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dramatisperscnae · 2 years ago

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Headcanon - Loki

Physical

Loki stands at 6'4" tall and weighs about 525 lbs, though to look at him he might weigh in at around 190.

He has almost a dancer's or martial artist's build, long and lithe, athletic and well-defined.

Though Loki is, by human terms, perhaps a couple thousand years old, to Asgardians he is the equivalent of 21, still a youth barely out of childhood.

He carries himself properly at all times, his posture straight-backed and regal as befits a Prince of Asgard.

Loki has a few scars here and there, but the most prominent by far is the one just below his sternum. It’s jagged and messy and has a matching exit wound just to the left of his spine, a permanent reminder of the events on Svartalfheim.

Personality

Loki's primary sin is pride, with envy coming in a close second. He has a rather high opinion of himself, which likely comes as little surprise to any who know he was raised a prince and told from an early age he was born to be a king.

His temper is mercurial at best, completely unpredictable even by him at worst. There is seldom any telling what will set him off at any given moment, though talk of his past losses or failures seldom fail to anger him at least in part.

Loki is not a man for direct confrontation unless it seems the best way to accomplish his goals. He is more the man who, when faced with a slight either real or imagined, will simply smile and laugh before retiring to his chambers to plot his revenge.

He is an incredibly patient man, generally content to wait until the perfect and opportune moment to make his move, and he does not forget. Favors will be returned, insults avenged, even if he has to wait years to do it.

Loki has no qualms about striking at his opponent's weak points, whatever they may be. It was their fault they left them open. He would say he has no need for mercy, though he has been known to grant it on a whim.

While Loki might glare, rage, or snap at his brother, in truth he does still care deeply for Thor. He just can't bring himself to outright say so, not after everything that's happened.

Loki is what the Midgarders would term demi-pansexual. He does not actually feel sexual attraction to anyone without there first being an emotional connection. That being said, he's also not above using such things to manipulate someone as he sees fit. Plus, flustering the hell out of people can be fun.

Loki's mind never stops working. He is constantly thinking, watching and waiting for the right moment to act. This has the benefit of keeping him at least two or three steps ahead of everyone else, though his arrogance is generally his downfall with most of his schemes.

He does not lie unless he can at all avoid it. Half- and partial truths serve his purposes much better. After all, it's not his fault if someone misinterprets something he said, is it?

Loki's time with the Chitauri has left him more scarred than even he realizes. His temper is far more unpredictable than it once was, and he finds himself acting in anger more often than was his wont. It has also left him with nightmares and the occasional flashback, both of what was done to him between his fall from the Bifrost and gaining the Scepter and of what occurred during his assault on Midgard and the events of Manhattan.

Abilities

Loki's body is far denser than a human's, which contributes to his surprising weight. This also contributes to his superhuman strength which, while not quite a match for Thor, is still quite substantial. It is not beyond his ability to lift upwards of 50 tons or even destroy a decently-sized building with a single punch.

As with most Asgardians, Loki is incredibly durable. He is by no means invincible, but it does take a concerted effort to injure him to any great extent.

He also possesses a regenerative factor that speeds his healing to at least twice or three times that of an average human. His skills with magic can and do occasionally boost that.

Thanks to his Jotun birthright, Loki possesses incredible stamina, able to push himself to his full limits for 24 hours before tiring.

Loki's magic is quite substantial and far exceeds mere illusions and trickery. He is telekinetic, able to move objects - and occasionally people - with his mind, as well as able to produce powerful beams of force or highly durable forcefields, bestow superhuman attributes to living beings or inanimate objects, or teleport himself or others across dimensions. He can also bring inanimate objects to life, or mystically imbue objects or beings with specific but temporary powers. These magical effects remain only for as long as he maintains the spell that created them. Even so, some that have met him have claimed that his powers could be sufficient to decimate a planet

He has also demonstrated powerful psionic capabilities, the full limits of which aren't known. He has the ability to project his thoughts telepathically across great distances as well as potent hypnotic capabilities. He is able to communicate with beings telepathically, though his ability to do so is greater with beings that actually serve him.

And lest we forget, the trickster is also a shapeshifter. He is able to adopt almost any form imaginable whether it be animals, other humanoid beings, or even inanimate objects. Despite this well-known ability of Loki's, he will admit that this is his most soul-draining power, meaning it is more taxing than his other magical abilities. He has become animals - a horse being the most well known, but others including a snake and a bee - gaining the basic natural abilities inherent in each form and, while he can take on the likeness of another god, giant or human, he will not necessarily gain the special physical or mental powers of the being he imitates. Loki can also transform external objects into other forms and substances by magic; for instance, he has turned clouds into dragons and even changed cars into ice cream.

Miscellaneous

Loki still desires to best his brother. Thor is still Asgard's golden boy, and there is a large part of the trickster that wants to prove, once and for all, that he is at least his brother's equal, if not his better.

He is, in fact, a father. Loki is very fond of his son Sleipnir, though he does not see him often; the fact that his child was Odin's personal steed is not a fact he especially wishes known. He has three other children as well, the triplets Jormungandr, Fenrir, and Hela, but he is as yet unaware of their existence. Their mother did not inform him, and the children themselves were hidden away shortly after their birth.

Above all else Loki fears isolation. His fall through the void beneath the Bifrost only compounded the feelings he'd had in his youth, shoved aside and left alone in favor of others. Though he keeps himself apart now out of choice, the thought that such a state of affairs might be permanent still chills him more than he cares to admit.

He also fears failure. At this stage of the game he has lost everything he's held dear. His mother is dead, his brother's trust and faith was shattered, and the only home he's ever known is destroyed. He has seen the price of failure, and fears the consequences of future such instances.

Loki’s birthday - or at least the date he’s always used as such, given he doesn’t know his true birthdate - translates to Midgardian dates as November 1.

Loki’s temperature is a few degrees cooler than the norm either for Asgardians or humans, due to his Jotun nature. It’s not much, but it is easily noticeable if he touches or is touched by anyone. This temperature difference only changes when he’s making a conscious effort, usually at this point for some disguise. It’s also due to his true nature that he’s really not bothered by the cold much and never has been.

#lokicanon #hey look a new muse #well new to this blog but he's been kicking around for years #if anyone recalls a loki blog called storiedmischief #that was me >w>#moving him here to avoid burnout

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iwritenarrativesandstuff · 2 years ago

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Wait. Wait-wait-wait, hold on. Why does Dead Apple comes before Canniballism? I always thought it was after, for some reason; could you maybe explain? *puppy dog eyes* Please?

Yeah of course! I'll try to mark it out as best as I can!

First of all, Dead Apple is positioned between Seasons 2 and 3 on Crunchyroll, which does indicate the rough timeline but I'll also point out some places that make it clear it had to have taken place between the Guild arc and the Cannibalism arc. One thing I want to note is that the manga Cannibalism arc was written before the Dead Apple movie came out, as well as (obviously) before Season 3 was produced. Some of the things I'll mention were added to season 3 after the movie to indicate the timeline.

First and most indicative! Season 3 adds a bit to the confrontation between Dazai and Fyodor in the alleyway (where Dazai is trying to get information and is shortly after shot by the sniper). Dazai appears in the manga wearing Fyodor's hat; however, in the anime, he is both wearing the hat and biting into an apple -> meant to tie back to the movie. It also ties decently with the theme of the conversation revolving around their differing views on the sinfulness of humanity (apple = original sin, etc, etc). Fyodor is also not known to the people in the Agency in Dead Apple, signifying that Cannibalism arc has not yet begun. It's implied that he just arrived in Yokohama recently after having been... elsewhere? We don't know what he was doing between the Dragon's Head Conflict (where he was present in Yokohama, guiding and advising Shibusawa) and the Guild aftermath arc (where he takes the information on the Mafia's abilities from Ace). I suspect Dead Apple occurred before his capture by Ace, as it would be a bit odd to have him be captured by the Mafia, steal a bunch of top-secret records, then cause a huge commotion by releasing a FUCKING DRAGON on the city... and then go into hiding. It'd be a bit of a weird order. It makes a lot more sense that he contributed to the commotion of Dead Apple first, then used the ruckus of the aftermath to seem like a lesser priority - the Special Division cleaned things up but anyone who knew what had happened would likely be more occupied by recent events and not one captured rat-dude lol.

Secondly, Kyouka is still trying to come to terms with her use of Demon Snow. In Cannibalism arc, she seems to have roughly resolved this, wielding the demon with the same amount of control as her assassin techniques. Shortly after the Guild arc, she finds out that Demon Snow is her mother's ability transferred to her, which places Dead Apple as after this revelation, since her mother makes an appearance. Kyouka is conflicted throughout Dead Apple, having trouble reconciling Demon Snow as a tool for killing through which her will was erased, and the last remnant of her mother's wish to protect her even after death.

Finally, season 3 makes a few blink and you'll miss it references to the movie, likely to tie it in better. I can't remember the specifics off the top of my head but yeah. I think Mukurotoride showed up in a brief shot in the Fifteen adaptation?? That doesn't help timeline wise but I think there were other references...

And I think that's about it. It's also good to note that the mafia and agency members who come across each other are less initially hostile, likely because the truce from the Guild arc is still tentatively holding, whereas it kinda collapsed in the Cannibalism arc.

And just for fun! The Dragon's Head Conflict, six years ago, necessarily has to have occurred in this order of events: Stormbringer -> Day I Picked Up Dazai -> Dragon's Head Conflict -> Dark Era. Reasons being: Chuuya can use Corruption (Gate opened in Stormbringer), Dazai knows Oda (Day I Picked Up Dazai), Oda finds a young Sakura in the wreckage (one of the kids he adopted), Dazai became an executive shortly after Shibusawa's organization is wiped out (but not Chuuya apparently? it seems Mori may have a favourite child... lol).

Hope this helped!

#bsd #bsd dead apple #thanks for the ask!#storyrambles

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howwelldoyouknowyourmoon · 4 years ago

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When God Was a Woman

Merlin Stone spent approximately ten years engaged in research of the lesser-known, sometimes hidden depictions of the Sacred Feminine, from European and Middle Eastern societies, in preparation to complete this work. In the book, she describes these archetypal reflections of women as leaders, sacred entities and benevolent matriarchs, and also weaves them into a larger picture of how our modern societies grew to the present imbalanced state. … The book is now seen as having been instrumental in the modern rise of feminist theology in the 1970s to 1980s, along with authors such as Elizabeth Gould Davis, Riane Eisler and Marija Gimbutas. Some have related it as well to the work of authors Margaret Murray and Robert Graves. LINK

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In this 1976 book the sculptor and art historian, Merlin Stone, discusses the history behind the religion(s) of the Goddess. Various religions in the past held that “God” was a female deity, as only females are the creators of life. There is anthropological and archaeological evidence which suggest that the earliest religions were those with a female deity.

She reminds us of Innin, Inanna, Nana, Nut, Anat, Anahita, Istar, Isis, Au Set, Ishara, Asherah, Ashtart, Attoret, Attar and Hathor, amongst others. She takes us on an ambitious journey, travelling from the dawn of the Neolithic, through the Sumerian myths and writing, over to Crete, and then she goes through the Bible with a fine-toothed comb, ferreting out the Goddess is mentioned in its pages.

It wasn’t until Indo-European religions (which eventually developed the Judeo-Christian cultures) came through with their male-dominator culture, that the Goddess was first suppressed. With this suppression of the Goddess came the suppression of women’s rights. This is also demonstrated when we look at the Judeo-Christian (Abrahamic) religions, and we see the subjugation of women (double standards, rape, slavery, etc.).

On top of this, we see women blamed for the fall of man (as in the Old Testament of the Bible), and this is believed to be an artifact of the patriarchal religions’ suppression of the Goddess. The fig tree was a symbol for the Goddess in many areas around the Fertile Crescent, as well as the serpent. If we look at the book of Genesis in the Bible, we can “coincidentally” see these symbols (namely the serpent) as something representing “evil” or “deceit”.

It was “Eve” who ate the fruit first, so not only is the serpent symbol demonized, but also women in general. Ironically, even if we read the fable of Adam and Eve straight out of Genesis, we see that Eve was actually deceived by a trained deceiver (the serpent), where Adam was deceived by his wife (not a trained deceiver). So Adam was coerced into “sin” by someone he trusted that was apparently just ignorant, and Eve was coerced into “sin” by a trained deceiver — yet it is Eve that takes the bulk of the blame? This is further evidence of how ridiculous the fable is, and how there were so many political reasons behind the religions that suppressed women’s rights. Stone does a decent job presenting the evidence and findings and basically summarizing what happened to women as a result of these patriarchal religious shifts.

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Greece was invaded by northern peoples several times. Robert Graves, in his introduction to The Greek Myths, wrote in 1955, “Achaean invasions of the thirteenth century BC seriously weakened the matrilineal tradition… when the Dorians arrived, towards the close of the second millenium, patrilineal succession became the rule.” With these northern people came the worship of the Indo-European Dyaus Pitar, literally God Father, eventually known in Greece as Zeus and later in Rome as Jupiter. This transition period of the change from the worship of the Goddess to the male deity, the change most intensively brought about by the Dorian invasions, was the subject of E. Butterworth’s Some Traces of the Pre-Olympian World, written in 1966. — Chapter 3 page 51

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Sun Myung Moon warned America that we must have sex the way he told us, in the positions he designated, or else we would forfeit our “love organs” to the dark lord Satan. Moon has long spoken about his desire to see gays and “free sex” banished from America. Moon said “Satan is clinging to our sexual organs.” Women are a “line of prostitutes” who should be punished for their selfishness. “The concave organ {vagina} should be sealed with concrete”. “Woman’s sexual organ is like the open mouth of a snake filled with poison,” he said. Men do not get off any easier. Keep pliers in your pocket, he says, “and when you go to the bathroom, once a day, pinch your love organ. Cut the skin a little bit as a warning.”

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Jim Goad: “If the cult leader wants to control members completely, he aims to control their sexual life. Sex reaches all the way to the core of one’s being, until the unconscious level. It is hard to imagine anything more intrusive than dictating what someone does with their genitals. When a person hands over their sex drive to the cult leader, he does not need to worry about the members’ car keys and bank accounts. They are already his. Sex is only one wrench in the cult leader’s toolbox, but it is the most important one. The aim lies in altering the followers’ sexuality until it is no longer their own. Sex is used to demolish personal identity in favor of the hive mentality. The cult leaders cannibalize their followers’ libidinal energy.” LINK

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Kirsti Nevalainen:

The Fall story in Genesis 3 was an attack against the high priestess/queen as the representative of the Godhead.

The Fall account in Genesis 3 was authored by a Yahwist theologian and it represents a theological and political attack against the Sacred Marriage Rites of Canaanite people. LINK

A History Of God – The 4,000-year quest of Judaism, Christianity and Islam

If Adam and Eve didn’t exist, then there was no fall and therefore no need for a savior.

The concept of original sin seems to have been developed about 200 years after Jesus by Irenaeus and later by St Augustine.

#merlin stone #adam and eve #The Fall Of Man

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myhockeyworld87 · 4 years ago

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What Happens in Vegas...Doesn’t Always Stay There - Jacob Markstrom - Part 1

Word Count: 4,885

POV: Reader

Warnings: NSFW, Language, Smut, Drinking (all the good stuff)

Notes: Well here it is the new fic that’s been in my head. I tossed around a couple different guys for this, but some of you suggested Marky and well looks like it stuck. Trying to do this a little different and keep this in an all read POV, so we shall see how that works. I don’t see this being super long maybe between 5 or 6 parts. Hope you guys enjoy. As always feedback is welcome. Happy Reading!

