was their attitude. These people really need to understand that they can be replaced...

It was about 4 in the morning when you woke up. Cain, the head butler, was literally the only one considerate and pleasant enough to talk to, but he really had to wake you up at 4 in the morning. You only had about 4 hours of sleep; your brain was still taking a vacation and it was truly difficult to force it back out.

As you exited your room in your nightgown, as it was still the middle of the night, you saw Alania, one of the better maids, with a candle outside the door. She led you to the office, where Cain was waiting.

"I apologize for interrupting your rest, Lady (l/n), but her highness has arrived. Please get ready to greet her," Cain explained. "I-" you said in surprise. "Thank you for telling me. I shall prepare right away."

Your brain flew back to your brain, luckily, and you were pretty alert now. Your gait quickened, as your thoughts raced through your mind. You ordered for the place to be quickly prettied up; there were still a few things that shouldn't be left in the open, and you told them to hold small things in baskets which were placed as decoration and large things in the storage rooms. It didn't need to be neat; the place just needed to be presentable.

As the place was being fixed up, you had yourself fixed up. It was much harder in the night, but Alania was skilled and made you look presentable in a matter of minutes. Since you were finished before some parts of the palace were cleaned up, you decided to keep her highness in the cleaner parts as the other parts not yet fully fixed up were worked on.

So, you went to greet her highness at the front of the palace and welcomed her. You apologized for being a few minutes late, though that really wasn't too uncommon. Nonetheless, you were just being respectful. You led her to a waiting room, where you talked and had some tea. You wondered when you could go back to getting your sleep, but it's not like you could leave her highness by herself; that would be extremely rude in this society. Casual did not exist, and that was such a shame.

After a while, her highness decided to retire for the night, and you had a room prepared for her. You led her to her room, then once she had closed her door, you started back to your room. It started as a walk, but as the desire to just get back in bed increased, it turned into a faster walk to a run. You sped up the stairs into your room, where Alania had been waiting for you.

You sighed as you slowed down, getting into a chair so that Alania could take off your makeup and accessories for you. They were so fancy you didn't even know how they worked, so you just let her. She got them off in no time and you changed into your pajamas as soon as they were off and flopped onto your bed. You were very tired by this time, and you instantly fell asleep as soon as you got comfortable.

The next morning, you weren't awoken by anyone. You expected someone to inform you that her highness was awake, but you figured she wasn't awake either. She probably didn't get any sleep until she got to the palace, so it made sense.

Alania knocked on your room when she came by a few minutes later, suggesting a dress for you to wear. You had instructed her to get you whatever dress for you to wear for the time you were in this palace, and she was great at it. You changed into the dress and had her fix up your hair and add on some accessories. Once you were all ready to go, you closed your bedroom door and started to the dining hall.

As you sat at the table, you realized it would be rude to eat without her highness, so you decided to wait as you read a novel you had brought with you, just in case you needed it. It would help pass the time, and it could be used as a conversation starter.

After some time, you heard the steps of a pair of heels entering the room, and her highness appeared. You greeted her as she sat across from you, and breakfast was served. You had small talk with her, making sure to always be respectful. Since you were asked, you showed her around the palace and told her some stories of things that you had to take care of. Gossip was always something women in high society talked about, even the Queen herself.

∞ ₒ ˚ ° 𐐒𐐚 ° ˚ ₒ ∞

You shuffled around the place, bidding your goodbyes to everyone as you hopped into your ride home. It has been a long month... and it was time to go home. You wondered about your results; they'd be released in a couple of weeks. You stared out the window, falling asleep on your way home.

『••✎••』 Extra Info * ˚ �� ⇢ If you haven’t read the other parts, find them here!

A/N: Hey guys! It's been a while haha. I actually made it longer than I thought I would. Honestly I rushed the ending a bit bc I'm lAzY but eh whatever welp I'll see you next time and that's hopefully soon! Love y'all! <3333

#kenma kozume #kenma kozume x reader #lili kags #kenma x reader #haikyuu x reader

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warsofasoiaf · 5 years ago

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I am definitely curious about fantasy trappings and democracy PLEASE tell us

living-is-hard-with-eyes-open said:Hi! Love your blog. Not the original anon, but could you elaborate a little bit about how a democratic system could play out in a fantasy story? Your first response was fascinating and I’m really curious. Thank you in advance and I would understand if you are not in the mood! (Sorry about my English, still learning)

Anonymous said:“If you want to know how fantasy can use it’s trappings to its benefit to write a democratic settig, let me know” (paraphrased) I do!

I figured there would be interest in it. If I’ve being honest that was mostly me stalling for time because I had some ideas I wanted to flesh out but didn’t have the time to explore right then.

As an aside, @living-is-hard-with-eyes-open, your English is pretty good. No one ever needs to apologize, to me at least, for trying to use another language.

Early historical democracies often extended suffrage based on gender, class, amount of personal property, and other things which frequently limited the size of the voting population. The Athenian Greeks, for examples, had to own the panoply of a hoplite, thus making the voting public liable for the city’s defenses, along with being a male, debt-free, etc.. There’s no reason that these things can’t be extended to fantasy concepts that apply to fantasy wars. If magic is large enough to have a military component, powerful enough to mandate one, and controllable enough not to blow up your army in a massive apocalyptic hellstorm, then magical service might be one way to become a part of the voting public. This lends itself to a new dimension of struggle between the enfranchised and disenfranchised, which I’ve seen in fantasy works portraying these sorts of democracies (again, usually based in some fashion off the Roman Republic), as well as opening up the question of extending citizenship based on how easy or difficult magic is to learn.

