#book old film show new film - just no thank you please

[orionsangel86]

I watched X-Men 2000 tonight. Yup the Deadpool and Wolverine brain worms got me - at least for a little while - so I figured I'd rewatch the old movies that I havent seen in over a decade and have basically forgotten entirely at this point.

You know what really stunned me? Even more than the slow pace, serious tone, actual dedication to telling a coherent and interesting story with layers of meaning and social commentary attached to it, as well as a sincerity that's been missing from most superhero films since the MCU was born (thanks Josh Whedon).

Nope, what shocked me most was this:

This is a perfect specimen of a man. Look at him. He's gorgeous. But look at his chest? His arms? He's muscular, he's pretty well toned, he's hairy. He's definitely got a six pack - but it's nicely covered by a healthy layer of fat. His skin is plump, he has a bit of squish to him. He'd probably be great to hug (Jean Grey certainly gives him a good squeeze lol).

When he sits down he looks like his stomach will roll just nicely. Like a stomach should.

I know my point here is obvious. It's just that scrolling the Deadpool and Wolvering tag is basically 50% "oh they definitely fucked in the Honda Odyssey" (yes lol) and the other 50% is just horny posting over Wolverine's topless scene like the entire site suddenly adopted Deadpools horny brain.

I gotta give props to Hugh Jackman for his dedication to turn himself into an actual comic book character - because that's what this new movie does. It gives us a comic accurate Wolverine in practically every way (except for his height lol) the suit is amazing, the cowl was a joy to see brought into live action. The body too though was straight out of a comic book artists male power fantasy.

What I wanted to emphasise was that this:

Is extremely tough on the human body. What I wanna know is how long he starved and dehydrated himself for before filming this scene? How long before they shot this did he last drink some water? Because damn that must have been tough. The oil and the lighting probably help further emphasise the muscle, vein, and sinew definition. It's probably similar to how body builders prepare before a show.

Nothing about body building is healthy though. So in the coming weeks as the whole entertainment industry rides on the coat tales of this movies success, and everyone goes crazy over Hugh Jackmans physique, please don't feel pressured into thinking that his 2024 physique in the movie is remotely realistic - or realistically attractive. Like I get the fantasy sure, but come on. I'd personally rather lie on a cushioned bed than a concrete floor.

Deadpool may disagree with me, but he's a masochist lol.

Oh and whilst I stand by the shade I threw at the MCU above, I think Wolverine's different physiques in the movies is a good standard of comparison for how much superhero movies have changed. Because when superhero comics first started getting adapted I think a lot of the choices made were about how to bring them to live action realistically and believably and the attitude was to try not to make them look ridiculous. The first X-Men movies definitely do this.

It was about bringing the comics to life in a way that fit in our world. But over the years, as audiences got more and more used to comic book movies the movies became more and more like comic books and less like a realistic adaptation of a comic book. Does that make sense? So as the movies attempted to bring the comics to life in a way that was less realistic and more comic accurate, the demands on the actors to sculpt their physiques to meet the standards of comic book art became normalised.

I think Deadpool and Wolverine is the MOST comic book accurate of all superhero movies made in the past 2 decades. Half the time the images from the movie look like they could be literally pulled from the pages of the comic books. The story is convoluted and stupid, the plot is barely there and is full of gaping plot holes and elements that don't fit any past stories. The action is ridiculous, extremely fast paced, gratuitous, and violent to a hilarious level. But it's so entertaining, joyful, exciting, and laugh out loud hilarious throughout.

It reminded me a LOT of my attempts at reading through the Deadpool comics (I've read a lot of them but no where near all of them).

To sum up this rambling message with multiple points, I'll say that Deadpool and Wolverine is a really fun movie that I thoroughly enjoyed, but make no mistake there is nothing real in it at all. It is almost literally a comic on screen. Don't expect anything more than that and you'll enjoy the experience.

[andi-kook]

DEAD KIDS ✦ Chapter 2

SUMMARY: A group of university students kidnaps their rich batchmate for ransom. However, things take a darker turn when the new recruit grows a dangerous obsession with the captive and all hell breaks loose.

PAIRING: Jungkook x Fem!Reader

GENRE: Slow burn Yandere, Crime AU

WARNINGS: Not suitable for audiences below 18. Please do not engage with the story if you are underage. WATCH OUT FOR: dark and morally corrupt characters, foul language, mention of Catholicism, slut shaming and objectification of women, mention of inappropriate relationship between professor/student, mentions and depiction of “rape” and “rape fantasy” throughout the story, masturbation, threats, MC has an NSFW blog with hard kinks and fantasies, non consensual touching. Overall, this is a disturbing chapter – based on my standards – so if you are not comfortable with these topics, do not proceed. Inspired by the film, Dead Kids (2019).

TAGLIST: @hopeworldsupremacy @aliajomarie011 @ackercute @tatumrileyslover @ane102 @jjk174 @dontcallmeelle @merrygo1427 @taekritimin123 @r1r111 @gguksfilter @coralmusicblaze

If I didn’t tag you – either your blog doesn’t exist according to Tumblr or because you did not show your age in your blog. Thank you!

ANDI: I send my love to the beautiful souls who sent me asks about Dead Kids as well as these equally beautiful souls – @.taekritimin123 @.hellbornsworld @.tinytangerineangel @.namjesusdaughter – for commenting on Chapter 1. I cannot express just how much I appreciate your words. I would have tagged you directly, but I wasn’t sure if you would want that. But I wanted to show my appreciation.

WORD COUNT: 3K

“Why did you really want to take her?” Jungkook asks Namjoon as they sit and eat the ramen he cooked around the living area. Beside him, Yoongi and Hoseok are fast asleep, the latter clutching onto the former’s arm like it’s his plushie while the former has his head thrown against the headrest.

Namjoon, who is seated on the other makeshift sofa, gulps down the soup from his ramen before letting out a satisfied sigh and wipes his mouth with the back of his mouth. “How many times do we have to say that we kidnapped Y/N for ransom?”

“I’m not stupid, Namjoon,” Jungkook says. “We’re already tied to this shit until the ransom drop. The least you can do is be upfront on why you did this in the first place. I’m not taking a bullet for you or anyone.”

The buzz-cut haired man leans his back against the sofa, which unlike his premium one, is built from scratch by Jungkook using old wood and cases of beers around the warehouse. He gazes at Jungkook for a while, studying him while swimming in his own thoughts. The tattooed man wonders if Namjoon is contemplating telling him the truth. He wonders if the two sleeping men beside him also knew the truth.

They claim to have been friends since the fourth grade, but does time really make you know a person inside out?

“My father didn’t used to be the way he is now – corrupt. Growing up, I looked up to him because of how honest and upstanding he was as a cop. I knew he did some off-the-books shit, but he still had a moral compass, still had lines he didn’t cross. But then he met Y/N’s father, Kim Seokjin, when I was ten. Suddenly, everything changed,” Namjoon narrates, letting out a scoff as he shakes his head and rubs his palms on his baggy jeans. “He went from being a great husband and father to my mother and I to a complete asshole. We didn’t have religion but after meeting Kim Seokjin, we were suddenly Catholics, attending church with his family every Sunday. I was baptized and Kim Seokjin became my godfather. But the worst part was seeing him erase all the lines he drew and swore never to cross when he began to use his position as a detective and then eventually sergeant to now the chief of the entire police force in Seoul to protect Kim Seokjin and his criminal empire.”

Jungkook inhales deeply. “So, kidnapping Y/N is you taking on revenge against Kim Seokjin for corrupting your father? It is personal. It’s never about the money?”

“Of course, the money is important and integral to the plan. But yes, you are correct – I want to avenge my father from Kim Seokjin by hitting him where I know it will hurt the most: his only daughter, Y/N.”

“You promised that we are not going to hurt her,” Jungkook counters immediately.

Namjoon doesn’t say anything.

“Namjoon,” Jungkook clicks his tongue. “If you do that – what makes you different than Kim Seokjin?”

“Why are you so protective of her?” Namjoon asks pointedly. “What? Just because she gave you a boner, you’re suddenly fucking in love with her? Don’t think I didn’t notice. We all did. Yoongi is right – drop the morally upright act, Jeon. You’re just as demented as we are. The moment you agreed to this plan, you’re just as fucked up.”

The sudden call out makes Jungkook turn crimson and Namjoon smirks, placing his leg over the other. “Don’t worry – unlike you, I don’t judge people. To each our own. If shit like that turns you on, then that’s on you. Why don’t you take the opportunity to act on it?”

His eyes widen, shocked and disgusted. “What the fuck are you talking about?”

Jungkook knows exactly what Namjoon is talking about, but he is completely aghast at the insinuation.

The de facto leader only widens his smirk, pulling out his packet of cigarettes and lighter from the front pocket of his large, oversized coat. “You know what I’m talking about, Jeon. A pretty naked girl tied to a chair in your warehouse – it’s perfectly normal to feel aroused by such sight. We won’t judge you if you just get it over and done with.”

“You’re more than fucked up,” Jungkook hisses, face flushed and veins popping out on his neck. “I’m not going to fucking touch her.”

Namjoon lights the cigarette in between his lips. Then, he inhales, and smoke leaves his lips as he replies, “Why not? Y/N is a dirty slut who fucks her married professor with kids her age after church and dinner every Sunday night and more – I bet you all my cut that she’s not going to resist you because she’s probably into fucking someone having their own way with her. No, in fact, I can tell you she’s going to enjoy it.”  

Jungkook feels hot. Images of your naked trembling body and whimpering pleas filling his mind and ears.

“She has a blog, you know? A secret blog where she writes these fantasies and kinks she has. Posts her nudes on there too. Do you wanna know what is one fantasy she keeps on writing about?”

“No, I really don’t,” Jungkook says through gritted teeth.

“It’s a rape fantasy, Jungkook. What a fucking dirty slut she is, right? I bet she’s fucking wet right now at the thought, at the anticipation that one of us or all of us are going to have our ways with her. I bet she’s aching to be touched. I bet she wants you to rape her, Jungkook. So, why not just do it?”

He stands up in a jolt, hitting his knee on the makeshift table he made from old tires and steel roof and stammering some excuse that he needs to go the bathroom or air – he can’t remember. Jungkook finds himself in his room, back pressed against the door. His shirt sticks to his skin because of the sweat, and he takes it off, leaving it discarded on the floor. Namjoon’s words mixed with the flashing images of your perky nipples, smooth skin, sound of your whimpers, pleas, your smell – it makes him hard. Harder than he’s ever been.

Before he knows it, Jungkook is unbuttoning his jeans, pulling it down along with his boxers, his erection springing free. He spits on his palm before he begins stroking his length, shuddering at the touch, making his mouth dry. He presses the back of his head against the door, eyes closed as he imagines you on your knees – like you were with the professor – those lips around his shaft, head bobbing as you suck him dry. He imagines hearing your moans, imagines his dick hitting the back of your throat as you go deeper and beg him to fuck your mouth like a whore. Jungkook’s stroking himself faster. He imagines hearing you gag as he fucks your mouth, not stopping even when you’re clearly suffocating. Then, he cums, toes curling and a guttural groan escaping his lips.

As he comes back from his high, Jungkook stares at the white sticky substance covering his hand and cock. He just jerked off to you, a girl they kidnapped, and he knows it won’t be the last time.

“Where the fuck have you been?” Yoongi hisses at him the moment he comes back from his room, showered and changed into more comfortable clothes.

Jungkook deliberately ignores the stare of Namjoon and flops on the seat beside Hoseok who is eating the remaining ramen. “Why the fuck do you care?”

“I’m going to punch this kid, I swear to God,” Yoongi grumbles, rolling his eyes. “We’re making the ransom call, you dumb fuck. Or rather, you are.”

Jungkook furrows his brows. “What? Why me?”

“Every one of us here has already encountered Y/N’s father at least once. The man remembers everyone he encounters. You’re the only exception,” Namjoon explains as he hands you a black phone. “It’s a burner phone, untraceable. I took it from my dad. And this is what you’re going to say – make sure you sound intimidating at least. Put it on speaker too.”

Namjoon places his phone on the makeshift table and Jungkook clicks his tongue. “The deal was you only use my warehouse. So far, you got me doing far more than that.”

“Do you want 25 million or not?” Yoongi asks, crossing his arms over his chest. “Cos if you do, you better start calling Kim Seokjin.”

I’m going to punch you soon, Jungkook tells himself before he unlocks the phone and goes to the contact list where Kim Seokjin’s name is the only one listed. He takes a deep breath, going over the script on Namjoon’s phone before clicking on the contact and putting the call on speaker. The ringing sound echoes throughout the warehouse. The tension is palpable again, like it was back in the car earlier that night.

After a few more rings, Kim Seokjin’s voice fills the warehouse. It’s light but a hint of roughness and irritation is noticeable right away.

“Who is this?”

Jungkook licks his lips as he read the script in front of him. “We have your daughter. If you want to see her alive, prepare 100 million won and bring it to 2020 this Friday night. Otherwise, the next time you’ll see her is on the news, dead.”

Hoseok covers his mouth to keep himself from laughing while Yoongi stares hard at the phone. Namjoon, on the other hand, is relaxed on his seat, smoking.

“You sound young, boy,” Seokjin remarks. “You are not the first person to call me in the middle of the night asking for ransom. Do you really have any idea what you’re doing?”

Namjoon motions for him to repeat what he just said.

“If you want to see her alive, prepare 100 mill—,”

“Don’t you think I would be able to find my daughter faster than you could ever imagine? Do you know who you’re talking to?”

That triggers Jungkook. He’s been hearing that question – that discrimination his entire life and he’s sick of it. He’s fucking sick of it.

“I don’t give a fuck who you are. Either you give us 100 million in exchange for your whore of a daughter or I will personally make you watch as we do everything we want with her, make you watch as she begs you to make it stop, make you listen as she takes her last breath before I fucking slit her throat so deep her head nearly decapitates. You have until Friday night – and you better make sure the police don’t get involved. Don’t fucking ask me who the fuck you are again.”

He ends the call, gripping the phone tightly.

“What the fuck was that? Why the hell didn’t you stick to the script?! Are you trying to get us all a one way ticket to prison?!” Yoongi exclaims.

“Did you not hear what he’s saying? He caught on that we are fucking amateurs. I saved our asses – you should be fucking grateful,” Jungkook snaps, clenching his jaw. “If you didn’t want me to do the call, maybe the three of you should have done it yourselves. Fucking useless bastards.”

“Hey! What did you say?” Hoseok stands, pushing Jungkook by placing his hands on his chest. “Who are you calling useless, huh?”

“Who do you think?” He scoffs.

“Let’s fucking kill this son of a bitch, Hobi.”

“Gladly.”

“Enough,” Namjoon says sternly. “No one is going to kill anyone. Not amongst ourselves. What Jungkook did is right, Yoongi. Jungkook saved our asses. And you,” He turns to the long-haired man, glaring at him. “Mind your fucking tone and language with us. We’re not fucking useless. Remember that we recruited you. Not the other way around. If anyone should be grateful to someone, it’s you. We’re the reason you’ll get out of this shit hole.”

Nobody says a word.

“It’s getting late. Let’s gather here tomorrow after our classes. Just go about your usual days until the drop. Don’t be suspicious,” The de facto leader reminds. “Jungkook, keep an eye out, okay? Don’t forget to check in on our little friend from time to time. Make sure she’s still breathing.” He smirks as he pats his shoulder on his way out.