They say that New York is the city that never sleeps but whoever 'they' is, well, they got it wrong. It has to be Vegas. Lights are always flashing whether you were indoors or out, the jangly sound of slot machines can be heard at all hours and the seven deadly sins seem to be on full display twenty-four hours a day. It's no wonder their tagline for years was 'What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas.' If only that were true.

You wish you could blame someone else but you can't. Vegas was all your idea. As maid of honor, it fell to you to plan your best friend's bachelorette party, and in your mind, there was only one spot, Vegas. Now, you were second-guessing your choice as your head was pounding like there were a thousand drummers who decided to perform at the Super Bowl halftime show, only in your brain. There was only one thought that made it through the marching band playing in your head. What the hell happened last night?

Maybe you should start off small, like where were you first, considering that the little drummer boy was now doing backflips in your head. You were definitely in bed, which was evident as you could feel the mattress underneath you. You could also feel the duvet comforter covering your body, but there was something else. Something a bit heavier, almost as if a weighted blanket was covering your stomach and your breast, but it wasn't that. It was an arm slung across your midsection and a very large hand cupping your one boob. God, you hoped it was still attached to a body. You should really take a peek. It would be the only decent thing to do.

As you gradually lifted one eyelid open, the first thing you noticed was that you were not in your hotel room, as the wall looked completely different. No reason to panic, you told yourself. Everything would come back to you as soon as this god blessed pounding ceased. Peering the other eye open, you got back to business at seeing if there was a body attached to the arm currently trapping you to the bed. Carefully, you turned your head to the side to see a very large and very naked man firmly attached to the aforementioned arm. He was gorgeous as he lay there sleeping ever so peacefully. You drank in his features, kind of like you downed drink after drink last night. His brown hair had this golden hue to it that made your fingers want to reach out and touch it, though you refrained. Then there was the beard covering his face, not too much and not too little, and now that you were thinking about it; you definitely felt some of that beard burn on your thighs. If you could only remember last night. The only logical thing to do was to go back to the start of this, back to a time when you were sober.

It started months ago when your best friend Kennedy got engaged. You honestly didn't see it coming that fast. She'd only been dating Ryan for a little less than a year, but he asked and she said yes, and when she asked you to be her maid of honor you screamed and laughed and cried, and told her you couldn't wait to plan her bachelorette party. Everyone knew the bridal shower was only for boring stuffy old aunts so that they could buy her the latest air fryer or new dish pattern. The bachelorette party was where all the fun was, and what better place to have it than Las Vegas.

Of course, everyone agreed with you. The only wrench in the plan was that Kennedy decided to up her wedding date and make it a nine-month engagement. That barely left time to find a dress let alone plan the most outrageous bachelorette party of the century. You would've said decade but twenty-twenty was fastly approaching. Thankfully, you had connections. Night one was more sedate since you all were just arriving at the MGM hotel at different times; eleven of you in total when Ryan's sister decided to join at the last minute. You booked a private room at Lago in the Bellagio for all of you to enjoy.

It was the second night, that was the piece de resistance. A limo picked you all up and took you over to Excalibur to see the legendary Australian group, Thunder from Down Under. I mean what was Vegas without seeing a male stripper or two. The next day, a private bungalow was waiting for you at Wet Republic in the MGM Hotel. One would've thought the night watching men strip naked would've been your undoing but apparently, it all started poolside.

"I seriously can't believe he pulled you up on stage and proceeded to dry hump you up there," Kelsey rehashed.

"Really, Kels?" Kennedy said downing another mimosa. "How could you not see that happening? (Y/N) has known Nate for a couple years. I mean he did get us front row tickets." This was all true. Nate, the emcee for Thunder from Down Under and you were friends, had been since your firm had done their calendar shoot two years ago. He had generously given you prime seating to the show that night and also set you up with a few other perks for the trip. "The only thing I'm surprised at, is that this one," she bumped you with her hip, spilling both hers and your mimosas. "Didn't end up going home with him last night."

"Oh my god, Kenny you did not just say that." She may be the bride and your best friend but really, she was pushing the line.

"Come on, it's not like it hasn't happened before."

At least four pairs of eyes turned towards you, Ryan's sister Gretchen being one of them. "Ok, admittedly, I slept with him, once." Both Kennedy and Kelsey gave you that look. "Ok, maybe it was twice, but he has a girlfriend now, and we are just friends."

"I'll give you that," Jade spoke up in your defense and suddenly she was going to earn the title of new best friend, not that the lines weren't blurred in your little group as you were all sort of best friends. "But what about Edward, the one with the turtle tattoo on his hip."

"You were so looking at more than his hip." Eva teased while Jade simply hid behind her champagne glass. "But yeah (Y/N), he was totally hitting on you."

"He was not."

"Oh, he was," Kennedy added her two cents. "And as the bride I take offense, they should've been hitting on me."

"Wait, why would they hit on you?" Jade sputtered. "You're taken bitch." Of course, bitch was said in the most loving way.

"I'm not dead."

"No, but I'm sure my brother wouldn't appreciate it." Leave it to Gretchen to be the mood killer. "I think I'm going to go take a nap. I'll meet you at the pool later."

She headed out the door, and honestly, you were ecstatic about it, for she was too judgmental for your liking. "Wait, Gretch, that's not what I meant."

"Leave her go, maybe a nap would do her good." They were Jade's words but your sentiments. "Now back to why (Y/N) did not take that beautiful man up on his offer last night."

"There was no offer," you insisted.

"Come on (Y/N), there was an offer. There's always an offer. Remember when you were doing promo for that Batman flick." You tried to shut Kennedy up with a death glare, but she continued to prattle on. "We all know you ended up doing the nasty with Superman."

"WHAT?!?!" Yeah, that definitely came out of the other nine people's mouths in the room.

"Thanks, Ken. No one knew that but you."

"Oops, my bad." She had the grace to at least be embarrassed about the whole thing.

"You mean you slept with that guy, the British one, tall, all muscular, extremely good looking. Damn it what's his name." You could see Eva wracking her brain for his name and you just didn't want to go there.

"Hen…"

"Yes, him," you admitted, stopping Jade before she could finish his name. "Can we please change the subject?"

"Why, when we are all living vicariously through you," Kelsey added. "Especially poor Kennedy, who is now committed to spending the rest of her life with one man."

"Geez, you make it sound like a death sentence. I love Ryan and I'm perfectly fine spending the rest of my days with him."

You had to suppress an eye roll. Not because you didn't think that Ryan and Kennedy weren't in love. If you were being honest, you just thought they were rushing things a bit. The problem was telling your best friend that; you tried in the past and never succeeded. "We know you're in love Kenny." And then because you couldn't stop yourself, you added. "It's just are you sure you want to be tied down so young? We still have our whole life to live."

"Jesus, (Y/N). We all know you're not ready for marriage and what comes with it, but we can't all be you with your fancy job in LA, meeting celebrities all the time. Some of us have real lives and want to settle down and have a family."

"Kenny, that's not what I meant." The last thing you wanted to do was argue with her at her bachelorette party. "I only want you to be happy."

"You have a funny way of showing it." The air in the room took on a chill and not from the air conditioning. If you didn't do something soon this party was going to go downhill.

"Oh, would you look at the time," Jade chimed in. "We should probably be heading down to the pool." Everyone grabbed their stuff, Kennedy giving you the cold shoulder as you made your way out of the hotel suite. Jade came up and wrapped an arm around you. "She'll be fine. She's just on edge after the whole Gretchen thing. We'll give her a few shots and you two will be good as new."

"I hope so." Unfortunately, things weren't fine. Kennedy seemed to avoid you and your attempt to make things right, even after a few shots. That didn't stop you from taking a few more. You had a strict one drink to one water rule, that you threw out the door today. Downing shots like it was your job. It was probably an hour later when you were in one of the private pools, with a few of the girls that a large group of very attractive men walked in. They were definitely different from Nate and the guys from Thunder, and at first, you thought it was some fraternity get together with how young some of them looked, but at second glance there were some gentlemen that were your age or older.

"They've gotta be baseball players," Eva whispered over after they took up residence in the three bungalows next to you.

"Nah, none of them have a dad bod." Jade was right, they were too fit to be in the MLB. You'd been around enough major leaguers to know while some were incredibly in shape, some were not. That didn't seem to be the case with this group.

"I'm gonna rule out NFL as well," you told the girls. "None of these guys look like they're an offensive guard. Those guys are huge." You noticed a few of them staring at the six of you that were in the smaller pool reserved only for the bungalows. Grabbing another shot, this had to be your fourth in just sixty minutes, you downed the drink really starting to feel its effects.

"Looks like we may just find out here," Jade said, nodding to let you know some of the guys were headed your way.

"Ladies, care if we join you?" One of the men asked, you had to admit he was extremely handsome but also gave off an air that he had more than a few notches in his bedpost.

A couple of the girls nodded, but when no one said anything, you found yourself saying, "Come on in."

"So, what brings you to Vegas?" This from a different guy, who had quite a number of tattoos covering his arms, and you had to admit that the ink just made him more attractive, that and his height. He was well over six feet tall and you didn't mind looking up to see his face as he took the seat next to you.

"Bachelorette party," Jade blurted out and you saw a few eyebrows raise.

"Tell me you're not the bride?" His breath was warm or maybe it was the sun, either way, you definitely felt a warmth in your belly that wasn't there moments ago.

"I am definitely not the bride." Shit that sounded desperate. "Though I am the maid of honor, at least I hope I still am." You looked inside the bungalow to see Kennedy in deep conversation with Gretchen.

"Hmm, sounds like there's a story there. Care to tell me? I'm Jacob by the way, though the guys call me Marky."

He held out his hand, the one that didn't have a beer in it, and you took it. "(Y/N), and I'll tell you though it's rather dull, on one condition." He quirked a brow at you. "You tell me what sport you play."

He chuckled. "What makes you think I play a sport? Maybe I'm an investment banker."

"Well, first there's your accent, though I suppose you could pull off investment banker with that. Second, you are all…how shall I say this…physically fit. A quality most athletes have and considering the number of you; I doubt this is some kind of investment banker convention."

"Ok, I'll give you that, though we could be bodybuilders or…" the lights on the billboard on the strip changed to a Thunder From Down Under ad and you saw a light bulb in his head go off. "Or male strippers." Shit, you almost spit your drink out on that one. "What, too much a stretch? Maybe it's your lucky day." He started to sway his hips in the pool, one of his friends joining him while you and Jade tried to contain your laughter.

"Nah, it's already been (Y/N)'s lucky day with them. She knows them all rather intimately."

"Jade!" you yelled at your friend, or ex-friend, though you weren't in a position to be losing anymore at the moment.

"Oops." She at least had the decency to look embarrassed. Alcohol made everyone do some crazy things and Jade was no exception to the rule.

"Intimately huh?" Jacob asked as you splashed water on Jade causing her to shriek and hide behind Jacob's friend who you learned was someone named Erik. "Have I lost the competition before it even starts?"

"There's no competition."

"So, you're single then?"

"Yes, though you still haven't answered my question." As soon as Jacob heard you say yes, he slid a little closer to you.

"What was that question again?" He said with laughter in his eyes and before you could get annoyed with him, though you doubted that would happen, he added. "I remember, just giving you a hard time. Anyhow, we play hockey."

"Oh, nice. Like professional level? Or are there minors in that sport?" You really weren't one hundred percent sure. You'd taken in a game here and there but not really paid any particular attention to it.

"We're in the NHL, playing for Vancouver. Just came out to do a little team bonding before the season starts. So, are we going to talk about this intimate encounter or why you think your maid of honor duties are getting revoked?"

"I think I need another drink to talk about either of them."

Jacob flagged down one of the personal waitresses for the area, requesting a couple of shots and drinks for you both, and you had to admit you liked the way he worked. "Now that that's taken care of…"

You blew out a frustrated breath, more with yourself than anything else. "I said something stupid right before we came down here." He kept silent, his eyes totally focused on you and what you were saying. A refreshing change from some of the men you spoke to. "I just think she's rushing into things. They've only known each other a year and we are too young to get married. She's only twenty-five, we have our whole lives ahead of us. You know?" He simply nodded his agreement before you continued. "I want to see the world, go places, and do things before I'm strapped down to one man forever. Not to mention being tied down with kids. How can Kenny not want that too?"

"I totally agree. I've gotten to see a lot with hockey but there's no way I want to be tied down just yet."

"Exactly, you totally get me." Your drinks arrived then and Jacob took one shot and handed it to you before taking the other.

"Well, I say we toast to being young and free with no commitments."

"I'll drink to that." He clinked his glass to yours and the two of you downed the drinks. It seemed like the DJ noticed the change in your mood, as the music got louder and the energy seemed to kick up a notch. You got up and started to dance in the pool; the other girls joining in. It wasn't long before you felt Jacob behind you. His hips grinding into your backside, as his large hands encircled your waist.

Drinks flowed freely the entire day, and if you were being honest, you couldn't remember a time you'd been that drunk before the sun had even set. You were laughing and dancing, and quite literally having the time of your life; your maid of honor duties completely forgotten at this point. Gretchen came up to you at some point and told you that she, Kennedy, and Kelsey were heading up and would catch up with the rest of you later. Everyone else was having too much fun with the Canucks to want to leave.

A few more drinks and an hour later, the party was winding down. Most of your friends had headed up to their room to pass out, only a few stayed behind. Jacob had somehow maneuvered you into one of the bungalows that was empty. You shared a few kisses here and there out in the pool area, but now that you were out of view of prying eyes things were getting a bit more heated. Jacob's hands were on your ass, as his tongue was down your throat; not that yours wasn't doing the same thing to him. He moaned into your mouth, the sound going straight to your core. Your bikini bottom was no longer wet from the water of the pool, but the press of Jacob's cock against it.

You both stumbled back, landing down on the large daybed in the bungalow, though somehow Jacob's reflexes softened your fall. His hands went straight to your breasts, kneading the flesh there. He was just about to untie the string of your bikini top when someone walked in. "Jesus, Marky! Take it upstairs would you!" You squinted trying to make out who it was but at this point not remembering anyone's name besides the man that was on top of you.

"Oh, shit…thought I was in my room." It was funny, you thought the same thing. "Sorry, Jay."

"His name is Jay? Like the letter?" you mumbled as Jacob helped you off the couch. "What comes after J?" Fuck you were drunk and when you were drunk you tended to ramble. You once actually talked to a damn parking meter because you thought it was a person, and you were pretty sure you could talk to one now if there was one around.

"Doesn't matter, babe," Jacob said kissing your lips. "Wanna head up to my room?"

You had to go up on your tiptoes to loop your arms around his neck. "Yes, I do." He planted a kiss on your lips then cupped your ass cheeks causing you to jump a bit.

"Let's go," he finally said breaking the kiss. You had enough sense to grab your things and tell your friends not to worry that you'd catch up with them tomorrow. They all winked and nodded or at least that's what it looked like in your head because that's when things started to get hazy. You had vague recollections of making your way through the casino, stopping here and there. Part of you thought that the two of you even stopped to play roulette only so you could have another drink.

You did remember tumbling through the door of Jacob's suite. His lips were on yours and neither of you were paying attention as he unlocked it. Thankfully his quick reflexes caught you; apparently, even when drunk, goalies couldn't lose some of those natural instincts.

His hands, you remember them being everywhere on your body, and how incredible they made you feel. His calloused touch lit a fire inside you, that had nothing to do with the alcohol. He rid you of your white swim cover-up easily, flinging the garment across the room, and then his lips were all over your body. It was easy to recall the way he made you feel, as he softly bit down on your nipple through the fabric of your bikini. You'd craved this all afternoon. It had been a couple months since you'd been with a man and Jacob was everything you'd been waiting for.

