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tartrazeen · 4 years

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Random HankCon Reverse AU Post

I wrote this on Discord some months back, and very luckily somebody fantastic helped me out by finding it! <3 <3 <3 The context was around the HK series already being a canonical type of android in the game: it's a housekeeper model, like the HK-400 Connor hunts down in his first investigation with Hank. So from that, everyone was discussing a reverse AU where Hank was an HK housekeeper, Connor was an overworked older brother taking care of his younger brother, and one of them was proposing that Connor just rent an HK to help around the house and take the load off. And from that, I came up with this roughly described - but still fun and angsty - concept. Picture reading it as I wrote it: mid-conversation, and butting in to slap this idea onto everyone. :D

Omg - Hank helping out enough in just a few ways by making lunch or something, or dinner for the next night, and Connor actually having time to go to sleep and spend time with both of them. Or Hank activating a Cranky Child Up Past His Bedtime protocol and making Connor go to bed, because the poor guy doesn't have an off-switch when every single case just needs a 'few more minutes' for him to crack it.

Connor having such a rough week that his little brother saves up cash from - pfft, I dunno, what's stupidly diabetically sweet enough for this - recycling beer bottles from around the neighbourhood, purely to rent Hank for Connor's sake AND THEN IT BECOMES LIKE SOME KINDA WEIRD-ASS DATE THAT NEITHER OF THEM SEEM TOO INTERESTED IN ENDING But then - then - they get into a bit of a routine like that. Connor's happy enough to rent Hank when his little brother needs him, but now it's grown into a... "Okay, fine, if I need him too, then that just helps both of us. That's okay." ... And then one day, his little brother's staying at a friend's house or something, and Connor's - just... bored? Lonely? Tired? He's not sure. But he flicks over to a website, sees Hank is available, and decides to rent Hank really just for himself. And it's the first time that's ever happened without a kid in the house or without Connor himself being too exhausted to function, so it officially becomes a weird-ass date of them hanging around. Maybe going outside to get air. Whatever happens. Now here's where I can draw upon some more IRL bullshit: water heater rentals. These things last ten years, you pay $40 a month to rent them, but at the end of the tenth year, you'd still have to pay to buy it out. And that - despite everything you pay - could still cost like $6,000. Even if you bought the thing outright, it would've cost $5,000.

I say that because I imagine Connor getting to the point where he's thinking... he might buy Hank. Whenever rental products go up for sale, there's usually a steep discount, so he thinks it won't cost too much. No one else rents Hank as much as he does anyway, and he's not sure how much he's spent, but surely that would knock the price down. He's still very much trying to think of this as a practical transaction to manage the purchase of a machine, after all. Except Connor is the one asking to buy Hank. The company isn't offering. So the sticker shock at the price is - just... unbelievable. To the point that Connor very much regrets even opening his mouth. And the nanny company says it's that or they throw Hank out, because - just the IRL - they can't be seen selling Hank cheaper or giving him away when they're done with him, or they'd never make any money. "People would just wait until he's thrown out and go dumpster diving." So now we have a ticking clock and Connor has a bill to pay. We could do two things from here: 1) Connor gets the money (spoiler). It isn't easy. He's already doing all the overtime he's allowed because he's volunteered for it - he can't afford to let something like sleep get in the way of catching a murderer - so he's making the most that he can. He doesn't have any vacation or sick days to cash in because he's used them all whenever he's burnt out; that's probably why he looked into getting Hank in the first place. And it's not like he has time to get a second job or anything. It's his little brother that asks, "Do we really need a car?"

So they both start selling everything. They don't really need a crappy couch. This table's been wobbly since day one. A garage full of crap that is coated in dust and grime is just enough to get them over the edge of it. And it's a weird feeling, bringing a nanny-bot back to an almost empty house. Connor might comment on how there'd be a lot less to clean, which is bullshit, but the best he can in defence of it all. So Hank takes it for what it is, slowly appreciating exactly what this meant for all of three of them. It's an empty house that's quickly become a full home. 2) Connor doesn't get the money (yesssssssssssss) Because there's just no way to pay that. It's ridiculous - even if he could afford it, he should still be arresting these people, because this is an obvious robbery. He can't make that last leap to admit this is more than a machine to help around the house, and the company - just... "Okay. You have three days to change your mind if you're interested." His little brother tries to get him to. He asks if Connor can just sell the car. Not only is that a bad idea, because how else is Connor going to get to work, but who's going to pay that much for it anyway? It's not worth it, Hank is a walking piece of plastic programmed to be friendly, and if they need a nanny-bot so bad, they can buy a new one for a third of what the rental company is charging. On the second-last day, his little brother tries the ol' "Rent Hank for Connor's sake" trick. It's a last-ditch effort to get Connor to admit that they would all feel awful losing Hank, machine or not. He's real enough to them, right? Wrong. Plastic. Money. Facts. Connor's more pissed that his little brother wasted more cash that could've gone towards paying a price they would never be able to afford anyway, and walks off to let his little brother hang out with the android for a last night. He doesn't want to draw this out for himself, and Hank had better be gone by the time Connor comes home.

Connor doesn't do much. He mostly just walks around for hours. And for way too long - eventually, he's at a park, and there's Hank emerging from the snow (oh yeah, it's snowing) to gently wait there in silence. That goes on for long enough for Connor to accept that he's going to miss Hank. It's a short conversation, and Hank's used the Cranky Kid protocol for Connor to know to start heading back, but that's all Connor says: "We'll miss you, I guess. Thanks." Hank is gone by the time Connor wakes up. The house is quiet, his little brother has his breakfast, and Connor has his lunch made. And that is what really gets to him. Hank - over and above his programming - once again took care of Connor, too. Those walls that were already dropping finally drop the rest of the way, and knowing perfectly well that he's too late, he calls the rental company up to ask if there's a payment plan or some extension or anything he can do to keep Hank. There is! Fortunately! And if Connor would like to arrange that for any of these other rental androids, the company can certainly help. What about Hank? Well, this is a business. They had a deadline and costs around that deadline, so they couldn't keep waiting around forever in the hopes that some family changed their mind about buying a standard android. It's unfortunate, but yes, Hank was appropriately disposed of. Would Connor like to buy another android that looks like Hank instead? Connor hangs up before they can give him the full sales pitch. His little brother notices. His work notices. Everyone notices that Connor's different lately. He's reached an almost terrifying level of laser focus on his work. He has all the time he wants to catch all the bad guys he feels like, and he does because who's going to stop him, really? And it goes like that while his little brother keeps asking for Connor to rent a different android, or to just buy one that's like Hank. On and on and on and on and on and on and on until Connor finally just loses it, dumps his phone on the ground, tells his brother to do whatever the hell he wants so long as he shuts up, and storms back out. He's out there for hours in the cold, half to spite Hank's memory - that he's become painfully reliant on for reasons he ascribes to guilt - and half because he knows it's not only guilt he's feeling. Everything tingles. His fingers, his nose, his ears, and he's at least considering going home to his car so he can warm up without having to do a walk-of-shame back inside. He's saving that for when his brother's asleep. This is roughly a minute before he notices Hank walking out in the snow. Not Hank. Not exactly. It's another android that looks like Hank, and that jolt in Connor's chest twists into a searing ache again. He's changed his mind and he's out here entirely for spite now, because his little brother must've called his bluff and rented another nanny and sent him to drag Connor home.

He's committed to that until Hank mentions the number of times Connor's tried to fight him on going to bed, and the grand total of zero times that Hank's lost this fight. Hank's very good at this. He's had to deal with a lot of rough families and teenagers. Hank remembers that because each family has a profile saved based on every visit: preferences, schedules, the kids' needs, memories... They've always been backed up. It's a business, after all. It takes Connor a few minutes to get it. He's still trying to decide if this android is real or not, let alone... his Hank. And Hank is perfectly willing to keep coming back to convince him. And he will, every time, for as long as Connor keeps a copy of his memories. ... But it is going to be after Connor is in bed. Connor's never been happier to get dragged away, kicking at this 1.98m cuddle-bear the whole time.

#dbh #detroit become human #hankcon #hannor #hank x connor #reverse au #angst #fluff #rough draft #ripped straight from discord #my stuff #good job tartra

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mirrorforevers · 4 years

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silently • graham coxon/reader

this is a direct result of this prompt right here

don’t b sorry love, we’re all horny here. this prompt immediately took me out of my writer’s block so yeah gsdjsdhgsdj it was a blessing! tysm for sending it n i rly rly hope u enjoy reading it as much as i did writing it aaaaa i literally couldn’t stop. this one has a special place in my heart now.

also please tell me whatchu think abt this one on my askbox! unbeta’ed bc i love danger

word count: 2.809

warnings: smut. shameless, fast paced fluffy smut.

You couldn't understand why the hell he was so nervous. On the way to your parents' home he asked more questions than a 4-year-old on their way to a park - what are they like, what do they like to do, do they know Blur? Do you think they will find my shoe ridiculous? I'm sure they'll think I’m a weirdo. What did you tell them about me? Even the many kisses you gave him were not enough to calm him down, leaving you to assure him that even if your parents didn't like him - which would be impossible, Graham was never better and more pleasant to live with - you would continue to like him. Very much.

Couldn't live without him, actually.

When you arrive at the door, your mother greets you with a wide, surprised smile - it didn't even seem like she had been begging to meet Graham for months and meticulously planned every minute of the time you would spend together. Her friendly posture seemed to make him more comfortable, the fact that your father was traveling also ended up making him more relaxed. “Dads are always frightening,” he’d say. He agreed to spend the rest of the night there after having an extremely pleasant dinner.

While he does the dishes, you and your mother clean the table when you decide to stop by the kitchen to talk to your boyfriend.

"It wasn't that difficult, was it?" You ask, a daring tone in your voice.

He smiles sheepishly. "Everything went significantly better than I thought it would, honestly."

“You did well. Not that she is hard to please, but you are really sweet.” You kiss him on the cheek. (It's so cute how he still blushes at these things after months of dating.)

"Thank you, love."

"I mean it. I think you deserve a gift for being like this.”

He looks at you, starting to pay even greater attention to the direction of the conversation. “And what do you have in mind?”

You whisper in his ear in the most seemingly innocuous tone you can feign. “I, for one, think you should fuck me senseless in the room upstairs.” He smiles, gaze a little lost in his surroundings as it usually goes whenever he’s pleasantly disconcerted by your dirty talk. Your hands travel his body subtly under his shirt. He hisses: “Can’t wait.” His voice is weak. You love to tease him like that.

You give him a little peck where his mouth and cheek meet – and then you motion to leave after a wink. “See you in a few minutes.”

“Babies, sorry to interrupt,” your mom arrives at the door, instantly killing off the whole mood you’ve created. “I forgot to tell you, but some other people from our family will be here in a few minutes. We’re not done yet!”

Graham’s really confused. You shrug and give him some context – “My family just loves gatherings in general. And they’re excited that I have a boyfriend now, apparently.” To which your mom points: “Exactly! They want to meet you too, Coxon!”

You can feel the anxiety building in him again already. He’s so uncomfortable it hurts, and you know his head is spinning. He doesn’t want to let you down, and after your mom leaves, you go back to calming him down again. “Baby, it’s okay, I promise. If you’re too overwhelmed we--”

“No, no. I signed up for this. I’ll be okay. I’ll have a drink or two…”

You completely discard this possibility. No associating alcohol to social abilities anymore after everything he went through because of it. “No. We’ll find other ways to calm you down.” After some seconds of a silent yet intense brainstorm, you have an idea. But you won’t tell him. “Ok, I know what to do to take your mind off the pressure. Just wait and see, and no beers, alright?”

“Alright… I guess.”

After giving him yet another peck while he finishes cleaning the plates, you quickly run upstairs to change from the tight jeans and band shirt you’re wearing to a very light and flimsy sundress. And that’s all the clothing you choose. It fits you well, and leaves not much to the imagination. You know it’s a family gathering, but it’s also summer, so no severe dress codes were being enforced in any significant way.

He reads your mind the moment he sees you in the dress, shaking his head in pleased disbelief at the sight. He mouths a small “you didn’t” while a stupidly joyful smile slowly shines over the tight expression of worry he once had. To which you mouth back: “I did.” You then go back to playfully teasing each other a bit while you take care of the sudden assembly’s preparations.

Your family members arrive and, as expected, they’re really thrilled to meet your guy. Graham answers so many questions, and ends up sharing so much of how he feels about you with them, and bit by bit, the warmth and wholesome aura of your closest relatives makes him feel truly welcomed. He feels like he knows you even better now, now that he knows where your energy and vitality come from. He could see bits of your personality in every single one of them – of course you are still the splendid whole, but still. It made sense.

Also, you noticed he didn’t take his eyes off you the entire time. He was hungry and you’re glad your plan worked. It was easier to forget about how hard sociability is when his mind was somewhere else.

After a while, though, you could sense him getting fidgetier. Even though he was considerably and visibly more relaxed than he was a few hours ago, that amount of social interaction, specially while sober, still drained a lot of his energy. You take his hands, announcing you two were getting something else to eat. You go to the kitchen, not bothering to turn on the lights, and though the house is empty you two could still hear the enthusiastic discussion your family is having outside, slightly drowned by the distance and the walls separating you now.

“You did so great, baby.” You smile, giving him a victory kiss while he envelops you in a tight hug. He’s proud of himself too, and he deserves to feel like that. “They love you already.”

“They’re just like you, in a way. I’m glad everything went well,” he sounds relieved, still tired, but relieved. “I couldn’t stop thinking about that proposal you made me earlier, though.”

“I know,” You plant a chaste kiss on his jaw. “I felt your eyes on me.”

This second kiss he gives you feels different. It’s longer. Famished. Purposeful. His hands are friskier now, traveling hastily throughout your body, and you alternate between giving in and becoming progressively more alert of your surroundings. You can have an idea of where this is heading. The swirling of his tongue around yours makes you dizzy, and the feeling somewhat akin to an electric shock – but milder, and definitely more carnal – that flows through your body when he bites your lower lip and brings your hips closer to his brings you back to reality. “We have to be careful,” you whisper, each of your lips just barely touching while you breathe each other’s air.

“I promise I’ll be. You look delicious in this dress, I… don’t know where to start.” He cups your cheeks while drawing imaginary lines across your lips with the tip of his thumbs.

“Think fast. Never took you for a quickie guy.” You chuckle.

“I like to take my time, yes, but some things can’t wait.”

And with that, with the dexterity and carefulness of a cat, he sinks to his knees in front of you, lifting up your dress with one hand and one of your legs with the other, your leg now resting on one of his large shoulders. He takes hold of your hips, angling you toward him. You hiss in anticipation, and you can feel your core burning in expectation too. Your hands now firmly grab the counter behind you for support while you turn behind you with attentive eyes to see if no one’s coming. You’re safe, for now. The thrill of getting caught is one that will never get old.

His eyes seek yours for reassurance. You, without a word, give it to him. You both look lovely bathed in moonlight. He teases you first, kissing and sucking at the skin on your inner thighs, moving closer and closer to your center until after a couple minutes of that sweet agony his lips graze across that aching part of you.

He flicks his tongue delicately through your folds, playing with your wetness. The way his hands caress your lifted thigh so delicately while his tongue inscribes poems to your clit is something that makes your stomach flutter, you simply can’t ignore those tiny adorable actions that make loving him so addictive and rewarding. Keeping yourself silent and struggling to remain somewhat composed to anyone who might see you from outside is a painfully arousing contradiction to the sensations you’re feeling. He’s doing his best to fuck you up, gradually setting a rhythmic pace to his movements with the intent to release the spring now starting to coil tightly low in your abdomen.

