#and also mysteriously like. The third one? I don't know why specifically the third one. Nothing about it seemed unusually difficult | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

thebunnybabyblog · 8 months ago

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"Tear you apart" 18+ Snape x reader

This is just pure smut so be warned! No one under the age of 18 should venture any further! Run away now you are not welcomed to read this please go play roblox or something :)

Age is not told in this but reader is 18+, Snape is whatever age your headcanon prefers. This is a female oriented one shot so specific terms will be said here that apply to that! Also don't even say a thing about her nickname this is soooo not a shamless insert for myself, def not 👀

the song "tear you apart" by she wants revenge is what inspired me to write this. please listen bc god it makes my head go brrrrrrrrr when i listen to it lol with that please enjoy and tell me what you thought! lots of love! 💕

Potions had always been your best subject. There was just something about the skill and craftsmanship that made you feel so compelled to learn as much as you could. It was like art and science all in one. The precision and dedication that it took to make something with so much value to the wizarding world was vastly impressive to you, but what really sealed the deal was the man that had taught you all that you knew.

Severus Snape was a god to you. The poised mysterious genius who seemed to be able to look death right in his eyes and laugh in annoyance. The way he just glided around school with so much power and command sent shivers down your spine. Always wanting to be in his good graces and never a means of annoyance like most students. You wouldn’t call yourself a know it all teacher's pet who would tattle acting as the school yard spy but truly as an admirer and helping hand.

You made it clear that you admired, appreciated and respected him and his immense wealth of knowledge. It’s not like you didn’t respect all of your professor's knowledge because you really did but he was just different? Part of it was how bad you felt from the vast amount of disrespect he received. Of course you understood that kids are difficult to look past tone and attitude but if you did your work and listened when he spoke and spoke only kind words to him, he was kind to you.

Over the 7 years at Hogwarts you grew a pretty decent relationship with him. Of course it wasn’t like you skipped down the hall hand-in-hand but he had gained a level of trust and mutual respect for you. To the point he had offered you to be an assistant of sorts to him, nothing major but since you had expressed after graduation you wanted to work at being a professional potioneer and owning your own shop one day, he let you come two to three days a week and help him with different tasks. It would always be a surprise that day on what you were doing. It could be organizing and taking stock of the store room, observing and taking notes of class projects of lower grades that were brewing (as some potions could take days or weeks to brew) or even grading first to third year assignments. All the while you'd be free to ask questions and just chat really.

You had really cherished these meetings but your social group really never understood why you were even wanting to be there. For them it seemed like a punishment.

“You had to organize the storeroom?!? What did you do wrong to have to do that??” They’d exclaim in shock and then be in total disbelief when you said,

“It wasn't a punishment, it was actually quite fun! He showed me some rare ingredients that you can only get on a full moon on the tallest mountain in the Himalayas every 6 1/2 years!”

None of it ever seemed like a chore; it was an honor. This man, with such great skill, had taken you even the tiniest bit under his wing. I guess people just couldn’t understand how such a bright and bubbly person would want to spend time in a dark gloomy dungeon with the dungeon bat himself. But you knew he was just misunderstood and it didn’t help that you found him to be the most beautiful man you had ever laid your eyes on.

To you he was the definition of tall, dark and handsome. His tall looming body, dark midnight eyes that looked straight to your core, chiseled features that seemed to be carved out of the most precious white marble. He was more than just looks, he was powerful, knowledgeable and what people didn’t seem to see but he was quite funny and gentle. The way he treated his work as if he was Michelangelo diligently and painstakingly painting the Sistine Chapel ceiling upside down on his back. He was just brilliant to be around and absorbing even a speck of him was a gift.

You couldn’t lie to yourself though, you were down bad. The type of bad that made you find yourself absentmindedly drifting off to space only to come back down to earth and see you had doodled all over your notes with little drawings of hearts with SS in them and sketches of his striking features or kicking your feet and going red when he pops into your mind while in class because he said something that just rolled off his tongue in just the right way that made you fantasize scenarios in your head.

A crush was truly an understatement at this point. If he asked you to be his pet you would be at his feet curled up in an instant. Never making it too apparent though as to never show him any type of actions that would threaten your ability to continue this precious opportunity to learn and just be around him, or so you thought.

Friday was your easy day and your most favorite day of the week. You only had one class and that was of course advanced potions at the end of the day and a day where you always stayed after to help out. Today was especially good because it was a day when everything just went well. Snape had shown the class how to brew amortentia, the most powerful love potion. Not only was it an exciting lecture and potion to brew but it got your head to brew all sorts of things as well.

“Gods I wish I could give him a drink of mine! I’d do anything for him to feel even a slight bit like me, the way I do for him!” You thought into the void of your mind. You couldn’t help to doodle while you waited for the last few minutes of the class to count down, not like you were leaving but just waiting for your afternoon Friday treat to roll around. Your little delusions were helped by the fact he had actually praised your work when he was making his way around the classroom before the class was over.

“Very good work Miss [last name], excellent pearl color and the smell is just right. You will make a fine potion master one day” he said in a smooth silky voice. You were lost in every word that rolled off his sharp tongue. It felt as if you had drank this entire cauldron, gulping it down like a man who was stranded in the desert who finally found water.

“Thank you sir!” You squeaked out, kicking your feet enthusiastically underneath your table. If only people could understand how good his praises felt, the chokehold they held on her heart.

“Alright class it seems our time is up, most of you really need to pay more attention when I’m up here teaching… this is a powerful potion that needs to be respected and I saw many glaring mistakes that certainly should have been avoided… I will expect a report on my desk about the history of amortentia by Monday morning sharp. If I didn’t tear your potion to shreds in my walkthrough you are excluded.” The class filled with annoyed groans and frustrated sighs and a few looks were shot your way since they knew the “dungeon bunny” (your unofficial nickname your friend would poke fun at you with) was exempted once again. It wasn’t your fault you enjoyed potions, that's what Hogwarts was for, to find your passions and excel and it did help when you were in love.

The class cleaned up their areas and one-by-one filed out of the room looking a bit defeated by the sudden addition of weekend homework but you stayed behind ready for whatever task he was willing to give you today.

“Great lecture as always professor!” You said looking up to him with a soft smile.

“Thank you Miss. [last name], it’s a shame not everyone is as devoted to potions as you and I.” he replied back to you in a smooth tone. For him to put you and him into the same category made your heart thump in your chest. His praises made your hair stand on end as if caught in an electrical storm. A blush was surely visible on your face when your brain was able to comprehend his kind words.

“Oh! I am nothing compared to your dedication, you are a god compared to me!” You spouted back not even thinking, making you blush harder.

“Oh. My. Gods. I did not just say that, what a loser, I must seem like such a fangirl. He's your professor, not an idol.” You barked in your head, now thoroughly embarrassed. Pulling yourself out of your thoughts when you heard a soft chuckle escape from his throat.

“I guess I should take my place up in the heavens then” he said as he made his way back around to his desk “today if you can, I would appreciate a walk through of the storeroom and make a list of anything that is running low. Will that be something you can help take off my plate today?” He asked in a way that sounded like silk.

“Of course professor you don’t even need to ask!” Gods you were pathetic and you knew it but you didn’t care an ounce. It felt so good to be of service, to do anything he asked of you. You were his devoted little bunny and hopped when he said hop. You’d never admit it to your friends but you loved being called his dungeon bunny because gods it really was so fitting for how you felt. And if it meant spending ages looking through every tiny vial in that room you would do it on your hands and knees to be around him.

Making your way into the room you began to look through the endless rows of ingredients. You knew this was going to take a long time but it was worth it. You had been working for only about 15 minutes when you felt a cold rush of air against your back behind you, not thinking much of it, only that it was just a draft, you didn’t even turn to look. It wasn’t until you heard the door click shut behind you locking you in the small room.

“Umm professor, did you close the door?” You said still bent over looking at vials in the cabinet below you before turning around.

“Yes” he replied

You jumped at the sound of him right behind you. He glides and somehow makes no noise when he walks, some people think he casts a charm on his shoes to keep them silent. You spin around and are now in very close proximity to him. Your breath is stuck in your throat and you push yourself up against the shelf. The vials behind you raddle as your back hits the wood. You look up to his looming figure and he looks down at you with his sparkling black eyes and his equally raven black hair falling around his face.

“I’m quite sorry, did I frighten you?” He says with a sly smile.

“Oh umm no hehe of course not.” You say with your eyes closed with an embarrassed smile slapped across your face.

“Oh good I would be awfully sad to scare off my little dungeon bunny.” His words slapped you across your face.

You look up to him in shock, eyes wide and heart pounding out of your chest, “d… dungeon bunny?!? How does he know about the nickname my friends call me?” You think in a panic.

“You scream it quite loud in your head all the time. It’s not hard to miss.” He replies to your thought. As if your eyes weren’t wide enough they were bigger now, you now understood he had the ability to use legilimency. The thought of every embarrassing little thing you have thought about him over the last 7 years bounced around in your mind. You were in utter shambles over how embarrassing you had been without your knowledge. Especially since you never were shy to let your daydreams run amok in the dirtiest ways you could think of.

“You enjoy being my bouncing little bunny don’t you?” He questioned as if he was a predator circling and taunting its prey.

“I….. I umm… I-“ was all that you were able to stutter out. A deep chuckle rumbled up through his chest and you felt his cool breath on your face as he loomed over your shanking frame. You couldn’t help to smell the smooth smell of spearmint and honey on his breath sending your head spinning.

“Does cat have your tongue, little bunny? Usually you have so much to say up here.” He said as he tapped a finger melodically against your temple. You felt your knees wobbling under you and you couldn’t help to just look up at him like a deer caught in headlights as you white knuckled the counter behind you.

“You're usually such a good girl and speak when spoken to”, grabbing your chin and squeezing your cheeks with his long slender fingers. “Now I will only repeat myself once more,” his tone stern and filled with authority. “I said you enjoy being my little. Bouncing. Bunny. Don’t you y/n?”

“Y… yes” you shyly mustered out.

“Yes what?” He commanded as he squeezed harder

“Yes sir!” You practically shouted, trembling in his grasp.

“See that wasn’t hard was it?” Leaning down to be eye level with you all the while still holding on to you tight.

“N… no sir.” You couldn’t help but feel like putty in his grasp. You wanted to be devoured, like you said before, if he said hop you would hop and you meant it.

“You know even if I couldn’t hear your detailed perversions every time you laid eyes on me you are quite obvious and oblivious to your surroundings.” He released your face and leaned in close to your ear. His hair tickled your skin as it cascaded over your cheek.

“Your little love doodles are very cute, you think I don’t notice them as I walk around the room? You’re lucky I don’t punish you for being off task so frequently but you are always such a good girl I can’t bring myself to punish you.”

You were overheating with your skin flushed pink, you felt a bead of sweat roll down the side of your forehead.

“Hmmm It is getting pretty hot in here, why don’t you take off your coat?” He hummed, pulling back from your ear. His fingers found their way under your lapels and slid your jacket off your shoulders onto the floor.

“T..thank you.” Not even sure why you were thanking him but it felt so good too.

“Such a polite girl, seems like someone needs a treat.” Taking your chin back into his grasp, he leaned down and planted a soft kiss onto your lips. Still in utter shock and disbelief from what was happening you just looked at him wide eyed but in an instant you shut them and sunk your weight into his hand. You grabbed onto the side of his robe for support and let out a moan that shocked you both. You could feel him smile against you and his left hand sneak to your waist and pulled you close into him.

Your eyes shot open when you felt him hard against your stomach taken aback by just how large he felt under all of those dark clothes. “Gods his cock is huge!” You couldn’t help but scream in pure lust loud in your head, immediately looking up to him in terror as you might as well have just said that out loud. Somehow his eyes grew darker than they naturally were and you knew it was game over. He was about to devour you whole.

You looked away fast in utter embarrassment but his hand snaked its way through your hair and pulled your face back to his and whispered once more into your ear, “I want to fucking tear you apart.” He said, so sharp it pierced through your body like flying arrows across the battlefield. Before you knew it the hand in your hair pulled you to the ground and you were on your knees faced with the serpent trapped behind his wool trousers.

“Now be the good little bunny you are and set your God free” he said as the hair he had in his fist fell free from his grasp.

Filled with nerves, your trembling fingers slowly reached up and skated across the black wool, hesitating for a moment once they touched the cool metal buckle of his belt. You looked up as if making sure it really was alright. He returned your wordless question with a light smile of reassurance. You slowly slid the leather belt out of the metal and grasped the button that was behind it and slipped it through the hole and pulled the zipper down. He sprung free from his prison and slapped his stomach with a snap.

You gulped hard, this was the first time you had ever seen a man in this way. You had seen one once before when a Gryffindor boy got a little too drunk at a party and thought it would be a good idea to whip it out as a laugh but it was nothing like this. Snape's cock was powerful and hot with desire, just as dominating as the man it was attached to. You could feel the slickness building between your legs as you looked up to him practically drunk.

“You look so beautiful down on your knees for me I wish you could see just how beautiful you look, all flushed and doe eyed looking up at me.” His words poured over you like honey. You craved his praise and you’d do anything he wanted to get it.

“Thank you professor! I… I’d do anything for you!” You cried out to him bouncing on your knees. You were passed the embarrassment, hell the embarrassment was fueling you. You didn’t care what you looked like, you just wanted to do whatever he wanted, that's all you’ve ever wanted to do for him.

“Oh I know I’ve heard you so many times lost in thought wondering how I looked under my robes,” his hand began to work the many buttons of his coat and he slipped it off onto the floor with yours. His white linen shirt flowed free around him as he worked up that as well. Soon his torso was bare and you eyed the pale skin that hid under it. You could see his scars that scattered around his smooth form and wondered how they felt.

He reached down, holding out a hand to yours. With a slight hesitation you placed them in his and he placed your hands on his stomach. Your fingers began to wonder, exploding the milky smooth skin you had dreamed about. A soft moan escaped him as your warm touch moved around his cold body. You couldn’t help but look up at him in amazement.

“Gods you’re just so pretty.” He said looking down at you with hooded eyes. You just couldn’t take it any more. You needed to touch his cock that had been staring you in the face far too long. You moved your hands down past his belly button following his little happy trail down to the base. Looking up to him one last time for permission, he nodded a gentle yes.

Grabbing the base, he was rock solid in your grasp. A huff escaped him and he slightly pumped into your hand. This sent your body into overdrive losing all sense of your humanity; you were just his slave to his desire. You worked your hand up and down his shaft not even able to touch your fingertips together as you pumped him slowly.

He reached out a hand and placed it on the top of your head and looped some hair around his fingers and pulled your face close to him. He smelt a mix of smoky body wash and sweat. He filled your nose with his scent and it made your eyes roll in the back of your head as you sniffed him in.

“Open that pretty little mouth of yours I can’t take this anymore.” He growled in pure need. Without hesitation you opened yourself for him and his tip was past your threshold before you had time to process. The precum that had began to gather on his tip spread across your tongue as he snaked himself into you. You couldn’t help but moan as your senses were attacked with him.

