#but life is just so mean to her that her romanticist idealism has turned into her holding onto those ideals out of sheer spite

[note-boom]

The best thing about BSD Lucy Montgomery is that she is trying so hard to live her fairy tale dream, like asking Atsushi to save her from the Guild and all that nonsense.

Instead, she just gets beaten by him once when they're enemies, gets out of the Guild on her own, and has to save that sorry boy's life over and over again.

Like, sorry, Lucy girl...you're not the damsel in distress in this fairy tale. You're the prince charming who had a bit of a villain arc and now is doing good out of sheer spite and stubborness. Better luck next arc?

[gukyi]

21st century love | jjk

summary: you and fellow film student jeon jungkook have been clashing heads all semester in your realistic fiction and 21st century film class, because jungkook thinks that rom-coms are meant to express the beauty of love, and you think that they’re ploys by hollywood to tell people that they can achieve love by engaging in consumerism. but when you’re assigned to create your own stereotypical romantic comedy short film, jungkook takes it upon himself to show you just how attainable love can really be. 

{enemies to lovers!au, college!au}

pairing: jeon jungkook x reader genre: fluff word count: 1k warnings: none a/n: thank you to @ggukcangetit​ for commissioning me for this piece!! this is from my fic titles ask game, and honestly if i had the time i would 100% turn this into a full fic. who knows, maybe one day i will!!!

You love your Realistic Fiction and 21st Century Film professor as much as the next student, but she is an evil person. An evil person who paired you up with none other than Jeon Jungkook for the final project—a project worth fifty (fifty!) percent of your grade—on purpose. What on earth was she thinking? Did she think it would be fun for you? Did she think it would be a learning experience? Or maybe she just enjoys watching her students crash and burn, watch them slowly lose their minds as they are forced to endure modern-day hell: a group project.

The fact of the matter is, out of all of the students in your sixty-person lecture, Jeon Jungkook is the last person you’d want to be paired up for this project. You’d even be more willing to work with the sleazy kid in the back who comes to every class hungover as hell and sleeps through the entire ninety-minute period. At least you would find out good places to get drunk. 

You don’t even give Jeon Jungkook the satisfaction of entering his contact into your phone—leaving it as a random number because you already see his stupid name as a comment on all of your discussion board posts anyway. As if raising his hand to rebuke you in class on a daily basis isn’t enough. 

You didn’t take Realistic Fiction and 21st Century Film just so you could sit around watching 500 Days of Summer and She’s the Man all day long. You took it because 21st century film, at least in your eyes, has become so manufactured, so cookie cutter, the same plotline and carbon copy characters, and you were curious to see if any historians and movie buffs had the same jaded outlook as you. But it seems that you sit on one end of the spectrum, and Jeon Jungkook, hopeless romantic and grossly optimistic, sits on the other. 

The safest place for the two of you to meet is a group study room on the second floor of the main library on campus, one where you can lock the door so no eavesdropping ears can hear you, and one where you have a strict time limit of an hour and thirty minutes before another person comes along to kick you out. 

You and Jeon Jungkook reach the room at the same time, coming from opposite entrances so you can glare at each other with every step you take. 

“So nice to see you,” Jungkook says, too cheerful, as you reach out to open the door. 

“Mmm,” you mumble in response as you enter the group study room, flinging your backpack onto the floor by your chair with a thud as you take a seat. 

Jungkook, not at all outwardly discouraged by your clear disdain for him, rallies on. “So, what were you thinking for the project? Oh, wait, let me guess: a social commentary on the consumerist ideals that underline every modern movie and encourage the pursuit of an empty dream by abandoning concrete career and personal goals in favor of romantic fulfillment.”

You frown at him, even though that’s exactly what you were thinking of doing. 

“You know that romantic comedies are supposed to be fun, right?” Jungkook says with a raise of his eyebrows. 

“They’re not that fun to me,” you comment snidely. 

“That’s because you’re a stick in the mud who takes everything way too seriously,” Jungkook replies. “Have you ever even been in a relationship?”