You ripped off his shirt. Your hands immediately going to his chest and roaming down his tattooed arms. He was all muscle, hard and lean everywhere, but when you slid your hand down inside his swim trunks to his cock; oh, it was hard all right, but lean was not a word you'd used to describe it. You were barely able to wrap your fingers around his girth, and as you stroked him, you realized God had not only blessed him with height but length as well. The man was made to star in a porno, you thought as you shoved his trunks down.

Somehow, during that time Jacob had managed to get your bikini top off, though you supposed with its simple string ties it wasn't a hard feat to manage. You dropped to your knees, licking your lips before taking your tongue and swirling it around the head of Jacob's cock. "Det kanns sa bra min vackra prinsessa (that feels so good my beautiful princess)." Jacob's mumblings had you pulling back and looking up at him. "Don't stop, baby." This time you knew what he said as you slowly sucked him into your mouth. There was no way that you could take him all in, so you pumped the rest of him with your fist. You hollowed out your cheeks as you sucked him inside, using every trick in the book you knew. Jacob muttered more in Swedish to you, things you had no clue as to what they meant, but judging by his reaction they were things he was enjoying very much. He threaded his hands through your hair, pulling it back so you could look up at him with big doe eyes. "Jesus," he swore, his hips bucking into your mouth at the sight of you with his cock in it, looking like that. After a few more thrusts, he pulled out shouting," Tillrackligt, enough. I think you're trying to kill me, princess."

There was something about the way he called you princess. It wasn't anything you'd been called before and most times you'd preferred babe or baby, but the way the word rolled off his tongue did things to your insides.

Jacob helped you off the ground, his lips ghosting over yours before picking you up and tossing you onto the bed. His large form handled you easily, arranging your body just the way he wanted to before slipping off your bikini bottoms. His large hands worked their way from your ankles to your calves, all the way up to your thighs; spreading your legs as he went. "So beautiful." He traced his fingers lightly over your pussy lips and you quivered in anticipation of what was to come. One long finger slid between your folds all the way up to your clit, once, then twice, and then once again. "So wet, prinsessa, and all because of me."

"Mmm, yes, Jacob." He dipped that same finger inside you then. The digit slipping in easily and so he added another. Then his mouth was there. Tongue flicking over your clit in a way that made you squirm with pleasure. "Oh yes," you moaned, caught up in the pleasure that was coursing through your veins. "Just like that." Your hips lifted up on their own accord, seeking more of what this giant of a man was doing to you. Jacob never let up, making a come-hither motion with his fingers and you found yourself unraveling around him; legs shaking, breath panting as your orgasm overtook you.

“So pretty when you cum, prinsessa.” He pulled his fingers from your pussy then brought them to your lips. You opened without any thought, licking your juices off of them. Before you could get them clean, Jacob’s mouth joined yours, kissing you while you sucked on his index and middle fingers. Your tongues mingled together, as Jacob positioned himself between your thighs. The head of his cock nudged between your folds and you sighed into his mouth at just that first touch. Slowly, he filled your pussy, until he bottomed out. Only then did he release your lips. “Fuck you feel so good.”

Jacob loved the feel of you clenching around him. It felt like he was in heaven. Part of him didn’t even want to move that’s how good your body felt, but then you shifted your hips up just a hair bit and he had to suck in a breath at the pleasure that went straight to his groin for fear he would spend inside you right then and there. He willed his body under control and only then started to move.

With every snap of Jacob’s hips, a wave of pleasure crashed over you. Your nails raked down his back, probably leaving marks, but it seemed to only spur him on. “Yes, Prinsessa,” he moaned out, as you bent your knees allowing him to go deeper. You moaned as he hit that treasured spot that had you seeing stars. “You like that?” Another moan was his answer, as he continued to fuck you.

That peculiar feeling started to wash over you. Your pussy fluttering around Jacob’s cock as the orgasm finally broke. Back arching, legs trembling, you were moaning out his name as the climax seemed to continue, as Jacob drove wildly into you. As you came down off your high, Jacob found his. With a few erratic thrusts, he was spending deep inside you with a loud groan. He slumped forward, his sweety forehead resting on yours. “Det dar var otroligt.” You looked at him curiously, your brain not working at all but also knowing he was speaking something in Swedish to you. He smiled, a glorious one that you found yourself getting lost in and you found yourself returning it. “I said that was amazing.”

“Yes, it was,” you breathed out. Jacob rolled you both onto your sides, tucking you into his. It wasn’t long before both of you were passing out.

Now here you were, finally putting most of the pieces together from last night. You looked back over at the sleeping man, who had given you such pleasure even in your inebriated state. He really was gorgeous. You honestly wouldn’t mind going for round two, after a couple of Tylenol, of course. Speaking of which you needed to get up and see if you had any in your bag. If only you could move him without waking him. You carefully took your right arm and went to move his left which was slung across you, but then something caught your eye. There on his ring finger was a ring. Oh, it wasn’t just any ring, it was a wedding ring! You knew he didn’t have it on when you were in the pool. You were not the type of woman to go hitting on a married man, let alone sleep with him.

You pulled your other arm out from underneath him, fully intending to grab your stuff and get the hell out of there when you noticed a bright and shiny diamond on your ring finger. There was also a matching wedding band. Then like a tsunami hitting the beach of a small island a memory came flooding back to you of the two of you entering the hotel chapel. This man wasn’t married to just anyone, he was married to you!

#jacob markstrom #jacob markstrom smut #jacob markstrom imagine #jacob markstrom imagines #nhl fanfic #nhl imagine #nhl imagines #hockey smut #nhl smut #hockey imagine #hockey imagines #hockey fanfic #what happens in Vegas series

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wizkiddx · 4 years ago

Text

stop caring

yooo, so this is actually taken out of one of the sort of I guess series-esque things I’ve written, but it kinda just got shit at the end so I've given up and just wanted to post this instead. So sorry if some of the backstory isn't that clear or anything

tomhollandxfamous!reader

Summary: after your break up you bump into tom at a charity event and when shit hits the fan personally for you, someone who understands you is really what you need (angsty!!! maybe a bit of fluff too?)

TW: panic/anxiety attacks + mentions of assault

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3 months. 3 months you’d managed to avoid the boy that had given you the most joy in the previous years. 3 months without your best friend; of even when you’re with company feeling like a part of you was just absent.

And you had been thriving. Well… that’s what everyone thought. That’s what you tried to portray, because no matter how ‘famous’ or ‘successful’ people perceived you to be - ultimately you were like anyone else. Making your insta pop off after the breakup. And so to the outside world, through the very very small lense of social media life was great. Parties, friends, work.

You were a woman in demand - in all senses of the word.

But of course, as is the 21st century world, it was a lie. Instagram showed only snapshots of what can be very long 24 hours in a day. Naturally, a select few obviously knew - your best friend, Y/f/n being one of them. Yet still you were missing that one support, that one person who would drag you back to reality whenever you got too much into your own head. It actually rather annoyed you, how dependent you had got on him, in every part of your life.

And you really hadn’t expected to see him here today. You’d had your assistant check the guest list, he wasn’t on it. While getting ready, you had avoided all the products that reminded you of him; that soft nude lipstick he loved you in so much; your favourite (exfavourite) earrings. Had you known it, you would have worn these. Just because you knew it would get on his nerves a little bit. Nevertheless here you were, perhaps a little underdressed for the charity dinner in a dress you’d already worn before (because apparently that was a sin in the world of Hollywood). You couldn’t pin point from when, but it was simple yet elegant if you did say so yourself. A dark blue satin dress, that sat off your shoulders in a Bardot style; hugged your waist to accentuate your curves; then flowed outwards down to the floor with a slit up your right leg. It was simple compared to the sequin studded, diamanté jewelled dresses the rest of the women seemed to sport but it made you feel comfortable.

Besides, that’s what you needed today. This was the first time after the breakup you’d attended a public event without your best friend-turned-assistant-turned-absolute-life-saver. Y/f/n had been the greatest with you all through your life but especially recently, she deserved the break to go back home and see her family. It was a pretty decent excuse too, her cousins wedding, so you were in absolutely no place to complain.

Evidently it just HAD to be this event then, while you were flying solo, that you’d be faced with…well with his face. His fucking gorgeous, perfect and oh so sweet face.

Just seeing him, just seeing Tom fucking Holland, had the most intense burst of adrenaline course through your veins as you desperately scanned the rest of the room. Looking for an out, an excuse, someone to latch onto for the rest of the night. A distraction even.

Never one to admit it openly, but really you knew your coping mechanism of the past months had been to sleep with who you wanted. Because the best way to get over someone is to get under someone else right? You knew it was stupid too. Not because of slut shaming or anything ( we aint got no outdated views here), but simply it wasn’t you. It wasn’t a good idea for you. It didn’t fit.

Tom hadn’t seen you yet, so if you latched onto someone you’d likely be in the clear. So obviously, when your frantic glances landed upon Joe Keery, you literally sighed in relief. Joe was great, stranger things was a bit of a guilty pleasure for you - especially when you were in your trailer and bored. Just due to your line of work, you’d met a couple times, he seemed like decent crack and to you knowledge was single.

Unsurprisingly then, you almost marched over to Joe, ignoring the slightly shaky feeling in your leg as your hearing seemed to focus completely on the sound of Tom’s bright laugh.

It was your choice too. You’d chosen to end things. It was on you. Well really, both parties were equally guilty. Tom was the one who had been too tired and highly strung and exhausted to put effort into the relationship. Stupidly though, you were too in love to realise for so long, in doing so draining yourself in the process. The constant flying cross country to see him, when he couldn’t ever return the favour because he was too busy. It was chipping away at you, even if you didn’t notice. It took an intervention by your manager Davey and Y/f/n for you to see things for what they were. To see that Tom didn’t care as much as he used to.

He tried to fight for it, of course Tom did, because he also truly and deeply loved you. Nonetheless though, it was too late. And that was it. You closed that book and returned it to the library. Something your mind occasionally drifts back to and you think ��huh that was a good read’ - yet that is the only space it occupies in your mind.

OR that’s how it should be. Not you yesterday, comparing everything your date did to Tom and deciding everything was worse. Not you today, seeing him and nearly being floored by the way the suit was tailored to his body oh so exquisitely. Not you now, hearing his bubbly laughter and having to fight your muscles from taking you back into his arms.

In short, you were highly strung and pining over a boy you’d killed your chance of happiness with.

Not to blow your own horn, you knew Joe wouldn’t be against having your company for the evening. After all, you were a young, beautiful and upcoming actor. You were ,at the very least, self aware. And so for a good few hours you almost forgot about Toms presence, spending the time before the speeches sharing a ridiculously overpriced bottle of wine (or two) with him. He was funny. He made you laugh, even if he was pushing the limits occasionally and teetering just on the right side of socially acceptable. It was risky and in that moment, with the alcohol in your system, it made him seem more and more of an attractive shag.

By the time the speeches started you were both overly giggly and had to keep shushing each other as the presenter called for quiet. Inherently, you knew exactly the location of Thomas - who he was sat around; the main he’d had at dinner; the brand of beer he’d been ordering.But that was subconscious. You were here with Joe.

Under your voices, whilst getting some disapproving looks from the older, more mature, members of your table you and Joe sat through the first boring speech whispering jokes under your breath - making each other clamp their mouth shut to avoid bursting out laughing. Though tipsy, you were very aware of Joe inching closer and closer, while his hand was casually brushing yours or your shoulder or waist more often. You knew this was low, being so blatant in front of Tom. To be quite frank though, should you care? And did he care?

The answer in your head at least, was an almost certain no to both.

One speech merged into another spent giggling away until Joe did something he didn’t mean. Heck he didn’t even know. His jesting quickly had toppled completely over into absolutely not category. Your brain felt like it was swimming as the name you’d avoided after that incident , almost ten years ago. The flashbacks came thick and fast. You an innocent young actor wanting to make a way in the industry. And him. A powerful, ridiculously important slightly overweight 50 year old with bad breath. That room in the corner of his hotel that you were completely lost in.

You were going to be sick.

Somewhere, distantly, you heard Joe saying something… asking you? Asking you if your were good? It was drowned out by a roar in your ears, you jerkily nodded your head. You knew your breathing was jilted, shaky and shallow. You knew your heart was exploding. It actually felt like a heart attack, the way it seemed to be beating as though it were going to break out of your chest. This time you really really needed an out.

So without any words, leaving a bemused Joe, your chair screeched on the floor as you stood up, garnering the attention of the whole room. The heads literally swivelled to stare at you, judgement clearly there as you frantically half ran to the back of the room, pleading if your head fro the toilet to be nearby. You needed to be away from everyone and safe.

Thankfully your escaped the room and the beady eyes, locating the bathroom where you threw a cubicle open, shakily locking it before collapsing into the wall in floods of tears, harsh sobs racking your frame as you clutched your hands to your knees and rocked slightly back and fourth. You dress being a full length ballgown was spilling out into the the nearby cubicles and under the door, but presumably you were alone in the loo - not hearing any other signs of life beyond your own sobs.

This always happened when you had your anxiety attacks. It was like clockwork. Zone out, stop hearing, loose control of breathing, heart starts pounding, make a quick escape to a toilet, cry and then…

Well back before Tom, it had been to throw up. That was the only thing you’d ever found to ground you enough to get your body backorder your own conscious control. It was like a wave of relief after, like the drowning feeling in your lungs had just evaporated away. But the Tom happened. The first time he’d seen you panic he hadn’t a clue what to do either. SO he had just sat with you, not wanting you to be alone in that state and waited. That panic though, had lasted so long that you’d almost made yourself pass out from the hyperventilating. When that had happened, Tom had gone into emergency mode. He had been scared to touch you, in case that made you worse, but when he saw your body going limp he didn’t have a choice. He’d collected you into his arms, with your head against his chest. Being this close to calling an ambulance, the relief Tom felt when your breathing got more and more regular was unparalleled.

Together, when he had you lying in his bed (recovered, if mortified and exhausted) was when you realised that you hadn’t been sick. And that was because of him. You’d grounded yourself on his heartbeat and breathing, listening to it and making yours sync up. Thats what had saved you that evening.

Now however, Tom was gone. This was the first panic attack you’d had since he’d been gone. Of course while you were together you were rarely in the same place, even so you’d phone him. But not now.

This all led to you sat clutching your knees as your mascara dripped down your cheeks as you had to fight to get enough oxygen into your body. You didn’t want to get into that vicious cycle of making yourself ill again. It really hadn’t been healthy.

Who knows how long you were sat there sobbing before you heard the door open and in response you clamped a hand to your mouth trying to stay silent. This irrational fear overcame you as you sat stock still, fearing the footsteps on the marble floor of the fancy function venue. Even the toilets were pretty posh.

“Y/n?…. It’s-it’s Tom.” Oh. My. Fucking. God. That was all that was going through your brain as you bit you lip - presumably painfully, yet you didn’t really feel pain in your current state. “Look I saw you leave and I know your on your own tonight… I-I couldn’t leave you on your own if your… well you know.” Everything was going so so fast in your brain, that it actually scared you into stopping crying, so much so you felt your hand flop back down to your side. “…I was waiting outside because I didn’t want to errr you know… but you’ve been 20 minutes so I need to know your good…..okay?”

The boy was too fucking good. And stubborn… he was too stubborn and you knew he wasn’t going to give in. It was also fairly evident that he knew you in here - there was no pretending you didn’t exist.

“Y/n? Come on you gotta let me know.”

“I’m fine. You-you go.” Only when you spoke was it evident to yourself just how not-okay you really were. Tom just chuckled and spoke again.

“How long have you known me for? That’s just not going to happen is it.” You already knew this, but something about the way he said it made you realise a sad laugh, momentarily making you feel a bit more in control. He seemed to like that response, you heard him bend down and then saw the bottom of his tux as he sat down leaning against your cubicle door.