“Fuck your sweet little mouth feels better than I could have imagined.” He spit out. Your arms wrapped themselves around his thick thighs for support as he filled your mouth with his needy cock.

“You don’t even know how long I’ve waited for this moment. Fuck…. Take my cock. Just like that, you're such a good bunny for me.” You practically cried out in pleasure to the praise and the vibration only sent him into a craze. He began to frantically assault your throat, making you gag around him. The room filled with the sounds of your complete surrender to the man that now laid claim in your throat.

Tears filled your eyes and fell over your flushed cheeks, he reached a hand down and his fingers moved gently over them wiping away at your tear stained face. He pulled them to his mouth and took a long lick of his fingers, humming as he did so. You were practically crossed eyed looking up at him.

He pumped himself in you a few more times and released your mouth with a loud pop. You coughed out desperately for air but were sad that he had released your throat.

“As much as I’d love to cum down that pretty throat of yours it would be such a waste to put it there our first time.” “First time?” You thought. That implied this wasn’t going to be some one time event that you would think about over and over for the rest of your life on a loop.

“Oh you sweet little thing. You think I’d let you get away from me that easily? I’ve waited so long fighting with myself for a very long time. There is no way I’m letting you escape me.” His voice deep and raspy you trembled below him. Grabbing the collar of your shirt he pulled you back to your feet and placed his hands firmly around your waist and lifted you to sit upon the counter. You were practically face to face now, though he still had a bit of height on you even at this level.

His thumb brushed over your bottom lip and he pulled you back into a deep kiss. You found your arms sneaking in under his shirt and wrapping around his back pulling him close in. This kiss was pure sex and filled with fire. He pressed his body between your legs and his cock rubbed hard against your cotton panties. You could help but moan into his mouth with the sudden sensation shocking your wet core.

His right hand left your face and he made the journey down between your thighs. The feeling of his fingertips brushing against your soaking wet pussy made you jump. He pulled away from the kiss and now looked you in your eyes the way you asked his consent with yours earlier. You couldn’t help but look away for a moment embarrassed but you quickly moved your gaze back to him and nodded with the most precious lust filled face.

Before you knew it his slender fingers were hooked into your panties and he slid them all the way down in one large motion. The air was chilled against the sopping wet mess you had under your skirt. He slipped your panties into his back pocket.

“You're never getting those back by the way” he chuckled out. “Now since it’s only fair I think it’s time we take this tight little top off?” He backed away and looked at you. It only took you a moment to understand he wanted to watch you do this part.

Your shaking hands made their way up to the top button and began to slowly slip them out. He hummed in anticipation as you revealed yourself and the pretty baby pink bra you had hidden underneath your shirt. The shirt joined the pile of accumulating clothes on the stone floor below you. His hands reached up and began to wonder around your plush supple skin. His touch made your skin send goosebumps over your body. You let out soft whimpers as his nail softly scraped along your bra's edge.

“Please” you moaned out

“Oh she speaks? Please what my dear?” He says against your neck.

“Please sir, I can’t take it please just touch me!” With your desperate cries he sunk his teeth into your neck kissing and sucking soon to be deep red hickies into your skin. You cried out in a mix of pleasure and pain as he sneaked his hands behind you and made your bra fall to the floor where it belonged. Your breasts were exposed to him and the air and the mix of that made your nipples rock solid. His large hands began to knead into them with vigor and equal desperation. He easily found your nipple with his mouth and sucked and nipped. His deep moans filled the air and mixed with your high pitched squeals.

As his mouth sent attacks to your left breast and his left hand tweaked your right, his free hand found its way to your soaked pussy. It’s like he knew exactly how to curl his fingers around your clit to send shocks through your body. Your hips rolled desperately against his hand to feel him as much as you could.

“If only you could see how desperate and needy you are right now. Humping your dripping little cunt against me. Does your god feel good against your pretty pussy? Hmmm?” His words cut through you like a knife. All you could do is crumble under him in pleas and desperation.

“P…please please please, I need you, please fill me up I can’t take it anymore.” Tears filling your eyes again.

“Well if you beg me so nicely how could I say no to that?” With no warning his cock was pressed against your slit and plunged deep inside you. You cried out in pain as he was still against you.

“Shhh I’m right here I won’t move until you’re ready ok?” He said in between kissing away even more tears on your cheeks.

You were a mess under him but this was the only place in the entire world you wanted to be. For seven years you dreamed about him and wanting him so desperately to fill you up and here you were getting exactly that. You clutched onto his back sending your nails deep into his flesh. He couldn’t help but move forward slightly into you from the sensation. You let out a moan and tightened around him that made him moan into your neck.

“Please move” you breathed out. You didn’t have to ask him twice; his hips moved with a sudden urgency that even shocked him. As if on autopilot he moved in a primal need into your center and filled the room with sounds of him slapping against you. His hands gripped your waist hard, unbeknownst to you both, would leave behind bruises the next day.

His pace was slow at first but over time with the growing moans that escaped your mouth he began to move faster and more erratic.

“Fuck your pussy feels so good around me. Your cunt is sucking me in so eagerly.” He said through gritted teeth. His words made you clench harder around him. “Tell me how does my big cock feel inside you?”

“Hmgmmhh-“ is all your mouth manages to get out between his powerful thrusts. He grabbed the hair in the back of your head, snapping you back to look him deep in his eyes. “What did I tell you about speaking when spoken too? Don’t make me have to punish you when you’ve been so good for me.” He growled down at you.

“You feel so good! Y..you make me feel so full, I’ve n..never felt like this down there before.”

He paused and looked at you, you whined at the sudden stop. “Is this the first time you’ve had someone inside you?” He asked in disbelief. You panicked afraid that he would want to stop with your lack of experience.

“I’m sorry! Is that a problem? I don’t want to disappoint you!” You said, shaken. His eyes widened and immediately placed your face in his hands.

“Oh gods no! I’m just shocked someone as breathtakingly beautiful as you hadn’t had a line of boys trying to take you to bed with them.” A soft smile looked down on you and you nuzzled yourself into his touch.

“I have always just waited in hope that ummm it would be you.” You said looking away.

You could feel him throb in you as that escaped your lips. Without warning his hips snapped in you at a frantic pace once more.

“What a sexy little nymph you are. I am going to truly lose my mind.” He grunted as he pumped you deeper and deeper with each passing thrust. His fingers slipped down and found their way to your clit once again. Your moans filled his ears like prayers. Begging for a release that you were desperately in need of.

“Please sir I-I’m so close.” Your face found its way to his shoulder as you cried out.

“D-does my pretty bunny want to cum for me? Have you been a good girl? Should I allow you to cum all over my big cock?” He asked into your hair.

“God please, please let me cum! I’m begging you please!” You screamed out.

“Fuck, cum on my cock while I fill you deep with mine!” He shouted back at you. He plowed into you at dangerous speeds, hitting your cervix with every lightning crack of his hips. Circling faster around your clit with his thumb. You could feel yourself on the edge so close to your sweet release. With one final snap of his hips you lost all control coming undone around his throbbing cock. Squirting all around him unaware you were even able to do that.

When he felt you release around him that’s all he needed, “Fuck fuck fuck take my cum, fuck!”and shot load after load of his hot cum deep into your pussy. Grunting like an animal as he reached his glorious climax that he has dreamed of for so long.

You both stayed in this wrapped position for what seemed like an eternity panting and gasping for air. When you both found your breath he planted sweet gentle kisses all over you. You giggled with each one he bestowed upon you.

“Gods I’m going to keep you locked down here forever.” He said between kisses.

“You’d have to pull me out of here to get me to leave.” You replied back and planted a gentle kiss on his swollen lips.

“Well that would never happen,” he said looking over you sweetly.“Now let’s get you in my chambers so we can get you right in the bath because you are one dirty bunny.”

“Yeah your dirty little bunny.” You giggled into his ear and with that you were whisked out of the store room and through his chamber door off for more of your wildest dreams to play out before you.

#severus snape #fanfic #pro snape #snape smut #smut #student teacher #god kink?#first time #snape x y/n #snape x you #snape x reader #i lit was kicking my feet giggling making this stoopid thing #i love it tho

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sun-undone · 2 months ago

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okay so i'm rereading the poppy war for the sole purpose of trying to squeeze all the chaltan content i can get out of it and my god is it delivering already

this first one is something that i completely breezed past in my first reading cause i didn't even know who tf chaghan was yet but on a reread????? GAY (pg. 226):

you're telling me that chaghan and altan just happened to be together when chaghan felt tyr's death? in the middle of the night??? mmhmm yup for sure

now as willing as i am to fully chalk this up to a late night chaltan tryst, i will be fair and admit that i'm not super clear on how exactly chaghan got the tyr info here. it kinda seems like he's doing his monthly meeting with the hexagram goddess (in the dialogue he literally says "there has been a hexagram" and then he interprets 3 things from it), but first off, it seems too coincidental for him to just happen to be doing that at the very moment that tyr dies, and also why tf is he doing it in the middle of the night?? is he just being extra dramatic and making up some "we have to do it at midnight" bullshit to see what he can get away with (a la the infamous kitay horse piss incident) or is there an in universe explanation for that that i've completely forgotten?

OR is it a secret, gayer third option: altan and chaghan were already together when he felt tyr's death, which then prompted him to convene with the goddess and get the hexagram. and we just don't see the full process or really get much of a proper explanation cause we're in altan's pov and it's all mysterious and shit at this point in the book. that's the one i'm going with and i cannot believe that this is their first scene together. the intimacy is already so palpable and we don't even know chaghan's name at this point in the book.

and then of course there's THIS (pg. 227):

absolutely fucking bonkers i'm spinning on my head

is anyone else this gentle with altan ever????? i'm genuinely asking. who else in the cike would even THINK about pulling a move like this? also the added layer of chaghan originally being next in line for commander before altan took him out to the fucking valley for THREE WHOLE DAYS and then THIS is his reaction to altan officially inheriting said title??? we know from a later conversation that chaghan has with rin (pg. 337) that he's very aware of how unprepared altan was to assume leadership over the cike, which just makes this gesture from him even more meaningful and tender. "we are yours to command. i am yours."

this next one just made me giggle and idk if it's just my brain being broken from scouring source material for gay crumbs or if it's actually intentional but (pg. 285):

i mean. i mean. if anyone knows the extent of chaltan, it's most definitely qara, and a lot of these crumbs involve her so i'm taking it as more evidence and no one can stop me

speaking of qara being an icon (pg. 317):

i actually forgot how much she's in this book i am so sorry queen

so unegen also has a strong reaction to ramsa's dialogue, but if i may be incredibly nitpicky about it, i'd argue that qara snorting implies a sense of "yeah right now that's funny", while unegen spitting out his wine implies more pure shock than anything else. i'm sure the cike have some idea about chaghan and altan's relationship going deeper than meets the eye (if it's this obvious from the crumbs we get over the span of a handful of scenes i can only imagine how sick and tired they must be after an entire year of it), but once again, qara is likely the only one who really KNOWS. for obvious reasons.

then we have the iconic dramatic entrance where chaghan is officially introduced, and even before zooming into a specific piece of it to prove my chaltan agenda, just the very existence of this scene is so fucking insane to me. rebecca could've chosen any way to properly introduce us to chaghan, and this is what she decided on. you could argue that it sets up chaghan's dramatic and obnoxiously proud personality, and that him being hurt is so we can see how it affects qara (and also just to up the tension and stakes) BUT how coincidental that on top of achieving all that character and narrative stuff, it also succeeds in showing us a completely different side to altan. one that is specifically brought about by chaghan.

would altan rush out into a sea of federation soldiers to help any other member of the cike? yes. but rebecca chose to show him helping THIS member of the cike. in THIS dramatic of a fashion (and it's literally on a horse like that is so fractured fairytale romance of her actually). and it's also the aftermath that really clues us into something deeper between him and chaghan in particular (pg. 373):

along with qara, who is SOUL BONDED TO CHAGHAN BY THE WAY, altan is screaming at him for being reckless and how he could've gotten himself killed. intentionally or not, rebecca is clearly aligning altan and qara here, and i LOVE how it's shown in the way their dialogue is formatted. you don't even know who is saying which fragment. they are one in the same when it comes to the level in which they care about chaghan's wellbeing. and also when it comes to yelling at him for being an idiot! and if that's not love then idk what is

#more to come #i'm so obsessed with these two it's such an issue #sorry for the bad photos too i tried my best but i have horrible lighting everywhere #the poppy war #altan trengsin #chaghan suren #qara suren #chaltan

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whumpofalltime · 1 year ago

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friends, enemies, lurkers, we've made it to the

Whump Of All Time Finals!

What's the whumpiest whump of all time? Help us decide!

Find links and propaganda under the cut. Quarterfinalist and later match-ups are untagged, so your votes and reblogs matter! Make sure you click through to the main blog to find the run-off poll to crown third place, as well!

ROTK:

(spider attack, rescue)

"The Lord of The Rings, when Frodo gets bitten by a giant spider and left for dead by Sam at the end of The Two Towers, and then when Sam finds him in The Return of the King being held prisoner and whipped by an orc."

The Young Blood Chronicles (Save Rock and Roll's music videos, Fall Out Boy):

(link)

"Everyone gets bloodied, bruised, beaten up, tortured, rescued, limbs are amputated - it's brutal. Alone Together is particularly strong."

sorry for being late, but you want YBC propaganda? then you're getting YBC propaganda. I know you're a FOB fan, but I will be writing this for the benefit of those who don't know what YBC is, for better propaganda purposes! and yeah this is gonna be LONG. sorry.

So! The Youngblood Chronicles (shortened to YBC) is a series of 11 music videos made by the band Fall Out Boy, for their album Save Rock And Roll (you know this album, it's the one with My Songs Know What You Did In The Dark on it). The whole thing is quite short, less than fifty minutes long (even shorter if you don't count the uncut version's credits!!), and every single music video has some element of whump in it. This propaganda is gonna break down each individual music vid, and at i'll also talk a little bit about the irl context the album was written in, and why even THAT can be a little bit whumpy if you're insane like me!

(note: i'm going in the original release order over the uncut order, hence why i'm starting with MSKWYDITD instead of The Phoenix)

My Songs Know What You Did In The Dark: Arguably the least whump-y out of all of them, but man, seeing all of Fall Out Boy's discography and memorabilia be burnt while people are dancing around the destruction? Man, when you know the real life stuff (the reception the band had in 2009, leading to them to take a three year hiatus)... and at the end, you see four guys bound in the back of a van!! And that van is getting burnt!! Burn everything you love and burn the... ashes.

