#anne is so beautiful i can't believe i made her.....

[tricoufamily]

playing this happy alternate universe save everything is fine nothing happens in the events of their real story it's fine this is canon this is fi

[sissylittlefeather]

Your Love's Been a Long Time Coming: The End

A/N: My heart, y'all. I can't believe this is over. Anyway, I hope you all enjoy this last chapter for Elvis and Vivian. If there's enough demand, I'll write more of them happily ever after, but otherwise, here it is: the end. Please let me know your thoughts in the comments. I love to hear from you!

Need to read the rest? Masterlist here.

Warnings: 18+ minors DNI! Kissing, cussing, fingering, oral sex (m&f receiving), p in v penetrative sex, unprotected sex, creampie

Word count: ~3k

"Are you?!"

"Yes."

******

Sonny's shoulders slump as he sinks into a chair. Vivian's heart breaks for him, but she just couldn't lie to him anymore. It's not fair to anyone involved for her to keep pretending like there's nothing between her and Elvis.

"I knew it. Jerry told me about the wedding and I just kept hoping it was him being, well, him. But no, this has been going on for a lot longer than just that time, hasn't it?"

"No, we've never really been anything-"

"But that's what you've wanted. You love him and you always have." He pinches the bridge of his nose and Vivian swallows deeply. He's right. "I can't fight him. I won't win. Not if you're in love with him."

Sonny looks up at her with his eyes glossy and wet. He takes her hand and kisses the back of it.

"Sonny, I-"

"No. It's okay, sugar. I love you too much to keep you miserable. If you want him, you should be with him." She sits on the floor in front of him and leans on his knee.

"I'm not miserable."

"No, but you would be eventually. Especially if his marriage is over. It's cruel for me to make you stay, knowing what I know now."

"Sonny... I'm so sorry."

"Don't be. You can't help who you love. Can I ask one thing, though?"

"Anything." Vivian looks up at him sadly. Some part of her does care for him. Just not enough. Not more than she loves Elvis.

"I'm gonna go for a drive for a few hours. When I get back here, please be gone." She nods slowly.

"Okay. I can do that."

"Thank you." He whispers and then leans forward, kissing her forehead. Then, he stands up and walks towards the door. When he gets there he turns. "I don't want you to feel bad for me. I'll be alright. Just go be happy."

She nods again as he walks through the door. The tears come hot and fast for a while as she sits there in the rubble of her ruined marriage. After a while, she stops, though, and there's only one thing on her mind.

Elvis.

She jumps up and starts to pack.

******

Elvis is sitting in the dark in the TV room. All three TVs are going, but he has no idea what's on any of them. His mind is racing. How did he get here? He's alone, his own wife gone to another man as his heart longs for a married woman. What a mess.

His mind drifts back to the night he met Vivian. She was so beautiful reading the book of French poetry in the corner at his party. He should've whisked her away from Charlie that night. He should've broken up with Anita the second he met her and taken her in his arms to be his forever that afternoon when he found her crying at the cafe.

And all the movie years. How stupid was he to value his string of flings over her? How easy it would've been to leave them all in the dust and marry her in 1962.

And the conversation they started should've finished with them together. Why did he abandon her for Ann? Yes, he loved Ann, but what was she compared to his future with Viv?

And WHY, WHY did he choose Priscilla?! He looks at the corner of the couch where Viv had laid that night they made love for the first time. It's like a movie with the scene of her on his porch, arms full of liquor bottles, a soft smile on her lips. Then it cuts to her gently shaving his face, an ultimate gesture of love and service. And the kiss, his mouth on her body, carrying her upstairs and pulling off clothing. The flashbacks wash over him and he lets himself weep. His tongue pushing into her as she moans, her mouth wrapped around him, him pumping into her overcome with passion and love and a need to be hers forever. The gentle and affectionate touches when they finished and held each other like they'd do it every day until they died.

"Oh God, Vivian." He holds his head in his hands as the tears stream down his face. He should've married her. His heart aches thinking of her coming to see him when he was so hurt and needed her so badly, only to be turned away. How could he have spent all those years angry? How could he let her fall into Sonny's arms?

And now she's gone forever. She'll have a baby soon and then he will have truly lost her. He'll only ever-

There's a knock at the door. Whoever it is can wait. Elvis is too lost in his grief to answer the door right now.

He wraps his arms around himself and lets his shoulders shake with sobs.

Another knock, this time a little more urgent. He listens carefully and realizes it's raining. Briefly, he feels for the person who is soaking wet on his porch, but not enough to get up and answer the door.

He's always taking care of everyone else. In this moment, he needs to just be and feel and nurse his broken heart.

More knocking, almost frantic.

Fine. He gets up off the couch and goes to the door.

******

Vivian sits on the front steps in the rain, crying. She's knocked and knocked, but either he's not here or he doesn't want to see her. She has nowhere else to go and even if she did, this is the only place she wants to be. Why won't he answer?

She gets up to walk back to her car.

******

"Viv?" He says it softly, not believing what he sees in front of him. Then, he realizes she's walking away and runs out to her in the driveway. "Vivian!"

She stops dead and turns to face him.

"What are you doing here?"

"Sonny left."

"He did? Why?"

"Because I'm in love with you." His heart skips.

"You... what?"

"I'm in love with you, Elvis. I always have been. I love you with every fiber of my being. It's like you're a part of me that I can't dig out. You're in me. You are me. I love you. God, I love you." She stands there, chest heaving, trying not to be a cliched crying mess in the rain. Elvis's heart has stopped with her words. His hands shake and he wants to pinch himself to make sure he isn't dreaming.

"Am I- am I too late?" She asks, almost panicked. Finally, he finds his voice.

"Never."

He takes two steps and has her in his arms, his mouth pressed to hers in a desperate kiss. The years of yearning pour out of them into the way their tongues mix in an ardent dance of need. He grabs the back of her thighs and she jumps to wrap her legs around him. Then, he turns and carries her up the steps into the house, slamming the door behind them with his foot.

She moans into his kiss as they make their way up the staircase to the bedroom, her still wrapped around him. In the room, he sets her down gently and begins peeling off her wet clothes, one layer at a time, dropping his lips to every new exposed inch of skin. He makes a trail of hot kisses along her body, finally dragging down her pants and underwear until she's fully naked in front of him. But when he goes to dive face first into her center, she stops him.

"No. I want to feel your skin." She unbuttons his shirt and pushes it off of his shoulders, going to the buttons on his pants next. He kicks off his shoes while she undoes the zipper and pulls, exposing him to her fully. They stand for a second, just taking each other in with nothing in between them, finally.

He caresses the side of her face and steps closer to her so that their bodies touch softly. She looks up at him in anticipation as he runs his thumb over her cheek.

"I have loved you from the moment I saw you. I should've said it then and every day since. It's always been you, Viv." He leans in and kisses her gently again, his hand moving down her body tenderly. When he gets to her lower back, he pulls her in close to press against him and kisses down her neck. She whimpers at the feel of his length pushing into her hip, reaching down to stroke him with her hand. He grunts at the sensation and slowly walks her backwards to the edge of the bed. She sits down, her hand still pumping him, but he stops her and gets on his knees.

"You're the love of my life, Vivian. I want to give you the world." He leans forward and kisses her thigh, pushing her legs open further to get to her center. "Let me give you everything I have, baby."

With that, he lowers his mouth to her and presses his tongue into her slit, dragging it up to the hardened bud, licking over and around it vigorously. She inhales sharply and throws her head back.

"Oh, God, Elvis." She runs her hand in his hair. He groans, but doesn't stop working his mouth on her. He moves his tongue in circles and then in a hard line over the top of her clit, keeping a steady rhythm. Her hips buck forward into his face and he slides a finger into her, tickling the spot that makes her moan out loud.

"Fuck!" Her back arches as her orgasm builds quickly. She feels herself on the edge, ready to spill over into an ocean of pleasure.

"Come on, baby. You're right there. Let go for me." He goes back to licking her with a fervor he's never expressed before. He's never been so invested in a woman's pleasure but he wants to give Vivian more than she's ever experienced. And he does. In that moment the dam breaks and she cries out as the waves of ecstasy crest and break inside her over and over again.

"Yes! Fuck! Yessssss!" She moans with her teeth gritted, her body quaking with the aftershock of the most unbelievable orgasm.

When she finally comes down, she sits up and grabs him, pulling him into a deep kiss, her tongue diving into his mouth feverishly.

"I'm so... in love... with you..." She whispers in between kisses, her hands running down his chest. She stands him up and he looks down at her, cupping her chin in his hand.

"No, baby. I'm in love with you." She smiles and leans forward, holding his cock in one hand, pulling his foreskin back and running her tongue around the tip. He leans back, his lips parted slightly and his eyes closed. "God, that feels good."

She tries not to smile as she pulls him fully into her mouth, letting him hit the back of her throat. She buries her nose in the hair at the base of him, swallowing around him. Then, she begins to move up and down as he thrusts slowly. She puts her hands on his hips and works him gently, moaning. He grunts and takes a handful of her hair.

"Viv, baby, you have to stop. I'm not finished making love to you."

She pulls back off of him and looks up, crawling backwards onto the bed. He climbs on top of her, kissing her neck and chest up to her mouth.

"I am yours, Vivian. Body and soul." He lines his cock up with her dripping entrance and teases her clit for a second. "I want to love you like this forever."

"Please, Elvis. Never stop." He nods and pushes into her.

"I won't, baby." He whispers as he slides in as deep as he'll go, grunting when he feels her tightness around him. "You were made for me."

She whimpers as he fills her, pulling back and pushing into her again. Neither of them will ever get enough of the way it feels to be connected like this. They fit together like a lock and key and the pleasure hits them both at the same time.

"Yes, Elvis..." Her back arches as he continues his sensual rhythm of sliding out and filling her, his hips rolling into her over and over and over. Their sweat begins to mix as their bodies meet in burning kisses, breast to chest, stomach to stomach, hip to hip, and thigh to thigh. His hand runs up and down her, squeezing and pinching softly where it pleases them both until it settles on her hip, holding her in place as his thrusting picks up. He's still moving slowly, pounding her deeply, slamming her with his cock both passionately and lovingly.

"Oh, God, Viv, I love the way you feel." He sets his head on her shoulder, knowing his climax is coming fast. "I don't want this to be over."

She takes his face in her hands and kisses the tip of his nose.

"This will never be over. I'm yours until the end. Let go, baby. I'm not going anywhere." He whimpers softly and peppers her face with kisses as he goes back to pumping into her. His pace increases and her breasts bounce as he moves inside her harder and harder. He feels his orgasm building in his cock and he knows he's ready to explode. He slams into her two more times and then cries out as he shudders.

"Fuck, yes, Viv!" He feels his release wash over him as he cums hard inside her, emptying himself as the tsunami-force ecstasy crashes through him. He's frozen inside her, cock throbbing until he's completely spent. She whines through her own orgasm as he collapses on top of her, careful not to crush her with his weight. He slides out of her gently and lays next to her, pulling her into the crook of his arm where she fits perfectly. She reaches up and pushes his sweaty hair back off of his forehead and then runs her fingertips down the side of his face. He grabs her fingers and kisses them, looking down at her. She smiles up at him and whispers. "Je t'aimes toujours avec tout mon coeur."

"You know I don't speak French, baby." He chuckles.

"It means 'I love you always with all of my heart.' It's something I was saving to say to the man that set me on fire. And it's you. I burn for you, Elvis. I always have and I always will." He smiles, his eyes brimming with tears.

"I will make you mine forever as soon as I can. You are the one who my soul loves. Viv, tell me this is us, from now on."

"Always and forever, Elvis."

"Always and forever."

******

A lot happens for Elvis and Vivian through 1972 and 1973. Vivian moves into Graceland and they christen every room in the house. Then, Elvis films Elvis on Tour in April and Vivian is there. He plays at Madison Square Garden in June and Vivian is there. He goes on tour again and still, Viv is there. Then, he does the Aloha show in Hawaii and she is there for that too. Both of their divorces are finalized in 1973 and they're there for each other. By Thanksgiving, Elvis has a 10-carat ring on her finger and by Christmas they're married.