“Is …is this your first one… since? You both know what he was talking about. Since you broke up.

“Uhmm I-“ You swallowed down a fresh rise of nausea, somewhat determined to not throw up when you ex is barely a metre from you. “Yeh I suppose.” In didn’t seem a revelation to Tom, yet he still hummed lowly in response as the room drifted back to silence.

“You… you wanna try to breath with me?… You don’t have to open the door just…”

Croaking a please in response because this feeling was really blood awful and you wanted it to end, Tom started exaggerating his breathes, as you shakily and eventually managed to start to time it with his. Without thinking, when Tom’s palm snuck half under the door you immediately grabbed and squeezed it - the contact helping to synchronise your body with his.

It should be an alien feeling after your time apart. But no it felt oh so natural and so very right.

Once you’d collected yourself and realised how bloody stupid this whole situation was you withdrew your hand back, loosing the warmth as you shook your head in disapproval of yourself. So very fucking stupid. He was silent for a bit, letting you think things through whilst still sat outside your cubicle.

“You good now?” You hummed in agreement and you felt Tom’s head fall against the door, looking up to the ceiling. “Want me to go?”

“If you want to” That was met with silence, but a very telling lack of movement that spoke a thousand words.

“You should get out of here… you wanna avoid the trigger again and I mean I know you’re exhausted.” The boy had researched panic disorder and attacks when he found out you suffered with it - he probably knew more of the psychology of it than you, whilst never having any first hand experience of it. Annoyingly he was right, as per, after attacks you always always slept for hours - it was just a draining process. “I’ll get you a car if you want?…. I’d like to make sure you get back okay if you don’t mind.” With only your cold and empty residual feeling left, his words still managed to ignite a spark of warmth in your chest.

“I’m not going to ruin your evening Tom.” You tried to refuse even if it was very very forced and very very hopeful he wouldn’t give in.

“I was having a crappy evening. Sitting in the ladies toilet talking to my ex through a toilet door has actually been the highlight.”He chuckled playfully in a self pitying way, somehow again making you giggle. And so he had you standing on slightly unsteady feet, your black heels held in one hand because no wasn’t the time to put yourself through teetering around on pin needles. The shuffling outside the door meant Tom stood up too - before you unlocked the door and opened it.

Prior to seeing Tom your eyes locked on the sight of your reflection, in the mirrors above the sinks opposite you. Perhaps the only way to describe it… it was a sight. The shock being in the juxtaposition between the elegant dress, which even having been crumpled on a bathroom floor had somehow managed to survive and still look near the off-the-hanger; but your face? Oh that was a shit show. You’d cried your makeup off almost completely, leaving your face blotchy and shining as well as the ever so telling smudged mascara under your bottom lash line.

You had to laugh or you’d just start to cry.

“Don’t worry I’ve seen you much worse.” You saw in the reflection as Tom leaned in and whispered in your ear, making your eyes roll and head shake as you looked from him back to you.

“I look like a paps dream.” Without instruction, Tom bolted into a nearby cubicle, wrapping layers of toilet roll round his hand before offering it to you as a makeshift wipe.

“This is the glamour of Hollywood don’t you know? Wiping your face with bog roll”Thankfully taking it, you offered Tom a thankful smile as he stepped back, giving you space as he leant against another cubicle pillar. Once you finished up blotting your face, Tom had already shrugged off his jacket walking toward you as he offered it out. Tilting your head to the side in a questioning manner Tom just shrugged, saying it’d help avoid the paparazzi just in case. In reality you weren’t so sure, but anyhow you still appreciated the gesture and draped it round your shoulders with a muttering of thanks.

At this point his phone pinged, the car was outside, so without any words exchanged he led you to the door, checked the hallway was clearly before guided you back to the exit. There didn’t appear to be anybody lurking around, which you were oh so thankful for as you almost threw yourself in to the safety of the blacked out car. Tom followed and you both, almost comically as if scripted, released a sigh in unison as you melted into the seats. That had you chuckling dryly as you sat in silence.

“You know we can’t move till you say where you’re staying?” Teasing you, Tom shot you that ever mischievous grin that made the blood rush through your skin. After you’d told the driver, the car pulled swiftly out the laibi.

“Did he…did he say something?” Tom’s demeanour had steeled up and you looked questioningly up at him. “Joe… you looked…close.”

“Oh”. You were taken aback. You should have seen this coming to be fair, him asking for the trigger this evening - and yet you were more shocked at his jealousy. How he looked pained to mention Joe by name. “Um no… well sort of…it was a joke. He didn’t mean it but it er…it took me back.” Tom knew your history, he knew what happened all those years ago and he nodded slowly , keeping his eyeline straight ahead.

“He’s a dick.”

“No he’s not…. He- he was sweet enough . It was all me.”

“What?”

“I pushed myself on him. I-I saw you… I was spooked.” Tom left it to drift back to silence. He had a lot of thinking to do too.

He’d obviously kept up to date with you. Call it a professional interest. That was the problem being in love with someone when you weren’t allowed to be. But it hurt like hell, especially when he heard what you were doing. Because he knew this wasn’t you. He knew you sleeping around wasn’t going to help you recover - in fact he thought (and quite correctly) it was the opposite. That long term it’d only cause you more and more pain.

“You know, you don’t have to do this?… I-I know it isn’t you. I’m not insulting or anything I’m… I’m just worried.” You knew he was being truthful . And infuriatingly he was right. Which only made it even more annoying.

“Why do you care though?” Looking out the window that was all you could think to say. That was your subconscious talking as you didn’t really want the answer. Or you desperately did but you knew it’d be hard to get over.

“Y/n” He sighed, making you look across at him “I’ve not stopped caring… I’ll never stop caring.”

Wasn’t that just a knife to the heart. You held your breath momentarily, not knowing what to think (nervermind say) in response to that. Everything in that car seemed to freeze, Tom’s eyes piercing the deepest and darkest parts of your mind as he stared at you. You both really weren’t over it. You were both hurting. You missed each other.

And you were about to dive in all over again.

But then the indicator ticked on. The car pulled to a stop. The ignition switched off by the driver. You were at your hotel. The journeys end - quite literally.

Tom felt it too. He knew if ever there was a chance, however rogue and unlikely, of you two working things out it was within this journey. And he’d failed.

“I-uh…I-this is me” Stammering through, distracted by the way Tom’s eyes shone with disappointment.

‘Yeh - yeh it is I guess.”

“Well er… thanks for, well you know… for saving me. You er-you really didn’t have to.”

“I wanted to”

“Yeh well er thanks…. And er-Oh! Your jacket” You realised, already tugging the tailored suit jacket from your shoulders.

“No no it’s really okay. I have loads anyway.” See?In Hollywood you really weren’t allowed to wear the same thing twice.

“Oh-okay. Well er….I’ll see you around I guess?”

“Can I walk you to your room, just to-check no one bothers you?” Tom was trying. Desperately trying. He could feel you slipping through his fingers again, this time he wanted to put up more of a fight. You shook your head thought, a sad smile gracing your lips.

“I’d say yes but I think I know where that’d end up…. And I don’t think that’s a good idea.” Defeatedly nodding, Tom just smiled in a tight-lipped fashion, equally as sadly at you.

“I’ll errr I’ll see you around.” While gathering yourself and preparing to exit the car, your hand on the door handle. Tom responded with a ‘yeh’ but before you left you leaned over and pressed a kiss to his cheek, before whispering under your breath..

“Thankyou Tom.”

part 2 ish of sorts --> link

#tom holland #tom holland x reader #Tom Holland angst #tom holland fluff #tom holland x famous!reader

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anonniemousefics · 4 years ago

Note

I know you're probably busy with other things you're writing so no pressure to get to this, but when you have time could you possibly write something about Kaz and/or Inej celebrating a birthday?

This was so sweet, I had to write a full-blown fic. Sorry not sorry! :) I may come back to this and edit it a bit more, but here you go -- Kaz and Inej and TWO birthdays. :) Thanks so much for the ask and for reading!

---------------------------------------------------------

A Tough Act To Follow

Fandom: Six of Crows/Crooked Kingdom | Kaz + Inej

Word Count: 3,633

Rating: Teen and Up

Inej knew how to pick the lock on Kaz’s window. She didn’t need to know – he always left it unlocked when he knew she was in town. But it was a matter of pride, really. Kaz Brekker could bar himself in with unbreakable locks, and Inej could still find a way in.

And now that knowledge was finally proving useful. Inej crouched on the windowsill in the dark, listening at the glass. The room in The Slat just beyond was pitch black and silent. Dirtyhands was out stalking the streets, unaware that the Wraith was back, and here Inej could finally have her vengeance.

He’d surprised her on her last birthday – and surprised her good. Inej wore a crooked grin on her lips in the dark when she thought of it, as she held lock picks in her teeth. That sly, clever bastard.

She’d get him this time.

When she’d discovered which pick could snake through the window, she artfully jostled the lock until the tumblers gave way with a click. And then Inej shifted the pack slung over her shoulders and slipped into the dark attic of The Slat.

It was always a little surreal, that first step back into The Slat. It was like stepping through a time warp, returning a fixed moment in time. Kaz never changed anything, not his makeshift desk, not his rickety old bed in the corner. Inej used to bother him about it. Didn’t he at least want his own house? Wasn’t he tired of stairs? What was he doing with all of that kruge he wanted to die under, anyway?

No, Always, and There are plans, were always Kaz’s infuriating and vague answers.

Inej couldn’t help grinning to herself again at the memory. That sly, clever bastard.

Well, she could make plans, too.

But first, she had a stage to set. After all, that’s what Kaz had done, and Inej always made a point to learn from the best.

It had been almost six months ago. Her birthday had actually come and gone while she’d been at sea, and so she’d thought nothing of it when her feet were once again on Ketterdam’s streets. She wasn’t expecting anything, really – which, come to think of it, had been her first misstep. Kaz was a work in progress in most relational matters, but gift-giving was not one of them. For better or for worse, Kaz possessed an innate ability to read people – their wants, their fears, their sins. And when he wasn’t using this gift for nightmarish purposes, he was actually quite decent at presents. She should have known he’d have something up his sleeves.

“I have something to show you,” he’d told her. Off-handedly, even, like he’d only just realized it. They were draining the last of their drinks at the Crow Club, waving to Jesper and Wylan as the couple had started their trudge home.

Inej had turned back to Kaz with a raised eyebrow.

“Rumor has it those are the last words your debtors hear in dark alleys,” she teased. And Kaz laughed – a free, easy sound she was still getting used to hearing. The last few years had seen a silent, dark shadow slowly lifting from his shoulders – small changes only the people closest to him could have noticed. His eyes seemed clearer. He was freer with his jokes. There was some color in his cheeks when he smiled.

Like now.

“You can flatter me later,” Kaz grinned, picking up the crow’s head of his cane. He was gesturing for her to follow. So, she slid from her chair to trail behind him as they wove through the gambling tables of the dark club to the overcast streets outside.

It was a warm night, the streets bustling with tourists. Kaz offered her his arm as they strolled along the canal beneath the orange glow of the gas street lamps, his cane tapping against cobblestones. Restaurants and clubs were churning out enticing aromas to lure in hungry patrons – mouth-watering roasted meats, warm, yeasty breads, cinnamon and sugar pastries.

And Inej glanced up Kaz, only a little distracted by the tempting smells in the air. She was still curious about what he could possibly be scheming, even if she was now also a little hungry.

When they came to a well-traveled intersection of cobblestone streets, Inej noticed a brand new door on an old building she’d passed a thousand times. The lights in the windows were lit, though it seemed that the inside was practically empty.

It was there that Kaz stopped them and began fishing through his pockets. Inej heard the jangle of keys.

“What is this?” she asked, in vain, because Kaz only smirked in reply. Inej straightened. That was about as delighted as Kaz would allow himself to get, so whatever this was, it was big.

He fitted a thick skeleton key into the lock, and, with a groan on its hinges, the door opened. Inej followed him inside.

“What do you think?” Kaz’s voice echoed in the space. Inej didn’t know how to answer. What did she think? What was she even looking at?

It was a large, mostly empty space, save for a giant, old hearth and one round table by the lighted window, set with a checkered tablecloth and plates and silver. The pine wood floors were dusty, the old chandelier covered in cobwebs. At the far end of the room stood a bar, and beyond that, presumably a kitchen, where another light source flickered and glowed.

“Is it another club?” Inej ventured, as she turned in circles, taking it in. “Did you buy another club?” This was a stupid guessing game.

“Not exactly.” Kaz pocketed the keys again, his gloved hands fidgeting a moment in his pocket. Was he nervous?

“Good evening, Mr. Brekker. Captain Ghafa.”

Inej nearly jumped out of her skin at the sound of the new voice. A chef in a white coat appeared from the orange-lit kitchens, two exquisitely plated trays of food in hand. Before she could ask any more questions, Kaz was beside her, a hand at the small of her back, gesturing for the table.

“Let’s have a seat,” he said, not so much a suggestion as another step in a plan.

So, she did. And she unfurled a napkin into her lap as Kaz did the same. The chef set plates of food in front of them while Kaz moved to uncork a bottle of champagne that waited on the table in a silver basin.

“What is going on?” Inej finally pressed once they were alone again. The chef had returned to the kitchen.

A loud pop exploded into the silence of the mostly empty room as Kaz opened the champagne bottle.

“Has anyone ever told you that you are very difficult to buy gifts for?” he asked, beginning to fill a champagne flute in his gloved hand.

Inej shook her head. This intrigue was killing her.

“No one,” she said, accepting the champagne, her fingertips brushing cold leather.

“Then let me be the first to lodge the complaint,” Kaz replied, filling his own glass. “It would be challenging enough if you were only as rich as a queen, but on top of that, you seem to genuinely want nothing at all. Other than justice and care for those who’ve been bought and sold – and that is a very tall order, I must point out.”

Sitting back in her chair with her champagne glass, Inej crossed one leg over the other, cocking her head as she still tried to puzzle out the mystery.

“I like chocolate,” she pointed out with a shrug. At that, Kaz paused with his champagne flute mid-drink to glare at her.

“Shit,” he mumbled into the flute, and set the glass down with a sigh. “That would have been a lot less expensive.”

Inej blurted out a laugh at that, and Kaz couldn’t contain a toothy grin.

“What are you saying?” Inej asked with a chuckle. “Is this a gift? You did buy this place.”

Kaz drew in a long breath. He was nervous. Inej set down her glass, leaning in in fascination.

“I did buy it,” he confirmed. “It’s a new project.” He swallowed, his Adam’s apple bobble over his color. “One I hope that we can work together on.”

Inej blinked.

“That depends,” she said. “Tell me the project.”

Kaz shifted, leaning forward, elbows on the table.

“It was inspired by you, actually,” he said. Inej couldn’t be sure but it looked like the color was rising in his cheeks in the candlelight. “These people that you’re freeing, if they end up back in Ketterdam, they have nothing. Or, like you were, they’re beholden debts that they should never have had in the first place. What they need – what you needed – was some place safe to work, to save money, a roof over their heads while they figure out their way forward. Without it, they end up right back where they started. So…”

Kaz picked up his champagne flute again, giving a gesture with it to the room.

“I know it needs work,” he said. “But the bones are good. The location’s perfect – lots of foot traffic and tourism. I was thinking it could be a restaurant. Or bakery.” He looked to her then, and was he seeing how floor, utterly rivetedshe was? “Whatever you crave when you’re here in Ketterdam. Chef Lukas is on the books now, and he can make anything at all. The rest of the staff will come from you. The people you bring in, the ones who need a fresh start. We own the two floors above it as well, and they have rooms for lodging. What—what are you thinking?” His brow pinched together, trying to read her silence and the hand clapped over her mouth. “Is it too much?”

