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whosscruffylooking · 4 years ago

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The Purest Things- Repeating History

Aaron Hotchner x Female Reader

Word Count: 2k

Warnings: Brief mentions of murder and alcohol. Canon typical violence.

A/N: this takes place during season 3 episode 11, birthright. i had a lot of fun studying this episode and making it my own. i have changed certain dialogue and who says what for the sake of the story. please enjoy!

The Purest Things Masterlist

(my gif! please credit if you use.)

january 2008

Syd Moore said, “Disregard for the past will never do us any good. Without it we cannot know truly who we are.”

+++++

Your alarm is often hushed before it even has an opportunity to set off nowadays because you usually wake up before it even has the chance.

4:25 A.M.

You groan and toss your pillow over your face. Maybe, just maybe, you can will yourself to sleep for a little longer. As if someone heard your pleas for slumber, your phone starts buzzing on your bedside table. Of course, it is unnecessary for you even to read the messages. There is a case.

+++++

"Last night in Fredericksburg, a 20-year-old woman, Molly McCarthy, was abducted," J.J. begins, "She's the third to go missing in the last 6 weeks. All disappeared from public places. No one's seen them since until now. A couple days ago, body parts with cigarette burns were recovered from a national park that was once the site of the battle of Chancellorsville."

"Were they able to make an I.D.?" you and Hotch ask simultaneously. Your eyes meet, but he breaks the contact abruptly. Flustered and insecure, you bury your focus deep into the file in front of you. The group discusses the case for a couple of minutes, but you are so concentrated on the papers that you hardly absorb any information they've shared.

There is something familiar about this case to you. Suddenly, realization strikes.

Rejoining the discussions, you say, "I remember reading about a case like this in Spotsylvania county. Similar markings on the bone. It was the winter of 1980, also in Fredericksburg. There were 5 women aged 16 to 24. They were buried in pieces."

"Same markings. Same civil war battlefield," J.J. responds in agreement.

The team agrees that this could be the works of the same killer. There are aspects of the more recent killings that would be impossible to copycat since those details had never been released to the public. But, if this is the same unsub, what's he been doing for the past 27 years?

+++++

Hotch focuses on the road while you watch out the window of the passenger seat. Occasionally, you sneak the odd peek at him. His stoicism is alluring, and you find yourself drawn to this demeanor like a moth to a flame. Piecing together the tiny glimpses you've collected thus far as if working on a mental puzzle, you scrutinize his attributes. His eyes bare the beginnings of crow's feet. Only his sideburns tease the speckling of salt and pepper undertones. His lips turn downwards at the corners, no doubt from years of scowling at unsubs.

Reid speaks up from behind you both and breaks your train of thought. Probably for the better, there's no reason why you should examine your unit chief so intently.

"It's funny--he always dumps the bodies in this battlefield, no matter what the risk."

"It's a respected landmark. He's flaunting," Aaron reckons.

"It makes him feel important," you say in agreement.

Once you have arrived at the crime scene, you follow Agent Hotchner closely. Reid trails ahead, most likely trying to keep up with his own train of thought.

"How does someone not see or hear them?" You ask the sheriff.

He turns to you with a defeated expression, "It was dark. He had the advantage. Molly's boyfriend was the last person to see her. He said she was alone for a minute, maybe less."

Hotch surveys the surroundings, "He's patient and works fast."

"He's perfected his M.O.," Reid states while looking around.

You cross your arms as a wave of unease gets the best of you as you envision the moments leading to Molly's attack.

"If our unsub's pushing 60, he's gotta be strong enough to carry her a long way without her struggling," you bring out.

Hotch looks to you with a concerned squint. You shake your head, signaling to him that it's nothing you can't get under control. He nods in response. The sheriff agrees to point out the various entrances to the park.

"I'll catch up with you," your Unit Chief states. He motions for you to step aside with him, and you comply.

"You know, ever since my wife and I had our son, I dread receiving cases involving children," he discloses to you.

Tears well up in your eyes, "I can't even imagine, but sir, why are you telling me this?"

"This job will inevitably strike close to home on some cases more than others. It's okay for you to feel overwhelmed by it all every once and a while," he assures you.

"You never lose it, though."

He sighs heavily, "Maybe I should have."

Shortly before you joined the BAU, Hotch's wife Haley left with their son Jack. You never ask questions or stick your nose where it doesn't belong. It isn't your place, and you can't blame him for not wanting to bring his family struggles to work. He deals with enough broken families on the job as it is. Mixing his own personal life into the field would only make it more challenging to prioritize. Despite all this, you cannot help but wonder what exactly led to his and his wife's separation. You hope that they can find their way back to each other. The crimes you investigate do not need to claim the Hotchner's as victims as well.

+++++

"I'll let you talk to Chrissy Wilkenson," Hotch directs you towards the kitchen. You wipe your sweaty palms against the fabric of your pants and make your way into the kitchen, Hotch following closely behind you.

"Mrs. Wilkenson," you say gently, "My name is Y/F/N. I have just a few questions about your husband. Where does Charlie usually go when he's stressed?"

"The barn," she stutters. You can tell she's anxious and afraid for the well-being of her family.

"Anywhere else, Chrissy?"

Hotch is called into the other room, and you continue questioning Chrissy. She's becoming overwhelmed, so you guide her to the dining room.

"I know this is difficult, Chrissy."

"Did the father of my child really do that to those poor women?" She cradles her baby bump.

Your heart breaks for her, and you choose to remain silent. Sometimes saying nothing speaks louder than words.

Footsteps bound throughout the house, and Hotch appears in the doorway, "The sheriff will stay here with Mrs. Wilkenson. We need you with us."

Standing up from your chair, you place your hand atop Chrissy's, "History doesn't have to repeat itself." It is almost as if she could tell you were reading her thoughts. The endless whispers that cloud her mind making her feel like she's left with only one choice, but there's always another option. That is all you are trying to remind her of.

+++++

As you and your team trek through the forest, you see a clearing.

"Hotch, this way," you beckon him to pursue your course.

Suddenly, a gunshot rings out, and you stop in your tracks. You make eye contact with Hotch and mirror each other's actions, dashing towards the opening in the trees. Your heart pounds in rhythm with your footsteps colliding against the ground. It is clear to you from your exchange with Chrissy at the house that the origin of the gunshot will shock everyone but yourself. As you reach the clearing and rush down the hill, your speculation is validated.

Chrissy Wilkenson is standing over the body of her husband, the unsub. A traumatized young man haunted by his father's past and plagued by the idea that children are trapped in the endless cycles created by their parents.

I guess the apple doesn't fall far from the tree. Jesus. Now is not the time for that.

The newly widowed woman claims self-defense, yet the cops handcuff her anyways. Inside, you feel conflicted while watching her get into the back of the squad car.

Hotch appears by your side but remains silent. Again, sometimes silence speaks louder than words. You bit your lip, attempting to hide the fact that it is trembling.

"What did you say to her as you were leaving the dining room?"

"I told her that history does not have to repeat itself. I wanted her to know that even when it feels like you are backed into a corner, there is always another way out. Sometimes people don't know where to look for their out thought," you quiver.

He lightly touches your arm and gives you a reassuring tilt of the head, "Just know that you did everything you could. We will never do this job perfectly. Doing the right thing usually costs more than it pays. You did your part. I'm not a saint, and I am far from a hero, but I have integrity and honor, and I do this job to the best of my ability."

"If you can leave a case with a clear conscience," he continues, "you know you did the best you could. Any other thought process will eat away at you slowly but surely, and ultimately, it will result in the demise of your career and destruction of yourself."

+++++

After a seemingly neverending day, you all arrive back at Quantico.

"I could really go for a drink, guys. What do you say? Newbie's buying," you wave your wallet around frivolously.

"I could go for 5 drinks!" Prentiss exclaims.

"Count me in," Morgan winks at you. He never fails to make you blush.

Reid hesitates and you pout your bottom lip, "Please Reid! How could you not want a repeat of Dolly Parton night last month?"

Hotch comes down the stairs, "Dolly Parton night? Do I want to know?"

You and Derek snicker to each other as Spencer attempts to diffuse his own embarassment.

"9 to 5 is an iconic female anthem that certainly has a rather bewitching affect on a man when mixed with alcohol."

"You only drank Diet Coke that night," you roll your eyes at him.

Out of the corner of your eye, you notice Hotch forcing his way through the small group formed around the desks.

Making your way over to him, you invite him to join, "Want a beer?" You second guess yourself, but it seems as though his rather stern expression softens ever so slightly when he pivots on his heels to look at you.

"I would like that," he answers softly.

He immediately returns to his original path and hovers near the glass doors. You casually make your way over to him, joined by Dave and Emily. A man barges in through the glass doors announcing Aaron's name.

"Agent Hotchner?"

"Yes," the subject in question breaths out almost defeatedly.

The yellow package he holds in his hands is all too familiar and instantly churns your stomach into knots. You gnaw at your bottom lip, drawing a metallic taste that causes you to cringe.

"What is it?" Emily speaks up.

There's no question as to what it is. Oh Hotch. I’m so sorry.

Hotch's eyes trace the package from corner to corner in disbelief, "Haley's filing for divorce. I've been served."

When he eventually takes his eyes off of the lettering, his eyes meet yours. They lock onto you and it is in that moment that you feel as though you have been given the key to unlock his soul. His eyes are so unusual at this moment; they are more vulnerable than you have ever seen. The stoic man is gone, and instead, it is the eyes of one who is in tremendous pain. You had mistaken his bloodshot eyes for physical fatigue on the plane, but now you see that it is emotional exhaustion as well.

If only you knew how badly I want to hug you and tell you that you won't be swallowed up by this darkness. There's a long road ahead, but you have so many people here who love you and are here to support you through this. You aren't alone. Trust me, I know.

In some way, you pray that he can read into your soul and see the pain you feel for him. Once more, your shared silence proves to speak for itself.

At last, he breaks eye contact with you and finally releases the breath that you had been holding in. Dave grabs onto your arm, seeing the clear impact Hotch's news has on you, no doubt having also noticed Hotch's immediate response in looking at you.

"I'm sorry, but I don't think I can join you tonight," he excuses himself and escapes to the seclusion of his office.

Maybe history does have a way of repeating itself.

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skyland2703 · 3 years ago

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OPINION ON SKY/Z YOUR TURN TO SCREAM

SKY AND Z ARE THE BEST OTP BABIES FOR EVER!!!

IDK i've always felt like there's a lot of layers to her character, but i feel people don't explore *her* developement as much as they do Sky's... like she had a tragic past, but she doesn't let that show!! SHE DOESN'T LET PEOPLE KNOW WHAT SHE'S REALLY FEELING. It isn't until the episode Sam that we realise there's something much much deeper to her character, until she breaks down. So i think as much as Sky needs to 'lighten up'' Z needs to ''open up'' and i think that's what happens as the series goes further.

AND I KNOW NO ONE ASKED FOR THIS, BUT HERE'S MY GENERAL HEADCANON STORY FOR THEM BECAUSE THERE'S NOTHING MORE TO SAY THAT I IDOLIZE HER, WANT TO PINCH EGOS OF GUYS LIKE HIM, BUT LOVE THEM TOGETHER BECAUSE ULTIMATE SHIPS (also they were like my first fanfic, first ship, first everything so special place in heart!!)

Massive ranting under the cut, maybe some sensitive material sooooo

So first off, as you all know, in the series Sky and Z aren’t off to a very good start with him being all mean and KHJGFDS PIG LIKE and her calling him out. (REMEMBER THE FREAK INCIDENT?? WHY DID HE HAVE TO SAY ''especially YOU'' to her??? i started shipping them from that moment onwards i believe) But as the series progressed they became friends (I mean all of them did, right?) LIKE WE SAW (focusing on them esp) in episodes like Resurrection, and Endings.

Now my headcanon starts after Endings part two, when Jack leaves SPD for Ally and stuff, and what happens because of that is that Sky and Z find themselves in a strange place. Jack was very important to both of them, and when he left they felt like there was an empty space in their life now:

Sky no longer had anyone to challenge him and Z no longer had someone as close as her as Jack was. SOOO One night Sky feels insomniac, and wanders into the common room, where he sees Z. They talk all night, that night, the conversation starting with them FINALLY opening up and admitting that they both missed Jack, and they talked more and more, opening up (I THINK THAT'S THEIR MAIN THING?? SKY LIGHTENS UP?? Z OPENS UP??) to each other, telling each other everything. These late-night talks became a regular thing for the two, and before they knew it, it was starting to show in their daytime activities too. Z would often challenge Sky in training, and throw fun jabs in his way, and he would too listen to everything she had said. This way, they grow closer and closer, and they feel as if that void, that had been caused by Jack’s loss, was being filled with each other.

Of course they didn’t forget Jack, they visited him, but he wasn’t with them all the time right? Anyway, Sky and Z started developing feelings for each other. They soon enough realised that they didn’t know how to deal with these feelings either, so one day, they kinda just lashed out, frustrated with their feelings, so they lashed out, and they had a big fight, and they don’t talk for days, spending their time in cold silence, and crying when no one’s looking. (Both of them)

That’s when Syd and Bridge give their respective roommates some tough talking to. They tell them that they shouldn’t hide their feelings for each other, and rather embrace it. They should love each other freely. And that they shouldn’t lose each other on something this stupid.

Z calls up Sky, and asks him to meet her up at the rooftop, and when he comes up, he opens with a joke, (he tries REALLY hard to be for her sake anyway he's as bad at jokes as prolly Ollie!) “Why the rooftop? So that if we fight again you can throw me off off it?” And she chuckles, saying she likes his feeble attempts at humour, even though 90% of the times they’re not funny. Then they admit how much they like spending time with each other, and how much they love each other. Both of them smile, and then KISS!

THE END

THANKS FOR READING THROUGH!!!!

#IM GONNA HAVE TO GO AND SLEEP NOW #BUT ILL ANSWER THE REST IN THE MORNING!!#WANTED TO END THE DAY WITH SKY/Z!!!#Sky/Z #i think this is my first major rant #on the set #Sky Tate #Z Delgado #cupcakes-are-ours #THANK YOU SOOOO MUCHHH FOR THIS ONE I CAN'T TELL YOU HOW MUCH I LOVED THIS #HMGFDSDAED #THANK YOU IF YOU MANAGED TO READ ALL THAT

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vampiresuns · 4 years ago

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Corazón Sufriente, Corazón Sangrante

3.5k words. The Crews of The Jagged Ruby and El Corazón Sangrante spend the night in Hinode. However, Captain Syd and the crew of Inuwashi cross the waters of the Strait before they even set sail the next morning, rattling the beings that inhabit it. Having no option but to sail as soon as they can, they are forced to face the storm waiting for them in the water.

The crew of The Jagged Ruby, El Corazón Sangrante, and Inuwashi belong to @apprenticealec. You can also check her map and lore about the Strait of Sirens here.

This is the second and last instalment of Part VI of Secrets of An Ancient Moon Series.

Want to read more of these series? You can find it’s masterpost here.

CW: Brief mentions of unhealthy family dynamics.

Rodrigo was something completely different from Jacqui. An entire different type of fish — an analogy he had hated. Not that him hating it was about to stop Jules from using it.

They had known him for less than a day, yet they had already argued about at least five different topics. All of them unprompted. They had argued about slang, about whether their shared mother tongue was actually called Alzor or Nopali; Jules said both were acceptable, Rodrigo wasn’t so convinced. They had also begun bickering because Rodrigo, finding them again after docking in Hinode, tried to make for their ‘interrupted’ introduction earlier that morning, only to be met with Jules laughing through their nose and telling him he was shorter than Saoirse. They did not expect to touch a nerve, but they did.

Then it was some random thing neither of them knew how they ended up talking about, Jules ‘hoarding’ Jacqui, and finally because Jules had had the gall to make an assessment out of Rodrigo and be right about it.

“You too, huh?” Jacqui asked him. “What did they tell you?”

Rodrigo grumbled something about ‘hearts’, and ‘choices’, and people like ‘us’. “Anyway, I told them there could be an ‘us’ if they wanted to, grabbed their face and the next thing I knew fucking Saoirse was standing right behind me, like what the fuck.”

Jacqui laughed. Rodrigo looked at him as if he had just told him the worst of insults.

“You know they do that because they think it’s funny, right?”