“Jesus, Gra—f-fuck. Fuck.” You whisper, breathlessly, while simultaneously suppressing a moan when he delves his tongue even deeper in your core, your fingers instinctively curling and closing a fist on his hair, making him groan. You buck your hips against his lips and you can feel sweat beading on the backs of your knees, heart threatening to jump out of your mouth by how fast it’s racing.

You suddenly freeze when you hear a voice from outside approaching the kitchen and you lightly tap his shoulder. Graham stops on command, but he won’t get up until he’s absolutely certain he should. He sprinkles your thigh with small kisses again, eyes droopy with the high from giving you the pleasure he knows he’s giving you while he admires you. The person heading for the kitchen takes a turn to the opposite side and you sigh in relief. “False alarm. Go on, baby.”

“Yes, ma’am.” You notice he’s panting, and you can only guess how hard he is, judging by the tone of his voice. The time you spent frozen wasn’t enough to completely burn out the fire he’d already created within you, but he’s determined to give you an orgasm before anyone can interrupt you again – now he had two fingers moving, stroking, curling inside of you in delightful ways while his tongue began to work your clit in tight little circles. You could feel him moaning against your sex, he really liked this. And fuck, he was good at it. He slips one more finger into you, his ring finger, making your pleasure soon explode into a trembling climax. You couldn’t stop the little sound you made and he kisses your thigh in reply while still lazily fucking you with his fingers. “So fucking beautiful,” he whispers.

One of your hands move to your mouth in order to cover the sound you really want to make. Graham, once again, looks really proud of himself.

He slowly pulls his fingers out of you and cleans them with his tongue before he lifts up again as inconspicuously as possible. You try to look like nothing happened, and you’re both glad that, apparently, no one’s giving a single fuck to whatever’s going on where you are. Given the realization, you look at each other and giggle. He then pulls you in a hug, voice husky when he teases, and confesses, “You can’t imagine how bad I want to fuck you right here. You’re the best thing that ever happened to me.”

“We’ll have to take this to the bedroom, love.” You reply, still recovering from your orgasm. You can’t risk more than you’ve already risked. He looks slightly…

Disappointed.

You smile. “You thrill-seeking bastard. You enjoyed this way too much, didn’t you?”

“Didn’t you?” He questions back, tickling your sides, a wide, satisfied smile on his face. God, you loved him so much. He pulls you back to him again, and you turn to the other side so he can grind against you from behind. He’s rock hard. “We have some thick curtains here, after all.” You say, mischievously, before you close the curtains as carefully as possible. He lifts up your dress once again, this time high enough so he can fill his hands with your breasts, and he, agonizingly slowly, teases your nipples with his fingertips while he keeps grinding against you. This, alone, gets you motivated enough for another round. “God, Coxon, you’re going to be the death of me.” Your voice’s painfully needy, just like every other part of you.

You spread your legs a little wider to give him better access to you. Feeling cool air against your bare ass, you bite your lip and screw your eyes shut when his hand squeezes your butt. “Dripping wet for me. You’re glistening.” He quietly notes, giving your butt a little kiss - you then look over your shoulder to watch him get his jeans open. His hard cock bounces against your ass as he pushes his boxers down. You wiggle to get him inside you while he tortuously slowly runs the tip of his cock between the slick folds of your pussy. When it bumps against your sensitive clit, you can’t stop the mewl of his name.

After a few more hard breaths, he was inside you. You’re hungry for him too, and the sound of your body clashing against his is something unbelievable. You begin in a faster pace than the one you’re used to – and that’s not a problem. At all. Speed is of essence, but you’re also starving for each other. It feels like no contact is ever 100% enough.

Your hands keep firmly gripping the balcony and when he lowers his chest against your back you can’t hold back the involuntary gasp that leaves your throat and echoes through the empty house. One of his large hands holds your hips in place while he fucks you mercilessly, the other one covers your mouth hastily – his shaky voice betrays how badly this is affecting him too. “Shhh, love. You don't want anyone seeing you in that state. So fucking tight around me.”

He was sinking more deeply into you with each thrust now, and trying to keep your eyes open while his now awaken dominant side is doing that to you, exactly the way you want him to, is torture. You feel like you’re going to pass out from the all the sensorial and contextual stimulation. “You want me to come inside you, baby?” To which you keenly reply with a nod, not bothering to uncover your mouth. This was perfect.

He edged his hips back so he reaches your most sensitive spot and his grip on your mouth constricts when he notices how loud you want to be. “Feels like a dream inside you but keep. Quiet.” His voice lowers to a breathy whisper against your throat and the hands that were holding your hips in place now snaked to the front of your body to help you get off. And like that, you do, coming a second time, this orgasm even more intense than the last. The way your walls twitch around his dick is enough to push him over the edge too, and you feel him spilling inside you. You milk him of every drop, and after you both ride off your high, you feel a tender kiss that lasts for a while in your scalp, a silent “thank you” while he slips out of you.

You put your dress back on place, trying to compose yourself before you can look another human in the eye again. You have a positively overwhelmed, just-woke-up-from-an-incredible-dream look on your face. “You better not get me addicted to this kind of risky shit.”

He laughs while he also does his best to look like not one hair or piece of clothing ever went out of place. “Sorry, Y/N, I think I already did.”

#graham coxon #graham coxon x reader #alex james #dave rowntree #damon albarn #britpop #smut #imagine #reader insert #graham x reader

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misc-headcanons · 4 years

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1st Place Prize: Full Fluff Alphabet (Law)

For @dragonprincess18 , 1st place winner of the 1000+ Followers giveaway!

Activities - What do they like to do with their s/o? How do they spend their free time with them?

If you have an interest in medicine, he'll teach you what he knows (and even if you aren't interested, he may teach you basic first aid just as a precaution while on the seas). He'll also tell them all about his coin collection because his s/o is one of the few people he's comfortable enough around to e the gigantic fucking nerd we all know he is. He's also been meaning to learn how to cook (he's very good at boiling water for coffee or soup, but that's about it), so he'd probably want to learn together with you. I also think he's good at sketching, but doesn't do much aside from anatomical drawings; as he gets closer with you though, he might start drawing you in a more artistic sense in his spare time.

Beauty - What do they admire about their s/o? What do they think is beautiful about them?

The fact that you're with him of all people sometimes astounds him. He intentionally tries to close off his emotions and issues to others and can come across as very cold, so the fact that you love him despite that makes him grateful to have a partner who's so understanding and patient. He hasn't had that kind of warm presence around him since Corazon, and he wishes that you two could have met because of how alike you are in some ways.

Comfort - How would they help their s/o when they feel down/have a panic attack etc.?

Law's got the medical knowledge to know how to handle this, plus he's experienced panic attacks before. He'd get you to an isolated spot away from everyone else and softly tell you to breathe with him until you ride through that initial "wave" of anxiety and panic. Once it's passed, he'd get you something to drink and ask if you needed anything.

Dreams - How do they picture their future with their s/o?

Once his business with his friends (allies) in the Straw Hats is concluded and Kaido is out of the way, he'd want to continue on to find the One Piece. He likes the idea of traveling to Raftel with you, and he'd set up a life for the two of you (as well as his crew) in some distant island for you all to come home to in between your travels across the sea. Honestly a part of him never thought he'd have the chance to live that long (with his history with Doflamingo and constant dangers following him throughout his life), so he doesn't have any specific goals in mind. He just wants to relax for a while with you beside him.

Equal - Are they the dominant one in the relationship, or rather passive?

Mainly passive, but he'll sometimes be the dominant one. He thinks he isn't the romantic type, so when it comes to your relationship he's fine with you taking the reins. If you like things like PDA or private names, you'd have to initiate it because he's not likely to do that on his own. He's dominant mainly when he's being protective of you, especially if you're the kind of loyal partner who wants to fight alongside Law--even when he's demanding you run to safety with the rest of the crew, and is repeatedly having to Shamble you out of a fight.

Fight - Would they be easy to forgive their s/o? How are they fighting?

Law tends to internalize his frustration and anger during an argument and will act very cold at first. As he and his partner argue more and more, he would respond shortly and curtly, and he'll get more and more upset with their stubbornness and refusal to just walk away. If you push him long enough he'll explode a bit, letting his bottled up emotions out in one angry outburst where he'll likely say something he doesn't mean.

When it comes to forgiving his s/o, it may take a while (a day or so of avoiding them and silence, and awkwardness when they're in a room together) but in the end he'll always forgive them. He's lost enough loved ones in his life, and he doesn't want his pride to keep him from losing you as well.

Gratitude - How grateful are they in general? Are they aware of what their s/o is doing for them?

Law's very aware of when his s/o is doing something for him. He's always grateful for these acts of kindness, even if they're small in the grand scheme of things (making coffee for him, setting out the medical textbooks he was meaning to read later in the day, etc) He'll have a small smile on his face when he thanks them, either by saying it out loud or being a bit more affectionate than usual.

Honesty - Do they have secrets they hide from their s/o? Or do they share everything?

At the start of the relationship, Law is very guarded. Once you two develop more trust for each other, he'll tell you more about his past and his plans for the future. His s/o will eventually become one of his closest confidants, if not the person he shares secrets with. Even then though, he may be inclined to keep some things hidden from you just to keep you safe (eg. He may not reveal the full steps of his plan to take out Kaido, just so in case you're captured you can't be forced to reveal everything). He's a pretty strategic guy, after all--even if things tend to go off-script if say, Luffy is involved.

Inspiration - Did their s/o change them somehow, or the other way around? Like trying out new things or helped them overcome personal problems?

Having an s/o has helped him significantly with some of his emotional issues surrounding Corazon's death. He has his nakama who he trusts completely, but being close with someone in a romantic context is new to him. It's not like he has that much real-world experience with romance and dating, since his adolescence and young adulthood has been...not ideal for that sort of thing. He's gotten better at not just freezing up in surprise whenever his s/o kisses him, and actually taking some initiative to give affection in return. Between his trust issues with new people and how cold he comes off sometimes, he's actively tried to work through those problems so he can be the partner his s/o deserves. Bepo and the rest of the crew have noticed how Law has started to smile and laugh more after he met you, and how he's a bit less wound-up when he's stressed.

Jealousy - Do they get jealous easily? How do they deal with it?

Law's not that jealous, but he does have his moments. He pushes those feelings down and doesn't act on them (unless someone is actively flirting with his s/o or something blatant--then, he's going to have to step in and tell them to stop going after someone completely out of their league). At most, he'll sound more curt and will want to get his s/o away from the person making him jealous as soon as possible.

Kiss - Are they a good kisser? What was the first kiss like?

Law's first kiss with his s/o was equal parts adorable and awkward. Aside from one or two drunken one-night encounters while traveling the seas, he doesn't have much experience in this area--and when it comes to kisses as a form of genuine romantic affection, he had NO experience until his s/o kissed his cheek one night when they were alone on the Polar Tang. He was so surprised by it that he just sort of...froze up and stared straight ahead for a while. Eventually he'd realize that he should probably return this gesture, and he would awkwardly turn around before kissing her with little-to-no-technique in mind. It's short, only a few seconds before he pulls away to gauge their reaction; judging by the sweet smile on their face at finally getting a kiss from him, he couldn't have been that terrible. His s/o immediately leaned forward to kiss him again, and it led to Law learning quite a bit in one evening about how to kiss someone.

Love Confession - How would they confess to their s/o?

Law wouldn't do any dramatic or grand gestures when confessing. I think it would be really obvious that he's in love with you, so it's just a matter of not revealing that you already know when he finally says it. He'd be more quiet than usual one night, going over exactly what he was going to say to you. When you ask him if he's alright, he immediately blanks on what he had planned to say and just says "...I love you."

Marriage - Do they want to get married? How do they propose? What would the marriage be like?

Because of the target it might place on your back for being his spouse, he would be hesitant to propose. But over time, he would start to imagine what you'd look like with a ring on your finger, introducing yourself to people as Trafalgar ____...eventually he'd conclude that just being with him as an s/o puts you in danger, and you don't care about the danger because you care about him more.

Much like his love confession, he'd have what he wants to say planned out...but the second you look at him with those warm, kind eyes of yours and ask why he's acting so nervous, he'd just take out the ring and ask you to marry him. When you say yes, he slips the ring on your finger, holds you close, and tells you that he loves you with a small smile on his face.

Your relationship wouldn't change that much after getting married, aside from him being more openly affectionate sometimes when you're on an island together. Calling you his husband/wife/spouse always gives him a strange, almost giddy feeling in his chest the instant he says it out loud. You two are married. He's...your husband. It's an odd thing to think about, but it's odd in a good way; he's kind of surprised that he managed to find someone who he'd want to marry and who would want to marry him. His one regret is that Corazon wasn't able to meet you, and during the small ceremony on the Polar Tang, he leaves one seat empty for him.

Nicknames - What do they call their s/o?

He normally just calls you your name, or a shortened version of it, ("Jess" instead of Jessica, "Tony" instead of Anthony) when you guys are around other people. Sometimes on the Tang, he'll call you "honey" and the rest of the crew is ecstatic whenever they hear him call you that...to his slight embarrassment. They just think it's so cute to hear him call you "honey".

On Cloud Nine - What are they like when they are in love? Is it obvious for others? How do they express their feelings?

He tends to stare at the person he's in love with, and is just awful at saying how he feels to them. He'll have what he wants to say to them planned out in his head, and the instant he goes to open his mouth he totally blanks. There are times where he's walked up to his s/o, panicked when he actually looked at them and was distracted by how attractive they looked, and how they always make him feel vulnerable, albeit in a good way...and just looks at them in silence for a while before walking away.

He's better at expressing his feelings in writing, so his love confession would probably include either a little written speech or bullet points of what he wants to say, or he'd give his crush a full letter and at the end, ask them to come to his room to talk privately.

PDA - Are they upfront about their relationship? Do they brag with their s/o in front of others? Or are they rather shy to kiss etc. when others are watching?

He's not big on PDA, since every time he is openly affectionate with you his crewmates can't help but remark at how cute it is to see you two together. He's also a bit of a shy guy when it comes to giving and receiving affection; if you kissed him on the cheek, he'd freeze for a second before awkwardly taking your hand or something. His PDA is more casual, like having you lean against him (or leaning against you) and taking your hand when you two are walking around. At the first sign of danger, he'll instinctively either take your hand or put an arm out in front of you.

Quirk - Some random ability they have that’s beneficial in a relationship.

Law's a great listener, and he remembers a lot about the people he cares about. You could mention craving something for dinner and then a few days later, and he'll write down the ingredients for it; a few days later, he and Shachi are making it for the crew's dinner and he gives you the first place. He isn't one for grand romantic gestures, but he'll do little things like that because he cares about you and likes knowing that he made you feel happy and appreciated.

Romance - How romantic are they? What would they do to make their s/o happy? Cliché or rather creative?

As said previously, he's not one for big, romantic, Sanji-esque gestures; he thinks that kind of over-the-top sentiment would annoy you (and it would definitely annoy him). Some of the romantic gestures he displays are a bit cliche, though, in a sweet kind of way. He'll write short notes to his s/o when he wakes up before them, just to say where he's at; he'll always write "good morning" at the top though, and sometimes will add little cute messages as well: "You looked like you were dreaming about something nice, so I didn't want to wake you", "It's cold out and I already wish I was back in bed with you", etc.

Support - Are they helping their s/o achieve their goals? Do they believe in them?

He's absolutely helping his s/o reach their goals, no matter what they are. A lot of his help comes in the form of advice and constructive criticism when he thinks something isn't a good idea; it's usually said a bit bluntly, but it's not meant to be an insult. He's saying these things from a genuine place, but he doesn't realize how cold and blunt he can sound sometimes.