Too much? It was so much. Inej’s eyes stung with the threat of tears, that’s how much it was. But too much? It wasn’t possible to have too much of this perfection.

Inej had never been sure if she had a favorite flower or a favorite chocolate for a boy to discover, to know that he knew her, as her father had once advised. Sometimes she thought that maybe her heart was too big – that she loved too many things at once, and could she trust that a boy really knew her when her smile came so easily now?

But Kaz did. Now she knew. He absolutely did. He’d found the right combination to her big, bleeding heart.

He loved her.

And all she could do was burble a sort of euphoric giggle behind her hand, her eyes watering.

“You are going to lose so much money,” she gasped, her brow furrowing. “There’s nothing remotely profitable about this.”

Kaz just smirked with a shrug.

“No one turns a profit on gifts,” he said. “So, you like it?”

“Saints, Kaz, I love it,” Inej breathed, a traitorous tear escaping her eye. It was everything. Everything she’d needed ten years ago. Everything these streets needed now. For so many like her, this would mean the difference between hope and despair. Life and death.

That scheming, wonderful bastard.

She stretched her hand across the table, reaching to seize one of Kaz’s gloved hands. He smiled as he curled her fingertips into his.

“Can I kiss you?” she begged, softly, her eyes wet with tears. She felt him stiffen even as he ran the pad of his gloved thumb across her knuckles. And he thought a moment. And gave a little nod.

“I think that would be all right,” he replied, quietly.

They both stood, she perhaps a little more eager than he. It was always difficult the first few days Inej returned from sea. Kaz’s mind might always be a tangled web of past and present, sometimes confusing one with the other. Even after all these years, touching her always seemed easier once they’d had some time to break the ice all over again.

When she stepped to him, Kaz ran his hands down her arms, almost reverent, and he bent his forehead to hers. She lifted herself onto her toes, running her fingers up the lapels of his suit coat, over the hard planes of his chest.

“I can’t believe you’d be willing to lose so much kruge on this,” she whispered, looking up at his closed eyes, the dark lashes splayed against his cheekbones.

“For you,” he murmured, and he lifted his coffee-black gaze. His hands slipped to the curve of her waist, pulling her closer. “Surely you know this by now.”

“Tell me anyway.”

And Kaz lifted her chin, soft leather against her skin.

“I would empty every account for you,” he said. “And if that weren’t enough, I’d rob every bank, break every vault in this damn city. It’s never a loss when it’s for you.”

And he bent his head – Inej held so still. Let him be in control of when their skin touched. Her fingers unconsciously twisted in his lapels, silently begging for his lips.

When he met the slant of her mouth, his soft lips brushed against hers gently, barely a kiss at first. Their noses bumped. Inej held her breath, her eyes falling shut of their own accord. Selfishly praying for more.

And more he had. This time, Kaz bent his head the other direction, apparently emboldened, kissing her fully, breathing in deeply. Inej lifted onto her toes, meeting the kiss with the kind of eagerness she usually reserved for her third or fourth day on land. She wrapped her arms around his neck, and a shiver of warm sensation spread all the way down to the soles of her feet when he pressed his hands into the small of her back. It was dizzying and delicious, being flush with his body, wrapping her fingers into the soft, dark hair at the nape of his neck.

It was the sort of kiss, Inej realized, that should come at the end of an evening. It was not meant for the start, not the way they were. How was she supposed to untangle herself now? Now -- when his breathing was growing hot and ragged against her lips. When desire was fluttering through her core, wrapping itself like vines through her limbs as she pulled him to her again and again.

The creaking of the old front door hinges, that’s how.

Kaz and Inej broke apart as Inej gasped in surprise.

“Are you open?” came a tourist’s voice in Ravkan. A couple of figures poked their heads in the door that Kaz had evidently forgotten to lock behind them.

“Clearly we’re not,” Kaz barked back at them in Ravkan, flushed and irritated.

Some muttered Ravkan apologies followed as the door shut once again.

And Inej stifled a laugh into Kaz’s jacket. Hopefully he saw the humor in it, too. The evening didn’t need Dirtyhands making an appearance.

His hands were roaming her back, holding her close, and when she looked up he was smiling again. Though, for now at least, the heated spell between them had broken. For better or for worse, Inej wasn’t sure anymore.

“Happy birthday, Inej,” he said, when he’d cooled, and they returned to their table for the meal that their new chef had prepared.

So, you see, Inej had a tough act to follow.

She didn’t expect to be able to make him cry, although, admittedly, she would not have minded it if she managed it. But she was going to surprise him – surprise him good.

She was setting up his room in the Slat now, lying in wait for her victim. She’d brought rose petals. She’d lit candles. She’d wrapped herself in a black silken robe, unraveling her hair from its braid, leaving it loose and cascading down her back.

He, too, might not have a favorite flower or a favorite sweet. But she knew him.

And she loved him.

And now he would know.

Nerves were starting to prickle her skin while she waited, propped up on his desk, her legs crossed in front of her. It would be a pretty picture when he opened the door – his girl in silk surrounded by candlelight. But what came next was the real trick.

Her heart rammed against her ribs when she heard his keys in the lock, jostling the doorknob. He’d notice the candlelight first, she knew.

And he did. Before he even saw her, he paused in the doorway before even crossing the threshold, the door swinging wide.

The rattle of gunmetal was Inej’s first clue that this might not be going as planned.

Kaz was fishing for the revolver in his pocket.

“Saints, it’s just me!” Inej cried out, and Kaz dropped the gun with a thud. And strode into the room, breathing hard. Slamming the door behind him.

“Are you insane?” he exclaimed, whirling to face her. “I could have shot you!”

And that’s when the full sight finally started to sink in. His eyes were growing wider and wider, flitting around, taking it all in – the candlelight, the rose petals, Inej’s bare legs glimmering in the glow. The shining silk around her slim body.

Inej didn’t think human beings were capable of short-circuiting, but that’s clearly what was happening to Kaz. It was like he couldn’t decide where to look, if he was even allowed to look, or if he was even in the right room to begin with.

“Too much?” She hopped off the desk, suddenly understanding why he’d been fretting that day in their restaurant.

“No no no no,” Kaz was saying, obviously still short-circuiting. “Give me a moment. I just need a moment.”

He was breathing hard, still in the throes of the shock, and Inej was starting to wonder if surprises were a good idea at all. She stretched out a hand, pressing a palm over his racing heart, and after a beat, he pressed his hand over hers, holding her there. And drew in a deep breath, mustering up a smile.

“Hello,” he greeted at last.

“Hi,” she said back with a smile.

“You’re here.” He was still in disbelief. His eyes drifted a moment. “And you’re wearing that.”

“It’s revenge,” Inej clarified, with an apologetic shrug. “For surprising me last time. And for making me cry in front of Chef Lukas.”

“How is this equivalent to making you cry in front of Chef Lukas?”

“Well, it’s not the full surprise. Do you want the full surprise?”

“Yes.”

And, with a coy smirk, Inej withdrew her hand from his chest and began to unwrap the robe.

At that, Kaz pulled back.

“Wait wait.” He looked absolutely mortified. Inej wanted to cackle. Sweet, sweet revenge. She kept unwrapping.

“You do not have to do this,” Kaz was insisting. “You do know you don’t have to do this? There were no expectations, no strings attached with the last gift. I--” And he stopped short. Frowned. Cocked his head. Confused.

Inej was fully clothed beneath the robe.

And hiding a small parcel beneath her vest.

And she was smirking like the dirty little con artist she’d learned from.

“What is this?” Kaz asked, warily, accepting the parcel she pulled from her clothes.

“Open it,” was the only explanation she offered.

Kaz gave her a sidelong look as he slowly began to slide his long fingers into the seams of the parcel.

“That was a dirty trick,” he told her, pulling at the paper.

“You liked that? There’s more where that came from.”

“You’ll pay for that next time,” and he shot her a shark’s grin as he let the paper fall to the ground, looking at what was now in his hands.

Stacks of paper. Some with numbers. Some looked like letters. Some looked official – all looked clearly stolen.

“A side project,” Inej explained to him, crossing her arms in front of herself. “For the days when you’re tired of being a good man.”

“What is all this?” His discerning frown tickled Inej right down to her toes. Befuddling him might become her new favorite hobby.

She was trying, and failing, to hide a pleased grin.

“You’re looking at Pekka Rollins’ bank accounts. His stock activity. Secret correspondence with at least one mistress. The Stadwatch he’s bribing. The politicians he’s funding. All sorts of birthday surprises like that.”

Kaz was all but gaping when he looked up from the papers at her.

“How did you do this?” he breathed.

“I have my ways,” Inej said, with a toss of her hair.

Kaz was grinning like a fool.

“You know me too well,” he said, softly, still browsing the file Inej had spent the better part of six months assembling. His crow-black hair fell softly against his cheekbone, his features warm in the candlelight.

And here it was. Her moment. The words burned in her chest, demanding to be said.

“I love you,” she told him, like an explanation. As if it were obvious.

Kaz’s gaze snapped up from the papers then, losing all interest. He looked like he might drop them right there, just like he’d fumbled his revolver.

“I love you,” he said back. As if he’d been saying it for years, just not so simply.

Inej smiled wide, and Kaz did drop the papers then. And crossed the distance between them in a single step.

Inej had planned on telling him happy birthday at this point – that was what he had done. That was what people did. But as he lifted her back onto the desk, sliding kisses across her lips, burying his fingers into her loose hair… well, she forgot the scheme altogether.

She’d let the rest of the evening be a surprise.

---------------------------------------------------

Tags! I don’t really have a Kanej tag list yet, so let me know if you’d like to be added. @loveyatopluto, @raging-bisexual-alert, @ireallyshouldsleeprn, @annejulianneh111, @whosanxiety

#kanej #kanej fanfic #kaz brekker #inej ghafa #kaz x inej #kaz brekker x inej ghafa #six of crows #crooked kingdom #grishaverse #leigh bardugo #fanfic #soc #fanfiction #one shot #my asks #thanks for the ask!#kanej fluff

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translations-by-aiimee · 4 years ago

Text

Mistakenly Saving the Villain - Chapter 6

Original Title: 论救错反派的下场

Genres: Drama, Romance, Xianxia, Yaoi

This translation is based on multiple MTLs and my own limited knowledge of Chinese characters. If I have made any egregious mistakes, please let me know.

Chapter Index

Chapter 6 - The Truth Behind the Scenes

Yue Wuhuan thought that his eyes would be gouged out by Xianzun soon, and he was shaking from fear.

After Song Qingshi checked him over, he was puzzled: "Are you cold?"

Yue Wuhuan shook his head stiffly.

"If your eyes are not uncomfortable, we can treat them later." Song Qingshi judged the injuries according to its severity. He returned to the table and took off his gloves, picked up the spirit bead, and walked back over. "I found a white powdery medicine around the edges of your nails. After a preliminary inspection, I determined that it contained Deer Spring Grass and Confusion Scented Flowers, which have a strong aphrodisiac effect. In addition, I also found plant ingredients in the incense on your clothes and feather skirt attracts cats. This is the reason why the demon tiger attacked you at the banquet."

He found out. . .

Yue Wuhuan thought in despair.

This was the loophole that he had found when searching for the edge of the Acacia Seal's control. Slaves can't kill themselves, slaves must obey their master's every command. But it was also the master that was happy to see the slave perform an unbearable performance, and was also happy to see the slave played with until death.

All he was able to get were aphrodisiacs that he extracted from psychedelic ingredients. He refined it greatly to make it more likely for animals to lose their sanity.

Therefore, he calculated the time and wrapped the medicine in wax pills to delay the onset of the drugs in the demon tiger's body, and then prepared the smell on his body to attract the monsters. After the atmosphere on the court reached its peak, the demon tiger rushed out under the stimulation of the drugs. He was definitely going to be chosen as its prey. He pretended to be absent after taking the aphrodisiac and took the initiative to step forward. The guests thought it was a show arranged by Jin FeiRen and applauded.

Jin FeiRen was far too proud to do anything and had already found a new favourite anyways. He would never interfere with the entertainment of his guests. Even a little hesitation could mean the demon tiger would completely lose control and tear the guests to pieces.

Yue Wuhuan carried out this plan with the determination to die, and never thought that the truth revealed because he survived.

In Golden Phoenix Manor, if a slave was found to show signs of disobedience, he would be severely punished. What's more, what he did was calculated something behind his master's back, which was absolutely against the rules. . . But what about this?

Yue Wuhuan’s flustered heart gradually calmed down and he recalled that when he first became a slave, because he was unwilling to yield and his wood-type spiritual root was suitable for a speedy recovery, he suffered all the humiliation that the world could inflict under the control of Acacia Seal. He was forced to endure all kinds of unbearable postures, forced to admit that he was more lecherous than the most lecherous flower girl in the brothel; because the beasts thought that he never reacted sufficiently during sex, they used countless kinds of drugs to transform him into having a very sensitive physique until even the friction of ordinary cloth will make him extremely uncomfortable.

Every time he thought that he reached the limit of this hell, he would always see that hell went so much deeper. Finally, after realizing that his despair and resistance would only make those people happier, he gave up these meaningless struggles as well of the idea of getting rid of the Acacia Seal.

His body was so dirty that he just wanted to destroy it. . .

God knows that when the demon tiger rushed forward to tear his body apart, he didn't feel any pain, only utter bliss.

Whether it's plucking out his eyes or cutting off his limbs to make him into medicine, whether it's being thrown into a brothel and toyed with by thousands of people, or thrown to a beast for fun. There wouldn't be any punishment in this world that would make him feel pain.

Yue Wuhuan narrowed his smile and stopped pretending. He looked at the spirit bead coldly and provoked disrespectfully, "Now that you know, what are you going to do?"

Song Qingshi declared with certainty: "Someone wanted to harm you!"

Yue Wuhuan failed in his provocation, and almost missed a breath, thinking that he had misheard: "What?"

Song Qingshi felt that his reasoning was sound. Although he didn't read novels very much, his senior sisters said that the protagonists were good people since the bad guys acting as the protagonist couldn't pass domestic publication censorship. The system's introduction mentioned that the protagonist suffered a miserable fate. These injuries now must also be related to the original plot.

Based on the social news he had read, 80% of the people in Golden Phoenix Manor were jealous of the protagonist's beauty and favour, and want to destroy him. They must have used medicine on his body and nails! So after careful consideration, Song 'Holmes' Qingshi concluded: "I suspect that it must have been the person who dressed you that day. I will find the murderer later and give you justice."

"No." Yue Wuhuan felt that the corners of his mouth were twitching. He didn't believe that the great Xianzun could be so stupid, but the other party seemed to be very serious about making him believe that he was stupid. He didn't know what expression to put on. Finally, he answered stiffly, "There's no need. . ."

When Song Qingshi saw this kindness, he was more sure about his guess of the protagonist. He put the spirit bead into Yue Wuhuan's hands: "This thing belongs to you, so you can put it away."

Yue Wuhuan realized that the spirit bead had not been marked with new spiritual thoughts, and he was dumbfounded.

"I studied this stuff," Song Qingshi explained, "The Acacia Seal involves a spell which is decently complicated. Medicine King's Valley has no way to solve the curse. I have asked the valley servant to go to the Night Rain Pavillion to offer a reward. The master of Night Rain Pavillion said that, although the method of explaining spells is not expensive, it's rare, and it will take some time to hear back."

Yue Wuhuan was stunned for a long time after listening, and asked in a quiet voice: "What price do I need to pay?"

Song Qingshi had been helped by many people, and no one has ever asked him for something in return. He has also helped many people and has never asked for repayment.