“Shut up, Jacqui.”

Rodrigo’s Quartermaster looked over his Captain’s shoulder, snorting at the same time as Saoirse said: “Hi, Rodrigo,” making him jump from his chair.

None of those wouldn’t be the last of Julianus’ offences against Rodrigo that night. The crown jewel of them all would come when they asked him and Jacqui for how long they had been together. While Jacqui clammed up, Rodrigo answered ‘20 years’ like it was nothing. However, when Jacqui tried to tell him Julianus didn’t mean as Captain-and-Quartermaster, he laughed, and left.

“So it’s not like—? Oh.” Saoirse laughed softly, and kissed their temple.

In hindsight Jules should’ve anticipated Rodrigo coming back to steal their drink, since they “weren’t going to finish it.”

In any other circumstances, Jules would’ve rolled their eyes, yelled something smart back at whomever took their drink, and carried on. That drink, however, had pisco mixed with a soft drink. It was a popular mix in Altazor, but slightly harder to find in other places — mostly due to the lack of pisco— and, it was Rodrigo who had taken it.

“Hey! That’s mine!”

Rodrigo began walking away faster.

This would be one of those moments which Julianus would never forget. The blur of faces as they chased Rodrigo in the tavern part of the Inn, Manolo’s and Manuela’s concerned faces. Walking over someone’s table after climbing on a chair without thinking too much about it. Or rather, without overthinking about it. There were no what-abouts, no ifs, no what-will-whoever-thinks. Just them, trying to calculate their odds as they tackled Rodrigo into the ground. He yelled something about his coat getting dirty, Jules told him he shouldn’t have stolen his drink.

Neither of them were putting on a real fight, though at the same time they were. Rodrigo fought better, but Jules was more slippery and had, per Saoirse’s own confirmation and now for everyone to witness, an unexpectedly strong thigh-lock.

Meredith was yelling insults at Rodrigo and cheering on Julianus, with either ‘you go, Sanlaurento’, or ‘that’s my legal bastard’. J. C. would not register it until hours later, and while they suspected it was solely because they were fighting Rodrigo and had tackled him to the ground, it still brought a smile to their face.

Looking at them as they fought, Saoirse and Jacqui stood together. Jacqui refused to get involved, claiming this wouldn’t have happened if Rodrigo had not stolen their drink.

“You know those fights between siblings which start to get too serious?” He asked Saoirse.

“No, not really.”

“Well, this is a little like those.”

After a moment or two, he spoke again. “So, this is ‘your Julie’.”

Saoirse’s smile was the brightest Jacqui had ever seen in them. “Sometimes I think I will anticipate their thought process. Sometimes I do. Others…,” there it was again, the smile, “I have no idea.”

The fight ended when Saoirse got Jules another drink, and helped them get off from Rodrigo who was yelling at them not to get his face, while Jules yelled at him that he got theirs first. They were both perfectly alright, despite their dramatics, but in the morning Julianus’ forehead would develop a small bruise right where their hairline began, Rodrigo having accidentally elbowed them. It was, for once, a legitimate accidental blow.

Later, Saoirse would say that Jules had a very thick head, as they held ice to their forehead just in case. Jules was sharing a bedroom with Theo, and while the ship’s medic would’ve been able to do just the same, Saoirse wanted to do it. They, on the other hand, had to sleep in the same room as Meredith, to keep the Queen safe.

Theo had offered to change places with Saoirse, swearing ‘most ardently’ that he would never let anything happen to Meredith. Saoirse, bound by the code by their own choice, declined.

When the two of them were alone, Saoirse having left to their own bedroom, Theo gave Jules a sympathetic look.

“You look melancholic, my dear friend. Empty bed blues?”

“No, not really. I do know how it goes, and besides, it’s their job. You don’t see Saoirse complaining about my law books, do you?”

“So what is it? If you wish to talk about it,” he said as he sat on Jules’ bed, “I am happy to be your faithful confidant.”

“Thank you, Theodore. Do you promise not to think it’s stupid?”

Theodore crossed his heart, then put his open palm above it and raised his other hand. “Cross my heart and hope to die.”

Jules was silent for so long, gathering their thoughts, that the doctor thought they’d never speak. However, they did, turning to them with such vulnerability in their face that Theodore, poetic and candid as he was, almost gasped.

“I’m not used to being in a place where I want to find out what happens tomorrow, and the day after that, and the day after. It’s like my mind decided to have this moment, out of all possible moments to realise I am not going anywhere.”

“Anywhere how? Oh, Meredith wouldn’t turn you away!”

“No, not like that. Anywhere as in here, in this world. That this is my life and I get to live it, for many more years than I ever thought I’d get to live.”

Theodore hugged them. Jules didn’t expect the gesture tensing for a fraction of a second before fully leaning into it. Theo was hugging them with both his arms, but he was doing it around their side, not in front of them, which made returning the hug a little awkward. Jules still did their best.

“I’m so very glad we are friends.”

Jules smiled. “So am I, Theo. You deserve good things.”

“So do you.”

“Just take the compliment.”

“Pot and kettle! You take the compliment!”

They bickered some more, like old friends who have known each other for their whole lives, until Theo sent them to bed on Doctor’s orders.

They would both sleep happy, soundly. Julianus would dream of sweet nothings and their feet would stay warm all night with the weight of Marcius over them. Yet that wouldn’t last until the morning. Everyone slept in a little later than they did at Sea, only to be woken up with alarm from members of both crews announcing Inuwashi had crossed the waters of the Strait.

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

They could’ve waited a couple days to pass, but the fear of not making it to Ethari on time was worse — Jules had no idea until then, but due to a couple of reasons beyond anyone’s control (namely the weather and some routes alterations) they were behind schedule and could not afford any more delays. It meant they’d head to risk going through the waters with its very, very angry sirens.

This time, no crew song appeased them. The message was clear: anything or anyone they got their hands on would not see the surface again.

On the distant horizon, Julianus could see the outline of a ship. It looked tiny in the distance and by the way Meredith cursed in it’s direction, they assumed it must be Inuwashi. Meredith cursed again — it had begun to drizzle, and it looked like a storm was beginning to brew.

Saoirse, for once, looked concerned. “Jacqui says Rodrigo exhausted his illusion magic, they’re too uncontrollable for him to properly cast anything on them.”

To make matters worse, a ripple went through the water. With a violent halt, both of the ships stopped moving.

“Fuck, fuck, fuck! If I could kill Syd, I fucking would!” Meredith yelled.

“I know,” was Saoirse’s serious reply. “But I don’t think that was Syd.”

“You’re seriously going to tell me that wasn’t Gharial or however the fuck they’re called?”

“No, it was, but Syd is not stupid enough to endanger you right before a Quinquennial Meeting without a loophole, and Gharial just likes getting Syd into trouble.”

“It doesn’t fucking change anything.”

It was chaos as everyone snapped into action to make the ships move again. The sooner they were all out of the Strait the better and by the turn of events it was going to be a long, tiring task.

“Alright!” Meredith yelled, raising their voice so everyone listened to her. “Keep everyone from the railings and if you can move with a lifeline, do it. I want all of them secured! I will only say this once: if anyone falls, we will not be able to retrieve them so anyone with a range weapon — do whatever idiot that falls a favour if they do.”

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

What nothing told you about life or death experiences was how absolutely absurd they were. There were no big revelations, no reel of your life going before your eyes, no philosophical moments where the ulterior meaning of life was revealed to you. It was just you, and whomever else was with you in that moment, running around as survival instincts kicked in. As they did, the realisation that you might as well die came to you, and instead of thinking about everything you did not get to do, or everything you could’ve done differently, all you did was noticing really stupid details, about really stupid shit.

Julianus didn’t need to wait to have another experience with death to know whomever said otherwise was fucking lying.

Instead of thinking about anything that would’ve risen up to the dourness of the hour, they were thinking about their art teacher from Altazor, the one they had when they were in primary school and they had taken an art extracurricular. When they were around ten, they went through a phase where they only wanted to paint the sea. Their teacher had shown them a Neviv painter who painted ships and stormy seas, and Julianus had decided they only wanted to paint the sea from then on.

The sky looked like the paints of that painter. Julianus couldn’t even remember the name of the painter.

They had stopped taking the extracurricular not long after that. Part of an ongoing issue they had associated with lack of confidence in their sense of self, and their struggle to keep habits. The former had to do with having been indirectly punished for their openness of self, which left them more vulnerable to other people’s opinions. A vulnerability they were never given proper tools to deal with. When they tried to find who they were in front of the world, too many factors had convinced them for years that who they were was inherently wrong. From mean peers to their own parents, or the expectations of their family, and no matter what image they projected, it all weighted them down.

The other had to do with a long time undiagnosed hyperactivity and focus divergency. No one believed them about it until they took the matters in their own hands, because how could someone ‘as smart as them’ have it. It simply had to be laziness, or something other. They had been over this already, about how too many people had opinions on who Julianus Sanlaurento had to be, or was, without actually bothering to check who they actually were, or even given the chance.

The other extracurricular that succumbed to all of that was magic. However, they had taken it up again in their last years of schooling before university, as they had in free hours they were left alone to their own devices. That halt in their studies had made them more knowledgeable in the history of it and the relationships different cultures had with it, than to the practice itself. It was one of the reasons why the Sea Palace had had no interest in them, besides the fact they thought (both Jules and the Scholars) they did not have any particularly differential ability in it.

They never stopped practising it after that, even if they never mentioned to anyone, unless they were forced to. They had taken it up under a mentor again in Firent, where they took it as a university extracurricular with a magician who was adept to energy manipulation — electricity in particular. Jules had taken to it like fish to the water, even if, once again, they ended up using it for little.

She always said plasma and electricity weren’t harder to manipulate than other types of matter. People tended to be more afraid to do it, because it required the magician to make themselves a receptor of that energy, and for a series of reasons, people did not seem comfortable with malleable matter that may or may not zap you.

Somewhere to their right, Drew hissed.

“Are you alright, darling?” Elizabeth asked.

“Yes, I just grabbed my knife and I got a static shock.”

Jules snapped out of their trace. “Swords work as conductors of electricity, right?”

“What?”

“Like, you can catch electricity with a sword, can you not?”

Drew and Elizabeth looked at them with concern. Also, like perhaps, they had gone a little crazy.

Theo, however, had their answers. “It’s metal, so in theory it would work. Though not all metals conduct the same way, but that’s the principle of a lightning rod… why do you ask?”

“If I do something that’s potentially really stupid, involves magic, and I technically know how to do but haven’t done it in years and never outside of the context of a classroom, do you promise to not let me fall into the water? I don’t actually want to die.”

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

Julianus was either a genius, insane or terminally stupid. They were about to find out.

Storms had always been their favourite weather and they knew an electric storm had to be in the making. Sounds around them were too clear, humidity was annoyingly oppressive, there were no birds flying, Marcius was hiding under the covers of Saoirse’s bed (Jules double checked he was safe) and it smelled like a storm.

Electric storms came with lightning. With the right magical knowledge, anyone could manipulate them. However, they needed to get to the Beak of the ship, and there was no way Saoirse would let them do that if it put them at the risk of falling into the water. El Corazón Sangrante, however, wasn’t that far away from the Ruby. It was a sensible jump, even by their poor eye-estimation of distance.

All they had to do was try.

From the perspective of anyone else in the crew, this was what happened: Julianus used a rope from the rigging to jump from one ship to the other (a very bad experience, which they would not like to repeat). They told something to Jade, Rodrigo’s sailing master, and for some reason, Jade agreed to it. Perhaps, she was as desperate as everyone else to get out of the strait. Meredith, still on the Ruby yelled-asked who let Sanlaurento do such a thing. Saoirse looked at them with confusion as they ran with the rapier they had gotten for them during a raid in hand; said confusion turned into dread when they realised what part of the ship they were running towards.

The panic they felt when they saw them climb past the forecastle and onto the very narrow surface to stand before the bowsprit began, threatened to dissolve the body they chose to use every day. They ran towards the bow of the Ruby, ready to jump into the water if they needed.

“Julie!” They yelled, trying to make them turn, but it was like they didn’t listen.

A thunder broke behind them as they lifted a leg over the railing. That’s when they saw it. With both arms extended, their sword on the left hand pointing towards the sky, a lightning strike hit Julianus.

Jules condensed it in their free hand as it sizzled and crackled without harming their skin. Angling themselves, they threw it into the water, hitting one of the sirens straight on the chest.

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

Having to face the Siren songs that close to the water was, perhaps, one of the worst life experiences Jules had ever gone through. It was something about their rabid eyes and the promises they sang of.

They could see them, almost. They could see themselves in it. A model child, a partner, two children and a pet. A stable job. A good relationship with their mother. Esteem and respect from the social circle they had grown in at the expense of nothing. The sirens sang and they went to a different school, they had different tastes, they had more knowledge, a better capacity to concentrate, a different career, they were more athletic. They were immaculately perfect, always pleasing everyone and always knowing the right thing to say. Whomever that abomination the Sirens sang about was, it wasn’t Jules.

They could see why. They could see how they would twist their fear of never being enough, their fear of being utterly mediocre, against them. They could see how they took that away, and left a perfectly sanitised carcass that, in a lower point of their life, they would’ve given into.

The wind played with their hair as they felt one thing, and one thing alone: rage.

Their frown was set as they began feeling static build around them and with steady breaths they stood in posture. They lifted their sword as their angry, teary eyes met with the fishy ones of the sirens in the water. It wasn’t about being stronger than them or more powerful than them. Neither was the case: They were just Jules.

Just Jules. Poetic, hopeful, intelligent, strong-willed, imperfect, full of love and terrified to give it, yet determined to plant the garden of their life no matter how many times it was destroyed. Jules who was full of grief, and full of happiness, and Jules who knew they would never have the life that was promised to them, because that life required of them something they would never be able to be without sacrificing who they truly were.

It was okay. It was okay not to have that life and not to be that person. Whoever they were now was better anyway.

Lightning struck their sword. They knew what to do.

When the Sirens went quiet, numbed by the electric sock, they slid their back against the wood of the ship. Hanging on some rope and their sword for dear life they sat down with their head between their legs.

Saoirse found them moments later, pulling them up and carrying them back to Meredith’s ship in their arms.

“I can walk you know, I’m just a little dizzy.”

Saoirse didn’t put them down. “Were you going to tell me you could manipulate lightning, or was I supposed to find out this way?”

“I didn’t think it was relevant to mention. Did it work?”

They let out a noise of annoyance. “Yes, yes it worked. But if you want to do that again, it’d be better you practised. You could’ve fallen into the sea, you could’ve—”

“But I didn’t. I’m here, Saoirse.”

They shot them a look, but the relief that it worked, and the wonder that their Julie could do such a thing won this time. They kissed the crown of their head. “Don’t scare me like that again.”

“I can’t make any promises.”

“I mean it. Let’s get you some water and something to eat.”

“I’m sorry I scared you, I really am.”

Saoirse sighed. “You’re forgiven. You did great.”

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

Beyond the Strait of Seals, Captain Syd of the Inuwashi looked at the lightning strike back in the waters of the Strait. Hideko stood besides them.

“I didn’t know Saoirse could do that.”

Heron spoke behind her. “Are we sure that’s Saoirse?”

“Well, colour me surprised Cabin Boy, I don’t remember asking your opinion.”

#the arcana #the arcana oc #is it at this point tho?#my writing #secrets of an ancient moon series #jc sanlaurento #saoirse #joirse #meredith #captain rodrigo #jacqui #syd h. jeebies #syd and the jeebies #dani's ocs #saoirse my beloved i'm so sorry i put you through so much stress here

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stanleybarberstolemyheart · 5 years ago

Text

Homecoming (or something like that...) Stanley Barber x Reader

To say you had a crush on Stanley Barber was an understatement. You fell in love with him the first day you met him. You went to visit the bowling alley with your friends, it just so happened that Stan worked there. It also happened to be the first time you’d ever talked to him. It was awkward as you’d only ever admired him from afar. You were in the middle of your fifth turn when you heard a cheesy yet classic song come on and you couldn’t resist. You finished your turn as the song neared it’s chorus and without hesitation started shamelessly singing and dancing to the lyrics: “I need a hero I'm holding out for a hero 'til the end of the night he’s gotta be strong and he's gotta be fast and he's gotta be fresh from the fight I need a hero i'm holding out for a hero 'til the morning light He's gotta be sure and it's gotta be soon and he's gotta be larger than life!Larger than life!” When the song finished you heard a small chuckle from behind the counter and realized that Stan had seen all of it. Your face turned a bright shade of red. Once your game finished you walked up to the counter and returned your shoes. “Hey, aren’t you the dancing girl?” You heard Stan say as he took your shoes from you. “Yeah,” you blush “not my finest moment. I’m Y/N.” You half chuckled. “It’s okay,” Stan smiled, “I do it too, especially when there’s no one around to see it!” He laughed. “Thanks, Stanley.” You replied with a small smile on your face. “No problem, see ya around?” “Sure thing.” And with that you left. That was three days ago. You hadn’t seen Stan since.