Yoongi and Hoseok follow suit. Once Jungkook hears Namjoon driving off his – rather his aunt’s – property, he resigns to the sofa behind him. He buries his face into his hands. Five days. You’ll be stuck with him at the warehouse for five fucking days. Granted, he has classes to attend to, so he won’t be at home all day, but he’s sure you won’t leave his mind wherever he goes.

The phone in his hand buzzes and he stares at the new notification on the screen – a text message from an unknown number. Jungkook unlocks the phone, goes to the messaging app, and clicks on the new text.

avirgins1ut on tumblr if you wanna read some things tonight

“Fuck you, Namjoon,” Jungkook mutters under his breath. However, when he goes to his room, grabs his shitty phone and opens his data – he installs the app despite knowing it will consume almost all the remaining gigabytes he has left.

Jungkook lies down on his bed and creates his profile. He doesn’t bother customizing it, going straight to your blog which is all black and hot pink. Instantly, he’s drawn to your profile picture – a simple mirror shot of you hiding your bare chest with your arms, head tilt slightly to the side and a black panty covering your cunt. He swallows the lump in his throat as he scrolls down, reading your pinned post:

“Hey. You can call me Angel. I’m 23 years old. This blog is filled with all my fantasies and kinks, sometimes my nudes. Feel free to send me yours too.

My kinks: cnc, free use, somnophilia, spit, slapping, marking, choking, daddy, and more.

My favorite fantasies: rape play, kidnapped, kept as sex slave, knife/gun play, forced gangbang, and more – why don’t you help me unlock those? DMs and asks open for all your threats and nudes.

Update: already got myself a master/daddy. Asks and messages are off.”

As he scrolls further down your blog, Jungkook doesn’t even realize he already has his hand wrapped around his dick as he masturbates to your the latest fantasy you wrote albeit months ago.

I can’t stop masturbating to this dark fantasy of mine – being raped by someone so brutally after they kidnap me. How they would keep me chained to the bed, always naked so they can easily rape me whenever and however they want. They would mock me whenever I would tell them to stop (“You shouldn’t have worn those skirts if you didn’t want to be raped. But you did. So, this isn’t rape. You were clearly asking for this like some depraved filthy bitch in heat. You’re fucking loving this, don’t you? Isn’t this what you want?”) and choke me as they pound into my wet and clenching pussy relentlessly. They would slap and spit on my face, abusing my cunt for hours until I’m full of theirs and their friends’ cum whom they called to let them have a taste of their new toy.

They would rape me day in and out until my body gets so used to it that I start asking for it – crying and begging to be fucked. “Shh, angel, daddy’s going to fuck you, okay? Don’t cry.” Slowly, I would forget all my autonomy and identity, wholly submitting myself to them because I was never my own in the first place – I was always theirs.

“Fuck, Y/N!” His entire body shakes as he cums again. Jungkook can’t stop – he wants to read more, see more as you posted a picture of your cum covered cunt at the end of the post and he imagines it’s his. But he gets a notification that he is out of data and Jungkook slams his phone on his bed, frustrated beyond bounds. He is still hard. He still wants to see more of you, read more of your fantasies.

Namjoon’s words echo in his mind. I bet she’s fucking wet right now at the thought, at the anticipation that one of us or all of us are going to have our ways with her. I bet she’s aching to be touched. I bet she wants you to rape her, Jungkook. So, why not just do it?”

And before he knows it – he is standing across from your limp body. You’re still unconscious – sack over your head, tied and bound on the metal chair. Jungkook walks towards you, gently touching your shoulders to see if you would react but you don’t. He bites his lower lip as his eyes fall on your naked chest. He reaches down to trace its curves before ultimately cupping one breast in hand, fondling, squeezing, twisting the nipple and pinching it. No response.

He begins to stroke himself as he continues to fondle your breasts. This is wrong, but why does it feel so good?

“F-Fucking slut, you’re asking for this,” Jungkook hisses through his teeth. He’s not going to last any longer – not when those perky nipples are so inviting and moments later, he cums all over tits. He’s panting, an exhilarating feeling he hasn’t felt before rising within him as he stares at your cum covered chest. He swallows, breathing heavily. Should he stop now or keep going? He doesn’t have data anymore, but he does have the real thing right in front of him. But you twitch and he jumps in surprise. Suddenly, the realization of his actions washes upon him. He feels a coil in his stomach. What has he done? He scrambles out of the room and dash straight to the bathroom where he extensively washes his hand and splashes cold water on his face. Then, he throws himself on his thin mattress, staring at the ceiling as he pants. Namjoon is right – he’s just as fucked up as they are.

CHAPTER 3 is coming soon.

TAGLIST: Wanna be part of Dead Kids’ taglist? Fill out this form and don’t forget to read the short note in order for me to tag you.

ANDI: I do not condone the behaviors exhibited in this story. The characters of Jungkook, Namjoon, Yoongi and Hoseok do not reflect who they are in real life. Fanfiction is just fanfiction. I have no schedule in writing – I write whenever I can. Please try to refrain from sending asks about updates (or at least be kind and polite about it) and let me know your feedbacks instead as they help a lot in motivation and inspiration! 🦉

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. © ANDI-KOOK 2024. NO PART OF THIS STORY MAY BE REPRODUCED, TRANSLATED, MODIFIED, EDITED, REPOSTED AND THE LIKES WITHOUT THE AUTHOR’S PERMISSION.

[writing-rat]

Gym Crush

Pairing: Sam Carpenter x Reader

Warning: Just fluff!

Summary: Sam is a gym trainer when you join her classes. Soon enough you become friends and go to Sam's house...

WC: 1180

It was your first day of going to the gym, and you were nervous. You hadn’t gone to a gym in New York before, scared of the people who would be going, but you knew you needed to get back to working out soon. So that is when you decided to look at gym classes, where you found one you liked. It was functional strength, and it was a small class with a name you recognised. Sam Carpenter. One of the Ghostface victims. You knew her from the news when you first moved in when the incidents were happening. You knew she was innocent however, the news said so with proof as well as Gale Weathers, known for the books that spurred the people that wore the Ghostface costume on. Out of intrigue (and because of the class size), you thought you would join. You were lucky you did that due to it being the last spot available and you were excited. The class size was 6 people so you were grateful for that. The first classes you would be going to would be tomorrow, so you decided to get your workout clothes sorted. Grabbing an old faded hoodie and a plain shirt, you put them in a pile then grabbed your favourite sweatpants. You were going to be prepared, and glad you could work from home once a week.

-

It was officially the next day, and it was an hour before your class which was at 4 pm. You made sure you had your water bottle ready as well as having the correct clothes on. You checked the train times before deciding it would be better to walk to the gym. It would be good for exercise too anyway. As you were walking, you were looking around the city since you were still new there, having moved there months ago. 

Eventually walking into the gym, you showed your booking to the receptionist. “Just go down this hallway where there are the classroom gyms and it is the second right. The room is marked with Sam’s name too,” the receptionist said with a smile. “She is a good trainer. She wants to warn people who join however to not mention Ghostface or the allegations whatsoever. She will kick you out quickly if not,” the receptionist spoke, looking at her. You nodded, understanding. “Thank you,” you spoke before walking over to the room and entering, being the first one there. You were 30 minutes early after all. Sam looked up after putting some weights down and smiled.

“Hey! Y/N right?” she asked. 

“Yeah! That’s me,” you confirmed, looking around. “You can put your drink in one of the cubbies. I am Sam Carpenter, your new trainer. I will be helping you to achieve your goals and also make you stronger. You worked out before?” Sam asked, seemingly done with the set-up. “Yeah, but not for a few months. I just recently moved to NYC,” you confirmed, smiling at her gently. Sam was nodding. “Good, good. Well, I can’t wait to see how you improve,” Sam spoke. You nodded, eager to please her. Little did you know what would happen in the future…

-

It was 8 months after you first started lessons, and you were growing a crush on the taller girl. You looked up to her, metaphorically and literally. Hell, you even befriended Sam, having been in her classes the longest and communicating with her if you would be late or would not be able to make it to the lesson. Hell, Sam even started driving you to the sessions and sometimes home. You were thankful for that as you could save money than then go on the train every day. You even talked to Sam more personally, which led to a friendship becoming her best friend. She was still a strict coach with you though during lessons. 

You were currently at the Carpenter-Weather’s house, Gale cooking dinner with Tara while you were leaning against Sam, curled up after a long session and watching a movie with her. You were both watching The Addam’s Family Values, wanting a relaxing film. You felt comfortable in the strong woman’s embrace, leaning more and more into her neck. You weren’t even aware you were doing that as you were more distracted by the film. Sam meanwhile was rubbing your sides as she kissed your forehead, making you smile. You were about to speak when Tara entered the room. “Dinner’s ready!” she spoke, before going back to the kitchen. Sam groaned, stretching before she stood up, holding her hand out for you to take. You smiled, taking it as you got up, shocked that Sam kept holding it after. Your cheeks did heat up a little bit at that action but you didn’t say anything. Tara and Gale just looked at each other with a smirk for some reason that you didn’t know but you just decided to not care about it.

“Thank you, ma’am, Tara,” you spoke, nodding politely. Gale just smiled. 

“Oh please, call me Gale. Ma’am makes me feel old,” Gale just chuckled in response. Nodding in shock, you smiled as you sat down next to Sam. On the plate there were burritos. You were content with that as you started to eat while thanking both Tara and Gale for cooking. 

“If you want to stay over, you can!” Tara happily responded. Sam just widened her eyes and then glared at Tara, but you didn’t know why again. You decided to shrug it off again. “Sure, but where would I stay?” you asked, confused as you tilted your head confused. 

“Sam’s bed?” Tara suggested. Sam nodded. 

“I wouldn’t mind,” she admitted. Gale just smiled, seeing how Tara was being a wing-woman for Sam. 

-

That night, you had decided to stay over. That made you both go to sleep at 1 am, both of you going to her bedroom silently due to the other occupants sleeping. Sam just smiled at you before she kissed your cheek, making you even more flustered as you realised she was being more touchy. She was cuddling you, holding your hands and kissing you. “Are you flirting?” you asked quietly, shaking from nerves admittedly. Sam blinked before she thought then sighed and nodded. “Yes, I am. Is that… ok?” she asked. You just grinned and kissed her, before nodding. “Now let’s cuddle and sleep, I am tired,” you admitted. Sam just grinned and smiled before she went to the bed and was big spooning you. You just cuddled into her neck, glad your feelings were returned. 

The next morning, you woke up early, confused as to why before you heard the shutter of a camera. You looked up sleepily, then saw Tara in the room holding a Polaroid and putting it on the side. “Morning, Gale is happy for you. Now you can go back to sleep,” Tara spoke quietly before leaving. You smiled, shaking your head before quickly falling back to sleep. You didn’t miss the faint kiss of your forehead though. You sighed in happiness.

[companion-of-the-dragonmark]

Is the Light Fury Based on a Book Character(s)? (HTTYD 3)

Warning: Spoilers for those who either haven't read the books or having read books 10-12.

Greetings and well met, my fellow Dragonmarkers!

Today is the start of ONE of my new article series that I promised to start working on for you guys!

Today's first topic will be diving into the possibility on whether or not the Light Fury is based loosely on a book character as well.

Now, as you guys know, my opinion of the Light Fury is a little on the low side since the trailer. Not only because I've seen Light Furies since the first film came out (thank you, fanfiction and fanart 2010 and up), but also because of the obvious sexual dimorphism that they've created between Toothless and the Light Fury that you never see in other dragon species — which, in my opinion, is a bit of an insult. And her feminine-like physicality and seemingly OP skills.

DreamWorks, be honest, you took this character from the fanbase, didn't you? 😒😑

Would it have killed them to give us another Night Fury? 😭

But, to save time and to prevent you from listening to old rants and explanations from previous articles, I'm moving on.

There's been several theories and headcanons that I've been voicing as to explain her appearance physically and canonly-speaking in the past, but most of them have been shot down by metaphorical bola-launchers manned by Hiccups in the form of Dreamworks. Thank you, Dreamworks! (Notice the sarcasm)

However, recently, I've been re-reading the books and I've noticed something peculiar that never struck me before.

What if the Light Fury isn't as random as I had thought? That she isn't just something that Dreamworks implemented from the fandom in order to please the fans or created for the sole purpose of being Toothless's mate? What if she was inspired — as many HTTYD characters are — from the books?

The reason why I suddenly was struck by this though was by what Dean DeBlois stated: "That we will be basing a lot of the third part of Hiccup's story on the last book of the series: Book 12," to paraphrase heavily here.

He said that they'll be basing the third film to be loyal to the twelfth and final book of the series: How to Fight a Dragon's Fury. (Which, by the way, wasn't really the case.)

So, if this is true, then is the Light Fury a possible nod to the books? That's what we're here to hopefully find out. 

Two Possible Influences:

There are two dragon characters that the Light Fury could possibly be inspired by: 

The Silver Phantom — a powerful dragon species that shows up in books 10-12 (as well as the Complete Book of Dragons)

And Luna, a Seadragonus Giganticus Maximus who's Furious's second-in-command and eventually Ruler of the dragons when a dying Furious names her as his successor and leaves for the Great Ocean (the author left it open-ended for the reader to decide whether he lives or not).

These two are not only female dragons, but dragons that are closest to what could've inspired the Light Fury that I could find.

I'm going to begin by discussing the Silver Phantom and the Light Fury and their similarities and differences. Then I'll do Luna and the Light Fury.

Now, please keep in mind that these upcoming reasons of the possibilities of the Light Fury sharing inspiration from one or both of these dragons are pure speculation, hypotheses, guesswork, and assumptions. So please take these words with a grain of salt.

If you think that I am wrong at any points or to improve any points, please let me know. I don't claim to have or know all the answers or that everything that comes out of my mouth is 110% accurate. I'm just making speculative reasonings and theories to try to better understand certain characters out of my love for this fandom.

So on to the Silver Phantom!

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Similarities Between the Light Fury and the Silver Phantom:

The Silver Phantom is first mentioned in Book 10: "How to Seize a Dragon's Jewel", where it's waiting for Hiccup and his dragons in ambush. We find out later that it's the Riding Dragon of Valhallarama, Hiccup's questing mother. It's nameless and doesn't talk (similar to Humungous Hotshot's dragon in book 5: "How to Twist a Dragon's Tale"), unlike other Riding Dragons. Though, I'm sure that's because of irrelevance to the plot of the story.

The stats on the picture say 7 for Size and 8 for Disobedience, though in the stats in the 10th book for the Silver Phantom, it says that all of its categories are a 10. I'm not sure how to account for this, on whether or not if this is a mistake. Or if it's dependent on gender. However, the 10th book was published in 2012, while The Complete Book of Dragons was published somewhere between 2013-2014, so I'm guessing that Cressida changed the stats a bit?

So here are some possible reasons as to why the Silver Phantom and the Light Fury might be similar and why the latter could be loosely-inspired by the former.

1) Both dragons seem to have similar colored scales.

Both dragons seem to have scales of a silvery-white hue, as both of them are sparkly and glowing. 