“That’s none of your business,” you tell him firmly. “Besides, you asking that is exactly my point. Not everything has to be about finding love and searching for your soulmate or whatever bullshit like that. Some people don’t really care that much.”

“You don’t have to abandon all of your life goals just to find love, you know,” Jungkook says pointedly. “It doesn’t have to be the most important thing in your life for you to even care about it a little.”

“Romantic comedies are propaganda made by modern Hollywood to turn relationships into manufactured goods made specifically for our mass consumption,” you say with a scowl. “They have nothing to do with what love really is.”

“Well,” Jungkook says with his arms crossed over his chest, “then what do you think love really is?”

You frown at him. “Does it matter?”

“Yes,” Jungkook says like it’s obvious. “This project is about filming a short romantic comedy, about people falling in love with each other. How do you expect me to do that if we don’t reach a mutual agreement on what love is?”

You scoff. “There is no way in hell I am going to agree with you on anything concerning love.” Jeon Jungkook flutters from one person to the next like a butterfly desperate for a lasting relationship full of commitment and love. Every week he’s dating somebody new. And yet, still, he keeps looking. Pretty soon he’ll run out of people on campus to talk to. He is the last person you would ever take relationship advice from. 

“Then what are we supposed to do, huh?” He says with an eyebrow raised. “We have a month to make a movie that’s fifty percent of our grade.”

“The social commentary is still on the table,” you point out. Sure, it’s not at all a romantic comedy, but it’s about them, which is good enough in your book. Besides, your professor has been teaching you the entire semester, hasn’t she? She should know by now not to expect some cushy lovey-dovey story about two people who were destined to be with each other and can overcome all obstacles with their love. 

What on earth she was thinking when she paired you up with Jungkook, you suppose you’ll never know. 

“You’re such a Negative Nancy,” Jungkook comments with a roll of his eyes. “All you ever do is talk about how consumerism strips away our personalities and how manufactured Hollywood movies are and how people are just cogs in the wheel of capitalism. You don’t even stop to look around at all the positives of our society. Like true love, like the joy that people bring each other. You’re just filled with gloom and doom.”

“Then what are you going to do about it?” You challenge. Sure, Jungkook hit the nail on the head, but that doesn’t mean that he’s any better. Disillusioned people are dangerous. They dream about things instead of doing them. They block out all of the problems with the world in favor of an impossible utopian society where you want for nothing. 

You remember high school literature. The realists and the romanticists never got along. 

It doesn’t seem that much has changed. 

“Just you wait,” Jungkook says, wringing his hands together before he turns on you, staring you down with a mischievous glint in his eye. “Let’s do something like Love, Actually. A bunch of different love stories weaved together, except less depressing and sexist.” Your brows are furrowed in worry at the look of determination on his face. “And you’re going to see how beautiful love really is. How happy it makes people feel.”

You scoff in disbelief. Your professor has been trying to convince you of the beauty of love ever since you went to her first office hours at the beginning of the semester. What makes Jungkook so sure he can do this in the month you have left?

“Yeah, and how do you plan on doing that?” You prompt him. 

Jungkook grins. “One of those love stories will be ours.”

↳ links are broken, but don’t forget i’m still taking commissions!

[madamhatter]

‘ROMANCE’ Headcanons Dashgame

TAGGED BY: @bigcasinc​

TAGGING: @heartshredded / @obscuritcs / @diverse-hearts / @inhumansanguine / @memorytides / + anyone else who’d like to! just tag me, please!

Name: Sophie Hatter

Nickname(s): Sofee, Phie, Grandma/Nana, Gray Mouse, Madame Sorceress, etc.  Gender: Cis female (she/her) Romantic orientation: Identifies as “questioning” and hasn’t ventured to label her attraction. Officially pansexual, panromantic. 

Preferred pet names: She wouldn’t be one to suggest a pet name. Though, she is rather soft at her partner referring to her as “dear,” “love,” and “sweetheart.” The last one would take her a while to get to. But, she is the type to enjoy more classic/old terms of affection.   Relationship status: Verse dependent. She’s either single, engaged/married, or dating. 