Tonight was the dance and all you could think about was impressing Stanley. You didn’t even know why because it wasn’t like you were going with him. He was going with Syd and D. You hated these things anyway. They were a social anxiety trap.

You stood in the mirror fixing your hair and makeup. You had on the “coolest” dress you could find. It was a long black dress with a slit up the left side and the sleeves hung off your shoulders elegantly. Your shoes consisted of your favorite black boots that you never went without. Taking one last look in the mirror you sighed and grabbed your purse as you headed out the door and off to the dance.

When you reached the gym you saw Stanley quirkily dancing while Syd and D just laughed. You couldn’t help but to admire how goofy he was. He was one of the sweetest boys you’d ever met and he was pretty funny too. He always made you smile. Even when you didn’t want to. You waved to him but he didn’t notice. To say that didn’t make your heart ache was a lie. After a few minutes of trying to find your friends you decided it was no use and headed to the punch table. One of your friends came stumbling in drunk. “Heyyyyy Y/N...” “what’s up?!” You asked inquisitively while trying to make sure they didn’t spill punch down the front of you. “We’re ditching you and heading to a party at Brads house..s-Sorry!” They hiccuped as they galloped out of the gym stumbling through people on the way. So now what. Stanley has no idea you like him so you can’t just go hang out with him and your former friend group kicked you out. You should’ve never came.

You rushed for the doors and found yourself crying in the bathroom. You neglected to notice that there was other people in there two of which happened to be Syd and D. You didn’t really hang out with them much but you knew them enough for them to know you weren’t okay. “Hey, Y/N..what’s wrong?” D asked concerned. “Nothing, tonight’s just been awful. My so called friends kicked me out of the group and Stan doesn’t even know I exist. I should’ve never came tonight.” You said through more tears. Syd giggled a little. “You like Stan?” She asked. “A little...” you blushed. “How about you come hangout with us tonight.” D chimed in. You nodded your head and sniffled as you smoothed out your dress and linked arms with D and Syd.

“Hey girls I thought I los-oh! Having a little girl trouble are we?” Stan raised and eyebrow. Syd rolled her eyes. He looked you up and down. “Y/N you look great!” He smiled but it quickly turned to a frown when he noticed the mascara running down your face. “Are you okay?” He asked sincerely. “I will be.” You smiled. Stan nodded. “Would you maybe want to dance? With me?” Stan asked you reaching his hand out. You hesitated for a second until Syd and D pushed you forward with a wicked smirk on their face. “She would love to.” They said one unison.

You followed Stan out to the dance floor. He looked so adorable in his blue suit. He wasn’t like everyone else and that’s what you loved about him. He danced almost as awkwardly as you which made you laugh. A slow song came on and you felt Stan wrap one of his arms around your waist. You blushed a little and put your arms around his neck. He brought his free hand up to your cheek and gently rubbed away the mascara stains with his thumb. You smiled and leaned in to his palm at the gesture. “You know I never thought you’d like a guy like me.” He stated. “Someone as beautiful as you never falls for someone like me.” He continued. “Stanley, I’ve loved you for years. I was just to scared to say anything.”

Before he could even reply you felt his lips on yours. He was soft, gentle, warm and felt like home. When you pulled apart to gasp for air, you caught a glimpse of Syd and D giving you a big thumbs up. You smiled and buried your face in Stans chest. He turned around to see what caused you to do it and chuckled when he saw Syd and D.

“I could get used to this.” He said only audible enough for you to hear him, as he placed a kiss on your head and the two of you swayed to the music.

A/N: oh my goodness. This is my first Stanley Barber fic and also my first time writing in a while so it was rough. I hope I did it justice. I know it’s really cheesy but I’m in a fluff mood tonight. Also I might be over dramatic but I’d give my life for Stanley. Xx - K

This was requested by the lovely @graceirxland 💖

#stanley barber one shots #stanley barber imagines #stanley barber x reader #stanley barber #im not okay with this

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bedbellyandbeyond · 4 years ago

Text

Mystery Baby Theatre, Part 5

(Short Story Post, 5/6)

“You think I have something to do with this?” Dusty asked, hands on his hips. “The nerve…” “We’re not accusing you. You’re just the only demon we have on file,” Korsy explained. When the agent got the family to APID safely, they got them set up in the hospital wing and called Dusty in while Carlos waited outside with his kids. He’d been at home putting his son to bed when he was called so he’d had to drop Grey at his other father’s house quickly before popping into APID. Now he stood in front of Reggie’s hospital bed, glaring at Korsy. He was in no good mood. “I am a succubus,” Dusty said. “This is clearly the work of an incubus.” “What’s the difference?” Korsy asked. “Aren’t succubi supposed to be female?” Reggie asked. He was set up on the exam table but the doctor wasn’t here yet to look him over. Dusty seemed to only get more ticked off. “Demons don’t have sexes. The latin ‘succubare’ means ‘to lie beneath’. It literally just means I’m a bottom. And looking at all those children lined up outside, I could say you’re more of a succubus than I am.” “Are you calling me a whore?” Reggie growled. “If the shoe fits…”

“Hey, none of that!” Korsy said. “Dusty, I get it. You’re tired. We pulled you away from your son for this. But we need your help if you can give it. Do you know what's going on with him?” Dusty crossed his arms. “I don't know much about incubi. What I do know is that they’re terrible testosterone junkies who couldn’t care less about anyone else and always try to get what they want whenever they want. So, I imagine, whatever one that’s after you wants that kid.” Reggie shook his head. “No, we made a deal.” “What deal did you make?” Dusty asked. “What did you give in exchange for this child?” “He asked me to sacrifice a goat in his name,” Reggie said. “So, I found one on Kijiji and did it. It was really really gross…” “So, he just wanted a goat?” Korsy asked. “Hard to believe…” “Naw, goats are pretty powerful…” Dusty said. “But this is an incubus we’re talking about. He’s probably found a loophole. What exactly did he promise?” “He gets the goat, I get to keep the baby,” Reggie said. “Simple as—” He suddenly doubled over, clenching his stomach. “Ahh… Ow…” Korsy was startled. “Are you okay?” “Y-Yeah, I…” Reggie grimaced. “…Just a bit of pain…” “You’re going into labour, aren’t you?” Dusty said. “No, I’m still a month from due,” Reggie said. The lights suddenly shut off and the room got cold. Reggie suddenly let out a scream of pain. “Oh god, it hurts!” Dusty and Korsy’s eyes took a moment to adjust but soon they could see. Reggie was still balled up in pain, but there was now a puddle of black liquid pooling under him. “Your water broke,” Dusty said. “You are in labour.” “I’ll get the doctor,” Korsy said leaving the room. As he did, Carlos came in. “What’s going on?” Carlos asked, blindly trying to find his partner in the darkness. “It’s too early…” Reggie whimpered. “Your partner’s in labour,” Dusty said. He grabbed Carlos’s shoulder and directed him to Reggie’s side. “I don’t think this is a coincidence. I think your incubus is forcing you into labour.” “You think right,” a deep voice said. Everyone was startled by the sudden strange voice. Dusty suddenly saw him, a tall dark shadow standing in the corner of the room, a huge grin on his face. Reggie screamed out in pain again. The contractions hurt ten times more than any of his other pregnancies and he was in absolute agony. The stranger looked over at Dusty then tilted it’s head slightly. “Succubus? What are you doing here?” “I’m just… I’m just helping,” Dusty said, feeling his body tremble in the presence of a much stronger demon. The other stared for a moment. “…Darathan?” Dusty lowered his eyes. “Who’s asking?” “Thaungal.” He raised a hand, forcing Dusty’s chin up again. “Don’t be rude. Look at me when I’m talking to you.” Dusty whimpered, feeling the incubus’s invisible strength holding him up. “I’m sorry…” “You’re wanted back home,” Thaungal said. Dusty shook his head stiffly. “I’m not tied to home…I was bound…” “You’re not bound anymore.” Thaungal shrugged anyway and let him go. “What do I care. You’re not worth much…” Dusty immediately teleported away, leaving the humans in darkness alone with the incubus. Reggie was still clutching his stomach, his labour progressing quickly. Carlos was trying to soothe him, rubbing his back and whispering to him, though he was also frightened out of his mind. “Reggie…” the demon said in a low voice. “The child is ready for you.” He waved a hand over the labouring man, forcing his body flat against the exam table, his arms and legs out as if restrained. Reggie shrieked in pain, his body tensing in agony. He felt like he would faint from the sheer pain. The child within his stomach writhed and squirmed as if trying to rip out. “Oh, it’s alright,” Thaungal said. “I’m here for you.” He placed his hand down on Reggie’s belly and the hell spawn calmed down. The pain in Reggie’s body ebbed and he was able to regain his breath. “You promised…” he cried. “You promised not to take my baby…” “I promised you could keep it,” Thaungal admitted. “But I’ve decided I want it. But I won’t go back on my word. You can keep your child but I’ll take both of you.” “No!” Carlos yelled. “You can’t take him!” “Oh, can’t I?” Thaungal chuckled. “Perhaps you’d be right if you were married to him. But you’re not. Therefore, he can be bound to me.” Carlos threw his torso over Reggie’s body. “¡Demonio! ¡No puedes tenerlo! You can’t have him!” Thaungal let out a boisterous laugh. “Human, you’re very funny to think you have any power against—” Thaungal suddenly jumped back, narrowly missing the edge of a blade being swung at him. Dusty had reappeared with Korsy and the doctor, Sydryn, the former brandishing knives. “Stay away from them!” Korsy barked, holding his blade out to Thaungal. “Syd, take care of the patient!” “Obviously,” Sydryn huffed, moving over between Reggie's legs to check him. Thaungal eyes narrowed on Dusty. “You traitor!” “I work here, asshole!” Dusty said. “You don’t get to come to my job and just do whatever the fuck you want!” Thaungal started to approach Dusty. “You little—" Korsy lunged out in front of Dusty, slashing his knives towards Thaungal, the catching the incubus across the chest and making a shallow gash. The demon hissed, swiping a clawed hand at the agent, but Korsy ducked out of the way and countered with another slash of his knives. The demon dodged it easily and chuckled, but Korsy caught him off guard with a swift kick to the gut. What should've been a harmless kick for an incubus of his strength turned out to be fatal however and Thaungal staggered backward, black blood seeping out of his wounds. He looked at himself then glared at Korsy. “...You...” Before he could finish his sentence, he disintegrated into dust. The lights flickered back on and Korsy stood there panting. The grip on Reggie's body was lifted and he was able to relax a bit though still subject to his contractions. “What just happened?” Carlos asked, unable to have seen everything that had transpired. “Did you kill him?” “He did,” Dusty said. “But he shouldn't have been able to... Not with a kick...” Korsy caught his breath then slammed a fist against his knee. His right leg fell out of his pant and he picked it up, showing off the blade coming from his prosthetic. “Dark elf blade. Good for killing...bad things. Still sharp enough for everybody else too so watch out.” “Scary...” Dusty said, though he was a little turned on. “...You have my number.” “Thank you...for getting rid...of Thaun...” Reggie panted. “But I'm still...in labour!” “Right. Syd, how's he doing?” Korsy asked. “Crowning,” Sydryn stated. “Reggie, another big push.” Reggie grabbed his ankles and pushed hard. “Oh shit, it's almost here!” Carlos pulled out his phone and started recording, going around beside Syd to get a good angle. “You can do it, mi amor!” Reggie pushed harder, screaming in pain, and the head came free. He eased up and panted, tears streaming down his face. “Humans film these things?” Dusty critiqued. “Strange...” “Get out if you're not helping!” Reggie growled before starting to push again. “I concur. Darathan. Korsgaard. Out,” Sydryn instructed. “Köbi’s watching the children. Replace him and send him in.” Dusty and Korsy stepped out quickly and were replaced by the curly haired young man. Köbi stood ready by the doctor. “What do you need me to do?” “Prepare for the baby. Ready a blanket,” Sydryn said. “Ahhhhhhhh!” Reggie bore down with all his strength. Sydryn reached around the baby's head and helped guide it out. Finally, with a rush of more black amniotic fluid, the child was born. She was completely grey and squirmed in the doctor’s hands. “¡Una niña!” Carlos said happily. “Reggie, she’s so cute!” Reggie however didn’t respond. His energy was all drained and the pain had been unbearable. He was fighting just to stay conscious. “Reg?” Carlos dropped his phone and grabbed Reggie’s hand. “Reggie, stay with me!” “Köbi, take the child,” Sydryn said, being quick to cut the umbilical cord. “Quickly.” Köbi did as told, taking the newborn and wrapping her up in the blanket. Carlos pushed back his partner’s hair, watching as his consciousness faded. “Is Reggie going to be okay?” “He’s lost a lot of blood. If we don’t treat this immediately, it could be fatal,” Sydryn stated. “No!” Carlos’s voice shook. “Do something!” “I am.” Sydryn had already begun manually removing the placenta. “I suggest you go outside and take care of your children.” “I can’t leave him here!” Carlos sobbed. “I need him!” “I am no longer suggesting. Step outside, sir, or you will be forcibly removed.” “I can’t go!” “Köbi!” Köbi handed the newborn over to Carlos. “Trust us, okay? You have beautiful children to look after.” He placed a hand on Carlos’s shoulder which helped soothe the man. Carlos nodded and stepped outside. “Köbi, stop the bleeding while I get an IV,” Sydryn asked. “On it.” Köbi placed his hands on Reggie’s sternum and closed his eyes.

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 6

#lore #short story #mystery baby theatre #mpreg #Reggie #Carlos #Dusty #Köbi #Sydryn #Korsy

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sadorangejuice · 5 years ago

Text

High [stanley barber x reader]

Summary: You’re hanging out with your best friend Stanley and you get high for the first time with him and things get silly tehe

warnings: weed, stanley, fluffy shit, probably cursing, and feels

__________________________________________

Once again, you find yourself laying on the floor of Stanley Barber’s bedroom. You had went to school with him all of your life before he finally spoke to you. He saw you walking to school one day and gave you a ride, where he introduced you to bloodwitch and his drug dealing business.

At first you weren’t sure about it. You weren’t scared, really, you just knew your mom would be pissed if she found out. You weren’t opposed to the idea of smoking, you just never really had the opportunity. Stan never pressured you, obviously, but always offered whenever he smoked. What can you say, he’s a true gentlemen.

After a while you began to develop a small crush on your friend, but you knew that would mess things up, and that he probably wasn’t over Syd yet. You still hung out with him, but you had to press down the unfriendly feelings you held for him. Occasionally, he would brush his hand against yours while walking or lend you one of his cardigans when you were cold. It made your heart flutter but you knew he just cared about you—as a friend only.

Tonight, you and Stan are hanging out, listening to music, like you guys do every Saturday night.

“You should sleepover— I mean if you want to.” Stan mumbles out.

“Yeah sure, my mom’s not home anyways and it’s a little scary in there by myself.” You tell him. A sleepover with Stan sounds fun.

“Wait you’re mom’s not home?” he questions, excitedly.

“Uh yeah she’s on that stupid work trip.”

Stan pulls out his little case of joints, smiling at you.

“You wanna?”

“Okay what the hell?” You decide.

Stan offers it out to you.

“You first, show me how it’s done.” You say, feeling a little nervous.

He takes a hit and then hands it to you. You do what he did. You did cough though, but then breathed in another hit like a champ.

“How do ya feel?” Stan asks as you giggle on the floor next to him.

“Like nothing matters.” You tell him, “and like everything is funny.”

about an hour later

“Okay would you rather,” he paused taking in another hit, “be an eagle or a jelly fish?”