A fun twist on a democratic medieval burgh involved as a great production center might have democracy broken down into guilds, this might be the case for a fantasy race with a caste system (we’ll use dwarves, the go-to fantasy lawful industrial race), where they are arranged from birth into different guilds based on their future profession, with a democratic tradition within the industries that send a representative to the legislative halls. If history is any judge, these industries would fiercely guard their trade secrets and trade monopolies, leading to out-and-out conflict between industries when one gets too close to the prized pony of another. That would mean, if Northern Italy is our judge, the need to establish an executive to sort out those conflicts and thus the city is in control of a powerful Factor. Or conversely, the guilds don’t want a Factor getting in the way and so purposely neuter it with restrictions and bureaucracy to the point where the position is a meaningless figure ironically called a “plenipotentiary” for how little the character can actually do while the guilds wage assassination campaigns, electoral fraud, and out-and-out private wars, seizing control of the Miller’s Guild for example to deny grain to the rest of the workers or the Aqueduct’s Guild to deny critical water to needed industries; that sounds like a society in crisis. Once you have that and you want to write a fantasy political thriller, having the protagonist be someone elected to the position of worthless PlenipotentiaryFactor use the same bureaucratic wrangling and de jure powers that have been worthless to change the society. Do something with that and you might just have the foundation and plot for a good fantasy novel, or a plot within a larger fantasy work such as ASOIAF with this Factor merely as one POV.

Speaking of conflict, one of the reasons burghs and other city privileges came into being was conflict with the feudal fief-holders. Magic might provide an alternative nexus, either to start the conflict as they become a power holder, a means for the cities to provide oomph that calls for charters guaranteeing self-governance to avoid magical rebellion (especially if magical universities are centered in cities), or a weird three-way struggle for power between the rural, the urban, and the arcane in their wizard’s towers. A wizard’s tower would almost certainly have a town spring up around it, particularly if there are services that the wizard cannot use magic to provide for themselves and the wizard can provide services for the community. Magic might become a part of charters just like it might become a part of feudal contracts, with all the realpolitik that such a thing can provide such as when the wizards say that because of the valuable service they provide, they should be afforded certain tax privileges, which pisses off the other non-magical fiefs and possibly causes a rebellion, either by mages protesting royal disregard for the rights of the arcane with all the pomp and language you’d expect from the First Barons’ War (the First Wizards’ War!) or the barons protesting the king favoring the arcane, possibly whispering about how their magic has ensorcelled the king in the vein of every wicked evil councilor.

One thing severely limiting most fantasy societies with democracy is that for the most part, historical societies like this were phenomenally illiterate, with travel and communication technology mostly limited to horses and boats. Magic can be a way to circumvent these limitations, either by moving people away from labor-intensive work like agriculture and mining which would allow something similar to what happened in our own history with the rise of more politically-active people by class. For example, an Icelandic thing or assembly could use magic or some form of racial telepathy to actually bind the people to be able to allow them to hear their lawspeakers from great distances so that they might be instructed in what matters are being put before the assembly (probably with some sort of magically-enforced truth telling to safeguard against corruption), and likewise be able to cast their vote before the assembled magical elders in a form of direct democracy that can manage the logistical problems that such forms entail. You can go one step further to have the coming-of-age ceremony, where a child becomes recognized as a full adult, require the giving of blood to create a blood link to be able to be contacted by the lawspeakers via sympathetic magic, a formal blood magic civic ritual done either on birthdays or holy days depending on how magic works in this setting. This could create a relatively modern, even futuristic conception of democracy (some science fiction uses cybernetic implants and quantum communication to establish massive direct democracies, Iain Banks’s The Culture series of books comes to mind) that would actually be more appealing to modern audiences than traditional monarchial models or limited democracies. There’s a lot to like about this theoretical blood magic democracy; it could have modern good things: universal suffrage, equality before the law (all of you are the same because you all have blood), freedom of religion as long as it doesn’t forbid participation in this blood magic stuff, the list can keep going, but it’s so creepy that audience members are going to be a little squicked out. That’s a great headspace to put your readers in, this cognitive dissonance between admiration and discomfort can be quite unique, it could really make the story stand out. However, it also has plenty of threats that you can use for storycrafting, corrupt lawspeakers who circumvent magical safeguards to enrich their self-interest ala corrupt politicians (maybe even lying that there is such a thing as magical truth-telling), use of the blood for nefarious magical purposes such as spying on the citizens or taking control of their bodies to commit proxy crimes, magically hacking into the vote to pump up the totals by mages looking to secretly control democracy.

At this point, I think I may have just accidentally brainstormed a fantasy setting that can explore modern political concepts with fantasy metaphors. Let me know what you think of this essay, everyone, both in general and this theoretical blood magic democracy being used as a exploration of problems that exist in modern democracies. Is this a neat idea, or am I in my own headspace where only I think this idea is good?

Thanks for the questions and encouragement, both registered members and Anons who wanted me to explore it all in more detail.

SomethingLikeALawyer, Hand of the King

#fantasy #democracy #politics #essays on writing and worldbuilding #writing #worldbuilding

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smores100 · 5 years ago

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once again we’re in full agreement lol. What’s your take on s3 remakes you’ve watched? Wondering how you feel about Skam FR as it’s kind of a similar situation to me where the chemistry & beauty is there but the writing and style is iffy (overwrought &overdramatic). My favorite s3 is druck. As a wlw I had high hopes for españa but it was p slow/v desexualized—a whole discussion, but my other gay friend & I were disappointed given how remakes with guys don’t hold back in that respect.. Thoughts?

Honestly re: wtfock tho I really do wonder if they had like one good writer in the room surrounded by fools. Bc it really does feel like some group projects I’ve been in where I feel like I’m the only one who’s not a fucking fool and carry the whole thing while having to fend off bad ideas (but when the majority rules, those bad ideas/execution get put in). I wonder if that’s what happened w wtfock.

re: wtfock, lol group projects are the worst….idk what wtfock’s writing process was like, but i’d love to know it. according to their wiki there were 3 writers this season? all seem to be male, naturally. did the two other writers have good ideas but there was a main writer who overruled them and did his own thing? or maybe they’re the rl one brain cell squad, that would explain a lot :p in any case, i’m unimpressed (friday’s clips did not help with that).

as for the other part of your ask….oh damn i have so many Thoughts on that, lol. this is probably gonna get long and messy, but you asked for it!