In page 23 of Chapter 1 in Book 10, it says: 

"Even though it was in the dead of night, every silver scale was lit up and shone brighter than was strictly possible in real life. The Silver Phantom seemed to give off its own light, like the moon.  "Its scream was so high and so loud that Hiccup felt as if it were setting fire to his ears. And as the dragon screamed, it poured out a jet of bright blue flames that blasted the trees in front of it, burning the leaves as bright as green stars before they dropped to the ground in powdery black smithereens."

The Light Fury seems to glow in a similar way, though her scales seem to be nonexistent and more reflective than the Silver Phantom's. Now, the Light Fury doesn't breathe blue/purple flame (the film seems to show that she breathes a regular plasma blast with the normal color of fire, not a bluish-white color), but Toothless does. So I believe that the Fury family could easily be based on this particular dragon, as they can fly in high altitudes, and (the Night Furies, at least) can breathe blue/purple flame, and are the fastest in the dragon world in the movie franchise.

2) Both dragons seem to be rare.

It's described in page 1 of Chapter 1 as being "an Air Dragon of the purest silver — very, very rare and very, very dangerous."  

In Book 10 and in The Complete Book of Dragons, Hiccup says that the Silver Phantom is a very rare dragon. However, in the latter book, it shows Hiccup the First, the second and third Hiccups' ancestor, riding on the back of a female Silver Phantom—which according to Hiccup the Third is very rare. So I'm not sure if Cressida is saying that the Silver Phantom as a species is very rare, or just the females. Or maybe because there are few females, that the Phantoms as a species can't reproduce as quickly and so their numbers were dwindling.

Or maybe during the previous two Hiccups' times, they weren't so rare, but they're rare now in Hiccup the Third's time?

Regardless of the reason, they're a rare species of dragon, and a Viking who has this dragon as its Riding Dragon would definitely be getting a big rise in social status. Valhallarama is the only known Viking in the series to ride a Silver Phantom as their riding dragon. There's also Hiccup the First, but it's not known whether the female Silver Phantom he's riding was allowing him to ride her for a temporary period, or if she was another riding dragon for him. There's no mention in the series of anyone having more than one Riding Dragon. Many Vikings are known to have more than one Hunting Dragon—or just more than one dragon in general—but there's no evidence of any Vikings having more than one Riding Dragon. Wodensfang said in Book 9 that he was Hiccup the First's blood brother and Riding Dragon. So, because of the lack of evidence of Vikings having more than one Riding Dragon, I'm assuming that's because you can only have one at a time, while you can have multiple Hunting Dragons.

Now, concerning the Light Fury, Dean DeBlois has said that "she is not the last of her kind," when talking about the Light Fury. However, you can take that with a grain of salt. For one thing, he says, "not the last of her kind." It doesn't say that they're not rare or endangered, nor does it say that female Light Furies aren't rare. However, I can't say with 110% certainty because neither the movie nor the behind-the-scenes vids have come out to prove this, nor is there any certainty of there being any concrete information in the film even if it does come out. Informative, and quite possibly visual, evidence on Light Furies and Night Furies will probably be scant if at all existent.  

3) Both dragons seem to be super fast.

In pages 32-33, it speaks of the Silver Phantom's speed: 

"Over the past year they had often eluded dragon pursuers by climbing up into the higher air, too high for the other dragons to follow. Most dragons prefer shallow air, the air nearest the ground. Very few can operate in the higher atmosphere. "Apart from the Silver Phantom. ". . . The Phantom was an Air Dragon. They were among the best flyers in the dragon world, and they flew the fastest and the highest."

In Page 307 of Chapter 27, the Phantom's speed is confirmed and the dragon is said to be "the fastest riding dragon in open skies."  

Now, since she's part of the Fury family of Dragons, I'm assuming that she's really fast—as fast as Toothless if not more so (which might be the latter since he's encumbered with flight equipment, while she doesn't have such encumberments). 

The Fury family of Dragons seem to be the fastest dragons in the dragon world, as Hiccup and Dreamworks have stated several times, and is mentioned in the book of dragons. Which makes me not help but wonder if the Night Furies weren't somewhat inspired by the Silver Phantom species.

Now, again, these are just speculative hypotheses at the moment, and probably won't ever be proven.

Now, on to Luna!

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Similarities Between the Light Fury and Luna the Sea-Dragon:

(Second_Only_To_The_Dragon_Furious_by_Grim1978)

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Luna, Second-in-Command of Furious, King of the Dragons:

Now, this latter character is who I personally believe that the Light Fury is based on, in my opinion. I'll explain as I go along.

1) Both dragons are of the same species as their respective Toothlesses.

In the 12th Book: "How to Fight a Dragon's Fury", Luna is described in Page 76 of Chapter 4 as "a luminously beautiful Sea-Dragon slightly smaller than himself (Furious), known as Luna." 

In the books, "Sea-Dragon" is a term often used to describe the Seadragonus Giganticus Maximus (due to the first part of their species' scientific name, I think), a massive Sea-Dragon species that are arguably the most dangerous dragons known in the dragon world. That, and they're also quite possibly the largest dragons in the dragon world—hence why Furious is King of the Dragons. Size and ferocity are very important for an Alpha, in a similar aspect to lions and wolves, etc. 

Anyway, it's been revealed in Book 11: "How to Betray a Dragon's Hero", that Toothless is a Seadragonus Giganticus Maximus, and NOT a Common or Garden Dragon, making him akin to other SGMs such as Wodensfang, Furious, Luna, Merciless/Green Death, and Purple Death (Book 1).

Meanwhile, the Light Fury, while not a Night Fury, is of the same family as the latter and are very close cousins. And since both the Light Fury and Toothless are Furies, and Toothless is loosely inspired from the Book!Toothless, who is a Seadragonus Giganticus Maximus (or a Sea-Dragon) like Luna, it makes sense that the Light Fury might be based on Luna, however slightly. 

2) Both dragons have glowing white scales.

In the same page and the same chapter, the narrator (Hiccup) further describes Luna as such: "She was so-called because she glowed with light like the moon. She lit up the dark storm clouds all around, and waves of heat pulsed out of her, so that the rain smoked and hissed when it landed on her shining body."

Now the Light Fury doesn't have glowing scales; her scales are more sparkly or glittery than anything. But in certain environments under certain exposure of light in a particular angle, it does look like that her scales are glowing in a sense. Unlike Luna, the Light Fury seems to copy the Deadly Shadow's and the Changewing's cloaking abilities, though in a smaller and more temporary sense, and having to use her plasma blasts to activate it.

3) Both dragons become rulers.

In Pages 415 and 421 on Chapter 26, Furious gives his Alpha-ship to Luna before he swims away into the Great Ocean, either awaiting death or even surviving the venomous injury he acquired from the Witch. And Luna then becomes the new Alpha of the Dragons and rules the Dragons for the rest of her days (which are very long indeed, even well past the end of the series.)

Now, here's my theory and headcanon for the third film concerning the Light Fury: That the Light Fury either 1) is Alpha of her own thunder (term for flock of dragons) as Toothless is when they find her and somehow got separated, 2) she'll become co-Alpha when she becomes Toothless's mate, or 3) Toothless, like Furious, ends up giving his Alpha-ship to another—namely the Light Fury—so that he can stay with Hiccup.

What do you guys think? Which do you think is plausible?

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Conclusion:

So that's my thoughts about the Light Fury. What do you guys think? Think that any of this is plausible? Do you think that she might be inspired by the Silver Phantom or Luna or a little bit of both? Anything that I got wrong and needs correcting? What are your thoughts on this?

(Personally, I still think that the Light Fury is a fanbase add-on by DreamWorks.)

Again, this is just a theory since I can't prove any of this. So if you have any thoughts you'd like to give me to prove or disprove this or to add to this that I didn't think of, I'd appreciate it.

Thanks again for your time and for reading this, as well as any comments that you might post. I appreciate the feedback and support!

If you guys have anyone specific you'd like me to write an article about in this comparison series, let me know.

Long Live the Wilderwest!

— Companion of the Dragonmark

[samstclair]

Tony Soprano's Goomah

Tony Soprano X Reader

Anonymous Request -

Hiya Saint Samuel!!!!! So listen to this, I've just started Sopranos, you know, the HBO show? Anyway I've come to the conclusion that Tony is exactly my type. He's brought out an inherent and animalistic part of me I never realized was there in the first place. Like, a strong attraction to alpha men. I'm not that far in the show, but I love the idea of him taking me to dinner at Vesuvio's, you know, Artie's restaurant? I love that he supports his friend's small business when he's not busy blowing it up! So could you come up with an imagine about the date? Let me know!! Thank you!!!!

P.S. - I love your work but please keep this one short! It's gotta be a quickie before bed!

Word Count: not that long tbh

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"It's so gloomy out," you said, face souring as you looked out the window of your apartment. "It's always gloomy." 

"Um, where the fuck do you think we're at? It's New Jersey," your friend, Snooki, said. "That's why I only like the shore. It's different out there."

You smiled. Her thick Jersey accent always threw you off but it felt so warming. You forgot people actually talked like that. She'd come to visit you from the Shore to help you get ready for your little date. She was filming a season of her TV show, which you didn't completely understand, but nonetheless you were supportive cause you always supported your girls. That's just how being a girlie works. 

"So who's this guy anyway?" Snooki asked as she began to flat iron your hair, clouds of thick smoke rising from it as it fried your shit straight. "You're so like, secretive about him. You never ended up telling me."

You blushed, living for the idea of this little forbidden-esque romance you and Tony had. 

"I didn't tell you because I'd only just met you, I had to make sure you were a girl's girl first, you know?"

"And when was that?"

"When I found out you were down to help hide me go into hiding from the stupid ugly IRS men-in-black people, THAT'S when I knew."

She smiled to herself, she DID that. 

"Anyway, and I couldn't tell you over the phone cause you were on that stupid duck phone. I didn't want the show to be recording my business, silly," you said, "plus, those guy friends you have there are creeps. I don't want them knowing my business, either."

You shuddered at the thought of those overly-tan, Ed Hardy cologne smelling boys. You didn't trust them in the slightest. After one of them called you a grenade because they caught a glimpse a single stretch mark, you knew DAMN well they had never been connected to any basis of reality and therefore not REAL.

Except Paulie, you didn't really mind him, if you catch my drift if you catch the flow! ;). He was lowkey a girl's girl.

"So tell me now! I'm so over waiting!" she whined. She really was over it. You loved holding back information some times just to create a little suspense. A little of that never hurt no one never hurt a FLY.

"Well, what do you wanna know?" you smirked to yourself. 

"Is he Italian?"

"Oh, def."

"Is he tan?"

"Oh, no."

She suddenly stopped the ironing and gave you an annoyed look in the mirror. You knew that was a no-no in Snicker's book. "Then why are you wasting your time?"

"Because he's just hot, like, I don't know how to explain it," you really didn't. When you first met, you just found it odd how insanely attracted you were to him. You just were. It made you feel like a middle-aged mom. But who cares? EXACTLY! "He's low-key, rich, high-key. He works in like, garbage disposal or some shit."

"That's what they say when they're in the mafia." Snooki said, continuing to iron your hair. 

"I did my fair amount of business with Italians back in England, I know what the mafia looks like." Of that, you did. But that was your old life, you were supposed moving on. The Queen is dead, after all. Don't push! 

You wish you could tell your girlfriend more, but you had to remind yourself that you were under a different identity - as you mentioned before, the IRS are actually a bunch of Debbie downers and negative Nancies who wanna see you, just a girl, down. They hated seeing you, just a girl, succeed, and that's not cool or cute. They ran you out of the country once, but not again. You were a full, beer-blooded American and that's that. (if ur reading this and not American just pretend you are! Who wouldn't want to?!)

You met Tony through the Italian connections you had in England, and once you knew you had to escape back to America, they were the only allies you knew that could help smuggle you in like the cocaine in little baggies shoved up the asscracks of a flight attendee. If it weren't for that, New Jersey would have definitely NOT been the first place you had in mind to arrive in. 

Once the Italians brought you through, they directed you to this deli place called Satriale's after you moaned and groaned about your tummy rumbling. You kept joking that you were a different person when you were hungry, what you dubbed as the "hungry monster", over and over. Safe to say, the Italians soon grew increasingly uncomfortable with that and your other incoherent ramblings about food and decided you needed some gabagool. 

Let's just say - you went to absolute fucking town on those slices of meat and cheese. All those thoughts about becoming a vegetarian? Yeah, out the window they WENT. 

You assumed that none of those Italian-Americans knew that a girl could fucking eat, because they looked at you with both horror and confusion. Also, a little concernment. You also learned the complete difference between Italian and Italian-American, as if that horrendous atrocity that is your bff Snooki's Jersey Shore season 4 wasn't enough to learn from.

As you were munching away on what you were sure was only your third slice of 'salam' (salami), (it was actually your eleventh), the door swung open along with the little bell atop ringing. That wasn't what broke you out of your trance, no, no it would take a LOT for that to happen in the state you were in, but it was who....

"Hey, sweetheart, save some for the rest of us, huh?" He giggled, his other goons giggling behind him.

You looked up. You hated being spoken at while eating. It was really a trigger.

But there he was. Tony.

Tall, big, low-key balding, leather jacket and Goodwill's men section polo with some khaki pants, cigar in hand, under-sized gold rings and necklaces bulging, and a whiff of men's cologne (probably an Italian designer's).

You were stumped. Stunned. Stupefied.

So were they. They watched you, waiting for some sort of response whether it was verbal or physical. Instead, they were given your mega disassociation-state, blank expression, mouth full with a slice of meat in one hand and a slice of cheese in the other.

The entire deli went silent - it was literally as if there was a cowboy standoff going on like some Western film shit. A Spaghetti western here, perhaps?

"Fuck's wrong with her?" one of his minions asked. You later found out this was his wannabe Aaron Sorkin nephew Christopha.

"Hey, Ton', I think you broke the poor broad!" the other said, who had crazy white streaks of hair. This was his other minion, Paulie who giggled with the possible case of Tourette's syndrome.

"Ayyeeee, sweethaarrttt," the other said with a grumpy face and crazy hairline, (Silvio), "what's tha matta?"

You didn't know what the matter was. And honestly, neither did Tony.

All you two knew, is that you were both locked IN. What you didn't know at the time, was that he realized he had landed his eyes on one of the most beautiful, fine ass women he'd ever seen. And man was down BAD! Of course he was, girl, LOOK AT YOU!

(For realsies all respect to Carmela she did not deserve any of Tony's caca!)

"Who the fuck is this?" he finally asked, somewhat angrily. He wasn't angry, just taken aback someone had defied him as much as you did in that moment from that face off. And that's just the regular tone of how a lot of these people talked, which you ALSO later learned.

"I'm me," you said back.

The three minions behind him all raised their brows in shock. They couldn't conceive a girlie, like you, could sass just as hard back. That response ALWAYS worked.

And that was that. You two were history <3. 

You then met Snooki at a bar later that same night and she let you stay at the Jersey Shore house for a bit until Tony gave you enough money to get your own spot. And now, here you two were. Some full circle shit. 

So yeah back to your apartment WE'RE BACK AT THE APARTMENT!!

You were in the midst of a rant to Snooki about beefing with your hairstylist, the same lady who bleached your hair and unknowingly participated as an accessory to concealing your real identity from authorities. 

"...and so I was like, I want a bleach and tone, like can you do a bleach and tone for me please, like smiley face emoji and she was like tone? (question mark) and I was like, a bleach and tone, like, a bleach and tone, like a bleach and tone, like what do you mean tone, like? Like after you bleach it, can you tone it, like make it not brassy, and she was like 'oh oh I understand' and put, like, the blonde princess emoji and I was like, okay I'm glad you understand."