In his eyes, the Acacia Seal is a sin against basic human rights. It was the source of the protagonist's suffering is, like the shackles on the feet of a bird. After saving the bird, it is a matter of course to untie the shackles, and it was not worth mentioning.

So he replied casually: "You can focus on recovering and just get well with peace of mind."

The valley servant came to report that the medicine boiling in the yard was almost ready.

Song Qingshi hurriedly went out to check, lest the effect of the medicine would not achieve its desired effect.

Yue Wuhuan looked in disbelief at the spirit bead in his hand, and his noisy thoughts became more confused.

In the world he knew, things that don’t cost anything were the most expensive. . .

Medicine Master Xianzun was even more well-known in the cultivation world for being cold-blooded and cruel. He never knew the meaning of the word 'mercy'. What did he want from him? His body? His life? Or what about his soul? Yue Wuhuan thought for a long time, and couldn't help but chuckle. He tightly grasped the spirit bead in his hand, determined to make a desperate move. If it meant he could get rid of the shackles, he would do anything, even if he had to sell his soul to the devil. . .

When Yue Wuhuan saw Song Qingshi bringing the medicine in, he pondered for a moment about Song Qingshi's impression of him and what he wanted from him. His expression quickly switched to a well-behaved and weak look. He carefully raised his eyes and glanced at him secretly, showing just the right amount of gratitude, leaving himself at the mercy of Song Qingshi's treatment.

This patient was super obedient! He did whatever the doctor told him to do. No matter how disgusting the medicine tasted, he would drink it in one sip. No matter how painful or irritating the needle was, he wouldn't make a sound! He would also thank the doctor in a gentle voice. Song Qingshi took care of him with a sense of accomplishment. He hoped all the patients in the world could be as well behaved as him.

The physical regenerative skills of the wood spirit root were amazing, and the wound on the shoulder of Wuhuan would scab over in five days.

After Song Qingshi checked him over, he was allowed to get out of bed. He was ordered to spend more time in the sun and Song Qingshi proceeded to prepare for the next treatment.

The Medicine Master, whether it was the original body or the current Song Qingshi, does not care much about what he wore. Therefore, the Medicine Master rarely had shark silk or ice silk. The hospital gowns prepared by the valley servants were made of ordinary cotton, which was comfortable for ordinary people, but Yue Wuhuan felt uncomfortable with the friction of the fabric, so he dared not stray too far from the palace. He only took a few steps then stopped.

At night, Song Qingshi noticed that he was walking strangely, so he went to check on him. He didn't expect the slight touch to his collarbone. He hadn't gone down yet and he was still making a fool of himself.

Yue Wuhuan looked at Song Qingshi's stunned expression and those clear eyes that held no evil intentions. The shame that hadn't appeared for a long time came out. He couldn't help avoiding those gentle hands and curled up into the dark corner.

The contrast between purity and sex, clean and dirty, brought out the unbearable reality.

Yue Wuhuan repeated the truths he learned a long time ago in his heart over and over again.

Even if the Acacia Seal was lifted, he couldn't erase the past. . .

Song Qingshi pulled his hand back in embarrassment. He looked at the person hiding in the dark, opening his mouth, not knowing what to say.

Yue Wuhuan quickly realized that what he did was wrong. The other party had long known that he was not a clean person, and it would only be more embarrassing to try and cover it up. He quickly collected himself, and his figure slowly unfolded from the dark depths.

When he smiled and raised his eyes to look at Song Qingshi, there was a thick lust in his eyes. He licked his lips, put his hand on his belt, and said the shameful words that he was used to: "It's so hot, Xianzun wants to see look at this slave's body?"

Rather than letting someone discover he was embarrassed by his body, he would rather take the initiative to show the embarrassment. No matter what kind of contempt and humiliation he endured, as long as he convinced himself that he was a shameless bastard, his heart wouldn't be sad.

Song Qingshi woke up to what was happening before he started to strip off his clothes. He rapidly lowered all the curtains to block the spring scenery in the room.

Yue Wuhuan's ambiguous voice stopped abruptly.

Song Qingshi calmly said: "It's too late, the patient needs to rest."

Yue Wuhuan sat blankly on the bed, watching the faint figure outside the bed's canopy putting out the luminous beads, and then lighting the incense burner. The faint medicinal scent mixed with the smell of agarwood swept over, letting his feverish body gradually cool down. He slowly lay down, curling up again in the lonely darkness.

He suddenly realized that no one would be ravishing him tonight. There was no need to speak disgusting words, let alone force himself to flatter. There was no messy smell in the air, only the unspeakable clean air, which made his always vigilant mind begin to grow dizzy. His eyelids could not stay open, and he dragged into his dreamland.

There was no hell in this dream, only the fragrance of the magnolia tree outside his childhood bedroom window. . .

His body gradually relaxed and he immersed himself in this sweet dream that he hadn't experience for such a long time.

. . .

Song Qingshi stood silently outside the door for a long time, lost in his thought.

Once he was sure that Peaceful Soul Fragrance had played its role, he went back in. Holding the luminous beads, he gently opened the curtain, sat on the side of the bed, and looked at the various problems hidden in this scarred body again with his spiritual thoughts.

After a while, he withdrew his thoughts and quietly looked at Yue Wuhuan’s face. His eyes were clenched shut, and the completely relaxed youth's charming attitude had faded away. He was like a sleeping wild cat with his claws sheathed. Letting his vigilance fade away, as if forgetting the pain he had suffered and showing his true colours.

Freedom, pride, stubbornness. . .

His life should never have been what it was now.

Song Qingshi gently pulled the blanket around him. He brushed his tousled long hair carefully behind his ears, and promised in a low voice:

"I will heal you."

#mistakenly saving the villain #mistakenly saving the villain translation #english translation #chinese bl #chinese novel #yaoi novel #song qingshi #yue wuhuan

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caseyah · 4 years ago

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.flow

I just finished playing through .flow, so I think I’ll try to give my full thoughts and interpretations on a lot of I found and experienced in the game (in the form of a series of points, because my thoughts are scattered even at the best of times).

for now I will be just be tackling characters roughly in order of how relevant I believe them to be to Sabitsuki’s life and experiences, while I will talk about Sabitsuki (and, by extension, Rust) at a later time.

CHARACTERS:

Black-Haired Girl / Onigo: Sabitsuki’s life began with a death. Specifically, the death of her mother. Onigo represents the very few things Sabitsuki both remembers about her mother (her distinctive long black hair and blue dress) and what she was told by the hospital staff (the fact that she died giving birth to Sabitsuki). The reason why she dies so often in the game itself (childbirth event, every time you encounter her as Rust) is because thats all Sabitsuki can relate her with. Sabitsuki also likely feels guilt in relation to "causing” her mother’s death, as she manifests the idea in the form of the incredibly visceral Childbirth Event.

Oreko: Sabitsuki’s childhood friend, another child who either “lived” in the hospital like Sabitsuki or simply another kid who met Sabitsuki during a time she was in the hospital. Oreko would grow interested in technology and machines as she grew older, eventually becoming something of a mechanic/scientist (though Sabitsuki likely never exactly understood what Oreko’s machines were, which is probably was she internalized them as looking quite bizarre and scary). She also likely had a very big interest in the seas, explaining why she wears the divers helmet and why Sabitsuki associates her with the ocean. Oreko was Sabitsuki’s only companion in any sense throughout the majority of her life, someone who was there for Sabitsuki no matter how much abuse Sabi sustained from society or no matter how bad Sabi’s illness got. Unfortunately, Oreko’s life would eventually be cut short. Sabitsuki most likely never figured out how her best friend perished and was likely in denial about it for some time before making peace with it (Finding Oreko’s ghost requires interacting with her “alive” self a decent amount, and the area her specter is found in is relatively calm compared to most other areas containing significant characters). Oreko’s final appearance to Rust in deadhole could be the last remaining shred of “normal” Sabitsuki having one last memory of her best friend, before she disappears and only Rust remains.

School Girl/Kaibutsu Sabitsuki: Sabitsuki’s manifestation of what she once was/fears she could become again, the one who was harmed by and later took revenge on Smile and the one Sabitsuki is always running from to some extent. School was likely a very, very bad time for Sabitsuki on a personal level, possibly due to Oreko’s death (though there isn’t anything that really indicates when Oreko’s death happened in relation to Sabitsuki’s life so it could be for any currently unknown reason). Kaibutsu Sabitsuki is what Sabitsuki remembers herself as during that time: a violent monster who hurt the only person Sabitsuki was even remotely close to at the time.

Smile: Though Smile is obviously a very significant person in Sabitsuki’s life, exactly what their relationship was and Smile’s history in general is very vague. His appearance in Disposal is likely a representation of his first meeting with Sabitsuki, as he isn’t wearing his usual outfit and lacks his tattoos (their appearance while as Rust may just be because Rust always sees Smile as his “true” self) and seems to react to Sabitsuki’s presence with mild confusion more then anything else. They later met properly during school, where by this point Smile had gained his tattoos and they obviously had formed a relationship of some sort (whether it was just an acquaintanceship, a friendship, or something more significant isn’t exactly clear but Smile was at least comfortable enough around Sabitsuki to have her visit his house and meet his sister). Unfortunately, their ambiguous relationship didn’t last. Sabitsuki’s corrupted school event shows what I believe is likely the end of their relationship and the last time they ever interacted with eachother. For one reason or another, and I suspect the cause was likely Sabitsuki herself, Smile attacked Sabi in the basement of the school. On a personal level, Sabitsuki likely viewed this as an injustice against herself (even if Smile was likely only doing what had to be done) which is why Rust later imagines herself getting revenge against the boy.

The Cleaners: The Cleaners are people who “clean up” (i.e. kill) those with the illness Sabitsuki suffers from. At some point in the past, they massacred the residents of the hospital Sabitsuki was staying in (as seen in 0.16) but left her alive for whatever reason, taking her away to live an actual life beyond the hospital walls. Why they spared Sabitsuki specifically isn’t something I can explain really, but its possible she was simply much less far along in her illness compared to the others and had the potential to be “saved”. Sabitsuki likely doesn’t view the Cleaners as a threat or “enemies” as it were and rather seems fairly neutral about them despite understanding what they do on some level (as seen by obtaining the limbless effect from one’s chainsaw). The Cleaners also had a second purpose asides from their main directive: working at the Sugar Hole (or whatever its “real” equivalent may be). Given Sabitsuki’s fondness of the place (it being one of very few areas in .flow that aren’t directly threatening or foreboding in some way), its possible The Cleaners brought her to the Sugar Hole shortly after leaving the Hospital with Sabi.

The Girl In The Yellow Dress: Buried far in Sabitsuki’s subconscious are the few memories focused on a mysterious girl known only for her faded, dirty yellow dress. Though not strictly always buried far beneath (being seen in Deterioration very easily while smoking in the hall) and never reacting to Sabi’s presence, she is clearly someone Sabitsuki lost tragically and has done her best to bury all the remaining memories of. So, who is this girl? Though my theory is abit shakier thanks to just how vague a character she is, I believe the Yellow Dress Girl to have been a sex worker who briefly acted as Sabitsuki’s caretaker before she somehow met her end. Maybe through knowing the Cleaners somehow or just being in the right place at the right time, this girl ended up as the guardian to a young Sabitsuki. Working as a prostitute (either already her job or something she took up to support Sabitsuki), the young Sabitsuki grew to genuinely appreciate this girl as a motherly figure and they briefly shared a legitimately nice life together (as seen in the “sugar float days” event). However, it didn’t last, and thanks to the darker side of her job creeping up and taking over her life, the Yellow Dress Girl ended up separated from Sabitsuki and possibly even dead. Sabitsuki, unable to properly deal with the trauma of losing someone who did so much for her and she held so dearly, repressed the memories of her and pushed the Yellow Dress Girl into the furthest points of her mind, where memories of the good times were fleeting and brief while memories of the end lingered unchanging.

Little Sabitsuki: Little Sabitsuki is fairly self-explanatory: she represents how Sabitsuki remembers herself as a child, either weak and bedridden (hospital), or lost and forgotten (snow world). Little Sabi’s condition worsening as regular Sabitsuki’s does could represent just how sick Sabi truly believes she is, unable to see even her past self as anything but diseased and broken. Sabitsuki never got to experience a “proper” childhood, she has no memories beyond the hospital, the overgrown halls, and the cold.

The Inner Demon: Underneath it all, this is how Sabitsuki truly sees herself. A bloody, diseased demon who exists only to cause suffering to both the world and people around her, aswell as her self. A manifestation of all of Sabitsuki’s sins and wrongdoings in the form of a dark mirror, buried so far deep within Sabitsuki’s subconscious the idea of confronting it leads Sabi to vomit her own blood in anxiety and terror. Only once Sabitsuki sheds her sense of self and becomes Rust can she properly confront her demon. The years and years of self-loathing building up from her birth, to her disease, to the loss of her friends, to the loss of control, to the loss of her self, leads Rust to perform a metaphorical suicide as she beats the demon to death as the final action taken in her own subconscious.

Kaibutsu: What Sabitsuki fears she will become should her illness completely take over. They take the form of grown-up versions of her fellow children at the hospital, possibly meaning that she believes all of them would be doomed to become a Kaibutsu, or perhaps that she saw multiple children become Kaibutsu at the hospital.

Fetuses: Sabitsuki’s physical manifestation of her illness, only appearing by the time Rust takes over (as while Sabitsuki rejects and is terrified of the illness, Rust embraces it).

Takibi-san: A homeless girl Sabitsuki spent a small amount of time around after leaving the hospital. Sabi mostly remembers her thanks to Takibi’s distinctive pink hair, a very uncommon trait in .flow’s world.

While this is all for now, I do plan to do a similar analysis for Sabitsuki and Rust. If that goes well enough and I still feel up to it afterwards, I will do another two analysises for the maps and the effects.