Thrill - Do they need to try out new things to spice out your relationship? Or do they prefer a certain routine?

With how chaotic life as a pirate captain (and a Supernova...and a former Warlord, lol) can be, he enjoys the little routines he has with his crew and his s/o. Waking up in the morning, going to bed at night, eating meals with you, Bepo, Shachi, Penguin, Ikkaku, the whole family...he treasures it not despite how mundane it is, but because of how mundane it is.

Understanding - How good do they know their partner? Are they empathetic?

He's an intuitive guy...at times. When you're upset about something, he can tell that you are in fact upset, but he tends not to know why you are. Even if you two previously had an argument over him being too protective, and you're a bit more sulky a few days later, he'd actually wonder what you might be upset about. Similar to Luffy, he's equal parts observant and ignorant sometimes.

Value - How important is the relationship to them? What is it’s worth in comparison to other things in their life?

His relationship is one of THE most important things to them. Prior to meeting his nakama and falling in love with his s/o, he had almost lost hope in his ability to actually feel love at all--familial, platonic, or romantic. When he became the captain of the Heart Pirates, he realized that he could love again. He realized it again when he met his s/o. And he would sacrifice anything if it meant he could keep them safe.

Wild Card - A random Fluff Headcanon.

He LOVES. LOOOOVES seeing you wear his clothes. He’ll be looking for his hat, see you in bed wearing it just for fun, and he feels a stereotypically romantic fluttering in his chest. It’s such a romantic cliche, so he tries to hide how much it affects him...he’s not that good at hiding it, though.

XOXO - Are they very affectionate? Do they love to kiss and cuddle?

He's more affectionate in private, compared to when there are people watching; though if he's on the Polar Tang with his crew, he doesn't mind being affectionate either (though he gets a little embarrassed when they talk about how sweet it is to see him being cute with you). He likes leaning on you when you're sitting together (or when you lean on him), having you rest on his lap while he reads a book or something, having his hand on yours or on your thigh or shoulder...his PDA is very casual.

Yearning - How will they cope when they’re missing their partner?

He tries to "logic" his way out of missing them, if that makes sense. He'll remind himself that it'll only be a few more weeks until he gets to safely see you again, and that he's had to wait longer to see you--he can wait a little longer. He'll also try not to think of how much he misses you too often, but it still always manages to enter his mind.

Zeal - Are they willing to go to great lengths for the relationship? If so, what kind of?

Law would absolutely kill for his s/o (and probably has, if the Marines or other enemies have ever tried to hurt them). And as for the farthest he'd go...If he had to make a decision that meant either his s/o and crew or say, Luffy and the Straw Hats? If he was pushed into a corner and absolutely could NOT find a way to save them both, he'd choose his s/o and his nakama.

#law #trafalgar law #one piece #one piece headcanon #one piece headcanons #sfw alphabet #fluff alphabet #mine #1000+ followers

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likealittleheartbeat · 4 years

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The Queer Platonic Love of Aang & Zuko

Friend. What a weighty and intimate word in Avatar The Last Airbender. The series’ “found family” is iconic at this point, and is literally established as a “family” by Katara in the third episode. She pulls Aang back from the outrage of the Avatar state, saying “Monk Gyatso and the other monks may be gone, but you still have a family. Sokka and I, we’re your family now.”

As I’ve said before, establishing this central safety net of trusted people is essential to Aang’s healing. Still, it’s interesting to me that they insist on this group as a “family” rather than something that might emphasize “friendship.” Something along the lines of ‘we’re your friends and we’re here with you.’ I can think of several animated shows that have done as much successfully. The show withholds the word “friend” for another purpose. I’ll happily admit that Aang and the others describe each other as “friends” throughout the series, but rarely is the use of the word (through pacing, repetition, or emotional context) given a sense of gravity in those moments.

However, three scenes in the series rely heavily on the word “friend,” and each scene connects Aang more and more profoundly with Zuko, eventually revealing that the show’s entire plot hinges on the friendship between these two boys. In a series so latent with symbolism, what do we make of these star-crossed friends? The relationship between Aang and Zuko, I want to suggest, is meant to explore Platonic Love in all its depth, especially within a masculine culture that not only devalues it, but views its queer implications as inherently dangerous to the dominant power structures of an empire.

Get ready zukaang fans for a long-ass atla meta analysis...

“If we knew each other back then, do you think we could’ve been friends, too?”

The first time the word “friend” is uttered between them, Aang is perched on a branch, waiting for Zuko (who is laid out on a bed of leaves the Avatar made for him) to wake up after his blue spirit rescue. “You know what the worst part about being born over a hundred years ago is?” Aang waxes, “I miss all the friends I used to hang out with. Before the war started I used to always visit my friend Kuzon. The two of us, we'd get in and out of so much trouble together. He was one of the best friends I ever had...and he was from the Fire Nation, just like you. If we knew each other back then do you think we could have been friends too?” The scene stood out for me when I first watched it for the melancholy and stillness. We are not given a flashback like we did when Aang talked about Bumi or Gyatso in earlier episodes. We have to sit with Aang’s loss of a male friend. It echoes a veteran’s loss of a war buddy more than anything a western audience would expect in a children’s show about the power of friendship. Instead of simply mourning, Aang invites Zuko into the past with him. He invites Zuko to imagine a time before the war, a land of innocence, where they could live together. And between them there is a moment of reflection given to this invitation (...until Zuko shoots a fucking fire blast at Aang).

The wistful mood returns when the two boys arrive back to their respective beds. Aang is asked by a loopy fevered Sokka if he made any “friends” on his trip, to which Aang sadly replies, “No, I don’t think I did” before tucking away to sleep. Aang’s mournful moments often stand out against his bubbly personality, but this moment stands out moreso because its the final moment for Aang in the episode. For the first time, he doesn’t receive comfort in his dejection. He doesn’t even confide in his peers. The solemnity and secrecy of this failed “friendship” is remarkable.

It’s in the next symbolic gesture that I think Avatar reveals what’s at stake in the concept of “friendship.” Zuko, in the next scene, lays down to rest after his adventurous night, looks pensively at the fire nation flag in his room, and then turns his back on it. We realize, especially after the previous revelations in “The Storm,” that Aang’s gestures of “friendship” have caused Zuko to doubt the authority of the Fire Nation.

Now all three remaining nations have misogynistic tendencies, but the Fire Nation celebrates a specific brand of toxic masculinity, and Zuko longs to emulate it even after it has rejected and scarred him. In the episode, “The Storm,” which directly precedes “The Blue Spirit,” we see how Zuko failed to replicate masculinity’s demands. In a room of men, he disregards honorifics to speak out in the name of care and concern for people’s well-being over strategy. Though the war room was all men, we later see that The Fire Nation does not exclude women from participating in this form of toxic masculinity. (Shoutout to Azula, one of the best tragic villains of all time!) This gender parity prevents disgraced men, like Zuko, from retaining pride of place above women. So Zuko’s loving act and refusal to fight his father puts him at the lowest of the low in the social hierarchy of the Fire Nation, completely emasculated and unworthy of respect.

Since then, Zuko has been seeking to restore himself by imitating the unfeeling men of the war room and his unfeeling sister, barking orders and demands at his crew. The final redemptive act for this purpose, of course, is to capture the Avatar, who’s very being seems to counteract the violent masculinity at the heart of the Fire Nation. In most contemporary Euro-American understandings, Aang is by no means masculine. He’s openly affectionate, emotional, giggly, and supportive of everyone in his life, regardless of gender. He practices pacifism and vegetarianism, and his hobbies include dancing and jewelry-making. And, foremost, he has no interest in wielding power. (@rickthaniel has an awesome piece about Aang’s relationship to gender norms and feminism).

In addition to the perceived femininity of Aang’s behavior, he’s equally aligned with immaturity. Aang’s childishness is emphasized in the title of the first episode, “The Boy in the Iceberg,” and then in the second episode when Zuko remarks, “you’re just a kid.” Aang, as a flying boy literally preserved against adulthood, also draws a comparison to another eternally boyish imp in the western canon: Peter Pan. This comparison becomes more explicit in “The Ember Island Players.” His theatrical parallel is a self-described “incurable trickster” played by a woman hoisted on wires mimicking theatrical productions of Peter Pan. The comparison draws together the conjunction of femininity and immaturity Aang represents to the Fire Nation.

When Zuko is offered friendship and affection by Aang, then, he faces a paradigm-shifting internal conflict. To choose this person, regardless of his spiritual status, as a “friend,” Zuko must relate himself to what he perceives as Aang’s femininity and immaturity, further demeaning himself in the eyes of his father and Fire Nation culture. The banished prince would need to submit to the softness for which he’s been abused and banished. This narrative of abuse and banishment for perceived effeminate qualities lends itself easily enough to parallels with a specific queer narrative, that of a young person kicked out of their house for their sexuality and/or gender deviance.

I want to point out that Aang’s backstory, too, can be read through a queer lens. Although the genocide of the air nomads more explicitly parallels the experiences of victims to imperial and colonial violence, I can also see how the loss of culture, history, friends, and mentors for a young effiminate boy can evoke the experience of queer men after the AIDs pandemic and the government’s damning indifference. In fact, colonial violence and the enforcement of rigid gender roles have historically travelled hand-in-hand. Power structures at home echo the power structures of a government. Deviance from the dominant norms disrupt the rigid structures of the empire. Aang’s background highlights how cultures based in something besides hierarchy and dominance, whether they be queer cultures or indigenous societies, threaten the logic of imperialism, and thus become targets of reform, neglect, and aggression by the expanding empire and its citizens. Survivors are left, as Aang was, shuffling through the remnants, searching for some ravaged piece of history to cling to.

We begin the series, then, with two queer-coded boys, one a survivor of broad political violence, the other a survivor of more intimate domestic abuse, and both reeling from the ways the Fire Nation has stigmatized sensitivity. But the queer narrative extends beyond the tragic backstories toward possibility and hope. The concept of platonic love proposed here, though it does not manifest until later, is a prospect that will bring peace to the two boys' grief-stricken hearts and to the whole world.

“Do you really think friendships can last more than one lifetime?”

“Do you really think friendships can last more than one lifetime?” Toph asks before the four members of the group hold hands. Since Toph previously mourned her friendless childhood, it’s easy to appreciate this line for its hopefulness regarding the four central members of the Gaang. They long to appreciate that they’re all connected. As touching as this is, the soul-mated ‘friendship’ concept is actually uniquely applicable to Aang and Zuko.

When does Toph ask the question specifically? It’s after hearing the story of Avatar Roku and Firelord Sozin: how their once intimate friendship fell apart; how Fire Lord Sozin began, undaunted, the genocidal attack on Airbenders. After recounting the tale, Aang, the reincarnation of Avatar Roku, excitedly explains to the group the moral that every person is capable of great good and evil. While that moral could easily be ascribed to many people in the series, the connective tissue is stretched directly to Zuko in a parallel storyline. Reading a secret history composed by his grandfather Sozin, Zuko discovers that he is not only the grandson of the empirical firelord but of Avatar Roku, as well. We see how the rift between the Sozin and Roku echoed down across history to separate the airbending culture from the fire nation, and, on a more human level, to separate Aang from Zuko. The two boys find themselves divided by their ancestors’ choices— and connected by Avatar Roku’s legacy.

This is what takes their “friendship” from simply a matter of the character’s preferences to something fated, something unique from the other friendships. The rest of the found family is positioned as circumstantial in their relationship to Aang and one another. Yeah, it’d be cool if they were all connected in past and future lives, but the audience receives no indicators in the series that it’s necessarily true. Only faith holds them together, which allows room for an appreciation that your “found family” friendships might simply be the trusted people you discovered along the way.

Zuko’s friendship is characterized differently. Both his struggle to befriend Aang and his eventual “friendship” are explicitly destined by the story of Roku and Sozin. After this episode, the series depends upon Zuko’s ability to mend the divide inside himself, which can only be done by mending the divide between him and Aang. Their inheritance symbolizes this dynamic exactly. As the reincarnation of Avatar Roku, Aang can be understood as the beneficiary of Avatar Roku’s wisdom (he should not, as many jokingly suggest, be considered as any kind of biological relation of Roku or Zuko). Zuko, on the other hand, has inherited Roku’s genealogy in the Fire Nation. These two pieces of Roku must be brought together in order to revive Roku’s legacy of firebending founded on something besides aggression.

In addition to making the ideals of Roku whole again, the two boys must tend to the broken “friendship” between the two men. As the Avatar and the Crown Prince of the Fire Nation, Aang and Zuko parallel Avatar Roku and Firelord Sozin precisely. The narrative of the latter pair places destiny precisely in the hands of the former. And since both Aang and Roku expressed the desire for “friendship,” it falls in the lap of the corresponding royal to give up their imperial dreams so they can gain something more peaceful and intimate. For Zuko, this now can only be accomplished when he heals the rift within himself.

Importantly, both the previous friendship and the destined friendship between Zuko and Aang are between two men. The coming-of-age genre has proliferated the trope of homosociality (friendship between individuals of the same sex) and its eventual decline brought on by maturity and heterosexual romance. (Check out the beautiful and quick rundown of classic examples, from Anne of Green Gables to Dead Poet’s Society, made by @greetingsprophet ). The story of Avatar Roku and Firelord Sozin replicates this established narrative.

We see them playing, sparring, and joking intimately with one another. The two as young adults were intimately connected, the series explains, “sharing many things including a birthday.” Eventually their intimacy is interrupted by their worldly responsibilities and the spectre of heterosexual romance on Roku’s part.

Now, It’s not a huge leap for one to wonder if Sozin longed for something stronger in their “friendship.” We see no female romantic interests for Sozin. Instead, he continues to demonstrate his platonic allegiance to Roku. When Roku prepares to leave for his Avatar training, Sozin walks into his room and gives him his crown prince headpiece, a gesture of unique devotion that positions his friendship above his politics (which harkens to Plato and EM Forster’s ideas about platonic love that I’ll discuss in Part 3).

One might note, too, how the wedding between Roku and his childhood sweetheart provides the setting for the escalation of Sozin’s violence. “On wedding days,” Sozin writes, “we look to the future with optimism and joy. I had my own vision for a brighter future...” He then pulls Roku away from his bride for a personal conversation, briefly recapturing the earlier homosocial dynamic with his friend. Sozin describes his affection for their intertwined lives. Then he links their shared happiness to the current prosperity of the Fire Nation. He imagines the expansion of the Fire Nation, which would also expand on the relationship between him and Roku. But the Avatar refuses the offer and returns to his wife, insisting on the value of traditional boundaries (both the pact of marriage and the strict division of the four nations). The abandonment of the homosocial relationship by Roku sets the site for the unmitigated empirical ambitions of Sozin. One wonders how history might’ve been altered had the two men’s relationship been sanctified and upheld. How might’ve Roku persuaded Sozin in his empirical ambitions if he had remained in a closer relationship to his friend? In their final encounter, Sozin reacts vengefully to his former platonic love: he lets Roku die protecting the home the Avatar shared with his wife. Sozin’s choice solidifies the divide between them, and makes the grief he’s experienced since Roku left him into actual death.

Instead of Avatar Roku and Firelord Sozin finding a resolution, Aang and Zuko are ordained to reverse their friendship’s disintegration. Yes, they must heal the rift in the world created by the Fire Nation’s aggression, but Aang and Zuko must also reverse the tradition of lost homosociality within a culture of unrelenting machismo. Despite Avatar: the Last Airbender’s ties to the coming-of-age genre, the arc of Aang and Zuko’s “friendship” counters one of its most prominent tropes. “Some friendships are so strong they can transcend lifetimes,” Roku says, and it’s precisely this platonic ideal that draws Zuko and Aang towards one another in ways that are revolutionary both in their world and in the traditions of our’s. To come together, as two matured boys, to form an adult platonic love that can persist into adulthood.