“Oh god” you mutter considering your options, “both.”

“Like a jelly fish that has like a beak, and wings?” He says laughing, making you laugh as well.

“Yeah and it can fly and swim.” You manage to get out through your laughter.

Stan gushes about jelly fish and how they’re better than roaches, making you cry laughing. But then, he asks you a more serious question.

“Okay Y/N, what’s your deepest darkest secret?”

“I’m an opened book” you lie, still giggling.

“Yeah right, come on, spill. You can tell me anything.”

“I know that, but there’s this one specific thing that I can’t.” You confess to him, no longer giggling.

“Okay well you think about that, and I’ll go first.” He bargains. “I have a crush on a certain someone.”

Your heart drops. “oh my gosh Stan that’s great, you’re finally over Syd.” You exclaim, trying your best to be happy for him. “So who is the lucky person?”

“Well, that’s the problem, I can’t tell her because I don’t know if she feels the same way, and I don’t want to ruin our friendship.” He says sincerely, as if asking you for advice.

“Stan,” you begin, not catching on yet. “I say, just tell her how you feel, I mean look at you, your funny, have the best style ever, supportive, caring, and you have the best taste in music. Who would say no to that?”

“Okay then,” Stanley smiles. “I’ll tell her.”

He then, stands up and grabs your hand to pull you up as well. He looks at you for a moment before he speaks. You’re confused at first.

“Y/N, I like you, like a lot.” He smiles and looks down. “Like so much, and if you don’t wanna make things weird that’s okay but I —” You cut him off but colliding your lips with his.

You pull away and look at him. “Stanley that was my deepest darkest secret, that I like you in that way.” You confess to him.

“Really, I’m that dark huh?” He laughs.

“No I just didn’t wanna lose you, but I do like you so much, I have for some time now.”

“Cool, cool.” He says mutter nervously.

He kisses you this time. His lips move with yours like a harmony. He laughs into the kiss, making you pull away.

“What?” He question him.

“Nothing, I’m just happy.” he confesses.

You hug him tightly, swaying back and forth to a blood witch song. Your eyes start to get heavy and he notices your small yawns.

“You tired?” He asks looking down into your eyes.

“No.” You want to stay awake all night like this. “Maybe a little.”

“Come on let’s go to bed, I’ll get you some clothes to sleep in.” He says leading you to his closet to pick out a shirt for you to sleep in. He picks out a shirt and hands it to you.

“Turn around.” You say looking down at your feet. You’ve seen each other change before, but for some reason you feel more vulnerable now.

“Okay no problem” he says and turns around. Your so glad to have found someone respectful. Most of the guys at your school are assholes and would try to sneak a peek. But Stan’s not like that. That’s why you love him.

“Okay I’m done, sorry.” You say and Stan turns around smiling at you and biting his lip.

“What?” You ask blushing slightly as his gaze moves from his shirt to your eyes to your lips, then back to your eyes.

“You look good in my clothes. I’ve always wanted to tell you that whenever you wore my cardigans.” He admits, blushing as well.

You both climb on his bed. You lay your head on his chest while he plays with your earring. You two talk about all the times you’ve wanted to say something to each other about your feelings, and how you got butterflies every time Stanley ‘accidentally’ brushed his hand against yours or wrapped you in his sweaters. You fall asleep feeling safe and loved in each others arms.

—————————————————————————————

Thank you for reading, if you’d like to send me requests please do

also feedback is appreciated bc Idk what I’m doing so I’m sorry if it’s not that good, there’s just a lack of Stanley content out there rn and I can’t handle it. If you request anything the only thing o might not do is smut haha I think I would just feel uncomfortable writing it but I could always try lol anyways thank you dears also I haven’t proof read this bc I’m supposed to be doing homework so if there are mistakes I’ll fix them later

btw I’m planning on writing for Syd soon

#stanley barber x reader #stanley barber #stanley barber imagine #i am not okay with this #ianowt

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actuallylorelaigilmore · 5 years ago

Note

i would love to hear a s3 rant tbh

i started writing this a few months after s3 came out, because i needed that long to sort of soak up all the feelings and changes that came along with it. now i’m used to it enough that i don’t find myself thinking too hard about s3 when i get to it in rewatches–it’s a shift, but one i’m adjusted to. and now it’s premiere day for s4! so i’m finally done writing the rest of it.

it is a shift, though, and i think that’s why so many of us in the fandom had mixed feelings about it–we still loved it, but we didn’t come away from s3 with the same lingering mood that we did after s2. for me, s3 was the first season that ended on a truly happy note. there was no heartbroken elena at her quinces, there was no distraught family hoping lydia would wake up.

s3 left pretty much all the characters in a good, hopeful place, so why did we find ourselves more inclined to pick it apart? why did it feel different, when all the individual character arcs and plot points were in the same world we love, and clearly handled with the same amount of effort and care as we expect?

the following giant analysis is my attempt to articulate an answer to that, as a fan who has watched the whole show….so many times. so many times, guys. just so much. i don’t even have a number anymore.

to give you an idea of what you’re in for, here’s the categories you’ll find behind the cut:

each season’s focus was different

brothers and other strangers

dr. b’s inclusion minimizing other relationships

schneider being more isolated from the family

schneider’s sobriety

schneider & avery

avery + other characters

penelope & mateo

misc other gripes

feel free to reply to this and/or send me asks, i spent way too long on it. :)

each season’s focus was different:

obviously, odaat is an ensemble show. every character gets moments of their own, and most have larger arcs. but because the show needs a focus, each season arguably belongs more to some of the characters than others.

the stars of s1 are penelope and elena.

penelope is our anchor to the family and the story, the one that everything else orbits around. we’re watching her live through the end of her marriage and become more settled in her new role as the primary parent to her kids. elena is figuring out who she is, then dealing with the fallout from sharing her truth with the people who matter to her. her quinces is the topic of debate in 1.01 and closes out the season in 1.13.

lydia steals scenes a lot, but she doesn’t really have a larger arc in s1. at the end of the season, she’s the same person she was at the beginning, just changed by her involvement in elena and penelope’s stories. same goes for alex–he has stories, but they’re a lot smaller and more contained. and schneider and leslie are only involved in the season because of their friendships with lydia and penelope, then in schneider’s case, his dynamic with alex later on.

the stars of s2 are penelope and lydia.

penelope goes back to school, has her first serious relationship post-divorce, and finally deals more seriously with her mental health struggles. lydia decides to become a u.s. citizen, struggles with her feelings toward leslie, and ends the season triumphant after a major health scare.

elena plays a major role in s2, but a lot of her story is a continuation from s1, with the return of victor and her first romantic relationship, and developments like her new job as a handyma’am are awesome but not the central focus of the season. alex gets to be the star of a few episodes, more than in s1, but they’re not really tied in to an overarching arc. his first job, his anti-immigrant bullying, and his time at the movies with penelope are all standalone plots.

schneider has a larger, more serious role in s2, going from ‘you guys are like family’ during quinces in s1 to ‘now, you’re my family’ to lydia in not yet. but he’s still on the outside, looking in. and leslie’s role remains one that supports penelope at work and lydia in friendship, rather than giving him his own plot.

the stars of s3 are alex and schneider.

in s3, penelope’s story is more settled, because so is she. her job is secure, her schoolwork is coming to a close, and her kids are growing up. she has a romance, but mateo is less important to her than max was, and the plot reflects that, with mateo barely around until penelope’s neglect of him becomes part of the joke. pen’s reacting to what’s going on around her more, whether that’s alex’s drug use or elena’s anxiety and secret hotel room or schneider’s sobriety.

that’s not a bad thing! justina kills it in every episode, penelope’s still funny and a tearjerker and strong as hell while flawed…but s3 is the first season that doesn’t completely revolve around her, storywise.

elena’s story is also more settled, on some levels. victor’s return gives her a much-deserved coda, evidence that her life couldn’t be neatly tied up in a bow after a year and that emotional scars do real damage. but even that plot, like her first time with syd and her driving lessons, are part of larger episodes involving other stories rather than the main focus of all of them. victor’s wedding, the finale episode, tries to move forward five of our six main characters, compared to elena’s quinces, which was almost exclusively her show.

lydia’s s3 plot includes her fabulous bouquet list, ideas about aging and motherhood and family. but she’s back to being a scene-stealer–even her bouquet list exists as a subplot in other people’s episodes.

having focused the most on the alvarez women in s1 and s2, the show finally gives alex more room to shine in s3, a development that surprised me but pleasantly so because it turns out that the more they give him to do, the better marcel is at it. s3 shows us an alex growing up, making dumb choices and learning from them, but also being there for his family in bigger and more mature ways, schneider included.

and schneider…gosh. schneider’s arc in s3 is so important that it’s the one they foreshadowed ominously before the season was even on netflix:

he did step into the spotlight as promised, and by the end of the season, he was a full-fledged canon member of the family. not that we needed them to tell us that, even if schneider did. :)

to start with, though, that’s part of why s3 feels different: because it is. the focus widens to different characters, and the ones we’re used to following more closely have more contained arcs.

brothers and other strangers

s3 also decided to introduce new family members. a LOT of new family members. and while they all added to the story, some fit in better than others. the funeral did this well, finally giving lydia’s estranged sister a face to go with the name, and giving us more of a glimpse at the big family penelope grew up around before the military and parenting narrowed her everyday focus.

but the show’s decision to anchor an episode on brothers gave us what felt like a lot of consistency issues. they explained pen’s sudden s3 brother, tito, by making his absence during lydia’s coma a topic of discussion. they couldn’t actually include a never before mentioned sibling for penelope without creating bigger confusion, though. it just wasn’t possible.

tito is apparently the older brother that lydia idolizes, but until 3.04 she’s never mentioned him in conversation once? when she’s in a coma reflecting on her family and how they’ll go on without her, her beloved son isn’t worth a mention? i can forgive the show for deciding to give pen a brother three years in, but i can’t pretend it wasn’t jarring when odaat treated her like an only child before that.

and this is a much smaller issue, but also in s3 suddenly syd has a younger brother? who is homeschooled too? when they were telling elena their only classmate was their chinchilla the year before? like i said, a relatively small thing but it still bugs me because it’s so random.

schneider now has sibling(s) too, apparently, but his comment about not being his father’s favorite child was the first time that came up, in three years of him talking about his parents and household staff and childhood stressors. i have so many questions. hopefully future seasons will clarify some things.

anyway, hermanos was a deeply confusing episode for me because tito came out of nowhere and schneider’s conversation with leslie, while lovely, was the first time we heard schneider (or anyone actually) label his relationship with penelope a sibling-ish one. it was clear during lydia’s coma that he considered lydia a friend who was also somewhat a maternal figure in his life, but it wasn’t until s3 that the show extended that dynamic, from ‘lydia is like his mom’ to ‘therefore he and pen are both her kids.’

i’ll get into this later, but i honestly think that was meant more to tie into the episode’s theme than because it was supposed to shift his friendship with penelope into new territory. we’re watching penelope deal with tito, and elena deal with alex, and schneider makes the one comment during an important scene with leslie. it’s still jarring though.

the very fact that schneider wasn’t with the family during their vacation felt like an inconsistency to a lot of us, whose two-seasons-worth of headcanons about schneider make ‘he secretly books the room next to theirs and crashes their vacation’ more believable than him staying home alone.

it was done in service to the season’s goals of adding tito to the mix and folding leslie in more, and both goals were accomplished…it just felt a little strange.

dr b’s greater inclusion minimizing other relationships

speaking of leslie, s3 for him was what s2 gave schneider–more ties to more characters, and the first real subplots we’ve seen him have about serious subjects. for good or bad, a lot of what stood out to me in s3 as different was related to the show making more room for leslie.

schneider not being with the alvarezes on their vacation, even though he’s at every family event including funerals now? penelope made it happen by ‘entrusting’ schneider with the care of her house(plant), but really it played out that way so we could see schneider and leslie bond.

elena’s driving lessons being handled by leslie? it’s fair enough that penelope isn’t the one doing it, since she’s busy and it stresses her out, but if you want me to believe that schneider wouldn’t have jumped at the opportunity, even with avery in his life now, you’re crazy. there’s no believable canon reason in s1 or s2 why leslie would be the one doing that, but it played out that way so we could see elena and leslie bond.

even alex gets to know leslie better because he’s more involved with elena, meaning that after s3 leslie finally has connections to the whole family (which schneider accomplished in s2 once he was mentoring elena in building repairs).

by the season finale, leslie is attending victor’s wedding, mistakenly butting in on elena’s time with her dad, and finally traveling to cuba with lydia while he shares his practice with penelope.

however you feel about s3 in general, the show had to change its usual dynamic in order to include leslie more in situations like driving lessons and weddings. it just wouldn’t have worked otherwise. for example, the funeral at the beginning of s3 doesn’t involve him at all, because why would it? unlike schneider, he hasn’t spent a ton of time bonding with the extended alvarez family prior to s3. he’s involved in big moments because he’s close to lydia or penelope.

s3 is the first time we really see him get involved in the story just on his own merits. and that required less schneider in family moments, which paired nicely with the season’s other visible difference.

schneider being more isolated from the family

the schneider we know and love from s2 would have offered to take over elena’s driving lessons as soon as he realized they were stressing pen out. he would have found an excuse to join them on vacation, and he would have been present when penelope realized elena was sneaking off to a hotel room with syd.

schneider prior to s3 was always around that way, witnessing threesome porn on alex’s laptop and picking up strangers at the airport for the quinces, making it easier for penelope to go to him when she needed advice or a hug. in s1, she may have started out getting his help as a last resort, but by late s2, she was often turning to him instead of her own family, or her support group. pen was reluctantly aware of his many hookups because she was at his apartment so much.

once avery’s in the picture, though, we see less of schneider in the family orbit, and it’s really not explained. penelope pulls him (literally) into alex’s drug storyline, but after that he’s mainly in other people’s storylines, like lydia wanting to teach penelope to cook, or alex spending too much on shoes.

even in anxiety, schneider’s status as penelope’s most trusted person is one scene in an episode that shows how she interacts with everyone in her life, rather than the climax of it–the way his time with her is in hello penelope.

beyond individual episodes, it’s the relationships that matter, and we just see a lot less of that with schneider and the family in s3. in s1 we saw him bonding with alex all the time, and in s2 schneider became more important to elena. but in s3…where is he?

alex goes to his apartment because penelope ordered him to, to get a lecture about reckless spending, and that’s the only one-on-one time we see them have before the laundry room in drinking and driving. are they still close? i’m assuming they are, because alex clearly still cares about him and vice versa, but whether it’s because alex is growing up or because schneider’s busier with his first real girlfriend, they’ve stopped hanging out.

i feel the same way about schneider and elena. her support of him when he relapses (how amazing is it that elena is the first alvarez to use the word ‘love’ with schneider, when he’s been closer to lydia and penelope longer? i adore one gay cuban teenager) makes it clear that he’s still important to her, but even her building maintenance seems to be done alone now. the only solo conversations they even have are at the funeral, in the very beginning of the season.

and while schneider and penelope remain friends in s3, the nature of their friendship has changed in a lot of ways. she’s at his apartment less, he’s at hers mostly when the whole family is around, and until his father’s visit they’re less close physically along with everything else.

schneider’s absence in big moments like elena learning to drive or smaller ones like a rare family vacation can be explained as storytelling choices, but they also make it easier to understand how he started drinking again, and how it was possible for him to keep it hidden (along with his avery breakup) before victor noticed.

when penelope went off her meds, schneider was the first person to confront her about her unusual behavior, but penelope doesn’t see the change in him until she’s looking for it. some of that is the show arguing that alcoholics are really good at covering their secrets up, but it also only works because though schneider is making appearances at meals and still involved with family, he’s around a lot less than he used to be.

schneider’s sobriety

deciding to dive into schneider’s sobriety was the defining choice of s3, in my opinion, that made it feel so different. if i had to pick just one, that would be it, because so much else spiderwebs out from it.

finally seeing more of the world schneider comes from, in the arrival of his father? a major relapse trigger for him.

penelope telling him that choosing his father over his tenants means he’s not part of their family? seemingly the last thing she said to him before he drank.

his inclusion in the alvarez family museum? a way to show how his sobriety is the most impressive work he’s done in his whole life.