#.flow #smile #oreko #smile (.flow)#analysis #.flow (game)#sabitsuki #rust #.flow spoilers #spoilers #theory

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piduai · 4 years ago

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this has been on my mind for a while, i feel like at this point women mangaka are generally just better people than their male peers. id love to hear some manga ud recommend by women, or even counterpoints, but series like Dungeon Meshi and Full Metal Alchemist (among others) handle almost every concept way better and with more tact, from writing complex stories and compelling characters, to treating women like people and not literal naked rubber dolls colored in and posed like p*rn

you are so correct and right and speak the truth. female mangaka are superior. the only thing i’d say women don’t do inherently better is technical skill, there’s a ton of men who are very artistically talented, but arts such as drawing and music are sexless because they come from within and aren’t influenced by external factors such as upbringing and culture like storytelling is. everything else though is done better by women.

the problem with female mangaka is that they’re gatekept in the industry big time. if you google ‘top selling manga of all time’ and go to the wikipedia page, there’s only one woman (kimetsu no yaiba) and she’s hiding behind a male pen name just like arakawa hiromi did when fma was publishing. neither of these are a coincidence. women are generally discouraged from pursuing writing, and if they do so they’re supposed to be kept to female-catering genres such as shoujo, josei and BL, which are all much less mainstream, aka much less known and much less money making, than shounen. women having to go behind male-sounding pen names just so men don’t feel emasculated when consuming their stories has been a thing since forever across many different cultures. misogyny is universal.

however since i personally am more into grittier stuff and i love gratuitous violence and other Mature Themes i just naturally gravitate more towards manime with all its faults. my favorite genre overall is comedy though and women ARE much funnier and wittier and more clever. female mangaka also typically avoid drawing gore, which i guess is cultural but a shame.

i’m not a manga person, i prefer watching anime, so i compiled a list of my favorite anime based on manga written by women a while ago. i am VERY picky and nitpicky and very, very difficult to please so keep in mind that the list is not comprehensive in the slightest, it’s just things that i personally liked. there’s tons of non-shoujo stuff written by women that generally have a good reputation (ao no exorcist, gangsta, kuroshitsuji, noragami, d gray man, magi, xxxholic etc etc etc) that didn’t stand out to me at all so again, short as it may be the list isn’t comprehensive in the slightest, i’m sure that people who are more easily entertained than me could come up with much more names. anyway everything else is copy-pasted, i know you know of fmab but it needs to be included because fmab is my favorite series of all times:

anime based on manga created by female writers that is in fact not heterosexual shoujo/BL garbage and i liked (bc i saw a post talking about female mangakas and all of the examples were in fact heterosexual shoujo/BL garbage that i unfortunately do not like and my anime opinions are super important obviously):

fullmetal alchemist: brotherhood (adventure/action) any comments on why fmab is the best product the anime industry has ever put on the market that will not be outranked ever is tired at this point. fmab is a masterpiece through and through. most of the cast including the mcs is male tho, which is sad

saraiya goyou (historical/drama) if fmab didn’t exist it would have been the best title out there. the word masterpiece was invented solely to have a concept to describe it. the ost makes up about 40% of its greatness and was also written by a woman. too bad all the characters are also dudes

acca: 13ku kansatsuka (drama/political) not quite as good as saraiya goyou but from ono natsume as well. pleasant is the word to describe it. relaxing. most of the cast is male.

dorohedoro (horror/gore/comedy) the best title since like 2006. everything about it is great. i don’t have a single criticism and that’s rare. the cast is actually balanced and the Female Characters™ all 3 of them are like, written like people and are also queens

hachimitsu to clover (slice of life) saddest shit i’ve seen in my whole life in a colorful packaging. heterosexual as hell but not in an obnoxious way. cast seems diverse but it’s predominantly male

3gatsu no lion (drama) from the same great umino chica who is a master at writing uncomfortable truths and playing on emotions. she’s great truly, her character crafting is genuine but it gets under your skin, it’s filled with melancholy. 3gatsu is actually better than hachimitsu to clover but 1) i have history with the former so i like it better and 2) it was produced by shaft which is a sin in itself. they did a great job and all, i just hate the studio. has 3 speaking female characters in total but all 3 are great.

hoozuki no reitetsu (comedy) it’s hilarious it’s fresh it’s pretty it’s original it’s creative it’s clever. i love everything about it. the whole cast is male with like 2 exceptions and a rabbit (best girl).

saiunkoku monogatari (historical) i know it LOOKS like heterosexual shoujo garbage but it in fact isn’t. fits the reverse harem trope solely because everyone is in love with mc, but there’s next to no actual romance in it. unironically a feminist power fantasy. i’m still shooketh at how incredibly pleasant it turned out to be. the mc is a young girl but the rest of the cast is almost exclusively male.

arakawa under the bridge (comedy) surprisingly… by shaft again. maybe i am prejudiced. anyway, hilarious to a fault. is technically centered around a str8 romance but it’s not too invasive so whatever. cast is pretty balanced and the women are written smartly.

saint oniisan (comedy) THE funniest thing i’ve ever watched, or nearly. it’s just great. same author as above. cast exclusively male

doukyuusei (gay romance) which i refuse to categorize as BL simply because it’s not BL. it’s a good gay story, arguably the best one yet. cast is exclusively male but i mean lmao

gekkan shoujo nozaki-kun (comedy) straight to A FAULT but funny nevertheless. is, technically, heterosexual shoujo garbage. but SOME heterosexual shoujo garbage can stay i guess. cast is balanced, there’s still more male characters tho

gokusen (comedy/action) which i don’t remember much about except kumiko being best girl and me liking it. if i remember liking it it means it was good overall just not memorable. cast is exclusively male except mc.

kaleido star (sports) which is the ONLY good, or like decent, or like watchable sports anime, the rest don’t exist. not based on a manga but the writer is a woman which is strongly felt through and through. good story about perseverance and will and optimism and competition. cast is predominantly female and all of them are wonderfully written

michiko to hatchin (adventure) again no manga but main writer is the woman known for creating the skating BL people pretend isn’t BL. michiko to hatchin is way better than the skating BL, but i’m just a humble girl. tons of sexy sexy i could have lived without but otherwise good shit. cast predominantly female.

mushishi (mystery/fantasy) mushishi is just unique. it has similar vibes to saraiya goyou and natsume sure, but ultimately it’s one of its kind. it has what ghibli wants. again no criticism about it at all except that it’s SO chill that binging it is super tiring. cast is predominantly male but it has few reoccurring characters so who cares.

natsume yuujinchou (mystery/fantasy) again similar to mushishi but less grim. chill story, the definition of wholesome unproblematic etc whatever kids are into these days. cast predominantly male but not memorable in the slightest

petshop of horrors (horror) watched it a million years ago so don’t remember shit but i do remember liking it. cast is probably predominantly male

sakamoto desu ga (comedy) well THE actual funniest thing i’ve ever watched, it licherally had me in tears, i watched the new episodes like 3 times on the days they came out, including watching them on tv in real time at like 3 am or whenever it aired in shinya. just really really funny. cast predominantly male.

#anon #ppl have recced me dungeon meshi so many times bc it's similar to gk one day...... one day i will check it out #then again ppl also say that vinland saga is similar to gk and boy it is not i fell asleep like 509 times while watching it so

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primepanels · 3 years ago

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A Wonder Woman Earth One Review

In case you don't know, DC's Earth One is (or was?) a line of graphic novels that are similar to Marvel's Ultimate line of comic books. They take well-known superheroes and start their stories in more modern times, then progress from there. They are separate from the mainstream DC universe.

Story: After Steve Trevor accidentally crashes Paradise Island, Diana of Amazonia leaves with him against her peoples' wishes, thinking she can bring peace to man's world. But man's world is a lot more stubborn than she thought.

My thoughts:

I have nothing against Yanick Paquette's art style. I liked that a lot. If I were writing a fantasy or superhero comic series, I'd be pleased to have him as the artist. I'd just have him avoid any fan service because that's pervy.

Grant Morrison is hit or miss, and this one is a big miss. On the plus side, most people tend to talk like normal people in this story, which seems like a rarity with Morrison these days. And I was intrigued by some of the villains, especially the one that shows up in book two.

However, I can't get behind a story that seems to be peddling a twisted version of the doctrine of original sin. Original sin is the concept that all humans are born with a proclivity to break God's holy law. That's why Jesus' death was needed to take away our sins. But Wonder Woman Earth One's conceit is that original sin seems to only apply to men. Women are born good and are then corrupted by the influence of men. The only way for most men (Steve Trevor seems to be an exception) to become good is for them to submit to having their natures brainwashed out of them by women.

Oh, and you can't trust the American government because slavery was legal at one point.

I don't think Morrison was totally serious with his whole take on the "Patriarchy vs. Wonder Woman" dichotomy, but he sure doesn't do a good job of showing any better alternatives if he isn't. It's either a world constantly at war or a fascist dystopia of love. Seriously, those are the only two worlds we see.

There's also a lot of lesbianism, which really shouldn't be a surprise in this day and age.

Even though there's some decent superheroing, it's hard for me to really support a Wonder Woman with this really messed up take on the world. I do not recommend this to anyone

For reference, here are my feelings on Grant Morrison's comics:

Books and Series I Like: All-Star Superman Batman Final Crisis #1-6 JLA

Books and Series I Don't Like: The Green Lantern Final Crisis #7 Final Crisis: Superman Beyond 3D Wonder Woman Earth One

Everything else I either haven't read or don't remember well enough to rate.

#Wonder Woman #Diana of Themyscira #Grant Morrison #Yanick Paquette #Earth One #DC Comics

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medea10 · 4 years ago

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My Review of Rent-A-Girlfriend

How did I get into this anime? Let’s just say due to a few websites I frequent around decided to be little whore-ish, I became curious by this particular title. Let’s just say they were mentioning this one at least every other day prior to the premier. So out of natural curiosity and knowing nothing of what I’m getting into, I decided to add another Friday anime to my watch list. I guess Fridays are my busy day for watching anime!

Kazuya Kinoshita is a 20 year old college student. Life seems to be going well for him until his girlfriend decides to dump him.

Not even 30 seconds into this anime and this sad-sack gets dumped!

SERIOUSLY! 18 SECONDS! NEW FRIGGIN’ RECORD!!!

So after Kazuya gets dumped, he ends up on a website and before you know it, he’s made arrangements to go on a date with a rented girlfriend! Yes, these are very much a thing. You can go to a website and pay a woman to go on a date with you. Apparently, Japan has a lot of these services and it does get a little ewwie with it so I’m gonna move on with the synopsis.

The girl he ends up going out with is named Chizuru Ichinose. The first date seemed to be going well, but Kazuya felt off by this girl. He just thought Chizuru was just playing with her clients hearts, plus he’s still a little heart-broken from his previous girlfriend, so he gives her a bad review. So when they go on their second date, Chizuru’s cutesy, sweet act is replaced with someone who is tempermental and sassy.

Just then, Kazuya gets word his grandmother collapsed!

I know it’s weird in the synopsis, but just go with it!

With word of his grandmother in the hospital, Kazuya ends up taking Chizuru to the hospital with him. Turns out Kazuya’s family jumped to the obvious conclusion that this girl is his girlfriend and they went nuts. Mostly at the fact that their son actually got a cute girlfriend! Add another layer of WTF to this cake, Chizuru’s grandmother is in this exact, same hospital as Kazuya’s grandmother. And both ladies are over the moon that these two are dating (even though that’s far from the truth). Chizuru hasn’t even told her family that she’s working at Rent-a-Waifu! Well, let’s just break things off and let the family down easy.

Oh, look! They both go to the same university. Oh look! They’re also next door neighbors. I smell shenanigans!

BETWEEN THE SUB AND THE DUB: At this moment, the only one streaming this series is Crunchyroll. A few weeks into the premier, Crunchyroll started airing a dub. As for the sub, this is my first time really listening to the main lead’s seiyuu, Shun Horie. But the rest of the cast has a nice mixture of memorable voices like Aoi Yuuki, Rie Takahashi, Sora Amamiya, Gakuto Kajiwara…oh fuck!

DAMMIT ASTA, STOP HAUNTING MY EAR-DRUMS!

As for the dub, Crunchyroll is currently publishing an episode once a week. The dub is just okay in my opinion, really nothing to write home about. The only thing I can say is that Aleks Le did a fairly-decent job voicing Kazuya. After voicing Zenitsu last year, he’s got a knack for voicing wimpy twats. Here’s what you might recognize these folks from.

JAPANESE CAST: *Kazuya is played by Shun Horie

*Chizuru is played by Sora Amamiya (known for Toka on Tokyo Ghoul, Aqua on Konosuba, Miia on Monster Musume, Akame on Akame ga Kill, Elizabeth on Seven Deadly Sins, and Yachiyo on Magia Record)

*Mami is played by Aoi Yuuki (known for Iris on Pokemon BW, Madoka on Madoka Magica, Kayo on ERASED, Yuuki on SAO II, Tatsumaki on One Punch Man, Tamaki on Fire Force, and Kinako on Inazuma Eleven GO)

*Ruka is played by Nao Touyama (known for Chitoge on Nisekoi, Koga on Bunny Girl Senpai, Nii on Blue Exorcist, Akira on Kono Oto Tomare, Momo onAi Tenchi Muyo

ENGLISH CAST: *Kazuya is played by Aleks Le (known for Zenitsu on Demon Slayer and Ake on Shield Hero)

*Chizuru is played by Lizzie Freeman (known for Cardinal on SAO: Alicization, Iwanaga on In/Spectre, Trish on Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure Pt. 5, and Felicia on Magia Record)

*Mami is played by Laura Stahl (known for Ray on The Promised Neverland)

*Ruka is played by Sarah Williams (known for Sayaka on Madoka Magica, Felix on Re:Zero, Nonon on Kill la Kill, Mirai on Boruto, Lisbeth on SAO, and Puck on Berserk 2016)

DISLIKED CHARACTER: And now, a poem…

Roses are red Mami’s a cunt…

That’s the poem.

SHIPPING: I can honestly say I didn’t expect the Rent-a-Girlfriend and the Ex-Bitch to meet each other in the second episode. Even after going on a few dates with Chizuru, Kazuya still finds himself “beating his meat” to the thought of his ex, Mami. Only for the girls to beat your meat to change places just a few episodes later!

Oh yes, it’s that kind of series! Kazuya jacks off quite a bit.

Kazuya x Chizuru: At times it feels like Kazuya is really falling for Chizuru for who she really is and not the façade she puts up as a rental girlfriend. But I guess the number of awkward setups and situations these two have been thrown in throughout the series can do that to Kazuya. I mean, how else do you expect Kazuya jacking it off to Chizuru when he’s trying to think of his ex?! Yeah, he’s lied to his family, Chizuru’s grandmother, and all of his friends about this relationship and this relationship is as fake as a three-dollar bill. But there are a few genuine moments that show these two care for each other. Kazuya was ballsy enough to jump off a moving boat to save Chizuru when she fell overboard. And Kazuya felt concerned when Chizuru was thinking about leaving the rental girlfriend profession. Though that could be Kazuya being a pathetic sack of shit and wanting to continue this farce relationship and paying a girl for some attention! It’s so hard to say something kind about Kazuya wanting this relationship to work. But for what it’s worth, I like the farce ship better than the next thing I’m going to speak about.

Kazuya x Mami: I don’t like this bitch and I hate this ship. From the get-go you go in hating this succubus. And when we see her again in episode 2, bitches be bitches! Getting drunk in a public setting and making fun of Kazuya not being man enough for her (in the sexual sense). Then, we get Mami trying to go home with Kazuya when Chizuru is gone. But we don’t stop there, she’s trying at every opportunity to make Kazuya drop everything and fall in love with her again. She’s the one that dumped him, but can’t stand seeing Kazuya with anyone else (no matter the awkward circumstances). It’s clear that Mami has severe jealousy issues. I mean, Chizuru is prettier and nicer than Mami. Meanwhile, Mami is a manipulative scum-wad with the charm of a poisonous snake.

Kazuya x Ruka: Ruka was a rental girlfriend from a different agency and was on a double date with Kazuya, Chizuru, and Kazuya’s idiot friend that sounds like Asta. But due to several misunderstandings between Kazuya and Ruka, turns out Kazuya is the only man to get her heart rate up. So Ruka cuts ties with the idiot friend who hired her and has set sights on Kazuya. And she will fight for her man no matter what. She’s even ballsy enough to interrupt Kazuya’s family celebration of New Years by coming in like an asteroid to fuck things up. At this point in the series, Kazuya’s grandmother is dead-set on him marrying Chizuru. Any other girl is shit compared to her! But Ruka will continue to do her thing. Even applying to the same job that Kazuya works at!

Kazuya x Sumi! You expect me to say something about this? They had one bleeping date! And she’s barely seen outside of the opening and ending themes. If there’s more interactions in season two, holla back at me because this ain’t happening. Although, I’ll support the fuck out of this ship over Kazuya x Mami!

BIG SIMPIN’: So being an older millennial (or X-ennial as I’m currently classified under), I am not hip to the lingo of these youngins. Because of Kazuya, the internet uproared by calling him a phrase known as a “simp”. Well, I don’t want to seem like some out-of-touch boomer. So I’m just going to look up this “simp” term and see if this is legitimate. Let’s see what the Slang-tionary says.

“Simp is a slang insult for men who are seen as too attentive and submissive to women, especially out of a failed hope of winning some entitled sexual attention or activity from them.”

Okay. I think it’s time for the rap interlude of this review.