The Phoenix: NOW here's the first of MANY whump tastes you'll get. Patrick Stump, the singer/cutie of the band, gets kidnapped, tied to a chair, has his hand CHOPPED OFF and mailed to his bandmate/best friend Pete Wentz, then gets tied down and utterly tortured by women who are laughing at his misery the entire time, getting prodded and stabbed by tools for... well, you'll see. By the end of the video, Pete and the other two members of FOB (Joe Trohman and Andy Hurley) have been kidnapped by these mysterious women too, with Pete specifically getting kidnapped by the blonde woman he was in bed with when Patrick's hand got delivered to him. If you enjoy cute boys getting tied down, covered in blood, and writhing around like worms while getting tortured... well you'll enjoy all of YBC but specifically you'll enjoy this!! I did :D! The war is won, before it's begun, release the doves, surrender love...

Young Volcanoes: Good news, FOB has been reunited! Bad news, by the women who dismembered Patrick! And now all the band members are tied to chairs, hooked up to IVs full of god knows what types of drugs, and blindfolded (all except Patrick). They are then forced to drink, snort hard drugs, and are force fed Patrick's organs! Yep, all four of them are forced to eat their lead singer's guts, and are so fucking drugged up they don't even realize what's happening (and now you know what the women were doing to him in the last mv, and you even get a nice little shot of the hack job of stitching him back up)!! Patrick hallucinates everyone having fun, but of course, at the end, all of them are knocked out because of the drugs. Americana, exotica, do you wanna feel a little beautiful baby?

Alone Together: This is the song the OG propaganda mentioned, and for good reason. All four of them are shipped off into little personalized torture rooms, and, well, tortured! Pete is able to break out and even steals the hook from the girl who was torturing him, but little does he know that'll be his own undoing... also, in general, this song has some whumpy elements, specifically the line "my heart is like a stallion/they love it more when it's broke-in"... but notice how easy it is to hear "broke-in" as "broken"! At the end of the video, Pete is at least able to find Patrick (Joe and Andy have NOT been having a good time, either!! But sadly, they aren't found by Pete, but Pete DOES find Big Sean), and is even able to attach the hook to the stump (ha!) where his hand used to be. But something is clearly wrong with Patrick now. His eyes are yellow, and as the song ends, we hold on him, sneering and twitching. This is the road to ruin - and we're started at the end...

The Mighty Fall: First off if you say this is the worst song off of SRAR I will hunt you for sport. OKAY ANYWAYS, chronologically this comes after MSKWYDITD, and yeah, the four guys are the members of FOB. Pete is able to free himself with Patrick's new hook hand, and is able to get the other three out while Pete is hacking up a lung from the fire they just barely escaped. But they're not done getting their shit rocked yet. A gang of children show up (the leader being the kid Patrick waved at right before he was kidnapped back in the Phoenix MV), and proceed to separate them and beat the living shit out of them. The leader kid who's chasing Patrick plays something on a boombox... which triggers Patrick to go yellow-eyed again (from here on out i'll call it "going Youngblood" or "Youngblood self"). It was confirmed in the commentary track that ANY music would cause him to go Youngblood. And knowing Patrick IRL fucking loves to create/compose music... yeah! Take something he loves and turn it into something that drives him insane!! I'm normal!! And also the irl parallel you could draw to his solo career doing the same thing to him (on a less uh Dramatic level but you know)!!! Ouch!!!! Big Sean is able to save Patrick, but at the cost of his own life (and a killer rap verse... HELL YEAH I'M A DICK GIRL, ADDICTED TO YOU). Oh, how the mighty fall in love...

Just One Yesterday: The last vestiges of comfort you're gonna get for a WHILE. The four are separated, getting even more beaten up, Pete vomits up a snake, Andy gets his shit rocked by a homeless guy, Joe has to use white sheets as a makeshift tourniquet bc his leg got fucked up in The Mighty Fall MV, and Patrick is picked up by a kind stranger (hi Foxes! you have a very pretty voice! PLEASE KEEP YOUR HANDS ON THE STEERING WHEEL!). And finally, finally we get a hope spot. Fall Out Boy is reunited (the part where Andy just grabs onto Patrick's arm, in disbelief they're both alive... augh!!! AUGH!!!!), and for a moment, it seems they've been delivered to a hospital... before Foxes' eyes go completely black, looking at Patrick... and turns on the radio. She's able to trigger the Youngblood. And now Patrick is gone. The other three scramble into the hospital, Patrick not far behind, determined to kill them to stop the noise in his head. If Heaven's grief brings Hell's reign, then I'd trade all my tomorrows for just one yesterday...

Where Did The Party Go: Patrick, now fully consumed by the Youngblood brainwashing, is now stalking his bandmates in a hospital. Patrick is seeing visions of the hospital as an abandoned party, Andy has to painfully disinfect the wounds he's gotten, Pete is able to call for the police, and Joe... oh, poor Joe. He barricades himself into a room, but not well enough. Patrick finds him, and kills him, slitting his throat with the hook hand, showing no remorse at all... until Andy and Pete find them. The Youngblood wears off, and Patrick looks to what he's done, and is horrified at what he's done to his friend. And, bad news for him, the police are here, ready to arrest the murderer. All Andy and Pete can do is watch as tears roll down Patrick's eyes. And for the extra IRL context, this was the first song written for the album that made Pete and Patrick realize they had to get FOB back together... so lets match that with a music video where the member who helped get the band together in the first place dies. By the hands of the kid he found. Let's fade away together, one dream at a time...

Death Valley: Joe gets... uh, a little comfort? I mean, he thinks he's getting sent to heaven but goes to hell, buuuuut I think doing drugs in rock and roll hell with Tommy Lee is actually a pretty sweet deal, better than the deal the other three got! Pete and Andy are being interrogated while Patrick is in a jail cell. We find out that the cult that kidnapped them, Silence the Noise, is lead by Pete's girlfriend from WAAAAY back in the Phoenix MV, Courtney Love. And at the end of the MV... Patrick is bailed out of jail by Silence the Noise. They have him again. And this time, they're not gonna let him walk out until he's fully under their control. 'Cause tonight it's just fire alarms and losing you...

Rat a Tat: Silence the Noise has Patrick, and they utterly brainwash him, A Clockwork Orange style, with electroshock stimulation to keep him from looking away or closing his eyes, until there is nothing left. Patrick Stump does not exist anymore. Only the Youngblood, pliant under the control of Silence the Noise, tasked to destroy what he once loved; music. Andy dies at the hands of the cult, and now Pete has to protect a briefcase, the thing that got them into this mess, and keep it away from Silence the Noise, all while his best friend hunts him down. Are you ready for another bad poem?

Miss Missing You: THE WHUMPIEST OF THE WHUMP. What if we were best friends but you've been driven insane and I know the only way to stop you is to kill you and it was my fault you got into this mess and I was the one who gave you the weapon that will be my own undoing. What if we both died at the same time. What if we died, both of us failing the mission we had before us. What if that was a reference to one of their first music videos. What if this song was originally written for Patrick's solo album but he realized it was more of a Fall Out Boy song so it was scrapped until now. What if there's a legit argument to be made that half the lyrics for this song was written by Patrick. What if we were both boys. Grips walls, yeha i'm normal. If you don't watch ANY other music vid, watch Miss Missing You. Sometimes before it gets better, the darkness gets bigger. The person that you'd take a bullet for is behind the trigger.

Save Rock And Roll: And our final track gives us a final bit of comfort. Patrick is able to overcome the Youngblood, and gets into heaven, where all of FOB is finally, finally reunited. God (aka Elton John) gives them new instruments and brings them back to earth, so they can do what they love; play music together. Which just so happens to release people from the control of Silence the Noise! But, because we can't have nice things, a cult within Silence the Noise got a hold of the briefcase, and summoned a spirit that starts to kill everyone. FOB stands together, and blasts the evil spirit, the blood coming up to the gates of heaven and covering Elton John in it. And... that's how it ends. No true resolution. Just Elton John covered in blood, as the song fades out. Oh, no! Wherever I go, go! Trouble seems to follow! I only plugged in to save rock and roll!

UH. AGAIN I APOLOGIZE FOR THE LENGTH. but i really wanted to express just how much WHUMP they manage to fit into less than fifty minutes, all backed by an amazing album colored by the three years they were apart. colored by how they grew, colored by how bad the hiatus was for Patrick specifically, colored by how Confessions of a Pariah got Pete to reach out to help him, and this album came out of it, Fall Out Boy came back out of it, and now here we are, ten years later, with the title track being performed every night for their concert, with all the band singing the final lines together, and the line you are what you love, not who loves you hitting every single night.

SORRY. LISTEN TO FALL OUT BOY. thanks for letting me rant.

#final round #tournament poll

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alessiamalfoyzabini · 7 months ago

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Vampire's Kiss | Chapter Three

Pairing | Vampire!Jungkook x Reader

Word Count | 4,4k

Warnings | +18, trouble for MC is not over, use of a dating app to look for someone, Jungkook is absolutely cute and sexy, kisses, fluff

⤷ Summary | Humans have finally unveiled and accepted the centuries-old existence of vampires, in a modern world people share their lives with these peculiar and mysterious creatures, but it is not all roses.

Will two souls belonging to such different species be able to be together?

➢ Author's Note | Hi, guys! ❤️

I apologize to all of you who have waited so long for chapter third to arrive, I'm really sorry, but life has been really hectic and I'm also working on many other stories, so I hope you enjoy the chapter now 😭💕

Let me know what you think, I always love your comments ❤️

Taglist: @katherine-kookie @peterstarkchrishiddleston @reallygenerouskoala @btsuga-d @angelicsmilesworld @jimincrystal @velvet-stardust2002 @ke1k029 @kylafox09 @pantara @takemeaway5402

Chapter List - Previous - Next

You're going to kill Park Jimin.

It's been a whole week since that party and you're still spinning in your head his words, which had the effect of making you even more depressed.

“In truth ... they specifically told me that they don't believe our relationship, they will only believe it when we go to their house for lunch.”

The idea of spending time with them again haunts you, Jimin had said one evening. One.

Yet, you still have to help him, because his parents did not see passion from both of you, you were blatantly fake in their opinion.

Well, kudos to Father and Mother Park, you certainly don't lack the nose like bloodhounds!

But why at their home of all places? Are they going to secretly feed you to their servants? You shudder just thinking about it. They are certainly up to something, Jimin repeats to you that you should stay calm, but it is easy for him to talk. You are nothing to them, just a dirt stain on their perfect son's shirt.

You must be eliminated somehow.

But the worst thing about all those days spent thinking and agonizing between you and you is the wrong idea that Jungkook may have gotten about you.

Shit, he's just a guy you met briefly at a party, so why can't you get him out of your head?

You always think back to the way he held you close, to his cautious and sweet look whenever he tried a more direct approach with you... and there they are, the damn butterflies! They don't leave you alone for a moment, your wormy little brain even dares to loop back his last words, before Jimin cursed Park ruined the atmosphere.

You roll over on the bed hugging your faithful stuffed animal you've been carrying around since childhood, gazing into his inane black eyes, you sigh.

“What should I do, Little Sunshine?” but the teddy bear, predictably, does not answer you.

He has left without deigning you another glance, perhaps seeing you there with Jimin he must have thought of who knows what, they know each other and must know of your best friend's reputation as a womanizer.

You violently plant a hand in your face, long ago to fuck Jimin it was enough to be his acquaintance, it wasn't necessary to get up to girlfriend status, you may have said Jimin is just a friend ... but in someone else's eyes there may still be a possibility that the two of you are some sort of fuck buddies.

Besides, why else would a human like you willingly accompany a vampire like Jimin?

You feel like screaming like crazy, you don't just do it because you sense your phone ringing in the darkness of the room.

You try to compose yourself, imagining it was a business call, but it turns out to belong to your best friend.

You stare at the phone screen with tears in your eyes almost.

<<Ellen!>> you shout, on the other side your friend whines, <<My sweetest Ellen! You called at just the right time>>.

<<You scream like that again and I'll block the phone in your face!>>.

You ignore her empty threat and begin to tell her what happened with Jimin and about the meeting with Jungkook, omitting nothing. By the end of the explanation you are out of breath and your eyes are glazed over, why do you have to feel that way about a stranger? What is happening to you.

<<Let me understand... Jimin asked you to be his fake girlfriend and this Jungkook, whom you described as more handsome than a normal vampire, flirted with you for at least half an hour or so and then left offended?>>.

You frown, <<He didn't flirt with me! He was just being nice...>>.

You hear a laugh stifled on the other end of the line, <<I used to say the same about Shawn and look at him now, chained to me in the sacred bond of marriage>> a smile escapes you… actually it doesn't sound bad.

<<What should I do?>> you ask more to yourself than to her.

<<Uhm... you said he works with Seokjin, right? Isn't Seokjin the creator of Vampire's Kiss? Maybe he's on that site too, try looking for him... and maybe contact him, they even created a very convenient app!>> you widen your eyes. Sure! That could work...

<<But what if he doesn't want to hear from me? I mean, he didn't leave on the best of terms, surely he must have thought of something strange>>.

<<Take your balls out and look for him! You said you felt something different next to him, right? Don't let such an opportunity pass you by, what you felt doesn't happen to everyone ... and for your sanity and mine too, put your mind at rest once and for all>>.

You nod, she has a point, then you hear her stifle a shriek.

<<Wait a minute! ... You said that just looking at him turned you on-!>> you close the call in half a second, redder than a tomato! There, that thing you might as well have avoided revealing it to her, even if it simply slipped out of your mouth without realizing it ... such a thing has never happened to you, neither with humans nor with vampires, that was a detail as embarrassing as it was surprising.

You make a decision and install Vampire's Kiss on your cell phone, the app's simple and intuitive screen allows you to enter your account right away, go to the purple heart with the magnifying glass and search for Jeon Jungkook.

The results are immediate and the search leads you to no less than five users, but only one is the one that immediately hits you like a bouquet of soft flowers in the middle of your face.

He is right there, posing for a photo taken in the middle of a summer day, not at all concerned about possible sunburn, and you smile instinctively at his caption, which is short and absolutely adorable.

So your impression was right, this is a good guy. You zoom in on the photo and look admiringly at the sunlight softly shining on him, he is also smiling and without thinking about it you take a screenshot, do you look crazy? Probably yes, but your chest tightens at the idea of not being able to see him every day.

It's really crazy... it's just a stranger.

But you and this stranger have one thing in common. The two of you are desperate for love, to the point of signing up for a dating site to find it, your finger trembling, undecided whether to press your purple heart to follow him and thus engage in conversation with him or just drop everything and move on from your lightning-fast meeting at the party.

You turn off the phone with a sigh. Even if you wanted to try, you are nothing compared to him. You would only have wasted his precious time.

“But seeing you there, under the moonlight, I-”

You shake your head violently, it's no use daydreaming, he didn't even finish the sentence. That only indicates one thing, that it was not meant for you two to continue the acquaintance, period.

Suddenly an annoying noise starts from your stomach, you cast a glance at the time -- 2:11 p.m., you haven't even had lunch and there is nothing edible in the fridge, in short, the typical life of a single career woman. But below the house there are several small stores open 24 hours a day that sell noodles and allow you to cook them immediately after purchase. Yes, you would have graciously taken advantage of their services, that is also the beauty of living in Korea, every place becomes home.