Favorite canon ship(s): Sophie/Howl for life, dudes. Favorite non-canon ship(s): I never considered shipping her with anyone else in her series--. Opinion on true love: Seen as something wonderful to believe in for others. She believes that “true love” isn’t possible for her; it’s already ingrained in her that wouldn’t amount to much. Though, it actually existing is something she isn’t confident in. The idea of true love is curious to her. Even if she doesn’t believe in it, she likes the sound of it. If her repressed emotions turn bitter and resentful, she will see it as “bullshit.”  Opinion on love at first sight: “Love at first sight” isn’t possible. Infatuation and attraction are possible on a physical level for most. She believes people confuse between “infatuation” and “love” far too often.  How romantic are they: Sophie Hatter is someone who is a heavy romanticist who keeps that private. Generally, she has spent her days through her duties and responsibilities with her mind sometimes removed from reality. She likes to think of how different life could be or the very different people she could’ve been.  Ideal physical traits: Sophie never truly has expressed a particular type of interest towards one person or another. She does favor different aspects like the idea of long hair that way she could comb her fingers through it. But, her fingers can easily go through short hair or hold someone’s hand. Eye color, hair color? Height? She really doesn’t have a preference even then. Ideal personality traits: Mainly, someone who demonstrates a strong sense of upholding family (which is defined differently for everyone), able to make a “hair-raising” time,  and empathetic to her own shortcomings/inadequacies. However, there isn’t much to this section.  Unattractive physical traits: None! Unattractive personality traits: Selfishness, inability to empathize--. It’s hard to pin it down but she wouldn’t mesh well with someone who is primarily apprehensive and sees the world as black-and-white, unnecessarily harsh.  Ideal date: It would usually be areas that have lush plants like a garden or greenery, a library, or somewhere that is particularly serene. She isn’t one to enjoy places that have a lot of people. But, with time, she will be more willing to suggest things like a carnival.  Do they have a type: I don’t think so, honestly. There’s a pattern of what people she’s been shipped with but, they are not necessarily her type.  Average relationship length: Her relationships, on average, have usually been over a year and several months. She isn’t one to suddenly drop a relationship within months if she’s romantically invested. But, this does depend on the verse. She isn’t one for relationships that are volatile and are on-off since putting that much time into something that disappears after a month or two isn’t love.   Preferred non-sexual intimacy:   Sophie is very much into experiencing new things, given her shut-in and lack of normal experiences in her life. She is very much joining her partner together with hobbies they like which their interests interset like gardening, cooking, knitting/creating things, etc. One big thing she’ll love would be slow dancing with her partner. 

Quiet and small forms of intimacy in private are her favorite too. Reclining against her while she’s reading or nodding off to sleep, holding hands while watching the rain, or chaste kisses on the side of the head. She’ll be one who initiates these actions without much of a word. But, she’ll stop if her partner asks.  Commitment level: Oh, commitment is probably the biggest aspect of Sophie. Loyalty until death because this woman will go too far out of her way for the people she cares and loves to make sure everything is right. However, she is 100% loyal to the fault that she will make selfish decisions on her own end for the other person to be happy. 

Even in situations or relationships that may be out of her power like arranged marriages, she will definitely keep her side of the bargain. Of course, she will definitely act differently and much more of her dislike of the circumstances will be visible and completely disclosed to the other. But, it isn’t like she’s the only one stuck in the situation. And it’s better her to be in that spot than her sisters. Lord have mercy if someone tried anything with her sisters. Opinion on public affection: Sophie approaches public affection just like the grey mouse she is. She’s modest and keen on being conscious of how others think about her in public. However, it’s more that she’s keen on not drawing attention onto herself and her partner. Though, she does have her limits to what she’ll like to see in public (and what she and her partner can do). Holding hands, linking arms, and quick kisses are acceptable in her book. But, it is off-putting for her to either participate or see a couple who are getting more “touchy” like grabbing behinds, making out, etc. By no means would she ever do in that in public and she hopes her partner knows better too.  Past relationship(s): Verse dependent. Has truthfully never been on a date in most scenarios but would’ve kissed several girls when younger. Being physical with someone is something that rarely happens pre-established in a verse. 