“And now we’re friends.”

Which brings us to the consummation of Aang and Zuko’s “friendship.” Having resolved their previous hostilities and having neutralized the outside forces that would rather them dead than together, Aang and Zuko can finally embrace and define their relationship as “friendship.” Now, if we look closely at Zuko’s expression, we’ll notice a pause, before he smiles and reiterates Aang’s comment. My initial response, with my zukaang shipping goggles on extra tightly, was that Zuko just got friend-zoned and was a little disappointed before accepting Aang’s friendship. When I took a step back, I considered that we are given this moment of reflection to recognize Zuko’s journey, his initial belligerent response to the idea of befriending the Avatar. When he accepts the term of ‘friend,’ he reveals the growth he’s undergone that’s brought peace to the world. With these two possibilities laid out, I want to offer that they might coexist. That the word ‘friend’ might feel to Zuko and the audience so small and limited and yet simultaneously powerful. The pause can hint at the importance of “friendship” and signal something more. This reading emboldens the queer concept of “friendship” that undergirds their relationship. That the hug that follows might be meant to define the depth of the platonic love that is at the very heart of the series.

Saving a hugging declaration of “friendship” for the announcement of peace in the series is quietly revolutionary. In the twentieth century, male characters could connect in battle, on competitive teams, and through crime. “In the war film, a soldier can hold his buddy — as long as his buddy is dying on the battlefield. In the western, Butch Cassidy can wash the Sundance Kid’s naked flesh — as long as it is wounded. In the boxing film, a trainer can rub the well-developed torso and sinewy back of his protege — as long as it is bruised. In the crime film, a mob lieutenant can embrace his boss like a lover — as long as he is riddled with bullets,” writes Kent Brintnall. Aang and Zuko’s hug starkly contrasts this kind of masculine intimacy. The show suggests that environments shaped by dominance, conflict, coercion, or harm, though seemingly productive in drawing people and especially men together, actually desecrate “friendships.” Only in a climate of humility, diplomacy, and peace can one make a true ‘friend.’

In situating the’ “friendship” between two matured males in a time of peace, the writers hearken back to older concepts of homosocial relationships in our fiction. As Hanya Yanagihara has described the Romantic concepts of friendship that pervaded fiction before the 1900s. In her book, A Little Life, Yanagihara renews this concept for the twenty-first century with a special appreciation for the queerness that one must accept in order for platonic love to thrive into adulthood. She writes, “Why wasn’t friendship as good as a relationship? Why wasn’t it even better? It was two people who remained together day after day bound not by sex or physical attraction or money or children or property, but only by the shared agreement to keep going, the mutual dedication to a union that could never be codified.” Aang and Zuko’s relationship, despite a history that would keep them apart, reclaims this kind of friendship. Their hearts, bound together by an empyrean platonic love, are protected from the political and familial loyalties that would otherwise embroil them.

In addition to Yanagihara, another author that coats the word ‘friend’ with similar gravity and longing to Avatar is E.M. Forster, who braids platonic friendship in his writing with homoeroticism and political revolution. In Forster’s novel Maurice (originally written in 1914 but published posthumously in 1971 due to Britain’s criminalization of male homsexuality), the titular character asks a lower class male lover lying in bed with him, “Did you ever dream you had a friend, Alec? Someone to last your whole life and you his? I suppose such a thing can’t happen outside of sleep.” The confession, tinged with grief and providence as it is, could easily reside in Aang’s first monologue to Zuko in “The Blue Spirit.”

Platonic love as a topic is at the heart of Maurice. Plato’s “Symposium,” from which the term platonic love derives, is even directly referenced in the book and connected with “the unspeakable vice of the Greeks”— slang for homosexual acts. For Forster, the sanction of platonic love, both the homosocial aspect and the latent homosexuality, reveals a culture’s liberation. “If I had to choose between betraying my country and betraying my friend,” Forster wrote in his essay “What I Believe,”, “I hope I should have the guts to betray my country.” This echoes a sentiment of philial love described by Plato.

Rather than revolutionary ideals, for Forster friendships, and specifically friendships that disregard homophobia, provide the foundation for peace, equality, and democratic proliferation. When Aang and Zuko embrace, they are embodying this ideal. Platonic love and the word “friend” have a history intertwined with queer romantic love, and, while I won’t argue that Avatar attempts to directly evoke this, I will suggest that the series consciously leaves room for this association. Now, the show certainly makes no attempt to imply anything romantic between Zuko and Aang within the timeline we witness (nor any same sex characters, which reflects cultural expectations in the 2000s). And for good reason, the age gap would be notably icky, to use the technical term. (You might note, however, that the show actually allows for crushes to extend upwardly across the same age gap, when Toph accidentally reveals her affection for Sokka to Suki in “The Serpent’s Pass.”) Despite connecting queer friendships to the history of ‘platonic love,’ Avatar provides two critiques to platonic love for audiences to absorb. One is the pederasty with which Plato defined his ultimate form of love in his Symposium. Fans rightfully comment on the age gap between Aang and Zuko as something preventative to shipping them together. And beyond the fact of their ages, Aang’s youthfulness is emphatic, as I remarked earlier. Aang and Zuko are prevented from consummating their platonic love until both are deemed mature in the last moments of the series. And even then, their relationship is directed toward future development rather than conclusion. Instead of cutting away, they are allowed to exit their scene together toward a speech about hope and peace. This stands in stark opposition to the permanence of Aang and Katara’s kiss. The platonic love in Avatar, the kind EM Forster cherishes, is relegated to adulthood as opposed to other kinds of boyish friendships. The conclusion of Avatar, at least for me, actually feels especially satisfying because it settles our characters in the “new era of love and peace.” It is a beginning, and it feels more expansive than the actions the characters choose to take in the episode. Even as our characters conclude three seasons of narrative tension as the sun sets and “The End” appears on the screen, it feels instead as if their stories can finally begin. The characters are allowed to simply exist for the first time. Yes, Aang and Katara or Zuko and Mai are allowed to embrace and kiss, but it’s because the pressures of empiricism have finally been banished. They are now allowed to try things and fail and make mistakes and explore. Things don’t feel rigid or permanent, whether that be one’s identity or one’s relationships.

Ideally, within the morality of the series (at least as it appears to us with no regard for whatever limits or self-censorship occurred due to its era of production and child-friendly requirements), “friends'' are maintained alongside romantic partnerships. Both Zuko and Aang’s separate romantic relationships blossom within the same episode that they declare their “friendship.” In fact, a vital plotline is the development of Zuko’s relationship with Aang’s romantic interest. While anyone in the fandom is well aware of the popular interpretation of romantic affection between Zuko and Katara because of their shared narrative, I have to point out that romantic feelings across the series are made extremely explicit through statements, blushes, and kisses. Zuko’s relationship with Katara can be better understood in the light of the coming-of-age counternarrative. While the love interest often serves as a catalyst for separation for a homosocial relationship, the friendly relationship with Aang’s love interest—seeking her forgiveness, respecting her power, calling on her support, etc—is vital for Zuko to ultimately create an environment of peace in which he and Aang can fulfill their destined “friendship.” In fact, we can look at Katara’s femininity as the most important device for manifesting Aang and Zuko’s eventual union. It’s her rage against misogyny that frees Aang from his iceberg, midwifing him into the world again after his arrested development, the complete opposite of a Wendy figure. It’s her arms that hold Aang in the pieta after his death in the Crossroads of Destiny, positioning her as a divine God-bearer. Afterwards, its her hands that resurrect Aang so that they together can fulfill his destiny. It will be these same hands with this same holy water that resurrect Zuko in the finale. Only through Katara’s decided blessing could Aang and Zuko proceed toward the fated reunion of their souls.

The importance of this critical relationship to femininity becomes relevant to a scene in “Emerald Island Players” that one might note as an outstanding moment of gay panic. Zuko and Aang, watching their counterparts on stage, cringe and shrink when, upon being saved by The Blue Spirit character in the play, Aang’s performer declares “My hero!” Instead of the assumption of homophobia, I wonder whether we might read Aang and Zuko’s responses as discomfort with the misogynistic heterosexual dynamics the declaration represents. Across the board, Avatar subverted the damsel in distress trope. There’s a-whole-nother essay to be written on all the ways it goes about this work, but the events in “The Blue Spirit” certainly speak to this subversion. It’s quite explicit that Zuko, after breaking Aang’s chains, is equally dependent on Aang for their escape. And, by the end of the actual episode, the savior role is reversed as Aang drags an unconscious Zuko away from certain death. To depict these events within the simplistic “damsel in distress” scenario, as The Ember Island Players do, positions Aang as a subordinately feminized colonial subject, denies him his agency, and depicts the relationship as something merely romantic, devoid of the equalizing platonic force that actually empowers them. The moment in the play is uncomfortable for Aang and Zuko because it makes Zuko the hero and Aang the helpless object. Aang is explicit about his embarrassment over his feminized and infantilized depiction in the play. And Zuko, newly reformed, is embarrassed to see, on one hand, his villainy throughout the play and, on the other hand, see how his character is positioned as made out as a savior to the person who has actually saved him.

At the heart of the series is not the idea of a chosen one or savior. Instead, we are saved by the ability for one person to see themselves in another person and to feel that same person equally understands their own soul. This is the ideal of platonic love. Platonic love between two matured boys—two boys with whose memories and bodies bare the scars of their queer sensitivities—is an essential part of the future of peace. Many fans have a sense of this, labeling the relationship as “brotp” and “platonic soulmates.” I simply encourage people to acknowledge that platonic love, especially in this context, is not a limit. There is no “no homo” joke here. When we remark on the platonic love between Zuko and Aang (and across media more generally) we are precisely making room for friendship, romance, and whatever else it could mean, whatever else it might become. While I find Legend of Korra lacking and in some ways detrimental to appreciating the original series, it’s finale interestingly parallels and extends this reading of platonic love in a sapphic vein. And most recently, She ra Princess of Power was able to even more explicitly realize these dynamics in the relationship between Adora and Catra. Let’s simply acknowledge that Aang and Zuko’s relationship blazed the trail: that peace, happiness, hope, and freedom could all hinge on a “friendship,” because a “friend” was never supposed to be set apart from or less than other kinds of relationships. For the ways it disregards gender, disregards individualism, disregards dominion, platonic love is the foundation of any meaningful relationship. And a meaningful relationship is the foundation for a more peaceful world. *Author’s note: I’m just tired of sitting on this and trying to edit it. It’s not perfect. I don’t touch on all the symbolism and nuances in the show and in the character’s relationships. And this is not meant to negate any ships. It’s actually, quite the opposite. This is a show about growth and change and mistakes and complexity. Hopefully you can at least appreciate this angle even if you don’t vibe with every piece of analysis here. I just have no chill and need to put this out there so I can let my obsession cool down a bit. Enjoy <3

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katachell · 4 years

Text

portal 2 project???

portal 2 has an AMAZING narrative. AMAZING. but if you want to rewatch the story... you cant. your two options are to watch let’s plays and randomly skip around to hopefully hear all the dialogue, or to read the quotes on the wiki... which are seperated by character, not scene, and dont give environmental details. this makes it impossible for people who dont want to put in a massive amount of time in to experience the story of the game in one definitive place. so, i propose:

THE PORTAL 2 PROJECT

the end product of this project would be a video, posted to YouTube, that has all of the relevant scenes and dialogue in order. it would play out like a movie, so people who haven't or don't want to play the game can still enjoy and understand the story in its entirety. it would use screen recordings of the game, so you can see whats happening and hear it.

what would be included in the video:

-any moment where there is dialogue (exceptions listed below)

-plot relevant details: for some examples, getting the portal gun, finding a rattman den, introducing a new puzzle element, when cave says that portals can be placed on the moon. (this is to better help people who aren't familiar with the franchise understand what the things they're seeing on the screen are.) (most of these would be short clips: for example, when hard light bridges are introduced, the clip would show chell walking up to it and standing on it, and then the video would move on.)

-major scenes, obviously. an example is when chell falls into the pit or unlocks old aperture.

-small, funny details. (without lingering for too long.) it wouldn’t be portal 2 if you dont show the little details! examples include the borealis dock, the elevator room screens, or when wheatly is monologuing and you can go back and he’ll keep monologuing (”you’re at my mercy! wait- come back! (chell goes back) FOOL! you’re at my mercy, and i dont have any!”

-exploring the enviroment: for example, the screen recorder would stop to look at the awards in old aperture, zoom in on chell’s name for the potato experiment, listen to the optional/hidden cave experiment dialogue, as well as look at old posters and signs that tell you about the dangers of old ap. just so the audience is grounded.

-ive touched on this in other bullet points, but not everyone has the time or willpower to look for the little hidden things in the game. this would make sure that you get a very full, portal 2 experience.

what would NOT be included:

-puzzle solving. some chambers take a few minutes to solve, and there is no dialogue. this interrupts the story. unless the puzzle solving is relevant to the plot, like quickly introducing new mechanics to the audience, it wont be included.

-unimportant dialogue. for example, in the neurotoxin generator area, whealtly will ramble for - i think i lasted 4 or 5 minutes before i left - a while, just trying to convince the neurotoxin generator to shut itself off or something. while entertaining, it takes away from the focus of the project.

an example of the formatting:

i imagine the format to look something like this: (im using chapter 1 as an example)

-full, uncut opening with the wheately escape. the cameraman waits at the door before opening it so you get his full dialogue. ~5 minutes

-chell goes into her old relaxation vault, listens to the announcer, puts a button on the pressure pad, then enters the elevator. this introduces the button/cube mechanic. (this scene comes directly after the last, with no cuts). since there is announcer dialogue and new mechanics, this stays relatively uncut. ~1 minute

-chell exits elevator, hears funny announcer dialogue. the camera looks at the room for 5 seconds so the audience understands the setting for the scene, as well as the act. ~15-20 seconds

-chell presses a button to open a portal. this is the first time a portal is seen. she walks through the portal. this introduces the core mechanic of the game. (~30 seconds) (once the mechanic has been used once or twice, the rest of the puzzle is cut)

that would be the basic format. for things like multiple uneventful test chambers in a row, it would show slow fading shots of the test chamber number so you understand that time is passing. this would be intercut with shots of the setting.

HOW CAN I GET HELP / THIS PROJECT STARTED??

getting all of this footage is too much for one person. editing it... is too much for one person. ALL OF THE FOOTAGE HAS TO COME FROM PEOPLE WORKING ON THIS PROJECT. IT CANT COME FROM OTHER PEOPLES YOUTUBE VIDEOS. For this project, I’ll need people to record the footage, people to help edit the footage, and 1-3 people who know the story well and are willing to go over the game’s plot and determine what scenes and details we need, so the records know what to record and what to focus on.

Do you want to help capture footage? if so, youll need:

-access to the PC version of the game with LOW LAG gameplay

-a screen recorder program. it CANNOT have a watermark on the finished product. needs to be high resolution footage.

-(the recordings will NOT feature your voice or a face cam.)

-(you do not need mods and please leave the portal gun with its base texture)

-(id be comfortable with each screen recorder person to cover around 1-2 chapters... so maybe 4-5 people, unless i can find more. youd be following some directions on what to record. you do not need to edit, just get the footage.)

Can’t do that? Can you EDIT video footage? you’ll need:

-a video editor. high quality. i dont know the editing industry, i dont know what software exists.

-MUST be able to export it without a watermark and in high quality.