He records an album at Stax that won't be released until 1975, but there's a song on it that makes him think of Vivian so much he almost cries. He saves it for the right moment, though.

So when she comes to him on New Year's Eve with a note from the doctor confirming her pregnancy, he knows exactly what to do. He pulls her into a warm embrace, kissing the top of her head. Slowly they begin to sway and he sings:

The first time I saw you I knew I was hooked on somebody other than me

And the first time I held you, your soft lips and blue eyes

Were as far as my eyes could see

Yes, here in my arms I knew I had found the reason that I'm livin' for

And I felt the feeling, such a wonderful feeling

That I'd never felt before

Baby, you're love's been a long time comin'

Baby your love's got a hold on me

Baby your love's sure got me hummin'

Baby your love's been a long time comin'

******

Fin

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Taglist:

@ccab @elvisfatass @elvisalltheway101 @aliypop @18lkpeters @dkayfixates @tacozebra051 @your-nanas-house @deniseinmn @joshuntildawn13 @lookingforrainbows @60svintage @littlehoneyposts @epthedream69 @louisejoy86 @rjmartin11 @from-memphis-with-love @deltafalax @jhoneybees @everythingelvispresley @returntopresley @atleastpleasetelephone @burnthheparaphilia @cinnamoroll-things

[ninus9607]

Falling for her - Amelia Shepherd

Hey loves

This is my first story, so I'm pretty nervous also I'm sorry about my grammar, English isn't my first language

This story takes place during the second season but there are small changes, like Derek and Addison divorced before Derek came to Seattle so Addison won't be coming to Seattle for Derek because Richard asked her to (it will be important for the plot), lexie. The storyline in my story doesn't match Grey's one.

Amelia will work as an attending with Derek, also she's not the youngest shepherd and she is younger than Derek by only a few years. Derek and Meredith are not dating because of the rule (nobody cared about that but ok

______________________________________________________________

1. New start

There was a voice on the plane telling us to buckle up because we were landing, finally, I thought to myself. Flying more than 6000 km is exhausting. After the plane landed successfully, I put on my backpack and collected my baggage. When I got out of the airport, a cold wind greeted me, it's chilly here, I should take a taxi. There were many taxis on the other side of the road, I took my suitcase and slowly walked to the other side, there were about 5 taxis parked there, which one should I choose? Never mind, I chose the first one I stood by.

"Could you take me to Queen Anne at 303 Comstock Street?"

The taxi driver just nodded, is every American so grumpy? All the way there was silence in the car, but I didn't mind, I was looking out the window and admiring the world around me the whole time. I can't believe it, I'm truly here, Seattle was gorgeous, and there were people all over the place, which was a big difference from my home. When the car stopped on my street, the driver turned to me and in a cold voice said, "It would be $40." I pulled my wallet out of my pocket, full of US dollars, to make sure I had enough money. I must have grabbed a little more than I needed since I could barely close my wallet.

I handed him a $50 bill. "You can ke-" He didn't even let me finish and grabbed it from my hand, then pointed to the door. At that moment, I felt like hitting him. I grabbed my stuff, and as soon as I reached for the door, his car quickly started and sped off.

"Dick"

I looked around to see where I was, and after taking stock of my situation I realized I was lost, fuck, I should have seen what the house looked like before. I mean, what normal person wouldn't look at the house they're buying, yeah, I didn't look. I only have his address. So I'll try to ask someone. The street was quiet, with hardly any people to be seen outside. It was probably because everyone was still at work. However, a woman was walking on the sidewalk. She looked tired, but it seemed like she was my only option.

"Sorry to bother you, miss, but can you tell me where house number 302 is located?"

She looked at me with a surprised smile. "Oh, that's the house right next to mine. You must be my new neighbor. I'm Meredith Grey" She offered me her hand in greeting. Okay, it looks like Americans aren't so bad after all. I shook her hand. "Lena Anderson, nice to meet you" My accent was a bit stronger, I still have to get used to it.

"You're not from here, are you?" I shook my head "No, I just moved here." She looked at me with an even bigger smile. "Cool, come with me. I'll show you where you live."  And with that, she takes my hand. Are Americans always this friendly? We walked for a while and then stopped in front of a pretty big house. Wow, I think I made a good purchase.

"Thank you Meredith for helping me, you saved my life."

"It's okay, I'm glad I met you. Maybe we could hang out sometime, perhaps go to a bar or something?"

"Deal," I said and waved her off, picked up my keys, and opened my new home. Wow, this house is huge!  Large kitchen, beautiful living room, 3 bedrooms, and 2 bathrooms. This place is amazing! After unpacking and enjoying a warm shower, I settled into the beautifully modern living room, complete with a large TV and a PS5. Since I was a child, I have always enjoyed playing video games. I brought my PS5 here, and it provides great fun while helping me relax from reality. I prepared my favorite fruit tea and turned on the music on the TV. I grabbed my laptop and opened my email to check for any important updates. I was eagerly waiting for news about my job and had also applied for internship programs at hospitals in Seattle. My school grades are excellent, and I have valuable work experience back home in Europe. However, I understand that this may not guarantee anything.

I've got about 30 emails popping up, mostly some ads I should clean up, I started to slowly delete them one by one so I wouldn't accidentally delete something important. until I get an e-mail from Seattle Grace Hospital. I opened it and started reading.

 "You have been accepted into our residency program"

I screamed at the top of my lungs, I couldn't believe it, it's like a miracle, I love my life. In the email, there was additional information, such as salary, hours, and more. I am supposed to start in two days, so I might as well inform Meredith. She could at least assist me in getting oriented here. I changed into something more social, grabbed my keys, and went to see my neighbor.

knock, knock

After a while, some guy opened the door. "Oh, hi? Is Meredith there?" He was a little confused, but he called out to Meredith, who came to the door.

"Hey Meredith, sorry to bother you again, but as you said we could meet sometime. If you don't have plans for tonight, maybe we could hang out?"

"Hey, Len, I was just thinking about you, join us, I'll introduce you to my friends" She led me to her living room, where I saw two other people. They looked nice.

"Everybody, this is Lena, my new neighbor. Lena, these are my friends and roommates. George and Izzie"

"Hi"

"Hello"

"Nice to meet you all." I was a little nervous, but after two hours of talking and drinking, I felt like I had made new friends. Meredith and Izzie were great, funny and George was George. Such a nice guy. But I get the feeling he's secretly in love with Meredith, he looks at her like she's a god. It is very easy to make fun of him but in a good way.

"Where do you work? Your house is huge but it must have cost a lot." George asks me

"Well, actually I bought it before I had a job"

"WHAT? ARE YOU RICH?" Izzie and Meredith shouted at the same time

"Well kind of, but now I got a job in a hospital in their program an-"

"Are you a doctor? and in seattle grace?" George quickly cut me off

"Yeah? What's the problem??"

"We work there too! me, mer, izzie and our other friends like cristina and alex"

"So, Are we colleagues?"

"YES!" Everyone in the room screamed.

"Wow, that's really impressive. Is there a bar where we can celebrate?" I asked

"Let's meet at Joe's Bar tomorrow as we always do after work." Meredith said

"If you show me where it is, we can definitely..."

I stayed at Meredith's place for about an hour and then left to go home. I changed into comfortable pajamas, sat on my bed, and picked up the book. I decided on something a little more interesting: "Haunting Adeline." (😏) I was reading for about two hours before my eyes started to close, so I put the book down, turned off the light, and closed my eyes.

AN: Wow, that was my first chapter. I apologize for every mistake, but I'm trying yk...I'm happy for every response and comment also if you have any questions, just ask. I'd be happy to answer them.

PS: By the way, if you want to read more, you can check out my Wattpad or Ao3, where my story is already uploaded.

xx

[vintagetvstars]

Marlo Thomas Vs. Lily Tomlin

Propaganda

Marlo Thomas - (That Girl) - ann marie from that girl is literally me and my mom's Blorbo From My Shows. <3 Marlo Thomas is beautiful, very funny, and an activist and philanthropist. was given the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2014. currently serves as National Outreach Director for St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, a nonprofit pediatric research hospital (founded by her father, Danny Thomas) that focuses on treatment for children's catastrophic diseases, particularly cancer. starred in That Girl from 1966-1971, which centered around a young woman who moves to New York City to become an actress - one of the first tv shows to focus on a leading lady who lived on her own. was only the fourth tv series to be produced by its' female star. the sponsors wanted the series to end with a wedding between Thomas's character and her boyfriend, which she refused because, in her words, "I just can't do that to these women and girls who followed Ann Marie's adventure. I can't now say that the only happy ending is a wedding, because I don't believe it." the final episode instead featured her character taking her now-fiance to a women's lib meeting, which according to Thomas "made nobody happy but me. I loved it."

Lily Tomlin - (Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In, Saturday Night Live, Murphy Brown) - She's beautiful and hilarious! Her smile is so bright! photo of her and her partner Jane Wagner (pic below the cut)

Master Poll List of the Hot Vintage TV Ladies Bracket

Additional propaganda below the cut

Marlo Thomas:

Marlo is an Emmy award winning actress and feminist. She is also the outreach director for St. Jude’s Children Hospital which was founded by her father, Danny Thomas. Her show “That Girl” was one of the first sitcoms to focus on a single woman and helped pave the way for other similar shows like the Mary Tyler Moore Show. The network and the show’s sponsor wanted to end the series with the main character getting married but Marlo fought against it: “…They wanted to end the show with a wedding. I said, "I just can't do that to these women and girls who followed Ann Marie's adventure. I can't now say that the only happy ending is a wedding, because I don't believe it." There was a big ruckus about it, but I wouldn't do it. The last show, Ann Marie took Donald (her fiancé) to a women's lib meeting, which made nobody happy but me. I loved it.“

Along with having stunning dark eyes and iconic hair, Marlo Thomas helped lead the way for shows about young unmarried women living on their own. While it's true that That Girl's heroine Ann Marie had a steady boyfriend throughout, Marlo Thomas was instrumental in keeping her unmarried through the show's run and resisted ending the series with a wedding. Especially in the early seasons, she not only gave the character a charming wistful style (Ann Marie was almost always shown carrying a ladylike pair of gloves when she went out, long after convention dictated), but she kept the character from being too sweet with her comic exaggerations and feisty comebacks.

this article has several good photos from that girl:

Lily Tomlin:

[m-jelly]

Hey, Jelly!

If you have time to write, could I request a Levi x Reader in which both of them are grandparents to many children with whom they go on a beach vocation (and their own kids) to have some family time?

When their kids and grandkids are on some trip, Levi and the reader get all romantic with each other in the bedroom (nsfw) and go for a swim at night afterwards.

This is my first time requesting and english isn’t my first language. Sorry for any mistakes and I absolutely love your work!!

Summer sun and summer fun

Levi x fem!reader

Modern AU, married life, dad Levi, grandpa Levi, mum reader, grandma reader, fluff, romance, implied smut.

Levi and you take the family to your summer home where you have fun with the kids and grandkids. When night comes in, Levi and you go to your own private room and show each other passionate love before having a cheeky night swim.

@ladycheesington @levisbrat25 @nyxiieluna @li-anne @galactict3a @youre-ackermine @thebobaprincess @2moth-anon2 @cypidity @nbinairyn @bts-spnlvr12 @darkstarlight82 @emilyyyy-08 @notgoodforlife @demonic-bird

Note: Due to the OG request asking for three different parts, I had to cut down the smut part to implied things otherwise this would have been in the thousands.

The music that played in the car was nice and soft, but it brought in a little buzz in the car for what was to come next. A soft tapping came from the wheel of the car from Levi's thumbs. Smiles were on both yours and Levi's lips because your intended stop was the holiday home Levi owned.

Levi moved one hand off the wheel and placed it on your thigh. "This is going to be fun."

You placed your hand on Levi's. "It's going to be incredible."