penelope (and the rest of the family, but especially penelope, once they’re alone) doing whatever they can to support him and convince him to keep fighting? the clearest sign we’ve had in three season of how important schneider really is to them.

it’s an amazing story arc for him, and as much as it hurts to watch, i love it.

but boy does it make season three a change from the first two.

after first setting up how proud of him dr b. and lydia are (the closest thing he has to loving parents) for his years of sobriety, we then see him tempted to drink thanks to his father’s actions and just general presence.

but because of how the show handles the reveal, we actually don’t know for sure that he’s drinking again until penelope and lydia confirm it. we can be rightly suspicious–i saw that the dangling tag was no longer on the bottle when he placed it on his coffee table, and assumed then that he’d already opened it–but we can’t know.

which means that for the first time, just like penelope, we don’t know if we can trust schneider. schneider! who has wanted nothing more than to earn and keep the family’s trust this whole time.

it’s so unsettling. as is his visible unraveling once he realizes he’s been caught.

and the thing is, that we’ve seen this before, just like penelope has lived it before–the worst of her fights and fear with victor happened offscreen, but when he comes back we see him lie to her, try to convince her he can handle his own problems and she should leave it alone.

but that…that was season one. that was victor, who moved in and out of the picture often in really hurtful ways, and who we weren’t encouraged to get attached to.

schneider is lovable, and loving, and present. and yet in season three, he also becomes a version of himself who is reactive, and dishonest, and will do whatever it takes to avoid being confronted about his relapse. including trying to hurt and push away the people he loves most.

i think part of why his relapse is so effective as an arc is because it’s as hard for the viewers to expect such a sharp turn from the sweet, laid-back guy we met in s1 as it is for penelope and her family. but that’s also why s3 leaves us shaken.

schneider & avery

oh gosh, schneider and avery. i’ve talked about them a lot before, so i’ll just say here that they brought her in with great potential, then let her stay so far on the sidelines of the show after the valentine’s day episode that it became impossible to know who she was anymore, what role she played in his life, and what their future could possibly look like now that they were reunited at the wedding.

is she the gorgeous nerdy artist who has just enough in common with him to be a good fit long-term? is she rich and more suited to the world he comes from? is she uninterested in his life outside of what they do for fun together, so that she’ll never get to know his chosen family at all?

it seemed to change each time we saw her, and by the end of her involvement in schneider’s s3 storyline, we didn’t even know what had broken them up before we were supposed to be rooting for them to get back together.

my theory continues to be that the people making the show were blinded by the impossible cuteness of real life marrieds todd and india, and forgot to make sure their plot threads on the show made sense.

because avery was never going to get a ton of screen time, she was a minor character–but revolving any part of his story around her kind of gave the show a duty to at least give us a clue of what the heck was going on.

avery + other characters

my other major complaint about avery (who i genuinely adored, at least for her first couple of episodes! my liveblog of her existence in s3 is just a lot of flailing about her being so freaking cute) is that the show keeps her in a totally unprecedented bubble.

penelope’s love interests? always interact with her family. whether it’s ben getting a text from lydia, because he wasn’t around long enough for more, mateo joining an unexpected party, or max spending whatever time he could at her house…we always got to know how her guys related to her family, and that helped us understand them and the relationships better.

syd of course spends a ton of time around elena’s family, and we’re going to see alex’s girlfriend meet the family this season. you could argue that those comparisons are different because schneider’s not one of them, his storylines are less central than say, penelope’s are–and that’s true. but even dr. b’s girlfriend got a long bathroom scene with lydia and we see/know much less about leslie than we do schneider.

mostly though, this bugs me because avery clearly spends time in their home! she’s there for valentine’s day, and penelope also tells schneider to invite her during ‘the man.’ and she works at the kids’ school, so she’s in their orbit on another level. penelope is able to get in touch with her and find out they broke up.

and yet, the first real love interest for schneider that could be a healthy and serious relationship…and onscreen, lydia never meets her. doesn’t try to figure out if she’s good enough for the adopted son lydia has been encouraging to find love for three years. they never interact.

elena, who developed a serious interest in alex’s love life and a taste for gossip in season one, appears to have no interest in the woman schneider’s seeing. alex, i could understand not caring, because he’s generally happier caring about what directly affects him and what he can do to help others…if schneider’s happy, i get why he might stay out of it.

but it just sort of grates on me that none of the women in schneider’s family have a conversation with avery onscreen, beyond the moment when penelope is trying to kick her and schneider out and she pushes back. if avery is in a scene, she’s talking to and focused on schneider, or nikki, or schneider’s father. none of the family. is that because she doesn’t feel like she has to make an effort to know them? or because the show just wasn’t thinking about that? even though we see it with every other love interest brought into the house?

i mean, when you pay attention to that, then of course we don’t have a clear sense of who she is! how can we when there’s no reason to believe that anyone who cares about schneider does either?

penelope & mateo

penelope’s relationship with mateo puzzles me almost as much as schneider and avery–and in some ways, even more. we see their friendship first, we watch them deny interest in more than that with each other. then penelope pushes the issue and they do decide to date, but just like with avery, the show doesn’t have a lot of screentime to offer him.

so what we know about her new boyfriend is that they have some things in common that she really values but maybe too much in common to avoid fighting about it–and then we barely see him again, learning mainly through his absence that she’s just not that into him, until eventually they break up because it turns out he was more into his ex than her anyway.

there’s a karmic sort of humor in that for penelope, but for me it left mateo feeling like a waste of a love interest. we really didn’t get to enjoy their relationship much, especially if they wanted us to miss it when it was gone…so was it worth the time they spent setting it up in the first place?

for me the answer to that was no. especially since as her ‘longtime’ school volunteer buddy, we’d never seen him before. and i feel like it’s not likely we’ll see him again.

penelope & schneider

this is a frustrating one for me because while i have complaints about these two and their relationship in s3 it was also AMAZING and i LOVED it. both are true.

the confusing part is that their dynamic is inconsistent in s3. think some of that is because the show is trying to do so much at once. fully bring schneider into the family, focus their romantic lives on other people, deepen their bond, deny the possibility of a romance between them, keep them each other’s person.

in s1 they’re landlord and tenant but also becoming real friends. in s2 they’re best friends and he’s a honorary part of the family now (though still an outsider).

but in s3 he’s established clearly as her best friend and most trusted person, a guy who’s become deeply important to her and her whole family–so much so that after his relapse, they come together to support him much like they all did lydia in s2.

but penelope treats him dramatically differently from moment to moment and episode to episode in s3. like an annoying brother when he’s getting cooking lessons from her mom, like a life partner when alex’s behavior has her angry and scared, like a bff when she’s considering dating mateo, and even a little like a flirting companion at the wedding.

it’s not completely unprecedented for their dynamic to have multiple layers. his relationship with lydia is complicated too. in past seasons, he flirted with both penelope and her mom–while they also laughed at victor calling them a couple and he told comatose lydia how important her mothering was to him.

but they lean harder into it during lydia’s cooking lessons, while still hitting the beats hard of ‘are you sure you’re not dating?’ during penelope’s support group and schneider’s dad’s visit. the contrasting takes on their friendship is just a lot of whiplash in a single season.

another thing about s3 that’s different is the kinds of physical contact between penelope and schneider. you might not notice unless you’re looking for it, but penelope actually touches schneider more than he does her. lightly, casually, briefly. she makes contact in a friendly, familiar way all the time. schneider is more likely to touch her when it’s important, in big moments, as though he knows that she trusts him and welcomes him in her space but he doesn’t want to abuse the privilege.

i studied it for making gifsets, and she touches him more every season. and while he touches her a lot more in s2 than in s1, s3 is actually about the same amount. penelope grew visibly closer to him this season, but he held himself back from getting any more familiar. he was also the only one of the two of them who compared her to blood family. for now,it’s really up to interpretation if there’s a deeper reasoning behind that.

for both of them, though, more than half of the physical contact they make in s3 happens in just two episodes, both towards the end of the season. not only does schneider’s father’s visit and his relapse bring them closer together, literally and physically, but the season up until that point has them further apart.

they spend time together stalking alex, or with schneider talking her down from her panic, but the casual dinners are less, and she’s going to him less for advice–which means there are less small touches, less moments where schneider sits her down on his couch or she nudges him affectionately.

that makes it all the more intense when they do connect, with penelope holding his hand and them hugging twice all within the same few minutes. and then after his relapse, their conversation alone in the apartment is so tense and so much more separate than they usually are.

the last time she touched him was in the man, the most open and complimentary she’s ever been, and look what happened. this isn’t the man she knows and loves, she needs to reach her best friend who’s still in there somewhere under all the pain and self-loathing, but she tries to do so with honesty first, with bluntness, with tough love, with listening kindly but not without pushing back, and finally with his place in her family–as a role model for the kids.

only once he’s agreeing with her about the course of action and just doubting his ability to survive it does she reach out. once he’s himself again. and then she’s more there for him physically than she ever has been before. this is a new level of intimacy between them, schneider letting her in rather than excusing himself during tough times, her giving rather than just taking support, her being his silent rock the way he always is hers.

it’s just different than the previous seasons, between them. the problem is that while you’re watching it, it’s hard to pin down what message about their relationship the show is trying to send, since they touch less but more deliberately, and they’re family but not in a way that has well-defined boundaries.

misc other gripes

elena’s world shrinking

as of s3, what exactly is elena’s life outside of syd and anxiety? don’t get me wrong, i love her relationship with syd, and the anxiety plot was good–driving lessons too, which were tied to the anxiety somewhat.

but if we’re pulling back to look at the bigger picture, elena in season one was a lonely club leader, figuring out her identity, and navigating disagreements with her family.

elena in season two was experiencing her first relationship, finding her first group of geeky friends to hang out with irl, confronting the fallout of victor’s behavior in s1, and continuing her academic hard work while also adding lots of political engagement.

in comparison, elena in season three exchanges ‘i love yous’ and has sex for the first time, as well as makes up with syd after their first fight. she learns she has anxiety and gets her driver’s license and continues to heal her relationship with victor, but…she has no friends anymore? no mention of josh or carmen or any of the echo park gamers? and she’s studying for testing, it seemed like, but she’s not in clubs anymore or volunteering or protesting? her whole world outside her family isn’t really syd, is it?? because i know first love is amazing, but that’s not healthy.

i said up there that less of the story belongs to elena after s1, and this is a large part of why i feel that way. the show treats her like some of her bigger arcs are settling down, rather than expanding, giving her subplots instead and making room for the other characters. it’s weird to watch though when just a quick comment here and there would have implied that she still spends time with friends or fellow social justice warriors.

lydia’s humor goes dark

when it comes to lydia, season one includes some jokes about her ending up in a home–or to be more specific, the fact that she never will. her comedy in season two revolves a lot around her identity, with her decision to become a citizen.

and then, we go into season three after her coma. though she appears to be in good health, the family is still worried, and elena especially tries to protect her from herself.

whether it’s specifically related to her near-death experience or not, season three involves way more death jokes. things like lydia looking up, and inviting god to reunite her with her husband ‘berto, i am ready,’ she says, then sort of shrugs when death doesn’t arrive.

it’s not unfunny…but it’s a different kind of humor. i can’t say i enjoyed the edge to it, probably because i was elena’s age when my grandmother died, and she was also a deeply religious woman who was awaiting her invitation to heaven.

alex also has no friends anymore? does he still play baseball?

the way that s3 gives alex so much more to do, storywise, is awesome. but just like elena, his world seems to have gotten smaller in terms of socializing. we hear about his girlfriend but don’t meet her, and we never see him interact with friends, either–besides things like instagram.

this one’s really a minor complaint because he has whole important storylines in s3 and at least the show does imply he still has friends…but it’s a little odd for the most popular alvarez teen to spend more time chatting with dr. berkowitz than any friends his own age. especially when he used to be so involved in baseball that we at least saw his teammates.

it’s not clear to me if season three just didn’t overlap with sports season for him this time around, or if he gave baseball up–but if it were the latter, you’d think they would mention that.

scott came back but not lori

i honestly don’t know which of the show’s casting choices are influenced by availability and which are choices they make for plots they want–other than carmen leaving, because i know ariela went to another show.

but while lori hasn’t been around since season one, scott went missing after the second episode of season two…and then appeared in the second episode of season three before never showing up in the rest of the season.

there’s no continuity problem with this or anything–i just don’t like scott and wish that if they were only going to keep one of pen’s coworkers, it would’ve been lori. i know that wouldn’t have let him do what they were able to with scott. but still.

max came back why?

i like max, for the record. he’s been my favorite of all penelope’s love interests so far, and i felt bad for them both when they broke up. but in terms of the finale, it felt really jarring the way they included his little appearance.

in that one scene, the show managed to remind us that they truly loved each other, genuinely supported and cared for each other, had common background and went back a long time as friends–and that out of all the men penelope had been with, he was the one she was still hurting over.

and then he left, as easily as he appeared.

besides reminding us that her major relationship in s2 was with max, what did that scene accomplish? it didn’t feel like closure, because it didn’t add anything to their original breakup. but it also didn’t change anything about how they ended–he remained someone she wasn’t going to be with, even though they loved each other a lot.

the only explanation i can think of is that the show wanted to work with the actor again. because if their goal was to confirm that yes, she and max really were great together even though she wasn’t going to be with him…we didn’t need more confirmation of that. we got the message in s2. ed quinn is great though.

#i'm not going to reread this one last time because my brain is just very tired of it...it's so long lol #so yknow..forgive any typos or tell me about them so i can fix them #also writing half of this almost a year ago means it might not be entirely coherent? idk #one day at a time #odaat #schneider #penelope alvarez #elena alvarez #alex alvarez #lydia riera #leslie berkowitz #avery #max ferraro #lori and scott and mateo are also in this a little but i don't think i have tags for them #replies #anons are love #meta #mine #odaat meta

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mashitandsmashit · 4 years ago

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America’s Got Talent: Season 15 - Online Auditions

Alright, let's talk about the online auditions...And I don't just mean the ones they actually showed in full on the show last week, I mean all of the ones that were available to watch before the season even began! You can find all the videos here (you can't miss them): https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCsNUxRA5hGXEAZI3Mk_D3JQ/videos

So let's get right to it, shall we...?

10: Erin McCarthy. I'm sure Terry got flashbacks to his Old Spice days (I know it was the other guy, but still...) I guess the horse was a pretty amusing touch, but this lady's so pitchy that I was getting a migraine! All that said, this was a HELL of a way to close out the auditions...

9: Chris & Syd. Well, the guy's a nice singer, and the dog...is good at howling...Otherwise, this is a silly gimmick, and won't likely make it past the Judge Cuts next week...That said, if they do, they're gonna be a real threat in this game, bringing in votes from both the Heartland and dog lovers...

8: Tommy Socks. It's funny how they showed this right after the dude juggling flaming axes and a chainsaw...and yet THIS is the most dangerous-looking act I've seen in these online auditions! Usually, a man his age shuffling around on a hard-tile floor in his socks is a LifeCall waiting to happen! And yet he not only remained on his socked feet, but proved to be very spry on them for his age! This act is a silly gimmick, and he won't make it past the next round, but he still has my respect!

7: Max Major. OH MY GOD! THE FINGER TRICK WORKED ON ME TOO! HOW DID HE DO THAT!? IT COULDN'T HAVE BEEN SIMPLE PHYSICS, HE MUST BE A WIZARD! ...Or a demon, like Simon said...But seriously, this was nothing amazing...I guess the fact that he was able to do this through video chat was impressive enough, although I did just read a comment about an “invisible deck”, which does make it less impressive...Still, I'm curious enough to see what he can do on a live stage...

6: Lauren O'Brien. Impressionists are always fun, even if the novelty of them tends to wear out pretty quickly from round to round...But I enjoyed her, and her impression of Sofia is all the more amusing now that I've gotten to know her more throughout the auditions. (Silly accent aside, she is growing on me as a judge...)

5: Darius. I guess he won't give his last name...(Rucker?) Very likable personality, good song choice, and a very nice singing voice! I wouldn't quite call him my favorite singer of the season, but this was a nice audition...It's actually kind of a shame that we won't likely see him again...At least this season...But if nothing else, maybe I'll actually get a little respect for my miserable time working retail (even though I quit that job months before COVID even broke out...)