-(each editor will be responsible for a chapter or chapters. then render your final product. one editor will put all of the finished chapters together. this means you can use different software from the other editors, and will have a good amount of control over your assigned part. i dont have a number for how many editors there will be. id like more than one.)

Can’t do that? What about choosing the important scenes and details and acting as a sort of ‘writer’ for the plot? You’ll need:

-a good knowlege of the game and its history and fun facts. if youre obsessed with this game and franchise... yeah same. but as long as youre interested and know it well, thats fine

-be able to browse the wiki

-time to review the game by watching lets plays or playing it yourself

-be able to choose the right details and communicate that to the screen recorders and editors. remember my example about chapter one earlier? youd have to lay it out in a similarly comprehensive way.

-take constructive criticism

-must be older than 14 for this. youve gotta make a lot of decisions in this role. ive seen some really creative and talented high schoolers, so thats where im drawing the age line.

-(im hoping for 1-4 of these people, including myself.)

IF YOU’RE INTERESTED IN HELPING, SEND ME A DM. IF YOU’RE CHOSEN TO WORK ON THE PROJECT, I’LL SET UP A DISCORD FOR THOSE INVOLVED. IF THIS GETS SOME SORT OF MASS SUPPORT, I’LL SET UP A DISCORD FOR ANYONE INTERESTED IN UPDATES.

The purpose of this project is to make it so you can relive the portal 2 plot without having to replay the full game. Other methods do not exist. No one video shows the plot in order with ‘filler’ removed. Voice lines exist in text form, but do not capture the visual aspect of the game, or give context, and are not a full experience. This story is a masterpiece and deserves to be edited so it is comprehensive and all in one place. No one will claim credit for owning portal 2 or writing the story - the video is showing gameplay, and just so happens to be the relevant gameplay. However, screen capture, editing, and direction credits will be given to everyone who participates. This project will allow you to introduce friends and family to the game without sending them a video where only 5 minutes out of the 1 hour video is relevant. I have wanted this project for a while, but I’ve realized that I can’t do it alone. Even if you can’t help directly, please spread the word and reblog.

#portal #Portal 2 #wheatley #Chell #glados #cave johnson

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charmed-henry · 3 years

Text

Shark Bait Oo Ha Ha | Heric

Previously on Baywatch...

Baby There’s a Shark in the Water

Date: 20 May 2021 TW: None, other than some discussion of the attack

@maritimeericandersen

Henry and Eric make a plan.

HENRY

If only Eric were here. That was what Henry kept thinking throughout the attack. Eric would know what to do. And a part of Henry resented that, just a little bit, because this was such a clear example of why the Order needed him… but there was no time to dwell on that. People were avoiding the lake, sure, but they wouldn’t forever. Even with this creature undoubtedly lurking below the surface. Henry needed Eric on this, and fast.

Henry texted Eric to meet him by the gryphon statue after his last class, and he was relieved when Eric did show up. He didn’t waste any time with pleasantries. “You heard about what happened, right?”

ERIC

Eric had not heard anything, actually. Like a man avoiding spoilers of the world cup he had gotten through without hearing a word about what had happened up at the lake. It hadn’t reached him during work or class or while he was walking around campus— probably due to his thick skull and lack of his own surroundings.

So he didn’t really think anything of it when Henry texted. It seemed like a normal enough message with nothing to kick up a fuss about. He walked down from his dorm ten minutes from when Henry said he’d be finished and stood beside the statue, thankful for the sun despite the breeze that still held a chill. Eric looked up periodically from his phone and when Henry finally appeared he smiled, only for it to turn into a confused frown at Henry’s opener.

“Er— no?” He shook his head, shifting his stance to a more alert position. What happened could have meant anything, good or bad. “What’d’ya mean?”

HENRY

Henry groaned. He knew Eric was taking a break from the Order, and Henry respected that, in a sense, but to not have heard anything at all? What could possibly be so all-consuming in his life that--

Never mind. Henry knew it was the same sort of thing he used to get in trouble for during training, and part of how they became friends. Being daydreamers. What was important right now was to catch Eric up, not berate him.

“At the lake. Candace was attacked. By some sort of sea creature. She’s, er-- she’s okay now, but we didn’t catch the creature that did it, and it might still be lurking there. Waiting for its next victim. I need your help, Eric. I know you’ve… stepped back from the Order, but this sort of thing is exactly why I’ve been sent here. And I need your help,” Henry explained, desperation shining in his eyes. “We need to find out what that was. Until we do, the lake won’t be safe for anyone.”

ERIC

Now that was not what he had been expecting to come out of Henry’s mouth. At best, that he had proposed to his bird or something, at worst, that the Order had found out he was alive and was coming to actually kill him.

But an actual ocean dweller? Here? In Swynlake? Eric knew he had come looking for answers, for a mermaid to give those to him, but he hadn’t actually been counting on finding one this far inland— let alone one bold enough to attack. They had to have known it would put a target on their back.

“I’m glad she’s okay— thanks to you, I presume.” (Even though Henry had said we, but he was taking that to mean a general term for the people of Swynlake, not any one specific person.) He let out a breath, a hand coming up to brush over his mouth as he took a moment to think.

“Of course, of course, yeah. Anything you need, mate.” Eric hadn’t done this in well over a year but he couldn’t imagine denying Henry. And this was the opportunity he had been looking for when he came here. If he could just talk to this thing, maybe all of this will have been worth it. “Did you get a look at it? Or Candace— did it try to drown her or was there an actual wound?”

HENRY

Henry let out a sigh of relief. Even though he trusted Eric to have his back, sometimes he just felt like he didn’t know what Eric would do anymore. He had a whole life here, new friends and school and a new purpose-- and Henry did, too, in some ways, but at least he stayed on the lookout for opportunities to prove himself to the Order. He wasn’t sure if Eric cared as much as he did.

But no matter what, they would always be like brothers. And they would always be there for each other. Henry was sure of that, and he felt a bit silly for doubting.

Then he remembered the scene and winced. It was painful to relive, to be honest. “Er… yes, it bit her in the leg. Seemed to be trying to drag her underwater, but Rose and I were able to fight it off.” Wait. Did Eric know about Rose? Was it okay to tell him about the Huntsclan? “She’s okay now. Got her in an ambulance right away and it ended up being not too deep of a wound. But I worry about what would happen if we hadn’t been there. And the lifeguard was absolutely useless.”

ERIC

Eric did not know about Rose, but Eric also didn’t know that Rose knew about them. Within the context of Henry’s story, he assumed she was just there willing to help out a friend in some serious distress and paid that detail little to no mind. He nodded along, eyebrows raising briefly at the mention of the lifeguard and huffed— sounded about right. Wasn’t like a magic friendly place like this was going to think to train their staff on things like this. They would just issue an apology after the fact and move on.

“Then we’re probably not dealing with a siren.” They let their voice and the victim themselves do all the heavy lifting. It felt odd to be back in this mindset. He had not thought about hunting or training in well over a year and he didn’t know what it meant by how easy it was to return to this part of him. Eric hadn’t expected that it would have left him so quickly, it had been apart of his life longer than it hadn’t been, but still. Would he even be able to carve it out? Or would it always be there whether he wanted it or not?

“What about its flukes? Did you get a look at ‘em? Were they pointed like a fork, rounded, or erm— shaped kinda like a crescent moon?” He drew the shapes in the air with an index finger. It mattered to figure out if they were dealing with something that was shaped for speed or for marathon swimming.

HENRY

Henry wished he had a better recollection of the scene as it had happened, but the whole thing was something of a blur. What had mattered the most was getting Candace to safety. This was why it was better to work with a team, Henry thought. Rose was there, of course, but she had been busy helping Candace. Once again, Henry wished Eric had been there…

But it was too late for that. Henry would just have to try and remember. “Er, it was a sort of pointed tail, two fins on the end, dark gray. Sort of tough-looking, like a shark, not the sort of shiny scales you would see on a siren. Does that help at all?” Henry looked at Eric hopefully.

ERIC

He nodded absently as he continued to think over the next course of action, but stopped when he caught sight of Henry’s expression. Eric reached out to give his shoulder a squeeze. “Hey, it was a high stakes situation. I’m just glad you managed to make it out of there, let alone remember what the bloody thing looked like. And you saved your friend before it could do any lasting damage. You did good, Henry.”

Eric gave Henry’s shoulder a gentle shake before releasing him. “Any little detail helps. Like you said, from the sounds of it we’re probably dealing with one that comes from a deeper part of the waters. It’ll make it harder to spot, and if it’s built for speed a paddle boat won’t cut it.”

They were going to be out favored going in if they took it on in the water. (On land was a different story, but the problem with that was identifying the slippery bastards while they pretended to be human.) “We’ll have to create a trap and draw it out again somehow. Hopefully it’ll come back to the water— assuming it ever left.”

HENRY

This was the thing that Henry struggled with. Especially hearing it from Eric, seeing that encouraging look in his eyes, feeling the reassurance of Eric’s hand on his shoulder. Henry wouldn’t dare admit any kind of weakness to anyone in the Order… except Eric. So he wanted to take what Eric said at face value, to nod and smile and agree with him. But those images haunted Henry.

So he just nodded grimly instead, looking down at his hands. Better to push all of that emotion down, because Henry worried if he started to say something genuine, it would overpower him. Focus on the mission. Focus on the threat. Henry wasn’t going to let this happen again.

“A trap…” Henry repeated, trying to imagine what Eric meant. “With some sort of food? Or something else? I’m not using Candace as bait--” he added quickly, determined. “I’m not going to let anyone else get hurt. We’ll handle this the old-fashioned way, you and me. And maybe Rose, too, she knows what we’re dealing with.”

ERIC

“Jesus, Henry, what do you think I am? Some kind of lunatic? No, we aren’t going to use some poor girl as bait.” Eric scoffed, shaking his head like Henry had gone completely barking. Then he added, like it was obvious,“We’ll use me.”

This time Eric caught on to Henry talking about Rose because erm— what? He let out a little huff of laughter, eyebrows coming together briefly as he gave Henry a look.

“I don’t understand. Why would that matter?” A hand came up to scratch the back of his head before something dawned on him. The hand raked forward through his hair, moving to point at Henry when he pulled it back down. “I thought your girlfriend’s name was Ashleigh? Ginger, right? Or is that Candace? Or have they both—? Wait, I’m sorry, who’s Rose then? Are you—?”

Eric’s eyes widened and he looked around them to make sure no one was close enough to be listening in (you know, now that the conversation was important to keep a secret) before lowering his voice and leaning forward. “Did you call it off? Or no? No judgement, I just never thought— I mean you were just so infatuated with erm— it was Ashleigh, wasn’t it?”

HENRY

Henry was snapped out of his pensive funk by three ludicrous things that Eric had just said. One, that Eric intended to use himself as bait (??); two, that Ashleigh and Henry had broken up (???); and three, that Henry and Rose were somehow a couple? (????????). Henry stared at Eric in horror, not even sure where to begin.

“What? Eric, no-- I-- that’s-- just, no. Ashleigh and I are still together. And I really wouldn’t want to get her involved in this, it’s too dangerous. Rose is just a friend, she’s been working with the Order here in Swynlake. She’s part of a certain, er, sort of version of the Order from the States. And she’s a very good hunter, that’s the reason I suggested bringing her with us. Candace is-- never mind. Long story.” It would be too complicated to explain what was going on between Henry and Candace right now, considering Henry didn’t even really know where they stood.

He shook his head. “Anyway, if it’s alright with you, I think Rose should join us. But back to what you said, you want to use yourself as bait? Haven’t you had enough near-death experiences?”

ERIC

Eric stared back at Henry with a very dumbfounded look on his face as all of that explanation unfolded. He didn’t know which one was more bizarre, that the yanks had once again stolen from them or that they’d let women train with them— not because Eric had anything against it, but the Order was still being fuddy duddies about that. Also what was she here for if she was from America? Wasn’t that place like the wild west? Filled to the brim with Magicks that needed to be taken care of?

“My bad. Sorry. Too many names to keep track of.” He blinked, frowning slightly to himself before shrugging it off. Well at least Henry wasn’t stepping out on his girlfriend. Eric had always thought him to be loyal so that version of Henry would have completely dismantled his perception of him. “If you trust her that’s good enough for me, mate. Just uh— make sure she’s on the page, yeah? About me and the whole I’m-not-actually-dead-but-don’t-tell-the-others-that.”

Clearing his throat, and moving away from the topic of social drama he had no idea would turn out to be a minefield before stepping into it, Eric nodded. “It has to be me. I’m the one with the most experience with these sorts of things. And you’ll be there, so I’ve got nothing to worry about.”

HENRY

Henry gulped. Eric, like many members of the Order, tended to walk a line between “honorably brave” and “completely reckless.” He had a feeling that, if he were in Eric’s position, if this were Henry’s expertise, he would probably suggest the same thing.

“Fine,” Henry said grimly, recognizing that this was one of those situations training had prepared him for when he needed to do the dangerous thing. It would just have to be worth it. He would be there for backup after all, wouldn’t he? “I suppose you’re the expert here. Just tell me what you need me to do. As for Rose… I think if I explain the situation to her, she’ll keep it quiet. I’ve never mentioned you to her before, but I don’t know if the others have. So it’s probably best to come up with a cover story. Unless, of course, you’d prefer that I just leave out the fact that you were ever in the Order. Up to you.”

Honestly, Henry hated this. The secrecy and the lying. He still felt guilty about not telling the older guys about Eric. Being in the Order meant constant secrecy, but you were supposed to be completely honest and trusting with your fellow Princes. But Henry needed to protect Eric by any means necessary. So if this was what it took, fine. Didn’t mean Henry wasn’t a little annoyed about it, though.

ERIC

Eric, too, was tired of all the lying and sneaking around. The phone Ollie had given him was a blessing but also a curse considering how easy it was to go scrolling along social media. The amount of times he’d almost accidentally liked something or hit the wrong thing when he fumbled the phone was one too many. Imagine the panic Grim would go through seeing a notification that Eric had liked his most recent post.

“No, that’d just make her wonder why you got me involved besides feeding me to it. Plus, if we’re going to do this together, can’t go in first thing lying to her. Then she wouldn’t care for what I had to say. No, we’ll just tell her the truth. I’m Eric, I faked my death for reasons, and no one can know I’m alive. Or in Swynlake.” He shrugged, thinking it wasn’t that big of a deal since he and Henry had been doing it for months now. Again, if Henry trusted this girl and gave her his good word then Eric figured it would be fine. “I seriously doubt they’ve talked about me. It’s been well over a year— old news.”

He rubbed his finger under his lower lip as he tried to think of what supplies they needed versus what they could realistically scrounge up. “Alright, I’ll work on getting a net big enough for this and can probably take whatever meat the market’s throwing away for bait. In the meantime, you get together whatever weapons you’re comfortable using and a bloody good light for this. Oh and— clear your night time schedule. There’s no telling when or if this thing’ll be back in the water anytime soon.”

HENRY

Henry wondered if maybe they should have gotten Tom involved. He knew about sea creatures, and Henry was a little less worried about him getting seriously endangered by this sort of thing. Not that Henry trusted Eric any less, of course, but the fact remained that Eric had almost died once. Henry still got worried about losing him again. Tom seemed older, more sure of himself.

But getting Tom involved meant getting everyone else in the Order involved. Exposing Eric’s identity. And, truthfully, part of the reason Henry was involving Eric in this was because he hoped it might remind Eric why being in the Order was worth it. Maybe he would come back on his own, reveal himself to the other guys and rejoin the Order. But in order for that to happen, Henry had to let him stay in hiding for now.