* druck - my absolute favorite. it’s the only one i’ve watched since s1, so that definitely played a part in my emotional investment and attachment. still, there was more to it than that. it was the closest to og imo in vibe and style (it felt small, real, lowkey, quiet, natural like og, as opposed to - as you said - overwrought and overdramatic + overproduced like the others); they cast an actual trans guy to play a trans character, if you wanna talk about a skam remake doing something REVOLUTIONARY? druck is the one; i loved matteo’s and david’s characterizations, how they both had a bit of isak and even in them, and the role reversal in some scenes, made things feel fresh *and* fit their characters/story; i LOVE that teens matteo and david were played by actual teens michi and lukas!! they’ve completely ruined me for all other remakes, bc thissssss is how it’s supposed to be! thisssss is how it should look like! THEY ARE KIDDOS. and they (druck and michi/lukas) truly captured what it’s like to be young and fall in love for the first time, the awkwardness and the nervousness and stuttering and fumbling around, the softness and pureness and innocence of it all!!! also they have THE BEST dynamic - other people might prefer all the hot kissing and steamy making out and the smouldering looks, but me? i just couldn’t get enough of their dumb chaotic energy, best friends who love each other deeply and are also constantly little shits to one another. gimme them pranking each other and playfighting every day! and then being soft and THE HANDS and matteo being a clingy koala basking in david’s affection :3 i also loved how for the most part they didn’t just copy/paste og’s storyline, they made some changes and knew how to make *other* changes accordingly for it to make sense and fit the story *they* were telling - for example, replacing the ‘call your gf’ scene with matteo’s panic attack/breakdown (one of my fave scenes), or their reunion at the end of ep 7 (replacing the desperate kissing + sex with a comforting and relieved yet also bittersweet and melancholic hug), or even matteo getting advice from his drug dealer instead of the school’s doctor, lol. also THE BEST BOY SQUAD, hands down. and matteo is my favorite isak bc to me he felt like his own character instead of just another isak, he was different and reletable and a constant Mood. that being said - it wasn’t perfect and it had its issues. there were a few times when i did feel they stuck too close to og scenes and it didn’t *entirely* work for me, just felt a bit off; i will forever be disappointed that they didn’t directly address and acknowledge matteo’s mental state/depression, bc there were enough signs imo to indicate that he did suffer from something. they mentioned ‘therapy’ in mia’s, alex’s and kiki’s cases, i truly thought they would with matteo as well, but alas, they dropped the ball on that one; i was extremely upset with david’s outing, but i’ve since calmed down and have managed to see it in a more positive light, tho i still have mixed feelings about it and am not fully on board with that decision, still wish it had been done differently (but at least! it wasn’t brushed off and was addressed immediately and eventually led to david having agency and yelling out his pain!!! which was good and important and cathartic); also eps 8 and 9 were pretty messy writing-wise, things either didn’t make sense or would’ve made more sense had the clips were organized differently (that random ping pong clip….?). overall tho, the good outweighed the bad, and it remains my fave

* skam france - now that’s a tricky one. the way i felt about it in the first half of the season, is different from the way i felt about it in the second half of the season, is different from the way i feel about ever since watching druck’s s3. it’s funny you should say how similar it is to wtfock for you, bc i’ve been thinking the same thing for quite some time. those neighboring countries sure have a shared flair for the dramatic! fr’s s3 was pretty much the first s3 i watched (i gif-watched half of skamit, couldn’t get into it). i wasn’t planning to (i was extremely unimpressed by the couple of s1 eps i tried watching, and same by axel’s acting in those first two seasons), but even is the loml and they got me gooood with their eliott pov trailer, which might have affected my excitement over it during the first half. back then i really enjoyed it for the most part, despite some clips being rushed or missing the point thus not fully having the required effect (their locker room scene, for example, or the ‘generalizations are bad’ convo), or how much i hated basile (a character so obviously written by a man it’s amazing), or the cheesy piano music. there were enough good things for me to focus on instead (more in a bit) that i could ignore the things i didn’t like or weren’t as good imo. however, all the positivity got sucked out of me when yann noped tf out after lucas came out to him bc WAY TO MISS THE POINT OF SKAM!!! and things went downhill after the director’s IT’S NOT DISNEYLAND IT’S FRANCE 2019 comment. i’m getting all upset just thinking about it, but to say *that*, to explain that horrendous decision bc lowkey homophobic reactions are realistic!!! only to THEN be all ‘haha jk yann isn’t homophobic! we just wanted you to *think* he was! he’s actually an awesome friend who took several days to reflect on all his past wrongdoings while his bff was at home having a nervous breakdown bc he believed his bff hated him!’ ughhhhhhhhh, miss me with that shit. great that they had yann apologizing for his past comments, but the way in which it was done was for pure shock value and angst, completely ooc for his character (all season he was all ‘tell me tell me tell me let me help let me help let me help’ only to do *that*?? nahh), and interesting how out of everyone the only black character was the only one with a negative reaction (remind you of anyone), highlighted even more during ep 7 aka the ott lucas coming out tour. then ep 8, that should have been 100% all lucas and eliott and building up to eliott’s manic episode suddenly had that weird random pov changing clip in the middle of it which truly wtf, basile was still basile, lucas thanked chloe for outing him, more scenes felt rushed, they had sex in school where people could come and go in front of huge windows in broad daylight and luckily didn’t get poisoned from licking all that paint! and i did not like the flatshare, i absolutely hated mika and lisa kicking lucas out of his room - which he pays rent for! - and manon not even trying to put up a fight, and them being like ‘roommate isn’t just a place, it’s a way of living. that’s a family, and you’re more like a cousin.’ ‘a second cousin.’ ughhhhhh and then when eliott was recovering from his depressive episode, they *still* didn’t give lucas his room back or at least let eliott stay there, he was sleeping on the couch, i’m aldjlajdafj. can’t believe i’m gonna say it, but TAKE NOTES FROM WTFOCK. tl;dr there were some good moments in the second half, but i was feeling bitter more often than not about certain things, so my enjoyment wasn’t as high as when it first started. and after watching druck, druck’s brand is definitely much more my style. plus, i was already struggling with making myself believe axel and maxence were in their teens, but after druck it’s completely impossible, so i just pretend they’re in college or something lol. all my issues with it aside, i’d still rate it higher than wtfock, bc overall the writing was better, more coherent, and made much more sense. i also liked lucas’ friendship with the girls; i loved that instead of copying the underwater kiss + 21:21 like some others have, they came up with their own thing i.e. polaris, which i thought was lovely; the lucas/manon crying in the middle of the night together in front of the tv was one of my fave scenes of the season; also love how we were introduced to eliott on the first week! and they spent time together! and specifically the piano playing scene, ohhhh; and in general elu are sweet and i reeeeally like axel and maxence and their friendship. so yeah, it had some major issues, but i’d rather have a coherent story with something done for shock value and drama ONCE than an incoherent story with several shock value moments.