[niteowlsabinewren]

The Jane Eyre rejection scene vs. the proposal scene in TLJ (or the “say it” moment)

We’re all aware that Kylo Ren is, practically, Space Darcy. BUT I feel it’s a pity the Jane Eyre parallels (which are as strong or perhaps even more so – forgive my biased, Brontesque heart) often remain slightly overlooked.

So how about this little moment?

The proposal scene in TLJ:

Kylo Ren: You’re still holding on! Let go!

Kylo Ren: Do you know the truth about your parents? Or have you always known? You’ve just hidden it away. Say it.

Rey (in tears): They were nobody.

The famous proposal / rejection scene in “Jane Eyre”, 2011 film adaptation:

St. John Rivers: I know where your heart turns and to what it clings.

(Jane hesitates, teary eyed.)

St. John Rivers: Say it. Say it. Say it!

It’s worth noting that St. John River’s character (played by Jamie Bell) diverges considerably from the novel. And honestly, I’m glad he does. The film version is one of a more flawed, vulnerable and conflicted human being. He gives an impression of a man genuinely in love with Jane – although this love is imperfect, tainted with egoism and possessiveness. St. John calculates, and his calculation is simple:

Since Jane is a fatherless and motherless orphan, and since fate has literally brought her to his door, he hopes she would be easy to persuade to become his wife and join him in his missionary work in India (bringing new order to some part of the galaxy/world). St. John River is something of a zealot, and is ready to give his life for his ideals (does any of this ring any… bells?)

Whereas Kylo Ren’s character… should I really write more on his character in the flood of information we know about him, by now?

So let me just point out the main difference between St. John and Kylo Ren:

The SAY IT moment.

Kylo Ren and St. John literally start from the same perspective (“you’re still holding on”; “I know… what (your heart) clings to”). They are equally frustrated and demand their requests be met.

However…

St. John, after two measured, but icy say its, sadistically growls at Jane to say Rochester’s name (which is Jane’s deepest secret, just as truth of Rey’s parents is to Rey). This is a 180 degrees turn from the soft-spoken, rational protestant priest he was before and Jane (Mia Wasikowska) visibly winces at his sudden cruelty.

In stark contrast, Kylo Ren (the prototypical sinner, a patricide and an apostate from Jedi religion) painstakingly reins in his frustration. Instead of commanding Rey to confess her self-deception, he softly nudges her in the direction of the truth that he knows will set her free (as a side note: effectively behaving more like a true Christian than the good pastor here).

It’s even more interesting if we go back to the source novel and see that Jane’s refusal wasn’t an easy one (Charlotte Bronte, “Jane Eyre”, Chapter XXXIV):

“I shuddered as he spoke: I felt his influence in my marrow — his hold on my limbs.”

This pretty much sounds like a Dark Side influence 101.

Which brings me to this little speculation…

The way the proposal scene is played out in TLJ strongly suggests that Rey indeed had to struggle, even if for a moment, against the temptation to give in to Kylo Ren’s arguments. These arguments – just like St. John’s – are pretty rational given the time and the circumstances: the devastating civil war between Jedi and Sith, the rebels and the Empire, Rey being abandoned and betrayed not only by her parents, but also by a system at large (where was New Republic when orphans like Rey and the rest of the downtrodden needed it the most? Etc.)

Also, it doesn’t mean that Kylo was acting like a Darksider – on the contrary. His influence on Rey is a direct opposite. It’s love, but just as St. John’s, it’s flawed and egocentric and therefore it fails. It’s the end for St. John’s marital hopes – he sealed his fate with that sadistic say it, while Kylo made the first steps to redemption with the very same words (and that devastating please later on).

I think these parallels stem from more than just your romanticist proclivity for orphaned heroines and brooding pastors (who may or may not have a Dark Side). And I also like to think this scene from Jane Eyre 2011 adaptation has been watched and used, partially at least, as a basis for Kylo Ren’s unfortunate proposal.