“Right,” Henry said seriously. “I’ll tell Rose as much as she needs to know and we’ll work on getting some weapons together. She’s really good with a knife, I’ll tell you that… When are we doing this? I have a SDG concert this weekend, and Ashleigh and I like to go out to dinner at least once a week, but other than that, I’m free.”

ERIC

He scratched at his temple, one foot kicking out to lean his weight against while he listened to Charming go on about concerts and dates. It almost made him want to give a random day and then go off and do this on his own. Not because he was annoyed with Henry having a life but because Henry had a life and people and things to look forward to. What Eric wanted to do (capture this thing, not kill on sight) wasn't the safest bet or their protocall. If things didn’t go the way he wanted well— he was already dead.

But he wouldn’t do that to Henry. After all, he had come to Eric with this and not the three greatest Prince’s the Order had as he knew that this could be an opportunity for Eric to get the answers he had been searching for. It would feel like a bigger betrayal than having pretended to be lost at sea. He would just have to make sure that he had Henry’s back just as much as Henry had his.

Eric smiled, nodding when Henry had finished. “Yeah, alright, Mr. Popular. We’ll schedule around you then. Whenever you haven’t got something going on, we’ll go stake out the lake to see if it’s out there. In the meantime, just be on the lookout for anyone exhibiting the signs. Now that there’s confirmation one’s here— could be anyone.”

#shark attack #shark bait oo ha ha #eric

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architectuul · 4 years

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Let's Build Pyramids: Why to Destroy Cities and Capitalism!

“We must fill our eyes and ears with things that are the beginning of a great dream. Someone must shout that we’ll build the pyramids. It doesn’t matter if we don’t. We must feel that wish. We must stretch the corners of the soul like a sheet.” — from Domenico’s speech, Nostalghia

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For a series of different reasons, Andrej Tarkovski’s Nostalghia seems very actual as it portrays the image of the cities during these days of lockdown. In the most emblematic scene of the film, Domenico, the old madmen who enclosed his family at home for seven years attending the end of the world, gives a public speech from the top of the Equestrian Statues of Marco Aurelio in the Campidoglio square in Rome. Listening to him are a very few groups of mad, foolish and ordinary people standing on the different monumental stairs of Michelangelo’s piazza. In the scene, actors are symmetrically positioned on a precise and identical large-distance from one another echoing, in some rhetorical but also poetical terms, a sort of future scenario on how we’ll have to imagine one of the most crowded spaces in Rome and elsewhere if social distancing becomes a new way of living.

Apart from the poetics of social distancing and its anticipation, what emerges from Tarkovski’s film is also a different perception of space and time opposed to our everyday-life habits: namely when Gorchakov, the protagonist, steps in his large hotel room, where it is shown only the bed and the sink, when he meets Eugenia in the hotel hall and when he visits the thermal bath of Bagno Vignoni. In two hours of film, all these few passages and dialogs are shown very slowly, slow shootings with only a few actors, offering a sort of dilated space, which again recalls how cities and metropolis have been spatially transformed from when silence and emptiness reigns supreme since Covid-19 spread globally. In these days, which seems that will last for a long time, seen from the point of view of domestic segregation (mediatically called quarantine), comes clear on how much we are used to and educated to live in cities and how we suffer it now. We all work in offices, study in schools and universities, consume in supermarkets and shops and do travel for all these reasons abroad, away from home, which we use only as a sleeping-place when we turn back from outside by car, tram or bus.

Assuming all these activities and rituals as fundamental aspects for reproducing life, while thinking also to the urban form of contemporary towns, historical centers, metropolis and megalopolis, it clearly emerges that the very reason behind these common rituals are mobility and circulation. As we all can observe, without working infrastructures, without metros, tram-lines, car roads and highways, cities would have no sense. I thus argue that this is related to a contemporary crisis of space, which is a very tangible condition in actual problematics such as climate change, pandemic crisis, scarcity of land in cities as also in the countryside, as well as the property issue and housing shortage, the problem of minimum dwellings and high rents, conditions that are strongly related to the existence of the city and its urban form.

Wuhan: No One Cares

Who did theorize well the dialectic between circulation and the crisis of space was Karl Marx. In his Grundrisse Notebooks, Marx argues that within the circulation process, which is part of the whole process of production, Capital through the concept of time destroys the concept of space itself: “Capital by its nature drives beyond every spatial barrier. Thus, the creation of the physical conditions of exchange – of the means of communication and transport – the annihilation of space by time– becomes an extraordinary necessity for it.” [1] The circulation process, namely the process of exchange of goods, labor force, money and capitals, is the process where products are transformed into goods and this takes place within the so-called global market.

As Marx put it out, in order to surpass any barrier, the production of cheap means of communication and transportation is fundamental to capital, that is why their realization is promoted by capital itself: “The sea route, as the route which moves and is transformed under its own impetus, is that of trading peoples ϰατ᾽ ἐξοχήν [pur excellence]. On the other side, highways originally fall to the community, later for a long period to the governments, as pure deductions from production, deducted from the common surplus product of the country, but do not constitute a source of its wealth, i.e. do not cover their production costs.” [2] To say it in more simplistic words, it is capital alone or through the intervention of the State that needs to build streets and communication routes connecting cities (market centers) through the territory, and doing so as quick as possible.

As we think to the form of the city since its origins, as highlighted by Henry Heller in his book The Birth of Capitalism: A 21st Century Perspective, the urban fabric of the medieval town was a fundamental apparatus in accelerating the passage from feudalism to capitalism. Collecting different arguments of historians and researchers on feudalism, Heller tries to explain the role of the formation of towns in a passage that coincided with the rise of the town both as a marketplace and as a terrain of class struggles.

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From the contemporary point of view of its most sophisticated form that is financial capitalism, David Harvey have always asserted that this aspect of accumulation and exchange is embodied in the ideology of the political agendas of growth. As highlighted by Harvey in one his lecture at Harvard Senior Loeb Scholar, after the 2008 crisis, while the UE promoted austerity policies, on the contrary, countries like Brazil or China pointed towards extreme growth (and urbanization) implementing large investments in order to increase employments and escape from economic depression. Examples like the Chinese project launched in 2013 to merge together Beijing, Tianjin and Hebei into a megalopolis of 130 million people called Jing-Jin-Ji, demonstrates not a mere imperialistic geo-strategic plan, but it also reconfigures the logic of financial capital applied to an archetype which does exists as capitalism does too: the city. In such a context, criticizing the city means contemporarily criticizing capitalism and its logics of production and reproduction. For this reason, through the history of architecture and urbanism the unbearable aura of capitalism and its logics has produced many alternatives by proposing models that served as attempts to escape from, to govern and to destroy it.

University of North Carolina Campus (1860). | Source: Turner, Campus: An American Planning Tradition

Escape was one of the main reasons behind the invention and ethos of campus planning in the USA in late 1700s. When university and education in the United States became a political project, for many campus planners the only way to make education efficacious was to build them far away from the city, in order to avoid its corruption, distractions, profligacy and chaos. The word campus, coming from Latin campo that literally means an open field, according to Paul Venable Turner was first used at Princeton College in the 1770s referring to the property land of its first college building [3].

From then, putting a group of buildings within the idyllic nature enhanced an alternative to organize life differently. Eliphalet Not, president of Union College during 1804-66, became popular through college pioneers for having invented a way of living and a new governance based on family life principles. During Nott’s governance, each professor was responsible of his class and had to consider it as his enlarged own family. This model of less-control over students structured a new democratic life that corresponded also to the architectural form of the college designed by French architect and landscaper Joseph-Jacques Ramée: a rotunda at the center of the campus and symmetrical wings of dormitories and classes limiting a natural common space where students and professors could live and work together as members of a large family.

Union College, Schenectady (NY), Project and drawings by Joseph-Jacques Ramée (1813). | Source: Turner, Campus: An American Planning Tradition

Revisiting the same architectural and organizational model, the spread over the American territory of almost identical models such as Thomas Jefferson’s Virginia University, first projects for the Davidson College in North Carolina, plans for a National University near Washington and the Stanford University, echoed in certain ways Robert Owen’s parallelograms for a socialist utopia where mutual-cooperation based on living, working and centralized education could be organized within self-sufficient bodies spread over a farming landscape [8]. Everything but socialism, American university campuses however represented a dilated spatiality inhabited by students moving around in groups, social distanced or close to each other, and with buildings placed here-and-there into an open field full of trees, lakes, forests and idyllic green.

Ville Contemporaine. | Source Der Stadtstreicher

Fascinated by this same depiction of university campuses, yet operating through the same ideals of nature, but more perverse and decisive, Le Corbusier’s plans of Ville Contemporaine for three million inhabitants of 1922 and Plan Voisin of 1925, strongly opposing urbanism as we are all used to know it, can be considered as one of the most radical attempts to destroy the city and its historical aura.

Plan Voisin. | Source Charnel House

While in both the two proposals the Swiss architect insisted on demolishing an entire piece of historical Paris for erecting his prototypical settlement with towers and low-rise buildings into an enormous park, the very response to the logic of capitalism was his Industrial Linear City elaborated together with the CIAM-France group of the ASCORAL in 1942-43 [5]. In the latter, Le Corbusier imagined a series of territorial strips (with highways and railways) connecting European most important historical centers through horizontal and vertical territorial axis containing housing, productive buildings and free-standing agricultural settlements.

Diagram of the Industrial Linear City through Europe and fragment of the linear city connecting two historical centers (1942-43), Le Corbusier + ASCORAL. | Source Le Corbusier - Œuvre complète Volume 4: 1938-1946

In his vision he literally stretched the typical industrial city assuming the highway, that became a greenway, as its structural form: thus, historical centers in Le Corbusier’s vision were reduced into ordinary administrative bodies and exchange hubs—likely in the same way we intend Amazon distribution centers operating today—connected to each other by highways bordered with a green belt and rhythmed through factories and isolated Unité d’Habitations, horizontal garden-cities and facilities. The linear form assumed the infrastructure by explicating it in a new architecture dispositive for a new dilated city, the habitability of which could be imagined by thinking to the point of view of an adventure foreigner-guy traveling and sleeping in highway motels when stopping in filling stations.Though, rather than a real alternative to the capitalistic city, Le Corbusier’s linear city can be considered as a design diagram to control and govern accumulation and to give a specific form to the logic of growth against that neoliberalist laissez faire model that came after Le Corbusier era.

Detail of the Industrial Linear City (1942-43), Le Corbusier + ASCORAL. | Source: Le Corbusier - Œuvre complète Volume 4: 1938-1946

What Le Corbusier presented as a mere opposition, the disurbanization of the world imagined by the Italian collective Superstudio with their Continuous Monument, an enormous infinite white-grid element cannibalizing the city, to quote a very potent expression used by the Italian architectural historian Roberto Gargiani, collects all the frustration of an entire young generation emerging from the political struggles between 1968 and 1977 against industrial capitalism in Europe. While in the first collages of 1969-70 this imposing element cannibalizes the city in the sense that it really penetrates it by destroying emblematic landscapes such as Graz, Madrid, Rome, Florence and New York, in the latest collages of 1970-72 this immense monument could finally run through in full liberty: into world’s nature, canyons, deserts, valleys and rivers [6].

As Gargiani and Beatrice Lampariello have carefully narrated in their book Il Monumento Continuo di Superstudio, tracing its origins, infrastructure highways and viaducts were crucial references on the Superstudio research discourse by images as these infrastructures really addressed them on how to use one of the most emblematic inventions of capitalism for circulation in favor to a new spatial alternative. Inside the Continuous Monument, echoing Joseph Paxton’s Crystal Palace interior,—there have to be no rooms, no labor-division, no hierarchies, no typology and no program—just a free and pure envelope of nothingness. Rituals and forms of life had to take form in the same way urban communes and hippies did and, perhaps, life inside has to be governed in the same way the Italian autonomists were politically organized: through their same historical effort that helped to understand and made visible the inhabitability of the city.

Fragment of the Continuous Monument entitled Manhattan Empire State Building, Superstudio (1969-70)

It was nevertheless auspicabile that such critics emerged in times of gran abundance, on the apogee—to put it with Adam Smith terms—of the wealth of the nations. Although during modern and post-modern history of architecture there were many other examples going on the same direction, even more radical and polemic (i.e. soviet disurbanism linear aggregation of individual cells with episodic collective buildings is the most emblematic example towards the destruction of the capitalist city) [7], the three strategies analyzed above should tackle not a new projective aura, but, on the opposite, a ferocious critic to what have been done till now. The point is not to advance specific solutions but to raise questions and to address a hysterical reaction to everyday obviousness: Why are we at this point? Why streets and squares are there and we cannot reach them? Why did we all build them if, in a snap of fingers, they become inhabitable? Perhaps, because they have always been inhabitable—inhuman.

Fragment of the Continuous Monument On the River, Superstudio (1969-70)

Going back to Tarkovski’s message, the invitation to build Pyramids should be read not as a mere nostalghia of how we were living before the global lockdown. It should rather serve to think on an historical moment that is yet to come and could give the possibility to share that common anger that lays in our souls and spirits; to finally express it in the form of a common effort for destroying the command of capitalism and building marvelous pyramids for a new form of democracy.

- Marson Korbi

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[1], [2] Marx, K. (1073). Grundrisse. Foundations of the Critique of Political Economy, London: Penguin, 442, 449.

[3] Venable Turner, P. (1984). Campus: An American Planning Tradition Cambridge, MIT Press, 47.

[4] Benevolo, L. (2005). Le origini dell’urbanistica moderna, Laterza.

[5] Le Corbusier, eds. Willy Boesiger, Oeuvre Complète (1991). Zurich: Les Editions D'Architecture, 72-75.

[6] Gargiani, R., Lampariello,B. (2019). Il Monumento Continuo di Superstudio. Eccesso del razionalismo e strategia del rifiuto, Genova: Sagep Editori.

[7] Aureli, P. A., Martino, T. (2018). The Forest and the Cell: Notes on Mosej Ginzburg's Green City. Harvard Design Magazine, no. 45.

#column

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sincerelyreidburke · 4 years

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OK PROPOSAL?? HOUSE HUNTING?? CHILD ADOPTION??? WHAT??? CARE TO ELABORATE??? Also can I just say that all med students really are the same? I have personally threatened my own Dutch bf into delaying any proposal ideas until both of our degrees are done bc the Future is my only motivator and if I get it too soon it won't be good lol. It cracks me up to think that as soon as quinn's criteria are met nando the simp trips over himself to propose (literally?) lol

Okay, people, because of this ask, and because I feel like it, it’s time to talk about far-future Quindo. I will answer some of your questions that have been looming based on my continuous dropped hints. Come with me on this journey.

And by the way, Brenna, it continues to entertain me how you and Quinn are literally the same.😂😂 Quinn would absolutely personally threaten Nando not to get too many creative ideas until they at least have gotten a place to live together, and Quinn has started in medical school.

Let’s hop under the cut and I’ll tell you some details! (This got so long, but no regrets.)

- So I think I’ve talked about this in a few places now, but something that’s always true with Quinn and Nando, even early on, is that they understand their relationship is long-term. Neither of them is really looking to date casually, and once they’ve been together for a reasonable amount of time to draw this conclusion (six months, I’d say?), they’re each already pretty much planning on getting married. Do I think they necessarily talk about this that early on? Probably not. But the long-term future conversations come along eventually, and they’re very much on the same page about everything.

- I also did this post semi-recently about the fact that their relationship very much contributes to each of them wanting to settle down. They both knew they wanted, like, marriage and kids one day before they had each other, but the presence of each other makes it much more real for both of them. With each other, there’s a person in those daydreams of the future, a more concrete plan in mind. Instead of just thinking of my future husband, they can think specifically of each other.