"What a fucking dumbass," Snooki laughed, finishing your hair. "I can just give you the number to my hairdresser, just let me know."

You heavily considered. A couple chunky stripe black highlights here and there? Some reverse raccoon shit? SHIT!!!

As she wrapped up, you admired yourself in the mirror. Your other girlfriend, JWoww, had done your makeup but had to leave early to let out her dogs at her house. She'd done the full Y2K trashy mcbling look - black smokey eye with glitter, heavy on the contour, thin ass brows and a nude lip. You looked like a Pamela Anderson variant and you were fucking it up! 

After taking some grainy ass photos on your hot pink bedazzled camera, Snooki hyping you up some more and pregaming with you before your date, you got a text! 

"I've got a text!" you said like a Love Islander. 

"Oh my god, is it from him?" Snooki asked, drinking the remnants of the Ron-Ron juice she made, the only good thing he's ever been associated with.

"Oh, fuck he's like - he's like here! He's here!" 

You ran towards your window and peeped your head through the blinds - he was indeed here in his red Chevy. A wave of anxiety flushed over you - but you weren't sure why? You were literally his 'goomar' or 'goomah' however you spell it and this definetly wasn't your first time on a date with him. But every time before one, you felt like you needed to shit yourself. He just made you all nervy! Like, that's a MAN RIGHT THERE!

"Oh, fuck Snooki," you said, frightened. "I think I need to go."

"You're kidding. You don't have time! You said he made a reservation, right?"

"Oh, I don't know. He just walks into anywhere and he automatically has a reservation for that exact time. You really think I can't go?"

"I mean, how fast can you go?"

You ended up going. And you were fast.

It was a quickie, definitely not ALL that needed to come out, but it was something for now. You knew your body too well. As you hit that flush lever thingie, you saw all your anxiety go down with it. You were ready, renewed, and refreshed. THOSE are the real three R's for saving the planet. You also smoked the last bit if your blunt, a 'roach' if you will, to see if that could calm your nerves. Spoiler - it didn't. Girl there was less than an inch left the fuck did you think that would do.

As Snooki was closing the front door, she yelled somewhat drunkenly "YOU'RE FUCKING HOT!" It definitely gave you a little pep in your step, to say the very least. Your heels clicked and clicked down that staircase, you felt like Rose in Titanic to Jack in that one scene.

Tony exited the car, admiring his view. Snooki was very right. You were eating it UP LIKE THAT BITCH!!

You had a slip on sequin dress, not too clubby but not too dressy, low-key classy and a little not too shabby? Your hair was all done up and your hoops dangled from your ears. You smelled of some sweet Nicki Minaj's body spray from TJ Maxx.

A cloud of cologne (a good cologne, one that you secretly stole for him also from TJ Maxx) hit you as you and Tony embraced. Even with your heels, he still stood over you like a fucking wall. You got why the gays love their bears. 

"How do I look, Tony?" you asked. You knew your answer you just fucked with compliments. 

"You look beautiful, hun. Like an old Hollywood actress. Let's get goin'." He opened the passenger's seat door for you like the gentleman he was and closed it behind you. Once he was in the driver's seat, you two were off. 

It was now Christmas time - so the aesthetic was KICKING! Lights were all around on people's houses and trees, the air was cool and there was a little snowfall. It felt like some cozy 2000's digital photos you find under looking up 'nostalgic' on Pinterest. The car's heater was on full and the warmth felt good against your ass. You thought about fucking up a sauna and how you'd love one of those. Maybe a future date with Tony?

You lowered the sun visor to check yourself in the mirror. These false lashes were CRAZY. You only trusted JWoww or Snooki to put them on. 

"You smell that?" Tony asked, sniffing the air.

"No," you said. You only smelled the his strong cologne and Nicki.

"You smell like weed," he said. 

You did forget about the 'roach' and plants you were growing on your balcony to make some extra cash. But then, you thought, this could be the perfect lay-up right now. If it worked on Megan Fox, maybe it would work on Tony? If it didn't, you'd honestly Lady Bird yourself out of his car from the embarrassment.

"I am weed," you said, trying to sound femme fatale, biting your tongue like a mom. 

He didn't get it. 

"What did you say?"

You weren't high enough for this.

"Man, never mind," you said. "Where we going, anyway? You said you were take me to eat some real food. Cause apparently McDonald's isn't."

"Oh please, you're gonna start with that shit again?" Tony said. One thing with Tony, and all these mafiosos, they have more insecurity than a thirteen-year-old middle school girl. You've had to learn how to dodge Tony's whiny moments. 

"So where?" you asked again, back to the topic. 

"Italian."

"Oh, like Olive Garden?"

He stopped at a light and faced you, with a look of pure disgust.

You saw him in the corner of your eye, trying not to smile. You loved fucking with him. It was like fucking with a toddler.

"The fuck did you say?" 

And there it was. 

Tony then began to rant about what true Italian dining and food was, as he always loved to flex in his whiny self about how there's no other shame of an establishment other than Olive Garden to bring embarrassment to Italian cuisine. You disassociated for much of it after, watching the lit-up suburbs as you drove by.

"....and that's why Vesuvio's puts back the honor in the Italian name. End of story!"

"That's crazy," you said, one of your many safe automatic responses to have after your disassociation trips. 

Anyway, you two had finally made it to the restaurant, as Tony mentioned before, called Vesuvio's. It was owned by a close friend of his, which made you all happy as it was refreshing to see Tony support small businesses. It was the late evening, so the sun had already set and the ambience was hitting. 

Before you entered the restaurant, Tony said he had a surprise for you and took out from the back of his car a quite large box.

"What is this?"

"Go ahead," he smiled slyly, "open it up."

You felt like a child needing to rip the bitch open, but you stopped yourself - you liked playing hard to get so you knew you had to act indifferent. You instead opened it slowly, as if it was just an ordinary box but no it WASN'T!

"No. Fucking. Way," you were in disbelief. "Tony - a FUCKING VINTAGE HOT PINK JUICY TRACKSUIT?! THESE ARE LIKE, $100 ON DEPOP?!?!?!?!"

He was fucking up your reaction. He must've really listened to when you indulged in him your airport troubles and losing your suitcase, as well as your vintage Juicy Couture tracksuit. This got you all hot and shit down there to know he cared like that. Again, this is a MAN. He makes ugly dudes like Tate tater tot look like a little bitch and that's that.

"You like it?" he asked as you yanked that shit out and were admiring it. "Here, let me help," he put the box down and helped put the top jacket part on.

You were too shock to speak. Non-verbal, if you would.

"Tony, no bro it's that I can't - "

His little dumbass smile made it all the better. You hated that he knew he ate with this.

The fresh smell of baked bread and pasta was making your toes curl violently. You loved being a fat ass. Once inside, Tony greeted like half the staff because that's what these men do, but you were just bouncing your eyes from table to table at all the dishes. Shit was about to HIT! You purposely didn't eat all day so you could have room for what tonight was to come. But, with that, the Ron-Ron juice was now in full effect. Uh oh oh no.

No, no - you couldn't. Had you not learned before in England? You cannot embarrass Tony, no, not in front of all these people. Tony was like a pillar in this little suburban community, you needed to make him look good!

But then, you caught a glimpse of yourself in the mirror - you DO look good! 

And then it hit you - you're just a girl who likes to dress up and eat good. The last thing you were gonna do was hide who you truly were! High key who gives a fuck about Tony? You do but you get what I mean.

A very pretty, blonde hostess came to you guys and led you to your table. Tony said hi, gave her the usual besitos, and introduced you two. 

"Y/N, this is Adriana. You know, Christopha's girlfriend?"

"Oh my god yes! I remember!" you brought her in for a hug and your own besitos. She smelled great. It made you so happy to see another girl do her thing! "You look so good, bro! And your nails!"

"Oh, my god thank you!" she said, modestly. "You're so pretty!"

Tony smiled, happy to see two girls do their thing. Men will never understand.

You two sat a little more secluded towards the back. He had introduced you to Artie, the best friend and owner of the restaurant.

About an hour in, the vibes were HITTING! You were on your third slice of bread, dipping it in the olive oil and vinegar (though you preferred butter, but you weren't just about to say that in front of all these Italians, LITERALLY when in Rome like??), laughing as Tony was making his shitty dad jokes, light Frank Sinatra and 'like a big pizza pie in the sky' in the background, the chatter of other customers who were also vibing, and, like you, looking forward to absolutely demolishing the dishes. 

What those dishes were, you wouldn't know. The moment you sat, Artie pulled up and took your menus, saying he would make y'all something exclusive from the menu. Like THAT? Like that. You felt like it was 2017 all over again and you just found out about the secret Pink Drink that wasn't on the Starbucks menu. Exclusive! 

As Tony was rambling on about his new horse, you were just thinking about how insanely attractive he was. Again, this ain't no boy - no, this is a MAN. This is a man who gets shit done, whenever and wherever. You always thought yourself to be pretty humble and not consider power a trait to find attractive, but you just realized you were lying to yourself this whole time, cause Tony proved it was. Is it shallow? Oops. Who gives a fuck be real. That and giving you money every time he saw you was definitely a plus! He was just too smooth with shit.

And let's be real again, it was a little bit of a power trip for you too. Like, you're TONY'S girl. You know what that's more powerful than? Exactly. Anyone other than Tony's girl.

"What's your horse's name?" you asked.

"Pie-O-My."

"That's such a cute name!"

Dumbass name, you thought. But in all honesty you would've named a horse like Pickle or some shit so.

"Do you like horses? I should take you ta see her sometime."

You weren't a horse girl, even though you did have a small phase in middle school. "How could you not? They're so, like, otherworldly. Back in Colombia, my old boss used to have a zoo, and there were a bunch of horses there too."

"When were you in Colombia?"

You froze - you forgot. You're not Y/N, you're Y/N! You're supposed to be under a false identity! You can't just be revealing your past, Colombia was not supposed to be talked about! Have England Colombia not taught you anything?

"A long, long, long, long time ago. Long time. Looooong time," you said, smiling sheepishly and taking a nervous sip of your wine. This topic needed to be SKIPPED.

"For business?"

And then you forgot. Tony literally knows you're a fugitive. You are safe <3

You went on to expand about your brief but not-so-brief, actually extensive, time in Colombia, working for Pablo and committing heists with your girls. It seemed like another lifetime ago, but recounting it brought you such nostalgia, it made you happy to reminisce. Tony was eating it up too, he fucked with the fact that you weren't just no ordinary girl, no, you were a girl with a past. Dare I say, not like other girls at that. A criminal one, at that. To these macho mafiosos, seeing a girl do more than being a housewife is considered very exotic. 

"One time, in Colombia, I almost set off one of Pablo's bombas by accident," you giggled to yourself. Shit was crazy. "It was supposed to be a hit on someone and I opened the wrong door to the wrong car lol. Thank god it malfunctioned and didn't detonate, but ever since then my close experience with death has just taught me to live, laugh and love more, you know? He was reaalllyyy pissed at me, for like a minute. Then he got over it, cause like, it's never that serious, you know?"

You dug into your pasta, which had just been brought out. It was Alfredo, your favorite. You weren't sure how Alfredo was an exclusive dish, but whatevs. You felt the warmness go down through your intestines - deletable. You felt Mark Weins possessing your spirit.

Tony was in awe of your stories. 

"Wait, wait, Pablo's what?"

"Bombas. You know."

He still didn't comprehend. Ugh boys.

"Bomb bass?" you repeated.

"Boss Baby? Like that cartoon scientist prick?"

You'd never seen Boss Baby, but was pretty sure he wasn't a scientist. Just a baby in STEM. "No, Tony, bom-bas."

"Baz Luhrmann?"

"Oh my god, no, but I miss that summer," you said, thinking about that curse of a movie. "All that our love surviveeeesssss. So good. So good." 

You continued eating your pasta, imagining Jacob Elordi's face instead of Austin Butler. It helped with the nightmares.

"Wait, you mean bombs?" he whispered. 

"Yes, that!" you covered your mouth with your hand, still chomping away, "Sorry, all that time in Colombia I forgot English words. I should redownload Duolingo again."

"You can't say that around here. Not around Artie."

"Why not?"

"He's sensitive to subjects like that. Gets him all nervous." Tony then went on to basically play with his food by making his fork dance in and out of it, never actually accumulating more pasta. This was his fidgeting.

"You garbage disposal guys love to pretend you're all hard and shit."

He stopped. Again, he's offended. "What did you say?"

"Like, you pretend you're all hard, and shit, but then you're not. Okay, like, okay - Paulie doesn't like me cause I made a joke. A little joke and he got all butthurt."

"Yeah, cause you said that if he eats more than 12 grapes on New Years, he's cursed."

"Yeah, so what? His fat ass ate the entire bag. I had to make him feel bad for that. Reparations, honestly."

"You know Paulie, he's superstitious. And you weren't helping when you asked his zodiac sign or whatever bullshit."

"And what about Silvio, huh? So what if I've never seen the Godfather? How else is a normal person supposed to react if you just randomly say 'once I'm out they pull me back in'? Like, what? Back into what? I was being nice pretending I knew what he was talking about the first couple of times. I can only fake it til I make it so much."

Tony was growing more impatient. 

"And Christopher? Sorry if I didn't know that an Elf Bar would break his sobriety. I just thought he'd love to invest -"

"Listen, sweetheart, I gotta be honest with ya. My friends, they're not perfect, but they're my family. Let's not forget about the sanctity of loyalty and respect. So let's put this aside and enjoy each other's company, huh -"

"How's the food, huh?" Artie asked, suddenly appearing like an Gusteau's ghost. 

"It's great, Artie," Tony said, somewhat dismissively.

"Artie, you ATE this shit up! I'm gonna be sleeping sooooo good tonight!" you smiled. He smiled that you smiled. 

"Well thank you, I'm glad you enjoyed it. Let me know if you need anything else, okay?" Artie then walked off, leaving you two to yourselves. He quickly turned around and came back. "Be sure to call if you feel you have food poisoning, though."

"Wait, what?" you asked, mimicking Trisha Paytas.

"Cause if you do have it, it's not my food," he chuckled. "Right, Ton'?"

With that ominous comment/inside joke that you really had no idea what he was talking about, he walked away laughing. Tony wasn't. He, underneath it all was fuming but holding it in. He didn't like to raise his voice in front of you, because he knew you would hit lengths that exceeded his. One of your favorite activities was to make guys feel stupid, and you were too good at that and he knew. Honestly, he was kinda scared of the power you held, like one of Pablo's bombas. 

You just shrugged it off and continued eating up your pasta. 

It was quiet. It wasn't an awkward quiet, just a 'who's gonna talk first to get us past this quiet' sort of quiet. You didn't care, you were being wined and dined for free. 

You then thought about how you could enhance the dish, like a wizard adding potions and his creation. You pointed to the parmesan. 

"What?" Tony asked, oblivious, munching. 

"Cheese, hellur?"

"The fuck is 'hellur'?'

You swallowed the food that prevented you from saying 'hello' correctly. 

"Like, hello. So, cheese, hello?"

"Why not say hello?"

"Tony, I don't make fun of you when you say things in Italian," you shot back. He couldn't know food delayed your speech. "Don't make fun of my language, xenophobia doesn't look good on you."