* skam espana - sorry to hear you girls were disappointed! i only watched half of it, so i can only comment on what i saw. i decided to binge watch s1 and give s2 a shot when i heard they were giving cris isak’s story - it felt a bit weird to me, but it was also something different and new, and i did have an appreciation for their decision to have a wlw season (also much more revolutionary to me than showing a gay bashing), so i was intrigued and willing to try it. sadly i didn’t really vibe with s1? it’s totally a personal preference i think, maybe even a cultural thing idk, but it felt very fast and loud and hectic to me, idrk how to explain it. i was just more into the chill more lowkey vibe of druck and skamnl. but i still gave s2 a shot, and idk, it still wasn’t my cup of tea. i thought it was ok for the most part, but there were some things that bothered me - joana/cris felt underdeveloped to me? and things b/w them felt like they were moving so fast from the second they met, like jona was so intense and forward ALL THE TIME, they had like 6 almost kisses in a really short time, like shhh slow down. i remember disliking their ‘call your gf’ scene, it felt really petty and kinda mean to me? bc i felt like joana came on to cris *really* strongly and *very* frequently, so cris was more than entitled to feel hurt and betrayed when she found out joana had a bf, but then cris was kissing a dude and joana positioned herself and her bf in front of cris so she’d see them kissing too, and i just didn’t like bc seriously?? cris is valid, just apologize to her and explain?? idr much else tbh, they had some really cute and sweet scenes afterwards, i’m still against doing the underwater kiss + 21:21 so i was kinda meh about that (tho aesthetically speaking it was BEAUTIFUL, and i’m like, fiiiiine girls deserve an underwater kiss too, i’ll allow it just this once!), and that cuddling clip in ep 6 i think was sweet and the last one i watched. like i said, i was less vibing with this remake, and iirc it was going on during druck’s s3 and skamnl’s s2 - which were my faves, plus skamfr was on too i think and i was lowkey following it too, so….there was just too much all at once and something had to go, and it was skamesp. it was also around the time when panaphobia-gate happened, so *shrugs* i’m not wlw myself so your opinion on it being desexualized is probably more valid than mine? i just know when i did watch, there was a lot of kissing and making out and being cute and touchy with each other, so i thought it was ok? as i’ve mentioned before, i don’t need to see a naked butt or anything like that to *get* it lol, i thought they were lovely! but that’s just me. i will say that my faaaave part was most definitely the cris/amira friendship. they were so wonderful! one of the best skam friendships imo. i might one day go back and finish the season just for the heck of it, but they didn’t do anything major or highly offensive that made me have negative feelings towards it, it was just a personal preference + circumstances (too many remakes!) that made me be less into it and drop it before the end.

#phallusophical #replies #sorry for the gigantic wall of text!#but like i said - you asked! haha #i'd put this under a read more but my blog theme makes it harder to read there so....sorry!#all those who aren't interested in my opinions just quickly scroll past this just this one time ty #aaaaanyway hope this answered your question??? 😊#skam remakes #long post #druck #skam france #wtfock #skam spain

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muthur9000 · 7 years ago

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As part of our creatives series, Wayne Haag answers some questions on Science fiction and fantasy, also giving us some insight into his work.

Clara Fei-Fei: My first encounter with your work was for The Fifth Element (which I LOVE). I always wondered what sort of design requirements did you have to meet for the movie? Did you speak to Luc Besson about what he wanted?

Wayne Haag: As a matte painter I didn’t have to meet any design requirements, that was all taken care of by the concept designers.. who were Jean-Claude Mézières and Moebius, among others. I just had to paint to their designs. Within the scope of the matte painting itself, there are mini design problems or choices and those I discussed with my supervisors and Luc a few times for the various matte painting shots I worked on.

CF: What’s your favourite Scifi movie?

WH: Alien with Empire Strikes Back a very very close second. I know Star Wars isn’t strictly science fiction, more fantasy but for me, it’s about a sense of wonder and they both have it. I still have every Marvel Star Wars comic btw.

CF: Wow awesome! And who is your favourite character from any Scifi movie/comic/game?

Favourite character… I don’t have a favourite actually… If pushed I’d have to say Luke Skywalker, he’s the archetypal hero we all relate to.

CF: If you could enhance your body using robotics, what abilities would you choose?