I don't know what you heard about him But a bitch will get every dollar out of him No cherry-poppin’ as you can see That he’s a motherfucking S-I-M-P

ENDING: Being a rental girlfriend isn’t something Chizuru wants to do, but this gives her practice in what she really wants to do, which is become an actor. And as of recently, Chizuru has been thinking about quitting the rental girlfriend agency. So what would happen if Chizuru quit being a rental girlfriend? That’s a question for another day and another season!

So only a few people have learned about Kazuya and Chizuru’s relationship being the most complicated farce in anime history. Halfway into the series with Ruka’s introduction, she caught on about Chizuru being a rental girlfriend. And because of that incident, Kazuya decided to come clean to his idiot friend, Shun. When Shun hired Ruka to be his rental girlfriend, dude was on top of the world. But when Ruka exposed what he did in front of Kazuya, Shun got severely depressed. Kazuya decides to pay for Chizuru to take Shun out on a date. That’s when Shun finds out that Kazuya hired Chizuru after Mami dumped him.

You know what? I have to spring this up! How long did you think Kazuya was going to hide the rental girlfriend thing to his friends? He’s friends with a bunch of stinkin’ virgins. Lonely, stinkin’ virgins! Plus, if Chizuru is rated #1 on a Google search for top rental girlfriends (as it was established in episode 10), I’m surprised no one else caught on, including the grandmothers. Kazuya’s grandmother is constantly playing on her smart phone. Shun is on the internet all the time. I’m surprised there isn’t an annoying pop-up ad in Japanese Google that would flash at them at any point saying, “Meet legal Japanese chicks in your area” redirecting them to the rental girlfriend website. Followed by giving you a gnarly computer virus!

Well, we’re 10 episodes in a 12 episode series. Why not finally introduce the fourth girl that we’ve been seeing in the opening and ending themes all season?! Chizuru asked Kazuya for a favor to go out with the new rental girlfriend at the agency to help boost her confidence. Enter, Sumi! The best way to describe this silent, moe-blob is a less busty version of Mikuru Asahina. Kazuya and Sumi’s date went over somewhat okay. Kazuya saved Sumi from a bunch of thugs. And while Sumi was silent throughout the entire date, she managed to squeak out a thank you at the end. So not a bad date, right?

Unfortunately, during the date, Mami saw them and trailed them. And it went down just as you would imagine! Mami confronts Kazuya, Kazuya comes up with some bullshit lie to Mami, Sumi is still silent, and Mami is up to no good after she leaves.

Because Mami learned Sumi’s full name, she went to the internet to find a profile or something on a social network. That’s when Mami learned that not only Sumi was a rental girlfriend, but Chizuru as well. It’s not so bad that Shun knows about Chizuru, but if Mami finds out, game over. Game over, Kazuya! So what happens next?

Mami catfished Chizuru by calling her out for a date using the rental girlfriend website! Then they go to the karaoke bar Kazuya works at for their “date”.

GAME OVER KAZUYA! GAME OVER! You lost all 5 lives. Please return to world 1 and may God have mercy on your simpin’ ass!

Kazuya watched their date from a distance (and this time he didn’t get caught eavesdropping like the last time he followed Chizuru). And after a cute mention of the singers to the opening and ending theme to the series, Mami and Chizuru end their date with an exchanging of words. All this proved is that Mami is still a jealous bitch with a dead look in her eyes and Chizuru likes Kazuya. We think! Either Chizuru meant what she said to Mami or she’s a really good actress. When Chizuru came back to the apartment complex, Kazuya met her outside and thanked her for what she said to Mami followed by a confession.

Ah yes, a confession of love! As the credits roll, we see flashbacks of the past 12 episodes and end the series on a cute note and a possible opening to an OVA and we can end from…

Oh wait, there’s more!

Kazuya says he wants Chizuru to continue being his rental girlfriend. Because he knows she’s planning on quitting the rental girlfriend business! So he smooths that over! Both played this off with a wary poker face, but behind closed doors, they are sweating bullets.

OH, and season two has been green-lit. Fabulous!

This anime was addicting to watch. I don’t know if it was as addicting as Uzaki-chan. Then again, I picked to watch Rent-a-Girlfriend over Uzaki-chan. But this was an addicting train-wreck! Watching this dumbass try to fool his family and friends that he really was able to get a cute girlfriend for a full year! How the hell could anyone fall for that mess? People still watched this dumpster fire of a relationship right, so why bitch about the stupidity of Simpy McSimperson over here? I am glad we’re getting a second season because we really didn’t get a chance to see much of Sumi. I know she’s no contender when you put her next to the great Chizuru, but good golly, give this girl some screentime aside from the one episode she got. They made her seem like she was going to be a big player in this anime, but only getting a bit role. I also want to see if Mami is going to redeem herself from the cunt we saw since 18 seconds into the series. I seriously doubt it, but it just gives me more reason to cuss at the computer, calling her every horrible name in the book. And as for Ruka…there’s nothing to say. She’s just gonna be second best no matter what the fuck happens.

As addicting as this anime was, I can’t ignore how many times I had to facepalm at every, stupid action done by Kazuya. I mean, several times per episode, butt-for-brains does something stupid that makes us say, “Dude, WTF” or “Bruh”. Lying to your family, lying to your friends, giving a bad review to your rental girlfriend for giving you great service, jacking it to your ex when you’re clearly hot for Chizuru, following a guy around because he spends the day with Chizuru, and it just goes on and on! You want to root for this twerp in hopes he gets the girl of his dreams in the end, but at the same time, you’re like, “This guy is a total dink.”

Oh, let’s see what season two has to offer…whenever that comes.

In the meantime, if you’d like to check out Rent-A-Girlfriend, Crunchyroll has all 12 episodes available in both sub and dub.

#anime review #rent a girlfriend #kanojo okarishimasu #kazuya kinoshita #chizuru ichinose #mami nanami #ruka sarashina #sumi sakurasawa

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obeymematches · 4 years ago

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May I request a matchup please? I’m a straight female, in my early twenties. I’m a Hufflepuff and proud! I’ve got shoulder length brown/blonde hair, and green eyes they tend to shift in color with what I wear. I’m a rather soft spoken individual, and I’ve been told my voice is rather soothing. (1)

As for my personality, I’m a typical introvert. Shy when you meet me, but I’ll come out of my shell pretty quickly. Especially when I’m around people you genuinely want to get to know me. When I get excited about things I rush through what I’m saying and stumble over my words. I’m incredibly easy to fluster! And I can’t take a compliment to save my life! I get flustered when my family compliment me, so forget a stranger. You’d see me shine like a beacon from space.(2) I’m most comfortable with family and close friends, but I don’t mind meeting knew people. I just kinda have to be forced into it. I love reading all kinds of things, but I do think fanfics tend to be some of my favorites! I love seeing how authors take cannon and flip it on it’s head! I’ve also been known to mildly( completely) obsess over my favorite fandoms. I love cooking and I adore kids! ( I’m a nanny ) I love the outdoors. (3) Long walks on old road, open fields, and getting lost( figuratively) in the forests are some of my favorite things to do! I love all sorts of water! And most water related sports. I have horrendous balance generally, but you can’t through me off in I’m water. I think that’s about it. I hope you’re having a lovely morning/day/night! ❤️

Hiii ❤️❤️

thank you for sendin in a request!! I hope you like the result! ✨✨✨

hmmm okay so for you I had Leviathan, Satan and Simeon on my mind. (though I think you and Barbatos would get along so well too! like you don’t share interests so the connection wouldn’t be based on that, but that doesn’t mean it would be bad, it’s just a different dynamic.) ok so this was a bit of a hard decision, you didn’t really mention anything about your ideal partner / dynamic and tbh that would have a great influence on who to pick for you. but i accept a challenge 😤

okay so after some thinking i decided to match you with Satan!

ok so i’m not big into HP & the lore but as far as i know hufflepuffs are super kind and love animals and helping others. so Satan might seem like a little bit of an odd candidate but opposites attract right? i think deep down he just adores and respects how you can be sweet and helpful to others even if you’re not their friend. he might try and take advantage of that at first (not judging but he is a demon yk) but here is the thing. as a nanny you are probably really patient and nurturing with a sense of morality. which means you’re probably a decent choice for some spiritual guidance which he seeks sm! so there you go, see how easy it was to win him over! all that just by keep being yourself!

in addition i think he’d prefer an introverted partner as in canon he likes a partner who minds their own business sometimes, even if they are in the same room. which is fine!

your soothing voice affecting him when he is going through with issues regarding his sin or an identity crisis... this could be made into a one-shot..

ok so two introverts is a couple who never argues about the destination or the type of a date!

though be prepared for some social interactions and situations as Asmo is the closest brother to him, so yeah . though Satan himself would never force you into social situations, in fact you’d have each other as an excuse to ditch Asmo’s great party idea

hmm he is probably going to be a tease about complimenting you, though he isn’t just giving away those on the regular. so you know when he compliments you he actually means it so it’s even more frustrating.. but come on girl, consider self worth😤 it’s time to put on that crown👸

okay so you say you like to read in your free time, but tbh as i already mentioned in the introduction, even if you don’t share the exact same interests with someone it can be an amazing relationship. i mean, in his case it’s not that much of a difference - as he is a major bibliophile - besides genre and fandoms. but what i’m saying is that it’s nothing that he couldn’t get behind. he’d probably recommend some of his favourites and vica versa! also i think he’d do his best to listen to you talk about whatever is on your mind at a time. he just love spending time observing you, your gestures and listening to your voice is really just something else to him!!

ok so since you’re a hufflepuff and according to my knowledge you love animals it’s also great as that means you’ll help him take care of strays when needed, even if you might have to be sneaky about it sometimes

Oh he loves going on adventures sm too!! he’d def recommend some rare sightings around the Devildom to show you and watch together! dw about danger he’s strong enough to protecc when needed!

the fact that you are mature enough to cook with / for him is also a big green flag in his case! though most of the time it would be you two doing it together like in an equal, well-balanced, healthy relationship. (you’d only do it alone in case you wanted to suprise him w/ his fav food) he’d make sure his schdule is always free / flexible enough to do such chores with you!

obviously he’s not as much into water as his older brother, who you’d also get along with and be best friends with without Satan trying to sabotage it which is again, a major green flag. (the other way around it might be a bit more complicated as Levi gets jealous more easily, while Satan is mostly fine within reason & as long as you ignore Lucifer - but even then he wouldn’t be upset at you, but him)

also if you support romantic relationships based on being best friends then he’s also a decent choice!!

#obey me #om!#obey me swd #obey me satan #om! satan #obey me shall we date #obey me matchup

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allthebest20 · 4 years ago

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A Simple Favor (2018)

This movie was surprisingly good? I’d give it a 6 or 7 out of 10. To be honest, I already wrote a review for this that I liked, but it didn’t save, so I partly want to recreate those thoughts, and I partly want to give up. I thought the plot was decently smart and interesting, the characters believable and funny, the dialogue natural enough, the ending satisfying.

It is a very trendy plot: encapsulating the hot-lady-murder-mystery trope, the single-white-female trope, and the hot-lady-narcissist-psychopath trope. I mean, as a young white lady, I don’t dislike these tropes. I love watching hot woman, like Blake Lively, just doing mundane stuff or, even better, being cunning and mean to people. I mean, that’s why we watched Gossip Girl, right? It’s definitely why I watched Pretty Little Liars. More and more it feels like directors just pick hot people to do the job of actors, and that frustrates me. However, here, Lively isn’t just hot, she actually does a pretty good job. Herself a rich mother with a celebrity husband, I can see why she does so well playing the wealthy narcissist working mother with the troubled background. It’s also easy to imagine that the narcissist-psychopath character is not a difficult character to create. This is because 1. most actors (and most people) are a bit narcissistic and 2. writers rarely give these characters complex thought processes. Sure, there’s usually trauma there, but that fades into being blindly motivated by self-interested and anger. Unlike “regular people,” these characters do not often their options or consider factors outside themselves. In that way, they are not very complicated. I’ve never met anyone who truly follows this trope, but I’ve also never met a serial killer. It’s almost like Hollywood’s current obsession with those two plot lines (serial killers and hot lady psychopaths) is a way to take about gendered evils. Almost as if these psychopaths are the female equivalent of a serial killer, and, at least in this case, Lively’s character does have a body count. However, the victims she leaves dead, her sister and her father, arguably deserved it. Her lovers, who she uses, do not, but she does not kill either of the two featured. Real life male serial killers are sometimes thought to kill family members, but mostly, they kill their intimate partners. So, I would argue that there is no female equivalent of the serial killer phenomenon. I also don’t mean to imply here that all narcissists are psychopaths, because there are a lot of people with NPD who are just trying to manage their systems, deal with their trauma, and live a healthy life in our fucked up society. But hot women with compromised morality are a big threat to cishet white men, who don’t have to worry about serial killers, date rape, or hate crimes, so I”m sure that plays into the commonality of the trope and the demonizing of people with NPD. It’s not to say that I have not heard about dangerous lady psychopaths, but they aren’t usually serial killers. They are con-artists and domestic abusers. Of course, Hollywood has no interest in showing what a real domestic abuse situation perpetrated by a women looks like. No one wants to talk about people being hit and emotionally abused by their female partners. Lively’s character is a domestic abuser who seems to manipulate and emotionally tear down her husband, played by cutie Henry Golding, but this is mostly alluded to, not displayed. There is one scene where Lively pulls a gun on him in a restaurant and forces him to say bad things about Kendrick’s character, but that’s more fantasy than reality.

What separates this movie from others of lesser quality, besides the acting and the dialogue, is the way the plot unfolds and the character’s motivating forces. If Lively had nothing on Kendrick or if Kendrick was really as goody-two-shoes as she makes herself out to be, then nothing would make sense. Kendrick’s secret though is perfectly believable and well-aligned with her character: sleeping with her long lost half-brother after her beloved father’s funeral. I like how Kendrick tries to play it cool, tries to pretend like they only made out, her desire to finally share her darkest secret tied with her sensibility to keep it hidden from this mysterious stranger. I love the way their relationship and their backgrounds are slowly unfurled to the audience. The way the director splices together scenes of the two leading characters revealing their secrets and their flaws, is simply enthralling. The woman are both very alike (haunted by personal past mistakes and dead/dying family members), but while Kendrick takes steps to make things better for the people around her, Lively does the opposite. Kendricks biggest mistake was her first ones: sleeping with her half-brother (ew), carrying his baby to term (um?), and not telling her husband (sigh... understandable, but side note: were they married before she slept with her brother or did they get married quickly after because she got pregnant? why wasn’t he at her father’s funeral?This alludes to either her sleeping with him more than once OR the baby isn’t the brother’s but she still feels responsible for her husband thinking it could be). However, it isn’t her fault that they both die, it’s her crazy husband who drove them off the road. He seemed like not a nice guy, even though she said that he was great. Finally, her last sin, of sleeping with Golding, who she thought was a widower, and moving into Lively’s life. Not ideal, sure, but there was something between them, and they thought Lively (the bitch) was dead. Everything else she does is to find out the truth.

Lively, on the other hand, starts by helping her sister kill her abusive father (I can get behind tbh), then exploits a hard working artist (:/), lies and cons her husband (:( ), kills her addict sister (she is blackmailing her but... :( ), and finally tries to kill both Kendrick and Golding (:(( ).

The only other thing I have to comment on is the use of bisexuality. It seems like a lot of narcissist/psychopaths/liars in Hollywood are bisexual, which is not great representation. It’s supposed to show how the psychopath does not view sex and attraction as an intimidate thing, but a tool to get what they want from a person of any gender. Did Lively secretly love Kendrick? Maybe a little bit in the beginning? Besides that kiss, there’s little to no evidence of that. The kiss is what makes it so single-white-female-y, shows how desperate Kendrick is to make a connection, to be known and loved.

Overall, I enjoyed it, and I would recommend it.

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