He passed the parm, again in awe. "You know, of all the women I've been with, you're the weirdest fucking one," he laughed to himself. 

"Awe, Tony, you're so sweet." You smiled. The bad quiet vibes had gone away and the good vibes had returned. So what if there was a boulder on the path? You walk AROUND it!

Fast forward to dessert. Artie brought you some cannolis because we're in an Italian restaurant remember. 

Tony was in the middle of being pretty vulnerable with you. You loved that type of shit, when a man opens up. It's like seeing them fully evolve to becoming a normal person and you were front row.

"The things I do, you know. It's to get food on the table for my kids. But they, they don't understand. Meadow does, she's still young, but AJ? I don't know about the poor kid. Stays in his room all day, on that fucking computer, listens to that metal bullshit -"

"He's just going through his emo era. We all have it, don't worry. Some worse than others. And, he's a boy. They all enjoy a little Reddit from time to time. But just cause you're a criminal, Tony, doesn't make you a villain. The IRS just love to hate, trust me, I know."

He appreciated that you cared. "Therapy helps too, or whatever."

"Awe, that's great Tony!"

"But don't tell anyone, or I'll get whacked."

"By who?"

"You know. My associates."

"That's nice that you play games with your associates. It should be more than just business, you know. Like, there should be room for some bonding time and exercises."

"What are you talking about?"

"Like, Whack-a-Mole. Isn't that what you were talking about?"

Tony laughed. You thought he got it, but he was just still confused and was actually laughing at the shit you just say. 

After the check (there was no check cause it's Tony Soprano), you two stopped by at Wawa to get some SpongeBob popsicles, cause those cannolis didn't hit that 'sumthin sweet' feeling. The flavor you got wasn't as good as his, despite being the same thing, so at every free opportunity when he wasn't looking you scooped a little of his. He started to notice as his popsicle shrunk and shrunk, getting hot at what you were doing. You didn't mind, you liked it sometimes when he got mad cause you thought it was funny you got to him like that. He got over it eventually, realizing that it's never THAT serious. 

Some time later you were back at his place, what your girls would call an 'open crib'. It was just you two, and as Nicki once said, the night was still young. The possibilities? Yeah, they're endless. You had to admit, you were getting impatient. You needed something and that something was NOW.

By the pool, you two were making out. Shit was getting heavy and the night was getting pretty fucking chilly. A little too chilly, like the Juicy tracksuit was cute asf, but let's be real not helping in the slightest. But you weren't just about to have that interrupt you. What's a little cold? People literally live in like, Russian tundra.

Still making out, you felt small droplets of water hit you. 

You broke from the kiss and said, quite sensually but not exactly meaning to, "I'm wet."

Tony chuckled with his goofy, excited smile. "Tell me more -"

He brought you back in for another kiss.  

You felt more of those droplets hit you. You broke your kiss off again.

"No, I'm actually wet."

As if on cue, the rain began to pour pretty hard, increasingly violent. He grabbed your arm and pulled you to go inside. You two laughed as you were drenched, trying to escape the heavy downpour on some rom-com bullshit. 

You slid your heels off and ran, you ran and ran. One thing you knew how to do - you knew how to ran. Your feet hit those puddles of water with such velocity, Tony could no longer catch up to you and lagged behind. Your hands let go - you couldn't wait for him. Once you were in this state, there was no breaking out of it. He was amazed at your abilities. You couldn't risk your makeup running. That's a big no-no, no?

Once inside, he brought you two towels and began drying you off. You caught a quick glimpse of your make up in the mirror, and needless to say, you needed JWoww to drop you that link of the setting spray she used cause shit was STUCK. Immovable.

"Thanks for the towel, Tony." you said. He winked at you, pulled his soaked shirt off and tossed it on the kitchen counter, then pulled out a jug of orange juice from the fridge, downing that bitch. Your eyes trailed from his body hair, down to his chest, to his belly, then his happy trail down to - oh. Oh there it is. 

"Peter, the horse is here." you said. That bulge was bulging. 

Tony clocked his head to you. 

You thought you said it in your head, but you actually said it loud and clear.

"Who the fuck is Peta?" he interrogated, getting scared into thinking someone else was in the house, or that maybe 'Peter' was someone you were seeing...

"My god Tony you're such a fucking boomer."

"Is Peter your boyfriend -"

"- oh SHUT UP TONY!" you said, before pouncing on top of him. You hugged him, and he hugs tightly back, he then throws you on the dining table and you feel his member pressed against your leg. He begins kissing you, his tongue licking your lips for entrance. You let him in. Your tongues fight for dominance but you let him win. He eventually starts going down on you, taking your sequin dress off, and starts kissing your labia.

"This...this is a labia," he says. "End of story!"

You lift your legs as he begins to eat you out, his wet breath on your cooter. He holds your foot up and raises himself, ready to press his member into your entrance. Your eyes are closed, ready to take the man from North Caldwell, New Jersey in. This is it. No Peta, no duck phone, no garbage disposal, nothing - just you and Tony.

Hope you guys enjoyed!

Also, a heads up!  A friendly warning - DON'T tell me how long to make story. That is up to me, myself and I. Anyway this one's shorter so whatevs. 

xoxo, 

~ Sam St. Clair

[girlfriendsofthegalaxy]

tuesday again 6/25/2024

i played a game that is not genshin impact!

listening

paige kennedy's lingerie model. the line "cause i'm a little rat boy in the body of a lingerie model" startled a laugh out of me. off the discover weekly playlist.

-

reading

thank you philip.

Johnny Guitar by Roy Chanslor, on interlibrary loan bc i was hoping reading the book would kickstart my long-planned fic based on the movie. surprise! wildly different book i read in one sitting! the locations, most of the characters (except most of them are much younger) and who's on what sides are essentially the same, but everything else is different!

there are five whole women in this thing, which is a staggering number for a western. i don't know that i have a clear idea of what this book is trying to say about Women in general or specific. i've just been kind of rolling it around in my head for a while. once i figure out what i want to say about this book everyone better watch out

-

watching

borrowed my best friend's husband and their disney plus account to watch a lot of star wars. we certainly had a lot of thoughts about the show Ahsoka but none of them were particularly complimentary. it's dave filoni playing the fucking hits. would you like some wolves and some owls and people having bad feelings and recreating the training session on the millennium falcon from ANH? would you like some fairly lackluster lightsaber battles? would you like the least interesting concept of a waiting room/purgatory/underworld you've ever seen? this is a show where we meet Anakin again and TRAVEL TO A DIFFERENT FUCKING GALAXY, the BIRTHPLACE of some WITCHES. can we be a little bit excited about new things please??? please?????? we are so very bogged down in cutting back and forth, bc god forbid everyone be in the same place at the same time, that we get only the tiniest glimpses of fun new places. show me the places. stop giving me medium shots of people yapping. easily three quarters of this show is filmed from the waist up or closer. what fucking gives. if i really really wanted to scratch the itch of a worrisome legacy and lost love and slightly weird student/teacher dynamics i would go read a contemporary literary novel. show me the interesting parts of star wars and not just the fanservicey callback parts please thanks

we did have a lot of fun with The Acolyte, which genuinely does feel like a breath of fresh air. most of the dialogue is extremely bad, which is sort of par for the course for a star war, but the gleeful jumping with both feet into some real melodramatic weekly serial/space opera tropes!!! much more interested in playing with a heightened narrative/playing with narrative at all, unlike ahsoka which is more focused on filling in a little blank spot!!! witches here also!!! the GOOD TWIN and the EVIL TWIN, several inventive assassinations, the CLEARING of one's NAME, a cursed planet, some fights that feel like they're playing with samurai movies and westerns in a fun new way instead of reminding me of a better thing i could be watching. thank you im eating this with a spoon. many people are very mad about it bc the protagonist is black and perhaps not perfectly straight. the public says this star wars is bad, bc of woke and bc of cliffhangers. i think this one is fun actually so far!!!

-

playing

Freshly Frosted (2022, Quantum Astrophysics Guild). free on Epic rn and quite honestly this should be a self-care/old people brain plasticity phone game. why it is NOT on mobile is beyond me. why it is on SWITCH is also beyond me.

it did make me miss a novelty doughnut and coffee mini local chain in the five college area that has long since gone under. one of my therapists used to have an office above one of their stores and i used to go to a class at smith on wednesdays, go to therapy, and then jog for the half hour bus back to umass, reward doughnut in hand.

it opens with a soft-voiced woman telling you about how she likes to decompress by laying in a field and imagining a donut factory in the sky. she gives encouraging little tips and "hey! be nice to yourself!" throughout the game, but mostly at the beginnings of levels and introducing new mechanics. there are, perhaps, overly plentiful achievements.

there are a dozen dozen levels and i played through the first three dozen, or the first three boxes (normie don't draw over your line, multi track drifting, merging paths). i once had a level correct and then hit undo out of indecision and the tutorial lady told me "“You had it, click the undo button in the top right to undo”. which i don't believe i've ever seen in a game.

i stopped at the third box bc there’s a universal order to ingredients (always frosting then sprinkles then whipped cream then etc) but it does not ever tutorialize that it will only put the next ingredient on if the previous ones are fulfilled. like this was the level i figured this out on.

on further levels in this box i was not thinking super hard about what the actual order was and i couldn't really tell you how i solved a particular level except for making sure every possible path existed. maybe this gets super wild in later levels idk but three dozen levels was enough of a novelty for me. if i may be a little mean to a perfectly fine game, it feels like a coding bootcamp project in the way it steps through its logic and introduces new mechanics.

-

making

cross stitch update. i don't believe this will be done by my brother's birthday

[jeankluv]

Snow on the beach || Trafalgar Law x fem!reader

Chapter I: The new girl

Words count: 3,8k

Warnings: none(?)

Notes: this is inspired by one of my fav books, it will be a multiple part story, I still don’t know how many but please enjoy. Sorry if there are any mistakes English is not my first language.

Materialist || Next chapter →

𓈒⠀𓂃⠀⠀˖⠀𓇬⠀˖⠀⠀𓂃⠀𓈒

You still didn’t know what you were doing in that place, it was freezing, isolated and without any coverage. But you need it, you need to be away from everyone you knew, you need to find yourself and leave those toxic thoughts and people.

You took a deep breath and looked at the map, the house you were going to be staying, it was far from the station, really far.

“Shit…” You said under your breath. “I really booked the most isolated house in the whole town, didn’t I?”

You sighed and started walking, carrying your bags. Despite the freezing weather there was no snow, so you were grateful for it or else you wouldn’t make it to the house.

There wasn’t a single soul in the streets, you could understand why, the weather was freezing. You should’ve called a taxi or a Uber, although it was probably impossible there were any around here. You kept walking, making small stops to catch your breath. It was until a car passed you by and slowed down parking a few meters away from you. You froze, you have seen enough crime documentaries and films to know how this works. The man that got out started walking towards you, waving his hand. Before reaching for you, he slipped and fell to the ground.

“Eh?” You let out.

“Auch!” The man sat and started sobbing his head. “Always the same…”

“You okay?” You said without moving. Holding strongly to your suitcase, just in case you need it to throw in his direction and run away.

The man then stood and started walking towards you. I’m going to die, y/n you have to react! He is much bigger than you but you are faster!

“Young lady! My name is Rosinante, I’m a police officer in the town!” He said, once he was close enough.

A police officer? Dressed like that? You thought about looking at his clothes. He was wearing a heart shirt and… a dark red hood with two heart-like shapes hanging?

“Oh! I know I don’t look like one but here, look!” He said showing his license, he really was a police officer. “Sorry if I scared you! But I was going back home from my shift and I saw you carrying those suitcases with you. Where are you heading to, young lady?”

“It doesn’t matter… Now, if you let me I would like to keep going, sir.” You said starting to walk.

“I can take you. It seems like we are heading in the same direction!” He smiled.

You were really hesitant, could you really trust him? But the sun was already setting and you were still far from the rented house, so it could be a good option to accept his offer, besides he didn’t look like a bad guy.

“Okay… thank you, sir.” You said.

He took one of the suitcases and started walking to his car. “Please call me Corazon or Cora-san. I’m not that old to be called sir.”

You simply nodded. Corazon? Is it because of all the hearts in his shirt?

“You don’t talk too much eh?” He said once both of you were in the car. “What’s your name?”

“No sorry, I’m just tired… my name is y/n.” You smiled.”

“Nice name and tell me y/n, what are you doing in this small town?”

“Getting away from everything, I guess.” You really didn’t want to talk your head hurt and you didn’t want to bother a stranger about your personal problems.

You just wanted to get in a bed and sleep for the next 24 hours at least, your body was exhausted after traveling so much.

“You came to the perfect place then.” He smiled. “This has to be one of the most remote places on earth. Getting away from the busy and fast life of the big cities will be easy here.”

You wished it was only getting away from that type of life but it was much more than that. He didn’t say a word after that, you guessed he understood that you didn’t want to talk about it, so he stayed silent.

“You’re staying in the house that is in front of the beach right? The old lady that used to live there moved back with one of her sons and now it’s for rent, so I guess you will be staying there.” He spoke after a couple of minutes.

“Yeah…” You simply responded.

“That’s great! We will be neighbors!” He said. You gave him a small smile.

The trip continued for a couple of more minutes, until he stop on the side of the road. You looked outside the window and saw the same house that you found on the website when you were searching for a place to stay. Corazon helped you getting your suite cases from his car and take them to the door of the house.

“Thank you, for helping me.”

“Don’t mention it, now that we are neighbors you can come and ask for anything. If I’m not at my home, I will probably be at the police station.” He said placing the suite case in the floor.

“Thank you again Corazon.” You smiled at him.

“Alright y/n! It was nice to meet you! I hope we can get a long.” He smiled.

You both said goodbye and you entered your new house. You took a deep breath, you were exhausted and the house felt so cold, not only for the fact that outside there was probably five degrees and inside there must be like ten or so but because everything looked so empty and lonely.

You sighed, at search for a heater or something to warm the house. You looked around but you couldn’t find anything, there was only a chimney but you didn’t know how it worked.

“Shit…” You murmured.

You opened your suite and took a jersey from it and took one of the blankets that you found in the house. You covered yourself with it and prepared a tea, there wasn’t almost anything in the house. Tomorrow you need to go to the town and buy food. But for now, you could only drink that tea and go to sleep.

You were exhausted, so falling asleep that day wasn’t difficult and almost after throwing yourself into the bed you fell completely asleep. It wasn’t until the next morning you woke up with the sound of someone banging on your door. You looked around, a bit confused after sleeping so much. Checking the clock you saw it was ten in the morning. You drag your feet to the entrances and look who was outside, it was Corazon dressed in his police outfit.

You opened the door and greeted him. “Good morning Corazon.”

“Good morning y/n! Did you sleep well?” He smiled at you.

“I did, thank you again for yesterday.”

“Stop thanking me. I’m here because I’m on my way to the town and I assumed that you would need to stop by the supermarket. So if you want I'll take you there.”

“Oh! But you probably need to go to work, I can go on my own. So please don’t worry.”

“Y/n, if I’m offering it’s because I can and I want, so please don’t worry.”

You considered his offer for a moment, it would really help if someone could bring you closer to the town, you knew there was a bus but it passed every hour, you had discovered it the hard way when you arrived at the station yesterday. It is true that you could wait for it to happen again but Corazon really seemed determined to take you. So you nodded and told him yes, he told you that he would wait for you outside while you got ready, so you went to get ready quickly, you didn't want to make him wait too long either.