WH: Eyes… Mine are going! Visibility into a much larger part of the EM spectrum – IR, UV, X-ray etc, zoom capability, heads-up display – data overlay, distance measurement, image capture…

CF: What inspired you to pursue work in concept art? For anyone wanting to pursue the same line of work, where do you suggest they start?

WH: I had always wanted to be an artist, always wanted to make images. It was never an option to not be an artist. This has encompassed professional photography, matte painting, illustration for publishing, concept art, mural painting, oil painting. Start drawing and painting, nothing more to it than that. Learn what you need to be a competent illustrator and the rest will follow.

CF: Could you give me an idea of what it’s like during production? What sort of guidelines you are given and what’s your average turn around time for the work you have done?

WH: That’s a large question. Every production is different, the vibe is different, some are relaxed some are stressful. It’s why I prefer to work from home mostly. Gigs like Alien you have to be there every day in house which is fine, can’t be a hermit all the time! Guidelines are simple – make this scene/shot look awesome – There’s the script, here’s the director’s brief now paint something that fulfils that brief. Don’t care how you do it, just get there.

Turn around time can vary from several (6 to 8) quick paintings in an afternoon to an evolving painting over several weeks. Not continuous of course, but bigger paintings I might have 3 or 4 days, it may sit around for a bit when you finally get feedback and you jump back onto that painting and off it goes into the cycle again. Some finish quickly and get approved just as quickly and you never see it again. Some hang around like bad smells!

CF: What is your favourite piece you ever created?

WH: One of my oil paintings, titled Sky Burial #2. It encapsulated everything I love about sci-fi, sense of wonder, mystery, story, history, spaceship wrecks, the desert.

SKY BURIAL #2

CF: What variant of the Xenomorph is your favourite?

WH: The original.. because you didn’t see much of it. It was the implied cold-blooded violence that was scary, not so much the beast itself – which was scary as hell in its own right, I just preferred the implicit horror.

CF: I really loved Daniels cabin in the Covenant, what work did you do on that?

WH: The design for Daniel’s cabin evolved quite a lot for many months. A couple of concept artists had started the process, set designers etc, all working towards the final. My contribution was to bring the design language in from the other interior sets Steve Burg had designed and made it feel more modular like you would find on a ship. Then it was a matter of painting a couple of frames that illustrated the lighting and mood, which is my main area of interest.

Daniels Cabin on the Covenant

White Room

CF: I read that the white room is inspired by 2001, what aspects of the movie did you consider when creating this set?

WH: Firstly, no one concept artists create ‘the set’, it really is an army of people that have some contribution at some point along the way, from top to bottom. The overall layout was inspired by a physical location in Sydney that they wanted to use but could not, so the decision was made to build the set at Fox. I had plans for the location and built that in 3D to scale. Then as I mentioned above, I paint the scene up for lighting, mood and composition, ie. camera position and lens choice. (which was used by Ridley on the day of the shoot).

No references to 2001 were used, not by me anyway. I approach each painting/set as a real place and try to work out how I would shoot it if I were really there, what kind of lighting situation, time of day, weather, season etc etc. Unless the director specifically references another movie, I go with my own references and ideas that I think to fulfil the script/story.

Before

After

CF: What work did you do on the mothership in The Crossing and Alien: Covenant? What other aspects of the engineer city did you work on?

WH: I didn’t do any design work on the Mother Juggernaut, that was all Steve Messing. As we all have access to the 3D resources, I used the model he built simply as a prop within the greater scene. Again, setting up composition, lighting, mood. Although I did build the city and surrounds in 3D as one big model to scale so that everyone could see how shots would look if you were standing in the plaza. The 3D allows me to place human figures in the correct relative scale to a known real-world camera and the renders provide a basis with which to paint on.

My model of the plaza was based on Steve Messing’s original plaza layout. As the set designers finalised buildings and sets, I would incorporate them into my huge Maya file, kind of like a master file. Then I’d place 3D cameras around matching pov’s Ridley wanted.

Like all film designs, they grow, evolve and change. The final city you see in the film is quite a bit different from the city I built, so the VFX guys had further developed the city layout as per Ridley’s ongoing massaging.

Image converted using ifftoany

CF: What was the inspiration for the shower scene?

WH: T&A as far as I can tell…

CF: (lol)

CF: Do you have a list of the art pieces you infused into the movie?

WH: Not really, when you’re working on a film you don’t have time to immerse yourself in the art references and meaning, least I don’t anyway. All art choices are Ridley’s, I just create the scene as if it were really there and I shot it with a camera. The decision to not use the Francis Bacon triptych in the white room was solely due to licensing costs, nothing more than that. The Bacon estate wanted too much money. The Bugatti chair was also a licensed design and the prop was to be destroyed in front of lawyers once shooting wrapped.

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CF: What pieces of yours made it the final film? Was there anything that didn’t?

WH: What pieces had an influence you should ask, concept art never makes it into the film per se, it is a tool for solving creative visual, technical, financial problems. How will this set look? How big will it be? How much VFX will be needed for that shot, how will the DP light the set etc?

It’s an internal document that hopefully answers the director’s, art director’s and production designer’s questions. If not, try something else, or remove things from the artwork. For example, I had two statues out front of the Cathedral and was asked to remove them from the piece. If that artwork had been disseminated throughout the production, someone may have assumed those statues were to be made and start spending money making them!

There are several paintings I did that you can see as shots in the film, they aren’t exact, but the overall compositions had been faithfully translated.

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CF: What would you say has been your favourite project to work on?

WH: Fifth Element, The Wolverine, Alien Covenant, three best projects of my career.

CF: What is it like working on a large scale production such as Alien compared to smaller scale ones?