"All that sun and peace." He glanced over at you. "The kids and our little grandkids."

You whined a bit. "I can't believe our babies have had babies." You looked over at Levi. "I feel old."

"You're still young and sexy to me."

You giggled at his flirting. "Oh, Levi. You're my sweet handsome husband." You released a long sigh. "Damn, you look so good."

Levi smirked. "Thank you."

"I'm gonna nibble you later."

"I look forward to it." He spied the home and pulled up into the parking spot. "So many memories here. I'm sure we made at least one of our kids here."

You giggled. "I know we did." You slipped out of the car and smiled. "Looks beautiful." You looked behind you and waved to your kids as they drove closer. "I can't believe we're bringing our grandkids here."

Levi walked over to you and wrapped his arms around you. "Mm. It'll be fun but right now I'm thinking about how sexy you are."

You squeaked a bit when he bit your neck. "Down boy, down. Save it for later."

He smiled when his kids got out of the car with their kids. Lilly was your eldest and had two little ones. Evan was your second eldest with one little one. Daisy was your next and she was expecting and then your youngest, Bjorn was your youngest and he was at university with no partner yet.

Levi released you and pulled out two keys. "All right. Your mum and I are in the guest house for some alone time."

Lilly snorted a laugh. "No surprises there."

He handed her a key. "You lot have run of the whole house."

Evan scooped up his one-year-old. "Thanks, Dad. I know you arranged this so you can have Mum to yourself, but we appreciate having the big house. Brings back memories."

You smiled softly. "So many good memories here. I loved coming here with you four and now there's so many of you and the family will get bigger."

Daisy patted her belly. "You're right about that."

You welled up. "You're glowing!"

All your kids awed and gave you a group hug, along with your grandkids. There was a lot of love in your family, it was a house always filled with laughter, hugs and kisses. It was a happy home that was filled with supporting words.

After accepting hugs, you helped your kids move their suitcases into their rooms. You moved to the kitchen and started cooking for lunch. Levi helped you out as Lilly's two kids wanted his attention and to play with him.

Evan and Bjorn ran over before scooping up the two kids and running off with them to the beach. It was always like this, a bit of controlled chaos, nothing too loud and always fun.

You packed everything up and put it in a cooler and bags to take to the beach. "Levi and Lilly, could you both take these down to the beach for me? I'm going to move into the guest room as you do."

Lilly grabbed a few things, she was always strong like her dad. "Got it!"

Levi grabbed a few and kissed your cheek. "You're amazing."

You felt your cheeks burn. "Thank you."

Levi trudged through the sand as he got closer to the private beds. He had a sweet smile on his face as he watched his kids and grandkids. He turned his head and replied to his daughter Lilly as she told him a few stories about things going on.

The Ackerman family was a very close one. Staying in touch was so important and you were always calling and texting each other. You lived rather close to each other, so if the kids needed you to babysit their babies you and Levi would jump to it.

Lilly smiled at Levi. "Dad, I know you're dying to see Mum. Go to her before the kids want to play."

Levi winked at her. "Thank you." He sprinted over to the guest house and tackled you into a hug. "Darling!"

You let out a surprised yelp. "Levi, you little devil."

He bit your shoulder and sucked a mark. "You're so delicious."

You turned in Levi's arms. "We should get back to the kids and grandkids." You moaned as he kissed your neck. "I made lunch as well."

Levi pulled back. "Lunch. Mm...we'll eat with the kids and grandkids, then I will eat you later."

You pulled from his grip. "You're so dirty."

"I just have this massive love for you."

You raised a brow. "Massive huh? Well, you're right about that. It is."

Levi ran after you as he growled a little. "Naughty wife."

"I'm very naughty. I will get naughtier tonight." You grabbed Levi's hand and pulled him along to the beach area. "We're back."

Daisy gasped. "Mum! The lunch is so good!"

You felt moved as everyone thanked you. "You're all welcome." You sat down and smiled as your one-year-old granddaughter climbed onto your lap for a hug. "Bless her."

Evan smiled. "She does love her grandma."

You hugged Evan's daughter. "I love her too. I'm happy to give you all hugs." Your two other grandkids ran over to you and started telling you stories and showing you. You wrapped your arms around all of them. "Shall we make sandcastles or do you want your grandad to chase you?"

They gasped. "Chase! Chase!"

Levi jumped to his feet. "You better run fast."

You helped the one-year-old to her feet and let her join in a bit. "What a lovely view and scene."

Lilly and Bjorn sat on either side of you and hugged you. Lilly hummed a moment as she watched her Dad and husband play with her kids. "What's it like? You know, becoming a grandma?"

You smiled at her. "Emotional. Your babies are having babies. It's a lot to process. You never stop being a mother though." You played with her hair a little. "Your kids will always need you, like you always need me and your father."

Tears filled Lilly's eyes. "It's scary, getting old."

"What's scary about it?"

She looked away from you. "Losing you and Dad."

You wrapped your arms around her. "That won't be for a long time, okay? You know how stubborn your father and I are."

"You're right."

Bjorn huffed. "So morbid. Mum and Dad will live forever."

You giggled. "You're adorable, Bjorn."

Daisy trudged over and flopped onto your legs. "I need Mum time."

"You doing okay, Daisy?"

"Just feel big." She rubbed her belly. "I don't know how you did this four times."

Lilly giggled. "Mum's a trooper."

You smiled softly. "Your father and I wanted a big family. Levi is an only child and it was just him, his mother and father. Levi dreamed of a big family with a lot of love and laughter. We all gave him that." You looked over at Levi as he started to walk back. "When I met him he was just this grumpy and lonely CEO. Now he is always smiling."

Daisy smirked. "And chasing you around the house."

Levi came to a stop. "Chasing who?"

Lilly smiled. "We were saying that you're always chasing Mum around the house. We've always known you two are deeply in love."

Levi sat behind you and hugged you tightly. "She's just so sweet, kind, caring, funny and beautiful."

You giggled as he nibbled your neck. "Calm down, Mr."

Evan walked over with two kids under his arms and the eldest running over in front of him. "Dad getting handsy with Mum again?"

"He's behaving."

Levi smiled at his kids. "Just making sure your mother knows she's loved."

Evan looked down at his daughter. "Little one is tired."

Lilly stood up and picked up her daughter as her husband picked up her son. "I think it's naptime for these lot."

Daisy giggled as her husband picked her up like a bride. "Same for us."

Bjorn sat up. "I could do with some sleep."

Levi kissed your neck. "We'll rest too."

You stood up and sighed. "Sounds like a great plan."

Levi picked you up making you laugh. "See you all soon."

You kicked your legs. "You're so handsome."

Levi smirked. "Thank you. You're stunning and gorgeous." He sped up and raced to the guest house. "Now, we have some fun alone time."

You purred at him. "You still want me?"

He lay you on the bed and sighed. "I want you all the time. I love you, all of you. You're my perfect and cute wife."

You lifted your hips as he slowly dragged your shorts and panties off. "Levi."

He ran his hands up the outside of your thighs slowly. "May I devour you?"

You nibbled your lip. "Please do."

Strong loving hands gripped your thighs tightly as soft moans escaped you. For countless years Levi had delighted in the meal that was you. He'd always take his time so he could savour every single drop that came from you. It was an addiction and he knew there was no cure, but that didn't bother him because he wanted to have you for the rest of his life.

Once you felt a pop of euphoria you had to beckon Levi to be one with you, otherwise he would keep going. Though you were both older, you still acted young in the bedroom. Exploring different positions and Levi moving deep and hard. The two of you panted and moaned together filling the room.

The two of you knew every inch of each other, it was like both of you were open books that you would read forever. Levi would press you into all kinds of perfect shapes, each position ensuring your maximum pleasure. Levi always made it about you because he got off on seeing you experiencing pure orgasmic bliss.

Both your bodies were decorated with love bites to show off your possessiveness for each other. Nails dragged over perfect muscular skin as pleasure ripped through you over and over. Though Levi could no longer give you kids, he skill would mumble about his kink of giving you one.

After giving you one last burst of pleasure, Levi pressed in deep before experiencing his body shaking bliss. As you both heavily panted, you admired each other and then shared a sweet and loving kiss that made you feel like you were forever bound together.

Levi held you for a while after as you both kissed and talked sweetly. He played with your hair for a bit. "You're so cute and perfect. I love you."

"I love you so much, Levi."

He blushed a little. "We missed dinner with the kids."

"I think they know what we were up to." You sat up and stretched. "You wanna have some fun?"

"Again? Give me five more minutes."

You got out of bed. "I didn't mean that, I meant we could go night swimming."

Levi stumbled out of bed. "Night swimming? That sounds amazing."

You pulled on your swim things. "Come on, handsome."

Levi put his swim shorts on and ran with you down the beach to the water. "Slow down!"

You turned and ran backwards. "Come on, handsome! You're supposed to be stronger and faster than me."

Levi sprinted and tackled you. "Got you!"

You screamed in delight. "Told you!"

He jumped into the water with you before swimming around as he held you. "Swimming around with the love of my life under the light of the moon, it's the best thing ever."

You showered his face with kisses. "This is a perfect day. I can't wait for the rest of the holiday."

"It'll be nice and relaxing." He hugged you tightly. "I'm going to spoil you more when I retire."

"Lilly will do you proud taking fully over."

He smiled. "She's doing incredible so far. I'm barely doing anything now. I'm so proud of her, of all our kids. They're all incredible."

[zombie-bait]

The Death of a Vampire

Lestat as a protagonist just works so incredibly well and a very significant aspect of that is him being Anne Rice's self-insert. Lived experience can be critical when it comes to writing a good story and many memorable novels will feature elements of that. Anne is built different, though. Lestat (book 2 onwards) is basically Anne's journal for dealing with her grievances and trauma, which, on its own, is a very questionable method of writing. More often than not, it causes him to be characterized inconsistently between books because Anne's own opinions have changed. But it also makes him so real.

You follow his struggles with religion, you see him yearn for forgiveness from a god that has seemingly abandoned him a long time ago and you feel it. The passage I will never get over is in the early chapters of The Vampire Lestat, when Lestat has a breakdown over his mother's (and frankly his own) mortality. He struggles and he cries and he can't get out of bed because there's nothing he can do. Eventually he starts to live again, forces himself to.

But.

"I wandered into the church and on my knees I leaned against the wall and I looked at the ancient statues and I felt the same gratitude looking at the finely carved fingers and the noses and the ears and the expressions on their faces and the deep folds in their garments, and I couldn’t stop myself from crying. At least we had these beautiful things, I said. Such goodness. But nothing natural seemed beautiful to me now! The very sight of a great tree standing alone in a field could make me tremble and cry out. Fill the orchard with music. And let me tell you a little secret. It never did pass, really."

I think about those last two sentences a lot. I think about them even more since Anne Rice passed away.

Every page of Interview is spent talking about death and yet (imo) it's only in TVL that you really feel it. Louis in book 1 welcomes death quite readily because, besides his toxic boyfriend and their traumatized daughter, he doesn't have much to live for. He's basically given up by the time Lestat appears. The greatest torture, to Louis, is the knowledge that he can live forever on the suffering of others.

But Lestat is the complete opposite. He wants to listen to music, to explore Paris, to perform on any stage that will take him, to embrace the man he loves and to send his ailing mother letters of his accomplishments. Death matters most to those who are desperate to live and god is he desperate. He's haunted by his mother's sickness, by the wolves on the mountain that threaten to end his life before he's even lived it, the witches place that reeks of meaningless suffering. And in a way, the dark gift provides opportunity to escape that. But it is still death. It takes away Nicki in a very literal way and takes away his mother in a more personal one. Magnus, like death, chose Lestat arbitrarily. He sees the cellar of blonde corpses and knows that he was only one of dozens to meet an untimely death with no explanation.

Lestat also really wants you to know that he is, truly, a good person. He must be. He swears to only hunt criminals and then goes back on that two pages later. He reshapes stories to present himself as the noble protagonist and the audience has no choice but to believe him. He wants, desperately, to be loved for all that he is, man and monster. He wants to be the hero.