You turn on the light and look around for your shoes, heedless of the eyes burning at the sudden impact.

Next mission: don't starve.

You look thoughtfully at the shelf stuffed with packages of noodles, there are all flavors and colors, but maybe you'll have to buy some instant cook rice too to satiate your stomach more, and speaking of your stomach, you hear it growling once again.

Ungrateful, why doesn't it give you time to think?

You grab a packet of spicy chicken-flavored noodles on the fly, then reconsider -- better two.

Excited to eat, you jump merrily without looking over your shoulder, like the clueless fool that you are, you feel your head collide with something sharp and immediately see the stars in the middle of the convenience store, a stifled moan escapes your lips and you squeeze your eyes shut trying to chase that pain away, being interrupted by another unexpected moan of distress.

You turn back to the source and notice a boy behind you, head down, you can just make out a wonderful mass of dark, wavy hair.

You blanch, your own flushes of pain sidelined. Did you hurt him? Medical bills are fucking expensive.

"I-I'm sorry! Did I hurt you very much? I didn't want to, believe me."

The boy makes a strange noise, as if he has suddenly held his breath, then slowly his head rises and you find yourself going wide-eyed.

In front of you Jungkook in casual clothes and a jacket far larger than his own size is holding his chin with one hand.

“Gosh, you knocked me out,” he chuckles with difficulty, removes his hand and you see a red spot take shape on that area of smooth, soft skin, “I didn't think I'd find you here....”

You're frozen, you can't utter a single word, the only thing that assures you you're still alive is the slow pulsing of the bump on your head, but is this guy made of granite or what? A very sexy granite, of that there is no doubt.

"I didn't... I didn't think so either” for the simple fact that not even twenty minutes earlier you looked him up on a dating app, then clandestinely saved his picture like a poor desperate spinster.

"Are you okay? I think you were the one who got the hardest hit,” he asks worriedly, out of the corner of your eye you notice how his hand tries to rise, but he instantly lowers it, you gloss over the incident by waving yours away.

"No, absolutely! I'm fine, I'm so sorry, I'm stupid,” you mutter to yourself, feeling guilty.

You see him looking around carefully, “I'll get you some ice, wait here!” not even time to tell him to let it go, it vanishes in an instant.

You lower your eyes to the packages of noodles, “This happened because I never buy real food, right?”

You both find yourselves so seated face to face in front of the convenience store, you're uncomfortably pressing ice on what appears to be quite a bloody good bump. Jungkook just stares at you with that innocent look on his face, is he seriously a vampire?

You take the floor, trying to fill that uncomfortable silence, deliberately ignoring the palpitations of your heart, “Does it still hurt?” you point to his chin, which seems to have returned to normal coloring, in fact he denies it.

“It's okay, for us vampires pain is momentary, we heal quickly.”

Okay, now what?

There, meeting him was not some kind of miracle, but a curse.

"Um... you look different, I mean... with these clothes you look normal, no wait! I mean you look great even without clothes, No! T-those elegant clothes! But you look fabulous even like this, really!” you stumble over your own words and god, you want to hole up in some dirty hole on top of a remote mountain. You look great without clothes, really?!

“Hey, hey, don't worry, you look very good in your normal clothes too,” he smiles amused, then changes his expression, “Did you have a good time at the party when I left? I apologize for how I left you, I don't usually go to parties and I don't know how to behave,” he explains, his voice sounds colorless, different from the sweet voice he used before and even during your first meeting.

Something has been bothering him and you even know what it is, or at least you think so. You shouldn't worry about it, but you like him and want to clear it up.

You take a breath, “Jungkook, I don't know what you thought seeing me there with Jimin, but I assure you we're just friends, there's no romantic or ... well, sexual interest,” you just want to calm him down, but evidently your words have the opposite effect, because he whitens starting to gasp.

“Oh god, I made you feel like a lowlife, didn't I?” he puts his hands to his face shaking his head, “I'm just an idiot, you don't have to pay attention to me,” he complains with his forehead pressed against the surface of the table.

"You didn't make me feel like a lowlife! I just wanted to make it clear that I didn't lie to you, I was really there to accompany Jimin” maybe it's best not to specify the plan that brought you there that night.

But the boy continues to shake his head, at times in despair, “I never thought you had lied to me or anything...” he raises his eyes to you fearfully, “I was just... disappointed, your knight for the evening had returned and my company therefore no longer needed, that's it, I was disappointed and envious,” he chuckles exasperatedly, most likely at himself.

You feel the same pleasant grip on your heart as a smile makes its way across your features. Should you tell him?

Maybe it's not such a bad idea after all, you would have loved him even in case of rejection, he seems like a really good person.

“I'd like to tell you a secret...” you start by saying and immediately come back with a straight back, in his eyes you can glimpse ill-concealed curiosity, “I too felt disappointed... my real knight left that night, leaving me with one of his underlings,” you sigh sadly.

“That knight may have felt he was in over his head in that situation,” he says embarrassed, but you shake your head.

“He shouldn't have left me there, it's his duty to make sure I'm okay!” you don't know where all that courage came from, you just feel it's the right thing to do.

He tilts his head to the side, biting his lower lip with what you identify as a canine, the soft scarlet skin drooping under his pressure, but not tearing. Images and thoughts of what he could have done to you with those luscious lips of his leap into your head, adding to all the erotic dreams you've had over the past few nights, they always knocked treacherously, but you let them in willingly.

“Even this knight has a secret to confess” he leans toward you, enough to breathe your own air just inches away, you remain in awe of his deep irises, where you catch a vermilion flash, “Wasn't the moon beautiful that night” you begin to cough because of your own saliva, you didn't expect such a statement, not from someone like him toward someone like you. You beautiful? Is he really saying that? The darkness must have been to blame, the moon cannot be darkened by a mere human, he must have seen wrong.

But wait… vampires see in the dark as nocturnal predators, don't they?

A grin from him surprises you and you also understand the motivation behind it, after all, the rush of excitement your body undergoes is not ignorable. Now you also have confirmation that vampires perfectly sense a person's emotional and physical changes.

You try to compose yourself, bringing a lock of your hair behind your ear, he remains firm in his position.

“I like you, I've done nothing but think about you, do I have a chance?” his bluntness amazes you in no small part, he is showing much more courage than any other man who would have gone around us instead.

You swallow, not knowing what exactly to answer, so you try with resolving one of your doubts, “Y-You know I'm human, right?”

It seems a silly thing to ask, but it's very important to you that he knows what he's getting into, you two have different rhythms and abilities, you don't want him to feel stuck in a relationship too different from the ones he was used to with women of his own kind.

But his eyes soften, you feel you can also calm down.

“Of course, I knew right away...the sound of your heart beating is something I couldn't give up, your skin is warm and it warms mine,” he takes your hand between his, the ice falling to the ground from your shock. Doesn't he care about that? “Can we at least try?”

In that instant you realize that you cannot give up on him so easily, you nod contentedly as your eyes glaze over, incredulous that such a thing could have happened to you.

From that moment you continued to go out every day, especially at night hours, as he wrote in his profile on Vampire's Kiss, he loves to take walks under the dark sky and he also took his dog, Bam, with him from time to time. You, who usually prefer cats, found no difficulty in falling in love with that handsome, hyperactive dog, so similar to his daddy in both physique and character.

You and Jungkook are now hand in hand at the seashore, neither of you speaking, simply listening to the sound of the waves calmly crashing on the shoreline.

You see him lying comfortably on the sand, heedless of the grains that go to hide in every fold of his comfortable clothes, without much thought you follow his example.

It is nice to gaze at the stars like that, but turning your head in his direction you find yourself thinking that the best show is there by your side.

Unlike you, he has never looked away from you, you have literally found the boy of your dreams, “What is it?” you ask with a laugh in your voice, he doesn't answer right away, settling on his side.

“I feel a little confused,” he replies, frowning a little worriedly.

“What do you mean?”

“I mean I love this beach at night, but the only thing I can think about is you next to me, it's a little confusing to me, now whenever I come here without you, I'm sure I'll be thinking about you nonstop.”

You watch his face engulfed in darkness, yet you can make out the brightness of his eyes; he is a nocturnal predator, you lift yourself up on one arm to get a better look at him.

“Who says you'll come back here without me?”

He inhales sharply, “Don't say such things, don't make promises you can't keep, baby,” he hisses an inch from your face, he has never called you that. Sometimes you forget that he is an adult vampire, much older than you. You like being called that by him, with Jimin it's a game... with Jungkook it's something more intimate.

"Why, Jungkook... Have I been giving you a lot to think about these days?” you are literally talking on his lips, clenching a fistful of sand tightly, the urge to kiss him is becoming more and more pressing, but he shakes his head, pulling away suddenly.

“You always make me think a lot of things, but no ... you don't have anything to do with it, it's just that all my relationships have ended one way,” he laughs without humor, “That is, with a broken heart, mine. It's funny coming from a vampire who doesn't have a heart, isn't it? Or at least, not as alive as you humans',” he explains with a look up at the sky. No, you can't believe it, it's impossible that there is someone who can leave such a boy.

"Are you so convinced that this will also apply with me? If that's really the case, then why have we come to this point?” if he believes it will end badly, why the hell did he invite you on all these dates?

He shrugs, “I've never dated a human girl, I look good with you! I would never say otherwise, but...."

Sighing, “You're afraid,” you finish for him, “But you know what? I have never dated a vampire guy, yet I want to give myself and him a chance, even if it ends badly, with him now I want to think it will be okay."

Silence falls between you, you return with your back to the sand, unsure of what just happened.

Perhaps you have both gone too far in such a short time? Oh... maybe he wants more space for himself, that's why he talked about going to the beach alone, your lips begin to tremble.

“Jungkook... maybe I'd better go home,” you murmur, rising slightly again in search of your bag and shoes, but a hand on your arm stops you instantly.

"What? Why?” he stares at you like a lost puppy, unable to understand your intentions.

“Maybe I rushed you too much, I'm sorry,” you try to wriggle your arm still in his grip, but all you get from it is an imprecation from him that makes your eyes go wide, he has never cursed in front of you, and before you can say anything to him you see his figure descend entirely on you, just like the vampires in the old movies, with only one difference, at that moment he is not interested in your blood.

His moist lips make contact with yours without hesitation, you accept them willingly using your free arm to anchor yourself to his blemish-free neck, you close your eyelids inhaling his wonderful scent, crushing his weight on you as if your very life depended on it, he lets you do it by filling your lips with numerous small kisses in the mold, your heart threatens to melt under all that tenderness and you note with happiness the softness of his lips that taste like cherries, not resisting you lightly grasp a flap of his lower lip between your teeth, savoring it on your tongue.

His shoulders shake and he releases your arm from his grip so you can sink a hand into your hair, this encourages you to do the same with his, enjoying his little moan. Jungkook with an extra bit of resourcefulness deepens the kiss, tapping his tongue against the seam of your lips, which you open willingly to his passage.

You kiss him as you've never kissed in your life, in your chest a soft warmth pushes to bring you to accept him in his entirety, your eyes moisten from that almost suffocating instinct, it has an effect on you that you can't even imagine. It scares you a little, but that is bearable if it means keeping his taste alive on your lips.

He separates from you slowly, “I've been dying to do this,” he whispers an inch from your noses, you take a big breath.

“So it's okay?” you whisper, you don't want barriers between you two, it's hard enough to accept the fact that you are not yet an actual couple.

He brings his head to your chest, resting his ear exactly over your beating heart, then nods.

“I think I've lost hope, every woman I've had wanted different things from me, mainly money and sex, then there were the ones who wanted to own me in everything... I've just come to a dead end after all these years, it's not easy for me to open up now.”

Gently you stroke those locks from which only a sweet floral scent comes, “Jimin said you never attend parties like that.”

“It's not easy for me to stand by and watch couples who are doing much better than me,”he look up with huge eyes, almost as if you want to express something very obvious, “I'm a very envious guy, you know?” you burst out laughing, sounding like a child, and lean slightly toward him to print a tender kiss on the tip of his nose.

He looks surprised and awkward for a moment, then returns to hide his expression.

“I'm talking seriously, and you go and do things like that,” he mumbles, shrugging.

“You're so cute,” you whine, he lets out a grunt.

“A little human talking like that to a vampire much older than she is.”

A question mark the size of a house makes room in your mind, “I've been wondering this for a while... how old are you?”

You hear him smiling at you.

“S.e.c.r.e.t,” he punctuates nicely, before lifting himself up on his arms and planting another soft kiss on you, “I'll tell you my age, if we're good together.”

You arch an eyebrow, “On Vampire's Kiss you wrote twenty-five, so I already know how old you are,” you say in an offended tone.

He shakes his head, “Twenty-five years I've been living in Seoul, baby.... We vampires tend to fake our age so as not to scare you humans."

Oh dear. He always has an answer for everything!

“All right, how long would you be willing to make me wait?” he clearly pretends to think about it, his expression too theatrical, but you let him. You find that side of him really adorable and would never try to change it in any way.

“A hundred days, a hundred days and you'll know who you've decided to spend your life with,” he chuckles, wrinkling his nose, nodding in agreement.

“A hundred days.”

You both don't know each other very well yet, but already hearing him say such a sentence sent your heart to heaven, and the butterflies in your stomach to a valley in bloom.

How much more can you like Jeon Jungkook?

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annabelle--cane · 11 months ago

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hmm okay to round up some current disparate tmagp thoughts into one place:

-> the fear taxonomy: I'm not quite sure where I sit on the desires theory currently, but I think it's worth noting that while both of our case subjects from the first episode were explicitly afraid of the spooky things happening to them, none of the rest have been, and I think it's really interesting that tom the horror blogger's whole problem was that he was so desensitized to fear it made him foolhardy (the exact thing our lovely ms georgina barker overcompensated so hard to avoid). yes, you could pick probably any archives statement and try to frame it around a desire instead of a fear because that's how character motivations work, but I don't think it's wrong to point out that since episode two all of our subjects have been remarkably chill about the Horrors happening to them. I'm not totally onboard with the desires at time of writing, I think there a few details that don't quite line up with that idea, but I'm still keeping a pin in the theory.

I also don't think it's wrong to point out that things like "music so hauntingly beautiful it makes a crowd tear itself to bloody pieces" and "paranoia and eye-related gore popping up in conjunction to the magnus institute" are familiar scenarios and seem to match up to the entities as we know them. those are very specific motifs connected to very specific types of Horrors and I think saying it's random coincidence that we're seeing them again is a bit of a weird take.