4: Alexis & The Puppy Pals. Well, she's not quite at Alexa Lauenburger's level yet, but she's on her way! None of the tricks were anything I haven't seen before, but they were very impressive considering the age of the trainer...How interesting that some of the best dog trainers to come on this show are little girls! All that said...The 80s called, they want their wardrobe back!

3: Aaron...Bonk? (Sorry, I can't see his name spelled out anywhere, only hear Terry pronounce it.) Silly little diagonal mohawk aside, I'm always a sucker for rebellious-looking people juggling chainsaws and flaming weaponry! I'd love to see him do this act on a stage, but since they didn't even show him in last week's quick compilation of online acts, we're probably not even going to see him again...Again, at least until he tries auditioning again for one of the coming years...

2: The Hurd Family. Clearly, the dad and the eldest son are the real talent, while the two younger siblings are just there to cute it up a bit...Some very strong dancing, but sadly they probably won't make it past Judge Cuts since they were given the montage treatment in the official episode...

1: Simon's pajamas. A brilliant spectacle! BRRRRAVO!

This was a fun little collection of talent, and the home-recorded nature of everything kinda added to the charm...The judges were also more entertaining while just casually kicking back at their houses...Like with “Saturday Night Live”, I hope it doesn't have to continue like this, but for now, it was different and enjoyable...(Unfortunately, the Judge Cuts will be more of the same, so I really do wonder how they're gonna handle the remainder of this season...)

Probably the only acts from this who will pass the Judge Cuts next week are Alexis and MAYBE Max (if he can pull off a good enough trick). Everyone else were either silly gimmicks who don't even have the quality of so-bad-it's-good, or weren't shown in full for the official episode last week...

But we'll just see...For now, let's move on to tonight's “Best Of” show...Here are the auditions they compiled for this episode...

1: W.A.F.F.L.E. Crew

2: Double Dragon

3: Brandon Leake

4: Brett Loudermilk

5: Cristina Rae

6: The Spyros Bros

7: Voices of Our City Choir

8: Alan Silva

9: Roberta Battaglia

10: Vincent Marcus

11: Archie Williams

The reason why I listed these acts is because all of them are most likely in the live shows already (not counting the Golden Buzzer acts that we KNOW are already there). The “Best Of” shows tend to be made up of acts that the judges and/or producers liked the most, and by the time they air, the live performers have already been selected weeks or even months ago...So you know they must have liked them enough if they're in this compilation...

Can't say I'm surprised by any of these choices...except maybe Double Dragon; They were a little under my radar...I mean, if it were up to me, this compilation would have included Malik DOPE, Noah Epps, Nolan Neal, Winston, Brothers Gage, Wesley Williams and Sheldon Riley...But Waffle and Spyros are probably my two favorite auditions this season overall, so whatever...

I guess these were pretty good auditions overall...A few boring episodes here and there, but there was still a handful of memorable acts...I'd LIKE to think they'll all make it next week, but we'll just wait and see...The format's going to make things VERY difficult, and we might not even see some of them compete again...

Even the Golden Buzzer choices had some decent variety for once! Only two of them were solo singers (one child, and one adult), and for the other spots we have a choir, a poet and a dance group...Waffle's still the only act that really excites me, but it's refreshing when it's not just four singers and a dance act...Plus, from a cynical business standpoint, the choices all make perfect sense...

As for which of them will win this season...Well, it's a VERY tough call...I'm still rooting for Waffle, and they DO have the right aspects to help them out...But so far, they're not quite raking in the same enthusiasm that other winners have...

Roberta has the most views BY FAR on Youtube...But does she really have the uniqueness or overwhelming hype that previous winners had? While I like her overall, I REALLY don't want her to win this season, because NOTHING about her is distinguishable compared to all previous winners...MAYBE the quality of her singing voice compared to other child singers, but even that is a tough comparison...

Otherwise, we've had child singers with much more unique gimmicks win in the past, she's not writing her own songs (yet), she doesn't have a unique genre...Hell, even in terms of which judge's Golden Buzzer she is, it's hard to root for her; It's only Sofia's first season, and she's basically filling in for Gab Union (whose GB won last season), who in turn filled in for Mel B (whose GB won two seasons before that). Come to think of it, aside from Howie's GB the season before THAT, the only judge who has SEEN their GB win each year was the female minority judge (seeing that NONE of the GB's won in Season 13...though it was probably MEANT to be Howie's again...)

Point being, if there's any season where Simon's GB is to win, it should be the one where he selects an act that has potential to be one of my favorites...I guess it wouldn't hurt to give Heidi a year either...Or hell, more seasons where the winner ISN'T a Golden Buzzer...(You never know...It could be Archie...)

Anyway, that's all I got for now...See you next week when we find out which lucky acts get to perform live...Or...well...as live as they can make it...(God, PLEASE don't make this our “new normal”!)

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tarasstorybook · 5 years ago

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Purging

He was tired, tired of the lies, the betrayal, the uprisings, the attempts on his life, he was tired of everything that was going on in his section. The demons he thought were loyal to him turned out to be plotting his demise without him knowing about it, well not until he learned who his loyals were, Aydriel being one of them. After the recent attempt on his life Phoenix decided it was time to take care of the ones who had betrayed him, he knew where their loyalties lied it clearly wasn’t with him so why keep them? Might as well make an example of the ones who wanted him dead, they were almost successful in taking him out this time, this was a chance he was not willing to take again. It took nearly a month for him to bounce back from this one, but he supposed it was his own fault for that, he didn’t tell his medic brothers right away what had happened, Felicia did that for him when she patched him up. Phoenix owed Jett a thank you for taking care of what he couldn’t finish, despite it all though he knew there were more of them, they were just hiding like the cowards they were.

He had called his people to his throne room, it might not have been like that in every section of Hell but Phoenix liked the idea of having a place to hold meetings with his demons that wasn’t his cramped office, it could only hold so many people at once. Phoenix pondered if he should tell Crowles and them about it, maybe it was something he wasn’t supposed to have in his section, a question to have when he was done with current matters.

“Good morning everybody.” He greets them when they enter, being dramatic as always Phoenix had draped himself across his throne, sword in hand. Whispers slowly started, some were surprised to see him up and walking again, they had all heard about the assassination attempt and that he was hurt pretty badly from the last one. Phoenix sighs and rolls his eyes, adjusting himself so he was sitting correctly. “Yes, yes I survived the attempt on my life a month ago thank you for pointing it out. Now if you please, stop talking.” He growled out the last part, he wasn’t in the mood for trying to gain control again over them.

The whispers had died and stopped, Phoenix seemed to speak with more authority than usual, this was something new, something he hadn’t done in a very long time. Normally Phoenix was a pretty lax and laid back prince, but now he seemed to take on a new personality.

Something pulled at Phoenix to really show how he really felt about the situation before him. He was pissed, he could feel the fires of Hell burn in his chest as he opened his mouth to say something but instead music started up, everyone looked around confused. Phoenix closes his mouth and grins, it would seem the musical spelled had boomeranged back and he had been in Haven for awhile, funny he didn’t know it’s influence went down so low. He decides to roll with it, this way of taking care of things seemed like more fun anyway.

Come on in, take a seat.

Tell me how you feel this weak.

Are you cursed? Are you blessed?

Are you still inside the mess?

All those feelings wrapped around you,

Hold you down so you can't break through.

It's a trap, so don't ask. it's a shadow on

Your back. It don't burn, it don't bleed,

Still it cuts you at the knee.

All this pressure that surrounds you,

Holds you down but you know you

Gotta break through.

Phoenix was known for being dramatic but he didn’t care, in some cases his dramatism helped him get his point across. What better way to do it than through song? It seemed to work for some people, he didn’t see why it wouldn’t work for him.

Hey, ce la vie.

Remember me? I made you, dressed

And trained you.

Hey, it's bitter sweet.

You can't kill me with kindness,

I don't buy it.

Strip down, show me flesh and bone.

(Strip Down.)

'Cause now I own you.

Phoenix grips his sword as he stands up, if he was going to sing how he felt then he was going to drag it out as much as he could. “It would seem there are traitors in this section, to the ones whose loyalty I have you can leave. To those who plot against me well, let’s just say I have something in store for you.” Whether or not he was going to give them a fighting chance was completely up to him, and he had decided that no, he wasn’t half of these assholes didn’t know how to defend themselves anyway.

Take a breath, hold it in.

Now look up, let's begin.

Lesson learned, take a turn.

Now you come around again,

All those feelings wrapped around you,

Hold you down so you can't break through.

The ones that were still loyal to Phoenix had taken their opportunity to leave and doom the rest to the wrath of their prince, all except one that is. She had stayed back to see the chaos all unfold and call in a cleaning crew when he was done.

Time is up, take your shot.

'Cause your story's all you got.

Don't back down, don't say no.

Just stay still and let go.

All this pressure that surrounds you,

Holds you down but you know

You've gotta break through.

Hey, ce la vie.

Remember me? I made you, dressed

And trained you.

Hey, it's bitter sweet.

You can't kill me with kindness,

I don't buy it.

Strip down, show me flesh and bone.

(Strip Down.)

'Cause now I own you.

Phoenix makes quick work with his version of pest control, some of which were able to hold their own against him but not for very long, he may have trained some of them himself but he hadn't taught them everything they needed to know. Phoenix did that intentionally, he couldn’t have demons knowing how to take him down, how would that look for him? Not very good and it wouldn’t make him look like a very good prince if simple demons were able to rise up and take him out. Not saying there weren’t demons that couldn’t go toe to toe with him, Phoenix just wanted to decrease the chances of losing his section to them.

You can't kill me with kindness, you know I don't buy it

Strip down, show your flesh and bone

Cause now I own you

Phoenix may or may not have been having a little too much fun purging his section, or perhaps it was his war tendencies starting to take over for him. Either way as the song continued the number of dead bodies started to rise and he had more blood on his hands, literally and figuratively.

Hey, ce la vie.

Remember me? I made you, dressed

And trained you.

Hey, it's bitter sweet.

You can't kill me with kindness,

I don't buy it.

Strip down, show me flesh and bone.

(Strip Down.)

'Cause now I own you.

Now I own you.

You know I own you.

There were only a few remaining traitors still standing, Phoenix had made his point, cross him again and he will not hesitate to take care of the problem himself, in fact he would be happy to take care of the traitors himself. Phoenix sheaths his sword, he uses his powers to pull the others closer to him.

“Have I made my point clear?” His tone was low and threatening, his eyes had shifted to that of swirling fire, his hell eyes, at some point during his purge. If his words weren’t clear enough then maybe his actions, tone and eyes alone will drive his point home. “Cross me or plot my demise with others again and I won’t hesitate to kill each and every single one of you.”

Phoenix gets terrified yes sir in response to his threat. He lets them go and allows them to run off with their tails tucked between their legs, it was safe to assume they would spread word to anyone else who was thinking of turning on him to think against their choices. Phoenix just watches them run off, there was no section for them to run to and hide in, if they tried all of Hell knew who they were and they would wind up dead if they tried.

“You good?” The woman who stayed behind finally speaks up, walking up behind Phoenix.

Phoenix takes a deep breath in an attempt to calm himself down a little. “Yeah, why didn’t you go with the others Syd?”

“Because I know where my loyalties lie and I knew I was safe. Also someone has to call in a cleaning crew to take care of your mess.” She was texting away as she spoke, Sydney was kind of his personal assistant, though neither of them would admit it. “Oh by the way you have a meeting with your brothers and sisters at two, you have just enough time to go home, get changed and showered.”

“Oh yeah, I have a Hell meeting today don’t I?”

“Yup, keep an eye on your blood sugar it’s around that time to eat something so it doesn’t crash.” She glances up and smirks at him, how she got that knowledge was her secret that she wasn’t willing to tell.

“Right I’ll make sure to do that.” Phoenix smiles and rolls his eyes, starting off to go back home and get changed.

“You better or your twin will kick your ass.” She calls after him.

Taking care of the rats in his section took a look out of him, probably because Phoenix was letting his emotions control most of what he did, he also may have let the song take control as well but the purge itself was a long time coming he just wasn’t expecting the musical spell to bounce back at that particular point in time. Still though, he took care of things and made sure that an attempt on his life like that never happened again.

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eleart2019 · 5 years ago

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A wedding invitation

Vampires....

While a new chapter opened, an old one was about to be closed. The parlour was squalid to say the least, in its artificial gothic pomposity; a fact that seemed to escape her. But then, she liked the grit, squalor of the low lives, the perdition of their bodies and souls, as lost as hers, she thrived in the decadence of the flesh and spirit. It had not always been so, yet those times were far, she was well aware of that. Once, she had been a creature of the sun…then it had all been imposed on her, the inevitable change and chemistry that made her vampire. She had wanted it…no, what she had wanted was Julian’s love. Desperately so. She had been struck, hit, devoured by his will and want, and all had been lost. Better not dwell on the mechanics, they escaped her anyway…

From the adjoining room, through a screen, she spied the guests coming in: there was her mother, Faye, who had aged, badly. Her beautiful face was sagged, her body a bit curved: Sarah could almost discern what were the lines sorrow and loss caused. She watched attentively the human woman who had given birth to her, her slow movements, her resignation to old age and a life ordinary. Yes, resigned, that’s what she was, resigned. Her two sisters and their children, all in their late twenties now. What beautiful youths they had become! What energy, what life force! She could almost see herself in the girl, actually, there was something of auntie Sarah in Jenny: she wasn’t surprised, if she had been like that, of Julian’s choice. She could almost eat Jenny herself.

Then her brother, Syd, who had been only eighteen when she vanished in thin air, or so they thought. She had not vanished…she had morphed. She had vanished from their lives, that is true. She wondered, would they be shocked, horrified, if they could see her life as a film? The kill, the hunting, the blood, the thirst…the darkness.

She could also hear some of their conversations, and the puzzlement of finding themselves in a ‘wedding shop’, these quick Las Vegas churches, in the whore’s part of town: this one sporting dark tones, coffins-fake- and red drapes, in theme with a gothic wedding, between two vampires, although the latter was not common knowledge.

“I hope this is not a joke” she heard Syd whisper into their sister’s ear- Amelie- and look at his mum, who was bent in emotional agony- yet accepting of anything that may come. She had been beaten a long time before, there was no game to lose or win. Finding Sarah, alive, might be a beautiful end to a somehow very ordinary existence. Her dreams, dead long ago. Death, coming, not next year, or the next, but soon. With that, release: that she hope for, every Sunday, at the local church, listening to the pastor talk about eternal life and salvation…release.

But what about eternal death, had she considered that? Was it true, or was it a joke, a really bad joke? The writing on the letter did, indeed, belong to Sarah. Her tone had seemed sincere, she was alive-that was a blatant lie, Sarah reasoned, but she could only speak their language-and wanted to invite them to her impending wedding, where they would all be reunited. Fair enough…but after 25 years? The letter had, of course, caused happiness and great outrage.

Faye, Sarah noticed, clutched something in her hands…Julian’s father, Jim, entered the room, not disguising a sense of almost revulsion at the sight of the tacky gothic décor.

“I’d expect Count Dracula to come out at any moment” he said, sarcastically to a youth at his side. “If his mother could see this, she would die again” he then added.

The youth didn’t respond, quite, he winced, uncomfortably so.

“Typical Julian, what an arsehole he can be sometimes” Jim muttered to himself, before realising that Faye and her family was also there.

Oh, yes, Count Dracula! She had heard of him indeed. Jim didn’t know how near his predictions were to the truth! It was almost dark outside…time for the vampires to come out of hiding?

“Why do you do this?” Julian whispered, gently in Sarah’s ear, joining her as she watched the screen, watched the people. It wasn’t a real question…there was almost something ironic in his asking.

“We need, Julian, a vampire family. We have always been family people, you and I, if I recall” she smiled, her fangs shining in the semidarkness, for some very strange effect of the light. “Family, you can always rely upon”

She turned, very quickly, standing: Julian and Sarah were face to face, their bodies almost touching, their lips equally so. An energy, a frisson, run through their bodies and beings, and a promise of ‘later’ in their eyes…the guest had all arrived. Show must begin…she looked at the nearby control panel, and remembered what the man on duty, now a corpse in the nearby chair, had explained. His helper, a girl who was already showing signs of ageing, also lay in the room, nearby. Sarah had arranged her in a sleeping position, on the sofa by the door. She had placed a fake flower between her hands, which were smeared in blood, like her neck and face, the eyes wide open…you could still read terror in there. Lovely.