WH: Depends on who you’re working with and answering to directly, i.e. production designer. Some large-scale projects are overly corporate and anal, smaller ones are creatively easy going. It can also be the reverse too! Alien was super creative, very easy going (hard work, long hours but no BS!). Great people all around. Some tv commercial gigs can be a giant PITA, some smaller directors can sometimes want to prove themselves by having too much attitude and want to override your ideas, big directors like Ridley don’t have those insecurities and are therefore great to work with.

CF: Congratulations on winning the award for your work on Alien: Covenant.

WH: Thank you!

CF: Is there anything you are working on currently?

WH: I just finished working on a pitch project for Pixar and as I write this, doing concepts for a Chinese comedy film shot here in Australia.

CF: In future what sort of opportunities would you like to be involved in?

WH: Well I currently work freelance, for the most part, I teach part-time (at Production Art Department PAD http://www.productionartdepartment.com ), I’m starting to put out video tutorials of how to paint etc and I need to get my arse into gear and get back to oil painting my own project. As far as the future is concerned, I’d like more time to paint my own work.

Thanks so much for taking the time to answer my questions, I look forward to having you on Yutani Podcast soon.

Creatives: Wayne Haag As part of our creatives series, Wayne Haag answers some questions on Science fiction and fantasy, also giving us some insight into his work.

#alien prequel #alien: covenant #behind the scenes #big chap #concept art #concept artist #creatives #matte painter #pixar #production art department #production work #wayne haag #weyland yutani #xenomorph

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maknaes-and-hyungs · 8 years ago

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Close Enough

Jungkook x Reader

Genre:Fluff

Note: I love highschool AUs so I just had to write one with junkookie in it. I realized I haven’t written for him at all even though he was my original bias of BTS. If you guys want to see anything{snaps,texts,drabbles,reactions,etc.} please stop by and request it from me. You can also just stop by and chat it doesn’t have to be a request. {aka I am lonely please come!)~Rin

“Hey Y/N!”

“Oh hey jungkook” You lifted your head up from you book to see Jungkook barreling his way across the wet grass of the courtyard. He slid right past you and straight into the tree behind your table.”The grass is wet by the way. Probably shouldn’t run in it or you could get hurt.” As he lay there groaning you turned back to your book.

Normally you didn’t read during lunch as it was too loud, but there was only one other person sitting out in the courtyard. It was a very foggy and chilly day so people tended to eat inside. You didn’t understand why seeing as you had chucked on your hoodie and the cold went away.

“Wow thanks L/N. I took time out of my day to talk to you and this is how you repay me.”

“I told you it was wet. If you weren’t so reckless maybe you would have taken the time to notice this. I didn’t have to inform you of the dangers of running, but I did so you are welcome.”

“I already slipped though.”

“I told you for future reference in case you were confused as to why you slipped.” He sighed exasperated and finally flopped down opposite you.

It wasn’t correct to call you friends, but it wasn’t correct to call you strangers either. You were a loner with only one or two real friends, by choice. Jungkook was a very popular guy who was great enough that college kids hung out with him. You were both two very different people who occasionally would have intelligent conversations.

You had actually grown up with Jungkook having lived next to each other your entire lives. Even though your parents had wanted you to become best friends it never happened. You were too introverted and Jungkook was too extroverted for you. Waiting for the bus was the only thing you two did together on a regular basis.

Even if you two weren’t close you both knew everything about the other. You knew that jungkook loved singing which was something he never talked about to his friends. He knew that on the other side of the frosted window that was you was a girl who loved to dance. Knowing everything about a person makes it hard to not have the occasional conversation. When only one person knows the true you you tend to talk to them about it.

That was you and jungkook. When he had a cover recorded you listened to it and gave your feedback. When you had devised new choreography you would show him the video on your phone and got his feedback. Whenever one of you saw the other alone you would sit next to each other and share.

“Whatever. I need you to listen to this song I recorded. I am thinking about submitting it to some entertainment companies so it has to be perfect.”

Without waiting for you to finish the sentence you were on Jungkook shoved you and your book to the side and sat next to you. He pulled headphones out of his pocket and threw them at you while he pulled out his phone. You knew this was the politest way he could say ‘untangle them’ so you started in on the task.

“What song is it this time? I hope it's not like the last one cause that song did not fit your voice at all.”

“It’s that one song by Selena Gomez. I can’t remember what it's called, but I titled the video with it. Once I find it-Here it is!” Untangled headphones in hand you plugged them into the phone and gave the left one to Jungkook taking the right for yourself. He pressed play and you closed your eyes to block out any distractions. If this was a serious as he said it was you didn’t want to ruin his chances by telling him it was great when it wasn’t

Jungkook’s POV

He watched you close your eyes the instant the song started and continued to stare at you face. He loved how you looked when you focused so intently on things even when you knew nothing much about them. It was something that had caused him to warm to you the instant your parents had arranged for you two to meet each other.

True you had never really become friends, but there was a stark difference between how you both thought of your relationship. While you didn’t think you were close Jungkook thought you were the person he was closest to. It didn’t matter that you never really talked and that when you did it was for ten minutes before he returned to his friends. Those talks were the most meaningful for him and he felt like you were the only person in his life that he would hate to lose.

Jungkook wouldn’t like losing his other friends, but he could deal with that. Losing you would hurt him more than he could express with his words. It was the fact that you weren’t always talking to him that made him grow to be dependent on you.

Without you who could he truly be himself with. The only reason he could with you was he knew everything about you and so there was no need for him to feel embarrassed about what he said. If two people knew everything about each other there was nothing that had to be kept in. The other person had stuck around after learning everything so there was no way they could leave. Except you would leave him.

Twenty more weeks was all he had left with you. You would be leaving him in Busan to go off and get an education at Seoul National University. You would be pursuing higher education while he would be at home trying to get noticed by someone for his musical talents that he may or may not have.

The instant you announced your acceptance into the school his mood had turned sour. If you went to Seoul you would probably never come back to him. He knew your lifelong dream had been to move to Seoul so there was no way he would be getting you back. His heart broke.