-> norris, chester, and augustus. in-universe, these voices appeared out of nowhere about a year ago, and one of the central mysteries set up so far is "what the hell is up with all this weird tech?", I think it is a perfectly reasonable assumption to think these voices are part of the mystery and not just an excuse to get jonny and alex's voices in the show. if that were the case, why would there be a third voice? yes, this podcast is meant to be comprehensible to new listeners, but I don't think that rules out any direct ties to archives, I think part of the function of having fresh protagonists who don't know anything about the events of archives is that, if the audience needs to learn anything about the first show, they can learn it along with a viewer-surrogate character.

personally, I think it very unlikely that the voices are literally jon, martin, and jonah's actual consciousnesses trapped in computers, I think those characters' stories are done and there's something funkier happening here (neither them nor not them but a secret third thing, yknow), but dismissing any idea that the voices are related to the characters, again, feels like a weird take.

-> gwen bouchard. honestly I feel like the way the production team have treated gwen's connection to elias vs the way some fans have come at is kind of illustrative. I've seen a couple of groups of fans get weirdly smug about the idea that we don't know gwen is related to elias, her name could just be a red herring, meanwhile on the tmagp post-launch stream everyone there took it as obvious that gwen is a bouchard and thus related to elias. not everything is red herrings, guys. it would be an extremely weird writing move to set up a bunch of stuff with clear links and parallels to archives and have it all be meaningless.

#tmagp #marina marvels at life

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fragolar · 7 months ago

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Secrets of the Forgotten Realm || Geralt Of Rivia - The Witcher

Greetings, It's been a while, specifically more than a year. My fixation for Geralt of Rivia has been re-awakened. And no. Before you ask, I will not watch the fourth season. I didn't even watch the second, since I come from the videogames and books. I'll try to make this a series, but also each chapter would be conclusive on it's own for those who like stand alones.

Summary: As Geralt continues his search for Ciri, he finds himself drawn to the secluded Amell Mountains, rumored to house a kingdom unknown to most. Guided by tales from Jaskier, Geralt ventures to the remote ruins of the mountains, where he encounters the enigmatic Princess Lexa Mor'wena, secret daughter to the absent King Ardan Mor'wena, who's on an expedition. As Geralt's curiosity is piqued by the mysterious princess, he embarks on an unexpected journey, his path becoming intertwined with Lexa's in ways he never imagined.

/mɔːrˈwɛnə/

Every step felt like a stab in the ribcage. Amidst the thick, intense mist, the Witcher finally understood why no one ever attempted to search for the lost kingdom. It was intense, the path uneven, long. The humidity making it hard to properly breathe.

Which, after all, wasn’t so lost. Simply hidden, enclosed by rough bark and dense leaves that deprived it of light.

Fatigue weighed heavily on his shoulders, his feet ached, and his mare was restless.

“What's wrong, Roach? Are you tired?” he asked. She snorted, clearly not amused by this journey. “Alright, alright. We’ll stop for a bit... Look, there’s a spring nearby. You’re thirsty, aren’t you?” His hand went to stroke her muzzle.

Once they settled down to rest, sleep began to take over; Geralt was exhausted. And so they spent the night, lighting a small fire, eating the little food they had left from hunting, and finally falling asleep in the middle of the forest.

Grave mistake. Upon awakening, Geralt's eyes weren't greeted by the now familiar leaves but to cement. Alertness jolted through his body, making him spring from the floor to dissipate the confusion. He was in a cell - a quite claustrophobic one, too. "Oh, the White Head is awake." A disinterested mumble reached Geralt's ears, making his eyes dart to the source. A guard stared at him, amused, before speaking again. "Hey, White Bunny, what's your business up in the woods? Don't you know scary wolves roam around? You're lucky that we found you before they did." Geralt scoffed, shaking his head slowly. "I wouldn't worry about a couple of wolves who bark." The guard frowned but quickly recomposed himself. "I asked you why you are here. Don't make me repeat myself a third time." "What would happen if I did?" Geralt was amused, no denying that. "Important personal matters, I'm searching for a girl." "Girl? The Princess?" Geralt raised an eyebrow, his thoughts briefly drifting to Ciri. Did they know her? "I'm looking for someone," he clarified, hoping to avoid more suspicion. "What's your matter with the Princess? How do you know about her?" The guard pressed. "No harm. Let me see her, and I'll go. King Ardan wouldn't treat an old acquaintance this way." The guard's expression grew increasingly perplexed. From his perspective, not only did this stranger know about Princess Lexa Mor'wena, but he also claimed familarity with King Ardan. Panic began to set in as the guard realized he might have severely mishandled the situation. If the King learned how badly he had treated a known guest, he would be in deep trouble.

"You must be the White Wolf my men found sleeping in the forest with his horse." The woman spoke calmly, seated on her throne. Geralt was kneeling in front of her, feeling a mix of disappointment and surprise. King Ardan had a secret daughter, a Princess unknown to the outside world. This explained why the King could leave his Kingdom for extended periods without fear of attack. There was always someone to rule in his absence. And Ciri was nowhere to be seen. "Are you perhaps the Butcher of Blaviken?" Geralt's head lifted up, not expecting to hear such an old name. Upon his expression, the Princess continued. "I’ll take your silence as an affirmation. I have never seen a Witcher before, let alone the Butcher-"

"Princess Mor’wena, I’d rather be called Geralt of Rivia."

She smiled amused, resting her cheek on her palm as she leaned on the throne armrest. "My guard said you were searching for me. How did you even know?"

"It’s a different kind of a princess, I’m searching for. I didn’t know about the King having such a pleasant surprise, however. I’m not complaining."

"Pretty words won’t get you anywhere Geralt. Are you talking about the promised child?" How much did she know? And why didn’t Geralt know anything? "I’m getting tired of your loud silence. Let us discuss after having lunch. You probably are starving."

Geralt rose from his kneeling position, his expression remaining neutral, then he gave a slight nod in acknowledgment. "I appreciate your hospitality, Princess," he said, his voice husky. "I have many questions, and I'm sure you do too. Lunch sounds like a good place to start."

As they walked to the dining area, Geralt remained observant, his sharp eyes taking in the surroundings and the demeanor of those around him. He kept a polite distance, his movements measured, showing respect but also an underlying readiness for any potential threat.

After a moment of silence and finally seated while attending their food, he asked, "What do you know of the promised child?" His tone was curious but cautious, seeking to gather information without revealing too much of his own vulnerabilities.

"Not much. My Father had told me about your unfortunate accident." Lexa looked at him. "I guess you learnt how to stay silent during the years."

Geralt was weirdly amused by how pungent she was, just like her father, but she was much more unfiltered. She seemed to not care how strong he truly is, or how impacted she could be from the way she spoke to him.

A spoiled child with a gold crown on her head. Geralt smirked to himself. "What's her name?" "Cirilla." "A nice name." Lexa began to drift off topic. "Did you choose it?" "She's not my child-" "Not biologically and yet..." "Princess, careful." His voice growly, warning her. A shiver of excitment running down her spine. "I may appear friendly, but I'm not here for fun."

"So the White Wolf would try to bite?" Lexa provoked. "He'd devour." His yellow eyes looked at her, knowing well what she was doing. And she looked quite pleased with his threats, something promising behind those words. Next part.

#fanfic #geralt fanfic #geralt z rivii #geralt x reader #geralt of rivia #the witcher #witcher fanfiction #witcher geralt #henry cavill #henry cavil x reader #original character #series #geralt of rivia x reader

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lucapizzelles · 9 months ago

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I just spent like 3 ish hours trying to figure out a floor plan for the Marcovaldo household (the things that writing does to you) and I think I've got something at least. Somewhat comprehensible. Gonna be under a cut because there's a LOT because I just love yapping.

So we can start with the kitchen area, as that's what we see most of.

The first shot doesn't show much that's super useful, honestly, but it puts some perspective into play that I think is just helpful to look at. The next two, though, are VERY useful.

We can establish that the balcony is next to the stove area, which is adjacent to the wall with the window. I put a picture of the balcony from the outside, which faces the plaza, just to be anal tbh. So, now we can also establish that, in the beginning of the scene where they meet Massimo, the entrance Luca, Alberto, and Giulia enter into the kitchen is opposite of the plaza. And, as I noted a little, that window in the 4th image faces the sea. I've drawn out a mini kitchen floor plan (please excuse my handwriting):

Made an assumption that that is Massimo's bed, and I also marked the tomato just to really drill in that the balcony was the same balcony. I don't know why I needed to put so much convincing.

So that's nice right? This is the room that I'm the most confident in out of everything. But there's a lot more to the house. I looked at Giulia's room next, since that's the only other interior room that we see in the film.

So we can establish that that window of hers faces the sea, as it leads directly to the hide-out. Opposite to the window is her door, which you can see when she turns around in the scene where she shows Luca the woderful life of Education(tm) and also in that third screenshot a little bit. Also, based on placement of the windows from outside shots, that places her room behind the kitchen (if you are facing the house from the plaza).

Also note that mystery window. I have no idea what that window is, but it doesn't appear in Giulia's room and it doesn't appear in the kitchen, so it's safe to assume that there's a room between Giulia's and the kitchen. In the second image you can see it a bit more clearly, but it is also one panel wide, whereas the windows both in Giulia's room and in the kitchen are two panels. Also, in the third image (and in the very first image of this whole post) you can see there's a space cutting into the kitchen as well, which I didn't really properly point out earlier.

Floor plan #2 (note: there's no entrance to the mystery room, that's on purpose for now, just one sec):

In those notes I kinda skipped ahead a bit, so let's talk about that doorway for a sec.

There is absolutely some doorway there. Leading somewhere. You can argue that maybe that is a window (which, note (love saying 'note'), it would be facing a VERY close brick wall of the house neighboring the Marcovaldo's), but this makes that less plausible:

When Luca and Alberto enter the house, they come in from the right side, where that doorway would be. You can argue cartoon logic of appearing impossibly out of nowhere, but this movie hasn't really played into that too much (aside from the scene when Luca sees the alarm clock, but I'd argue that the movement he did there is definitely possible and not like rabbit out of the hat type of physics). It's pretty clear that the way you get into the kitchen in the house is by entering through whatever doorway that leads off to.

Also, in the image you can see I added some text. That's to point out that, not only is there a doorway to the right of the kitchen door (from the image pov), but there's also one to the left. It's clear that there is some light being let off from the left direction that is lighting up that little hallway they're in. Also, if you were to watch the scene in real time, the door casts a shadow to the right when Giulia opens it, confirming that there's definitely some light specifically coming from the left. So, that light has a high chance of coming from that mystery window room. I'm gonna say that that's where that room lies.

Going back to the doorway thing, something that that brings a bit of dilemma about:

There's like no space at all for that doorway to fit. The house pretty clearly has an external wall against where Massimo's bed is placed. My solution was that, given that we never see a perfect shot of that side of the house (**IN LUCA (2021). I HAVE TO COME BACK TO THIS IN A BIT.), there's just like,, a part that juts out.

Floor plan #3 (also now there's an entrance to ? room):

I also figured that there has to be some way to get up, so I was like "okay cool steps go somewhere in here."

Boom, Floor plan #4 and also where I was like "okay this is it.":

(Quickly, because I forgot I even noted it, the alley steps is in reference to where you can see some steps in an alleyway leading up towards where I figured the building would jut out. So, just for fun, not necessarily accepting that it was actually a part of the house, maybe those steps led up to a door that also reached that landing there.)

Also quickly, there is a side room on the house that I haven't brought up yet:

So, I originally saw that part of the house and then figured that maybe it simply wasn't apart of the Marcovaldo house because of the way those steps went up. I figured that if there was a structure directly above them, then there would be more shadow.

However, it wasn't until I saw THIS shot from Ciao, Alberto that made me go "oh shit."

Because it's legit just pushed back, but it's definitely still apart of the house. So, it makes sense that the shadow cast isn't super strong. That, and the architecture matches the house.

So, floor plan #6. I added in that little part of the house, but I still don't really know what it's for:

I started going "yeah, okay, yeah, awesome, let me just watch through Ciao, Alberto to make sure there's not any other ground breaking-"

It is pretty clear that there is nothing red jutting out from the side to allow room for the doorway I was talking about earlier. Remember this?

That ** was future me crying and ripping apart my other floor plans. HOWEVER!! There is still a random staircase in that little alleyway which also randomly cuts off at a certain point.

My next, and final, idea is this:

It's possible that that doorway they come in from is actually an external door leading into the house, and those steps lead to it. Also, in the scene right after Machiavelli attacks Luca and Alberto, the underdogs walk out of a side door leading into the backyard. It's possible that they went out that alley-door and then went back in through the pescheria's main entrance and THEN went out the side door, but they look pretty-freshly attacked aka little to no first aid and also they were leaving, so why would they go back into her house? I think there's still an internal staircase leading to that floor ALONGSIDE that external alley-door. This is also not even a rare thing, especially in houses where there's a business on the bottom and a living area on top. Even the house I grew up in actually had an external staircase alongside an internal one (granted, that's due to it being a somewhat-duplex, but still).

Also, I don't know what this area is.

But I've seen a few fics where Alberto's room was in the attic and I don't know why, but that appeals to me for some reason (though he's seen in Giulia's bed in Ciao, Alberto. shhhh..). Also that may or may not have been what sparked literally all of this. The way to access that has to be through an attic ladder in the kitchen. We never see a shot of the ceiling of the kitchen, though, so unfortunately that's just up to my imagination.

Also that mystery room could totally be a staircase. In the final floor plan you can see I wrote and then erased where I thought there might be steps. I erased it because I confused the laundry outside of the kitchen window with that little window. That could totally also be a staircase instead of in the top right corner. Go nuts. Actually, I think that makes more sense than the top right, anyway. It's like 12:30AM though now and I'm pretty sure I'm keeping my roommate awake so I can't draw any more floor plans.

PLEASE feel free to discuss or dispute or point out anything you think I missed or got wrong. I made this mostly for myself because I couldn't find a render of the house and I'm extremely anal when I write fics and needed just some guidelines to follow.