He's this awful, fascinating, very human man so clearly born out of the internal struggle to find meaning and love in a cruel, unpredictable world we all tend to share. He's made up of incredibly basic and powerful human desires hidden behind a mask of bravado and I can't recalling seeing another protagonist like him.

(Quick mention: This isn't some kind of "wow Anne Rice is an incredible author who can do no wrong" piece. She's written a lot of fucked up and bad shit that cannot be easily brushed over. But I don't think I'll ever get over reading TVL for the first time. To read someone bare their soul in such a way creates a truly unique experience. A lot of characters in a lot of pieces of media face death, but it's rare to see a character face mortality in such a personal way.)

(Also odds are I've written similar posts to this before but shhhhh these sad gay vampires are all I have)

[fictionadventurer]

Austen asks! 4-24

I don't know if you intended this to be inclusive, but I'll answer them all anyway (skipping over the ones that have already been answered).

6. Favorite movie adaptation

The 1995 Sense and Sensibility. To me, it strikes a good balance between being a good adaptation and making the story accessible to audiences that haven't read the book, and it's one of the few that seems to understand Austen's humor and romance.

7. Favorite Austen couple

Anne and Wentworth. Their personalities balance each other perfectly.

8. Least favorite couple

Colonel Brandon and Marianne are so frustrating to me, mostly because of how Austen writes them. They fall victim to the Marian Halcombe Problem--if you spend the whole book showing a man and woman having tons of conversations and developing a good dynamic as equals, I'm not going to believe that he's in love with her sister.

9. Most hated foe of a heroine

Isabella Thorpe is a terrible person, and I can't think of any redeeming qualities or circumstances.

11. Least favorite book

I gained a better appreciation for Sense and Sensibility on my last reread, but it's still definitely Austen's weakest novel.

12. Least favorite Austen heroine

Marianne Dashwood is a realistic teenager, but not someone that I can admire or sympathize with too much.

14. Favorite love confession from the books

Can any Austen fan say anything other than The Letter in Persuasion?

16. Least favorite film adaptation

I hold a grudge against the 2005 Pride and Prejudice, because it did nothing to make me understand the appeal of Austen, and it's a horrible adaptation, but it has such a huge influence on fandom's interpretation of the novel.

Also, every once in a while, I remember the scene in the 2008 Sense and Sensibility where Brandon gives Willoughby a "stay away from my daughter" speech, and I shudder over how creepy it is.

17. Moment that made you sad/cry while reading

Basically any scene of Fanny Price's childhood.

18. Moment that made you smile/happy while reading

Henry Tilney's introduction scene in Northanger Abbey is just pure distilled joy.

19. Moment that made you laugh while reading

I'll never forget the time I laughed out loud in class while reading one of Miss Bates' speeches in Emma.

20. Moment that made you mad while reading

I don't know if I've ever been so mad for a heroine as I was during the scene where the neglected poor, orphaned, outsider Fanny watches everyone fawn over poor, orphaned outsider Mary Crawford.

22. Favorite Austen female casting decision

I love Tamsin Greig as Miss Bates in the 2009 Emma, because I did not imagine her talkativeness as stemming from anxiety, but it was fun to see her played that way and to experience a different interpretation that still felt valid.

I'm also going to take this opportunity to mention that I love Mrs. Jennings and Sir John Middleton in 1995's Sense and Sensibility. I just grin through every scene they're in, and I especially respect them after learning that they were the only cast members that Emma Thompson didn't have to write random extra dialogue for in crowd scenes, because they just naturally knew how to talk like Regency characters.

23. Favorite Austen male casting decision

I love Johnny Lee Miller as Mr. Knightley in 2009 Emma. I don't know if he matches the character in the novel, but I love how he portrayed the dynamic with Emma.

Also, Hugh Laurie as Mr. Palmer in 1995's Sense and Sensibility is perfection. And Greg Wise as Willoughby is beautiful and charming enough to do his job of fooling you into thinking he could be the romantic lead before he proves to be an utter cad.

24. Favorite supporting character

Mrs. Jennings. Hands-down. So vulgar, nosey, and over-the-top, but beneath it all, so kind and friendly and helpful. I love her so much.

[crispy-crust]

top 10 yuris

usually i would answer these asks in a jokinG manner but you've asked me about a topic i am extremely passionate about so prepare for a massive text post

addinG a cut here because this post is larGeee and i don't want it cloGGinG up any dashes

NUMBER 10: hatbow!

at number 10 due to the extreme lack of canon interaction but the fact it's here at all despite how little of it exists is a testament to how much these two have rotted in my brain. Go play a hat in time it's so cute and so fun i wish there was more content of these two

NUMBER 9: kimona!

ah kimona. how i wish there was more actual canon content of these two. this shit made volume 5 for me it's the reason volume 5 is the only volume i own of the hardcovers (for now). there is undeniable tension between these two i refuse to believe bryan lee o'malley wrote this without the intention of makinG it seem romantic. and as a friend once said "they two bad bitches n they kissin each other 🔥🔥🔥🔥"

NUMBER 8: ROSEMARY

iconic in every sense of the word these two are special to me. i have to include them here purely due to how influential they were it's awesome not much else to add here as this isn't one of the ships i'm severely brainrotted about i just think they're neat!

NUMBER 7: lumity!

i used to be biG into these two they're wonderful and it was Great seeinG somethinG like this on modern television. shoutout dressinG up and travelinG toGether (iykyk)

NUMBER 6: weblena

now we're GettinG into brainrot territory. the showrunners said somethinG alonG the lines of "webby won't Get a romantic interest because the show isn't about romance" and i Go "what the fuck are you talkinG about we already had a romantic subplot with her and lena that was clearly the point of all of that" there is a scene in season 1 where webby calls lena a "beautiful idiot" and then looks at her like this

TELL ME THAT ISN'T gAY! YOU CAN'T BECAUSE IT'S gAY AS SHIT THESE TWO ARE SO FRUITY TOgETHER DUCKTALES 2017 I LOVE YOU FOR EVERYTHINg BUT I WISH YOU ALLOWED THESE TWO TO HAPPEN

number 5: sashanne!

much can be said about this ship and the anGst behind it and all that. i'm huGe on sashannarcy as a whole and i considered addinG that ship to this list but i thouGht talkinG about the dynamics of the pairs would be more interestinG sashanne is a stronG case of missed potential to me, a lot could have been done to make their dynamic a lot more compellinG even more-so than it already is and a lot could have been chanGed about the way they handled sasha's "redemption arc" in season 3. season 3 as a whole is a mess that i have many opinions on but that's for another day. despite all the flaws and missed potential this ship still aches me in the best way possible. they were 13 years old at the time of amphibia and they had to deal with ALL OF THAT. at aGe 13 sasha elizabeth waybriGht attempted actual honest to God suicide due to a fiGht she had with anne while lean on me was playinG in the backGround and the world was forever chanGed. amphibia was so held back by so much and the amount of missed potential in it (especially in season 3) kills me but despite all of that this relationship shined throuGh as one of if not the best part of the show for many people. Good shit!

NUMBER 4: lapidot!

NOW WE'RE gETTINg TO THE gOOD SHIT how come even in media that has explicit queerness everywhere i always tend to Gravitate towards the dubiously canon clearly more than friends who were done dirty by their lack of screentime toGether? lapidot is a lot for so many reasons and i'm very much not alone in beinG abnormal about these two. IN FACT REBECCA SUgAR HERSELF DREW HUMANSTUCK ART OF THEM! AND THE OFFICIAL CARTOON NETWORK SOCIALS HAVE RECOgNIZED THIS SHIP MULTIPLE TIMES!! the way these two Grow to be comfortable around each other and learn to live in this new stranGe place toGether is so charminG and so Gut wrenchinG when you're rewatchinG the show and know what's cominG. in the episode where peridot learns to bubble stuff for the first time she sends the bubble off and when she asks steven where it'll Go he says "home" AND THEN IT CUTS TO LAPISSSSSS. SHE THINKS OF LAPIS AS HER HOMEEEEEEE DON'T EVEN FUCKINg gET ME STARTED ON DISTANT SHORE I ACTUALLY SOBBED SO FUCKINg HARD WHILE WATCHINg THAT SCENE IT'S UNREAL they were done so dirty with their reunion as well what do you mean all we Got was a "hey" I NEED TO SEE TEARS AS THEY MAKE OUT DAMN IT!! these two are imperfect and they stumble throuGh this whole life thinG a lot and there are many ups and downs to their relationship but that's what makes it compellinG that's what makes it so Good and damn it at the end they made it back to each other... if we ever Get more official su content and these two aren't canonized in it i will end up on the news

NUMBER 3: stephcass!

yea what did you expect of course this was Gonna be here these two are everythinG to me and every day that passes by where they aren't canon is a day i am in physical pain their dynamic throuGhout batGirl 2000 Gives me life and the anGst that comes from it is delicious the obvious queerbait in batGirls doesn't help this at all. they knew what they were doinG and you can't convince me otherwise these Girls and their relationship persevered despite all the editorial nonsense that tried to split them up and each time they came back stronGer than ever they have such undeniable chemistry and they're universally loved as a pairinG come on dc you would be actually stupid not to put them toGether come on everyone already clocked them like 2 decades aGo

NUMBER 2: junerezi!

dear lord this pairinG has had an affect on me. you really do Go into the epiloGues expectinG roxyGen and then end up on the other side screaminG and clawinG at the walls in the name of junerezi i was hooked on them before i even read meat! the little crumbs in candy were so dense and so impactful to me their dynamic is so incredibly fun to read and their scenes in meat are so painful and so powerful they are the reason i own the epiloGues physically i need beyond canon to be done already so i can see the end of this plotline throuGh i need them back toGether you don't understand june's death in meat while in terezi's arms actually made me feel numb irl for like a week i wish people would Give the epiloGues a chance because they're actually really damn Good and the junerezi is sooooo delicious i cry so hard i usidgfbuiydboguiszdghbfuijdsbvgfyihsdfobuijgbf[9usapigbvfuidjbsfuijdb

NUMBER 1: MARCANNE

spoiler warninG for amphibia

i don't talk about these two often on here, not as much as i'd like at least. but marcy wu as a character and this ship specifically literally chanGed me as a person. there is a reason i still call marcy my favorite character in fiction despite havinG read stories i consider to be much better than amphibia since. and this may sound stupid but i Genuinely do not know if i would be alive today were it not for marcy i started amphibia at a very rouGh time in my life and the character of marcy and the lenGths she went to for anne hit me so incredibly hard due to that imaGine with me for a second that you are 13 years old. a child Genius! everyone around you recoGnizes you as someone who will be incredibly successful later in life you have 2 people who are incredibly important to you. they mean everythinG to you you would Give the world for them and yet those two people cannot be bothered enouGh to enGaGe with you about your favorite movie or your interests in General

marcy Gave up her entire life back on earth just to be able to exist around anne and sasha. she had everythinG GoinG for her earth was her home she Got Good Grades her future looked briGht she was studyinG for the SAT from aGe 13 and earth was where all of her interests were. everythinG she knew. and she Gave that up for anne and sasha. do you know how deeply you have to care about someone to be willinG to do that? do you know how stronG your love for them has to be? cut to true colors. this episode ruined me i won't even Get into the confession scene. i have that scene memorized by heart and i start to tear up whenever i think of it i Genuinely don't think i can handle talkinG about it the stabbinG scene however.

once aGain i remind you this is a 13 year old. imaGine beinG 13 and usinG what you think may be your very last words ever to apoloGize to someone. someone you so deeply care about. you are dyinG in front of them and all you can think to say in that moment is sorry. because you believe they hate your Guts at that moment. could you imaGine GoinG throuGh that?

could you imaGine then wakinG up realizinG you're alive only to be Greeted by niGhtmarish hallucinations of your worst fear. and what's your worst fear in that moment? your friends hatinG you. them leavinG you behind after all that you went throuGh to stay close to them

the first thinG she said when she woke up was "sashy...? anne..??" SHE WAS DREAMINg OF THEMMMM