“Sleeping beauty” she whispered, aimed at the girl, passing by the door. Good that she had good memory, with the keyboard.

She put some music on…the sound was eerie, distant, and the guests, in spite of their emotions and scepticism, could not but focus their attention on things to happen.

Julian let her run this show…weddings, were after all, a favourite with women. A girl’s best day: was Sarah any exception? Obviously not! She looked as excited as a kid! Why deprive her of such joy. He knew who she was…

The vampires entered the room, and locked the door behind them. The wedding room was effectively sealed, with no escape if one needed to. That was cause of excitement and worry, it’s funny how the two emotions do mix so well, overlapping almost. Of course, they didn’t imagine a thing, they could have not known in a million years what was to happen shortly. A good family wedding.

Julian and Sarah walked forward, finally appearing from the semidarkness, almost blending in it, through their dark clothes. Their pallor was remarkable though, especially in the dim light.

The people gasped: the room was alive with tormented emotions, joy, sorrow, surprise, disgust…love. They were here because they loved Julian and Sarah. They would be rewarded for that. Jim stood up, anger being the emotion that possessed him, chiefly; the others clustered around Faye, worried what Sarah’s sight might do to her weak heart; the younger members of the party’s main focus was curiosity. To them, aunt Sarah was a somehow mythical figure, a sort of saint who had vanished, probably killed or kidnapped, a virginal figure who had, most likely, met a most horrific and horrible death, in family mythology. The solution of the mystery was near. This was a such a peculiar and weird situation.

Jim was really pissed off. The past few months had been horrific, he knew Julian was alive, he was just an ass. Leaving the force like that! After this flousie! No matter what they thought, Saint Sarah was a bitch in his book. Disappearing my ass, the bitch had run away with somebody else, of that he had always been convinced. All these thoughts were running in Jim’s head as the happy couple made their entrance. Again, Sarah, in registering, noticed how near Jim was to the truth. The man must have some hidden and undeveloped intuitive ability, pity people didn’t take him too seriously. Pity, really.

“She’s dressed for a funeral!” Amelie’s daughter, Bella, whispered into her brother’s ear…her eyes, if anything, betrayed fascination. Not so Jim’s, who by them was positively fuming, but stayed seated, reserving his rage for later…no time like the present, Jim.

Amelie and Cora, at each at Faye’s side, held her, one her hand, the other her arm: the old frail woman was seated speechless, looking at her lost daughter, who was slowly emerging from behind the altar, all dressed in black, a long gothic skirt and a corset; a tall man next to her…Julian.

“The wanker” Jim thought. ”Wait until this little show finishes”

“Yes Jim. Wait until it ends” Sarah answered mentally, and funny enough, Jim looked at her. But he couldn’t have heard her words, she was aware of this, he had felt her intention and energy over him though…oh what a waste. This man was gifted, and he didn’t know it.

They walked up front, stopping right I front of Faye: the whole group was clutched together around her, some puzzled, some fascinated, none of them bored. Some angry.

Until then, none of them had reacted, had shown any visible or extreme emotion: Julian by her side, Sarah stood in front of her human mother, in all her feral beauty, concealing nothing, showing even less.

It was when it hit them. She looked young, far too young. Her face, her body, had not undergone the grinding of time. She had not grown old, or any different…well, she was different. All of this was different, but her? Her body? This woman was the woman they had seen twenty five years before, the last time, that afternoon, when she had come to say goodbye. She was only going for a short trip, work related: yet she had hugged her mother, and she had told her how much she loved her. Then nothing, for twenty five long years.

Faye, the matriarch, who had spent her life being something she wasn’t to everybody else, sat silent, cold, motionless, hit by the sight of Sarah. Unease, a sense that something was badly out of sort came over the room, slowly, as they all looked at her. There was a woman who was supposedly in her fifties, and who looked like a twenty year old. Not her eyes though: albeit perfect, her body and face betrayed a poise, and age, that was not that of youth. The vampire stood in front of her birth mother, savouring every emotion, every random thought that came from this little group of human, as ignorant in paranormal matters as one can be.

Isn’t a girl’s wedding day the one where the best memories are made?

The vampire savoured her power, slowly sensed their life force, read them like books, and chose, mentally, which ones to take first.

Faye didn’t speak for a long time, no-one did. There was a ghastly silence in the room. Jim was eyeing Julian, hating him for this. He didn’t think much of the trollop either.

Finally, slowly, having looked hard and long at Sarah, Faye whispered something.

“This is not my daughter” and she joined her hands, in prayer, and closed her eyes and started to cry, silently.

“Oh, I am…but I know what you mean” Sarah spoke, smiling. Her fangs were showing.

Syd then intervened.

“What kind of sick joke is this? Who are you?”

Faye gestured to be quiet, the others were all petrified by the presence of the two vampires. The room had become very cold.

“It’s Sarah, Syd, it is…yet she is not. I cannot find in this person the soul that animated her. How she may look so youthful, I don’t know, but it is maybe in the realm of possibilities; I cannot feel her heart, the heart of the daughter I knew, in her. It’s her, and it isn’t.”

These were very wise words the human mother had pronounced.

“Do you wish to go, mother?” asked Sarah, bending over, so that the old woman could see her face, properly.

“Stay away from me, devil! You are soiled, you are soiled! Oh, I wish this moment had never come. I can see you, and I don’t like what I see!” Faye screamed, with a strength that was somehow unusual for her. They were all taken aback.

They had expected, if anything, the frail lady to brake in tears, to be weakened and overcome with happiness at the sight of her lost daughter, even in a setting like this; sure, it was all so weird.

Sarah looked at her display with curiosity, as if studying it actually.

Faye calmed down, eventually, and they all started to stand up, not really knowing what to do, where to go: should they leave, should they stay, what was this all about?

“Please stay seated” said Julian, finally emerging from the back, not only a shadow or a presence, now a participant.

Jim, who was still wearing then goggles of anger, couldn’t help notice how Julian’s appearance had improved.

“Don’t you think you owe us some explanation, you son of a bitch?” he almost shouted, while the others were busy both fussing around Faye and regaining their previous seating positions. “How could you put us through this? Not a word since you evaporated in thin air a few months ago! And whose this trollop you are with, son? Because she isn’t your old fiancée, is she?”

Julian stayed calm. The room was silent again. They were fearful, they were. The two vampires didn’t care to disguise their true feelings and faces, while eyeing the humans, their movements and thoughts.

“Explanations, later. All in time. Family is forever, dad, I am afraid blood can be more binding than water…”

The eerie music kept playing, in the semidarkness, as a deadly silence had fallen into the room.

“We don’t have much time”

“There is more than enough”

“This needs to be done now”

The best intentions, sadly go sometimes astray. There was no-one to perform the ceremony, as there was no ceremony to be performed.

“I want out, take me out of here” screamed Faye, her breath missing, in a last attempt to release herself. Amelie and Syd stood up, and started carrying her out: the woman looked deadly pale.

“She has suffered a heart attack!” Amelie shouted, desperate. Faye’s pulse was weak, her life slipping out of her. They reached the entrance door: it was locked.

“Unlock the door! Unlock! What’s going on here?”

Jim, his nephew and Syd got to the door and started pushing it violently, in an attempt to brake free.

Sarah remained unmoved, in the commotion. So, they didn’t want to play, did they? The human mother was dying, she could sense her life slip away. That life, albeit soul less, could have been eternal; but the woman was stubborn.

Suit yourself.

Sarah smirked. The two youths were somehow unsettled, like all the others…oh, their lovely life force. She could sense their life pulsating through their veins, full of warm succulent blood, ah…snap out of it.

She approached the girl, silently from behind, forgetting for a minute the dying woman, her human mother…I could have given you eternal life. Did she know, how did she know? There was no time for this. Silently, she was now behind her niece, the beautiful young body and hair and her scent! It was amazing. Sarah was hungry. From behind, she studied the curvature of the girl’s neck, her body. She bit her lips, her tongue flicking between her teeth, savouring the pray, the kill…the life she was going to give her niece. Family.

Suddenly a bang, the door was open, all of them gushing out of the wedding parlour, out of that horrid farce…the girl was out too, all the group, all around Faye, who lay motionless in the arms of her daughters, the other daughters, Syd on a cell phone, to try and call an ambulance.

Julian and Sarah, motionless and emotionless, stood watching this like a film.

Jim was the last to flee the room.

“You bastard, we need to have a word you and I! Did I raise you to behave like this? Are you a man or a rat? I’m disgusted!”

Jim obviously expected a response of some kind, anger, shouts, anything that would have engaged in a discussion, a communication. Jim wasn’t a bad man, Jim wanted really to understand…Jim loved his son.

“Maybe some things are better unsaid. We have said our goodbyes anyway” Julian responded, very quietly.

“You goodbyes?! That was you way of saying good bye? You have given the poor woman a heart attack for fuck’s sake! You are out of your mind or what?”

Sarah held Julian’s arm, bent her head and rested it on his shoulders.

“She was going to die anyway” she whispered. Then smiled. A chilling, long, joyless smile that froze Jim, even Jim, there on the spot.

“Something is definitely not right” he thought, and retreated.

“This doesn’t end here, young man” he said to Julian finally. Come see me at home and we’ll talk. I’ll be expecting you young man” he closed the discussion, Jim style. But he wasn’t expecting him. He was uncertain, he didn’t even know if he wanted to see them again…a chill run down his spine, for no conscious reason. It was perhaps the picture they made, the two of them together…something was so wrong.

He went out.

“He’s right” said Sarah “This doesn’t end here. As always he’s right.”

She embraced Julian and kissed his lips, exploring his teeth and mouth. Her mouth tasted of blood.

The eerie music kept filling the now empty room, with its nocturnal gothic tones, a decadent gothic rhapsody.

“Nox Eterna” said Julian, holding his bride. A feeling of accomplishment, which could have been described like happiness, had they been human, took hold of the two vampires. Sirens of police cars approaching could be heard in the distance: hand in hand, they took leave, having said their goodbyes, and disappeared into the night, at the gentle sound of the music.

#vampyr #horror #writers #horror writing

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dedicated-to-weirdness · 6 years ago

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I am really disappointed and sad that One Day At A Time was cancelled on Netflix. That show was pure genius and it truly deserved to have more viewers and another season, unlike other shows, and here’s why.

The family/characters

First of all, the main story of ODAAT was amazing because it was about a Latinx family, and normally the most famous Netflix shows or TV shows in general are about white people, but this time the principal character was a woman of colour. The family was also very strong, they cared for each other a lot and whenever one person was having a difficult time, it became a difficult time for all the family. Every character was unique but they completed each other in one way. And they showed that people can learn and grow from their mistakes. The characters were lovable even if they were not perfect and the actors acted like they were actually a family and their acting was believable.

The writing

Not only the writing was hilarious, but actually well written. The storylines made sense, they were hilarious but also touched serious subjects like mental illnesses, divorces, figuring out your sexuality as a teenager, and more, without becoming a drama. Netflix shows these days figuring teenagers are often about sex and drugs, but not ODAAT. It is rare to have shows that actually say smart.

Here is one of my favourite lines that I genuinely think deserves an award :

When I first saw that scene, I was like YASSS QUEEN. Because it is SO important and we need more good writing like this. And this is only one part of the amazing lines.

Also, I didn’t find the gif for it but I will never forget the moment where Lydia (the grandmother) was watching TV. Then, Penelope comes up to talk to her, but Lydia says : “Wait, I’m watching a hemorrhoid commercial. Oh no, wait, that’s the president Trump.” Both hilarious and PERFECT.

I cannot find one single episode that was badly written, seriously. It is extremely difficult to be funny but also talk about serious subjects, but ODAAT writers did that perfectly.

The authenticity and singularity

ODAAT, according to me, was difficult to compare to other shows since it was so unique and different in a good way. Every episode was unique and it wasn’t boring to watch. Name one show that talks about mental illnesses, has LGBTQ+ and non-binary characters that actually have more than just one scene per episode, Latinx principal characters, the use of medication for anxiety and depression, PTSD after serving in military, while still having hilarious lines and genuinely funny characters. Try to find one show like this, except ODAAT.

Representation for LGBTQ+ characters

The character Elena Alvarez (aka Lesbian Jesus), is a lesbian representation we all need. There was also Syd (Elena’s girlfriend in season 2 and 3), a non-binary character who actually had good character development that concerned more than just her sexual orientation. In other shows like Riverdale, LGBTQ+ characters barely have development and the show is pretty much centred in straight people having sex between two drug dealerships (no hate towards Riverdale but that’s my opinion), ODAAT was not like that. The LGBTQ+ characters had just as much time and role in the story, as the non-LGBTQ characters, if not more. Plus, they talked about homosexuality as something else than just a sexual thing, because it indeed is more than just sexual, it’s more about love. These days, everything is hyper sexualized, especially on TV, but it was not in ODAAT.

The amazing parenting

Just the fact that Penelope Alvarez talked to her kids about panic attacks and how they should open up about their struggles with anxiety, is a great example for parents. I personally grew up with a mother who totally denied my anxiety issues, and I would’ve given anything to have a mom like Penelope. Maybe if there was more representation and awareness about how it’s okay to have anxiety and raise awareness on panic attacks, maybe kids wouldn’t suffer or feel ashamed about their mental illness like I did. I know it’s just TV show, but still, it had great values that most shows don’t have. Plus, Lydia, the grandma, first hesitated on how she should react after Elena’s coming out since Lydia is religious, but she then said : “She is my granddaughter and I love her no matter what. Tell me, when’s the gay pride?” which is something all parents should think.

Anyways, I could go on for hours about how ODAAT was just one of the best shows ever, but that post would literally become a novel, so I’ll stop here. Don’t hesitate to add positive (I won’t respond to hate) comments if you were a ODAAT fan too, I would love to talk more about the show and how great it was.

#one day at a time #ODAAT #tv shows #rant

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nhlarchived · 6 years ago

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Part One ~ Part Two ~ Part Three ~ Part Four

Word Count: 2.1k

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You sat in the passenger seat of his car gazing out the window at all of the different beach houses on the strip, spotting the waves in between each home. Matt and Sydney’s house sat only a mile from the end of the island, leaving all the restaurants and entertainment about five miles down the strip, and with all of the stop lights on the island, it would take you about fifteen minutes before arriving anywhere.

“These houses are something else aren’t they.” Auston mentioned, sitting up farther in his seat to get a better view through the windshield.

“Says the millionaire professional hockey player as if you’ve never seen houses like this before.” You teased turning to look towards him. He rolled his eyes knowing he couldn’t argue with you on that one.

“I like how they’re all customized. How people put their home state flags up. Some different countries flags go up. Some people name their houses. It brings character, I like it.” He explained. He had a point. Matt & Sydney’s house had three flags. New York’s, Canada’s and America’s to represent where they were from. Although they didn’t name the house, Auston proved a point saying there was a lot of character brought to the neighborhood.

In fact, his statement shocked you. It showed how he pays attention to where he goes. He may have flown and lived in several different places around the globe, but he never takes it for granted. His words replayed in your mind as you now watched the houses through his perspective. The different colors, names, flags, they all told a story.

“I wish I could customize my own.” You admitted softly. You spoke into the window and honestly didn’t think it was even loud enough for Auston to hear, yet he did.

“I believe one day you can.” Auston added nudging your arm with his elbow. You chuckled at his comment, these houses ran in the millions. You believed it was almost impossible.

“You have too much belief in me.” You joked with a scuff. You faced his body once again that was focused on the road, his profile pulling into a confused glare.

“What? Why do you say that?” He said as if he was offended but the comment even though it wasn’t about him, cocking an eyebrow.

“I could never afford one of these houses.” You explained mimicking his expression.

“Y/n are you serious? Good things happen to good people I promise. Yeah you might not be able to afford it right this moment but you’re a really successful person. I’ve seen your potential.” He confessed changing his sight between you and the road. You couldn’t help but stare at him in a daze, trying to intake his words. He’d never really spoken to you that way. He’s always supported you, but never went out of his way to explain why.