(Except, please don't go "haha you're overthinking this" or "sometimes you gotta accept that they probably didn't plan out the house fully and there's some plotholes." I know. I'm just having fun)

#luca 2021 #pixar luca #luca #hmm im hesitant to tag the character tags #luca worldbuilding #??? kinda

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trentcrimminallybeautiful · 17 days ago

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2024 wrapped ! fic writing year in review ! whatever you want to call it ! even though it's the beginning of december !

i was tagged by: No one! I am doing it: Anyway !

note for my post specifically: some stats have been manually adjusted to account for "collection" fics (which i've largely stopped doing, but are still part of the stats in 2024) that have different oneshots in each chapter but count as one "work" on ao3. i'm also going to focus on my trentcrimminallybeautiful pseud and ted lasso related works for 99 percent of the post.

i spent so much time on this. and why? why. i have no idea. i don't know why i did this. i don't even have spotify.

special thanks to @fade-in-the-dark, for our long, riveting conversations, and @medecineformelancholy, whose clever thoughts and kind words have fueled many a fic-writing session <3

tags/rules & links to all fics mentioned under the cut.

rules: fuck da rules. post whatever stats you want. ao3 stats recommended for ease, but anything from quantitative (top 5 most bookmarked fic, most commented fic, most kudos'd fic, etc.; how many kudos/comments/bookmarks you got this year, longest/shortest, number of user subscriptions, top fandom written for, , word count, whatever you like) to qualitative (favorite fic written, favorite comment received, best smut/angst/fluff fic written, fic that was hardest to write, etc, get creative) to a secret third thing. it doesn't even have to be fanfiction you can talk about original fiction if you want. just have fun with it man. you can do plain text or fun little graphics. then tag some people. yay

tagging: no pressure, and you absolutely do not have to do the same level as what i've done, because i don't know why i did it at all. i mean you're welcome to, but please don't feel like you have to. you don't even have to do it at all, man. just have fun if you want to. hell, if you see this and i've not tagged you but you wanna do it, this is me tagging you. tag me as if i tagged you normally by name. it's fine. do it. and if you're tagged here and you don't wanna or whatever don't worry about it. it's cool. no problem

anyway, tagging: @mvshortcut get over here you rascal. @oflightningandstars @writer-and-thrasher @plentyghosts @fade-in-the-dark @thehouseofgrey @vamplanaut

all fics mentioned:

countdown, baby!

delayed reaction

fall into you, sweet thing

hold me down

lend you my lips

lightning and roses

mea culpa

melt like this

moonlight madness

{ pair / pretty / play }

rainy days

reflections

secure

stress relief

suffer the feathers for the song

vita nova

snippets, which were largely excluded from stats because it'd be a lot of work untangling them from one work tbh:

ted lasso tumblr snippets 3 - 8 through 12 done in 2024.

ted lasso snippets 4 - all done in 2024.

e-rated ted lasso snippets - just the fourth one done in 2024.

non ted lasso fics:

Bill Cipher Calls a Temporary Truce for Girl's Night????????? and other notes that Ford will HATE to read in the Journal later - Gravity Falls

dreams of falling - House MD

key without a lock - The Mysterious Benedict Society

The Did Nate Just Kill A Guy?!?! Job - Leverage

#tedependent #tedtrent #ted x trent #long post #my writing #gertspeak #im gonna tag this:#gertwrapped #so you can block this post if you want to lmao #described #trent crimm #ted lasso #since the majority of the fics are those #tag games #tag game

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jozor-johai · 5 months ago

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So do you think Dany and Jon are just two Heads of the Dragon? and if so, who do you think is the third? my money's on Bran as like, the Ice Representative to balance out Dany's fire and Jon's Ice/Fire dealies.

Thank you for this ask, sorry it took ages to respond.

Say that we know (or we think we know) that two "heads" of "the dragon" are Jon and Dany—insofar as we even think we understand what that phrase is supposed to mean (an assumption that I think is worth questioning as well, but that's not a task for now).

Here's what I love about this question—the issue of "who/what is the 'third head'" comes up as a literal question in a religious sense when Arya is talking to the Sailor's Wife in Braavos. There's a statue to the god Trios, and the Sailor's Wife can't tell us the purpose of one of the heads:

Three-headed Trios has that tower with three turrets. The first head devours the dying, and the reborn emerge from the third. I don't know what the middle head's supposed to do.

GRRM is definitely referencing the concept of the "three headed (dragon)" when he invented Trios; the imagery is too central and too specific for that not to be the case. What's fun, of course, is that we're all asking ourselves the same thing—what (or who) is that middle head?

I like your suggestion about Bran. It's a pretty unorthodox idea, because most people assume/expect that the three heads of the "dragon" must be Targaryen or at least Valyrian... but I don't think one needs Valyrian blood to ride a dragon, so as far as I'm concerned Bran is an option. He's a cool idea, too, because of his attachment to the North, the far North, and maybe even the "Ice" concept, like you say. Bran's also a powerful skinchanger—or, in training to be one—and there's not a doubt in my mind we're going to see some dragons get skinchanged. GRRM has been asked about that idea before and he's gleefully dodged answering it.

That would also be interesting because it's worth remembering that Jon is technically not canonically a Targaryen (yet), or even a contender to be a "head of the dragon" (yet). We think we've figured it out (and we probably have) but it's still technically a mystery. In that sense, then, if I was going to lean on the comparison with Trios, I would say: perhaps by now we should have met the first "head" —the "death" head—and we should have met the last head— "rebirth" head—so we should be missing this middle head whose purpose we don't know. However, we think we've figured out that Jon is the marriage of Ice and Fire, so maybe he's the "unknown" middle head—and then Dany is, on one side, the "rebirth" head (of fire?), and we should have met the "death" head (of ice?) already, but we don't know who it might be. Perhaps it's Bran!

If I'm being honest, I personally haven't thought too much about solving the third head of the dragon issue. It's clear to me that some key piece of the puzzle is being intentionally obscured from our view, so it feels like a fool's errand to be confident in solving it at this point. I realize that's a lame answer, but it's the truth—I try to approach these things beginning with how they work in the story and how they work with the symbolism at play, so without being sure how the "three heads" are even supposed to work I haven't tried to solve this mystery.

If there are truly three people who are going to be the "three heads of the dragon," I think the rules of good storytelling limit our options to characters that were introduced in AGOT. If we limit that to POVs—which is not necessarily a valid assumption, but I think is likely—then that's only Tyrion, Bran, Arya, or Sansa. I'm torn on the common "Tyrion Targaryen" theory... I don't really like it, but it would explain why he's included as a POV in AGOT and why he makes the shortlist for possibilities here (among other things). Bran would be a much more interesting option, though.

The thing is, I'm ultimately not convinced the "three heads" are going to work like we expect. Yes, it's said that Aegon, Rhaenys, and Visenya were the "three heads," but who knows if the common understanding of that is true? Plus, the person who presents the idea to Dany of the need for "three heads" to ride the three dragons is Jorah... who I don't think knows shit about dragons. So my mind is wide open when it comes to possible interpretations of the "three heads of the dragon."

#ask the red temple #jozor thoughts #asoiaf #asoiaf meta #daenerys targaryen #bran stark #jon snow

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sleepless-winter-nights · 4 months ago

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So basically this is just an idea I thought of , I don't know if I would follow through this and write about it. I already have one which I have yet to finish, which I will hopefully finish it by next month.

So here's the little preview

Brandon

Everything hurts and my head feels so heavy. And no matter how much I try I can't seem to move either.

Even though my eyes feel heavy, I try to open them, but I fail miserably.

I try to move but as it turns out, I am incapable of doing that also, it feels like I am paralyzed. My senses are so hazy that it's almost impossible for me to assess the room or wherever I am.

I try once again to move my arms and legs, but I soon realize that they are tied that too with chains.

Shit, just how fucked up this is.

The last thing I remember is leaving Emma's cafe after having a small talk with her. I can't remember anything after that.

Fuck, fuck.

Does anyone know I am missing?

Does Niko or Lan Or anyone in my family know that I am kidnapped.

What am I supposed to do? How should I escape from this situation?

Third pov

In his heavily drugged up state,and head filled with all sorts of emotions, Bran failed to realize that some people or more like two people were entering the room.

He also failed to realize that the room was heavily monitored with all sorts of hidden cameras. So escaping was not even an option.

That room was specifically designed, it would give the prisoner a false illusion that he or she could escape but in reality it was a cage. Each and every part of it was covered with some sensors or cameras. So any slight movement can be caught.

And through these, they found out that their prisoner was awake and made their way to him.

Excited, they approached him. They finally got what they wanted, Brandon king in flesh and all to themselves.

“You are awake? Finally, I was waiting for you for so long, "said the boy gleefully.

Even though Brandon was heavily drugged he wouldn't mistake that voice. He was shocked to the core. Never in a million years did he think that he could do something like this.

“ Come on, let him rest properly. He is tired. Now that we have him, there is no need to worry. We have all the time.”

Before Brandon was angry and shocked but now he was filled with dread when he heard her voice. She too?

How could she do this? How could two of his closest people from the charity kidnap him?

He trusted them so much. How could they?

Is the whole charity group involved? No , that can't be.

Why would they do this?

As his thoughts were all messed up Brandon failed to notice the syringe in his captors hand and by the time he noticed it was quite late as they injected him with something and he again faded into oblivion.

Just so you know this is just a random and not well thought out so this might be a bit cringe. Let me know if I should continue this or not.

Also I suck at writing mystery thriller things as I always get lost in between and can't connect the dots.

You guys can also share some ideas with me, I would be happy to get some ideas

Also, how do you guys want me to end LOVING YOU IS A LOSING GAME FIC. I do have some idea but I would really like your opinion in this.

Please let me know your thoughts and ideas. I would be happy to receive them

#fanfic #god of fury #legacy of gods #nikobran #brandon king #nikolai sokolov #god of ruin #landon king #writing #rina kent #rina kent universe #jeremy volkov #god of wrath

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hourglassfish · 1 year ago

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On Season 1, Episode 7 Part Three : Risottogate

OK look,

Go and get yourself an ecto cooler or something, cus this is long, OK? This is long.

You comfortable?

Alright, let’s go.

don't forget the Xanax!

Elevated Beef (stock)

There’s a connection drawn between Sydney and veal stock in the Bear. She spills it all over herself during Brigade. Claire interrupts Carmy purchasing veal stock for menu testing her bone broth idea at the end of 2:2. It’s an interesting ingredient to align her with: a staple of French cuisine, something you’ll find in a professional high end kitchen but not necessarily at home, a distinctive, practical component which provides a subtle, solid umami base for a range of dishes.

The first time this connection is drawn is during one of my favourite interactions: the ‘plum haribo’ story in Brigade. Marcus has decorated his work station (I love him), and despite the fact that Carmy says he’s having flashbacks (eeeeeeek), I think he is happy to see this coming together of his two worlds.

They start talking about this fancy plum dish, and a gelee component (which will reappear in Honeydew!) that had to have a very specific texture. Carmy has been talking about the dedication needed to make this dish work with pride, presenting the texture of the gelee as a huge challenge, something it took someone a year to figure out. Sydney cracks it in less than a minute. Veal fat. She knows what’s needed, and she knows why: it congeals when it’s cold. Boom!

Carmy’s response to this always amuses me. He is not…dismayed exactly. Not quite. After all, it’s a reminder of her brilliance, and also that that world is not so far away. That being said, she cuts across a punchline here; and what was a mystery to the best chefs in the world for a year is immediately obvious to her, to the extent that it’s not even really a flex on her part: she states it quite diffidently. Marcus’s gleeful ‘Mission Accomplished’ is very different from Carmy’s, which is a bit more ‘…oh.’.

On rewatches where I feel charitable, Carmy then implements the brigade cus he's been reminded that he has someone close by from that world, he has an ally that speaks his language, who is talented. On days when I feel less charitable, I combine this with him later talking her through the differences between stock/jus/demi-glace in front of Tina like an asshole, and see him handing the brigade over at that specific moment, in the specific way that he does as passive aggressive. Most days I’m with the former! Still…we’re back in the grey areas of Syd and Carmy’s dynamic. Where all the good shit is!

He's so glad she figured that out so quickly, absolutely not feeling a type of way about it, nope, not at all

I wanted to start with this story cus it opens up three things for me:

a) just a frisson, a hint, a delicious drop (!) of competition between Syd and Carmy

b) the question, beloved by fanfic writers everywhere, of what the dynamic between these two might have been if they had met in a different context.

c) a third, messier thing, about Carmy going away, tooling up, coming back and it needing to be worth something, that going way. As far as he knows at this point, It didn’t achieve what it was meant to achieve, it didn’t get Mikey’s attention. Maybe he didn’t need to leave Chicago to do it. Sydney's talent tickles that tension, as does Marcus's (trios, trios!). So what was it for? What were the past few years of his life for, if a bunch of this stuff was in Chicago all along?

Who was Carmy away from Chicago? Who is he without his family? We’ve only seen one flashback so far, very much from inside Carmy’s head. The way he tells it is very different from what we see. At Al Anon, he describes himself like this:

‘when somebody new came into the restaurant to stage, I’d look at them like they were competition, like I’m gonna smoke this motherfucker’.

But you're tall and sexy, so don't worry about it babes

Gosh. Yes Chef!

I don’t think Carmy holds anything like this level of aggression towards any of the original staff of the Beef: it would be absurd: they don’t have his training or experience. For the most part we see doing the work of pulling a team together, which explicitly involves putting that kind of competitiveness to the side.

I don’t think he has this energy for Sydney.

Not quite.

I do think it’s an important thing for us to learn about his character. I do think that we are told it at the beginning of Episode 8, after Sydney has quit, because there are ugly feelings around the risotto dish. I do think that those feelings drive a lot of how Review goes down, and that Carmy knows this.

This ferocious comparison and competition, used as a driving force, is a part of who Carmy is, and a part of the kitchens that he has come from. In another context, Sydney would have just been competition. And he’d have been trying to smoke her.

Let’s follow a humble bowl of risotto through THREE EPISODES, and about 5000 words, good GOD.

Tracing the Journey of the Risotto: Unanticipated

I tried to find appetising pics of her cooking the risotto but mostly it doesn't look very aesthetic, so here is Syd in my fave of her scarves.

A Risotto, playing on ‘tongue in cheek’ is first tentatively pitched in Sheridan, as an idea for a new menu that they have ‘spoken about’. Carmy is… noncommittal. He’s not into it, but he doesn’t say that, he just doesn’t really engage. I think there are a bunch of valid reasons to not be into it, tbh. I’ve ordered risotto to go. It’s always kind of gluey and disappointing. Sydney isn’t given a clear no, so she decides to cook it: it becomes something she has to convince him on.

He doesn’t get to try it in this episode as there are drugs to sell and about a million different fires to fight. We know that she dreams about this dish though. In this episode she talks about how thinking about her mistakes with Sheridan Road keep her up at night, but the last images of the episode are of her dreaming: beef… raspberries… cola… fire: there it is. Cola braised short rib. We’re back in the realm of deeply personal creative expression that I spoke about in part two. That anxious energy around failing with Sheridan Road? Is going somewhere else, is being transformed. This is important, and has the potential to be profoundly healing. This dish has meaning for her.

The dish returns in Ceres. Syd is an unstoppable force with the dish, and having said she wants to be listened to, is not listening to several requests from Carmy for more time. Stressful! He deals with it well, at first. He is calm, and polite and asks her to hold on. Which is not a no. But then -

‘I know everybody you used to work for, I called them before hiring you’

oooooh weeee.

There is nothing wrong with him seeking out references. His reasons are logical, and he’s transparent about them. Personally? I think it’s sensible to let employees know you’re seeking out references to avoid paranoia, but it’s not a legal requirement. People do it informally via whisper networks all the time, both purposefully and by accident. Gotta say though, the phrasing and the timing of this ‘reveal’ made me wince.

There are a million different theories of feedback, of how to give and receive it well. One argues that feedback must be asked for, accurate and measurable. If it’s not measurable, then you are nitpicking. If it’s not accurate, you’re hating. If it’s not asked for, or at least delivered in an environment where it’s anticipated, it is unlikely to be received well. Carmy, unfortunately, delivers a whopper of unanticipated feedback here: ‘me and all your old bosses (I know EVERYONE YOU USED TO WORK WITH)have been talking about you and they all agree on this flaw’.