AND THEN WHEN SHE'S TAKEN OVER BY THE CORE HER FANTASY IS gETTINg TO EXPLORE NEW FANTASTICAL WORLDS ALONgSIDE ANNE AND SASHA!!! ALL SHE WANTS TO DO IS SPEND TIME WITH THE PEOPLE CLOSEST TO HER this is quickly turninG into an essay about just marcy so let me try and Get into some of the more liGhthearted aspects every sinGle scene we see of marcy and anne throuGhout their time toGether in season 2 is the Gayest shit i've seen in my whole life. them sobbinG and huGGinG each other after beinG reunited... anne boopinG marcy and tappinG her on the head later in the episode.. anne tryinG to impress marcy by actinG smart... marcy STANDINg STILL IN ONE SPOT UNTIL THE SUN WENT DOWN IN A DAY AT THE AQUARIUM AFTER ANNE LEFT TO gO WITH THE PLANTARS. ANNE BLUSHINg AT MARCY'S INFODUMP IN NEW WARTWOOD. THEIR ANTICS IN THE SLEEPOVER EPISODE. THE PROCESS OF ANNE gETTINg HER NEW ARMOR AT THE END OF SEASON 2 AND THE WAY MARCY LOOKS AT HER AFTER SHE DECIDESSSS

as previously stated this ship is extremely influential to me and i would not be the same person today without it. i don't even know if i would be here today without it. so i would like to close this post off by sayinG thank you amphibia. thank you matt braly. and most of all thank you marcy wu <3 you are a treasure that i will cherish for the rest of my life nothinG will ever compare to you

[erinelliotc]

Why do you ship EddEddy when in canon we have the very harmonic friendship of Eds? What's interesting about the dynamic between Edd and Eddy, if Ed isn't there, it's pretty boring without him.

I'll talk about this in much more detail after I rewatch the show a few more times and make my video talking about EddEddy, BUT here's some of what I have to say about it:

Yes! I agree that they have a very harmonious friendship, all of them together. They're soulmates and they love each other very much. I really envy what they have because it's something so perfect and beautiful. The show is about Ed, Edd and Eddy, but I think it's very clear that:

1) Eddy's the main character

2) The show focuses more on his relationship with Double D, especially from season 5 onwards

They work well both as the three together and as separate duos too. Each duo has a different dynamic, and from my perspective, Double D and Eddy have a dynamic that involves mutual romantic feelings (that they're not yet aware of), which I don't see between Ed and Double D or Ed and Eddy. To be more clear, it seems to me that Ed has or may have a crush on Double D and Eddy (there are a number of scenes that indicate this), but I don't see them reciprocating, feeling the same way about him. And believe me, I really wanted to ship them. I love polyamorous relationships (Anne, Sasha and Marcy from Amphibia are a great example, I think the three of them have a clear interest in each other), I love edt3 fanarts, I think they're cute together, BUT I just can't see them working together as a polyamorous couple because I don't see Double D or Eddy being romantically interested in Ed at any point of the show or even in the future because it doesn't seem to be heading in that direction (I think that in Big Picture Show it even becomes a little uncomfortable how much Eddy specifically refers to Double D even when Ed is with them, which already happened in other moments of the show (and Double D specifically referring to Eddy as well) and intensified in the movie, but it's another factor that seems to indicate how emotionally close the two are, in a way beyond friendship...).

I want to make it clear that I disagree with the view that romance is more important than friendship. I don't think boyfriends/girlfriends/romantic partners or love interests are above friends, they're just different equally important dynamics. When I talk about this, I don't mean in any way that Double D and Eddy's relationship is better or more important, or that Ed is less important to them or less loved by them, they're just relationships and feelings with different natures and ways of functioning. So please don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that Double and Eddy like each other more than they like Ed, I'm just saying they have a different dynamic and type of relationship, and different types of relationship usually mean different ways of interacting, and usually romantic relationships imply on more intimacy (both physical and emotional), and that's what I see happening with Double D and Eddy. There are certainly things in the relationship between Ed and Double D that Double D doesn't or can't have with Eddy, and things in the relationship between Ed and Eddy that Eddy doesn't or can't have with Double D. As I said, each duo has their own dynamic, their own unique and exclusive specificities that they can't get with their other duo, and all three love each other deeply and equally, just in different ways. That's all.

To me, Double D and Ed's relationship follows more of a mother-son dynamic (sometimes brotherly too), and Ed and Eddy have a more brotherly dynamic (@gettingfrilly made a really good post talking about it in more detail, about how Eddy's like a younger brother to Ed because he's very much like Sarah but unlike her he shows that he likes Ed and has fun with him, and how Ed's like the supportive and affectionate big brother that Eddy didn't have). I think the show makes it very clear that Double D and Eddy are supposed to have a couple dynamic, whether as a joke/comic relief or in a serious way. It's very visible to me that their relationship is supposed to give this huge old married couple who always disagree and fight energy, and even Ed often seems to look at them as if he's finding their excessive closeness strange, either shipping them or wanting to participate too.

Someone pointed it out already, but I think it's very relevant to note that the only times Eddy cries throughout the entire show is because of or related to Double D (I'm talking about emotional crying, not crying from physical pain). @gettingfrilly also made another post that I really like and completely agree with about Eddy and empathy. I recommend reading it. Anyway, Eddy's not a very emotional character at all because as we know, he's always trying to repress the feelings that make him "fragile" and to imitate his brother. He tries to act cool, to be superior and better than everyone, to be very manly, so he can't cry, he can't be a sissy, he can't be sensitive, vulnerable and emotional, he has to be tough, he has to be a man, he has to be unbreakable and unbeatable, he has to be self-centered, he can't be compassionate, empathetic and caring, and I personally think that in the end, whether we like it or not, he ends up absorbing all of this into his personality because that's how he was raised and conditioned from a very early age, and that's how he coped with it, so being self-centered and feeling uncomfortable dealing with and showing these types of emotions is now part of Eddy's personality, even though he doesn't feel good about being that way. He's spent most of his life having this distorted perception that acting like this is the normal way to be and treat others, that acting like this is "cool" because it's how his beloved, precious brother acted, so it's very complicated for Eddy to deconstruct this within himself now, and in fact it's already a bit late to actually change this because his personality has already been shaped and built, and all he can do now is remind himself to be more sensitive and care more about others. Being kind and empathetic is not something that comes naturally or easily to him, but rather a task he needs to rationalize and remember to do, and even in the few moments when he shows that he at least cares about Ed and Double D, his way of expressing affection usually comes in the form of practical actions rather than affectionate words, so sometimes it can seem like he doesn't care when he actually does, or that he has a very cold, insensitive and crude way of showing affection. It's necessary to teach him the way friends act toward each other, teach him about acting with affection and love. He needs people, most of the time Double D, to tell him how and why what he did is bad and harmful to others, but there are many moments when you can see a genuine effort on his part to try to understand, improve and show that it wasn't his intention to cause any harm, after all, this only makes others dislike him, and he doesn't want that. Eddy's desperate for acceptance and being liked by everyone, which conflicts with his "I don't give a shit about anyone but myself" way of being and acting, and being the way he is keeps everyone away from him and makes them not like him, so he suffers a lot being in this limbo between "I don't care about others" and "everyone has to like me".

Anywaaay, back to the main topic: the fact that the only times this character who struggles so much with all of this cried had something to do with Double D says a lot about how intimate he feels with him. Double D and Eddy seem to share a very strong emotional as well as physical intimacy. Sure, it's part of the show that the characters in general have a lot of physical contact, so it's something a little difficult to analyze, BUT the impression I have is that Double D and Eddy still have more scenes with physical contact, and their type of physical contact also seems more intimate to me, more romantic... (I mean, just watch the final scene of BPS of them holding hands looking into each other's eyes. It's pretty obvious).

The person also pointed out how emotionally attached Eddy is to Double D, and that's so true. Double D messes with Eddy's emotions in a very interesting way. He "messes up" everything that Eddy learned as his truth and that was established, awakens many things in Eddy, brings out the best side of him making him have to think and reflect more about things, people and the impact of his actions. Despite also having a lot to learn and improve, Double D has a lot of emotional maturity and responsibility and tends to have a very careful and kind way of dealing with people. Although this way of him being what Eddy understands as "sissy" and is often the target of his mockery or he even appears angry when Double D acts like this, Eddy can't help but feel embraced and comfortable with Double D's affection, sensitivity and support in a way he seems to have never felt before considering his history with his brother and his difficulties and cluelessness about affection and love. Yes, Ed's also a very affectionate person, I'd say even more than Double D. They both like to express affection physically, but while Ed's more like a clingy, happy child or puppy with lots of love to give (mainly physical) and silly things to say and do to put a smile on people's faces to make them feel better, Double D has a more "therapist" and "maternal" side. He's very conscious and attentive, he takes care of people, provides support and a safe space, analyzes situations and tries to help with understanding, counseling and kind words. All this almost unnatural excess of kindness and support is something that Eddy is definitely not used to and finds very strange, but it makes him feel good without him realizing it, as throughout the show we see him frequently turning to Double D when he feels lost, confused, frustrated or scared, as if he sees Double D as a great source of emotional support to help him feel better and get back on track, and as his guide to better understand situations and solve problems. Obviously this isn't something exclusive to couples, but this type of dynamic indicates a very great intimacy and is usually more characteristic of romantic relationships, being another factor that makes their relationship seem to tend more toward romance.

There are many other things, but I prefer to save them for when I make my EddEddy video.

"What's interesting about the dynamic between Edd and Eddy"

Wow I really like this subject because to me this is one of the biggest reasons why they have so much chemistry and are so good together and to each other. I don't want to talk about this in much detail because I want to save that for my video, but basically: Double D and Eddy have some very opposite traits that complement each other, and they have a lot of growth and character development because of their differences interacting together. The show focuses on their relationship because their character development mostly depends on each other. Double D is good where Eddy has to grow and mature, and Eddy is good where Double D has to grow and mature. They have so much to offer and teach each other, and that's what they do by living together daily for years. They unintentionally learn from each other and help each other improve and work on their bad aspects/tendencies, and achieve greater balance in their personalities and behaviors, helping each other not to lean too much in one direction and too little in the other. I think that many of the things they both hate about each other are actually things they deep down admire and even envy about each other (Eddy gets angry and mocks when Double D is smart and uses his extensive vocabulary, but in "Once Upon an Ed" he makes it very clear how he'd like to be smart and use "fancy words" like him, or even be smarter than him, because Double D's intelligence actually makes him feel inferior and dumb. And Double D complains about Eddy's stubbornness but shows that he feels uncomfortable with his own lack of attitude and that he'd like to be more determined, less of a people pleaser and stand up for himself more like Eddy, in addition to him seeming to try to imitate Eddy in many moments, acting with Eddy in a similar way to how Eddy acts with him). The answer is to balance their qualities and flaws, because they complement each other perfectly. And as many say, Ed is the glue that keeps the trio together. He's a crucial piece in their group. In fact, they all are, each of them plays a very important role. @gettingfrilly made another great post (I'm starting to realize how we share similar thoughts xD) about what happens if each duo doesn't have their third Ed. Please read it because I couldn't put it in better words.

Well, as I said before, the three Eds love each other intensely and equally, just in different ways. Even though Double D and Eddy have a romantic relationship, they all need each other and don't function well forever as just the two of them. They work well separately, but just in the short term, as something momentary. They are meant to be a trio and this is how they truly reach their full potential.

[no-where-new-hero]

Some Chapter 42 thoughts because oh my god and also more Emily parallels.

Valancy was looking anything but beautiful when she entered the parlour. Her white night had played fearful havoc with her face. She wore an ugly old brown-and-blue gingham, having left all her pretty dresses in the Blue Castle. But Barney dashed across the room and caught her in his arms.