- Anyway. As I’ve said, Nando is already sort of thinking about proposal plans before they graduate. (Here’s a glimpse into his simp brain circa graduation.) But they also have a lot of other plans and things to do around the time of graduation. Here’s where they wind up at the time of graduation.

- Nando has secured a job, to start mid-summer, with the Phoenix Dept. of Social Services. Is this a real department that exists? Let’s just say I hope so. I feel like it has to. Anyway, it’s very much related to everything he studied with his sociology major, and it’s exactly what he wanted, and he’s very happy.

- Quinn is going to medical school. I feel like this has been heavily implied. Bear with me and suspend your disbelief a little, because, look: I fully understand how difficult medical school admissions actually are. And I also understand that you can’t necessarily be choosy with where you go based on geography, since the aspiring medical student in my life is always going on like I’m just going to apply to like fifty schools all over the place and go wherever I get in. But I want Quinn to have nice things and also geographic stability, so....

- Let’s just say Quinn puts a lot of eggs in the U of Arizona medical school basket. I think he submits other applications, but as we’ve discussed in mostly theatre contexts, Quinn is somehow an extremely confident person and also the king of underestimating his ability to succeed. He always expects disappointment, because he believes this is the key to never actually being disappointed. (See this ficlet for a theatre dive into his mentality on that topic.)

- For this reason, I think Quinn maybe anticipates a rejection in med school admissions. His plan, for if/when this happens, is that he’ll take a year off. He’s fully aware that that might hurt his chances with getting into medical school at all, but I think this is a good time to remind everybody that Quinn, for a hot minute, doesn’t really have a home. Nando and his family welcome him in when his grandparents disown him to ensure that he has a place to go, but the only reason Quinn isn’t homeless for awhile in there is because he’s living at college.

- And yes, I know that, like, renting an apartment and going to medical school is a thing you can do. But for Quinn, trying to establish stability in a life with Nando is the most important thing. He wants, desperately, to go to medical school, but is willing to delay that if the only way he could go would be to be very far away from him.

- We have to just imagine that things work out for Quinn, because, spoiler alert, he does get in at U of Arizona, to start the autumn after graduation. Senior spring, he gets a letter from them, puts it on his desk, and literally doesn’t open it for an entire day because he thinks it’s a rejection. The reason he does open it is because Nando sees it and freaks out.

- Anyway. For Quinn, I want good things. Therefore, he is simultaneously able to start a life with Nando and live out his academic and career goals.

- So this is an extremely long-winded way of telling you that Nando and Quinn move to Arizona after graduation, which I’ve told you in passing before. Because they are college graduates and neither of them has a whole lot of money, they actually move back in with Mama Hernandez.

- Please understand that Maria Hernandez, as a very Catholic Latina woman, welcomes Quinn into her home with open arms— but absolutely refuses to let them share a bedroom.😂😂😂😂

(On the phone, like a month before graduation.)

Maria: I’ve been cleaning the basement up for Quinn. Do you think I should clean out the closet, or will he only use a dresser?

Nando: Uh... Mama? What do you mean, cleaning out the basement?

Maria: Well, it’s where he’ll be staying.

Nando: .......... But we’re getting married?

Maria: Oh, not so fast, Sebastián. You aren’t married yet, are you? And unmarried couples under my roof—

Nando, who has heard this before: I know, I know, but—

Maria: It’s just the same as last summer.

Nando: But we’re looking for a house together—

Maria: It’s a matter of under my roof. No buts.

Nando, who has literally been sleeping in the same bed with Quinn 80% of the time for the past four years of college: Mama—

Maria: No buts, Sebastián!

- So they move into separate rooms in Maria Hernandez’s house.😂😂😂😂

- That summer, Quinn does another theatre thing the way he did with Gabi and Rosa the summer before, and Nando works at his Tio’s restaurant part-time while he waits for his new job to start. He keeps working for Tio, even if only a shift or two per week, even once he’s started his new job, because that restaurant was his papa’s along with Tio’s and he’s incapable of not helping out his family.

- They settle into a routine, and it’s a very lovely summer while they wait for the rest of their lives to begin. :)

- By the way, somewhere in the area of senior spring, Nando bought an engagement ring. It was the result of a lot of saving and planning, and it’s a simple ring but it’s very suited to Quinn’s tastes, and basically he’s just low-key bursting at the seams to get engaged. (Not that it’ll change Maria’s bedsharing policy😂😂😂😂 but he just really wants to be his fiancé.)

- But here’s the fun part. Quinn has also been thinking about proposing.

- Now let us all cry together while I tell you that Quinn goes to Maria to ask about proposing to him. It’s while Nando is at work at the restaurant one night, I think, and Gabi and Rosa are, idk, either out or just in bed. They’re 11 or 12, so they’re probably in bed. Quinn and Maria get along really well, so they’re just having a conversation out on the back patio at the house. They spend a lot of evenings like that while Quinn waits for Nando to get home from work and give him the one (1) goodnight kiss that Maria allows them before they retire to their separate chambers.

- The conversation is pretty standard of most ‘asking the parent because I want to propose’ conversations. Maria, of course, loves Quinn, and wants him to be an official part of her family by becoming her son-in-law, so she gives him her blessing. (By the way, I do think that Maria is aware that Nando is planning a proposal, but she’s possibly entertained by the fact that they’re racing each other to do it.)

- Maria leaves, for a second, during this conversation with Quinn, and goes up to her own room. She comes downstairs with something and puts it in Quinn’s hand.

- It’s Nando’s papa’s wedding band.

- She tells him that this is what Ángel (Papa’s name) would have wanted.

- Quinn is incredibly, wholly touched by this gesture. When he tries to propose, this is what he’ll use.

- And house hunting!! Obviously, they don’t plan to live with Maria forever. Getting a place of their own is their top priority as soon as they graduate, but they don’t have nowhere near enough money saved up to do so.

- I think I have to make a whole other post about how they get a house and also how the engagement ultimately goes down, because this is getting so long, and even though those two things are set in place and planned, I feel like they’d each double the size of this monster bullet-list. So... feel free to ask me about them, and I’ll elaborate!!!!

- I’m also going to elaborate on the adoption/accidental baby acquisition thing in a separate post. But what happens, and when, and how? Stay tuned and I’ll tell you.

Thanks for enabling me, Brenna!!! I’m grateful for your asks, as always. :D

#quindo #mini quinny #nandoooooooo

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wide-eyedscottishlass · 4 years

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Scarlett and the Professor

[continued from]

Two weeks, she had muttered to herself, fluffing her hair to loosen her fresh curls a bit, while inspecting her reflection in the mirror, and deciding she could go without the under eye concealer today. Scarlett had gotten better sleep last night than she had in several days. She supposed it was because she now felt more angry than sad, and was slowly moving towards acceptance–and surely that had to be a good thing.

Nearly two weeks had gone by since their salacious interlude on the beach, and Hennessy remained well under her skin, even though he had not once acknowledged what had happened between them, since then. She had fallen asleep wrapped in his arms, but had found herself alone when the rays of the new day’s sun had warmed her skin enough to awaken her. Scarlett had hoped for better–it was her nature–but hadn’t been surprised, given his.

And so she had dusted herself off, pulled herself together (grateful that at least she had put her knickers back on before falling asleep–for what if some early morning beach lover had come upon her exposed that way?), gathered her things, and made her way home, concentrating solely on every step that brought her closer to her Vespa, and then on every mile that she traveled back to her flat. By the time she got there, her muscles had announced a bounty of aches incurred in her exertions of the night before, so that she ran a hot bath and soaked herself until the water went tepid, then dried herself and brushed her teeth and curled up in bed, to sleep until mid-afternoon.

In the bath, she had finally allowed herself to review the many hours and many ways that Hennessy had schooled her, used her, satisfied her, through the night. And as hurt as she felt having found herself abandoned, Scarlett couldn’t rue a single moment they had shared; when she closed her eyes and just calmed her breathing, she fancied she could feel anew his hungry, sinful touch, and the way his mouth had savored every bit of her. The taste of his tongue tangling with hers, and the flavor of his spend filling her mouth and throat. She hadn’t needed coaxing that second time; she’d felt to soft for him, so in awe of how masterfully he had played her body, that she had wanted…had needed…to satisfy Hennessy in some manner approaching that which he had visited upon her. His deliberate, debauched and lingering play with her had taught her enough to enable her to draw out his pleasure more profoundly; his gritty moans as she took him long and deep, his howled curses when he came down her throat mercilessly, the testament that she had pleased her teacher well.

The following Monday morning, she had worn her gauziest, off-the-shoulder dress and the pale pink gloss that had adorned her lips on Saturday night-–meant to remind him of how he had coveted them–-knowing he could not miss her seated in her usual place, in the front row of his classroom. Scarlett hadn’t expected him to fawn over her, not in front of her classmates. She had only wanted some small acknowledgement of the intimacies that had shared, with the hope that Hennessy would soon propose another meeting for them off-campus. Yet he had not even looked at her, not when she crossed her legs to show them at greater advantage, or when dropped her pen as he stood closeby, and then looked up to him just after she bent low to retrieve it. By the end of class, she was so confused and dismayed that she didn’t even note the scraping of the chairs around her as other students rose and headed for the door.

When she finally realized that class was over, she gathered her things to leave, too tongue tied to say a single word. But with her hand poised to pull the door open, Scarlett turned back for just a moment, daring to see of Hennessy was watching her. There he stood, as bold as a fresh coat of red paint, his gaze unyielding as his eyes flared just slightly enough to acknowledge her catching him out. He barely lifted his chin, but she knew damn well that that was him dismissing her. And in that way, she felt entirely dismissed, as though he found no value in the sins they’d shared, and she was just another of the many whose names and faces he likely forgot as he moved on to his next conquest.

Scarlett was shaking hard, filled with a well of emotions she knew must wait to be sorted through until she was fully alone. Head bowed, she headed straight back to her flat, not a bit concerned about cutting her afternoon class–-and she managed to hold herself in check until she banged shut her door behind her. Only then did Scarlett give into the hot tears that were her reward for foolishly trusting a cad, and for naively hoping their delicious rendezvous had had touched him enough to keep him wanting her.

At least by that point, she could feel grateful and relieved that he hadn’t taken her in full on the beach. Hennessy had touched her into repeated orgasms, and then later had lowered his head between her thighs, using his beautiful lips and talented tongue upon her secret flesh, so that Scarlett had thought he was readying her for the penetration to come. She had been prepared for that, having decided some time ago that she wanted him to be her first. Instead, he had dwelt there, exploring her beyond any way she ever imagined a man would–and eventually she had lost all reason, undulating in waves of almost unendurable pleasure, so that once he had finished with her, she’d been so weak and worn that all she could do was cling to him and slip quietly into satisfied sleep. At the time, Hennessy had seemed amused by her fragility, even cradling her close as lovers do, but now Scarlett wondered if that failure was the reason he appeared to have rejected her now. Was it simply that she had lacked the endurance and maturity to see the ultimate act through?

Each class after that had been much the same. No signal from Professor Hennessy that she was anything more than his student. No indication that he retained any interest, let alone desire, to continue the ‘lessons’ he had promised her. There were several times he had addressed her in a purely academic context, calling her ‘Miss Campbell’, in the very same way he called upon his other female students. And a handful of times he referred to her as ‘Miss Scarlett’. That appellation never failed to leave her unnerved, for it seemed a tease, as Hennessy stood near enough for his cologne to invade her senses, his voice become a disdainful, velvet caress that slowly peeled away the fresh scab on her wounded pride.

Scarlett had done her utmost to keep her mind occupied, throwing herself into all of her course work, often working out more rigorously that usual, and doing everything she could not to dwell upon her foolish undoing. But for the first few days, in the quiet of her flat–especially at mealtimes and bedtime–she grieved her bright hopes denied; her appetite grown scant, her pillows wet with the tears that ushered her into fitful sleep. She loathed the red rimmed, puffy eyes that betrayed her inner turmoil, and hid behind blue-tinted sunglasses in public whenever possible.

A few days more, and she grew angry, calling herself the worst fool in the world to have placed any faith in Hennessy’s promises, berating her own naivete–and bemoaning the ridiculous fact that she still wanted him. Still longed for his attention and his touch. And on the nights she would wake from dreams that relived that moon bright night enough to make her ache with renewed need, she would pound her pillow in frustration to have her body betray her so. There were times Scarlett felt so desperate and aroused by those dreams that she was weak enough to seek the comfort of fantasies; and having learned his lessons well, she would touch herself, imagining it was Hennessy delivering again his wicked ministrations. At least on those nights, she slept soundly afterwards.

Disconcertingly, her old nightmares of being stalked by monstrous creaatures from the oceans depths or of being swallowed by the deep, dark sea, began to plague her again, no doubt stirred to life by the disquiet in her heart. As miserable as they left her feeling, they provided the positive effect of making Scarlett turn the anger she had been directing at herself, towards the man who had abused her emotions so. Though it was a bitter pill to swallow, she found some strength in this, in calling him the bigger fool and deciding it was his loss to exile her from his life this way.

Thus empowered, she had begun to hold herself aloof in class, no longer intent on seeking his attention, concentrating instead on taking copious notes, never eager to be called upon, even when she knew the answers. Scarlett also managed to make herself ignore those moments when the dashing professor would pass by her close enough to brush fleetingly against the material of her skirt or blouse. Indeed, not wishing to give him the satisfaction that he still affected her, she now schooled herself not to react in the least.

That remained the case as the clock ticked down the last ten minutes of today’s session, while the Professor collected sheets of a pop quiz he had just administered. Having directed that all papers be handed forward to the first student in his row, he hovered over Scarlett as he took the pile from her. As usual, she kept her eyes lowered--until his fingers brushed against hers while she handed the tests over. Brushed and then lingered, as he intoned in his detached, precise, and utterly professsorial tone, “Miss Campbell, I require you to remain after class a while.”

Fully unprepared for the electric shock of his skin on hers, let alone for so sudden a command from the man who still bedeviled her dreams despite her honest wish that he did not, she dared her eyes up to his--to discover him watching her with that familiar, now unnerving, hunger in his compelling eyes. She blinked up at him, read his stern but somehow bemused expression, and answered, ‘Yes, Sir...” Though she felt the color rise in her cheeks, Scarlett believed it was more from the banked anger she still felt, than from her thrwarted desire, or even her typical embarrassment of being singled out.

She remained seated as the classroom emptied, chewing her lip and tapping her pen nervously. Before class had commenced, she had haphazardly doodled storm clouds in the margin of her notebook, and now she wondered if it was some premonition of a tempest brewing. Well then, she resolved, perhaps this time such a storm will be mine--and equal to his!

Scarlett only looked up again when she heard the lock on the door click shut, and then watched in amazement as Hennessy crossed to the windows and lowered the blinds 2/3 of the way, allowing enough of an opening for the fresh, comforting scent of the ocean to continue to saturate the air. He turned to her, taking his time as he rolled up his shirt sleeves, and finally spoke. “Do you think me a cruel man, Scarlett?”

There was a softness in his voice she had never anticipated hearing again--so that against her will, it took her back to their night, and those moments of surprising gentleness he had shown her amidst the hunger and the passion. Moments she had come to think of as the eye of the storm, and which she still treasured, beyond any hope of going there again. Scarlett lowered her lashes to hide the threat of sudden tears which his unexpected softness had prompted. She must only show strength to him now, not her childish weakness...

“It’s alright to say ‘yes’, my dear. I know full well what I am.” Scarlett could feel him drawing closer, but she couldn’t bear to watcch him, for all the progress she had thought she’d made had vanished when he spoke her name that way. “I can be a very, very cruel man when the spirit strikes me. And I think you know that now, too...don’t you?”