All his life Jungkook had loved you. Sure it started out as a childhood crush on the girl he saw everyday who wouldn’t give him more than a minute of her attention. As you grew up though he saw you go through everything as you did with him. Seeing you be made into the person you were today only made his heart fill with more of you rather than slowly emptying. Everything he did had become something he did for you.

You encouraged him to audition for entertainment companies, you were the one who told him to sing no matter what, and you were the only one who didn’t tell him he had a realistic dream. All things caused you to work harder in your life and not side idly by just doing school work that was required of you. You made him strive to be the best he could at what he loved.

“Jungkook this is amazing! You should totally send this in. Although you should try some of the smaller companies like big hit. I know they aren’t that big, but who knows, you could make them big. I know they had 8eight a while back which is the only reason I know of them. Ever since I have just wanted the best for that company and I think that could be you.”

“So I shouldn’t go for SM, YG, or JYP? Will I not make it?”He looked away timid and tugged at the edge of his frayed sweater. If you didn’t think he could make it then he wouldn’t try. He trusted you completely.

“You can and will make it Jungkook. I’m just saying big companies tend to have all those scandals about mistreating their artists. I think that a small company may be less likely to do that. It may seem more likely in those situations, but I feel like if they’ve kept going this long without a lot of success they must really care for their artist. It may not be perfect, but I think it will be better.”You smiled at him and his heart beat rapidly in his chest. “Plus it's right where I want to live after college.”

“You want me near you? Even after all these years? I mean we aren’t even really friends.”

“I thought we were... not close friends, but at least something.”

“Why can’t we be close friends?” Looking up into your eyes Jungkook saw regret within them. He knew you hadn't meant to hurt him and yet it stung.” I want to be close to you. I am close to you. All I have ever wanted was for you to realize that Y/N.”

“Yeah, but-”

“No buts Y/N. We are close and you are going to realize it goddammit. Perhaps its not close in a friend way, but in a more than friends way. I want it to be in a more than friends way. I love you Y/N and I have waited to long for you to come around to me on your own or for you to tell me that my thinking is wrong. Please tell me whether or not I was interpreting this whole thing right.” Out of breathe he looked into your eyes with tears welling up. If he was going to be losing you to the city he might as well get it all out now.

“Jungkook...come to Seoul with me. I’m getting an apartment to stay in, live with me? I need you as much as you need me. You weren’t wrong I just never thought we were close enough for me to love you the way I do.”

“ We have always been close enough and if you mean it I will come with you.” With that Jungkook took control and kissed you with no abandon. Taking your offer may have been to hasty, but you two could talk about it at a later date when you weren’t busy making up lost time.

#bts #bangtang boys #bangtang fluff #Jungkook #jeon jungkook #jeon jungkook fluff #jungkook fluff #bts high school au

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its-just-like-the-movies · 7 years ago

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Hounds of Love (17, B-):

(Hi, this is a film about a couple who kidnap, sexually and physically assault, and murder young girls. If reading about that scenario makes you uncomfortable, please don’t read this)

There’s something captivating about the ads for Hounds of Love, the way it markets itself on the difficulty of its subject matter. It knows that we’re disturbed by it, it knows that it is in fact disturbing, and reaches out a hand to promise you that there is something rewarding at the end of this dank, horrific tunnel. Its refusal to shy away from its own unpleasantness while avoiding the impulse of shoving it in your face like some kind of horror film was enthralling enough that I regretted missing it when I went home from college, and rented it on iTunes once I realized it became available. The premise of a real psychological battle not just between a teenage girl and the couple who’ve kidnapped her but within that couple itself is a compelling one, and one that’s as hard to watch play out as the trailer suggests. And yet, something about the whole felt off somehow. Hounds of Love hasn’t found the correct balance of itself, between confrontational subject matter and actually being confronting to watch, between establishing shots and unnecessary aestheticism, between giving each of the three characters their due within the narrative and palpably swapping focus midway through. Bursts out of the house are jarring but ultimately rewarding in their own narrative, as the missing girl’s family attempt to find her. Perhaps the film’s riskiest gamble is the way it shifts from being primarily the girl’s story to that of the female kidnapper, and a commentary on the behaviors of abusive men and the women who partner themselves with them, willingly or not, and what people do to keep themselves together. There’s no way for it not to have impact on you, but Hounds of Love nevertheless feels slighter and less abusive than it wants us to think it is.

Is it cruel of me to ask for a crueler film if that’s what it has set itself up to deliver? I don’t mind if we’re left to imply the horrors that Vicki experiences at the hands of John and Evelyn, and it’s not totally fair to base a film’s content on its ad campaign. Even by those standards though, the early segments of Hounds of Love have sequences and artistic choices that don’t fit with the film that director Ben Young wants to make. That we never see the face of the first girl we see the couple kidnap is an early indicator that the film will be more about them than it is about the girls they capture, even if we are treated to small slices of Vicki’s life between faceless shots of darkly lit chained arms and scattered sex toys, hearing her scream as the silhouette of John comes closer to her. We only learn this girl’s name (“Gabby”, and we don’t see her last name in full) and face in missing posters, seen taped to a telephone after we know her to be dead and buried in the woods. Immediately after capturing Vicki we are treated to an odd, slow motion pan down the street of the kidnappers as their neighbors go about their ordinary, non-murderous lives. The sequence toes the line between a long, unnecessary establishing shot and a contrary companion shot to the previous scene, emphasizing Vicki’s plight through an almost fetishistic sight of people outside living their lives. Setting the film during the Christmas season also treats us to about two set pieces of the couple committing crimes with carols going over the soundtrack, so obvious in its affect that the impact is dulled by it.