I love how this paragraph accomplishes two things: it first shows us how Valancy's beauty--which had been brought out of her by her happiness in a nourishing environment--has dimmed again by returning to her old grim circumstances. She can't carry the light and beauty of Mistawis with her here because she has so totally decided to turn her back on it for Barney's "sake." Second, LMM consistently reinforces Valancy's ugliness in the whole chapter to show that Barney has never cared for her superficially. His love for her overlooks such conventions as good looks and gets to the heart of Valancy.

Oh, how dear he was! How she longed to throw herself into his arms! As he put her gently down in a chair, she could have kissed the slender, brown hands that touched her arms.

The things that LMM conveys with hands! Exceptionally aesthetic.

"But I had one friend—or thought I had. A clever, bookish chap—a bit of a writer. That was a bond between us—I had some secret aspirations along that line. He was older than I was—I looked up to him and worshipped him. For a year I was happier than I’d ever been. Then—a burlesque sketch came out in the college magazine—a mordant thing, ridiculing Dad’s remedies. The names were changed, of course, but everybody knew what and who was meant. Oh, it was clever—damnably so—and witty. McGill rocked with laughter over it. I found out he had written it.”

This was where my Dean x Barney AU idea came from, btw. Because of course this is the kind of thing that Dean might do. And the description sounds on point: the bond between them, pointing to similarity--the cleverness and bookishness--the cruel wit.

My first book had been published the year before, and made a hit—I had a bit of money from my royalties. I bought my island. But I kept away from people.

My ten year plan in a nutshell.

"Your Stirling pride can’t stomach them."

LMM forgot she wasn't writing about the Murrays here (I don't think pride as a Stirling virtue (?) was ever mentioned before lol) but its very much a jab you could send at Emily.

“Love you! Girl, you’re in the very core of my heart. I hold you there like a jewel. Didn’t I promise you I’d never tell you a lie? Love you! I love you with all there is of me to love. Heart, soul, brain. Every fibre of body and spirit thrilling to the sweetness of you. There’s nobody in the world for me but you, Valancy.”

I'm pretty sure this is the longest and certainly the most passionate love speech from a guy in all of LMM's canon (excepting Mark Delage Graves). Gilbert talks to Anne about his dream of her. Teddy tells Emily they belong to each other. I'm not entirely sure in either situation if they bring up love to this extent. In a way that works--considering the friends-to-lovers situation. But while this could come across as a little corny, it's also so perfect: in Valancy, we have an unusual heroine who has never really known what love looks like or is supposed to feel like. Hence her inability to recognize Barney showing it to her the entire year. She needs to hear it. Even then she doesn't believe it! It's oddly telling that his anger is what convinces her. But the line of him holding her like a jewel is quite beautiful--Mr. Barney "Anti-Wealth 15$ Pearl Necklace" Snaith.

[carolinanadeau]

In Praise of Sally Ann Howes

As I've made it one of the purposes of my blog to share photos and songs and general positivity about the wonderful English actress Sally Ann Howes, I thought I'd make a post to talk in much more detail about all the great things about her and why I adore her so much!

This classy English beauty possessed a highly expressive face and eyes, an astonishingly powerful soprano, a great sense of humor, and the world's most charming laugh. One thing I cannot stop saying about Sally Ann is that she did not and does not get nearly enough credit and recognition for her immense talent and prolific career, and it's precisely for that reason that I'm here to do my part in giving it to her!

This overlong rambling post is a combination of biographical information and my personal fawning over her performances... whatever I felt I most wanted to put out there in the world and what I'd like people less familiar with her to know.

Click on Keep Reading and I'll take you on a journey!

As she preferred to work on the stage and didn't really pursue a film career, the catalog of Sally Ann's work that can still be viewed today is unfortunately small - though you can find almost all of her early films on the internet if you look hard! In her early film days, mostly made before she was able to pursue her true passion of musical theatre, her extraordinary singing talents weren't utilized by the producers at all.

However, we were fortunately blessed with exactly one musical film role from her, and it's an iconic one: the aptly-named role of Truly Scrumptious in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (1968), the golden-haired, golden-hearted candy heiress who falls in love with and eventually marries Dick van Dyke's character Caractacus Potts after joining him and his children on a madcap adventure. She's a sweet, intelligent ingenue with hidden depths and one of my favorite sorts of character arcs - the uptight, lonely woman who becomes more and more warm and open as she discovers newfound freedom and joy in life and falls in love.

There is something about Sally Ann that just glows in every scene of Chitty, and it's not only that bright blonde hair! The way she widens her eyes sometimes, the way she raises her eyebrows, her gentle and soft presence in the happiest scenes, and the particular airy lilt she has to her speaking voice are all so distinctive and appealing, and I can't take my eyes off her. And her smile! When I say she glows it's barely even a metaphor, the woman just emits light. 

(Funnily enough, I started to realize that many of the laudatory quotes I've found about her also refer to her in this way, like this quote from a 1965 TV Guide article, from playwright Sidney Kingsley: "She's luminous as an actress. I mean that literally. In Brigadoon she really lit up the stage.")

For me, I'm weak for any actress who can do the defrosted-ice-queen trope so incredibly well. Truly starts out as closed-off and prim, and nearly reverts to that state when she and Caractacus have a Big Misunderstanding near the end, but in the scenes where she's happy and carefree, the warmth just radiates off of her.

She also has the most adorable chemistry with Dick van Dyke in an annoyances-to-friends-to-lovers relationship that absolutely shaped my young brain. Whenever Sally Ann and Dick glance at each other, whether with irritation and frustration early in the film or with warmth and affection later on, their chemistry is obvious and natural, and there's so much expressed in each one of those glances. One has no difficulty believing that these characters are going to be very happily married.

(Here's a cute on-set interview where she talks about, among other things, how easily she and van Dyke clicked.)

While I acknowledge that the character of Caractacus Potts was absolutely originally planned to be an actual Englishman, Dick van Dyke played him with an American accent, and to me they will always be an adorable English-American couple. It's a whole part of the charm of this pairing to me!

Sally Ann also had a great relationship with child actors Adrian Hall and Heather Ripley who played Jeremy and Jemima Potts, and did her best to help make them more comfortable and happy during the many very long days on set. Having been a child film star herself, she knew a great deal about how difficult and alienating it could be. The genuine affection the three of them shared is obvious in their scenes together, especially in the extremely adorable "Truly Scrumptious" number, and it really makes the developing mother-child relationship between the characters so believable.

The beach scene, where so much of the relationship between Truly and Caractacus and the Potts children is developed, is incredibly cute and heartwarming, and a lot of that rides on Sally Ann's performance and how her previously prim-and-proper character shows herself to be warm and loving, once she (literally) lets her hair down. We've already seen how happy the Potts family is together; now we see how Truly fits in perfectly and makes them all even happier.

Look at her! Literally glowing!

(One thing I should mention: I think both the plot and the love story of CCBB are greatly improved if one just treats the "dream sequence" as real events, which was possibly the original intention anyway, so just note that is always the perspective I'm coming from here. It's the only way to make some things make sense and for the characters and their relationships to fully develop.)

"Lovely, Lonely Man" is Truly's big solo moment, and was probably the least comprehensible part of the movie to me as a kid (lol), but is now indisputably one of the very best parts to me as an adult. It's an exquisitely beautiful love song, especially the bridge, and I somehow love it more and more every time I rewatch it. Sally Ann's dreamy, graceful movements and the way the whole scene is shot make her look like a princess, and the slow build of the song is masterfully done. She has this distinctive crisp way of articulating her words while singing, especially the closing consonants like N and M, that I just love to listen to. The string section and the building countermelodies are so beautiful it makes me want to weep. Everyone involved in creating this scene and song deserved an award, I'm being so serious. While it's not the highest of soprano songs and doesn't fully show off Sally Ann's astonishing range, she shows an incredible amount of vocal control here through the many diminuendos and crescendos, and she's mesmerizing to watch and listen to. One of her "glowiest" scenes, for sure!

While I've seen people call this song irrelevant to the plot, I strongly disagree - the romance is part of the plot, of course, and while I didn't fully understand the meaning as a kid, this song establishes how much Truly's outlook on life and hopes for the future have already changed since meeting Caractacus, and how much happier she is with the poor Potts family than she's ever been in her life of luxury. Plus, now we know for certain that she's head over heels for Caractacus, but he doesn't know... increasing the dramatic irony of the pining and yearning to follow!

In the reprise of "Hushabye Mountain", which was sung in a much earlier scene by Dick van Dyke alone, Caractacus loses the will to continue the song because he's overwhelmed with emotion thinking of his children being held captive. Truly comes in to aid him with the final verse - another pivotal moment in the developing romance - and Sally Ann's singing here is nothing short of breathtaking.

And of course, I can't neglect to mention the "Doll on a Music Box" number, where Sally Ann, who was not a trained dancer and in fact considered herself to be "appalling" at it, performs an incredibly precise, incredibly impressive clockwork song-and-dance number while on a spinning turntable! She practiced it so well that she managed to successfully complete the shot in a single take, prompting the stage full of extras to burst into applause.

This is another important character moment for Truly, though it's disguised in a diegetic performance: though it's another thing that went over my head as a child who only got to see the movie once, the lyrics about being trapped up on a music box and longing to be freed by love pretty clearly symbolize how trapped the real Truly's high-society life makes her feel, and how she yearns to break free from class restrictions and live happily-ever-after with Caractacus, as it's only with him and his family that she really feels free.

Then there's that incredibly warm romantic look that Truly and Caractacus share at the end of the song when she silently acknowledges the love confession he's just made while singing in counterpoint with her, though they're still in a dangerous situation and can't give themselves away by appearing too human and breaking their disguises... sadly this vital moment is cut off on all the Youtube videos of the scene I can find, because none of the people who clipped it understand that that's the whole point of it all, apparently. But here's a gif!

The character of Truly doesn't exist at all in the original (quite different) book by James Bond author Ian Fleming - surprising, I know, given her name! - and, honestly, the fact that Truly and the romantic subplot of this movie exist are why it had such a strong impact on me as a child, and very much why I fell in love with it again as an adult. Even though the score is wonderful anyway and the story is charming and magical, I can confidently say that I would not have become as completely enchanted or had such a strong desire to revisit it again and again if there'd been no Truly and no love story. The fact that Sally Ann's performance makes Truly so loveable is, obviously, a pretty crucial factor there.

Sally Ann's delivery of "Well, Mr. Potts... now you'll have to marry me!" after Caractacus kisses Truly... that slide from prim mock-outrage to the playful, warm, you-can-hear-the-smile-in her-voice conclusion is flawless. Not even exaggerating when I say that this was the moment that made me into a hopeless romantic as a 9-year-old child. Sure, this wasn't the first movie I'd seen where two people fall in love and live happily ever after, but I distinctly remember that this was the first romance story that had me in a giggling, kicking-my-feet, "I ship it so hard" state of mind. And after revisiting it as an adult for the first time last year, I have confirmed that yes, child me already had great taste in fictional romances!

Oh, I could say so much about the difference in her body language between the two scenes where Caractacus carries Truly out of her car that's become stuck in a pond. The first time, Truly is affronted and extremely embarrassed by the situation, holding herself so stiffly and awkwardly to avoid an accidental embrace that she causes him to nearly lose his balance and drop her. The second time, when they're in love and they know it, she snuggles right up into his arms without hesitation and it's the cutest thing ever. Sally Ann was 5'6" but looks so tiny in that scene!

(And that kiss! Maybe I'm getting off-topic here in terms of strictly focusing on Sally Ann's contributions, because Dick van Dyke deserves tons of credit for making this kiss so good... but wow, the kiss. Several times I have called it "the Most Kiss they could have gotten away with in a children's movie." Again, giggling, kicking my feet etc.)

While Truly's costumes and hairstyling are rarely historically accurate (the film is set around 1910), the stylized nature of her fashion is iconic and memorable in itself. Sally Ann also completely pulls off playing a fresh-faced ingenue who is 12+ years younger than her actual age - and I do wonder if the aging-down of Sally Ann is at least part of the reason why Truly wears her hair loose throughout most of the movie! Either way, it works perfectly and I was shocked when I first learned how much older she was than her character. (If you watch her in The Admirable Crichton, where she is also in Edwardian costume and was closer to Truly's actual age, she really doesn't look all that much different. If anything, I think she looks even more glowingly beautiful in Chitty!)