She remained mute, trying her best to blink away those damned weakling tears, and bent her head further, hoping the fall of her hair would hide them.

“I’ve been quite cruel to you,” he t’sked, and she saw his shiny black wingtips standing near her feet, “Letting you languish this way...waiting...wondering...dare I say, wishing for more...after what passed between us on the beach.”

Scarlett would only shake her head ‘no’, refusing to give him this victory as well.

“But I have been watching you, you know. Wondering if you would break.” His rich, smooth baritone, even the aristicratic inflections of his British accent, worked a soothing magic she wished she could deny. “I saw how you carried your hurt, sweet Scarlett. And I’m pleased to say, I’ve seen you assert a strength I wasn’t sure you possessed. I must admit, coupled with your other charms...” he left that word linger between them, his full meaning become crystal clear, “...it’s delectably appealing.” Hennessy allowed her a moment to answer, though she did not. “Ahhhh...I can imagine how you must’ve cursed my name,” he chuckled.

At that, she did dare a quick glance at him, finding he was rather less amused than he sounded, before she lowered her lashes--and unafraid now that he’d seen how he had hurt her, Scarlett swiped at the stubborn tears that had fallen against her will.

He tutted, and then bent near to gently tilt her chin up, “Please look at me, little lamb--even your very righteous tears are much too charming for this old fiend to resist...”

Scarlett meant to look defiant, hoped he would see her in that way. Whatever it was he saw, it seemed to please him, and he dropped into a crouch beside her. Her heart was hammering as hard as when she had knelt in his shadow, wondering how to begin the act he had desired of her. How intently he was studying her now! Making her feel certain that he already divined her most secret thoughts and feelings.

“Aren’t you just the loveliest little lamb of them all?” He traced his thumb across her lips. “Strong and soft all at once. And trembling for me too...”

“Please,” she whispered, while he cupped her face in his strong, sure hands, “Please don’t tease me so. That’s not...that’s not playing fair...”

His coming kiss was a foregone conclusion, but he paused with his mouth a soft breath from hers, “Darling, you know that I rarely play fair...but if you want to turn away, now is the time to do so.” He nudged her lips a bit with his, and Scarlett answered with a helpless little whimper. “Otherwise, I’m taking that...and the ripeness of your pretty lips...as the acquiescence which I’m sure you want to give.”

Scarlett drew a deep sigh, melting for him in exactly the way she had sworn she never would, and let herself drown in the fathomless depths of his irresistible, inexorable kiss...

(to be continued)

tagging: @ben-c-group-therapy @strangelock221b @tsukuyomi011 @splunge4me2art @letterstosherlock @humanbornarchangel @thehiddenlawyer @emilyinnj4real @aeterna-auroral-avenger @adragonscloset

#my writing #Scarlet Campbell #OFC #caught in a spell she has no desire to escape #for now anyway #Hennessy #not my OMC and used with permission #an alternate storyline to the RP thing

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scifigeneration · 5 years

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Feeling sick is an emotion meant to help you get better faster

by Joshua Schrock

The emotion of lassitude might help your body fight off infection by making certain adjustments. Kalinka Georgieva/Shutterstock.com

You know what it’s like to be sick. You feel fatigued, maybe a little depressed, less hungry than usual, more easily nauseated and perhaps more sensitive to pain and cold.

The fact that illness comes with a distinct set of psychological and behavioral features is not a new discovery. In medical terminology, the symptom of malaise encompasses some of the feelings that come with being ill. Animal behaviorists and neuroimmunologists use the term sickness behavior to describe the observable behavior changes that occur during illness.

Health care providers often treat these symptoms as little more than annoying side effects of having an infectious disease. But as it turns out, these changes may actually be part of how you fight off infection.

I’m an anthropologist interested in how illness and infection have shaped human evolution. My colleagues and I propose that all these aspects of being sick are features of an emotion that we call “lassitude.” And it’s an important part of how human beings work to recover from illness.

Your body sets priorities when fighting germs

The human immune system is a complex set of mechanisms that help you suppress and eliminate organisms – such as bacteria, viruses and parasitic worms – that cause infection.

Activating the immune system, however, costs your body a lot of energy. This presents a series of problems that your brain and body must solve to fight against infection most effectively. Where will this extra energy come from? What should you do to avoid additional infections or injuries that would increase the immune system’s energy requirements even more?

Fever is a critical part of the immune response to some infections, but the energy cost of raising your temperature is particularly high. Is there anything you can do to reduce this cost?

To eat or not to eat is a choice that affects your body’s fight against infection. On one hand, food ultimately provides energy to your body, and some foods even contain compounds that may help eliminate pathogens. But it also takes energy to digest food, which diverts resources from your all-out immune effort. Consuming food also increases your risk of acquiring additional pathogens. So what should you eat when you’re sick, and how much?

We humans are highly dependent on others to care for and support us when we’re sick. What should you do to make sure your friends and family care for you when you’re ill?

My colleagues and I propose that the distinctive changes that occur when you get sick help you solve these problems automatically.

Fatigue reduces your level of physical activity, which leaves more energy available for the immune system.

Increased susceptibility to nausea and pain makes you less likely to acquire an infection or injury that would further increase the immune system’s workload.

Increased sensitivity to cold motivates you to seek out things like warm clothing and heat sources that reduce the costs of keeping body temperature up.

Changes in appetite and food preferences push you to eat (or not eat) in a way that supports the fight against infection.

Feelings of sadness, depression and general wretchedness provide an honest signal to your friends and family that you need help.

Of course these changes depend on the context. Any parents reading this article are likely familiar with the experience of being sick but pushing through it because a child needs care. While it may make sense to reduce food intake to prioritize immunity when the sick individual has plenty of energy reserves, it would be counterproductive to avoid eating if the sick person is on the verge of starvation.

Your body needs you to do (or avoid) a few things so it can concentrate on getting better. tommaso79/Shutterstock.com

Sickness as an emotion

So how does your body organize these advantageous responses to infection?

The evidence my colleagues and I reviewed suggests that humans possess a regulatory program that lies in wait, scanning for indicators that infectious disease is present. When it detects signs of infection, the program sends a signal to various functional mechanisms in the brain and body. They in turn change their patterns of operation in ways that are useful for fighting infection. These changes, in combination with each other, produce the distinct experience of being sick.

This kind of coordinating program is what some psychologists call an emotion: an evolved computational program that detects indicators of a specific recurrent situation. When the certain situation arises, the emotion orchestrates relevant behavioral and physiological mechanisms that help address the problems at hand.

Imagine you’re walking through the woods, thinking you’re alone, and suddenly you are startled by sounds suggesting a large animal is in the underbrush nearby. Your pupils dilate, your hearing becomes attuned to every little sound, your cardiovascular system starts to work harder in preparation for either running away or defending yourself. These coordinated physiological and behavioral changes are produced by an underlying emotion program that corresponds to what you might think of as a certain kind of fear.

Some of these coordinating programs line up nicely with general intuitions about what makes up an emotion. Others have functions and features that we might not typically think of as “emotional.”

Some psychologists suggest these emotion programs likely evolved to respond to identifiable situations that occurred reliably over evolutionary time, that would affect the survival or reproduction of those involved.

This way of thinking has helped researchers understand why some emotions exist and how they work. For instance, the pathogen disgust program detects indicators that some potentially infectious agent is nearby. Imagine you smell the stench of feces: The emotion of disgust coordinates your behavior and physiology in ways that help you avoid the risky entity.

Another example is the emotion of shame, which scouts for signs that you’ve done something that causes members of your social group to devalue you. When you detect one of these indicators – a loved one rebukes you for doing something that hurt them, say – the experience of shame helps you adjust your mental map of what kinds of things will cause others to devalue you. Presumably you will try to avoid them in the future.

Drawing from the emerging discipline of evolutionary medicine, my colleagues and I now apply the idea of these emotion programs to the experience of being sick. We call this emotion “lassitude” to distinguish the underlying program from the outputs it generates, such as sickness behavior and malaise.

We hope that our approach to lassitude will help solve problems of practical importance. From a medical perspective, it would be useful to know when lassitude is doing its job and when it is malfunctioning. Health care providers would then have a better sense of when they ought intervene to block certain parts of lassitude and when they should let them be.

About The Author:

Joshua Schrock is a Ph.D. Candidate in Anthropology at the University of Oregon

This article is republished from our content partners over at The Conversation under a Creative Commons license.

#science #anthropology #medicine #immune system #Emotions

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odanurr87 · 5 years

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Flash Review: My Sassy Girl (2017)

From left to right: Kim Yoon-Hye as Lady Da-Yeon; Joo Won as Master Gyeon Woo; Oh Yeon-Seo as Princess Hye-Myung; and Lee Jung-Shin as Lieutenant Kang.

Release Date: May 29 - July 18, 2017

Episodes: 16 hour-long (Netflix), 32 half-hour-long (Viki)

Available on: Netflix, Viki

I’ll try to make this quick and painless. This should have been a ‘Dropped’ review. However, for some inexplicable reason, I managed to complete it when it was clear 5 episodes in that this show was not gonna live up to my expectations. The remaining 11 episodes changed the tone somewhat, but confirmed my initial impressions overall. The show focuses on a Joseon scholar, named Master Gyeon Woo, who returns from China to instruct the crown prince, and his encounters with a rude and ill-mannered woman, by name of Hye-Myung, who later turns out to be the Princess. At the same time, there is a plot to overthrow the King which our protagonists naturally have to expose (and survive).

There are many reasons why this show didn’t click for me. The first and foremost happens right at the very beginning when a false accusation of rape leveled at the main protagonist is played for laughs (that incidentally never goes anywhere). Expect him to be called a pervert for several episodes as the writers secretly hope that’ll draw a few laughs. It drew none. Second, the Princess is not at all likable in these first few episodes. She’s rude, prone to violence, quick to level false accusations without looking into the circumstances (what makes her a hypocrite), and utterly irresponsible, never thinking about how her actions will affect the people around her, often with serious consequences. There is one scene where the Princess has an exchange with Lady Da-Yeon in which she basically accuses her of abusing her power to get her own way. Pot, meet kettle, as that’s exactly what the Princess keeps doing throughout the show, with the King punishing anyone else he can get his hands on but her. If that’s not abuse of power, I don’t know what is.

From zero to couple.

The show is blatantly trying to push the formula of the protagonists initially disliking each other only for them to eventually become lovers. I don’t have a problem with that formula, but there needs to be a reason to explain such a drastic change and I don’t feel the show ever provided enough of one. If you want an example of the formula done right, or at least considerably better than here, look no further than My Love from the Star (ironically, the lead actress there, Jun Ji-Hyun, also plays the part of the sassy girl in the movie this show is based on). There have to be moments where each person understands where the other comes from and why they act the way they do, and I feel that was missing here. This couple went from disliking each other to becoming lovers so fast that I was left wondering if I had missed some episodes. I hadn’t. To sum up this point: throwing two people at each other constantly does not a romantic relationship make.

I will admit however, that they were more tolerable, likable even, during the more serious second-half (more like around or after Episode 6) of the show. Hye-Myung finally starts to behave like the princess she’s supposed to be, and Gyeon Woo is the only character who remembers to move the plot forward every once in a while, for which I was eternally grateful. They even have some cute moments during their dating phase, to the point Hye-Myung briefly reminded me of Cheong Song-Yi in My Love from the Star. There are also some heartbreaking moments when the Princess dates the Qing Prince with Gyeon Woo as their translator that have no right to be this emotional considering where we’re coming from, but Oh Yeon-Seo manages to do a great job selling them. Sucks for the Qing Prince since who was a really nice guy.

Perhaps one of the best scenes of the show.

Another thing that bothered me from the first episode was how, well, modern the show felt. Everything from the humor, through how (some) characters spoke and behaved, to the way some rooms were decorated felt odd, out of place. I’ll readily admit I am ignorant about this (or any) period of Korean history, but I just couldn’t shake that feeling (which may turn out to be justified seeing as the show was based on a movie set in the present).

While I could further dissect this show and complain about things like how they handled the Qing Prince plotline, I am considerably more irked about the twist the show pulls as it draws near the end. During the second half, Gyeon Woo is starting to have nightmares repeatedly, leaving the viewer to guess whether these are visions or something else entirely. It would’ve been extremely odd if they had decided to introduce supernatural elements in the show at this point, but It turns out it’s the latter, as Gyeon Woo is remembering past events he had completely forgotten about and which end up playing a crucial role in exposing the conspirators who plan to overthrow the King.

BUT! And here comes the twist, Gyeon Woo ends up recalling that he was the one who started the rumor about the previous Queen having an affair, ultimately leading to her dethronement. You can imagine this does nothing to improve his relationship with the King and the Princess, and they both immediately shun him and blame him for all their troubles. I’m surprised he didn’t get the death penalty then and there. How very hypocritical of them, for let us recall that the document that misled a ten-year old (I’m just guessing here) into believing this was a forgery was meant to fool the King himself, and did indeed. Should he have turned the evidence to the police? Probably, and he did try, but we’re still talking about a kid who had just witnessed the murder of an entire family. Furthermore, once he realizes this was all a setup, he tries to make amends, although a little too late. So when you tell me that the King, who has been little more than a puppet throughout the show, has the gall to accuse Gyeon Woo, who was a kid at the time, of groundlessly spreading rumors when he himself, an adult and the supposed leader of the country, didn’t even try to investigate the matter further... it just confirms my initial impressions that the King is as useless as they come. The issue is exacerbated when the King once more falls into the trap of believing false accusations leveled against Gyeon Woo and his father, but by this point I no longer cared. Heck, I may have even been half hoping the conspirators would replace him with someone more competent (fat chance of that).

To drama or not to drama, that is the question!

I can level a dose of hypocrisy at the Princess as well, but I’d rather dispatch against Gyeon Woo a little bit because he clearly has some communications problems. When he confesses to the King he was the one who started the rumors long ago, that’s all he does. He provides absolutely no context for his actions, instead begging, “Punish me, punish me!” Then, when the Princess asks him if the rumors are true, he replies with a succinct, “Yes.” For a supposed scholar, he is suddenly very economical with the truth. I realize this is a kdrama, and having the protagonists suffer from a sudden lack of communication is a surefire way of creating drama, but this was borderline ridiculous.

What else? Ah, yes, the ending. I suppose I can say this show is at least consistent because the ending was just as disappointing. Gyeon Woo decides he wants to propose to the Princess and does so... to be rejected. The reason? The Princess wants to become a physician and travel to Qing in order to do so. Remember how I said this show felt too modern? Anyway, what bothered me about this scene is that only 10 minutes ago (and 13 before the episode ends) the Princess was begging Gyeon Woo not to leave (admittedly, his departure was of a more permanent nature). Then 4 minutes before the episode ends, the Princess leaves for Qing, and 3 minutes before the end she returns. Repeat after me: Pacing. Is. Important. Hasty and sloppy execution is a cardinal sin, I’ll get Meliodas to vouch for me. And we didn’t need to have any of it. We didn’t need to have a proposal, we didn’t need to have the Princess wanting to leave and become a physician. It added nothing to the show and only served to dilute the ending to the point of being unsatisfying.

Verdict: This is not a bad show, but it’s certainly an average one, and I’m putting the blame squarely on the script. Despite disliking the character of the Princess initially, I feel Oh Yeon-Seo does a pretty good job as does Joo Won. I’d like to see what these two could pull off with a tighter script. The supporting cast is mostly underwhelming, save perhaps for Gyeon Woo’s cute kid sister who’s trying to play matchmaker.

Rewatch meter: Low

#kdrama #my sassy girl #oh yeon seo #joo won #kdrama reviews #kdramas

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