You cleaned up and put on something a little warm, you really didn't know if you were going to be able to get used to that climate at some point. When you decided to come here it was because of the beautiful beach and the tranquility that seemed to exist, not because of the cold and winter had not yet arrived, so you were really afraid of what winter would be like in this place.

You left the house and saw that Corazon was already in his car. You got in it and Corazon started the car to go to town. The trip to the town was quiet, Corazon told you about the town so you could get to know it better, she also told you that you could go to the police station if you had any problems.

"This may be very nosy of me, but do you plan to look for a job in town?"

“Oh… yes, I have money saved but it will eventually run out, so if I would like to look for a job. Do you know any place that is looking for a worker?” You turned your face, looking at him.

He stood there for a moment without saying anything. “Mmmm… I think the restaurant of the town might be looking for a new waitress. You could ask the owner, Zeff, if they need a new worker.”

“I will, thank you for your help Corazon.”

“Do not mention it and I know I already told you but if you need anything, you can always come to the police station.” He stopped the car, you already arrived at the center of the town. “If I’m not in the police station you can either ask for Sengoku or in the hospital ask for my son, Law. But don’t worry, everyone is really nice around here, I’m sure you will get along really well.” He smiled.

“I will keep it in mind. Now I will go and start exploring the town.” You joke. “Thank you for the ride. I will see you around.” You said leaving the car.

“Bye bye y/n!” He said and left with the car.

You looked around, Corazon left you in the center of the town where most shops were, well actually the few shops. You decided to do the necessary shopping first and then go to the restaurant to ask if they needed people. You entered what seemed to be a supermarket, the establishment was relatively empty, you knew that few people lived in the town but it was also quite early, so it was normal that it was almost empty. You began to look and take what is necessary to start in your new "home". The people who came across you greeted you, almost as they had known you all their lives, Corazon was really right. With what you need already in the car, you paid for everything and left the establishment. Time had passed faster than you expected as you went from store to store, buying what you needed, until you arrived at the restaurant that Corazon had mentioned, the only one in town. You entered it, finding yourself in a cozy environment full of noise.

“OI SANJI!!! I WANT MORE MEAT!” You heard someone screaming from the other side of the restaurant.

“Give me a damn minute!” A blonde guy who was serving responded.

“You’re too slow stupid cook” Was a green haired guy who talked this time.

The blonde guy stopped what he was doing and turned around to face the guy. “What did you say stupid bastard!”

You watched them as they fought, wondering what to do, everything was so crowded and everyone there seemed busy at the moment.

“Excuse me.” You approached one of the people there. “Do you know anyone named Zeff?”

“Zeff? Yeah he…” But the person was cut out before ending the sentence.

“Hello beautiful lady.” The blonde guy from earlier appeared right next to you, making you jump. “My ask, my lady, why are you looking for that old man?”

“I was told that they might need people to work here, so I’m looking for him.”

Before the blonde guy could speak and an old man appeared from inside the kitchen, he was told that he had a long mustache.

“Sanji, stop bothering the young lady.” The old man told the blonde guy, Sanji sighed and murmured something for himself while the old man approached both of you. “I’m Zeff. So you want to work with us?”

You nodded. “Yes I just moved in and I’m looking for a job. I was told that you might have a job for me here.”

“Yes we have a place for you, since this little bastard is always getting distracted.” He pointed at the blonde guy named Sanji. “Your help would be very useful.”

“Thank you so much sir.”

“Please call me just Zeff. Would you like to stay for a bit and see how things work around here? Don’t worry I will be paying you if you stay.” He joked.

“Oh yeah, of course. I would like to start as soon as I can.”

“Alright, Sanji, teach the new girl how things work out here and when your friends leave, come inside to show her everything.” Sanji nodded. “And don't flirt with her, you understand?”

“Yes old man.” He said with a sigh.

“You know I will kick your ass if she mentions feeling uncomfortable or anything right?” Sanji looked in another direction ignoring Zeff. “By the way, I haven’t asked you your name.”

“It’s y/n.”

“Well y/n welcome here.” He said and left, leaving you with Sanji.

“Well my lady.” He turned to look at you with the biggest smile on his face. “Come with me, I will show you around this shitty place.”

Sanji started to show you around, how the things worked there, he also showed you the kitchen, where you had the opportunity to meet the rest of the workers.

“You’re the only waitress here?” You asked him when both of you got out of the kitchen.

“Yes, I’m actually a chef but most of the time I’m out here working as a waitress. Weekends are busier since a lot of people come to spend their days near the sea, but now that you’re here my lady, everything will be easier.” He smiled.

You were about to respond when an orange haired girl spoke. “Sanji, stop flirting with everyone you see, the poor girl will end up running away.”

“It’s okay… don’t worry.” You looked at her.

“Please don’t be so polite.” She smiled at you. “I’m Nami. And these two are Luffy and Zoro.” She pointed at the two boys behind her, you recognize them as the loud boy screaming for meat and as the green haired boy that was fighting with Sanji earlier.

“HI!! You’re new in town right?!” The black haired guy said with a bright smile. “I’m Luffy, let’s be friends alright?”

His energy was overwhelming and his smile was so calm and heartwarming.

“Luffy, you will scare her.” Nami told her friend. “Sorry for that, he is always full of energy.”

“I can see but it’s nice. Nice to meet you Luffy.” You smiled at him.

The particular group chatted with you for a few minutes, mainly Luffy and Nami spoke, the green haired guy named Zoro, only said a few words. Nami mentioned that you needed to meet the rest of the gang and join them from time to time since you were new in the town. They all made you feel welcomed. The three of them said their goodbyes and left, leaving you and Sanji to clean and work for the rest of the missing day

“Where do you leave y/n? It’s already getting dark outside so I could…”

“Don’t worry Sanji, I will take the bus. Don’t worry.” You told him.

Sanji nodded and you both said goodbye, you went to the bus stop to go back home. Unlike your hometown, the bus stop did not indicate what time the next bus would pass. So you sat in the seat to wait for the only bus that took you home to pass. The minutes began to pass when you noticed that you hadn't taken your shopping bags and your bag with your keys and everything were in the restaurant. You cursed yourself and ran back to the restaurant, but as you feared, it was already closed.

You tried to call, hoping that someone was inside and that they would open it for you, but nothing, there was no answer.

“This has to be a joke…” You whispered. “Fuck!”

How was it possible that whenever things seemed to be going well, everything would break down and go to shit? You didn't want to upset Corazon, but in those moments he was your only option and salvation. Hopefully he was still at the police station. With heavy feet you headed for the police station, trying to think of how you would tell Corazon that you had been clueless enough to leave all your belongings in the restaurant.

“Are you going to go in?” A deep voice spoke behind you.

You turned to see a tall, dark-haired young man. Waiting for you to step aside so he could pass and enter the station.

“Oh… yes. Actually, do you work here? I’m looking for Corazon? He told me I could find him here…”

“Corazon?” He softly spoke. “He is inside.” He said and moved to get in.

You followed him and heard him calling Corazon in a familiar way, they were probably close. You then saw Corazon appearing from the corner with a big smile.

“Oh kid you’re here already? Did your shift already end?” He said and hugged the dark-haired guy.

The guy nodded and said something that you couldn’t heard from where you were. Corazon then looked in your direction.

“Y/n!! Hello, I didn’t see you there.” He approached you. “How are you? Did you enjoy your day in the town? Met a lot of people?”

“Yes, it was really fun and I already got a job.” You smiled. “But I have a problem… I left all my belongings at the restaurant, I can’t go back home or enter it.”

Corazon stared at you and you could also feel how the tall boy that Corazon had hugged was looking at you. Barely 24 hours had passed since you met Corazon and he had already seen your clumsy and clueless side. Stupid y/n you thought to yourself.

“Really? Oh my y/n, you went back to the restaurant to try and take it back.” You nodded but Corazon was already answering his own question. “Of course you did, silly me. Well don’t worry, it happens all the time…”

“No it doesn’t.” The tall guy spoke.

Corazon looked at him and then to you smiling. “Don’t worry y/n, it happens. You can stay with us tonight, we have a spare room where you can stay.”

“I’m so sorry for …”

“y/n stop apologizing, okay?”

“But…”

“No buts, now I will go and get my things. You two.” He said pointing at you and the guy. “Wait for me outside. And Law smiled a bit more, you will scare y/n with that face.” He smiled and left.

So that’s Law, Corazon mentioned him in the morning. So this is his son? You looked at him.

“Are you going to come or are you going to stay there?” Said getting out. You followed him silently and stood next to him.

“So… you’re Corazon’s son?” You tilted your head. He didn’t respond and simply stood there watching the entrance of the station. “He told me you work in the hospital.”

“I do.”

You hummed, he was nothing like his father. Corazon came out and the three of you got in the car to go to their place. Corazon was the one making the conversation, while you talked from time to time. Law didn’t say anything during the whole trip and when you arrived he was the first one to leave the car without a word. You and Corazon got out of the car to go into the house. You were really having blind trust in Corazon, but somehow being around him made you calm, safe.

Upon entering the house you noticed something different from yours, it was that warmth and feeling of home that yesterday when you entered your new home there was not. The walls had pictures of Corazon along with some people you didn't know and Law. You stared at an image of what appeared to be Law as a child holding a frog and a scalpel.

“Law has always been a big fan of surgeries.” Corazon laughed behind you.

“Is he the surgeon here?”

“No, he is just a doctor, we don’t have the equipment to do operations in this small town, you have to go to a bigger town or city.”

You kept watching the pictures, noticing that there weren't any pictures of Law as a baby or Corazon and Law together when Law was little.

“y/n come here.” You went where Corazon was. “You haven’t eaten anything right?”

“I eat something at the restaurant before closing.” You told him.

“You sure you don’t want to do anything? We have plenty of food.”

“No it’s okay, I would like to go to sleep.”

Corazon nodded and showed you the bedroom where you were going to spend the night, he also gave you some old clothes that he had so you could sleep with. When he left, you changed and went to sleep. You woke up hours later, you knew it only had passed a few hours because it was still dark outside but you really needed to drink some water, so you went for a drink. Not expecting to find anyone you walk to the kitchen but there he was Law, reading a book in the middle of the night in the kitchen.

“Hi…” You whispered, not wanting to disturb Corazon who was probably sleeping.

You didn’t get a response, but you knew he heard you because he looked at you. Why was he like that?

“Isn't it too late to be reading?” You asked him while drinking the water.

“You ask a lot of questions you know?”

“And you don’t respond to any of them.”

He stayed quiet, reading and passing the pages of the book he was reading.

“Are you always this rude? I’m trying to be nice and…”

“I don’t want you to be nice or be your friend.” He closed the book and stood up.

“You…” But before even speaking he left the kitchen and disappeared in the darkness of the hallway.

You tried to be positive, that he was just probably tired and that’s why he had that attitude towards you, after all you were a new face, who appeared out of nowhere and was staying the night at his house. You would speak again with him in the morning to fix everything and start all over.

“Be positive y/n.” You told yourself before falling asleep in the bed.

————-

And that’s it for the first chapter, please let me know your opinion on it 🫶

See ya ❤️

[wangmiao]

im a honky ass white girl who's never watched any chinese cinema before apart from some wong kar-wai films - and I had never seen any chinese television! - but im superrrr into sci-fi, so that's how i ended up reading three-body. only found out about the tencent adaptation / cdrama last week!! I started watching it with engsubs just out of curiosity... it's soooo much better than the netflix adaptation wtf. like it's not even close!!! the respect for source material and the fact the cdrama actually improves on the book by fleshing out the characters more?? im losing my mind. netflix could never.

anyway. please keep up the great content, we must let the world know ✊✊✊ sorry for my strange message out of the blue.

(shiwang 5eva btw. but I only speak/read english so cannot read any of the fics... crying myself to sleep at night.)

hello friend! thank you so much for sending in this ask! i'm so glad that people who are not familiar with cdramas can still enjoy tencent's three-body <3! and you are so right about the characters in this adaptation even liu cixin himself thought so:

so if you already like wang miao from the novel, you have to try this tv adaptation!!! every other main character is well rounded too. and the decision to add a lot more to the relationship development between shi qiang and wang miao is a wise choice as well (shiwang 5ever indeed!!!). it is something that is not very focused on in the novel, but it totally makes sense, and it's a lot better than adding any other types of relationship to other characters.

also thank you for liking my content and the encouragement! i'll try my best. sometimes it's really hard for me to deal with a tiny fandom xD, and i'd take breaks before i'm mentally strong enough to post again, but i'm glad to see that some old fans are active again and we are getting new fans! i really hope that more international viewers will get into this show, and maybe there'd be more english shiwang fanfics.

and i'd like to use the chance to clarify to new fellow fans that i do post about other cdrama (occasionally kdrama) stuff even though a large portion will still be zhang luyi and yu hewei (shiwang's actors) related. if you are only here for three-body, it is very understandable. you can follow my three-body post archive @shiqiangs instead, or use the directory/tag list to look for old three-body posts yourself.

[nalyra-dreaming]

Hello Nalyra!!! I love your blog, and generally I avoid getting into fandom discussions, but I'm so sad about this attack against you and virginia, and other blogs.

I've only been in the fandom for a short time, thanks to the movie, and I've been waiting for the series since the announcement on Hulu. I read the book before the show started and I'm still reading the others. And everyone in the book fandom has been so kind and nice, answering all the questions in so much detail and insights. You guys are gems, and this fandom has been around for so long, it's so disrespectful for new fans to want to attack you for what? for liking the books?

the constant attack on people who like the film is already very annoying, and now they're attacking old fans too?? They have been doing this on Twitter for a long time already and now they came here. I've avoided the show's fandom since then, I just following you and Virginia who are very sweet with the asks and everthing.

And ship war in this fandom? They're ruining polycule srsly, and as a person of color, if I say i don't like loumand, they will call me racist ??? And all this hatred of Lestat doesn't make any sense...

So what I want really to say is: thank you for all of you for being amazing part of this fandom, and for all the contributions you have already made, you and other blogs who are so dedicated to theses books and characters, It's so special and inspiring ♥️🫂

please don't go anywhere, you are amazing!

Not going anywhere. Thank you, lots, honestly 💕

[murfeelee]

IWTV 2022 INSP - EP5: A Vile Hunger for Your Hammering Heart Pt2 

Claudia: “Daddy Lou...” Louis: *hugs* “Thank you.” *cries* Lestat: “The prodigal daughter.... Quick stop home to do laundry before you f**k off for good.” Claudia: “A quick stop to pick up Louis.” Louis: .... Lestat: ??? Lou. Claudia (mentally): [[Come with me, Louis!]] Louis: .... Lestat: “Louis?” Claudia (mentally): [[His love is a small box he keeps you in. Don't stay in it!]] Lestat: “LOUIS! A thousand nights of sulking, and at the first sight of her, you are just gonna up and leave me?!“ Claudia: “Please, come with me! Let's meet vampires WORTHY of your love!” Lestat: “AAH!” *attacks Claudia* Louis: “Get the f**k off her!” *attacks Lestat*

-- Interview with the Vampire (AMC 2022, S01E05)

MY THOUGHTS & CC CREDITS

MY THOUGHTS RANT ALERT (rabid AF & VERY lengthy venting about Lestat’s trash decision skills, and Loustat’s toxic sludge of a relationship jfc)

This episode, man.