You didn’t know how to respond. You started looking down at your hands fiddling with them not knowing what else to do. The tension was building up through the car as he awaited a response, but he eventually caught on that he wasn’t going to get one.

“You need to give yourself more credit y/n. Don’t let people make you feel any less than what you are. I know you’ve been off lately and not feeling yourself, but just know that I’ll always be here to support you no matter what.” He continued while stopping at a red light. You could feel his stare running through you like lasers. Once finally looking towards him you could see the sincerity in his eyes. He meant every word he said. You smiled at him and nodded acknowledging that you appreciate him.

His mouth pulled into a smirk seeing that he’s caught you speechless. You were pulled into a trance glued onto his eyes as the two of you sat in silence. His sight started switching between your eyes and your lips as he slowly leaned over the center console. You mimicked his movements as your mind raced a mile a minute.

You wanted him. There was no doubt about it, but you weren’t sure if this was the right time or not. You haven’t even forgotten your last relationship no longer having to jump into a new one. However, you also didn’t want to miss out on this opportunity of finally having the boy you’ve always wanted.

A loud vibration came from your phone in the cup holder. The two of you held eye contact for another moment before you looked down to see who was calling. You noticed the light you were stuck at had turned green but Auston was still stuck in his daze.

“The lights green.” You whispered, pointing awkwardly out of the windshield trying to pull him back to reality. You picked up your phone and saw Mitch’s name across the screen. As you swiped your finger across the screen to answer you felt the car move forward once again. Hearing a slight grumble escape from Auston’s mouth.

“What’s up?” You questioned to Mitch through the phone. You’d hate to admit it, but you were slightly upset. You were glad this gave you more time to think about taking the next step with Auston, but now you’ve realized you’re probably a little bit more interested in him than you thought.

“Where did you guys go?” Mitch asked. Due to the sound of his lips smacking you figured he had gone inside to grab a snack seeing neither you or Auston were still in the house.

“Uhhh” you paused turning towards Auston. You had no idea where he was taking you and you didn’t exactly want Mitch knowing that the two of you were running off somewhere secret just yet.

“We’re uhh we went to go to the grocery store.” You finally managed to get out. Auston immediately sent you a confused glare wondering what Mitch was questioning.

“We have a ton of food in the house?” Mitch continued clearly skeptic.

“Yeah maybe for the girls but not enough to feed us, plus six giant hockey players.” You argued and luckily you had a valid point. Matt and Syd didn’t go grocery shopping before everyone came over so the only food in the house is what they normally keep supplied.

“Good point.” Mitch spoke in between chews, clearly having food in his mouth. “Just make sure you guys don’t have too much fun.” He teased before hanging up the phone, not allowing you to respond. He knew you would quickly retaliate from his accusation, so he pressed the end button before you could speak another word.

You rolled your eyes clicking your phone screen off then placed it in your lap. You rested your head back onto the seat now knowing if you didn’t come back with loads of groceries, Mitch would be on to the two of you. Which you didn't want since you weren’t even sure what was going on.

“The grocery store?” Auston questioned clearly trying to hold back a laugh, thinking this whole situation was funny.

“It was the first innocent thing that came to mind.” You argued knowing that it was a better response than he could ever come up with.

“Yeah but now we have to go grocery shopping otherwise he’s going to tell the whole world how we hooked up in a parking lot or something.” He stated sitting up farther in his seat to now try and find a store the two of you could stop at.

“I’m very aware. Where were you taking me anyway?” You asked. Clearly the plans had been ruined but luckily you didn’t know where they were going to be in the first place.

“Can I be honest?” He started, you nodded your head yes in response. “I didn’t really have a plan. I was just going to wait for something to come up. So, I really hope you like shopping for milk and bread.” He teased with a smile plastered across his face from his own joke. You giggled and shook your head. It was a weird situation but at least the tension from the interrupted kiss was gone.. well so you thought.

“As long as I am with you I don’t really care though.” Auston barely whispered under his breath. You knew you weren’t supposed to hear it. At first you almost asked him to repeat it, but then figured it should be dropped. Besides, you didn’t want to think too far into it anyway.

Eventually Auston found a store a couple more miles down the road and pulled into the parking lot. This part of the jersey shore was your favorite. There were no commercial companies. It was all local family run businesses and it really made the area special. The grocery store had a gorgeous mural painted on the side of a farm with all different kinds of crops. You couldn’t help but stare at it for a while before following Auston who was watching you amusedly, halfway through the door already.

You jogged to catch up with him and was immediately hit by the cold air from the produce section that was off to the right. You grabbed a cart and followed Auston who you believed was pretending as if he knew what he was doing. It was your idea to go grocery shopping in the first place and it wasn’t like either of you knew the layout of this store, but he seemed to know exactly what aisle he wanted to go down.

He turned down the bread aisle picking up hamburger and hot dog buns, tossing them into the cart as if he was playing basketball. Obviously, you flinched a time or two not knowing how accurate his shot would be which caused him to laugh, so of course now he was going to do it the entire time you shopped.

He did it with the meats as well but this time you’ve stopped flinching now knowing he wasn’t going to hit you. You picked up a different variety of snacks as you followed him down each aisle and the cart was shockingly becoming quite full. Yet, the whole experience was becoming boring. You guys didn’t talk much besides “Hey do you think this would be good?” Followed by a yes or no answer. But the whole point of it was to get your mind off things and it seemed to have been working.

Auston picked up a carton of eggs and made the motion as if he was going to toss them into the cart with the other items. This caused you to have a borderline heart attack thinking he was actually going to do it, foreseeing the yolky mess he could have possibly caused.

“Auston I’m literally going to kill you.” You stated wide eyed holding your hand over your chest as you caught your breath. He couldn’t help but lean over the cart laughing hysterically at your reaction.

“Oh, shut up.” You teased slapping him lightly on the shoulder with the back of your hand. He stood up eyes still squinting from laughing as he held his arms out to you.

“Oh, come on you love me.” He accused wrapping his arms tightly around you, rocking your bodies back and forth. Of course, he was wearing your favorite cologne why wouldn’t he be? The scent filled your senses as you leaned your head into his chest and enjoyed the embrace.

Once his laughter had turned into only a smiling you looked up at him and shook your head not enjoying being startled, no matter how funny it was. His smile was contagious, causing you to smirk as well. Then, a domestic feature washed over his grin and his eyes looked as if they were studying you in a very loving way. You couldn’t help but feel the blood in your stomach begin to rush feeling as if a flower had just bloomed inside you.

“Come on. Let’s go back home.” Auston spoke, but it was in a soft seductive tone. Man, he was terrible at hiding his emotions. He slowly released his arms from around you and took the cart pushing it to the front to check out.

The way he looked at you moments ago was practically implanted into your mind. Every time he looked back at you to make sure you were following it reminded you of that soft glaze that had covered his eyes. You might not have been ready to move from your old relationship at the moment, but he was making it quite hard to resist. You knew it was about to be a long night.

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Let me know what you think! ♥

#auston matthews #toronto maple leafs #nhl #hockey #imagine #fan fic #fan fiction #trust me series

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captainwhogotthecanary · 6 years ago

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ClexaCon: Day 1

Okay, Let me attempt to do something like organize my thoughts here. Photos will come later, ones that come at all; mostly there are professional photos, videos, and gifs available of the noteworthy moments, and I intend to reblog a lot of those later. In the meantime, my photos are on my phone, and the Tumblr app is eating anything I attempt to post with photos.

So. I’m going to try to do this chronologically because it’s how I tried to organize my brain, and I feel clearer than I have in a while. Panel titles or events in bold. Fandom and personal stuff is included, multishipping probably rampant because I just want my faves happy, alright???

Under the cut because long. Day 1 only because long, and because by time I got near the end of typing this, it was after midnight and I was getting less coherent.

Exploring Gender through Cosplay

As often as I cosplay, mine are fairly casual, and I’d never actually gotten a good chance to attend a cosplay panel of any sort with a clear mind. This was pretty awesome, all the different things you can do to change not only the costume but also your appearance, really make the cosplay work. A lot of the sentiment/message besides the practical application stuff was just “have fun, don’t be an ass, think about the character.” All good advice.

One of the panelists was visibly uncomfortable with his cosplay during the panel. It was understandable, but he looked great anyway and still gave great information and asides and personal experiences, and I’d love to see him do a panel where he’s more comfortable.

One Day at a Time

Okay, so one of the things I LOVE about this con and haven’t seen at the couple others I’ve been to is the intro videos. For each of the big panels, they’ve played a video beforehand, about the pairing or the character. If you’re rusty on the details, it’s a great refresher, and if you love the character or pairing, it’s just fantastic to watch. I believe they included these and the actress reactions in the official videos they’ve been posting. They’re great, super shippy, and I’ve teared up or cried at more than one.

ODAAT is one of the ones that made me teary, because it touched on Elena and her Papi and then how happy she and Syd are and just...

Emotions, y’all. I’ve got them.

Anyway, it was great. Isabella seemed pretty comfortable speaking, very aware of her presence and her platform. Sheridan was a little more like Syd, a little awkward and a lot geeky (like most of my favorite people, let’s be real). My takeaways from this panel were basically just that they both love Schnider and working with his actor, and that I ship Syd and Elena even harder now.

An executive producer got a call during the panel, and Isabella thought maybe it was about being picked up by a different network, but it ended up being Rita Moreno calling in, which was fantastic except how disappointed Isabella was. Not that she was unprofessional or pouty or anything, just there were a few moments of almost being able to FEEL how much this cast wants the show to keep going, and how much they love each other.

Avalance

Omg. I mean, okay, if you’re following me, you should probably go watch both Avalance and Nyssara panel videos. They’ll do a much better job of relaying anything factual than I will, so I’m mostly focusing on my reactions.

My reactions started with that damned intro vid, because holy hell, Sara and Ava are hot, and have awesome chemistry, and they’re both smart and strong and amazing and I am so, so, so not straight.

Uh. Where was I.

Highlights for me, in no particular order.

Okay, usually celebs look like people in real life, like real people or like their characters. Caity Lotz is MORE attractive in person than she is on tv. HOW THE FUCK IS THAT EVEN POSSIBLE

Jes is kinda amazing as a person and actress and I intend to watch everything she’s in after this weekend. She cares deeply, which I know she shares with Ava, but unlike Ava who hides behind the professional shield, Jes just seemed so warm and real and disbelieving of how much people like her. She was having a very emotional day because she’d lost someone she cared about, and when she shared that, I doubt there was a dry eye in the room. The depth of her feeling was almost palpable.

Jes kept reaching out and touching Caity, who was much more physically reserved just in general. Caity is very obviously more familiar with the con circuit, which doesn’t mean she doesn’t care or anything! Just, how many of these could any living person do while still caring deeply and genuinely about every person they talk to? I suspect people have to distance themselves some eventually. Caity wasn’t cold, just more reserved.

Katrina interrupting was the best thing ever. It’s been giffed already. Go find it.

I loved hearing about the tango, about navigating a situation where there are two women who naturally want to take the lead. The lines blurred between where they were talking about themselves as actresses navigating a scene and their characters as people navigating a relationship, and it felt very real and lovely. Hilarious, too, because of course everyone in the Arrowverse (excuse me, Beeboverse) is gorgeous AND smart AND funny.

I’m glad they’re not really broken up I guess? The actresses seemed a little unsure because they filmed a lot of different takes with some differing implications, but they’re not on board with the “on again, off again” thing any more than I am, which is good. On is good.

End of the panel, people sitting behind us (oh! chronological order! I made a friend waiting in line for the ODAAT panel and we’ve mostly stuck together this weekend. She’s not LGBT and hasn’t watched any of the shows but she loves PEOPLE and is trying to learn and has had a lot of cool life experiences. Anyway. If I say “we” or “us” I probably mean me and friend, unless otherwise specified.)

Uh. Right. So. The people sitting behind us were like, “Hey, do you two want tickets to Cocktails for Change?” At first I thought she was trying to sell them, and I already knew I couldn’t afford that, just like I couldn’t afford the Caity/Jes/Katrina photo op I wanted (not complaint, just statement of fact! I got to go and I got to buy the photo op with Caity and I got a hotel room for a couple nights). Then she clarifies that she and her person (I’m gonna go with that when relationship isn’t clear. But oh, the number of happy wlw couples there was just amazing, and at some point I defaulted to assuming anyone there together was together, which wasn’t accurate, but it’s what I was seeing and delighting in and WE NEED MORE REPRESENTATION and omg keep a single train of thought, Kita). The two of them had bought two extra tickets they couldn’t use, couldn’t refund, and hadn’t been able to sell, so they were offering them to us so that somebody would enjoy them.

OMG. Like, who does that? What level of awesomeness to gift two separate $250 tickets to complete strangers??

I helped friend navigate the transfer process and helped her create an eventbrite account, and then we had the tickets, at which point I actually believe it was happening. And then AND THEN

Because clearly that wasn’t enough

they said “oh, we can’t make the trio photo op today, do you want it?”

Do I

DO I

I still can’t believe they were for real, with that level of awesome. I checked like probably way too many times to make sure they were SURE because

yeah. Made my entire year, at minimum.

Photo Ops

Got the photo op with Caity first. I’ll do pics separately after I scan them; they’re particularly glossy or something and my cell phone is doing a horrible job. So I go in dressed in my femme Snart cosplay, have enough presence of mind to ask (or point? I may have only managed pointing) to stand on her right side because I wanted to be able to hold the cold gun in my right hand.

“Hey, Cold,” she said to me.

HEY COLD

SHE RECOGNIZED WHO I WAS DRESSED AS OMGGGGGG

and did I mention fucking gorgeous beyond belief and amazing to boot?

Anyway. She’s also smiling much bigger in my pic with just her than in the next one, when I didn’t have my gun, and I like to think it’s because she still thinks fondly of snart. Captain canary 4eva. Another thing on Saturday I’ll get to in my next post, equally small but equally “omg yessss she still ships it” to my mildly obsessed brain.

Obviously, after they took the pic, I walked blindly in the wrong direction and would’ve walked smack into the makeshift wall if the volunteers hadn’t steered me in the right direction. I don’t usually get star struck, but if it was going to happen, it was going to be with Caity Lotz, so it wasn’t actually a surprise.

Round two, trio photo, and I ended up between Caity and Katrina, who draped herself on my shoulder as she often does for pics. I’ll get to Katrina more for Day 2, but she just seemed very at ease, maybe the most comfortable person in any given room.

After photo ops I practically ran back to my car while still trying to recover, checked into and got settled into my hotel room, changed shoes (omg, as good as those boots are for a couple hours, after ten hours and two miles and lots of standing, my feet STILL hurt day+ later), and then headed back to the venue.

Cocktails for Change

So this was cool just to exist in a room with the celebrities (the theory behind the event and the price tag being you get to interact). We (friend and the people who gave us the tickets and a 5th potential friend we picked up while waiting in line) got to talk to an actress from Wynona (which I apparently badly need to watch. my to-watch list doubled this weekend), and then friend got Jes to agree to come over. That made me love Jes even more because her handlers kept trying to get her to go a different direction after she talked to one table for like half of the time, and Jes pointed at our table, strong and confident and I AM DOING THIS BECAUSE I SAID I WOULD.

I mean, idk what she actually said, but that was her not-subtle body language.

It had to be terribly frustrating for the handlers, who, even though they only got her to three tables total, did a better job with her than they did with most of the celebs. However, I wanted to applaud Jes.

Most of the celebs kept to themselves, or to their partners. Dot was like 5 feet from me for a good 20 minutes, and my inner gleek was ecstatic. Amber Benson was only a few feet farther for about the same amount of time. For her, I actually tried to go say hi, but she was absorbed in conversation with someone else and I didn’t want to interrupt. We made eye contact, though, so that was cool. Katrina, meanwhile, kinda starting circling and then was just like “Nah,” and she went and sprawled on a chair at the side of the room, again the most comfortable looking person there, and just let everyone come to her. Which, honestly, probably would be my recommendation if they change things for this event next year. Clearly, steering the talent to different tables isn’t working, so maybe steer the attendees instead.

Still, it was awesome, and I went back to my room and freaked out about OMG HOW IS MY LIFE THIS AWESOME before crashing hard.

Which I’m gonna do again now. Day 2 post tomorrowish.

#clexacon 2019 #clexacon diaries #about me #about awesome people #long post

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