YIKES

Would I let Syd stab me for a bowl of this? Maaaaybe. Maybe.

My reading is that he wanted to ask for her patience, and to say that his decision to pace out the changes is coming from experience, but he’s being backed into a corner, so he summons up the spectre of her old bosses for back up. Syd had opened up last episode, and is still very vulnerable about Sheridan, so he unintentionally wounds her here. We can read this in her response. He says her employers said she was smart, talented, green and impatient, she hears ‘me and everyone you’ve worked for think your business failed because you were green and impatient, that’s why you’re here, and why this dish can’t go on the menu’. This dish is getting entangled in so many other things about where they’ve come from.

He does take the time to reframe it: outlines his practical concerns, and starts to articulate that he wants to maintain calm before they make more changes -

And then Sugar is banging on the door, demonstrating his point.

At this point, Carmy is trying to build a parachute. They don’t have one when Jimmy comes to visit in Hands, but they do have one that becomes Richie’s bail by Braciole. Reserve building takes steady, dull consistency, but this isn’t communicated, and they don’t agree on a timeframe for the menu development, or even to come back to this conversation. This is small stuff, I know I sound nitpicky! But in my experience managing people, tension builds in the unknowns, in the places where there aren’t specifics, especially when you have a team member like Sydney who is ambitious and dynamic.

Sydney is firmly in the realm of the job that Carmy specified here. He is dialling business, she is doing everything else. If you’re a nerd and you zoom in on her CV, she has done menu development before. She is green, but not that green. She is impatient, but she also doesn’t have the same complicated relationship with change at the Beef that pretty much everyone else but Marcus does. The risotto is the first unofficial test of the impact of strain on their (messy ass) working dynamic, to Review’s much more official gauntlet.

Why would they write a proper CV and film it if they didn't want me to spend 5 minutes hitting pause repeatedly until I'd read it?

*squints* designed daily specials with complete creative control! At Alinea! A THREE STAR MICHELIN RESTAURANT! At the time they wrote this, it had held and retained those stars for twelve years! She is not new to this!

Tracing the Journey of the Risotto Two: Unmeasurable

They try again with the risotto later. She is a little more patient, initially. She makes the effort and he thanks her for it. He tries it, which she really wanted (surely that will convince him!), and she has modified her request, from to-gos, to trying it as a special. Her equivalent of baby steps. She listened. She’s trying. Lovely Angel and my main man Ebra come by, taste and support Carmy’s ‘tremendous’.

But here Carmy gives feedback that isn’t measurable. It’s not perfect, but he doesn’t say why, even though he knows, and it’s an easy fix! He’s nitpicking, because he doesn’t, for a bunch of practical reasons, want to put risotto on the menu, but doesn’t want to shoot her down. He asks her if she understands after she has explicitly said that she doesn’t (cus he’s not being up front), and then doesn‘t explain himself. He’s not really asking if she understands, he’s telling her to stop. It’s not really the dish that’s not ready, not really, it’s him, he’s not ready to make a new raft of changes, to think through the gap between the Michelin star excellence he has come from, and the budgetary, practical restrains of where he’s at.

I think this is really fair. Or at least understandable. Carmy just wants to catch a breath, and he has to have oversight on so many different things at once, adding something else to that must feel terrifying. But the way he communicates this shuts down and restricts: he switches the dynamic from one where they listen to each other (which requires that they both explain themselves) to one where he tells and she does. It doesn’t really give her anywhere to go, so her frustration is inevitable and also understandable. Measurable feedback! Clarity. If you don’t want risotto on the menu Carmy, rip the band-aid, and say it, and say why. Get her to work on something that is going to fit with the menu in a different way, in the way that you want, and be clear about the way in which you want to shape it!

He knows he’s not been great here. Carmy apologises for ‘being shitty’ later in the episode (as others have noted, it’s a shit apology) and he also starts his apology with ‘needs acid’ in 1:8. He knows that a lot of Review is to do with this dish.

When Carmy apologises about being shitty later in Ceres, she doesn’t mention that she put the dish out earlier. It’s framed as a little moment of.. if not revenge, then a little something for herself. I think she knows it’s not OK, not really, or she’d have mentioned it, and her face says a lot when she says it’s cool. I’m not a chef, I only ever worked FOH, but my instinct is that its dodgy and it fills me with unease. A grey area. A pop of tension.

Tracing the Journey of the Risotto Three: Hating

Whenever I think about the strikes, I think about the broader ensemble in this show.

The next time the risotto turns up, it’s being mentioned in a review. A lot happens here, so I’m gonna bullet point out all the references, then analyse some of them afterwards. I’m also gonna jump a whole bunch, cus I want to stay tightly focused on the risotto itself, and the dynamic between Syd and Carmy as relates to it:

Ebra reads the review out!

Syd has a lovely, gentle smile for Ebra as he reads it, her whole body relaxes as she taps at the tablet. This validation clearly means a lot to her. Ebra’s dynamic with both Sydney and Marcus is consistently a joy to behold. When he tells her in Dogs that she’s given Marcus a lot of confidence, she glows, and I think it’s something she really needed to hear. He’s subtle about it, but he never makes her life difficult when she implements the brigade. There’s something about the oldest member of the team, reading the review out, a little haltingly cus English isn’t his first language, that doubles down on the love that can be present in the Beef, making it all the more jarring when –

Carmy cuts across this and starts talking about the day’s opening with a ‘stop reading that shit’

Fam ‘that shit’ just described your food as elevated and elegant! In the foodie heaven that is Chicago! In your restaurant which is kind of failing! It’s your team’s first review since you’ve been there! So straight away you’re waiting for the other shoe to drop, because what has got his knickers in a twist?

Carmy is justified in being pissed off about Syd’s actions here. What he is not justified in, is not finding a way to celebrate the review itself with his team, who deserve to have this moment. It’s a milestone for them to get some external validation, and the restaurant, quite frankly, needs it. A five star review! Tina squeals with delight when she hears it. Before a new program and a busy shift is the perfect moment to read this out, and go into the work feeling good. A united, gassed up team? Would have killed those to gos.

Sydney is also responsible for this messiness though. In going rogue the episode before, something which could have been about the team becomes about her in a way that is sticky, and it becomes harder to celebrate. It was not her intention, but this is the outcome.

Ebra ignores Carmy

(cus he’s redundant and white JK JK don’t cancel me)

There is a double edged shout out to the team

‘the staff moves are next level’: this is such brilliant, important feedback from a team that has had to weather so much change! Also calls back to Richie: ‘Uh oh, Sydney making moves!’ in the car in Hands.

‘The sandwiches are so delicious as ever, but the standout dish that... that, that encapsulates all, this was the risotto with braised beef. The rice was luscious with a surprising ribbon of brine running through the sauce. The chef obviously knew what she was doing’

THAT REVIEWER IS A SNITCH

Did Syd know that reviewer was a reviewer? I dunno man. Maybe! She’s Chicago born and bred, knows the food scene well. It’s not outside of the realm of possibility that she’d recognise him. Maybe she just wanted some good immediate feedback, while she was feeling shitty! Maybe all she wanted was him to send a message back to the kitchen that’s like tell Syd the risotto was great: the impact of his Review but on a much smaller, less disruptive scale.

I think it’s genuine coincidence, which unfortunately looks… not like that. The thing is: the reviewer being a reviewer isn’t what the issue is. The issue is giving food not signed off by her boss to a customer. She'd have never gotten away with that at the places where she was before. Putting the dish out is going rogue, regardless of who she gives it to. It’s not a team move. If Carmy called in her old bosses for back up, she calls in his potential new customers. Eek. EEK.

Sydney desperately tries to get Ebra to shush, to no avail

(extremely funny work from Ayo, but also he’s pissed, and she either already knows it, or already antipates it – it’s hard to get a read on how long they’ve been in and when they learnt about the review)

‘river of brine, huh?’

Carmy, you little snark!!! This is very much his wheelhouse of expressing displeasure, he loves a little jab to the emotional solar plexus. My reading of his line is that what the reviewer tried and what Carmy tried are different, because if it had a ribbon of brine in it, I think that means that there was enough acid. Syd has two dishes, and she’s specific about Carmy trying one and not the other, so my reading here is that Carmy’s POV is not only did a dish go out of my kitchen without my sign off, but it was different from the dish I was given to try. Wince. Wince, wince, wince.

Sydney and Carmy have a fucking excruciating conversation.

Just the worst.

Carmy is not happy, but feels unable to voice this in a way that seems reasonable: he’s busy and stressed about to-gos, he hasn’t moved past the unreasonable feelings of resentment and annoyance to the clarity which enables you to articulate how you feel and why, and because Syd’s gamble paid off! It’s a net positive for the restaurant so it feels counterintuitive to reprimand her, but there is a conversation they need to have. He really does not want to have this conflict, because it’s complicated, and is, like most big blow outs over something small, about so much more than a plate of risotto. He breezes over the conversation, but you can’t start with that ribbon of brine opener and then tell me shit’s not weird.

Compare this to Brigade, when Sydney is asked what’s up, and she is brave enough and vulnerable enough to be like – here are the things that weren’t OK, here are my expectations, here are my boundaries.

On the other side of the conversation, Sydney knows that she has slipped across a slightly odd boundary, but doesn’t acknowledge this. It’s good he liked it! All’s well that ends well. Right? RIGHT? But if he hadn’t? Very different conversation. It doesn’t matter who he is! He could have been anyone - someone that left a weird Instagram comment later, or someone who didn’t finish the meal and complained. Whatever the case may be, giving it to him unofficially was not an act of partnership, or listening, even if the initial communication was shitty.

She knows she’s overstepped, but she doesn’t apologise and doesn’t acknowledge the specifics of what she’s done wrong, because she does not want to have the conflict that could come out of this either. She seeks affirmations that they are OK rather than trying to actually find out how Carmy feels and why, because at this point she doesn’t really want to hear it. She is seeking this conversation out 20 minutes before open! It’s not the time for a thorny, complex discussion.

Compare this to Brigade. Carmy knows Sydney is pissed, and makes the effort to speak to her, in private, armed with the peace offering of Ebra’s Suqaar. He is very careful in that conversation to ask open questions (‘what’s going on with you? Say more?’) that enable her to respond honestly. He persists despite her having her walls up around the fact that she’s pissed. Sydney does not do this. The power dynamic makes it hard, but still. If she wants the connection needed to power reconciliation, that bravery needs to be in play.

are you sure we can't just power through this with sexual tension?

Sweeps congratulates her and tells her she’ll have to tell her dad

Hope Mr Adamu got a newspaper clipping!

Carmy says the sandwiches are totally different and the reviewer is a fucking hack. Syd looks sad.

This moment is why I opened this essay talking about veal stock. We are back in a moment with a gap between what has been said, and what has been heard. The reviewer said the sandwiches were delicious as ever. That’s not a criticism at all! These are not words that justify being called a hack! Carmy is pissed because the reviewer says they are delicious and they always have been, that Carmy has not improved on the staple that was there before him.

And that shit hurts his ego!

His whole thing was going off to learn ‘how to be better than mom and dad’s piece of shit’. We know he’s changed a bunch of things about the sandwiches. In Hands, Sydney mentions that they’ve switched to market produce, which I’m sure is not unrelated to Richie’s ‘You’ve been here for two weeks and we’ve had money problems for two weeks’ in System. In Carmy’s time there, the bread’s changed, the method for cooking the beef has changed, the way they braise onions has changed.

To that customer? Delicious as ever.It’s not a dismissal, or an insult. It is a reminder that Carmy didn’t have to leave, and go through all he went through, that there was delicious food and skills to be learned and refined without it. We know Michael was a talented chef. Even now, with all of where he’s been, Carmy cannot surpass him or his memory.

The person that does surpass that? Is Sydney. With food his palate did not deem good enough! Sydney who has not had to leave Chicago and her family. Sydney who has found a way to be creatively free, even at The Beef, in ways that Carmy has not really been able to, because his primary concern has to be money. There is understandable resentment here. But there is competition to the way Carmy cooks, something to prove, someone to smoke. There are reasonable feelings here, but some of them are really ugly, too.

Tina describes Syd as Jeff’s friend

This is a strange little line – because we know that Tina respects Syd as a chef at this point, and she doubles down on it later when she asks Syd to teach Louis skills, like she herself has been taught. So why’s it there? My feeling is that it’s there to remind the audience of what Syd and Carmy’s relationship is usually like. I wouldn’t call it friendship, I think they operate in a weird place that defies labels, but they have this synergy which drives the business. Tina evoking that in this moment draws attention to the fact that they are not in that space right now.

He's just got a very sweet face, it's hard for me to believe he's in trouble at school

Richie has a loud, performative conversation with Carmy about many things, but for the purpose of this section, he states that they don’t do risotto, asks if they’re going to, and Carmy definitively states that ‘no, they’re not going to do that’ he also repeats Syd’s phrasing that it was ‘an accident’

She stabbed the wrong ass if you ask me!

Nah, but for real, this is nasty work. I’m gonna come back to it in the next (penultimate!) bit of writing about the Beef, the Bear, Richie & Michael, Syd & Carmy. For now, I will simply say that Carmy is doing up major pass agg here, and it’s nasty to watch. He’s really, really unhappy with her, and he’s struggling to hold it in, so it’s coming out in unhelpful and unpleasant ways that feel like humiliations in front of the whole team, and punishment.

There are really valid reasons for Carmy to be annoyed and to not want to talk about it right now. The problem is that If you don’t create a pressure valve you take responsibility for, you will end up a) exploding instead (lol) and/or b) releasing that frustration in unhelpful and harmful ways.

They move towards this with their ASL sorry in Season Two. But here, Carmy says and implies a bunch of things to Richie that he needed to say explicitly to Syd two episodes ago, and two minutes ago: that he has no intention of putting risotto on the menu, and that he thinks her saying it was an accident was bullshit. He wants Syd to know it’s not OK without the hard, painful work of having to engage in conflict with her. It’s shitty.

Sweet Louis asks what a ribbon of brine is

He seems like a good boy, bring him back!

A BUNCH OF STUFF THAT I WILL WRITE ABOUT NEXT TIME HAPPENS

Richie, Syd and Carmy, it’s delicious (a nightmare).

Syd attempts a second conversation with Carmy – having vented some frustration at Richie, and seeing how her workload is piling up and becoming untenable, she is much more open here. Carmy is not.

She’s blunt – we’re not on the same page. Carmy lies and deflects – we’re good, let’s get through the shift. He has his hands on his hips, with as much of his body turned away from her as possible, during this conversation, and walks off half way through it. Even if everything had gone right, this shift would have been a nightmare for Syd.

Everything is awesome!