If you know the IWTV book and the movie, you already know Lestat & Claudia end up literally at each other’s throats, and cross the point of no return as mortal enemies, basically.

But the film’s all wrapped up in Lestat being a sadistic cavalier sarcastic little pissant; and Claudia being a ruthless 10-year old immortal killing machine; and Louis being a masochistic indecisive shell stuck with Lestat through circumstance (not love, no homo!), and Claudia through responsibility (and pedophilic???? love).

The magic of the AMC version is that they’re working in 2022, not the 70s (book) or 90s (film), so they have the luxury to explore what it'd be like for an Alternate Universe Louis and Lestat to really BE together, and raise Claudia

--and how everything inevitably went dead wrong:

Lestat making Claudia was never the mistake. Lestat making LOUIS was.

Seeing the way AMC did everything was so dang good/awful. With Louis & Lestat, theirs was a too-brief whirlwind romance between monsters; a married couple blindly raising a kid together in the midst of carnage and trauma--because they’re vampires, sucking the life out of everyone and everything around them.

They won’t communicate, can’t relate to each other, and don’t really even know each other. Despite Lestat’s false 1st impression of Louis strutting around like a tough guy with that cane-sword, Louis was not a violent man, and Louis HATED being a vampire. That made being with a bloodthirsty hedonist like Lestat next to impossible, no matter how much they loved each other. Especially once Louis started eating animals instead of people, and his diet disgusted Lestat, just as Lestat’s diet disgusted Louis.

Unlike Louis, Claudia took to killing like a bat straight outta Hell (and nearly got them all busted by the COPS because of it). But Lestat & Claudia couldn’t STAND one another by the end. They really were father and daughter in all the worst ways possible.

Violent manipulative control freaks, they both loved Louis deeply, and both wanted him to choose one of them over the other, while doing everything they could to make sure that they couldn’t coexist peacefully in the same space.

IMO, this show’s all about Maker/Fledgling and parent/child bonds. Lestat & Louis love each other romantically, and Louis & Claudia love each other in the familial way. So there are deep emotional bonds. But Lestat made Louis & Claudia vampires, so even though they have a permanent magical bond as Maker and Fledgling, Lestat can't read their minds. But as “sibling” vampires, Claudia and her Daddy Lou CAN speak mentally to each other. So they can understand & know & relate to each other better and on a way deeper level than Lestat ever could with either one of them, even though he made them. 

And I agree with the fandom that yeah, Louis 100% liked it that way. When people have kids to “save” the marriage, the baby is a band-aid as much as it is a comfort object, a new emotional bond between parent and child to give them the love they felt they were missing from their spouse. In EP4 Louis told Lestat “’Happy?’ We were never happy!“ He was going to LEAVE Lestat in EP3, before stumbling across Claudia and going back to him. Louis just wanted someone he could TALK to--a new Paul, a new Miss Lily, a new Grace. (Ultimately: DANIEL MALLOY interviewing him--Louis needs SO MUCH therapy jfc.) Lestat made Louis selfishly, for himself (and did a pisspoor job learning about Louis beforehand or educating him in vampirism). And Louis selfishly wanted someone for himself, too--particularly once Lestat made it clear he wasn’t gonna be monogamous & started cheating. Claudia wasn’t made out of love, she was made out of selfishness, spite & panic.

All this made the AWFUL communication between Lestat, Louis & Claudia  doomed from the start, as Lestat was immediately left out of his own family--again (his worst nightmare)--all while not realizing/accepting that Louis & Claudia’s father/daughter bond wasn't a threat to the romantic bond he had with Louis.

All of Lestat’s efforts to get closer to Louis (than Claudia) became WAY too heavy-handed--as if stalking & terrorizing Louis in EP1 into being with him wasn’t bad enough. >_> And that’s on top of Lestat’s self-destructive contradictory behavior constantly cheating on Louis to try and rile his jealousy. Which was FUTILE, since all Lestat’s cheating did was push Louis deeper into depression and further away from him--straight to Claudia; the one bond Louis felt he had left!

And then Episode 5 happened, and Lestat REALLY effed up.

Like, we know Lestat’s whipped, Louis’ IT for him, but obviously there was a part of him that really did hate Louis--enough for him to beat him like that. But if it was that bad, why not just LEAVE???? Lestat had all the power & resources--let Claudia & Louis go, and find yourself someone you’re more compatible with, ffs! The swamp/dump is calling, sir! 🤡 

But because Loustat are endgame in the books, I cannot WAIT to see how AMC handles Lestat’s redemption arc, both as the (anti-)hero of the Vampire Chronicles, and how both Lestat AND Louis figure out how to grow the eff up and MATURE enough to be worthy of EACH OTHER by the end of the story.

IMO, Loustat are soulmates who met at the wrong time. Not exactly star-crossed lovers, but they definitely went in too deep way too soon. In the books, Lestat hadn’t gone through his growing pains when he met Louis--he’d only been a vampire for like a decade, and careened from one tragedy to the next, not knowing ANYTHING about vampirism to help teach Louis or Claudia anything either. While here on the show, it’s Louis who suffers loss after loss after loss, and is given ZERO time or opportunity to process any of his trauma before he’s made a vampire, married, and a parent in quick succession. (And the books go even further, with everything that happens to him in Merrick and the Prince Lestat trilogy.)

And here, Lestat’s a ~200 year old EXPERT in vampirism, who is DELIBERATELY withholding information and keeping secrets from them, because AMC’s Lestat ALREADY KNOWS about Armand and AKASHA and Marius, but like a MORON he doesn’t TALK TO LOUIS about it (because Marius told Lestat NOT to). So they (especially Claudia) KNOW Lestat’s LYING, and think he’s keeping them with him seemingly as their hateful & controlling JAILER/SLAVE MASTER, rather than their loving & paranoid protector. CLOWN BEHAVIOR, Lestat! 🤡

And that’s not even saying anything yet about the LOADED significance of Loustat’s interracial homosexual relationship, with Lestat’s “non-discriminating” pansexualism and stubborn “color-blindness” and racism doesn’t exist in Europe attitude like WTF DRUGS ARE YOU EVEN ON SIR as if the FRENCH didn’t colonize the West Indies and Africa and NEW ORLEANS as some of THE most racist Europeans ever GTFOH. And Louis’ Catholic Guilt and internalized-homophobia and struggles being black during Jim Crow and whatever Frenchophile-blinders he had on to excuse Lestat as a “safe” white man he could be with, when the man’s a whole vampire LITERALLY hunting you, good GOD have mercy on this baby lamb against the WOLF KILLER Lestat. And Claudia calling Lestat on his crap EVERY TIME, knowing he was keeping secrets and constantly interrogating him, following him and spying on him as he cheated on Louis, calling him “Massa,” I CANNOT. 👑

I love this show, AMC’s a genius. This one episode encapsulates SO many different issues and aspects of these characters, it’s wild. IMO, some of the fandom needs to calm down about EP5 and Lestat’s “character assassination.” YES, Lestat’s the villain on the show. He’s the villain in the movie, too, lest we forget! That's why Lestat spends the next like DOZEN books in the Vampire Chronicles trying to clear his name, getting the reader to see things from HIS perspective, after Louis ROASTED him for filth and made Lestat look so dang bad in THE interview that started it all.

I love bashing on Lestat, because that’s the whole POINT of IWTV--it’s Louis still mad as all hell at his ex 100 years later, venting to Daniel about his TRAUMA and hurt. You’re SUPPOSED to be mad at Lestat, and be on Louis’ side as he goes off on him in the interview, feeling just as hurt and betrayed as he did, because you too LIKE--love--Lestat, and were just as seduced and blindsided as Louis was.

Other than IWTV and Merrick, the Vampire Chronicles are NOT Louis’ story, they’re Lestat’s, a narcissistic egomaniacal lovable a-hole, and the books do the heavy lifting of letting you slowly get to know him, as he admits to his flaws and mistakes and finally REDEEMS himself--in both the reader’s eyes--AND LOUIS’.

IMO, AMC is really hammering it home how THE BOOKS are Lestat’s long AF apology letter to Louis, for letting him down.

Chile, lemme calm myself down and get back to playing the Sims.

____________________________________________

CC CREDITS (WIPs)

- Louis sweater by EA

- Claudia overalls by Momo, jacket ACC by M1ssduo, shirt by EA

- Lestat shirt & pants in gamma by me (they’re all kinds of effed up, trust me)

- Poses X X (there were an effton more; I IDER some of them, sorry)

- A bunch of poses by @danjaley​ as usual LOL X X X

- Vampire attack poses by Sea (Direct DL)

- One falling pose was definitely by ahiruchanet, but I can’t find a post or link yet

[veronicaleighauthor]

Sense & Sensibility 2024 Review

It is a truth universally acknowledge that if a new Jane Austen adaptation is released, I must watch it. ::sighs:: I’m way behind on reviewing Hallmark’s new adaptation of Sense and Sensibility, but in my defense, I was only able to watch a couple of weeks ago. It aired on the Hallmark Channel back in February; I don’t have cable so I had to find a place online to watch it. Special thanks to the kind soul who let me know where I could find it. If you’d like to see it, go here.

Now, onto my unorganized review.

We’re all familiar with the story: It is a tale of two sisters who dearly love each other, but couldn’t be more different if they tried. At first, they are unlucky in love and then later do make good matches for themselves. For me the love story is really between the sisters, that whatever may happened to them in life and in romance, in the end Elinore and Marianne only have each other.

Before I give my thoughts on this adaptation, let’s address the main complaint I’ve encountered regarding this version. Some viewers have criticized this movie for being Woke, because it dared to cast people of color in it. For Pete’s sake, it’s 2024! History has been white washed. People of color did exist in the Georgian and Regency eras, they moved in society, they fell in love and made matches. If you don’t want to watch this adaptation, fine, but please don’t insult it simply because the cast and crew are people of color.

What did I think? In general, I enjoyed it. I’m not a fan of Hallmark Productions, unless they’re Hallmark Hall of Fame movies. The usual Hallmark movies follow the same tired out formula. Now, since this is an adaptation of a classic, it doesn’t follow their formula and we do have a decent movie. The film quality was a step up, as were the locations, and the set design. I hope Hallmark considers adapting more classics, since this one was a win. I do have a few criticisms.

The movie hit all of the book’s highlights but things felt rushed at times. I wanted at least another hour for this adaptation, to spend more time in the Dashwood’s world.

In certain places it lacks in emotional range, contrasting the two sisters, showing the gravity of Marianne’s illness. Again, I think that is due to time constraints. If the movie were longer, it would have been able to flesh out everything.

It does rely heavily on Emma Thompson’s adaptation. Example: The character of Margaret is bigger and has been made into a tomboy, Lady Middleton is killed off, Sir John Middleton and Mrs. Jennings are especially close.  

When the Dashwood ladies move into Barton Cottage, we don’t feel the impact of them stepping down in society, or living in genteel poverty. They talk of their financial troubles, but it doesn’t seem real because Barton Cottage looks more like a mansion than a cottage. They looked like they just moved from one mansion to another.

Now, onto what I liked.

The age-appropriate actresses and actors. They may have been a little older than the characters they were portraying, but it wasn’t too drastic. We can tell Elinor and Marianne are both young and full of dreams, and they’re ready to fall in love. The one who plays Margaret is obviously their baby sister, but they don’t feel so much older for it to be impossible for them to be sisters.

No smutty opening scene of seducing 13-year-old Eliza Williams. The 2008 version opens with Willougby seducing a girl in the tackiest, most uncomfortable manner possible. It gives away the whole mystery of Willoughby, so when we heard about it later, it wasn’t a surprise. This version remains classy, respectful, family-friendly and follows Austen’s example by keeping it off-screen.

I’m not a costume expert or anything, but the costumes are crazy gorgeous. It gives the whole production a fairy-tale feel.

The actor who plays Sir John Middleton is hilarious. I was cracking up whenever he was on screen. And unlike previous versions, Mrs. Jennings isn’t plump or crude. Though she teases and gossips, she’s rather charming.

The Steele sisters are like they are in the book, but the one who plays Lucy took her manipulation tactics to another level. Kudos to her – you could tell in this adaptation that Lucy really enjoyed causing Elinor pain.

I really liked Edward in this version and he is always a hard character for me to like. You can see why Elinor falls in love with him.

Robert Ferrars is cute and a great coxcomb, just like his book counterpart. And I appreciated the hints o his and Lucy’s eventual attachment/marriage.

The age gap between Marianne and Brandon doesn’t feel awkward or uncomfortable, like it did in the 2008 version. You can slowly see Marianne falling in love with him; her changing her feelings towards him doesn’t feel that abrupt.

Mr. and Mrs. Palmer aren’t in this adaption, which was an interesting choice. But the way this adaptation was set up, they weren’t really needed.

Last but not least, the mention of historical figures! When Marianne and Willoughby discuss poetry, they mention reading Phyllis Wheatley. We often forget that Phyllis Wheatley was of that era, and the characters could have read her poetry. Also – the portraits of Dido Belle Lindsay and Olaudah Equiano are featured in the background in a couple of scenes.

So, yes, I recommend this version for any Austen lover and as I said, I hope Hallmark considers making more classic lit adaptations.

Have you watched Hallmark’s “Sense and Sensibility?” If so, what were your thoughts?

Until next time!

[bakedbakermom]

Thanks for the tag @thatfragilecapricorn30!

Fannish Year Review - 2023

1. Your main fandom of the year: The X-Files. The first, the greatest, the best. My one in five billion.

2. Your favorite film this year: Yikes I did not watch many movies this year. I did go see Barbie twice (and I'll probably watch it again this week!). I can't remember watching anything else that had an impact on me.

3. Your favorite book this year: I started reading the Discworld series and it's FANTASTIC but probably my favorite individual book this year was This Is How You Lose the Time War by Amal el-Mohtar and Max Gladstone.

4. Your favorite album or song this year: Hozier's Unreal Unearth. It's the only new album I got into, though I did rediscover some old favorites.

5. Your favorite tv shows this year: A Murder at the End of the World has me HOOKED.

6. Your favorite tumblr community this year: Wait there's communities outside the XF Fandom?

7. Your best new fandom discovery of the year: see above lol

8. Your biggest fandom disappointment of the year: Like 4 people read Stained. That fic has been brewing in my skull for over 20 years and I finally got it right after so much struggle and it just... didn't resonate. I get it, but I'm still kinda bummed about it.

9. Your tv/movie boyfriend and/or girlfriend of the year: I would like to be in a throuple with Mulder and Scully please.

10. Your biggest squeeze moment of the year: Absolutely LOVED the way the fandom rallied with fics, gifs, art, and personal stories for the XF 30th Anniversary. This fandom is completely amazing and I love all of you for still being the same flavor of insane that we've all been since the early days of the internet. X-Philes forever!

tagging uhhhhhhh shit i'm bad at this who is everyone uhhhhhhh @ragnarockz @perpetually-weirdening @trans-gale (you change your username so much i can never find you!) @cutemothman @storybycorey @danascullysjournal (you too with the usernames young lady)

[pinkiepiebones]

Dear Zombie, we meet again. (I'm trying out new catch phrases, but it is still I, your old friend, Robbie) I am still recovering from the flood of feelings the Little Bit story caused, but I would hate to leave my friend in need. On a tangentially related note, have you read Junji Ito's The Spiral (a.k.a. Uzumaki)? Upon reading it, I would not recommend spiraling to anyone. Don't do it!