Also, as for Truly wearing her hair down... it may just have been an intentionally anachronistic stylistic choice, but in-story, I think it actually contributes to her character by showing a willingness to flout convention and pursue whatever will make her happy instead of what's expected of her, which happens to be a key theme of her character arc.

Another thing that led me to adore Sally Ann as a person as I learned more about her over the last year: in the 1960s, she appeared as a panelist in quite a few episodes of the game show To Tell the Truth (as well as a few episodes of Password), and these can be found on Youtube. I really adore how her personality shines through - she's unfailingly bubbly, witty, self-deprecating, and a bit quirky. Just listening to her speak is a delight and she has one of the best laughs I've ever heard. Here is one of my favorite little moments that I clipped. 

By all accounts, she was a delightful person to know and work with, witty and clever, very professional, and very serious about her craft. She also always maintained a great affection for and pride in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang and her role as Truly, which is always a wonderful thing to know about an actor in a beloved role.

Another bonus: here is a super charming interview with her after a backstage disaster at What Makes Sammy Run? on Broadway.

She was also, along with Twiggy and Diahann Carroll (as Julia Baker), one of the first three celebrities to have her likeness made into a Barbie doll.

Two of her earlier films I recommend are the comedies Fools Rush In (1949) and The Admirable Crichton (1957), if you can find them (hint-hint, you can.) You may also be able to find the 1966 TV movie of her reprising her Tony-nominated role of Fiona in Brigadoon with Robert Goulet, and although I feel like the oddly close-up way the film was shot kinda does a disservice to the actors at times, it's still amazing to be able to see and hear her in a role she performed on Broadway.

Richard Rodgers once called Sally Ann "the greatest singer who ever sang on the American musical stage." Now, I don't quote this to claim this superlative as some kind of objective fact. If you know anything about me, I am very, very strongly opposed to pitting women against each other and all the Golden Age sopranos are absolute queens who deserve crowns, no matter how much mainstream success or present-day name-recognition they have/had. I just think it's phenomenal that she received such high praise from a man who worked with many of the best musical theatre singers who ever lived... and to think, many people today have never even heard her voice. Without her performance as Truly Scrumptious, it's possible almost nobody would in the future! I am so glad that Sally Ann's lasting legacy was ensured by such a beloved film role.

Sadly for us, many of the theatrical roles which she originated (and thus, for which cast albums featuring her exist) were in shows that either flopped quickly or at least did not enter the theatrical canon, so she never achieved the level of mainstream recognition she clearly deserves. But Sally Ann also played such legendary and challenging roles as Eliza Doolittle in My Fair Lady, Fiona MacLaren in Brigadoon (for which she received a Tony nomination), Maria Rainer von Trapp in The Sound of Music, Anna Leonowens in The King and I, and, much later, Desiree Armfeldt in A Little Night Music. She received great acclaim for all of these performances and, judging by what we know of her process on My Fair Lady, was excellent at making roles distinctly her own and never merely imitating another performer.

Even in her iconic original role of Truly Scrumptious, you don't get to hear the true full power of Sally Ann's extraordinary soprano. For that, I highly recommend listening to "Another Time, Another Place" from Kwamina (1961), and "Something to Live For" from What Makes Sammy Run? (1964). I'm always sad that we don't have any recordings of her in her "fiery" star turn as Eliza Doolittle in My Fair Lady, but you can at least hear her do a Cockney accent, be silly, and sing "With a Little Bit of Luck" with Bing Crosby here!

If it weren't for the enduring success of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, few people might have even heard of Sally Ann Howes today, and that would be a terrible loss. I cannot overstate that I am so grateful that we all know who she is because she played this role and we get to see her give this radiant performance of a character that's all her own. Maybe this sounds strange, but I think the fact that this was Sally Ann's only musical film role (and the ONLY role most people will ever see her in) makes it even more precious, and makes everything she brings to the character that much more distinctive and unique and special.

Both for all of the talent and charm she brings to the role itself, and everything else that I and many other fans have been able to learn of so much of her otherwise-obscure work because of it, the world is incredibly lucky to have the lovely Sally Ann Howes immortalized as our Truly Scrumptious, and I wouldn't have it any other way 💖

[thetisming]

yeah another one of these. sorry (brighter timeline)

🌹 beautiful-rose Follow

fuck fuck fufk fuck tehyre all goje my friendns are dead my husbandns deand evenoyorn id ddead then laxt tging is aid to jim was tbsf idon w nand ralk to hbm fuks whaty habne i done

🦅 eaglegreetings Follow

this is probably a bad time but i just remembered your husband and i made out in high school?? hilarious tbh lmao

🌹 beautiful-rose

Del what the fukc is wrong with you

🏳️‍⚧️ zombieboy Follow

URL change! its-super-dope -> zombieboy

💙 francois-dubois Follow

They're... they're gone they hate me I'm never gonna see them again I don't know what to do I can't breathe

📖 writinganddreaming Follow

i think maybe we just made horrible mistake

👓 musicalhusband Follow

Oh no I don't think so Mary I think leaving our best friend to die was a GREAT idea actually!

#/sarc if it wasnt clear

📚 greendales-lesbiannie Follow

icanr believe all my friends are deadn whatsthe fuck why did i elet them fo tabf

🇮🇹 aromantic-annie Follow

damn babe that sucks can we make out now

#genuinely though i hope you're okay #who knows maybe they survived! #im here for you annie

🇮🇹 aromantic-annie Follow

i miss being in Cats tbh :/

🏳️‍⚧️ zombieboy Follow

well hey if youre May and i's technical sister now uou can join in on our Evil Broadway!!!!! it's where we do broadwya shows but we play all the roles and also are cooler

🇮🇹 aromantic-annie

yeah okay im in

🐯 hearmeroar Follow

okay but they have to be alive righr ?? i mean they cant die they canr they canr they canr theure FINE they have to be

🪶 the-bard Follow

Guys I can't find my wife where is she I lost her please

Description:

-Very small

-Pre tyu

-Mean to me :(

-I love her

-Her nam eis Anne

-She is my wife

🌹 maydubois Follow

i should probably change my url actually, my last name is Dubois now so it doesnt really work

🌹 maydubois

going simple until i figure out a better one! beautiful-rose -> maydubois

💙 francois-dubois Follow

THEY POSTED! They're okay it's okay they're alive!!

🌹 maydubois Follow

darling im so sorry about what i said i love you so much

i miss you so much im so scared rjghr now i need you

[thatbanditqueen]

HONEY YOURE MAKING ME CRY WITH THIS NEW CHAPTER OF THE ONLY SURE THING OMG…. What were Elvis and Anne talking about when he walked her to her room?😓 Your writing is so amazing and very convincing I got so jealous and cried! ❤️❤️

Oh my love, I am sorry if I made you cry. Somewhere there is a quote from Sheila Ryan about how she was able to enjoy and have fun with Elvis during their relationship because she never expected him to be monogamous. I am not sure how much we can take her at face value, but she definitely played it cooler than some of the other women he was dating. And it is an attitude I see Midge attempting to have in TOST and being the happiest/most content when she lets her expectations of him go. But it's not easy....

Especially because Elvis was almost incapable of actually breaking up with women when he no longer had feelings for, for the most part. Having one of the guys tell a girl she can't come into the house doesn't count.

In that scene I was more focused on Miriam's feelings, but in my mind, he walks Anne to her hotel room for a few reasons. First, to be a gentleman. Second, for reconnaissance, to find out what she and Miriam talked about. Third, to break things off. Except Anne doesn't realize this, because Elvis' form of breaking things off is to spend a long time telling her how wonderful and beautiful she is and how nice it's been to get to know her, all while rubbing her waist and kissing her goodbye. She thinks he is just being sweet and charming, and doesn't realize that this is Elvis' way of breaking things off and trying to do the right thing/be a good man while also never directly telling someone what he felt because he was so insecure and hated the idea of making a girl mad or not like him. Elvis had this internal logic that I still have not fully grasped or learned all the way, but I think part of him believed it isn't really cheating if he doesn't cum inside them or ask them to marry him, right?

Thanks for reading, I wish I could tell you that this is as angsty as it gets but I actually thought this chapter was on the fluffier side of the Elvis infidelity spectrum...

[bethanydelleman]

How would Mr Elton's proposal to Emma have seemed to a regency audience? Was he punching far above his weight or would it have been seen as an acceptable match?

So firstly, I believe the joke of Mr. Elton proposing is that both parties judged his status incorrectly. He thinks far too much of himself, she thinks too lowly of him. She may even misjudge his income. I do think he is way off in thinking he can marry her. As Mr. Knightley says:

A man would always wish to give a woman a better home than the one he takes her from (V3, Ch 13)

which is certainly not something Mr. Elton can do for Emma.

Mr. Elton is physically attractive and he is found charming by other women, though Emma actually runs out of the room at one point to laugh because she finds his flirting so over the top. He is trying to trade on his beauty and charm for wealth. We are told he has a small living, some independent property, and his connections are not very good.

Now love matches of great disparity did happen, women similar to Emma marrying 'poor' clergymen. However, I think Emma is generally correct in her assessment of herself. She is from an ancient family and is extremely wealthy. Her fortune is the same as Georgiana Darcy. Mr. Elton was kind of crazy to think that she would marry him. And that might be why we are specifically told that he was a little drunk.

Also, Emma was giving Elton what seemed like a lot of encouragement. She's inviting him over and kind of flirting by proxy for Harriet. Elton takes this as meant to mean that Emma likes him and that is why he proposes. (Knightley ends up doing this by accident as well)

We can compare Mr. Elton to Edmund Bertram (Mansfield Park). While Mary Crawford is not very encouraging to Edmund because she can't decide if she likes him or not, Edmund also seems aware that Mary could do much better than him:

“I cannot intend anything which it must be so completely beyond my power to command. Miss Crawford may chuse her degree of wealth. She has only to fix on her number of thousands a year, and there can be no doubt of their coming. My intentions are only not to be poor.” (Ch 22)

Edmund is also both richer and far better connected than Mr. Elton, though they are both physically attractive. So if Edmund thinks he's not worthy of Mary Crawford with 20k, I doubt people would find Mr. Elton "worthy" of Emma with 30k.

Lastly, a similar proposal happens in Agnes Grey, by Anne Brontë. In that novel, the wealthy Rosalie flirts on purpose with a vain clergyman and he proposes. She rejects him soundly and his vanity is mortified. While Agnes is disgusted by Rosalie for leading him on, she also notes that only a man as vain as him could have thought his proposal would be accepted.

So my feeling, from what is presented in the other novels, is that Regency audiences would find Elton's proposal to be very presumptuous and a display of his inflated vanity.

One last note: Mr. Elton does not notice that Emma is unhappy with him at the Weston's party. This paragraph is very much "man flirting with woman and not picking up her vibes"

Emma’s project of forgetting Mr. Elton for a while made her rather sorry to find, when they had all taken their places, that he was close to her. The difficulty was great of driving his strange insensibility towards Harriet, from her mind, while he not only sat at her elbow, but was continually obtruding his happy countenance on her notice, and solicitously addressing her upon every occasion. Instead of forgetting him, his behaviour was such that she could not avoid the internal suggestion of “Can it really be as my brother imagined? can it be possible for this man to be beginning to transfer his affections from Harriet to me?—Absurd and insufferable!”—Yet he would be so anxious for her being perfectly warm, would be so interested about her father, and so delighted with Mrs. Weston; and at last would begin admiring her drawings with so much zeal and so little knowledge as seemed terribly like a would-be lover, and made it some effort with her to preserve her good manners. For her own sake she could not be rude; and for Harriet’s, in the hope that all would yet turn out right, she was even positively civil; but it was an effort; especially as something was going on amongst the others, in the most overpowering period of Mr. Elton’s nonsense, which she particularly wished to listen to. She heard enough to know that Mr. Weston was giving some information about his son; she heard the words “my son,” and “Frank,” and “my son,” repeated several times over; and, from a few other half-syllables very much suspected that he was announcing an early visit from his son; but before she could quiet Mr. Elton, the subject was so completely past that any reviving question from her would have been awkward.