The penultimate mention of the risotto is here. There is very little I can say that has not been brilliantly said by eatandsleepwell here - https://www.tumblr.com/hourglassfish/726487509540962304/eatandsleepwell-melonatures-this-one-second?source=share so I’m gonna link it.

That’s the last we hear of risotto for now, other than a quick reference to Syd as an arrogant and condescending ribbon of brine from Richie later. It doesn’t turn up on the tasting menu at the Bear, where it defo feels like a riff on risotto could have replaced one of their pasta dishes. That switch from rice to pasta feels pointed.

Spaghetti

Let’s treat The Beef as a character. If Sydney’s ingredient motif is veal stock, then The Beef’s is that family spaghetti.

Cheap and simple. Fucking delicious. Makes no sense and shouldn’t work, but was somehow the best seller on the menu. Distinctively Italian. Stuffed full of drug money(!). Always, always presented at the table with love, like a gift. You can elevate it if you want, but the fact of the matter is that even at its very best, it’s only gonna hit so hard cus it reminds you of simpler times, like the ratatouille (that is not a ratatouille!) from the movie Ratatouille.

Carmy rejects that meal at the top of the series. It ‘doesn’t make sense on the menu’, so he doesn’t care that people loved it. So far, so EMP. When he starts to cook it in episode one, it feels like a relenting to Richie’s bullying, and him throwing WHAT WE NOW KNOW WAS PROBABLY A FEW THOUSAND DOLLARS in the bin at the end of the episode feels like this exhilarating rejection of mediocrity. They change the lines for System, but in the pilot, Carmy literally cannot make the spaghetti, that last lesson from Michael is a real missing puzzle piece.

In Braciole, when he gets the recipe, he goes to cook it, for family. It’s really nice, that scene, feels comparable to Sydney making omelette. It’s quiet, and Carmy seems content, if wistful. The pork instead of beef panic of earlier is put to the side for now. The previous day, Carmy has gone to Al-Anon and confessed, unburdened himself. Then followed two quiet days and a blue hued night of atonement: he reaffirmed his commitment to Richie, paying his bail and keeping watch all night, gave Tina the night off, apologised to Marcus and acknowledged that his behaviour towards Sydney wasn’t acceptable, as well as speaking to her about her dish, like an adult. Carmy has to do all of this before he finds the money, before he gets the validation that he’s really longing for from his brother.

JAW getting his Emmy, his Golden Globe, his SAG Award, his Bafta, his future Oscar Winning role.

If The Bear at its core is about grief, and the void that Michael’s death leaves, then one of the big journeys of Season One is the subsequent death of the Beef, ready for its rebirth as The Bear in the following season. Review is the short sharp stab to the gut, of Sydney leaving, and taking any hope that it can be reformed as is, with her work. I don’t think the nature of a puncture wound, and the shortness of that episode are unrelated.

Braciole is more of a death rattle: Jimmy’s debt keeping them trapped in shitty work they don’t want to do, situations that spiral out of control and descend into violence, their parachute turned to bail money. But Michael wanted more for his brother than that, and he has left him a foundation. He does not have to burn the place down, there need not be smoke and hellfire. There’s another avenue for rebirth, one where ‘set this place on fire’ does not have to mean an insurance scam, but instead can mean an ignition of all their ambition and dreams.

To get there there has to be an ego death first, a moment of hubris that gets our protagonists fresh, and clean, so they can move to the new. Sydney sees and experiences the worst of herself (more on this in the final part!). Richie gets stabbed (more on this in the next part).

Carmy? Carmy has to encountera crisis where not only could his training not save him but many of the lessons he learnt while he was away and his reasons for going in the first place actively made the situation worse, and those that had faith in him and his preferred system turned away from him, deeply hurt. His ego gets in the way of connection, and it shatters the partnership that he needs to make it all work. He is clinging to old ways of being that has not served him, but he needs to move forward into what is new. And he does.

Well.

He tries.

SMDH

WHEW

Another long one, sorry fam. I’m almost there though. Am I sorry? No, I’m grateful if you read it, and I hope you enjoyed it.

I hope I’m pulling this together coherently, that I’m showing a sort of throughline to the way I view Episode 7. I don’t think Sydney is perfect! I do think her walking out is narratively and politically (the show wants better for the workplaces its drawn from) necessary, and I hate, hate, hate the simplification of that decision to ‘he shouted at her so she bailed’. Please, you can’t think this show is well written and think her decision is as simple as that, it doesn’t make sense. That exit is crafted so that it is inevitable, there is a movie’s worth of build up to it.

We’re looking at Richie, Syd and Carmy next time, fam. I am trying so hard to cut it down cus it’s currently sat at 15,000 words, but I’m gonna try really hard to edit down, OK? I’m gonna try really hard.

I can’t respond but I value reblogs and comments so much!

This is part of a five part series! You can find the rest here:

Expect More: Syd and Carmy's relationship,

I know you'll be listening: Marcus, McDonald's and Freedom

Risottogate

Hiring New Fucking Broads: Syd, Richie and conflict;

"That's Not You" The Moment Syd Walks Out

#the bear #carmy berzatto #sydney adamu #the bear meta

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drmobiusvanch · 7 months ago

Text

so yi sang isn't my blorbo but this is driving me crazy SO

Deep dive into this picture!!!!

Okay, first off. We can see that this is an edit of the picture of the League from Chapter 4.

The word 'edit' is chosen specifically. At first, it looks like the picture was just defaced, but Ring Yi Sang is an abstract painter and there's a lot of changes outside of what you might think. A lot of silhouettes are distorted wildly, especially including the two mysteries in the back left, and strangely Aseah.

Of the three faceless characters, I have no idea which one might be Rim. I'm GUESSING he's probably not the femme-y tall one, but who knows.

Also, Dongbaek has these swatches of white on her face, which no one else does.

They look vaguely similar to the 'feathers' on Yi Sang's painting of his wings.

But since we're talking about faces, let's inventory it, shall we?

Of the three unknowns, two are frowning while the one in the foreground next to Dongbaek is smiling. The frowning faces are heavily distorted as well. The face of the one on the right looks to be 'melting', heavily lopsided compared to the other faces, while the one on the left has their eyes de-emphasized, drawn smaller and darker than the others unless one of them is missing?

Very abstract, so it's hard to tell, but if you consider Dongbaek and front guy basic faces, you can see that these two are distorted in a way Dongbaek isn't.

Yi Sang's face here is very interesting. First off, he appears to have given himself a hat, but more importantly his face is drawn dramatically differently from every other face in the picture. Even the relatively un-distorted ones are childish smiley faces, while Yi Sang has a 'normal' face in silhouette. He's effectively saying that he is important, human, but the rest of the League are just shadows of the past.

As you can see, just about everyone in the back row has their heads distorted somehow. I have no idea what this means.

Gubo and Dongrang's faces, meanwhile, are really strange, even compared to the face of the person next to Dongbaek. They're both drawn with smiles, but the smiles are distorted even more than the lopsided frown in the background. Gubo's smile reaches entirely across his face, while Dongrang's is almost a 'V', with the corners of his mouth drawn up to be level with his eyes.

Young-ji is completely free of any graffiti, as well as any distortion.

(Aseah will be explained later.)

But what do the faces MEAN? Simply going off the ones we know, Gubo, Dongbaek, and Dongrang-even more when we consider the vague information we have on the fate of the others and compare that with the faceless ones, we have a pattern.

Yi Sang is smiling, fitting with his joining the Ring later.

Dongrang and Gubo, both of whom sold out to Wings, are smiling. Dongbaek, who was injured and had a breakdown after the fall of the League, is frowning.

For the faceless ones, Rim is one of them, another sold out to work with T Corp, and I can't remember who/what the third one was. Two frowning faces, one smiling. From the rest of this, it seems reasonable to extrapolate that the T Corp defector is the smiling man in front, and since Rim isn't notably tall, it seems very likely Rim is the shorter man in the back with his face 'melting', or in the regular picture, this guy:

But then there's Aseah. Aseah is one of the most interesting parts of this picture. We can't see his mouth, but it's not a choice on Yi Sang's part to obscure Aseah's face-it's a choice on nai_ga's. His face is blocked by the handle of Yi Sang's weapon. Why?

Aseah first appears in Leviathan as a captive of the Ring. When we see him in Limbus, he's an associate of N Corp and in charge of the Ring. Regardless of which, the fact that Yi Sang is a member of the Ring as well as a friend of Aseah's would make him an authority on Aseah's emotional state, as well as what happened to him. We don't know much about Aseah, who is something of a cipher. Whether he drew him with a frown or a smile could have meant a lot about what the circumstances around him are.

Also, interestingly, his face seems to be less distorted, like Yi Sang's. If his face was as distorted as Dongrang or Gubo's, it would be immediately apparent where his mouth was-even a more simply drawn mouth would probably reach up or down into the cheeks outside of the paintbrush handle.

Finally, as a side note, comparing the expressions with the original picture:

In the original picture, far-left, tall one, and Possibly Rim are all smiling. Yi Sang and Dongbaek have small smiles-Yi Sang appears much happier in his drawing than in the original picture, as Ring Yi Sang probably considers himself to be now. Aseah seems expressionless. Gubo is frowning slightly. Dongrang looks visibly uncomfortable, which is particularly interesting considering how he's drawn in Yi Sang's version. Considering our Yi Sang might have harbored a grudge against Dongrang, this one might too.

Regardless-it's very interesting that someone so focused on denying the past and putting it behind him would not simply deface the picture, but put effort into that defacement by giving them different expressions.

#limbus company

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flowers-of-io · 4 months ago

Note

I *can* tell you why Neztea: When his brother Set cut him up into pieces after killing him, Osiris' wife Isis assembled all the pieces and wrapped his body up, enabling him to return to life.

I *can't* tell you why it was Mithrax and us collecting the bits of Nezarec instead of Saint. I *can't* tell you why it was bits of Nezzy in the canopic jars instead of bits of Osiris himself.

I *can* tell you we went through the whole song and dance of Osiris being functionally dead and then functionally revived, as tedious as it may have been, simply because that's the myth of Osiris and that's what Bungie does.

Full disclosure: I'm still perplexed about why it was Nez brew as well, but I personally call as of yet unclear Savathûn shenanigans. One of the biggest motifs associated with her specifically is tea and teacups. Don't believe me? Go do a search on ishtar. Saint's got his suspicious mystery teacup. You know what bone china is made from? Literal bones.

(There's also the Calix Summus emblem, which once again points us back towards the hive and their alchemy and nezzy (with the pyramid line thingy coming out of the cup). Calix = cup, but calix also = calx, one of the products of calcination (if that doesn't ring a bell, look back at the context of the calcified fragments). Summus here probably means something like key or paramount, so... the most importantest cup. Check out the secondary part of them emblem! That's a syzygy!)

If I sound like a lunatic, well... that's fine. The fun thing about Destiny lore is that it *does* reward you for putting in legwork to understand the mythologies and theologies and philosophies it draws from, even if you sound like a maniac to most people.

If you're really curious and want to figure out what happened or is going to happen with Osiris, I'd start looking into the history of Osirian cults and their practices. You might find absolutely fuck all, but you might also find something interesting. I'd do it myself, but I'm balls deep in Hive names and writing systems for the foreseeable future. Oh, and keep an eye on Saint. I'm still not convinced he's gonna make it all the way to the end based on what we know about the story of the phoenix and the turtle dove pigeon

Last thing: If a garden grows in both directions and that garden is a metaphor for the story told in a parable, then the story probably requires as much tending in the past as it does the present.

Good luck, I love you, have fun, pirate books if you have to, and keep your third eye wide fucking open.

(A reply to this post)

First of all, I'm so sorry for missing this message somehow. I've been having issues with not getting (or overlooking?) notifications about new asks and it's driving me a little mad by now.

(Putting the rest under a read more, because it's A LOT)

Second of all, I feel so stupid lmao. Of COURSE it's the Osiris myth eh? I genuinely didn't make the connection AT ALL, despite noticing the damn canoptic jars and being like, huh, interesting! And then my brain didn't follow on it ever. What probably threw me off is what you mention, the fact it was Misraaks and us, and not Saint, collecting the pieces, and that these weren't even Osiris' pieces to begin with. And besides, he wasn't even dead.

There's quite a mix of symbolism in the whole thing here, overall? Nezarec is the Nightmares guy, which makes sense in terms of him being the cure for a guy stuck in a coma--but this acknowledges Osiris' status as *asleep*, not dead, which then throws off the whole myth thing. And remember that one piece of Nezarec is, or is in, the Delicate Tomb--and that gun is very long-time nuclear waste warnings-coded, y'know, the whole "This is not a place of honour" thing. "The danger within is repulsive to us" is as far as you could go referencing to "What is here was dangerous and repulsive to us" while not quoting it verbatim. (And also the Delicate Tomb states "within" because the danger--Nezarec--is literally inside the gun.) The name of the catalyst quest, The Form of the Danger, is a direct quote.

What interests me is the thought process Misraaks and Eido must've gone through to arrive at the conclusion that they should brew this ancient corpse and serve it as tea, but okay, let's suspend our disbelief and say they just studied the remains for a long time (which they did) and within the context of Nezarec being the Nightmares dude, it made some sense.

It's also really funny of Savathûn making *that* the cure for the coma, and very 5D chess for her. She could have reasonably assumed the Witness would go looking for Nezarec's remains when shit hit the fan, in order to have its powerful Disciple back; though how it wanted to revive him I'm not sure, seeing as it was the Traveler's laser beam that inadvertently did the job. But then of course we Guardians would try to stop it, and most likely succeeded, and once Nez's remains were in our hands, we'd obviously study them. And so we'd find the cure. It's so brilliant and so, so unserious.

And yeah, her and tea!!! I'm not sure how to connect Saint's teacup (if you mean the one from Quintessence) here, but "Dûl Incaru serves you poison in a fine tea set of Ahamkara bone" from Truth to Power is iconic. *Ahamkara* bone china!!

You're also so big brained about Calix Summus because I literally didn't know this emblem existed. (For the record, it was included in the January 2024 Prime Gaming bundle.) And yeah if we interpret the graphic as planets and orbits, that is indeed a syzygy... And yeah. Calcified fragments. Gosh this rabbit hole runs so deep.

Bro I NEED to know about what you're cooking regarding Hive names and writing systems!!!!! Your brain is so big and I want to pick it about everything lol.

Oh, I never interpreted the garden growing in both directions as a metaphor for the story told in a parable, but rather the paracausal forces' ability to change past and future + the Black Garden being a four-dimensional thing where space is time, but. BUT. The thing about parables and myths is they bend time, in a way. They connect the past to the present, and so by extension the future. Time there is always circular; they keep happening over and over, regardless of linear history. They aren't physically *real*, but they are true. (Also paging @svedupelle here bc I know he'll be interested.)

Thank you!!! My third eye is so open it's like half of my forehead now.

#reply #anon #i like my lore with coffee #season of plunder #big bird #pigeon dad #aunt savathûn #nezarec #destiny 2

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