To the prompt: Would you please tell the world about that time I got Dracula to watch a "Dracula" adaptation? Your friend, always, Robbie

You try out as many catch phrases on me as you want, bud. And I'm sorry the story made emotions happen, but, like- she loved you, man. And you loved her! If you didn't you wouldn't have placed her somewhere you knew she'd be safe and happy and spoiled. You're a good person. Little Bit had a wonderful life thanks to you. ❤️

I read Uzumaki a long time ago. Heh, didn't take you for a manga guy- a horror manga guy at that (though I guess after Dracula, most horror would be... not so bad?). Really I know I should go give it a reread someday but I keep thinking of the last Ito story I saw, all I remember from it was this gross guy who's face was like one giant zit UGH I feel my skin crawl just thinking about it!! Can't deal, won't deal.

... Oh, the movies! Yes yes.

The legend of Dracula inspired imaginations throughout the decades. Films, books, television series, even video games, all existed simply because of the allure, the gothic romance of Count Dracula.

Renfield scoffs as he eavesdrops on some young men discussing something called Castlevania. As if a whip could do anything to Master...

Dracula never spoke much of his storied past, nor did his doting familiar Renfield ever ask. Sometimes, usually after he had fed on a few drunk sorority or fraternity kids, Dracula would sometimes stare contemplatively into the fireplace and mutter about someone named "Bram." Renfield never asked. It wasn't his place to ask.

Renfield picks up a video cassette as he stalks the woman in the rental store. He starts to pretend to read the cover but then actually reads it because it sounds too preposterous to be real- "'The Satanic Rites of Dracula'?" he asks aloud. The woman he's stalking looks over at him. "Oh, that's a sequel, if you can believe it" she says.

The turn of the century was a thrilling thing to Renfield. He was born close enough to 1900 that the change over from the 1800s was not in even his earliest memories. But this- 2000! He wanted to celebrate, somehow. People were buying supplies and he kept hearing something about a virus and why two kay. All that mattered was food for master, and, maybe, just maybe, he could take Master to a theatre to show him a film. Maybe if Master eats really well...

Renfield frowns at the bookstore display. VAMPIRE ROMANCE is written in sparkling letters on a posterboard situated atop a shelf on wheels at the store's entrance. A young woman shoves past him to pull one off the shelf. "Oh, I want a vampire boyfriend so bad" she sighs. Renfield makes a choking noise as she walks away; he's not sure if he's trying to laugh at her or at himself.

At the height of his power, Master was known to have a disposition that was downright cheery. Renfield had shyly showed him the newspaper advert for the film, and the title alone piqued the vampire's interest.

"Dracula 2000." Dracula folded the newspaper and Renfiled flinched, anticipating the paper either being thrown at him or rolled up and used to hit him, but Dracula does neither; he sets the paper on the arm of the plush armchair he's claimed as his and says "well, how does one go about purchasing theatre tickets in this day and age?" Renfield was giddy with delight.

Renfield glances at the poster gracing the wall of the victim's bedroom. Dracula 3D. Renfield chuckles as he ties the unconscious man's arms. "I suppose that's fate, or something," he says to himself.

It was Christmas Eve and Renfield sat right beside Master in the middle of the auditorium. Master had 'convinced' the ticket taker that no no, we don't need tickets, thank you so much darling. We! Renfield dared to think about the early days when Master wined and dined him, seduced him... held his hand and touched him and bit him and pulled him down into bed and...

Dracula 2000 was fucking awful. A descendant of Van Helsing owned an antique store built where Carfax Abbey had once stood. A group of thieves broke in and found the coffin, Dracula's coffin, inside an underground vault. Some of the thieves died and the remainder decide the coffin must be valuable so they nick it and head to New Orleans but Dracula woke up and killed everyone, causing the thief's plane to crash in a swamp. Dracula then wandered the modern world a bit, and a record store was featured quite prominently. Somewhere in the nonsensical story they proclaim Dracula was Judas Iscariot, and this was given as reason for Dracula's hatred of symbols of Christianity. And Dracula died shortly after freeing the leading lady from the curse of vampirism. The movie was atrocious, with an agonising rock and roll soundtrack and nonsensical action sequences. Renfield felt sick when the credits started rolling because he knew Master would take out his aggression on him. Perhaps Master would pull all his teeth out by hand? He hadn't done that one in a decade or so.

"That-" Dracula growled. He couldn't finish his thought. He threw his head back and- and laughed! He laughed, loud and genuine, and Renfield chuckled nervously along with him.

"That was absurd!" Dracula said, giggling. "An utter farce. It was- oh, what's the phrase, Renfield? 'So bad it's good'?"

"Um, yes, I think that's it, Master."

Dracula was smiling and staring at the credits as they continued to roll. "I didn't catch the name of the actor who-" He chuckled- "so valiantly attempted to portray me."

Renfield glanced up, pretending to see the name (he had committed it to memory in case Master wanted to find the actor and kill him). "Gerard Butler?"

The vampire clucked his tongue. "They could have chosen someone more in line with my good looks." He stroked his chin. "What was the movie we saw on television a few years back, when we were staying at that hotel?"

Renfield's eyes were big. He never imagined that Master would care to remember little things. "Um, I think it was Face/Off?"

Dracula grinned. "Yes. I think the actor in that one would play a good 'me.'" He turned to look at Renfield. "What do you think?"

"D-do you mean Jon Travolta or Nicolas Cage?"

The count frowned and turned his attention back to the winding down credits. "Surely you should be able to tell," he sighed.

Robert is perusing an estate sale with Rebecca. Ideally, he's hoping to find a tableware set more in line with his, what Rebecca calls 'retro kitsch' aesthetic. He opens a box and sees a pile of DVDs and video cassettes. One is labelled "Dracula 2000."

"I'll take a dollar for that whole box," the man running the sale says. Robert carefully closes the box.

"Ah, no thanks."

[l13bg0tt]

Hello my dear! 2, 5, 12, 14, 18, and 23 for the End of the Year ask game please 😊💚

Hiii!! Thank you for asking ☺️ this took forever because I got roped into watching a very long movie (it’s still going my dad is glaring at me rn for being on my phone)

2: album of the year?

Ok Computer by Radiohead lol I’ve been in my alt rock phase this whole year

5: TV show of the year?

Huge tie between The Last of Us and Band of Brothers!! TLOU was filmed in my province and city a bit so seeing familiar places was so fun

12: Talk about a new friend you made this year

Oh boy if I actually start I won’t shut up. I will say I made many lovely friends in my program (since I started going to classes FINALLY in my 4th year) and have met many lovely people on here, but in particular I have become beautifully close online with Lena (aka Sam/ @liptonwashere ). She is not only actually the nicest person I have ever encountered but she is amazingly talented!!, selfless, humble, beautiful, etc., please I could actually go on forever. For fear of sounding like a WEIRDO I will leave it there 🫶🏻 she has been one of the greatest parts of my year.

14: Favourite book you read this year?

With the Old Breed: At Peleliu and Okinawa by Eugene Sledge!!

18: A memorable meal this year?

A dinner I got with my really close friend (roommate 1-3rd yrs of uni) earlier on this semester after a long study day. Was at a pub next to my apartment… we had such a good time and reminisced on so many insane memories from earlier years!

23: if you could send a message to yourself on the first day of the year, what would it be?

To be brave in talking to the “cool” / intimidating kids in my program right at the beginning of the semester!! They end up liking you! (Just don’t bring up politics 👍🏻) also go volunteer with the pigs RIGHt now

[orionsangel86]

Tag Game

Thanks @tickldpnk8 for tagging me! Please do post your Sandman watercolours I really wanna see them!

Currently Reading

Does Dreamling fanfiction count? Lol! I prob get through at least a two fanfictions a week as I like to read them on the commute to work when I go into the office.

Other than that, I am listening to The Sandman Act III on Audible and have just started getting through the Worlds End chapters.

I am also rereading Pride and Prejudice since I rediscovered my old copy when I went to visit my mum and felt like reading it again.

Favourite Colour

I like all mixes of green and blue. Teal, turquoise, cerulean, aqua, cyan, etc. You get the idea.

Last Song

*checks Spotify*

Well apparently it was the theme from Howls Moving Castle. Lol! But this is because I listen to an instrumentals playlist when I'm working (my Spotify wrapped each year is always skewed because Spotify thinks I'm a snob who only likes classical music and film soundtracks lol). The last song with lyrics was Francesca by Hozier because I finally got the chance to listen to his new single last night. Its good. A bit sombre for my liking, but its def worth a listen.

Last Movie

Ever After. An all time favourite. I fancied something romantic and gorgeous. Modern movies and adaptations have nothing on this.

Sweet/Spicy/Savoury

I'm not a fan of spice. But sweet or savoury depends on what I'm in the mood for.

Currently Working On

Well I have a Dreamling meta analysis which is currently sitting in my drafts in 6 parts which will be 8 parts in total breaking down all of the subtext, tropes, coding, and changes from the comics/audible book in the Men of Good Fortune scenes in episode 6 of the Sandman show which made Dreamling such a hugely popular thing in fandom.

I have no clue if anyone will even be interested in reading it, but its certainly got me thinking about intentions and interpretations and how we as fans view our fave media differently to a wider audience and whether that has any effect or even influence on creators in the industry, especially post the fallout of SPN, Destiel, and all the queerbaiting controversy of past decades that shows like OFMD have stomped all over. But I digress. I also have big plans for a Dreamling fanfiction that is partially written but whether I will ever finish and post it remains to be seen. Sometimes I write for theraputic reasons without intention of sharing it.

Tag 5 mutuals you want to get to know

Seriously no pressure to do this. Feel free to ignore.

@so-i-grudgingly-joined-this-site @academicblorbo @just-cosmere-fan @duckland @altair214

[not-poignant]

hello pia! feel free to delete this if it’s too personal but i’d love to hear about your degree, what you learned from it, and how you think it has informed the way you write (whether it has or hasn’t!). i’m studying for a different degree, still humanities, but i’d love to hear about your degree since i.. well when i was in hs i didn’t know that it was an option. also if the above is too personal, please recommend some texts to learn abt mass comms .. thank you!

Hi anon,

I did my degree/s (Media Studies + Mass Communications majors, Scriptwriting (Drama, Film, Short Film) + Creative Writing (Poetry, Short Story, Literature, SFF) minors) back in 1999, so honestly, some of the information I learned then is out of date, and you're definitely better off looking at a university curriculum now for decent texts on mass communications. Even the Masters I did over 10 years ago, lol. I am an old.

You have to understand when I was in university for Mass Comm, the internet as we know it, and social media, literally didn't exist. And though 'Rupert Murdoch still owns a ton of Telcos' is still true, things like Wikipedia didn't exist, lol. The 'please don't use Wikipedia as a reference' didn't exist as a sentence, because Wikipedia just...didn't exist.

The media landscape has changed.

I've kept up with aspects of media studies that interest me (representations of mental health in the media, for example), but since the university texts still often cost hundreds of dollars, I can't get a ton of them every year and read them. You might be surprised what you can find in university bookstores in the clearance section, because books aren't in the curriculum anymore but are still likely to be 15 years more up-to-date than what I was taught with, lol.

I don't really know how to answer your specific questions though. There were a lot of different units within the degree, so I learned a lot from it, I don't know how to condense that down.

Probably the most important things I took with me are that media (fiction) does not have a 1:1 correlation with reality, and that we are not all mindless vessels with an inability to negotiate the media we watch (otherwise we'd buy everything in advertising ever), people who believe 'high art' is better than 'low art' are elitist ignorant dicks who don't actually understand art at all (if you've ever disparaged reality TV or soap operas, you are in this category, with soap operas giving you a side order of heavy misogyny to boot), media literacy is crucial and needs to be taught and prioritised on par (if not higher than) english fiction literacy (kids engage in more media than books, they should have more media literacy than book literacy), and that it's always important to know the politics and values of the people who own the news media you're watching (and that almost all news media is homogenised).

The biggest gift it gave me was to entirely remove my shame over watching or consuming any kind of media. I don't know what a guilty pleasure is, because guilty pleasures are a sign that you have some more work to do on unpacking your issues (often internalised misogyny believe it or not) over watching certain shows or listening to certain music etc. and finding joy in it. I feel NO shame in anything I watch, rewatch, love, get the most out of. Anon, I have done assignments on Big Brother and gotten high distinction/s for it. I've watched Misfits and gotten high distinction/s for it. I'm in the Golden Key Society because I watched a lot of Studio Ghibli and a lot of romcoms. Media studies does what creative writing doesn't - unpacks all your shame over enjoying different genres (sadly creative writing teaches a lot of that shame and can genre shame as well, it's extraordinarily outdated in many curriculums in that way).

It is so liberating to just watch whatever the fuck I want, and listen to whatever music I want, and not give a shit whoever knows I watch or listen to it. Like, I just... literally who cares. It's all art. It all means something and then I get to choose its further meaning. I get to decide what media I won't consume and why (usually around the politics and actions of the creator/s or actor/s, JKR can go to hell, or just not liking the show - I also feel no shame not liking things that everyone else likes), but it's never a choice based in shame or guilt. It is...truly, such a wonderful feeling when you realise there's literally no reason on this earth to have a guilty pleasure if you can think for yourself and understand why you've been conditioned to feel 'ashamed' for watching certain genres (surprise, it's usually racism or xenophobia or misogyny!)

Like, I did a unit called Psychology, Psychoanalysis and Cinema (Psych Psych and Cinema as we called it), which was a tremendous amount of fun and let me know that psychology is literally in everything but that representations of psychology in literally everything tends to be not great lmao. I did a unit called Postmodern Wetlands which literally analysed the relationship between swamp representation in mass media (particular horror films as relating to the monstrous feminine) and what that means for environmentalism which changed my entire relationship to my body and the environment permanently. Idk how to describe that unit to anyone who hasn't taken it, but it was literally life-changing, lol.

It definitely influences my writing style, partly because I write serials based off of like... scriptwriting techniques I was taught for television drama back then. In terms of how media studies influences it - well mass communications probably not so much, and then media studies a whole lot, lol. (Mass Comm =/= Media Studies. One focuses on telecommunications/telcos/ISP providers/internet cables even, politics and the vehicles with which we spread mass media, the second one focuses more on the analysis of the products/works/pieces of art that end up on that mass media. One is a lot more discussion of 'which television stations do China / Fairfax / Murdoch own' or 'how are those internet sea cables going and how's the terrorism around that?' vs. 'what messages does the TV on each of these stations send').

But media studies influences my writing a ton, but I couldn't tell you how anon, aside from those two units I specifically mention above lol. Oh and the fact that we had to take a mandatory philosophy unit called Critical Thinking, which should be mandatory for every degree. That definitely taught me how to think critically, which...a lot of people don't know how to do! I probably couldn't even tell you the rest of how it influenced me, if you asked me 2 decades ago when I was actively studying it. I'd like to think it just makes me a more nuanced writer, and absolutely Teflon when it comes to fanpol / antis / anti-shippers, lol. But who knows!

I still think looking at current university curriculums for Media Studies (also known as Media Analysis in some other countries) is probably the best place to find recs. But you can also check out the books on media in my Goodreads list and go by star rating.