On the other side of that same coin, many of the film’s early scenes are strikingly uncomfortable in the mood they produce, and the sequences where the film lets its terrible situations play out in full are properly difficult to watch. The opening, slow motion shot of a group of teenage girls playing badminton, again ignoring their faces while it pans up their bodies, is all we need to see to know that we’re being placed in the POV of the killer couple. The long, uncomfortably casual setup of John and Evelyn luring Vicki into their home and trapping her plays exactly like every parent’s nightmare as we watch Vicki realize far too late what’s happened to her. To its credit, the film never, ever steps into prurience or salaciousness in its depiction of John and Evelyn’s crimes, even as it probes their psyches in depth. There is no chance of glorifying or sexualizing their actions, even in the moments where we’re presented with theirs as a stable, happy relationship that’s extended to kidnapping women, rather than one being kept alive or even strangled by it.

It’s the proportioning of itself between these three characters that has me most unsure, perhaps, of what Hounds of Love wants itself to be. At a certain point, it is undeniable that the film is primarily setting itself up as a character study of Evelyn, rather than Evelyn and John, or Evelyn and John and Vicki, even with the broader points the film is making about men and women by way of why these people are kidnapping schoolgirls. John is given surprisingly little to do in terms of specifying an inner life or articulating a motive, and the film doesn’t give him the amount of backstory Evelyn gets or life before all this Vicki is shown. A scene of him being accosted by two men demanding money he owes them - even what he bought is implied, though probably weed - suggesting that the only control he has in his life is over Evelyn and whomever they’ve just kidnapped, is the closest thing to a motive we’re given. Their sexual celebration literally seconds after capturing Vicki and the way their torturing of her as a husband and wife activity would suggest the kidnappings to be a criminal extension of their love for each other feels like a plausible explanation, but the degree to which this, like John, feels underexplored next to the amount of detail Ben Young lavishes onto the women, and even that is somewhat vague. We only need a short scene about how much Evelyn loves her dog, but if we’re going to dive this deeply into the minds of one criminal character, the lack of attention around her partner and around them as a couple only makes the attention to her feel even more lopsided. Stephen Curry gives a small, subtle performance in the role, but he doesn’t have the room to make anything more interesting out of John than a paragon of the way pathetic men cruelly assert their dominance over women however they can.

Then again, maybe the ways he tries to soothe Evelyn would matter more if the film and the actress hadn’t decided to make her so obviously fraying from the beginning. Her first real close-up, unable to get herself off the bed as she hears John rape and kill Gabby, only shows the jealousy she feels about the way John relates to the girls they’ve captured. That the film already starts with her on the verge is a smart move, but Booth frequently tips her hand a little too much in scenes that require tighter playing. She’s too open about Evelyn’s woundedness and growing insecurity about John and the children she’s not allowed to see anymore because of him. Vicki doesn’t need to be as good at reading people as she is to see that Evelyn’s already on edge about the foundation of her relationship, and by the time we see her putting on Vicki’s makeup after staring at her naked body in her mirror (or was it makeup, then naked mirror in a different scene?), after spending so much time away from Vicki and John, I began wondering what constituted a film as an acting showcase above all else. Films like last year’s Fences and 20th Century Women are as reliant on top-notch acting as anything to work as wonderfully as they do, and yet both films have enough going on and more than enough to say that they weren’t considered objects built only to win their headliners prizes. Usually if something is derisively labeled an acting showcase the film and the performance seem blatantly constructed to cop prizes, obscuring its own message in the name of getting Kate Winslet or Al Pacino or whoever a airtight excuse for building a trophy case. In an entirely cynical reading of Hounds of Love it’s almost too easy to see the film as a showcase for Emma Booth’s performance, even as the film earnestly tries to explore the psychology of Evelyn. Booth’s choices don’t always work even when her impact is undeniable, and she is as committed as Ben Young seems to be in exploring her character without making it actually about how harrowing her performance is. Nudity is only a small part of a de-glammed model/actress playing an astonishingly vile, insecure woman. Looking up the film I was astonished that it was Ashleigh Cummings who had won a Best Actress prize from some side-segment of the Venice Film Festival. Even the poster prioritizes Booth above all else, confining Curry to basically a floating head behind her while Cummings gets a good chunk of the poster but is muted by the colors. You have to look to find her, while Booth is right there on display, in every sense of the word.

Had Young and Hounds of Love sought for a Monster-ish indictment of society and/or of men by way of this abused, abusive kidnapper, that would’ve been something. But this argument falls apart the moment you look anywhere else. Vicki’s parents are fighting because of divorce, though her mother’s plea to understand that she couldn’t stay in that house any more suggests . . . . something? Vicki’s boyfriend is nice, and then we don’t get to meet anymore men in the narrative. As is, the film feels hollow, and writing this review has done nothing to convince me about its values. All I can see here is a pretty sterling performance from Ashleigh Cummings, playing her character like she’s straight out of an Andrea Arnold film, convincing us a young girl who’d fall for a grown-up equivalent of the van with candy that’s still resourceful enough and full of such will to send a coded letter and almost escape the house. She shows us Vicki’s pain without bathos, refuses in any way to connect or bond with Evelyn without overtly manipulating this clearly unstable woman about how awful John is to both of them, and she’s able to convey the breaking of this girl even as her worst assaults happen offscreen with horrific economy. Beyond her, I’m not quite sure what Hounds of Love has to offer, or what it’s trying to do. The brave have not been rewarded as much as they’d hoped to be, in this particular case. If I was less disturbed than I’d expected to be, it’s still an upsetting film, effective even when its devices are remarkably obvious. Still, if the subject matter is too much for you to stomach, there’s not much of an artistic statement hiding under its promises of a rewarding viewership. There’s moments of great unease, and one special performance, but there’s mostly an uneven character study, examining subjects and ideas you can find done better in other films.

#my posts #my reviews #hounds of love #2017

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