Mr. Elton needs to review this concept:

[daidonzo]

Chapter 10 - I don't need your love, I just need you now [Chishiya x Reader]

"And then you kissed?"

"No! What do you think this is, a Hollywood movie?"

"It wouldn't be too far of a stretch."

"With Chishiya?"

"Fair enough."

You were telling Kuina all about last night. Well, not absolutely everything, you wanted to keep few details for yourself, hidden away like a treasure.

To be honest, the young woman had realized immediately that something was up with you. Her first guess had been that you were high.

"High on love, baby." was your answer. You both cringed from it, agreed to never talk about it again and decided to go to the pool together to survey The Beach's newcomers, two people, a young, gangly, dark-haired man and a beautiful, clearly athletic girl with short hair. Both of them looked like fishes out of the water, and you kind of felt sorry for them. Chishiya had apparently played a game with them both long ago, and thought they would be useful for his plan of stealing the cards.

Because he was not going to actively involve you anymore (you were now more of a passive observant), or put you in any danger, or ask you to do anything you didn't want to do.

"After…"

"After the first thing I told you today, which we will never mention, ever again."

"Yes. After that, you told me you were back together. You can't blame me for guessing it involves…" She pouted her lips, pretending to kiss someone for a long time, even adding a little bit of tongue to it, which made you laugh out loud.

"Are you two gossiping about me?"

Uh oh. You had been caught. You feigned innocence turning to face Chishiya, fluttering your eyelashes with the sweetest look you could achieve in your face. "No." Kuina was trying to hide her laughter behind her hand, and failing miserably at it.

"Sure."

He sat next to you, smirking. He placed his hand on your knee. You met Kuina's eyes, making a face that you hoped meant "You see? We are together!". She kept laughing, her eyes tearing up.

"So what do you think?"

"She seems capable. I don't know about him."

"They want to make him an Executive."

Both Kuina and you looked at him, visibly confused.

"They are going to have Ann join him in a game to test him tonight. I was thinking maybe you two could join as well, if you want? I can arrange it."

When you heard "if you want" you smiled, delighted. If you were a cartoon character, your eyes would have turned into hearts in an instant. You nodded, affirmatively. You were thinking of playing tomorrow either way, you might as well do it today. You felt his fingers caress your knee, briefly. He knew you hated the games.

"I can't believe I finally get to be in a game with you!" Kuina's happiness about it was contagious, and between Chishiya's silent support, and knowing she would be at your side, you felt brave and ready to face whatever came in your way. Just, please, not another game of diamonds.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------- It was a diamonds game, albeit a low-numbered one.

You were standing between Kuina and Arisu. Tatta was there too, as well as Ann. The rest of the players were people you had seen around, maybe exchanged a few words with here and there, but you didn't really know them.

The room you were in was quickly filling up with water, so far reaching your knees.

What was it with you, diamond games, and water?

"Is this what being Houdini'ed is?" Kuina asked, and you moved your head from side to side, smiling against your will.

The rules were simple. Three switches, one light bulb. Only one of the switches turned the light bulb on, and you had to guess which one. The issue was that the light bulb was placed behind a door you could open and close at your own will, and you only had one chance to flip a switch with the door being open. With the door closed, you could flip the switches as many times as your heart desired. And no one could be locked in the room with the light bulb to tell the others whether it was on or not.

Oh, and electrical wires were hanging from the ceiling, so if the water level rose enough, you would all die electrocuted. So you had to guess which was the correct switch before that.

A girl moved her hand towards the wires, laughing. "Come on! This doesn't even look that dang…" She couldn't finish her sentence, falling head first into the water, smoke rising from her body.

You swallowed, looking for Kuina's hand with yours, feeling more scared by the second.

"So, if you turn switch A with the door open, and the bulb doesn't light up… Then the answer is not A." Summarized Ann, apparently unaffected by someone dying right in front of her.

"That would leave B and C." You said. Maybe putting it into words would help? "And then, our chance of getting it right is fifty percent…"

"Yes, so let's just flip one of the switches!" Said Tatta, who was starting to get stressed.

"It's actually sixty-six percent…" Ann started. What? Why? Okay, there were three options, your chance of getting it right was thirty-three percent, yes, but if you discarded one and only had two, wouldn't it make it fifty?

"I don't understand at all." Kuina exclaimed, crossing her arms.

"What will you do, Arisu?" Asked Ann. You turned to face him. You and Kuina had introduced yourselves and he had looked relieved to see two friendly faces. He seemed really nice, but he didn't strike you as the kind of person to be a Beach Executive.

"We don't really have a choice. Let's turn on a switch and if it doesn't work, we'll decide on one of the other two!"

"Are you just going to guess? Using all eight lives here?" Ann's eyes moved towards the corpse of the girl, floating on the water, which had reached now your hips. "Seven, I guess."

"If you know the answer just tell us already!"

"I'm testing you."

"Hey, don't drag us into his trial!" Kuina exclaimed.

Tatta was also losing his nerves, "Just tell us the answer already, I give up!"

You got closer to Arisu, who had moved to face the three switches and was anxiously wondering which one to flip.

"Just choose one of them, don't worry." You tried to say this as composedly as you could, because seeing everyone panicking had flipped a switch on you (ha! Ironic) and you were on autopilot, almost feeling disconnected from what was going on around you.

"Okay, I'm doing it then!" He grabbed switch A, but just before flipping it… "Close the door!"

"WHAT?" All of you said. Had he lost his mind? The level of the water kept rising and… And you saw Ann smiling, calm and collected. That was the right answer, then.

"Guys, do it." You said, surprised by how at peace you felt. Somehow, you knew. He was doing the right thing. In games, you had only felt this way when Chishiya was around.

You didn't remain that cool when the door was closed, switch A had been flipped for a while, and the water level was at your neck. "I really hope you know what you are doing, Arisu!" You screamed, lifting your head up high.

"Open the door now!" He screamed. Kuina and Tatta did so, both of them also looking unnerved. Then he flipped switch B.

What is he doing? You asked yourself. But he had a plan, for sure, and didn't let any sort of doubt get to you. "It's not on!" Tatta screamed, full of fear.

"Kuina, touch the light bulb!" She complied, even if she didn't understand. But it clicked for you. If it was hot, that mean the answer would be A. If it wasn't it had to be C.

"It's hot!"

"Answer is A!" You screamed, looking at Arisu, who nodded excitedly and got the phone you had been given at the start of the game in a water-proof case. He showed you the screen. It said "GAME CLEAR!"

The level of the water stopped rising. You suddenly felt so tired, like you did after every single game. Arisu started explaining his logic, but to be honest, you just wanted to go back into the familiar arms you had spent the night entagled in.

Chishiya was waiting for you in his room, which you entered still with a towel wrapped around your head and wearing an oversized t-shirt on top of a dry bikini Ann had provided you with.

"What's with you and water games?"

"I really, really liked swimming before all this. I even have a diving license! Don't think I will go near water any time soon or I…"

You pretended your index finger was a gun, and placed it on your temple. You acted as if you were pulling a trigger and shooting yourself, falling into his bed, where he was seating with his back against the headrest, in the process.

He laughed, softly. You sat, your shoulder next to his, and took the towel off.

"What did you think?"

"Of Arisu? He was nice. I like him, Kuina did too. He solved the game. I actually managed to solve it too, but only when his plan was already in action. It was weird."

"Why?"

"I actually felt safe with him. Like I trusted him. It was a similar feeling to when I met you."

"Ah… So I have competition, then?"

You arched your eyebrows, turning your head to look at him. He was smiling at you. You were smiling at him. Your faces no more than a few centimeters apart. Maybe Kuina was right and you should kiss him?

You opted, instead, for making him put his arm around you, and moved your head from side to side.

"No. You are number one, and there isn't even a number two."

"You are number one for me, too."

You smiled. You could have drifted off to sleep if it was not because one of his hands was playing with your hair, the other running up and down your thigh, now interlaced with his legs and the path he was tracing with his fingers left your skin on fire. You almost didn't want to speak, the risk of losing this moment was not worth it. But you still did, if only to make sure of one thing.

"Can I stay tonight too?"

"You can stay, as much as you want."

[abigailspinach]

Get to know you asks!

What’s an event you would add to the Olympics?

What’s the meaning of the spinach in your url?

Favorite quote?

Show/movie/book/etc you would recommend to an enemy

1_ Dodgeball!

If nothing else, we should have a global dodgeball game at the end of the Olypmics. No ranking- just make the teams the day off by pulling names from a hat. Jumble everyone together! All nationalities playing together! Just absolute playground madness with tiny gymnasts and strong rugby players jostling up against the fencers and track stars.

My username is a nod to two things I like. Abigail Pent from The

2_ Locked Tomb Series. And Alice Roosevelt (US President Theodore Roosevelt's wild First Daughter) had a pet snake named Emily Spinach.

3- I'm so tempted to say "I can either run the country or I can attend to Alice, but I cannot possibly do both." LOL

For a real answer... this one is pretty great quote.

Do justly now, love mercy now, walk humbly now. You are not obligated to complete the work, But neither are you free to abandon it.

Some more quotes striking my fancy today

if you are going through hell, keep going.

“You know what's the most terrifying thing about admitting that you're in love? You are just naked. You put yourself in harm's way and you lay down all your defenses. No clothes, no weapons. Nowhere to hide. Completely vulnerable. The only thing that makes it tolerable is to believe that the other person loves you back...” ― Mary Doria Russell, The Sparrow

Some prices are just too high, no matter how much you may want the prize. The one thing you can't trade for your heart's desire is your heart - Lois McMaster Bujold

“We should have taken our chances back then, when we were young and beautiful and didn't even know it.” - Lois McMaster Bujold

“Growing up, I have discovered over time, is rather like housework: never finished.” ― Lois McMaster Bujold

“Love doesn't just sit there, like a stone, it has to be made, like bread; remade all the time, made new.” ― Ursula K. Le Guin, The Lathe of Heaven

“She had challenged him on this point one night at Anne and George's, inhibitions weakened by Ronrico: "Explain this Mass to me!"

There was a silence as he sat still, apparently looking at the dinner plates and chicken bones. "Consider the Star of David," he said quietly. "Two triangles, one pointing down, one pointing up. I find this a powerful image—the Divine reaching down, humanity reaching upward. And in the center, an intersection, where the Divine and human meet. The Mass takes place in that space." His eyes lifted and met hers: a look of lucid candor. "I understand it as a place where the Divine and the human are one. And as a promise, perhaps. That God will reach toward us if we reach toward Him, that we and our most ordinary human acts—like eating bread and drinking wine—can be transformed and made sacred.” ― Mary Doria Russell, The Sparrow

“The trouble is that we have a bad habit, encouraged by pedants and sophisticates, of considering happiness as something rather stupid. Only pain is intellectual, only evil interesting. This is the treason of the artist; a refusal to admit the banality of evil and the terrible boredom of pain.” ― Ursula K. LeGuin, The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas

“Look,” said Harrowhark.

No murder, sorrow, or fear could ever touch Harrow Nonagesimus. Her tired eyes were alight. A lot of her paint had peeled away or been sweated off down in the facility, and the whole left side of her jaw was just grey-tinted skin. A hint of her humanity peeked through. She had such a peculiarly pointed little face, high browed and tippy everywhere, and a slanted and vicious mouth. She said irascibly, “At the key, moron, not at me.”

The moron looked at the key, but did give her the middle finger."

There is a difference between keeping a ripped corner of dance card and saving the last dance.

4. Hmmm a book for an enemy? I'm gonna say Gideon the Ninth. it's an amazing book but if they are my enemy, they might hate it.